I wrote this yesterday, but what I would really like to post about is the extremely convoluted way we are getting internet right now, but I don’t have time. So let me just say that this is it on internet for the week. I have a couple of things coming up on their own, but I won’t be around to reply to or enjoy your comments until Saturday when we return to civilization. So peace out from the moon.

Sunday, August 10, 2008
North Cascades National Park

So we left Whistler yesterday around 11am. We said goodbye to Kyle and Amber who came up Thursday evening and blessed us by playing with our kids and providing adult company for me during their impromptu 2 night stay with us. I couldn’t have asked for a better gift this week. When we got to our new campsite last night, Ben said I wish we could go back to Whistler. Man, I loved Whistler. When I asked him what he had loved most about being in Whistler, he answered, Kyle and Amber were there. Then the other two said that, Yes, their favorite thing about Whistler was Kyle and Amber too. I didn’t even bother to explain that Whistler and the Hendricksons didn’t necessarily go together. I just thanked the Lord one more time for the chance the kids had to be around someone besides me, and vice versa.

In addition to helping us load up all our gear yesterday morning, ahem…in the rain, Amber and Kyle rode bikes with big kids, different ones at different times…oh, the novelty of individual attention, looked at the hundreds of drawings the kids have done over the summer, listened to their stories and even cooked us dinner. Kyle also carried Simon in the backpack, let Simon lead him all over the beach filling up his bucket with water and then carrying it to where he wanted it to go. He threw everyone on the bed, pushed them on the tire swing and carried them on his shoulders…all multiple times. Shouts of Kyle, Kyle, my turn, my turn! Or push me, push me next! could be heard all over Whistler over the few days they were there. While he played his heart out (I’m sure he needed some extra sleep after they went home), Amber and I got to visit, which was life-giving to me. It was just easier to tackle Whistler with two extra adults.

We also said goodbye to our Whistler neighbors, in particular a darling little gal that played with Mary Polly and helped us to finally break in the croquet set we’d been toting around all summer. Even though Amber actually won the match, Mary Polly and Chloe both had their share of the lead throughout the game.

Cole discovered Canadian football. Simon vegged out on Sesame Street. Mary Polly made yummy cookies all by herself. Ben met someone who speaks his language, which is party. And Taido actually had some sort of breakthrough on his thesis. He came home one evening and actually said out loud to all of us (including Kyle and Amber), I was brilliant today! I had hot running water, constant internet access and adult company. It was brilliant.

I don’t know if it was the friendly neighbors, Kyle and Amber’s visit, the fantasy like village of Whistler, or just having a condo for a week, but probably all of the above helped me drive away yesterday in the falling rain and actually feel energized for what was ahead. Even the unknown. Not so many days ago, I was feeling less than ready to face the unknowns, the new adventures, the many empty tomorrows that were checkering the path between me and my homecoming. But yesterday, as we drove down the sea-to-sky highway, which is, by the way, unbelievably beautiful, I was feeling just a weensy bit more adventurous. I didn’t feel quite like throwing my explore journal out the window when there were five quotes in a row about the necessity of unknown in travel or the beauty that lies in the lack of a routine. Which was good. Because we headed yesterday to North Cascades National Park, which is pretty far from anything. It is another lush green (damp) mountainous forest, with ferns and moss and slugs and bugs. There is a darling general store within biking distance, but we are at least 60 miles from a major town. I think if we hadn’t had the combination of gifts that was and will always be to us, Whistler, last week, I would be in danger of a major breakdown right now. But instead, I even weathered with relative ease what we have fondly begun to call Transition Day, which is better than calling it the day we move everything and set up in a new place and I almost kill everyone, including myself. Simon was screaming his head off last night when we were trying to get him changed into his pajamas and settled down for bed. The tension was growing in the camper as Simon’s screams escalated, and I was able to calmly say, I don’t think Simon is having a good Transition Day instead of, Will someone please pass me a knife? Friends that is nothing less than a miracle.

Everyone fell asleep (except Simon) while I was singing to Simon and trying to calm his little post fit hiccups. While I held him against my chest in the dark and listened to the sound of the raindrops on the pop up, I thanked the good Lord once again for our camper to keep us dry, for bringing us safely to a new place and for just a little over a week before we start for home.

This is the Day that the Lord has made. I will rejoice and be glad in it.