mucho props (extreme gratefulness)

4/5/09

hey era-body.

this is a deeply sincere thanks to everyone who has been following us to this point, praying, reading, thinking... and i want to especially give a big warm hug to a few peeps in particular for their physical contributions to our journey in the last few weeks. the chapman's: mr. jimmy & ms. emily for the cinnamon rolls, ear plugs, and such ;) way too much, but thank you a ton; to ms. leslie from e.n.t. for the financial investment- huge thanks, you've blessed us with a warm delicious food to nourish our hungry bodies; to ms. amy lien for her encouraging words, awesome shipping skills, and friends with relatives in the hotel industry (more on this later); to papercrown productions (jonathan king & elliott davis), for their video editing & computing skills to get all the t's crossed and i's dotted with this blog... so you guys get a better idea of where we are... & more impressively what our days look like with a soundtrack, as little dull moments as possible, and chops of scenes arranged in ways that will probably make this voyage look similar to that of a planet earth, mixed with a little bear grills episode, and one of those state travel promotional videos - where they make arizona look like the best vacation destination on the planet (even better than tupelo), but except in our case, the A.T. - "the place where magical dreams come true"...(and it is... for us... and maybe for you too at some point, even if only a mile or two); to my daddy for his words to me, and emails to you guys-getting the word out about this site and making sure the location device is doing its' job; and last to mention specifically, the brains and heart behind the operation my momma... taking care of us with food package delivery, gear shipments, shuttle pick ups, and hotel/hostel reservations; and for general mention, all of the family and friends that heard our dreams, joined in our pursuits, pushed us out the door, are praying for us daily, and keep reminding us of the dream when it's hard to see it, and challenge us to continue the chase.

now for those answered prayers that you guys might not have heard about, and if you had, wouldn't know who the instruments were. well to give some praise our Father, I will do my very best to recall all of the answered, and even those unvoiced on our end, gifts along the way in the last few weeks: (actually I'm going to leave this paragraph for next week's blog and I will continue the thanksgiving then, but I have run out of time for this week, because we leave in about 10 minutes.)

ok. well basically as micah had said, in a little more than two weeks, we had covered 107.7 miles as of last tuesday at lunch... of which a third had been done the last 3 days we were hiking (38 miles). we were snowed on from 12:30 sunday, until breakfast the next morning. the wind was blowing @ 15-30 mph and the highs didn't get out of the 30's that day (i have no idea about wind chill). lows were in the teens that night. it was the coldest day yet... and that's why we kept hiking, we didn't want to stop and get cold. i think we got 13 miles that day. and 13 minutes of sleep... sleeping bags were falling down on the job of warmth that night. anyway monday (the next day) was awesome. the next morning we woke up with warmth started coming over the mountain around 9:00, and the snow began to melt - as did the ice from the trees. and we saw the sun for the first time in 6 days. it had rained relentlessly since we left helen, ga last week, and when that was over.. snow. oh yeah, but back to monday... we woke up, set out late, and were hiking with shorts and t-shirts in 70 degree temps by 12:30 that day. it was unbelievable. god had smiled on us and it was all we needed to press on for almost 15 miles that day. some night hiking, city/mountainscapes at 10:00 at night, visibility for 50+ miles @ 5,000 feet of elevation, and to top it off: a run up a firetower at the top that night, and a warm fire once we got to the shelter, provided by some old friends we had met a week+ back... and we were all really happy to see one another.

yeah... the Lord really displayed some beautiful workings of his creation, providence, and faithfulness that day.. it was glorious.

the next morning we woke up and were gone by 5 to get 10 miles to Franklin, NC by 11:00 a.m. once here, we were met by an awesomely unbelievable man that i don't have enough time in my life to describe (ron haven), that took care of us the first night... and then, the next day, amy lien (a friend to micah & myself that lives out in Colorado) called a friend she went to school with that lives here, to see if he wanted to meet up for a bite to eat, and he wound up offering to put us up in his dad's hotel for 4 nights and hook us up with free food vouchers for the week as well... i know what you are thinking... you hate us.. you think we don't deserve a vacation from a vacation... well i beg to differ. and so does my knees, legs, and feet! :) it has been a marvelous last few days... we have rested well... ate well... and are now about to head back out this morning to cover as many miles as our feet will let us for the next few weeks. we hope to avg. around 10 miles or maybe more a day.. i am praying that the goal is a righteous one and that He would honor it, but it He sees other wise... He is still faithful and good. pray for us please. that if we make the miles - that we would worship Him supremely, and if we don't that we would worship Him supremely... and in the middle of that... that we would worship Him supremely. i am praying for that for you all as well. thank you all so much for you love and care for us.

not everyone deserved of deep gratitude is listed above, and the people that are, words cannot express what it has done for me... for us. for our view of Christ and His body. i hope to continue giving thanks in my heart and in my life, and also on this blog while it exists. thank you. love you.

some truth we've been mulling over for the week: (ran out of time, ride's here, i will post what He's been doing in our hearts more specifically next time.)