Shout it from the mountaintop!

In a scene from Wonder Woman, Diana (aka Wonder Woman) asks Steve to explain to her the human concept of marriage. He responds with something like, Two people go before a judge and promise to love each other until they die. Diana asks if they do love each other until they die. Steve shakes his head and says, Not very often.

Which is why we celebrated our 15 years of marriage with gusto. Up the mountain we went, with our offspring in tow. Because it's no small potatoes, being married this long.

This is the town we came to, before heading up those mountains.

This is the hostel we stayed in, before heading up into the mountains.

This is Lucy, the Tibetan cattle dog at the hostel. 

I just love Tibetan decor. That red color is found growing wild on the rocks; some kind of moss or fungus. We think that's why they use the color so much in their cloth.

The next morning we headed up. The road went only this far, where we then left the car and humped our stuff the rest of the way.

We found this valley and decided to stay. The only other person there was this white horse. He was nice enough to share.

Daniel and Gene set up the tent. It was our maiden voyage with the tent, which had been a gift from Momo at Christmas. It's a great little stay!

The others helped me set up the kitchen.

We went for a trek around the valley. It was breath-stealing (in more ways than one). We have nicknamed this valley "Middle Earth" and we plan to return!

We made a fire from wood we dragged out from the underbrush.

Our Chinese medicine for altitude sickness ran out in the the night (next time we'll bring more), so we all felt pretty iffy in the morn.

But Gene's Boy Scout hash browns helped! Hot, crispy, and licked with salt. Just the thing for a queasy stomach.

Thank you, Middle Earth, for a wonderful anniversary celebration!

The show must go on!

I couldn't have stood by God's side while he created Daniel and handpicked features and characteristics any better myself.

But even the best of husbands and the best of dads are busy, and in high demand, and devoted to causes other than birthday parties.

And so Zion's 10th birthday party came along and it was up to Zion and me - and Jubilee, who is always ready to lend a hand - to throw a cupcake decorating party on our rooftop.

Zion loves two things very much 1.) working with his hands 2.) having the floor. So nothing brought him more joy than teaching his friends how to turn a cupcake into...emoji poop.

For those with weaker stomachs, we demonstrated octopus cupcakes and daisy cupcakes, too.

The kids seemed to enjoy themselves. To speak nothing of the sugar buzz making a deafening roar across the surface of our roof.

Zion loves his friends. He read every word in every card, and it was evident he was truly touched.

Mr. Moose stood at the deep fryer and made basketful after basketful of fresh fries, which ended up being a party SAVER since the pizza took 1 1/2 hours to arrive. When it finally did arrive, the kids were so stuffed full of French fries and gummy worms that they hardly touched the pizza. That is why I have six pizzas in my deep freeze this summer. Dates night dinners are covered until September!

Ms. Jessie and baby Jospeh made an appearance, too!

Daddy was missed, but I have to clarify, he was there for Zion's actual birthday. We had a family sleepover in the living room that night, of course.

And there was something sweet about throwing a party just me and my little man. It was a bonding experience.

We went from baby ZiZi to double digits in no time flat!

Happy 10th Birthday, Zion Daniel. Sheesh, you are amazing.

XOXOXO

It is an honor

I stood at the front of the congregation last Sunday. Mothers were lined up to my left, and mothers were lined up to my right. Shoulder-to-shoulder we stood, the front line of an army, a chorus of heralds, a chain, a wall. Our deft fingers held long stemmed roses, thorny in places, smooth in others, blooming at the end. Our collective stories would fill a library of volumes. Our tears from over the years would fill a swimming pool or two.

The woman to my left? A mother from India, her children now grown. I didn't know her name (lots of turnover in our all-expat congregation) but I didn't need to. She looked at me. I looked at her. We smiled at each other, and in that moment, as the preacher thanked G0D for mothers, she and I shared so much. In her eyes I saw, "Well done, my younger sister. You are doing the hardest job of all. You are seen. You are understood. You are loved." I can only hope that she saw, in my eyes, "Thank you, older sister, for blazing the trail for the rest of us. You are honored. You are beautiful. Be at peace."

Sunday School craft

Small kitchen + I love cooking = spending Mother's Day afternoon making pretzels with the kids..on the floor.

My momma: all that I hope to be and more.

I'd rather be hiking

You know those "I'd rather be" bumper stickers? I would have one for fishing. And for writing. And playing soccer. And cooking. And definitely hiking.

Good thing I don't have a car of my own, or it'd be covered up in "I'd rather be" stickers, and people would think me the most discontented person ever.

But I'm actually quite content, I'm just a doer. I love doing things. I'm not much for sitting and sipping and chatting. I'll be bringing out a deck of cards at the very least. And if it can be done outside, all the better!

So it stokes the campfires of my heart to see my son enjoying the great outdoors with his Boy Scout troop. When the troop found out that I was a camping and hiking enthusiast, and especially a backcountry cooking enthusiast, I was brought in to demonstrate some of my skills. Thanks to NOLS, I've had lots of experience with a camp stove, and so I chose to demonstrate backcountry cinnamon rolls and backcountry pizza. I used these recipes, which are virtually the same recipes we used in the Australian outback over 15 year ago:

The boys were gentlemanly and interested.

I wanted to impart my love of backcountry cooking to these boys because being in the great outdoors shouldn't mean compromising our God-given palates. We shouldn't have to subsist on overpriced jerky and granola bars until we finally get home to a hot meal. In fact, I told the boys, nothing lifts the morale of the group more, after a night of rain, a fall in the creek, and a busted tent pole (or other such events) than a hot, yeasty pizza oozing with melted mozzarella.

And nothing says "good morning" like hot cinnamon rolls with your pour-over coffee as the sun rises over the valley.

The food pics are from my demo at the scout meeting, but that last pic is from an actual scout campout - the trip they took last weekend. Here are some more pics from that trip:

That's Gene in blue.

We live in a fairly gorgeous part of the world.

Due to the nature of our lifestyle here, I haven't been able to impart my love of soccer to the kids (to the extent that it was offered to me, anyway), but to watch a child of mine lace up a pair of hiking boots and heft a pack first to his knee, then around to his back, well, it fills this trail junky's tin cup to overflowing.