Getting to Colorado and living here for a year is the tip of the iceberg of what I believe is me stepping into my “promise land”.  Yet, there’s the story of years and years of mountains and valleys with dreams and desires of my heart. 
 
Putting words together for this blog is very difficult, because this is a culmination of my life experiences.  It’s not made up, it’s real. It’s authentic. It’s joyful and heart wrenching. It’s a journey most importantly being pursued by God.  It’s not me pursuing Him.  Whenever I do search for Him, He’s already there.
 
I know deep down He’s given me a heart for kids, for community, for adventure, and much more.  I’ve had these deep down dreams and desires of my heart for years that have been buried under let downs, failures, uncertainty, dead-ends, closed doors, loneliness, and life.  It hurts.  It can lead to a life of loneliness, frustration, depression, and more. You feel stuck...and you just want to scream WHY!?!?!?!?! How do I get to where I want to go!?!?!

Yet, I kept going.  Because I knew in my heart, that I know, that I know, that I know…what I  desired, but didn’t know how to exactly get there.  It’s like I could get a glimpse of where I want to go, but no matter how hard I planned or tried I couldn’t seem to get there.  Hoplessness came and went. Realizing to give Him my hopes and dreams and rest in Him is a very tough and humbling lesson as a Christian.  To find rest and peace in Him was/is tough, because I like to have my hand on things to control.
 
Transitioning back into American culture after the World Race in 2011 isn’t/wasn’t easy at all for me.  How can one go back into a familiar cycle of life after experiencing so much growth, heartache, healing, and more?  Not being able to verbalize the experiences and view of God in a totally new and different way with the people where you came from is tough.  Wanting to be understood, yet hungry for people to get a(n) taste/encounter of Him that you yourself have had was/is a cry of my heart..

Then, coming back from G42 Leadership Academy in 2012 and running into what at the time seemed to be a disaster of a planned trip to South Sudan really hurt, after planning and fundraising for over a year.  It hurt more when trying to find a PE job for 2 years with no avail.  Application after application after application, hoping for some school to give me a chance.  Thoughts that maybe something was wrong with me, not being qualified enough, and so much doubt all from the Enemy bombarded me on a weekly basis for about 2 years. 
 
A shift happened when I went to Ukraine and Spain for 6 weeks in the summer of 2014.  A peace came over me, finally grasping that my support community from college and home had been there all along no matter how many times I “failed”, an idea of moving to a new place, and much more started to come together during that time.

Finally.  A move, a shift, doors opening, getting a job, coming to a new place and everything that I had hoped for and more are coming to light leaves me speechless with a thankful heart.  A community of amazing Kingdom-minded young adults I can confidently call my friends.  A playground of mountains and wilderness on my doorstep that I can explore and never grow bored.  A foothold of a teaching job that I was finally given a chance to show how good of a teacher I knew I was in a school and environment that I absolutely love.  And…this is just the beginning?! 
 
If you know anything about the Israelites in the Old Testament and their journey to and in the Promise Land, the entire story is covered in several Books of the Bible.  Once they got to the Promise land, the work didn’t stop…it had only just begun. There were battles, good times, tough times, and so much more to be learned from their journey.

I’ve written about this time in my life back in August 2015, and sitting here now looking back makes me even more grateful for all that has happened.
 
I realize people reading this are in so many different stages of life.  I’ve learned that in order to get to a promise land, you have to go through a desert time.  It’s not fun, but You Choose how to handle the circumstances.  Find rest in Him.  He’s preparing you for what’s next…even if you don’t believe it. 
 
This song, Explode My Soul, has been my heartbeat and lyrically prophetic for what happened and is happening in my life.  Enjoy, and thank you for reading.  Here’s to the journey.

I've recently created this obstacle course off the top of my head combining multiple skills taught in previous lessons.  Just the name of it grabs the attention of the students. 

This is a large activity combining many past skills students have been learning in previous lessons.  This lesson is oriented towards Pre-K to 2nd Grade, but can easily be modified for the 3rd through 5th grades. 
 
My objective: Students will be able to demonstrate and explain the different pathways using words straight, curve, and zig-zag.
 
Equipment: scooters, balance beam (or tape), mats, chairs, cones, and directional polyspots.
 
Setup: Balance beam or tape on one border, it leads to a makeshift tunnel made out of 2 adult sized foldout chairs with a mat across the top.  Afterwards, cones with directional polyspots or tape are to point in the direction of which way to move around the cones in a curve line.  Students return back to the original starting line to go on the longest straightaway of the course.  Use cones or chairs to create barriers to prevent students from detouring frequently from the designed path.

Core lesson:  Students are to move along the pathway first using locomotor movements starting with walking.  Then, they will move on to galloping, side-sliding, skipping, and running.  An emphasis on different levels can also be taught or practiced in this lesson since students are to move low by passing under a tunnel, medium while on curve and straight pathways, and high while on the balance beam.

After about 5-10 minutes using locomotor movements, I transition over to using only scooters.  Students review how to move forwards and backwards using their legs of vocabulary “push and pull”.  After a demonstration students are to move at their own speed in their "line".  I try to keep them from “cutting each other off” by detouring those who are fast, or I encourage those going a little slow to try moving on the scooter the other way.  I don’t allow any of them to move on the scooters on their stomachs to avoid finger and head injuries.
 
You could introduce some form of shooting item at others, but I think that’s too much for certain ages.  After some time I usually allow for a break due to the constant movement of the students.   Most need to stretch their muscles after about 7 minutes of constant play.  I go over content vocabulary again with them during the breaks too.  They may have to talk to a partner, or answer a question I directly ask them. 
 
At the beginning of each pathway I use an illustration of each pathway and level that I ask them which one they’re about to go on.  They have to say the pathway along with correctly point to it.  I work using this style for the really young ones.
 
A modifier is that one can connect the scooters together (if they have that feature), so 1 student is pulling and the other is pushing together in unison.  This really encourages teamwork and communication amongst the students. 

Overall, this whole activity is great due to many factors.  Students demonstrate each pathway using full body movement, there are multiple skills being used, many opportunities for students to communicate with each other, and more.

Whenever I do physical activity of sports, hiking, and etc…I very rarely have to just quit due to pure exhaustion since I’m pretty good about knowing how to pace myself. 
 
I had just moved to Colorado on July 6th, and was invited by a church group to go camping and hiking up in the mountains on July 16th.  I thought it was a great opportunity to go quickly and hike some BIG mountains.  The tallest point in Georgia is Brasstown Bald at 4,784 feet.  All of the Denver area is over 5,000 feet.
 
I knew I needed to prepare as much as possible to get as acclimated to the new elevation, so I went up 2 nearby peaks with no major breathing problem or altitude sickness.  I went up Mt. Falcon and Bergen Peak, and both have remarkable views of Denver and Mt. Evans. 
 
Since the group I was with was camping outside of Leadville at the Halfmoon Creek campsites, I suggested the idea of going up Mt. Elbert.  The group had just only mentioned hiking Mt. Massive that Saturday.  So, on Friday I went with a group after being in Colorado for just 10 days to go up to the highest point in Colorado.  Genius.

I did surprisingly well and only had a headache due to altitude.  The trail we went on was a round trip of 9 miles (4.5 1 way), and you start the trail at around 10,040 feet…ONLY to climb a total gain of 4,700 feet up to 14,440 feet.  Once we cleared the tree line there were many false summits that were tricky and made you want to just sit and have a drink. 

It was amazing!  Words and pictures can’t fully describe the sensation once getting on the top and then making your way back down with a magnificent grandeur view.

I was pretty wiped out by the time I made it back to camp. That was a given.  The next day the plan was to go up Mt. Massive (the 2nd tallest mountain in Colorado) with some new people that had arrived that Friday afternoon.  Lets just say my body hadn’t fully recovered yet.  We decided to go on the Western slope, because we didn’t want to go up the long 7 mile 1 way route on the South and Eastern side.  The western slope is less than 4 miles in length.  Whenever you plan to hike up a 14er (14,000 foot mountain), you want to plan to leave the peak by noon.  This is due to the quick changing weather that can happen, and you don't want to be on top of a mountain when a storm blows in.

Mt. Massive sits just around 14,430 feet, and the trailhead starts around 10,500 feet.  It’s called Mt. Massive due to it having 5 peaks over 14,000 feet.  It’s a behemoth compared to everything around it.  The 1st mile or so wasn’t too bad, because we had only gained about 400 feet in elevation.  Then, the uphill.  About a mile going up the steep incline my legs started to give out.  I had to stop about every .2 miles to take a break.  I was going through my water and food so fast that I realized I was going to run out.  Thankfully people in my group had some extra water.  The muscles in my legs were cramping up so badly that stretching felt as if it made it worse.  My quads, calves, hamstrings, hip-flexors....EVERYTHING HURT.  I was definitely the straggler in the group.

The saving grace were the views.  The higher we went the more mountains we could see since we were on the Western slope.  I still kept taking breaks and slowly going up in small chunks.  Slow and steady wins the race.  I felt miserable…but so relieved when we got to the top.  A tricky part of Mt. Massive is that where there’s a trail junction, you feel as if you’re at the top…and then you see another point across the ridge where more people are and you realize that’s the Peak.  Awesome.  “Well, if I’ve made it this far”.

I took a well-deserved long break, our group was going to go back down several different routes, and I decided to take the long 7 mile “gradual” way down.  Thankfully people at the top had extra food.  Sausage had never tasted so good in my life.  I was so surprised at how many people were at the top.  I would say there was about 40 people on average on the peak for an hour or so.  It even started snowing on my way down…in July…I was confused.  Along with another pounding headache, ridiculously sore body, and more.  Deep down, I was still loving it.

I couldn’t walk normal for about a week or so after that.  Months later at a dinner party, I mentioned this insane hiking extravaganza to some Olympic wrestlers…and they said they wouldn’t have even done that.  Yet another reason to scratch my head at how I was able to make it…and WHY?! Why did I put myself through all that?  Because I love hiking and the journey/challenges it brings with a sweet taste of success with its views knowing that you DID IT.

If and when I hike them again, I know I'll do much better due to training.

Yup.  This is the only thing that comes to mind when trying to figure out how to continue where I left this blog site months ago.  I use the word “unicorn” when I don’t know what else to say.
 
I’ve been living in Denver, CO for over 7 months now, and have loved every day.  So much has been happened where I find it difficult to formulate words how I am and what I’m doing here.

Social life: There are so many groups to get into that it’s intimidating.  I’m slowly connecting with groups of awesome people for a community I want to be within for months and possibly years to come.

Working:  I love teaching my little 4 year olds everyday.  They’re so hungry to learn and absorb everything, and I laugh everyday with them in the games we play.  I can easily see the growth in their locomotor, psychomotor, verbal, and social skills.  I have some great new PE lessons, which I will be sharing in the days to come.  I also work doing simple maintenance at a lovely local tennis club.  I enjoy being around a tennis center, and sometimes I get to play on the courts (it’s expensive).

Hiking: Ummmm, this place is amazing.  I don’t go skiing or snowboarding due to $, but I still absolutely love exploring the mountains.  I make it a point to go into the mountains every 2 weeks.  Being in the city gets under my skin.