Journey of a Thousand Miles: Looking Back

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Looking Back

Just came across these beautiful photos from 4 1/2 years ago. This week my sons will turn 10 and 8. They're still pretty awesome.

I love Eli's expression on this photo. Not sure if he was bracing himself for a kiss or what.

The boy is angry about something.

Still angry.

6 comments:

rod said...: Happy birthday dudes! Can't wait to see you in a few weeks!
Rod; October 6, 2013 at 1:30 AM
Kirst said...: oh my word, these are great pictures. they're getting so old!; October 6, 2013 at 12:03 PM
Jodi said...: So cute! They made quite the dashing pair, those two. I'm sure they miss those tuxes. There's just something about a really ornery little boy in a tux. It just melts me.
Happy soon to be 8 and 10 boys!; October 9, 2013 at 9:22 AM
Dave Gloria said...: I'm glad the boys survived the wedding. Now they can enjoy Rylan and Karissa when we get together.
Grandpa; October 9, 2013 at 7:44 PM
LaRonda said...: Happy Birthday Eli and Evan!!! Can't wait to spend time with you guys at Christmas!; October 11, 2013 at 8:21 AM
Jen Bontrager said...: They were so adorable that day. Can't wait to see you guys!!!; October 15, 2013 at 6:06 AM

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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

Saturday, October 5, 2013

Looking Back

6 comments:

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

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