Usually I am kind of depressed whenever I am at home because I am so bored, and we all know how well I handle boredom. NOT WELL. But these two weeks have been fabulous. My high school friends have re-established our wolf-pack and have been together 24-7. Any time I have not been with friends, mom and I have had some sort of activity to keep me occupied, and if not then I am usually just wrestling Carson or playing backyard football/baseball with him. He is 6'1 and much stronger than me these days, and will be happy to tell you so, or show you his washboard 6-pack of abs that he labors over in the gym...he is getting a little cocky, which means it's time for me to put him back in his place. What happened to my baby brother? Let me tell you though, Carson is the best boy in the world. He is the epitome of the type of man that I want to marry. He is selfless and kind, thoughtful and considerate, but sarcastic as they come and maybe the funniest person I know. He is athletic and very tan thanks to his summer lifeguarding job, and is always up for a competition. He loves hard, and plays hard, and at night he is always up for cuddling me...well, after I beat him into submission. I don't even know how to put words to how much I adore him.
This past week me and the boys, plus Cara took a trip to Boyd's lake. He has a cabin right on the lake, equipped with a boat, wakeboard, tubes, skis, a tree swing, diving board, and dock. Perfect right? It gets better. This lake also turns into a river a few miles down from the cabin, and Boyd has kayaks and canoes for floating the river! So we set out on Tuesday morning, with canoes and kayaks, paddles and life-jackets, just in case. It was perfectly sunny and perfectly hot, not a cloud in the sky. The greatest day for a river float.
This float is about 5 hours long, but about 2.5 hours in we heard thunder and kind of shook it off, blaming it on cars crossing the bridge above us. However, about 15 minutes later we were forced to pull over on the bank because it was raining so hard. I am talking monsoon here people. The temperature dropped about 45 degrees in the course of 30 minutes, and I know this because every person was shivering to the point of uncontrollable visible shaking. Boyd's lips were blue and Jason was in the fetal position trying to stay warm. It started lightning and then HAILING! This is not a joke. So we constructed a make-shift 'tent' with our canoes and kayaks, arranging them into a teepee by the nearest tree.
Real safe huh? I was sitting under a metal canoe, which was propped up on a tree, drenched in water, as shots of electricity were being sent from heaven to the ground at the speed of light. Miserable was what it was. To make matters worse, we were still 2.5 hours from the end of the float, and at the particular place where we were stranded, we were something around 6 or 7 miles from any sort of road or civilization. We sat under the canoe for 2 hours huddling together trying to bank on body heat. Brent had his arms wrapped around me trying to stop the violent shaking, as I do not handle being cold well. I kept a smile on for the first hour, but after that it was all serious.
Cara was brink tears. Brent and I were really trying to get in touch with our Cherokee roots, and summon the powers of our ancestors to stop the rain. Brent even did a "no rain" dance. He is always so good about keeping everyone calm using his unbelievable sense of humor that keeps me in constant laughter. Brent is the only reason everyone wasn't in a complete panic, and I borderline fell in love with him in this moment. Eventually the hail subsided, and the rain calmed hours later, but as we emerged from our hide out, we saw the river rising at rapid pace. Within the course of 20 minutes, it probably rose 5 feet. It was like somebody opened the dam. We had to move our teepee up the beach because we were about to drown. The river was carrying FULL SIZE trees down its dangerous course, and the speed of the water was ripping around every corner. We are talking like class 5 Colorado white water rapids here. Even the boys were scared. They refused to go down the river at that speed. Here was the dilemma: what do we do? We were stranded in the middle of the woods, with no cell phones and no way to get home, and we couldn't continue the float due to the fact that we didn't have helmets, and we aren't pro kayakers/canoers. (I argued that point...as I like to think I am semi-pro.) but I was genuinely concerned. Cara and I hiked a nearby trail for an hour trying to find some sort of road or help and failed miserably. It led to nothing. Here is the trail (in the background).
So after 4-5 hours of being stranded, we decided to brave the rapids, we really didn't have a choice. Let me tell you, with no exaggeration whatsoever: we almost died. It was the funnest day of my life, but the boys did not agree. The canoers flipped their canoe 3 separate times, sending them in a panic down the river to rough the boulders and rapids alone. A sprained ankle and ALOT of bruises were gained from this experience. Me being in a kayak, I was on my own adventure in my head pretending to be fighting for my life down the white water rapids of Colorado, and nobody appreciated my extreme giggling as we were thrown from our kayaks over and over again. It is a miracle by the grace of God alone that no one was seriously injured, but I was just trying to make the best of things ya know? Plus it was fun, but don't tell them that I said that, because at the time it was certainly not. At one point we all went over a 4 foot waterfall that we didn't see coming, and all of us were sent down the river kayak-less, swimming frantically trying to catch our paddles. That was my favorite part. Again, nobody agreed. Another 4 hours later, and only 10 minutes prior to dark, we rounded the final bend of the river and saw Jake's car, parked and ready to take us to safety. The boys cheered and jumped in the river running full speed towards the miracle car, I laughed hysterically, Cara cried. It was epic, people, just epic.
That night we ate like Kings and Queens, high fiving constantly and re-capping the day countless times. Brent said we could have eaten cat-food that night and it would have been the best meal of our lives. I would disagree, but I got the point. Instead of cat-food, Brent grilled us steaks and chicken, with sautéed onions, corn and potatoes. Needless to say it was amazing. I just stood by the grill going on and on about how wonderful the heat felt. The next day was spent leisurely on the lake, tubing and wakeboarding and laying out. Pugh got owned on the tube a couple times, and came back missing some leg hair after losing a battle with a child's wakeboard. It was just the greatest.
Since then I have eaten lunch with all my best girl friends from High School. Spent entire days running around town with my mom. Watched movies. Eaten lunch with my high school coach. Swam at Boyd's house. Swam at 4 am at Jake's. Had a ping pong tournament, in which I was on team Cherokee Nation--(Brent and I found that we are the same generation from the same tribe of Native Americans and concluded that our great great great grandparents probably built teepees together in their loin cloths)--and we won the whole thing. Went out in sketchy Texarkana. Attended a wedding. Got snowcones at Southern Tropics 5 separate times. My big sister and mentor got engaged, and asked me to be a bridesmaid! Things have been good...mostly.
On a more serious note: I am moving to Denver Colorado in 25 days. 25 days and I am moving away from everything I know, everyone I love. I am moving there to do a Camp the Rockies DTS program, training for international mission work, and I know that I am going to absolutely love it. It is right up my alley. I am anticipating it to radically change my life. But it is in the unknown territory. I have no idea what to expect. I do not know a single person there. I am completely in foreign waters and my emotions are just really confused as to how to react. I am beyond stoked and excited out of my mind, and also just tremendously nervous at the same time. I am praying that God would calm my nerves and give me His peace that surpasses everything. I am praying that he would consume me and remind me that this was HIS plan. That He is in control, and that as long as He is with me I will be okay. I need Him. I am desperate for Him.
God has been so faithful to remove idols in my life, He has walked with me through these hard decisions and I have come out alive and stronger on the other side. Mind you, I am still walking through fire here, and will be for the remainder of the summer. I can feel the heat burning my skin; He has provided no temporary comfort for me. He is yet again showing me that HE is the only thing that I really need. God is so good for this. It is the most loving thing he could possibly do. He continues to whisper "trust me" over and over as I seek Him in the mornings. There are alot more words that I have on this subject, but as it stands its 2AM and I have to go work out with Carson in the morning. More on what God is doing later...its awesome.
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