Hiking Pike's Peak

So, here's another Colorado Story.

A few weeks back, in the end fringes of the month of September, I had the chance to hike the backside of Pike's Peak with the students at Summit. At 14,115, feet it's one of Colorado's 54 fourteeners, and it remains my first (and only, for right now) fourteener to hike. The day started early and was absolutely perfect for the 6 mile hike to the top from our starting base at the Mennonite Camp. I hiked the backside last year, and it's amazing what a 2nd time 'round perspective will let you see.

 I saw the switchbacks differently because I knew the terrain better.
 I had a different feeling towards to route to devil's playground, because I knew a reprieve came afterward.
I saw the big, obtuse obstacles near the summit as a joy, instead of curse, for rest remained at the top, just within reach.
It was a good hike, and I'm sure I was reminded at least once or twice of Moses as he climbed a mountain and met God.

Stephen (photo cred), Andrew and I held silent moment, missing Micah via his buttery scones.

 (Confession: They got a little moldy in the mail. Sorry, M.)

Now fast forward a few weeks. Add a brother, a sister and her boyfriend who have yet to see what life could be like at 14,000 feet.
Mix into the tale another perfect day, a red train and way to the top of Pike's Peak that is less, shall we say, grueling.
Cody and Ben came out to join us on a long road trip home, but not before heading over to the Pike's Peak Cog Railway to, you know, take a train up that mountain.
As I've said before, and will say again

                                        "There is something magical about trains."

There's also something really fun about becoming a tourist for a day and seeing something with a different view. And so we did.

















Apparently, I'm still the best ever at taking the worst ever self portraits.







Ben recently moved home from Kappa, Hawaii, and was feeling the sub-degree weather at the top. I guess it hasn't snowed in Hawaii for a while.




It was cold, actually. Really cold. I forgot how much flats don't work in snow.


 But, oh. The view.







And the classic pose. I guess this isn't the normal tourist behavior. At least, that's what the girl at the top from  Norway said.



All in all, it was a mountain adventure worth remembering, and I think we will.
If you haven't already, please add "Take a train" to your bucket list, plan a trip and go.
Go with the ones you love.

A Summit Summer

Ahem. Hello.
I'm alive, back in Minneapolis and I'm slowly getting back into world-wide-web-picture-sharing mode. I thought that I'd pull some gems out from the lost land of July. Here's a spackling of pictures from what happened to be a few really great weeks in the Colorado Mountains.

Okay, I guess it was a few more than a few.
Ten weeks, really.

I was called to the Garden, again. Mountains have a way of calling out names, and this summer was no exception.




I had the outstanding opportunity to work and study Christian Worldview at Summit Ministries in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Summit is designed to equip young people for a life of faith and active culture making in their world. They do it well and with a lot of chutzpa.
It's a glorious pleasure to live in an old white hotel along side two-hundred incredibly interesting people.
To quote the founder, Dr. David Noebel :" It's more fun than a human oughta have."















Students attending Summit hear over 70 hours of lectures on Christianity, Culture and Apologetics from speakers like John Stonestreet, Sean McDowell and Dr. Del Tackett.


John Stonestreet with hosts a daily radio snippet on Christianity and Culture Here.





I also spent a legitimate amount of time riding on Julianne's school bus through the mountains...





... and loved meeting and making new friends via small groups.




































I had the chance to work with these two classy men in the classroom:

 David Knopp (who keeps a tremendous blog here) and Stephen Sutherland (who doesn't blog, but would probably want you to read this.)  I'm not sure how exactly our paths were allowed to cross again, but I'm a better woman because of it.


I'm also a better woman because God's graced me with Joanna Dukes this summer. Possibly the most practical Tolstoy reading, poem slinging, letter writing, mountain climbing, ab-ripper-personal-trainer and psalmist woman I've ever roomed with. She's in my top 10.

And again I was reminded this summer that if you look for you love, you'll find it. (Or it will find you.)
And so, I found love, again. In Manitou Springs:









Love seems like a good place to end the summer, eh?
Minneapolis, Minnesota is a good place to end the summer. And that's where I'm at -hunkered down in my rent-a-basement bedroom, cozy in amidst a stack of counseling textbooks and a pile of story boards, head reeling with all the stories I've experienced thus far- and all the Untolds to come.


This summer was outrageous. So many people, so many stories, and so many continued possibilities.
What are your Autumn possibilites?
Mine have a whole lot to do with October.

So, best to you.

Octobering,
Laura Clawson




p.s.
I'm writing letters.
(hint, hint)

Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing

Over the past few days I've been reading through Sally Lloyd-Jones' newest work, Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing.
It's a children's book- a devotional of sorts- with simple stories and whirling words and truths about Christ that will make your heart...sing.

Today I read a page and a story about a girl and a slave and a friendship and should very much like to share it with you.
 Go purchase the book for the child in your life and then another one for the child in yourself.

___________________________________________________________________

"Freed!" By Sally Lloyd-Jones

"There is a story from the American Civil War of a Northerner who bought a young slave girl at a slave auction. As they left the auction, the man turned to the girl and said, "You're free!"

 She turned to him in amazement. "You mean, I'm free to do whatever I want?"

 "Yes," he said.

 "And to say whatever I want to say?"

 "Yes, anything."

 "And to be whatever I want to be?"

 "Yes!"

 "And even go wherever I want to go?"

 "Yes!" He laughed. "You're free to go wherever you'd like!"

 She looked at him intently and replied, "Then I will go with You."

[Jesus said] "I no longer call you slaves...Now I you are my friends." John 15:15(NLT)

Gilead

Perhaps You've Been Wondering

If I've just disappeared into thin air for a little while. 
Well, the truth is: I had. (Colorado will do that to you.)


“Vision sometimes comes in a memory.” says Marilynne Robinson in her book Gilead

I'm hoping to pass on the vision from the mountain memories I've made this summer in the upcoming posts.

I still love photography. 

[In the bible Gilead means hill of testimony or mound of witness.]

Stone Arch Bridge Portraits | Laura Englund

Summer time has come, and is almost on it's way out.... here are a few fun shots from a session in Minneapolis earlier this summer.