We moved to Texas!! I'm going to be keeping up with my family blog now.. If your interested at all youre welcome to check it out. Just follow the link on the right hand side of this blog. The story below is one of the first experiences we had moving here. :)
This actually happened a couple weeks ago, but I hadn't had a chance to share it. I shared it in a talk that I gave here...
The other day I took my kids on a bike ride to the Veloway. Being new to Austin I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. Corbin has just learned to ride a bike without training wheels so I thought this would be a perfect opportunity for him to practice where no cars could get in the way. I figured it would be hot so I filled a camelback with water and we set out on our way. It got hot very quickly and the kids were grateful I had brought water. Not knowing exactly how long our journey would be I decided not to drink any of the water myself to make sure there was sufficient for my kids. Not knowing what it was we passed the first short cut point where we could have turned around. The kids were now getting very hot and drinking the water even faster. What seemed like forever, we finally reached the next turn around point, but by this point I realized that our water was all gone. I saw how red the kids faces were and knew that they were already tired and started to panic as I though of the long journey we still had ahead of us. We took every break that we could in the shade to recoup and gain strength. Seeing their cute little faces so exhausted I said a prayer in my heart. I plead with the Lord to protect them in this heat. To help me get them home safely. Kayla, my daughter, began crying and said that her legs were too tired to ride her bike anymore. Corbin was begging me for more water. I got off my bike and walking my bike with one hand I pushed Kayla and her bike with the other, encouraging Corbin to be our leader. With no water and in the intense heat I knew we could not stop now, we had to keep moving forward. The next point of shade I looked at both of my kids barely able to move at this point. My heart was breaking for them. I knew I couldn’t carry both children and three bikes the rest of the way home. I knew I had to do something. I decided to sit in the shade and tell them a story that I remembered my Dad telling me many years back. To take their minds off things. I didn’t remember the version that my Dad had told me, so I made up my own. I told them how a man who was journeying through the forest went out to find food one evening. He searched and searched but never found any food. It was now dark and he began searching for his camp. It was freezing cold and very dark. He searched for what felt like forever, but couldn’t find his camp. He gave up the search and lay in the cold night and died. The next morning his friends woke up and realized he was not there. They began searching for him, only to find him 10 yards away from there camp, dead from the cold night. They couldn’t figure out why he had stopped when he was so close to camp..
I told my kids that if he had only gone just a little farther he would have made it. When things in this life seem almost unbearable, we can’t give up. We have to push on.
With new strength both my kids jumped back on their bikes ready to make it home. As I was pushing Kayla, I could hear Corbin in the lead saying something. As I caught up to him to see what he was saying, I realized that he was crying.. Big tears. He looked at me with his lip quivering and said, “Mom, I’m so tired, my legs hurt, I’m hot, and I want water… but I won’t give up. I'm going to push on.”
His courage humbled me. Tears of pride filled my eyes as I too pushed on. Soon after, cars appeared and we made it home safe... thirsty and exhausted, but safe.
