Falling in Love With Z's Mountains

Yahoo!!! My longest visit to the Dolomites! We spent 4 ½ lovely (even if partially rainy) days in the Trentino-Alto Adige area of the Dolomites a few weeks ago. Being in the mountains is so liberating. This is our special place in the mountains because it's where Zeno always came as a kid.

Here are a few pictures from our time of relaxing, hiking (including an 8-hour hike), via Ferrata (no pics! I was too busy climbing!), and white water rafting. We went biking into a beautiful valley one day as well, unfortunately my bike rental seat gave me an awful time which took a bit of the joy out of that journey… note to self for next time... However, once we’d biked to the top of the valley we had a lovely nap in the cool grass. It’s just too much to tell, so I’ll let the pics do their own talking:

Next time you might be here seeing it with us in person :)

Kittens, Frogs and Snakes

Papa is still tottering on the edge of wellness having good days and bad days. Because of that we, especially Z, have been making more frequent trips down to Tuscany to see them.

Last weekend was quite lovely – Tuscany was sunny and bright as compared to Milan which has had quite hormonal weather ranging from torrential rain to sun and then to hail… From Mum and Papa’s place we could hear thunder and see the black clouds but we remained under the sun.

One of the new arrivals to Mum and Papa’s Tuscan farm was this crazy hilarious little kitten! She doesn’t have a proper name yet, but she’s very sociable – almost like a little puppy. She wants to play and get into whatever you’re doing. She was playing a funny game one-day and trying to balance herself on our car’s rear windshield wiper! Then, when I was pitting cherries, (Oh! I forgot to mention, Z and I picked two whole sacks of cherries! We were trying to save a few from the birds), this little kitten was trying to jump into the pail where the cherry pits went! Too silly.

Just before leaving I went down to the frog pond near the house because I wanted to watch the froggies – you can hear them singing all night and during the day if you draw close you hear the “flip! Flop!” of them jumping to hide in the pond. My plan was to get close and then stay very still until they regained courage and came out and began croaking again.

It worked! I had to be very patient, but after about 15 minutes they all began moving and croaking along to one another. I was especially happy when they came close enough to me that I could see them really well – brilliant green, puffing out their cheeks… and then, I saw the reeds shake a bit again and looked to see if another frog was coming out… woah! Right through the reeds and grass directly toward me comes a yellow and black water snake!!! It must be about 4 ½ foot long and a good inch thick around the middle… stay still… don’t move… maybe it will go away… No, it came right up to me about a food and ½ away, stopped dead in it’s tracks and then began to raise itself up… one… two feet… tongue began flicking in and out… that’s too much! I bolted back and to the side and, thankfully, as soon as I moved it bolted away too! It was MUCH faster than me, so I’m glad it wanted to run away and nothing else… 

Tranquil Mountain Lake or Awe-inspiring Waterfall?

There are times in our lives and relationships when everything seems to be running along smoothly . Things just work out the way we hope and expect and we’re even tempted to begin taking the routine of daily life for granted. These periods, when we’re able to be well rested and take time to care for and appreciate the gifts God’s given us as we should, these periods are precious and, I must confess, they are often rare. We have time to contemplate, to converse meaningfully, to journal, to delve into the Source of Life and come out clear and refreshed.

These are the tranquil mountain lakes in our lives.

More often, I find that we are rushing and crashing and whirling in the midst of the sundry activities, responsibilities, planning and events that our lives are usually made up of. Sometimes entire weeks go past before we have a chance to process what actually took place! It’s those days when you arrive at the end and you think, “Whew! What a day!” and you’re ready to jump into bed and rest mind, body and soul, but then the realization hits, “Well, wait… what did I actually do all day that wore me out?”. You get so caught up in the flurry that we didn’t even notice things going past!

These are the awe-inspiring waterfalls in our lives.  

I don’t know about you, but on a mountain hike I love finding the waterfalls. The sound the sight the scent… it breaths of power and majesty! I’d love to sit down on the bridge and just absorb the experience… But then, the hike continues on, up, up, up… Finding those waterfalls along the way is delightful, but hiking up is tiring. And then you reach the mountain lake at the top of the river… the source of all those waterfalls. And it’s so peaceful and calm… you just want to put your blanket down and read or sleep or both! Such serenity and the sense of fulfillment at having arrived.

I used to hate the hectic time of my life. The times when I felt I couldn’t catch my breath (let alone my sleep) before something else was calling for my attention and I felt worn thin to the bone with my energy waning…  And I used to think that the completely tranquil times were the norm! And take them for granted – this is how life is supposed to be!

It wasn’t until recently when God brought this analogy into my mind that I began to realize that the beauty of life is the combination of the two. I wouldn’t want to only know the mountain lake, nor would I have the energy to endure the uphill hike constantly for the sake of experiencing only the waterfalls.

Matt 6:34 So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself.

March 27th 2011

The year 2000 was a big year for me. This year that marked my second decade of life brought along two major surgeries – one to remove cancer and one to rebuild my jaw. Following the one surgery was radioactive therapy and the second was 2+ months of liquid diet from having my jaw wired shut.

Sure, not fun times, but my family was AWESOME! They were with me and literally beside me the whole way. Not to mention that God truly poured out His grace on me to see me through. Funny thing is that one of the most vivid memories I have from that time is how frustrated I was that I was so winded and wiped out just from walking short distances.  My attitude was, ok, surgery and treatments are over – now it’s time to be all better! And when that didn’t happen straight away, well, that was hard.

So, this one day, when I was walking around the lake but was forced to sit down on the curb because, after about 15 yards, I’d gotten so dizzy and breathless, I determined that I was going to be able to run around the entire lake without stopping. It was a spur of the moment determination because I’d never been a runner, only playing soccer in high school, but in that moment, that was the goal I felt that if I could do that, than I would count myself all better. And so it began…

And this past March 27^th, 2011 marks my 5^th mini marathon!!!! Oh yeah! If that’s not a testimony to God’s strength and faithfulness I don’t know what is. Like Eric Liddell said, “When I run, I feel His pleasure”. Now comparing Eric running and Amanda running is like comparing a sycamore to a forget-me-not, but I imagine the resulting God given pleasure is much the same J  

I Cor. 10:31 Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.