Our Family Trip to Colorado (Part 1)

Yesterday marked the midpoint of our family trip to the Rockies in Colorado. We were in Estes Park for 5 nights. Thus far, this trip has been a wonderful opportunity to experience different topography than we Michiganders typically enjoy. We arrived Friday night, picking up Luke from this week at a Freedom Academy I, sponsored by the Foundation Economic Education. Saturday through Monday, we spent our sightseeing hours in the Rocky Mountain National Park. Before lunch on Saturday, we enjoyed a pleasant walk around Sprague Lake.

After lunch, we drove through the park on Trail Ridge Road, learning about the three different ecosystems in the park: montane, subalpine, and alpine tundra. Entering from near Estes Park, we turned around after reaching the Alpine Visitor Center.

On Sunday, we hiked to Emerald Lake via Dream Lake and Nymph Lake. What a beautiful hike!

On Monday, we drove to a different park entrance and hiked from the Wild Basin Trailhead to Ouzel Falls. At the Ouzel Falls, the kids and I extended the hike by climbing to the top of the falls. We would highly recommend each of these outings for others. The drive and the two hikes were each a 4-hour outing, including lots of stops for snacks, drinks, and photographs.

On Tuesday, we went on a whitewater rafting trip. The bus ride was long, about 80 minutes each way, but the rafting was fun. Luke came the closest to flying out of the boat, but the other three family members immediately grabbed him when he was first launched outward from his position on the front right of the raft. Leah was sore on Wednesday morning; she paddled hard.

Heart, Soul, Mind, and Strength

Encouraged by my son to start a blog while he does the same, I decided to take his challenge. In his 17 years and his sister's 15 years of boot camp at the Hickman Institute (that's the serious name for our home), we (that's my wife and I) have challenged them to pay attention to four different aspects of their personal growth: spiritual, physical, social, and intellectual. This pattern was first suggested to me explicitly by my college Fraternity. While not a perfect parallel, these four areas are quite similar to those suggested twenty centuries earlier by the greatest teacher who ever lived. When asked to identify the most important commandment, he replied, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." (Mark 12:29b-30) The heart (καρδία) can be translated as the "inner self," which sounds like one's spiritual being. The soul (ψυχή) refers to that "breath of life" within humans and animals that sets them apart from the rest of creation. While not a direct reference to the social nature of our being, I find that connection useful. The mind (διάνοια) refers to our way of thinking, our faculty of understanding, which is clearly aligned with intellectual pursuits. Finally, the word strength (ἰσχύς) means power and might, implying a physical force.

As we have raised our kids (or, better, discipled our kids), we have used these four categories to strive for balance and completeness in their personal development. As I record my thoughts in this forum in the future, I will likewise strive to address aspects of life in these four categories.