The Great Biking Adventure

First of all, I’ll state the obvious: I’m not an adventurous person. I really like safe, boring situations that go according to plan. (This makes me sound completely boring, but it’s the truth…) Thomas, on the other hand, is nothing like me. We’re as opposite as you can get, and have almost nothing in common…and I was hoping this trip would be a good bonding experience for us. We desperately needed it J

While I was in WI, Thomas got the “brilliant” idea to go on a bike trip…to Illinois (a distance of about 500 miles when avoiding highways). I quickly ruled that idea out for a couple of reasons: 1.I only had a couple of extra days before I had to be back at work and 2.I would have died J But we did come up with an alternate plan, one we could both live with.

We decided to leave on Thursday morning, and have the parents pick us up on Saturday. Of course, I wanted to find places we could stay at night, but Thomas seemed to think that half the adventure was in not knowing…So I didn’t plan. The only thing we knew was the general direction we were going.

Thursday morning was actually pretty fun. We encountered several ridiculously huge hills, and some animals—deer, maybe a bear, rabbits, squirrels, elk or something that resembled elk, sheep, and a adorable furry, fat dog named Moxie. I sort of freaked out when I realized this dog was chasing us, and it followed us for a good little ways. Finally, we stopped and looked at its collar…. We figured she would get tired and go back to where she came from. Eventually, her owner came to get her.

Around 1:30 on Thursday, we made it to Eau Claire, about 43 miles from our house. Being the healthy people that we are, we stopped at McDonald’s to eat. And then the rain began J Thomas and I sat in this McDonald’s for about 2 hours, while considering several different options. In my mind, the only option was having mom and dad come pick us up, and forgetting about the rest of this adventure. Sounds good, right?! Thomas was adamantly opposed to that idea; he wanted to just go in the rain. (I may have considered going on, even with the rain, if we had a place to stay that night…but we didn’t have that!)

When I say “and then the rain began”, I’m not talking about a little sprinkle. What I’m referring to is a torrential downpour, where it rains sideways. We eventually called the parents, only to find out that this rain was going to continue, at least for tonight. Thomas and I came to a compromise: We decided to have mom and dad come pick us up—we would go back to Chetek for the night, and get dropped off in Eau Claire the next morning. (I was especially happy because it meant one less night of sleeping in a tent!)

Thursday night, we found ourselves back in Chetek…right where we started. That night, my family went to Casa Mexicana (our favorite) and we were able to hear more about the Romania trip. We also found a spot for Thomas and I to camp on Friday night (yes, that was my idea…)

Friday morning we found ourselves riding bikes…again. Fortunately, the first 20 miles of our day was on a super nice, paved, non-hilly bike trail. It was a dream!  Friday was a LONG day. We had a little over 60 miles to cover in order to make it to Merrick State Park. As much as I hate tent-camping, I love state parks, so this seemed like a good place to stop for the night. We biked. And biked. And biked some more. By Friday afternoon, I thought my legs might fall off…and part of me that would be an OK option because maybe they would hurt less? I had convinced myself we were getting pretty close to this state park, and here’s the conversation we had while stopped at Kwik Trip.

Thomas: We’re in the home stretch!

Amelia: Oh, good. {Thinking: we have no more than 6 miles}

Thomas: Yeah, so we’re almost there

Amelia: How many more miles? {Thinking: I might actually make it!}

Thomas: Only…a little over 13

Amelia: 13?! 13 MORE miles?

Once we got going again, those 13 miles weren’t as bad as I thought they might be. But I was more than ready to call it a day! Finally, around 4:30, we arrived at the much anticipated Merrick State Park. Since you can’t reserve spots for tent camping ahead of time, we just hoped there would be one. And there was! We loaded up firewood into an already packed trailer, and found our little campsite, located right by the water. (I have no idea what body of water it was.)

As we’re walking onto our campsite, Thomas sees a snake (which he tried, unsuccessfully, to catch). I’m thinking “great, not only are we sleeping outside tonight, THERE ARE SNAKES HERE!) Not exactly comforting. However, that was the only snake we saw…

After setting up our tent, Thomas thought we should ride an additional 2.5 miles into Fountain City to get food. It took him a little while to convince me of this, but eventually I agreed. We were about to turn out of the campsite when I decided that another 5 miles on a bike was not something I had any interest in doing, no matter what was at stake! So, Thomas ventured into Fountain City without me (hoping to find Chinese takeout—no, I’m not kidding!) He settled for muffins from kwik trip.

Saturday morning came bright and early, and once again, we found ourselves on bikes. From the start on Saturday, I felt like I had ridden more than 100 miles in 2 days (maybe because I had?!) Thomas seemed much more un-phased by all of this, but I’m just telling you: I hurt. Once we got moving, it really did get better.

Our plan was to make it to LaCrosse by Saturday afternoon. We had covered almost 25 miles, when we stopped in another little town. Here’s what happened:

Thomas: You look like death.

Amelia: Thanks. I feel like death.

Thomas: What’s the problem?

Amelia: We’ve been on bikes for 2 ½ days!

{LaCrosse was another 18 miles down the road, and we both knew that wasn’t going to happen!}

Thomas called mom and says “Amelia’s dying, so you need to come get us”

Then, of course, mom wants to talk to me.

Mom: What’s wrong?

Amelia: I don’t feel good.

Mom: Why not?

Amelia: …because I’ve been riding a bike for the last 2 days. You wouldn’t feel good either!

So, we decided to end The Great Biking Adventure after approximately 125 miles. Even though we shortened our day on Saturday, I honestly could not believe we made it that far. And by “we”, I mean me! Obviously, Thomas could have gotten a lot further without me.  The Great Biking Adventure was never really about biking for me, as crazy as that may sound. It was more about spending an uninterrupted amount of time with my brother; it was good for both of us to be stuck with each other.

Once mom and dad picked us up, we went to TGI Fridays for lunch. From there, I took off for Illinois while they headed back to Chetek. It’s never enjoyable to leave my family and drive back to IL, but it was a lot more bearable this time because Micah was going to be there! Knowing that we got to spend the rest of the weekend together made me much happier to be in Illinois again J

By the time I got back to the farm in Illinois on Saturday, I could hardly move. I felt like I was 80 years old when getting out of my car. It hurt to walk, or move in general. But here’s some things I learned:

·         

•       You don’t need all the “right equipment” to go on a bike trip. We borrowed a bike trailer and a bike for this little excursion. 
•       If you really want to go on a bike trip (or if you really do NOT want to go on a bike trip, but your brother talks you into it), you can and you should…no matter how out of shape you are! Don’t use your lack of athleticism as an excuse not to go!
•             Sometimes, you have to get out of your comfort zone in order to do something fun. Truthfully, this was fun.
•        We biked through beautiful parts of WI that we never would have driven through.
•        Having super limited electronics for a couple of days was…nice and relaxing. Thomas and I actually had to talk to each other!
•       Biker shorts are optional J

Summer 2012 Recap

It’s hard to believe another summer has come and gone already. My summer FLEW by…Tomorrow (yes, I said tomorrow!), I start my 2^nd semester of nursing school. The super good part of all this is—I’m one step closer to being done (and I mean DONE!) with school…FOREVER!

I had a good summer, but I spent a lot of time working. Nursing school is quite expensive, so I had my fair share of 13 and 15 hour days spent at the nursing home. (For the record, I did work 8 & 9 hour days like a normal person, too…) My weekends off were spent with the people I love, which often involved driving…to other states J

While my parents and sister were in Romania for 2 weeks, I was in Wisconsin with Thomas and Neva. It was so nice to be off work during that time AND actually be at home. (It would have been nice if the rest of my family was there…)

Late in July {while I was home}, I got a phone call informing me that I was getting a scholarship for the fall—in the amount of $1,000!!! This particular scholarship was through my employer, and I was so excited to get this news…I had been praying and hoping and planning that it would work out like this. Fall tuition is paid in full, and (thankfully!) I’m still debt-free…at least for one more semester. So thankful God provided in this way!

During the time I was home, Taylor G., Thomas, Kaydie, Neva and I spent the day in Duluth. We spent most of the day at Gooseberry Falls, then headed to Canal Park for some mini-golf. Neva beat us all, and we didn’t give her an advantage! By this time, we were getting pretty hungry, so we headed to Grandma’s for supper. All in all, it was just a fun, relaxing day…I love any time I can spend in the Duluth area and this was no exception!

I also went kayaking for the first time this summer, and would like to go again! We only spent a couple of hours on the water, but it was a good time…

 “The Great Biking Adventure”…that just might be its own post!

I wanted to spend one more weekend with Micah before school started, and I was able to go to Indiana last weekend. We had a good time, and it’s only 2 weeks until I see him again! J It was nice to have my last little excursion before another crazy semester kicks in…and with that, summer 2012 has come to a close!

Sunday in Romania

On Wednesday, July 25^th, a group of 26 people (21 teens and 5 adults) left to serve with the Groza family in Romania. They arrived in Fagaras, Romania, on Thursday night, and hit the ground running on Friday morning! It’s been so exciting to hear bits and pieces of what they have been doing.

This morning in church, we were able to see (via live video stream), the evening church service in Fagaras, Romania. (Isn’t technology wonderful?!) It was great to be able to see our group, and also to see some of the people they have been so graciously welcomed by.  Romania is 8 hours ahead of us, but I did get a quick phone call in to my mom this afternoon. She told me a little bit about their day: Both morning and evening church services in Romania are 2 hours long. My mom said they both went by very quickly. Between morning and evening church, they went to some villages and held church services there. Many of the children in the villages have lice, and lice are a very real possibility for the people in our group as well. Pray for our group, my mom included, that they would be persuaded to love on these kids, without being concerned about the possibility of lice.

 At one point during the evening service, the teens were singing in English while everyone else sang in Romanian. Getting to hear this on the video feed was incredible—singing in 2 different languages at the same time knowing we serve the same God…does it get better than that?!

Please continue to pray for the 21 teens and 5 adults we have in Romania. I’m praying that God will use them for His glory. I pray everyone will come back with a new perspective of how big God is and see the importance of being a bold witness for Jesus, whether you’re in Fagaras, Romania or Chetek, WI. 

In the last 14 months...

I’ve become another one of those lovely people that makes a blog and then never updates it! Here’s a post that will bring you up-to-speed on everything that’s happened in the last 14 months! Ok, not really at all…but if you’re interested in my most recent ramblings, read on J

The last time I blogged was back in May…of 2011! I had just graduated from Heartland Community College with a 2 year degree, and was stressed to the max. (There were several factors involved, but we won’t go into all that…) To sum it up for you, I was ready to quit school (indefinitely) and move back home. So, the day after I walked across the stage at HCC, I moved back home for the summer. At that point, I had been accepted into the nursing program at ISU (which is exactly what I wanted), but had no intentions of actually moving back to Illinois and going back to school. My parents, among others, knew I would move back to Illinois and go to school, but I did NOT know that yet J

My summer at home was awesome, and it was exactly what I needed. I learned so much during those couple of months, and decided to move back to Illinois J In late July {2011}, I applied for several CNA jobs in Illinois; I got hired at Apostolic Christian Restmor and started in the beginning of August. I was looking for a full-time job, and they hired me at 24-30 hours a week. Initially, I wasn’t too thrilled about that because I desperately needed more hours. However, Restmor was offering more hours than the other places that called, so I took the job. The Lord had that all worked out, too, because I got full-time hours the very first week! Those hours continued until I started school again in January, which allowed me to gain valuable work experience and save money.

Last fall flew by! I was working full-time, enrolled in one online class, and was busy with weekend trips home and to Indiana. If you don’t why I was going to Indiana, I’ll gladly fill you in J (In the future, I’ll have to blog about my very first trip to Indiana…)

In January {2012}, I started nursing school at Mennonite College of Nursing @ ISU. I was completely petrified. You’ve all heard the horror stories about nursing school—no sleep, no social life, nothing but homework, everyone fails. Basically, it’s like torture that you’re paying a lot of money for! And some of it’s true—nursing school has a way of taking over your life! Now that 1^st semester is over, I can say this: It was the most challenging semester of school I’ve ever had, and I absolutely loved it! It was a lot of work, a lot of studying, a lot of late nights and a lot of early mornings, but at the end of the day: it’s manageable…and fun J

I’ve now lived in Illinois for 3 whole years, which just seems crazy. I still miss living in Wisconsin, and part of me always will—it’s where I grew up, and my family is still here.  Maybe I’ll live here again someday?

One more thing—Please pray for me! I start school again in less than a month, and am still waiting to hear back about 2 more scholarships for the fall semester. I’m trusting God with the outcome—of how tuition will get paid, and with everything else. 

HCC Graduation

I'm officially a college graduate...with a 2 year degree that gets me absolutely nowhere! But hey, now I have this cool piece of paper to show for all the work I've done over the past 2 years...Oh, well. I'm half way through my college career...at least for now.

Adventures in April

I’m not very good at this whole blogging thing, considering it’s been over a month since I posted anything…but I’m going to use this crazy thing called school as my excuse. It has been totally and completely insane! I *thought* this would be an easy semester since I’m only taking 13 credits, but it didn’t work quite like I had planned. Fortunately, I just have 1 more paper to write and 3 more finals to take. The end is FINALLY in sight!

If you’re easily grossed out or are eating right now, you may not want to read the rest of this…consider yourself warned J Believe it or not, this actually happened. (Yes, I really do have a gift for awkward situations, and this was no exception.)

Random: Last Thursday, I was going to throw some laundry in…and there was a loaf of bread on the floor. One side of the bag was all shredded, but I thought we had a mouse (or more likely, mice) in the house, which has happened before. That didn’t concern me that much since I’m an expert mouse killer J (You may or may not remember how I “took care of” the last mouse I found.) We put out some mouse traps and proceeded with our day, not really giving it a second thought.

That same Thursday, I headed home for the weekend. The time went by way too fast, just like it always does…maybe I’ll have to blog about the craziness in watching 4 kiddos plus Neva, but I’ll save that for another time.

Anyway…I got back to IL on Sunday night. While I was carrying my stuff downstairs, I smelled something horrible…like, really disgusting. I put my backpack on the couch, but when I walked into bedroom…There was poop (literal crap) all over the carpet. So I quickly picked up my backpack and went back upstairs.

Next, I called my mom to find out what in the world I’m suppose to do…and I was obviously completely and totally hysterical at this point. Can you blame me?! (At this point, Grandpa wasn’t home yet.) So I’m sitting in a house by myself with some sort of animal poop on my bedroom floor. When Grandpa got home, he obviously had no idea what was downstairs. Mom had called him to make sure he would be home soon, and filled him in on this “situation”. Once he got back, we cleaned up what we could of the whole mess. We got a piece of something (plywood?) and put it in front of the steps, hoping that this mystery animal would be stuck downstairs. We also put a live trap down there. Grandpa got a flashlight and was looking under/around everything downstairs…and I was on the other side of the plywood! We decided to shut my bedroom door and bathroom door because we were pretty certain that “it” was not in either of those places.

 I started carrying my stuff upstairs (to the main level) because I couldn’t leave it downstairs in a basement that smelled like crap! J

So…I didn’t sleep well Sunday night because we had some sort of wild animal in the house, and it obviously did not belong! Monday came and went, with no sign of the animal. But that all changed on Tuesday J

Grandpa had been in the garage, and when he came in the house, he saw a gray tomcat dart right under his desk (which is in the green room). So, he picked up this metal pipe-thing and was ready to whack it…but it wasn’t under his desk, even though he had just seen it run under there. This cat had taken the register out, and run straight down! Now, we know it’s cat, and we know where it went…but we don’t know where else it can get to or how to get it back out…

When I got home from school, Grandpa tells me that it’s a cat. I thought he meant he had caught the cat, and that it was no longer in the house…but that’s not how it went. So, we shut the door to the green room, and carried in another door to block the 2^nd doorway in the green room. We also put the live trap in there, hoping that eventually he would get hungry and come out the same way.

Tuesday night came and went, but he still hadn’t been caught. (I did sleep better that night because there are no vents in the room I was in.)

Finally, Wednesday morning about 7, the cat got hungry and went in the trap! WE CAUGHT HIM…and that was the end of him! J

Making cookies :)

This afternoon, Neva and I were making cookies. She had been a  good helper, and was eager to eat the chocolate chip cookies, which are her favorite. I let her have 2 while we were getting them baked. Before I put the last batch in the oven...

Neva: I need to eat 1 more cookie.
Me: No, you've had 2. That's enough for now.
Neva: No, this is my 3rd 1 (as she holds up a half-eaten cookie). Three is a very bad number, so I need to eat 1 more. Four is a good number...it's my favorite number.
Me: Ok, wait a few minutes.

2 minutes go by (and I'm going crazy)

Neva: I need 1 more cookie...cuz 4 is a good number, and I've only had 3. Please let me have one more.
Me: Ok, but this is the last one.
Neva: Oh, thank you! Four is a good number.

So I gave her the 4th cookie! :)