Journey of a Thousand Miles: An Olympic Dream

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

An Olympic Dream

Thank you to Rodney and Nathalie Coeller for making this Olympic dream possible.

There is an abundance of enthusiasm in this house lately. (Okay I'm faking it a bit.) But Kendall and the boys are LOVING the Olympics. It is fun to follow.

Kendall and Eli are true Canada fans. I tend to cheer for Canada- I'm here so I may as well. And Evan... Well, for reasons unknown to the rest of us, Evan is a die hard USA fan. It makes us laugh. I'm not sure if he started out just trying to be disagreeable with Eli or what happened. One day I heard them arguing about Canada vs. USA issues and Eli told traitorous Evan to "get out of Canada!"

Let me pause a moment and ask him. Ohhh. It is clear now. I just asked him why and he said, "Cause it has stars. And I like stars." He also added that if the US isn't playing, he cheers for Canada.

So, our family is divided, but tonight we're all wearing our Canada jerseys. And that's why I am thanking the Coellers. They bought all of us jerseys for Christmas in hopes of a moment just like tonight.

7 comments:

Twila said...: I love that picture, What more can I say.; February 23, 2010 at 11:07 PM
Jen Bontrager said...: Love it! Love it! Love it! Go Canada! Evan and Eli are so hilarious!; February 24, 2010 at 5:50 AM
LaRonda said...: That is so awesome!! Love the picture. Your boys are so funny!; February 24, 2010 at 2:22 PM
Anonymous said...: Go USA! so sorry to see you all in Canadian jerseys. -so sad.; February 24, 2010 at 5:52 PM
amy said...: You guys look awesome! Go Canada!; February 24, 2010 at 7:47 PM
Nathalie said...: Great photo! Glad to see you guys enjoying the Olympics and Canada's big win over Russia means more fun to come!; February 25, 2010 at 9:48 AM
Matt said...: I'm pretty late to the party, but great picture!; March 18, 2010 at 9:59 PM

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"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu

July 1, 2008
This journey so far has taken me one thousand and four miles from my hometown, but I’m having trouble putting my finger on the single step that began it all. Was it Monday afternoon at the border when they gave me my official document allowing me to pass? Was it Saturday morning when we started the car and drove out of Goshen in our funny little caravan? Was it in February when we came up to Red Lake for a job interview at the hospital? Was it two Christmases ago being up here with Kendall’s family and all of us rating our desire to live up here? (I can’t say my number on a scale of 1 – 100 was high, but it was the highest of all the in-laws, so I guess I’m the chosen one.) Was it three years ago almost to the day that Kendall first said, “What if we’d move up here?” (I tried to ignore that one for several months, thinking surely it would go away.) Or was it June 10, 2000 when I married Kendall and made some solemn promises before God and all these witnesses? Was it a night before Kendall and I were married when we talked about moving to Red Lake? (It was a far off and romantic possibility at that time.) Or was it living in and visiting different cultures at different times in my life? Could the first step have been when my parents brought me as a baby to this same area for a year of voluntary service? (Kendall wasn’t born yet, but I surely saw his parents as they chatted with mine from time to time.) What about when my dad lived on a nearby reserve for two years before he was married? Or when my mom visited this town with her family as a teenager? Or maybe it had something to do with choices my grandparents made? Or other ancestors farther back?

At any rate, moving into this house where I slept for a few weeks as a baby and where my dad stayed as a teenager, has made me very aware of roots. And how they affect our lives and choices and passions.

I suspect there is no single step that began our move a thousand miles away from Indiana. It seems, rather, to be a coming together of so many different factors. (Not the least of which is marrying a man who has taken this land as a very part of his being. And for all the ways I can tease him and get annoyed at some of his woodsman ways, I really do mean that in a reverent and respectful way.)

So here we are, a thousand miles from nowhere. (Oops…I meant a thousand miles from Goshen.) I know that we safely made the journey here, but mostly our journey is just beginning. And mostly I’m excited.

Journey of a Thousand Miles

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

An Olympic Dream

7 comments:

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." Lao-tzu

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