Autumn

My favorite season is here.  I want to slow it down.  I want to hang on to every day as long as possible.  Maybe that's why I have trouble sleeping at night!  Maybe heaven will be one continuous month....OCTOBER.

Tommy decided to put together a walking week.  He has talked about it for years, and it finally came to fruition.  We are staying at Appalachian Christian Camp in Unicoi, Tennessee with some friends.  Everyday we get up, have devotions together, and go on a long hike.  We come back in the evening, have supper together, devotions again,  then some play board games.  Tommy and I fall into bed, exhausted.

Tommy has been having back problems, so is wearing a back belt.  Yesterday was our first day, so we hiked The Roan, as we call it - Roan Mountain.  It's pretty much straight up.  The rest of the gang went a lot further than we did, but at least we made it part of the way.  My cousin Judy had bought us hiking sticks several years ago, and we bought 3 more so we would each have two.  What a difference that makes!  I am unstable on level ground anymore, much less a steep mountain path!  

I didn't see many more (if any) people my age on the path, so I spent a lot of time thanking God that I was able to hike at all!  I would not have missed the beauty of yesterday if there was any way I could make it...and I did.  WE did.

Today we are doing another grueling hike to Laurel Fork Falls.  I will go as far as I can, and hopefully will make it all the way to the falls.  It's about a 5 mile round trip, as was yesterday's  hike.

I am writing this to encourage all of you to try and make dreams come true.  A hiking week has been a dream of Tommy's for many years.  It might have been nice had it happened before I turned 80 and he hurt his hip, but we are doing it!  Many would say they were too old.  Many would say they don't have time.  Many would say all the planning (food ) was just too much.  

Looking back at all the plans and dreams that have come to pass in the lives of Tommy and me and John boy and Jason, I can see what a difference it has made.  Tommy is a firm believer in putting stuff on the calendar that we want to see happen.  To say "I don't have time" is not a reason.  If you put it on the calendar, it will happen, unless something drastic happens.  Most of the time though, our calendar plans have happened. 

We often include others in those plans, as we did this weekend.  I always wonder, when we plan  an outing like this, if something will happen to make a difference in all our lives.  I can honestly say that most of the time it does.  Whether it is an incident that happens or something someone says, I look back and reflect at how my life has changed because of the adventures Tommy has planned.

  Honestly, if it were up to me, I would stay home with a good book.  I am SO glad it isn't up to me.  I am so thankful I married a man who, like Jesus, says "follow me."   Life has been so much more exciting!