Goodbye 2010

Wow, I can't believe that the year is over already. It was an interesting year for us. 2010 brought a lot of changes for our life. It also brought a lot of growth and strength for us. Jon McLaughlin released a Christmas song this year that says something about thinking back about what a crazy year it's been, and every time I hear the song I can't help but think how fitting that line is for us. We are looking forward to the new year and the changes and adventure that it will bring us as we remember all that 2010 brought. I just hope that 2011 can be a little easier on us. Here are some highlights of our year.

• Enjoying skiing several times at our favorite ski resort in Montana, knowing all along that it would be our last season to be able to drive just a few hours to such incredible skiing.


• Tough times at PH. Lots of tears, frustration, and prayer, all while strengthening friendships that will last a lifetime because of the common bond we all share. We are so thankful for friends who shared that time with us.


• A month of goodbyes in June: Saying goodbye to the life in Montana that we had grown to love so much. What a wonderful place. Saying goodbye to kids that we had grown to love, many we had seen grow up over the last four years. Saying goodbye to those friends we had made and grown so close to over the years. Saying goodbye to a wonderful cycling group in Polson that is completely unique that we miss greatly.

• A fun drive from Montana to Indiana. We got to visit Yellowstone and Mt. Rushmore again.
  

• Struggling to find jobs in Bloomington, where we moved in with my parents while we figure out what we are going to do with our lives now. We both did find jobs relatively quickly, and John found a job that was a better fit for his education background and hopefully a better foot in the door at the school corporation that he just started after Christmas. It took a little soul searching, but we've both decided to stick it out with education and do what it takes to find teaching jobs. We're looking forward to giving it another chance. Since deciding to become teachers in college, we have both felt strongly that there is a great need for Christian teachers in the public schools, and hopefully we will be used in that way.

• House hunting has been a new experience for us this fall/winter. We looked at many many houses, and we think we have found one. We are in the process of making an offer, so hopefully good news about that will follow soon.

• Building connections and friendships in our new community and reconnecting with family.

• Finding a new church that we love.

We've definitely come a long way this year, in more ways than one. In many ways it has been a year of turbulence, and we are looking forward to some calm and rest in 2011.

Be Still and Know That I Am God

This needs to be a theme verse for this time in our lives right now. This picture is one of our favorites and we have it hanging in our bedroom. It is a good reminder to be at rest and trust that God knows what he is doing in our lives right now. We are still without a home to call our own, living on the wonderful generosity of my parents. They have been great to us, and I know they don't mind us staying, but we are just missing our own place, our own stuff, our own life. We both still feel that we are in transition with our jobs, hoping for something better to come along soon. Still we feel very blessed that God is providing for every need, even if it is in a different way than we would have chosen ourselves. We are definitely growing a lot during this time and learning to be patient and have faith. I'm not saying that it is always easy, just that we are appreciating all that God is doing in our lives right now. Our new church is wonderful as is the small group we have joined. They have been a huge support to us in this time of waiting. Even as we are waiting, God is showing us ways he is moving. John has a renewed passion for teaching and is hoping to get his license renewed so he can start looking for a teaching job in the area next fall. He is going to be starting a new part-time job as a site coordinator for an after school program (same thing I do) after Christmas. He's excited about that opportunity, but will be quitting a full time job to take something part time, so we are praying that he will get this other job through the school system that he is interviewing for on Thursday. We continue to look for a house and have narrowed down our search criteria considerably. It is such a huge decision to make, and we don't want to rush into a purchase just because we are ready to have a house. This will continue to be a time of change and transitioning for us, but we will press on toward the goal, and continue to seek his guidance for each step we take.

The Move Back To Indiana

What an adventure it was moving back to Indiana. We rented a Uhaul Trailer to tow behind our Xterra, and then we were going to drive our car separately. Luckily, Heather's sister Amber and her husband decided to fly out to Montana and help us drive back. This was great because it meant we didn't have to drive each of the vehicles alone, and we were able to share the load of the 1900 mile drive.

With the help of several other staff members at the ranch we were able to load up the trailer and both of our vehicles. The trailer was a 6 x 12 foot trailer, and we used every square foot of that trailer. When you opened the door it was completely packed. Heather and I pretty much shut down during the loading process because we were so overwhelmed and we knew we were not going to be able to fit everything. We loaded what we could, and then helped our friends Tim and Lisa, who also worked for the ranch, load there 26 foot truck because they were also leaving. They ended up having quite a bit of extra space, so we didn't have to leave behind much of anything. Tim and Lisa took our grill and our dog's 400lb. dog house (not small items!) and several other things which was a relief to us.

We left on Monday to head to Bozeman, MT to pick up Amber and Shawn. They knew I was really stressed when we got to the airport because the drive to the airport took a lot longer than I thought it was going to take. This was mainly because the trailer was swerving all over the road and it seemed quite dangerous. I knew something was wrong, and I figured it was with the weight distribution in the trailer. After Shawn pulled the trailer for a few miles, he concluded the same thing. There was only one thing to do...repack the trailer.

We planned on dropping off the trailer in Livingston, MT and then driving into Yellowstone for a few days. We stopped at the Uhaul facility in Livingston, and began to repack the trailer by taking almost everything out. The whole process took only about an hour and a half, and we even ended up with a little bit more room than we had the first time. I told everyone during the repacking that I was kind of having fun doing it, and it was a challenge to see if we could make everything fit. After a test drive to test out or new arrangement, we left the trailer and headed to Yellowstone. We spent the rest of Monday evening and most of Tuesday in the park. We saw a total of 5 grizzlies, which was certainly the highlight of that trip for all of us. We talked about going white water rafting, but that was going to make for a cold, wet, and early morning that we weren't really feeling up to. We left the park Tuesday evening and made it that night to Billings, MT. The next day we drove to Mount Rushmore. The weather was getting pretty bad and there were actually tornado warnings, so when we were done at the monument and had dinner we headed to Wall, South Dakota, which is right next to the badlands. We saw a lot of lightning, but we made it safe.

The next morning Shawn and Amber took our car and went through the Badlands. We waited for them at the end of the loop because we didn't want to pull the trailer through the national park. We drove a lot that day and made it all the way to Moliene, Illinois (almost home!). The humidity was not a welcome site, and we had to use the air conditioning the further east we went. We arrived in Indiana on that Friday. We made pretty good time considering the sites that we saw, all the stops for gas, and the repacking of the trailer. It was good to stop and not have to drive a lot the next day. I had a few extra days with the trailer so I took it to Greencastle, Indiana were Tim and Lisa left our stuff with Heather's other sister. It is all now at Heather's parents house and waiting for our next home. Thanks for your prayers and all of you that helped with the loading, unloading, or reloading (lol). I will post some more scenic pictures of our trip soon. It has been 2 months since the move and I am just now getting around to this.

Weekend of Training In Wallace

Well, I haven't blogged forever and a lot has changed so I am doing a few posts all at once to say what we have been doing over the last couple of months. At the end of May, I had a great opportunity to meet with fellow cyclists and triathletes in Wallace, Idaho for a training weekend. Heather was occupied at the ladies' retreat that our ranch hosts, so I decided to attend the training weekend. I knew I had to be prepared for it because it was going to be several days of intense workouts. It takes forever for the weather to warm up here in the Spring so my training over the last couple of weeks before the weekend had been lacking. I did get in an 80 mile ride the week before around Flathead Lake, which was a cool experience. I had tried to get in 200 miles of biking each week for the last two weeks but I probably only got around 150 miles each week.

The weekend consisted of a 12 mile time trial on Friday where we each raced against the clock up a canyon right outside of town. It was a hard climb out but a fast ride back into town. I finished about halfway down in the pack, which considering the group of people that I was with I was happy with that.

On Saturday we ate a big breakfast and then spent most of the day on the bike. About twenty of us rode 130 miles. It was a ride I had done once before, and it is such a cool route going across a large section of the panhandle of Idaho. I often battle stomach problems on these kinds of rides just because it is such a long, physical day without regular meals. I am constantly eating nutrition bars, using gels, and drinking sports drinks because although physical conditioning is important, nutrition is just as critical. I have suffered at times because I have made mistakes. We did have one crash at one point, but luckily despite a few scrapes, a lot of dirt, and a pretty trashed wheel we were able to make it back to Wallace. It took about 8 hours total with some stops along the way. After the ride I ran a couple of miles. The transition from biking to running is often very difficult in a triathlon, so it is the kind of thing you need to prepare for. After the run, I went and soaked my legs in the icy waters of a stream near the house where we were staying. Sounds crazy but it really helps relieve soreness. After a nice dinner, we stat down to discuss the next day....a day I was rather worried about.

Sunday was a day for triathletes. Many of the people with us were seasoned triathletes having competed in multiple ironman events. In fact, we had three current pros and one retired pro with us. That may have been the coolest thing about the weekend. These people were amazing. Some of them have sponsors that provide them with fancy bikes, nutritional bars, and top-notch clothing. Linsey Corbin was with us that weekend, and she just won Ironman Coeur d' Alene this past weekend. Now that we are living back in Indiana, I hope I can continue to train with athletes like this because it can only make me better. We spent the day riding the actual course of Ironman Coeur d' Alene. We did 56 miles on the bike (or half of the course) and then half of the run course (13 miles). It took 3 hours to do the bike portion, and it was hard because there are a lot of turns and since it isn't race day, the roads are not blocked off or labeled. I got stopped at a number of lights and made a couple of wrong turns, so I am pretty sure doing this in under 3 hours is possible. The run was very hilly and I didn't take water with me, so I started to get dehydrated the last half of the run. It was a great experience, and if I can afford it. I would like to do Ironman Coeur d' Alene in June of 2011. I don't have any pictures but you can see some at Linsey's blog and you can see the perspective of someone just "a little" faster than me. www.linseycorbin.com/node/499

Roundup

Thursday we had our annual cattle roundup, and it was probably the best weather we've had in the four years we've been here. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day to be out having fun. They start out the day with the seniors and some of the older kids riding the horses out in the field to bring in the cows. The funny thing this year was that the cows were all up over a ridge pretty close to where they wanted to bring them, so they sent some kids on foot to drive the cattle out to the people on horses, so that they could then drive them into the corral. No one was thrown off the horse and injured this year, fortunately (that has been a problem in past years). After they brought in the cows, they sorted them out and we ate lunch. After lunch, the fun began. The kids go out in small groups of 4-6 and they send in one calf that they have to wrestle to the ground so that it can be vaccinated and branded. Usually the staff don't participate, but John and I both thought it would be fun to give it a try this year, so I went out with the girls from my class and John did it with the boys from his class. It was fun! The idea is for one person to get the head and the others pull on the legs to knock it down. After chasing the poor little calf around the corral for a few minutes I managed to get it around the neck and the girls knocked it down. We managed to do it without anyone getting kicked, squashed, or pooped on, so I'd say we were pretty successful. The rest of the afternoon, they take the kids on horseback rides, we eat some more, and just hang out. It was a great day, and even better since it is a day we don't have to go to school. It even counts as a school day because it is an educational experience. Its kind of like a field trip to the farm, only we live on the farm.

John's Awesome Bike Video

It's Been Awhile

Well, I'm not going to lie. We've had a tough year. I haven't gotten on here to post anything recently because I haven't really had much to post. Things are starting to look up though. We have only 5 weeks of school left and we are so looking forward to that. The weather is getting warmer, the sun is shining more, and we are enjoying getting outside and doing some of the things we love so much.

• We both competed in the Grizzly Triathlon this April. It was a lot of fun.
• John has raced in 2 bike races this spring, including a 53 mile race with a lot of gravel.
• I've been working on my homemade yogurt, and I pretty much have it down.
• We took the youth group kids to a youth rally in Havre and they had a great time.
• We went skiing a few weekends ago on the last day of the season and got to see a pond skimming contest. The water was probably barely over 32 degrees.
• Did I mention we are ready for school to be over and it is only 5 more weeks!
• John has been making a video for a contest on Bicycling magazine to win a new bike. I'll post it on here soon. It's really pretty good.