Thursday, June 24, 2010

Are we there yet?

Ah, the ultimate question of travel with children!
Come to think of it, it is an excellent question for our spiritual lives too.
A couple more questions for your spiritual journey:

How will I know when I get there?
Where is there?
Do I know where I am going?
Do I have a destination in mind?
Have I prepared for the journey?
Did I forget to pack something?
Do I know where to get directions?
Do I trust the directions?
Am I willing to ask for and follow directions?
Have I started the journey?

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Home, by the numbers

We were gone for 11 days; 10 nights; slept in 5 beds in 4 states (Iowa, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan); drove through 8 states (Nebraska, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska); put about 2,500 miles on the van; filled the van with gas 4 times; got 24 mpg on 10% ethanol 89 octane gas, got 26 mpg on no ethanol 87 octane gas; ate too many fast foods; each of us consumed on average 4/5 of a quart of soft serve ice cream in 48 hours; saw dozens of wonderful family and friends, some of whom we haven't seen for 11 months; only checked email once a day; girls watched strawberry shortcake ferry berry video at least 6 times; numerous other videos viewed; biked @7 miles through 2 tunnels on the old Pennsylvania turnpike (pike2bike) with @35 Nolt cousins, of which over half were less than teenagers; had lots of conversations; shared hugs and handshakes; preached one sermon (meditation); Suzanne spent 1 day of shopping with her sister, 2 mornings of connection with a great friend; 44+ hours on the road; 1 big suitcase for 5 peoples clothes; 1 little suitcase for 5 peoples shoes; 2 more broken pairs of flip-flops; 2 rain storms while driving, and hours of sunshine; and memories...