Can I be honest?

It’s been a crazy week.  It started with a weekend of standing in awe of God’s creation.  I just love Arizona and its wildly divergent beauty.  We took the scenic drive from the Phoenix area up through Globe to Show Low for an AFHE event and speaking engagement.  The mountains, canyons, cacti, and pine forests are simply stunning.

The kids were fried by the time we returned home that evening.  Six hours in the car can do that to anyone.  Sadly, our car was pretty fried too.  As I type, it is sitting in a shop getting a new engine.  All of that mountain climbing pushed our struggling van over the edge.

As it sputtered earlier in the week, I could feel myself spluttering too.  It was one of those weeks when life seems a bit overwhelming and you start to listen to yourself more than you speak truth to yourself.  It was one of those weeks when I wondered what happened to my brain.  Forgetfulness and lack of attention to details meant extra time out in the sun, I forgot a deadline and had to scurry to keep a promise made, copies made and arrangements made for a speaking engagement that is next week instead of this week and the list goes on…

When this happens it is a clear sign that I need three things…  sleep {I’m famous for burning the candle at both ends}, time with God and time outdoors.  Thankfully, I can cover the last two in one fell swoop.  So we’ve been doing a lot of God-Talk Walks this week!

So when I saw this post from Diane and how she is taking the Daily Outdoors Challenge, I was inspired.  She shares about her visual count of days in a row with purposeful time spent outdoors.  I’m doing this!  My kids are great with accountability if they have a visual reminder and they’ll be dragging me outdoors, even on those days when I think I’m too busy not to go unwind outdoors.  As long as they don’t try and get me out during the heat of the day, I think this could work.   Crepuscular boys, remember our word for the summer!