Book Review: God Loves Me More Than That

I jump at the chance to get something free, so when I read I could get free books for blogging about them, I was all about it. Thankfully they have children's books to review considering the only novel I've read since school started was one I read at work for a high school reading class. It was a great book actually.

The book I get to tell you all about is God Loves Me More Than That by Dandi Daley Mackall. I received this book for free from WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group for this review.

Here's what I think:

-We have a lot of great books, but I was started to feel we had a limited supply of books that teach Biblical truths. I like having a book that gives a starting point for talking and thinking about God's love.


-The pictures spark Elliana's curiosity and she likes to ask questions about what she sees in them.

-The author tries to relate the abstract concept of God's love to things children relate to such as elephants, astronauts, and kittens. I'm not sure my three year old is making the connection, but it's a starting point.

 -It rhymes, it's easy and quick to read! Perfect for nights when we're late getting to bed but still need a book to read! 

Let me know what you think if you've read it. I'm now off to submit this review so I can sign up for another free book!

Merry Christmas!

If I did not get you a Christmas letter or you received the abbreviated, still-had-to-scrunch-and-use-tiny-print, AmazingMail card, here is our Christmas letter. I am happy with the letter, but as I think back through the year, I am amazed at all the great people God put in our lives to encourage and help us - friends, family, neighbors, paying customers...  I wish I could've mentioned everyone in the letter but most people don't have time to read a novel. I also feel like it's somewhat emotionless and misses some major events (i.e., Brad helping with harvest, our birthdays, trips...), but I was all about sticking with a theme and keeping it short. With that said, here it is with my added comments in brackets. 


The LIGHT version of our 2010:


January - Julie started a new blog. If you’d like to read her musings and other things that happened in our lives this year, go to LIGHTenupyourlife.blogspot.com [shameless self promotion but I really couldn't remember much from January]

February – Brad enjoyed LIGHTing our wood burning stove. [another month I experienced amnesia about]

March – Wyatt’s favorite place to LIGHT [meaning: be or land - Brad wasn't sure what I was referring to and thought I was talking about Wyatt as a Marlboro man.] was on the two steps in our hallway. 

April – Elliana decided she loves anything that is itty-bitty and was deLIGHTed to be a flower girl (also in September). 

May – We moved back to Lincoln not many days after we LIT Wyatt’s first birthday candle. 

June – Brad created a pantry for us by moving our washer and dryer upstairs while Wyatt, Elliana and Julie started their summer with enLIGHTening visits to the zoo and daily visits to the park. 

July – Elliana turned 3 and Wyatt learned to be LIGHT on his feet! 

August – Brad and Julie packed as LIGHT as possible when they attempted to summit Longs Peak but fell just a few yards short due to Brad learning first hand about extreme altitude sickness. 

September – Wyatt learned to “read” and Elliana LIT up a room when telling her first joke. You can watch their talents on her blog. 

October – We started to get worried about what we would do when we couldn’t be outside with our neighbors due to colder weather and less dayLIGHT. 

November – Elliana shed LIGHT on the subject of Brad not seeing a turkey while hunting by saying “maybe the turkey didn’t want to get shoot.” 

December – We celebrated the first anniversary of Robertson Electric, LLC. (Call 402.314.5335 if you need an electrician!) [I know it's more shameless self promotion, but we do what we can to drum up business.] We are especially rejoicing in God as our provider and as our One True LIGHT.


Isaiah 9:2 The people who walk in darkness will see a great LIGHT; Those who live in a dark land, the LIGHT will shine on them.


Merry Christmas!  
Brad, Julie, Elliana and Wyatt

Decay

Yesterday I was given the grim reminder that I am in the slow process of decaying, and there's not much I can do to stop it. I went to the dentist and instead of him saying, "Looks great! Keep doing what you're doing" like he always says, he tells me I have two cavities. I think he needed to be a little more sensitive about it than he was. I don't cry easily, but if I was in a poor emotional state and did cry easily, I may have shed a tear right there in the chair. I always feel proud when they say my teeth look great, and I really felt like a loser when they didn't.

Considering how I felt like scum the rest of the day, I don't know what I'll ever do when other parts of my body start to fail. I suppose I'll have to get glasses soon. I'm sure I've already shrunk an inch and my right knee is bound to need replacing if how noisy it sounds when I walk up the stairs is any indication. If I don't get a grip, I could live the rest of my life depressed!

The thing is there is nothing I can do to stop it. In regards to my teeth, I brush twice a day and floss every day. I don't drink pop or coffee and eat a relatively small amount of candy. Now I feel so helpless and afraid to eat anything that might speed the decay and start rotting my other teeth. Do you think swearing off candy will help? I may ask Mr. Dentist to give me a lecture on how to prevent cavities while he's filling the two I have.

In terms of lightening up, I know there are many great spiritual applications I could delve into right now. For the sake of not over spiritualizing everything, I'll just leave it as is. If you're interested in my thoughts on spiritual applications, just let me know. I've been pondering them in order to keep my sanity.

Thankful Thursday

We had a priceless time getting out our Christmas decorations one evening this week. It felt like we were actually creating very happy memories as a family. We put on Christmas music.  Elliana loved putting ornaments on the tree, and Wyatt loved taking things to Brad to put on the tree. I loved getting out my snowbabies! Really I can't put it into words, but it was special. It's not everyday that I dance with my giggling 18 month old to Alan Jackson's "Let it Be Christmas."

It made me all sentimental. It's interesting to me that one vivid memory I have from growing up is when we put up our Christmas tree. We'd listen to George Winston on a record, Dad would sit and drink his Swiss Mocha and my mom, sister and I would try to decide how to best decorate the tree, living room and for some reason we really worked hard on the bathroom. In my mind I remember Jill trying really hard to get us to only put one color of ornament on the tree. I supported her, but Luke couldn't handle not putting at least one of his ornaments on that didn't go with the color scheme. Every year we'd each get a special new ornament.

Life is interesting. Now my parents have no one to help them put up their tree most of the time, and I'm starting to get to enjoy putting up mine with my little kids.

 

Christmas Cards

The fact that Shutterfly is giving away 50 free holiday cards to people who blog about them inspired me to write this post.

Write a letter, send a picture or do nothing at all. That's what I've been wondering. So these are my options with pro's and con's.

Do Nothing:
Pro's
- I don't have to give time to the Christmas card/picture activity.
- I avoid jumping on the big comparison wagon that I get myself into. Does anyone else feel like Christmas card/letter tradition starts to be a contest for you?
Con's
- I fear if I don't send something, people will stop sending something to me.

Send a Letter
Pro's
- I get to tell people about our life right now - what the kids are up to, Robertson Electric, etc.
- I like reading other people's letters.
Con's
- I have to try and write an interesting, make-you-want-to-read-it letter.
- I have to ponder for weeks if I should tell people about my blogs in the letter. Should I or shouldn't I?

Send a Picture
Pro's
- I get to make more use of the pictures we had taken this fall.
- I love getting adorable Christmas pictures in the mail, so I like to return the favor.
Con's
- I'll spend too much time deciding which cute design to use. I really like the Starlight Snowflakes and Red Revamped and that's without looking much. 
- I'm sure I won't like how I look in whatever picture I decide to send.
- I may actually worry that people think I'm only sending them a picture to show them how cute I think my kids are when actually I just send pictures to people I want to wish a Merry Christmas.

Can you guess what I'll decide to do since I just went to this effort to blog for 50 free photo cards? 

Thankful Thursday

Happy Thanksgiving! I love this day where I got to ponder with family all the amazing blessings I've been given.

This week one of my freshman students was so excited to show me the new outfit he'd been given. Through being part of the Big Brother Big Sister program, he was given $100 to spend at Gordman's.

"Hey Mrs Robertson, Do you like my new outfit?"

I realized this student probably rarely ever gets new clothes, and that might be the least of his worries. I already knew I was pathetic, but this sure put my birthday disappointment in perspective, especially when I had a meeting with his dad later that day. The dad didn't know his own son's birthday. He probably has too many other big things in life to worry him.

I felt so humbled. How must it feel to be a parent and not be able to provide your kids with nice new clothes? Can you imagine not feeling like you had enough food for your kids to eat?

Today not only do I feel extremely grateful. I feel encouraged to give. I'm sure people in need will be more grateful than I understand when they're are blessed by people giving to them.

 

Ring Those Bells

I had a blast last night ringing a bell with my friend Brooke. We stood outside a grocery store and froze our toes off, but the amount of people watching, laughing and talking we accomplished was well worth it. Watching people donate money to the Salvation Army was pretty neat too. Thankfully the nice older gentleman man who Brooke thought I commented, "Look he has a limp!" still gave some money. I really said, "Look he has a list!" It was sometimes hard to hear over our vigorous bell ringing.

I would highly recommend be a bell ringer this year, especially if you have someone you want to hang out with for a couple of hours. I read today they are having a shortage of bell ringers so go sign up.  I'm considering giving another couple of hours this year.

Rave Reviews

Brad,
Thank you for the great job upgrading my electric panel. If you need a reference you can give my name. Thanks again.

I did NOT make that up. Someone actually sent that note with their payment. Have you ever thought of writing a note when you pay a bill? This guy thought Brad was so nice he wrote him that note. How nice is that! Must mean Brad's a rather nice electrician.

Birthday Issue

I had some great things happen to me because of my birthday.

I got flowers!  

I got some really cute cards.

I got to go spend a whole afternoon with just my husband at that great Nebraska vs Missouri football game. I wish I had one of those at the football game couple shots, but we went camera-less that day.

I got the infamous birthday box of goodies from my mother-in-law.

I got to go out to eat with my sister and baby nephew. 

I got some great new clothes and other nice presents. 

Of course, I had an abundant amount of postings on my "wall."

Clearly, I had lots of nice things that happened because of my birthday, and I'm very thankful for all those things.

Don't let anything else I say make you think otherwise.   
I really look forward to birthdays. I love presents. I love thinking that I get a day where I'm the one that people should make feel special. My vision of a great birthday includes me only doing things I want to do for at least several days surrounding the birthday, someone cleaning my entire house for a month, eating at my favorite restaurants, and lots of fabulous presents. It's all about me, me and me. It's my day where I get to feel as special as I always want to feel.

With expectations like that, who isn't going to be disappointed? Plus I'm a mother of two little people who have no idea the day and week is about me, a husband who doesn't quite understand my birthday fever, and I'm not smart enough to take my 30th birthday off of work. Duh!

I still hate to think I need to lower my expectation because I associate that with older people who don't get excited about their birthday. I always want to be excited about my birthday, but I'm really working on getting a grip on this issue. If you would've read what I wrote last year regarding my thoughts on birthdays (I didn't post it.), then you would pat me on the back for making progress. Actually, I'm probably not because my birthday last year... I'm not going to go there.

What am I doing to get a grip?

1. Really if I would put all the nice things that happened to me because I had a birthday and pretend they all happened in one day then I would have no disappointment.
2. It did occur to me this year I need to stop figuring my self worth based on how special I feel on my actual birthday.
3. I actually prayed this year that I'd have a good attitude about my birthday. I think it helped.
4. What do I do to make other people feel extra special on their birthday? Not enough in light of how I feel about the day.  


Thanks for reading my musings, and thanks again to everyone who helped me celebrate my birthday in any way shape or form. I'm clearly needing some continued refining! Anyone else have issues with their birthday?

Oh yes - Robertson Electric is still in business, and someday I'll blog again about what he is doing. I'm pretty sure it will be more interesting than my birthday musings, so get ready.

Losing It

Blogging is amazing! I blogged about thinking I'd never find time to put Wyatt's pictures in a book, and now he has pictures from the first seven months in a book. It's a start at least.

Since blogging about that caused it to happen I thought maybe it would help if I blogged about how we seem to lose things all the time at our house. Losing something makes me feel like I must be losing my mind. It makes me feel I must be completely unorganized and scatterbrained. Then I become more scatterbrained while I think constantly about where that thing could possibly be.

I've given up on trying to find where our blue nose sucker from the hospital went even though I still often lament losing it. We were missing an 's' from a puzzle for a while, but it was miraculously found at the sitters house when they were cleaning out their toys. Sunday I couldn't find our key ring with all the key fabs then they randomly appeared on our closet floor. I really feel like we're always looking for something.

Currently I can't quit thinking about where Baby, the fifth member of our family for some time now, is hiding.
I've opened ever cupboard and drawer, checked places three times, asked the neighbors, asked people who have never seen Baby in their life, and Baby is still lost. Elliana mentioned something about hiding it on purpose, but I think she would've unhid it by now if that's the case.

I've worried that some middle school kid at the park picked Baby up and hurt her or that she was dropped in a parking lot and run over or that she's sitting in some lost and found somewhere. I suppose I could call all the places we've been in the last two weeks that might have a lost and found. I'll see how desperate I get.

We have many dolls but Baby has always been Elliana's special doll. It's impossible to make her share Baby without a major meltdown occurring. Without Baby Elliana has nothing to push in her stroller and no one to put to bed with her at night. I guess "Puppy" could take Baby's place but I see that phase ending at some point.



It just really feels sad to lose a toy that's been almost like a friend to your child for such a long time. I'm sure she's going to be completely fine, and almost is already, but if we never find Baby I think I'm going to have to go through some sort of mourning process. Maybe I already am.

Would you all help me think? Have you seen Baby in the last two weeks?

My Poor 2nd Child

If you're interesting in an issue in my life that is currently causing me stress, read on.

Elliana has two picture books full from her first year of life. Wyatt has zero. I know that's typical to not have as many pictures for any child following your first, but he should at least have some pictures in a book.  Some of them are printed, but none are in a book. It makes me so sad, and it makes me feel stressed because I have no idea when I'm going to get it done. It's been on my list of things to do for well over a year, all the while I keep taking more pictures of him and the problem compounds.

It's one of those perfectionistic things that I can't start because it's going to take time to get it done right. Partly I can't get started because I don't feel like I have all the pictures printed I want in his book.  I really feel like I can't get started because I never have a time period long enough to work on it. Maybe it would be better to just make a book online but then what do I do with all the pictures I've already printed and I would still need time to do that. I need 2 consecutive snow days after a few days off. When I am ever going to get this done? When?!

This little man deserves at least one picture book. Doesn't he? Any wisdom out there for me?

Brad's Biggest Toy

This fine piece of machinery was new in 1936. It still runs, and you might call it Brad's first baby. Brad bought it in 1996 before he ever knew me. How many 16 year olds do you know who would buy antique tractors?  Some day he will drive it in a parade with his kids riding along, and hopefully some day he'll get to use it to farm a few acres with all the other old things he has collected. Just wanted to let you know something random about that electrician I mention here and there.

Weary Mama

Did you notice the severe lack of blogging on my part? Sometimes some things have to give. Reading was out the window the when I went back to work. Blogging must be next on the list of least important to me hobbies. The thing is I will sometimes lay awake at night blogging in my brain because I miss it so much. Thankfully I mainly have had one main blog thought ping ponging around up there. Trials, Trials, Trials. Too bad it's too big of a thought to fully hash out in the few minutes I have before I get the kids up and all of us out the door.

So in complete spewing fashion, let me give you a few of my thoughts.

Brad's been working a lot helping other people with their harvest (hence the lack of blogging). I can't complain that he's working. I'm thankful for that, but I am weary of doing the before supper, supper, to bed time routine, etc on my own. I am not enjoying my kids, living for the moment, or avoiding being too busy. I am the cranky mama. In one of my internal rants one day I realized part of the problem with this current "trial" (I know it is a minor trial, but in James 1 he mentions "various trials." I think this counts as various.) is that you just want someone to know what you're dealing with. You want someone to feel bad for you and come HELP, but you don't want to be a complainer. (Don't worry! I should be less on my own for a while now.) Then I heard the song "What a Friend We Have in Jesus." I think that was my answer. It feels sometimes like you're having to settle to have Jesus be the only one that knows and cares what you're doing, but I know that's not the case. I'm just thankful I have someone I can always tell and to ask for help.

It feels like I have lots of family and friends dealing with some "various trials," some much more concerning than my own, and I've been trying so hard to think of a post that would encourage based on what I learned about how God works through trials from my life in the country last year. I really can't think of anything to say that doesn't sound too trite. I do want to let you know I'm thinking about you!
My other thought on trials I actually can't think of right now and I have to get out the door two minutes ago. 

Thankful Thursday

I have been given much!

My kids drawers and closets are loaded full of winter clothing thanks to a friend who shared her little boy clothes, a sister who shared her little girl clothes, and people who've given great practical presents.

I have lots of tomato products frozen and a few canned (in jars my mom gave me) because of great people sharing their tomatoes.

I have apples I'm hoping to preserve some way and fresh apple cider made with this

thanks to Maggie letting us join her family at their annual apple picking day. What a wonderful time it was! It was a little taste of heaven in my mind.

I have two coupons for free milk thanks to Chicks Dig Deals! I actually won my first ever blog giveaway!

You'd never know by all the things I've been given that I have a hard time "letting good in." Looks like I'm doing pretty good at that and maybe need to get to work on my giving skills!

Happy Birthday!

This fine man has a major birthday today. I feel like such a poor birthday planner for him, but it's not for lack of thinking and suggesting. I tried to think of something extra special to do for the big decade turn but failed. Instead we're just having a very nice day and reminding him frequently to have a happy birthday, and he was able to get his boots dirty, which will probably make his entire week.

I supposed it would've been nice for me to actually have a present for him to open today instead of going with him to the store to buy it tomorrow, but what is a busy mom of two little kids supposed to do when the present he wants is all the way across town and she doesn't really know what it is?  

I did make him this cheesecake and I think that will have to count for his present today. I may be better at cheesecakes than cookies.

We just have this issues with birthdays. I really like them, but he doesn't think they need to be that big of a deal. Can anyone see where I'm going with this? Anyone relate?... I could go on and on, but I suppose this birthday post should be about Brad.

We love you Brad and hope the next decade of your life is one of the best!

If you can, wish Brad a happy birthday as well, and if you need an electrician for anything give him a call. He'd consider that a nice birthday present - better than the one I didn't give him today.

 

Thankful Thursday

Thankful doesn't come close to describing how my heart overflows when I look at the last two pictures on this post. I am so undeserving.

I Canned

Three pints of salsa and three pints of diced tomatoes are all speaking to the fact that I must be getting old.                           

It has very little to do with lightening up, but it seems a very monumental point in my life. So monumental I felt it was blog worthy.

The Juice Box Issue

I'm somewhat of a purest when it comes to beverages. I drink water. It's cheap, and it's good for me. I may drink a Sprite twice a year but that depends if I'm pregnant or sick within that year. I do not plan to be either for the rest of the year at least, (You all plan when you get sick, right?) so it's all water for me for a while. Since I figure water is good enough for me, I figure my kids should be purests too. I'm okay with them drinking water and milk. It's as if I fear they're going to join the statistics of obese children if they drink anything else. That's pathetic.

Obviosly my kids have found more exciting people to give them beverages other than milk and water. I've accepted it calmly and haven't lost it. I figured they're with me most of the time and I increased my determination to just give them milk and water.  Well, that has now all changed.

I caved to the pressure. After sitting through consecutive zoo trip picnics this summer with fun moms who bring drinks for their kids that are the complete envy of Elliana, then watching her drink their drink because she can't resist the thrill of drinking with a straw something other than milk or water from a cool container, I spent the money and bought "juice boxes." I could no longer handle feeling like I was the uncool mom with the sheltered daughter who could not keep her hands off a juice box that didn't belong to her.

Even if the juice boxes I bought were just flavored water, I now consider myself a Juice Box Mom. It feels very cool to be a Juice Box Mom, and Elliana is thrilled. She would've been through the box of drinks in two days if I wouldn't have still exercised some of my drink issue control over her. Control issues don't go away over night.

All thes makes me wonder how many other things am I going to cave into as a mom. Probably better to not think about it!

Listen Up to Lighten Up

I have been so encouraged by the last three messages at our church. We were out of town last Sunday, but to make sure I didn't miss out on something good, I listened to the sermon today during nap time. (The kids' nap time, not mine.) I'm ever so glad I did. I seriously love listening to a good sermon while accomplishing something in the kitchen when the kids are napping. Feel free to call me a nerd.

I couldn't resist sharing the link with you in case you wanted to be encouraged too. Follow this link. You can either listen or print the transcript. The sermons I'm referring to are Today Matters 9/5/10, Trust More...Worry Less 8/29/10 and Beware of Greed 8/22/10.

Thankful Thursday

I often pray for my kids' safety. Several days ago I was thankful God listens and given a heavy reminder to keep at it. I was also reminded to keep watching my kids and to do my best to keep them safe. Sometimes when I should be watching them, I go into la la land. Probably an issue I should address.

Let's just say the VERY heavy solid oak dressers we have are now nailed to the ground. I can't stop thanking God for the ottoman and black stool Elliana had moved there a couple of days before. They stopped the dresser from landing right on top of Wyatt, who was sitting there happily playing, pulling out all the drawers at once. Didn't phase him one bit when everything started tilting.  I can't say the same for myself.

My stomach still churns when I think of what could've happened, but then I just thank God for keeping us safe and for very helpful reminders.

Thankful Thursday

A year ago my schedule on days I worked looked like this (if I was running on time):

8:00 leave home
7:45 drop kids off at daycare (We drove to a different time zone, which was nice for the mornings but terrible for after work.)
8:00 arrive at work
3:45ish leave work
3:50 pick up kids from daycare
6:00 get home - on a good day - the days I'd get groceries before coming home - because when you live so many miles from a grocery store you don't waste the trip - it'd be much closer to 7

Consider getting home between 6 and 7 with two kids, who usually go to bed at 8, who still need to eat supper, and possibly having groceries to unload and put away along with unloading all the other bags work and daycare related, and a lot of the time Brad wasn't home yet! ... I'm exhausted just remembering it.

Now this year:

7:20 Leave home
7:25 Drop kids off daycare
7:45 Arrive at work
3:30ish Leave work
3:40 Pick kids up
4:00 Home! Somedays I even make it before 4

On top of that I'm not having to haul around a pump; bottle up, store and freeze milk; wash pump parts and make sure I don't forget to take enough milk to daycare for the baby to eat when I leave in the morning. I love breastfeeding, but I really don't mind not having my taken up by all of that. 

I actually have a little time to make supper, Brad's usually home for supper, and I have lots of time to spend with my kids before I have to put them to bed! Hallelujah!

To all of you working, pumping mothers and to those who drive long distances to work, my heart goes out to you.

Wordless Wednesday

Our (Long) Longs Story (a long time in coming)

Remember back when I asked if you thought we made it to the top of Longs Peak? Even though people have not been knocking down my door to find out, I'm going to tell you anyway because I think it's a great story of God answering prayer.

Let me start by telling you that a couple of weeks before we climbed this mountain, one guy blew off of it and died and another fell and broke both his ankles. It's not a walk in the park.

We started hiking at 2:00 am so that we could go 7 miles, gaining 5,100 feet in elevation, to get to the top (14,255 feet in the air) before 9:00 am, in order to avoid getting struck by an afternoon thunderstorm.

The first several miles up were non eventful, just a great time talking in the dark with lights on our heads. I liked it when we would near the mountain streams in the dark. You could tell you were near water because you heard splashing, as you got closer it was more of a load rushing sound, but you didn't know where it was until you were right next to it.

The picture is from the way back down. It was light by then.

Originally Brad and I were thinking we would just go to the keyhole, but something came over me and I felt the urge to try and be something I am not. Brad has climbed 6 other 14ers, so I figured it was no big deal for him to go to the top. I might as well just try too, right?

We made it the 6 miles to the keyhole. Here we are approaching it.

Here is a view from the other side. Views like these are one of the reasons people climb mountains.

I mentioned to Brad that he looked sick. He said I did too. (Honesty is crucial in marriage.) I felt great so we kept going knowing we could always turn around. So through the keyhole we went and on to the back side of the mountain for the last mile of the climb. The hard part. Two members of our great hiking party decided they didn't want to risk their life and turned back after a few yards. Shawn went on ahead, and Brad and I took our time.

I can't tell you how risky or not risky it was because I didn't look down and just leaned into the side of the mountain. We moved slowly, but so did most everyone else we saw. We would go a little and consider if we should keep going. Brad was feeling a little nauseous, but we'd come this far so we should just finish. That was our logic after every major point. I just kept thinking about how I couldn't wait to get back to my kids. Considering how you might not live makes you want to squeeze your children.

We get past the ledge,

we conquer the trough,

and pass the narrows

to turn the corner and see this, the last 300 feet.

I think we may have said almost in unison, "We're not doing that!" We felt like we'd been on the mountain forever, were exhausted, had to climb all the way back down, and Brad really wasn't feeling well. In fact we sat down to rest and Brad sent the entire contents of his stomach rolling down the side of the mountain.

I think maybe the rock on the bottom right corner of this picture took the brunt of it.

This is another view for you of where this episode occurred, the rocks at the end of the path.

Sometimes when you get sick you feel better afterwards. That was my hope for Brad. I'd rested a little, Brad just wanted to try to sleep, so I was a selfless wife and thought I might as well try making it to the top. So I actually just left my extremely altitude sick husband sitting alone and tried to finish. What was I thinking?!

I got a few feet up, couldn't figure out how to get up a rock without someone lifting me, and saw Shawn, (who had an awesome hike experience and made it to the top!) coming back down. Any thought I had of making it to the top ended there. I was not going to spend another hour trying to get up there by myself!

So Shawn and I make it back to Brad, still sitting, still not feeling well. In fact, he looked and acted sicker than I've ever seen him. Not good my friends, considering we had about 7 miles down to go over all those things we'd just climbed, high on a mountain where staying hydrated is critical, where falling down due to weakness...

...is a terrible idea.

For the next couple hours, it looked like this.

Me telling Brad he can make it, looking at Shawn with a look of "WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO?"  and Brad looking at us like he's going to throw up again, which he did several more times. Then Shawn telling us we have to keep going or we'll get stuck in a thunderstorm. It was not good. We kept trying to give him food and encouraging him to take little drinks of water, but 10 minutes later and it all would come back out.

Brad who normally stops every 30 minutes on a mountain hike to pee, hadn't done so in a couple of hours, and could barely muster the energy do anything except sit with his head on his knees. As we slowly made our way down, stopping what felt like every 10 feet, I thought about how paying $80,000 to have Brad taken off the mountain by helicopter would be worth it and about how much it was going to cost for Brad to be taken to the ER and get IV's to get rehydrated, and how we should've just stopped at the keyhole so we could enjoy the day of vacation!

I also honestly prayed for God to give him supernatural power, and that is what happened. He made it down, and by the time we made it back to the car around 3pm, he was actually keeping food in his stomach! That's altitude sickness for you - cured by descending. That's also a very abrupt ending to a very long post. Oh well.

The morals of the story -

1.If you're feeling sick when climbing a slightly exposed mountain, it might be a good idea to turn around.

2. Don't forget to pray in crisis!

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Thanks to Shawn and 14ers.com for the pictures. I carried the camera the entire hike but never once felt like expending the energy to dig it out and take pictures.

Thanks to you for reading my long Longs post that was a very long time in coming. I hope it was worth your time and energy!