Trek

June 21-27, 2015

Happy Father's Day! It was super weird to only have Austin at home. He walked around the house aimlessly. It was oddly quiet. So he pounded out some hymns to fill the void. We didn't really celebrate because we needed the rest of our people to be home. Next week.

 Wearing their trek hats - getting excited!

 Cards from the kids plus his STASH of M&Ms.

Little treat bags with cookies for the Dads in our branch. 

We had another linger longer after church. That was fun & always a great way to build friendship & unity among our branch. It seems to be that our attendance is always higher on food Sundays .... When we finally got home the rest of the evening was spent in trek prep. I was anxious for it to just get started. After all the planning and prep lets just do this already. We went to bed way too late and were up just a few hours later to load the pick up and meet at the church. 

 Vale 1st Ward

 From there we went to the stake center to meet, have a devotional, donuts and 

head out for our grand adventure. 

 Maria and I before we started and were dirty hahaha

Once at the sight it took some time for everything to get organized and everyone in the right spot. After that our Trail Boss, Bernadette Pratt, assigned families. We were third to the last to be assigned. I know those kids were getting a little anxious, am I going to have a family?!! I knew who the YW in our family were and was excited to meet our YM. 

Our family: Trevor Gentry {Parma 2}, Nathan Dorathy {Nyssa 2}, Jorge Ortiz {Branch}, Hailey Long {Nyssa 1}, McKenzie Martinez {Owyhee}, Kailee Laub {Parma 1} & Teagan Moody {Nyssa1}

We found an empty handcart and I told them the story of Susanna Stone who was the only member of her family to join the church in England at age 17 and immigrated to the United States by herself. She life was hard and full of challenges but she felt honored to be WORTHY to be a handcart girl. For the rest of her life she distinguished herself as a handcart girl. I challenged my family to be strong and courageous and worthy to be HANDCART KIDZ. And thus we had our family theme/motto. We designed our green flag {there were 6 companies with about 5 families in each distinguished by color. Austin was in the white company.} and stamped leather bracelets with our handcart kid name. By that time we had to roll out on the trail.

Austin was in Jason & Michelle Page's family. I was anxious for him leading up to trek. I wanted to be involved in his experience as well. But as soon as my trek family was called and hugs were given out to my new kids {I gave them fair warning that I was a hugger} my focus was directed to these kids. My new kids. I knew and trusted and had faith that Austin's family would take him in and love him just as I was doing for my trek kids.

Right after he was assigned his family {he was happy about it I promise.}

The first day was the longest and hardest trail wise. We started out uphill and continued that way until we stopped for lunch. It was harder that I expected. I tend to romanticize things in my head. I knew that trek was going to be an amazing, spiritual experience. Hard too but I didn't think about that part too much. It.Was.HOT. It felt like 120 degrees plus all the layers of clothing and then the physical effort. We were all sweating buckets. We stopped often for water. We were so blessed to have such strong boys in our family. They wanted to pull the entire time and lead well. The girls and I would push in the back. Kurt was always wandering. It annoyed me at times but I realized that he was always helping another family when he was off. He has a golden heart and felt bad for jumping to quick conclusions. I was amazed how quickly our family bonded. Working together through sweat and faith will do that to you. It was very easy to see very quickly that we had amazing kids. The BEST. And they all felt that way about each other.

stopping for lunch followed by some group games

 I found Austin during the lunch break. He was doing well!

We carried on for a few more hours {I don't really know how long - I didn't have a watch} until we reached our camp site for the night. As we walked we made our family song. It was the repeat after me song, "The other day, up in the woods, I met a bear etc..." We had a verse for each family member, it was fun to get their input. Kailee was great about helping me. The boys would not sing. Towards the end Nathan had a few suggestions - I made sure to use them since he was actually showing some interest. After that he was inspired to write his own {deathly} version of she'll be coming around the mountain with sound effects by Trevor. It was quite apparent to me that Hailey found Trevor to be quite cute {which he is.} Kurt and I would watch and chuckle. Ahhhh silbing love hahahahaha. She always placed herself to pull right next to him. She is a rock of a girl though and always willing to share experiences and her testimony. Trevor surprised me, I expected him to think he was too cool for the trek but that wasn't the case. He was always the first to jump in to serve or volunteer. Nathan similarly had the same attitude of service. Together both of them looked for Teagan's lost water bottle, pumping up President Peterson's air mattress {Trevor}, coming back to get McKenzie after the women's pull, and helping our weaker cousin family pull their cart when the hills got tough. They were hard workers. Jorge was quiet and didn't say a lot. When he did grace you with a smile it lit up his whole face and you felt a small victory had been won. He was definitely a teddy bear underneath all that huge footballer frame. The few comments he did make {unprompted} were always so  FUNNY. "Dude that tree is bleeding." {sap} Teagan is one of the cutest deacons ever. He was forever running off to look for rocks or to check on his friends. One of the most common phases out of my mouth was, "Where's Teagan?" McKenzie was quiet and harder to get to know but worth the effort when she let you in. At one point she said, "You guys are nicer to me than my own family." That broke my heart. I love that girl. And that's the thing. I LOVE all those kids. All seven of them are my kids now. I knew I that was going to love them but I didn't realize how much, how deeply and how quickly.

From our Ma Pa training I expected us to tell Pioneer stories or do something spiritual at every resting point. The handcarts were close together that it didn't really provide you an intimate teaching setting unless you wanted to talk to the entire company. At first I felt like I was doing something wrong but being led by the spirit I could see our family was moving in the right direction. Kurt and I both took moments to teach and testify when it was needed and joked, played and bonded all the times in between. During testimony meeting Hailey bore he testimony and said, "My ma and pa have it down to a science, right amount of fun and spiritual." That was a very nice validation.

Trevor like to sleep under the handcart. 

After set up camp they had activities planned before dinner. Tug of War, Hammering relay, Leather stamping {bracelet and journal.} After dinner there was square and line dancing. Ahhhh we were so bad! I nearly peed my pants laughing so hard at how bad we were. Austin was in our dancing circle at that point and he was sooooo stiff. Hahahaha! Good times.

Back in our camp we had FHE and played with glow in the dark balls afterwards. Kurt and I were just shocked that our kids didn't leave. They.Just.Wanted.To.Be.Together. If their friends wanted them they came to our family at which point our kids proudly told them we were THE best family. I was grateful that the bonding came easily and that EVERYONE was included. It was beautiful. I loved our group hugs after each prayer & anyone time I could make them. ;)

The second day was the most spiritual for me. I was shedding tears left and right. I am grateful I took the time to read the handcart company story. The stories, sacrifices and individuals were fresh in my mind. I cannot express my true admiration for our ancestors that came before us. They are individuals made up of incredible describable courage and faith.

After lunch we prepared for the women's pull. As we sat down to sing and have a devotional I immediately got emotional. The gravity of the men leaving was real and sorrowful. Not because I was worried about the physical aspect of pulling the handcart alone with my daughters but the thought of losing family members on a journey that was exhausting on every level was just about too much. Saying the family prayer before they left was emotional draining. As the boys in our family left clearly carrying as much as they physically could to lighten our load I clarified to my daughters - I was not afraid of the task at hand. There was no doubt in my mind that we would not be able to accomplish it. The emotions were an expression of love and sorrow for the people you love the most. The hill was a beast. The hardest climb we had to face. There were steep points I was not sure we would make. But I am so proud of my girls. They worked hard, didn't falter and didn't give up. At point we were practically running with the momentum. I kept checking on McKenzie to make sure she was doing ok. She was looking exhausted and was not responding much. About that time our boys were in the back helping us push. Just a few minutes later McKenzie and I pulled off so she could rest. It was so HOT and very easy to overheat with the physical effort. Honestly it goes against my very nature to stop and rest in that situation. But it wasn't about me. She didn't want to rest for too long before we were back on the trail. She is tough. What was a beautiful sight to me to see her siblings coming back to get her as soon as they had parked the handcart. The ONE is important. That experience resonated with me. Jesus left the 99 to find the 1. As individual we are known and loved.

For Kurt leaving the girls was the most spiritual part of the trek. The thought of leaving his family behind, knowing the struggles they would have to face was too much. Later when we got home from trek Austin shared this incredibly cool experience with me. While the girls were pulling the handcarts the boys were at the top listening to Brother Wolfe {our Stake YM president.} Prompted by a challenge he received in Sunday School a week before trek Austin had prayed to know if the church was true. He told me he received his answer as he listened to Brother Wolfe teach about the importance of being ready and prepared to be missionaries. These are the moments your mother heart prays for. My heart is overjoyed.

Kurt spent nearly an hour trying to find the perfect camping spot and then we walked up one last hill to see this amazing view at the valleys and mountains around us. It was breathtaking. It kinda became our place and we spent many more important moments up there. Before leaving Trevor, Teagan and Nathan had to do some exploring. They heard a rattle snake and Trevor came alive! He was a different kid, he's eye had a spark and he was twitching. He was determined to catch that snake. Kurt took them back up {armed with a shovel and pipe from our games} to kill the snake. They made a couple trips up and never actually killed it - it wouldn't come out of the rocks but they are pretty sure they chopped off its rattler...He was such a good pa to those boys.

After dinner was testimony meeting. The group meeting was ... iffy ... there are always some characters that get up. But luckily it didn't last forever and we separated into families to have our own testimony meeting. That was one of my most spiritual parts of trek. I was overcome with love for these kids that I cared about as my own. It shed a whole new light on adoption for me. I'm grateful everyone took their took to bare their testimony and put them self out there to be blessed by the trekking spirit.

By Wednesday morning we were all ready to get clean and get home. Can you believe it? After 2 1/2 days. Not even a scratch in the experience the pioneers went through. It is hard to comprehend their sacrifice and not question myself, "would I have been strong enough, faithful enough, steadfast enough..." Regardless the answers I will continue pioneering through the rocky ridges given to me to cross. We finished up at noon and loaded back into the cars for the stake center. I was disappointed with the ending - it was anticlimactic and I had a closing devotional I wanted to give to bring our family theme full circle. Kurt and I were dying with allergies all day especially by the time we finished. It made our closing thoughts a little hairy. Oh well, I can't change it. It was wonderful to reconnect with Austin and hear all about his experiences.

It was a beautiful thing to get home and shower. I can honestly and truthfully say I have never been so dirty in my entire life.

Poor Kurt did get a big blister. He didn't complain once about it. 

It was interesting to see how much Austin needed our attention when we were reunited. He craved our time and affection and maybe the reassurance that our love for him didn't change even though we had been loving on our trek kids. Kurt was so great to play scrabble with him while I took a 30 minute nap. Then we jumped in the car and headed to Utah. Nothing short of a miracle we didn't have to stop and arrived just before midnight.

It was great to see the kids again Thursday morning. We got ready for the day and headed south for Provo. We had an appointment at the BYU Bean Museum for a live animal show. We were the only ones there and come to find out the kid giving the show is from Parma {and his sister-in-law works for Kurt!} Small world. The kids loved the show, especially Spencer. The shocker of the day was when the kids were taking turns holding the snake {minus Ruth} and before I could blink Jane was standing right next to it ready for her turn and she did it! The museum was great and very enjoyable. Afterwards we had lunch outside and then ice cream at the creamery. The kids were so kind to fight on the way home - Welcome Home Mom!

 BYU Creamery Ice Cream 

Friday was Austin's day with Grandma and Grandpa Richards since he was on trek during Richards' Retreat. They left the house that morning to do baptisms for the dead. He had 3 family names, that he found that he did the work for. I think that it super cool!

The rest of the kids and I drove up north to Logan to spend the day with Elaine. We went and watched "Inside Out" and then played on the slip and slide all afternoon. When Grandma and Grandpa and Austin got home we had a delicious BBQ. It was hot but somehow we managed to go to sleep {after Elaine and I had watched a Hallmark movie and the older kids moved outside to sleep on the tramp.}

Saturday morning Elaine and I went and got pedicures and pastries. It was the perfect pampering. I'm glad its something fun we can do together. Who knew I'd become a pedicure girl? hahaha After lunch we packed up and headed for home.

I cannot tell you how wonderful it was to be home. As I was driving home I realized that I had been on the road driving on a major trip EVERY Saturday in the month of June. {June 6 Oregon Coast to San Fran, June 13 San Fran to Home, June 20 Idaho Falls to home, June 27 WJ to home.} Time to be home. 

Huge shout out to my parents for watching the kids while we were at trek. It was not only super helpful but incredibly fun as well since they did Richards Retreat. The theme was dinosaurs. They were gracious enough to let Jane attend since they were watching her anyway. The kids had such a FUN time!! They kept telling me all the fun details. Thank you for taking the time to create lasting memories with my kids and spend quality time together. I LOVE YOU!!!