Every year, Carl and I try to plan a family ski trip with the kids. Carl usually goes another time with a friend or with Nathan during the year, but to take the whole family is a big expense for us even for one time a season. Rentals and lift tickets add up really quickly for a family of five.
This year it was a little bittersweet, because last year we missed our ski trip. It was planned for the weekend when Carl’s dad got so sick last year. We couldn’t help but think about that as we headed out for our annual ski trip this year and miss him. You never know how much time you have with your loved ones so make the most of the time which you do have.
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| I think I needed longer arms! |
I found myself being so grateful and so thankful for our little family! I was thankful for fertility that God allowed me to even have these kids. I was thankful to have Madison there as I wondered about whether or not this would be the last family ski trip all together. She assured us it would not be!
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| The fam |
I was thankful to be all together as a family since Carl travels a lot. I was thankful to be able to even afford a wonderful day of skiing as a family. I was thankful that all of us were healthy enough to ski. I was thankful to make it up to the ski hill and home safely with snowy, icy roads.
Oh, can I tell you how beautiful it was? Everywhere around me screamed of God’s creation. Every snow flocked tree. Every wind which blew. Every snowflake which fell. Every swirling pattern upon the surface of the snow. Every person who was out there enjoying God’s creation knowing that many of those very people did not believe it was God’s creation but rather some accidental explosion.
While I rode the chair lift up by myself one time, I was just overcome with the beauty of it all. How big is my God? I am guilty of making Him so small! How worthy of glory is my God? I am guilty of having neglected to give Him credit for what He has done!
I started singing out loud as I sat by myself on the chairlift an old song called How Majestic Is Your Name which we used to sing in church many moons ago. Do you know it?
I don’t think anyone heard me singing, but God did. I really did not care in the moment if anyone did anyway. Creation was proving there was a Creator, and I felt compelled to praise Him for it.
We had a great day! Nathan tried snowboarding for the first time and fell a ton. He was super frustrated by the end of the day, but was totally able to control it so well. He stuck with it all day.
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| My girls |
My girls are great skiers. Madison beat us down each hill and waited for us at the bottom every time. Lauren and I like to go a little slower. Lauren is a fabulous skier, and she was such a trooper.
I fell lots of times but always got back up. I even told Nathan that it was not how many times you fall but how many times you get back up which matters. Falling and getting back up is not bad at all when the worst thing which has happened to me on a ski hill was getting LifeFlighted off of one once. Going home with no injuries is an incredible blessing!
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| On the chair lift with my honey |
With Carl’s experience of decades of ice skating and skiing, he is quite good. Watching Carl tear down the hill like a professional skier made me sad for him that he would never have a wife who would be good like that. In fact, he was nice enough to tell me so when we got home that night. He pulled me in close and with a broad smile on his face he sweetly told me that out of anyone in the family, I was the one who probably needed a ski helmet the most. True. Thanks, honey. What else can I say?