Love you all! Talk to you later!

Recently we returned from our 5 day camping trip. Although exhausted at the end of it all, we reached home with triumph. Something about spending a couple days kept company by only family, trees, and clear blue skies with occasional visits from hoards of mosquitos leaves you fulfilled...and itchy. In the midst of utter natural beauty everything else fades and you are in want for nothing. On the 2nd day after our arrival we were joined by family friends and hiked up the ridiculously steep, yet wholly rewarding Chief Peaks. At the top of each hill we were brought to marvel at the vast expanse of shining sea and majestic mountains that testified to an amazing Creator. The 3rd and 4th days arrived lazily and we stayed around the campsite. Nearing dusk on the 3rd, our youngest burned her hand as she tried to handle some just boiled, hot water but dealt with the matter bravely, making us all proud of her. The two younger ones took my husband down to the lake on the 4th. He grabbed a book and was able to get some reading done while the kids played around in the water, led by gorgeous weather. Myself and my eldest daughter joined them later on and we able to just relax in full realization that there was nowhere we had to be...nowhere but here. There was nobody currently calling for us or demanding for our attention. There was no rush and the whole concept of time began to blur into the distance of the week, only slightly hinted by the rising and setting of the sun. Harmony was something we became familiar with as the miniscule tents forced each of us to deal with one another and learn how to accomodate and compromise somewhere between one nylon taffeta wall and another. The 5th day snuck up quietly, surprising us all at its abrupt arrival. And the drive home was quiet, nothing but the voices of quietly singing music in the background as each of us pondered our week and contemplated how to bring some bit of the light we experienced in the serenity of the cosmos back home and into everyday life amidst the busy traffic streets and loud media. 
