I have been seeing this quote in multiple places and to be honest, I have to groan because I know what this means in my life. This month has been a month of huge change for us. We somehow decided to relocate our lives and I’m not really sure how we came to that decision except that we both feel good about it. We attended the temple last week and we both received sure assurances that we are doing the right thing. Change does not come without effort. Two years ago, the Lord told me that I needed to get moving and walk everyday. In hindsight, I see that He was preparing me for a mission where we were on our feet on marble floors each day. Our legs and joints needed to be strong and resilient. We purchased a treadmill and both of us used it until we moved to Gull Lake. At our cottage there was no space to set up the treadmill and we were walking through the trails of the Provincial Park. Eighteen months ago, I purchased a rebounder to continue my strength training and core building. All of these choices led us to change what we had been doing previously and to try and better ourselves. I remember my first day on the rebounder; I only bounced for 5 minutes. My experience taught me that if I go too hard and fool myself into thinking that I can do much more, the pain that ensues stops me from progress for a few days. After a month on the rebounder, I could go for 20 minutes and after two months, I was doing 40 minutes.

That must be growth! I have learned to take baby steps and build myself slowly rather than have the expectations of an eighteen year old. Our brains aren’t interested in living in constant pain. How do we accomplish this? The term “Grow Through” is a way to reframe “Struggle”. It’s a shift in perspective. Instead of viewing obstacles as unfair setbacks, you treat them as catalysts for self-discovery. We can embrace the duality of life; we have both joy and pain. While pain is uncomfortable, it teaches us empathy, deepens our understanding and builds emotional stamina.

Active participation involves doing the work. It is the active choice to no longer be incapacitated by pain, but to let it shape and mold you. Every time I encounter adversity, I stop and say to myself, “What do you need to learn from this?” There is a mantra about pain, “Name it to Tame it!” Taking the time to recognize what emotion the pain is been driven by, will aid you in building your emotional stamina.

Driving home from British Columbia, we decided to stop at Three Valley Gap for the night. It is a beautiful spot and was an adventure all on it’s own. For most of our lives we have driven past this quaint little spot as it is along highway 1, as you drive from Alberta to the coast. We have stayed in Chase a couple of times and this time decided to try Three Valley Gap. It is incredibly picturesque with lakes and surrounded by mountains. Behind the hotel was a spot on the mountain where rock climbers were trying their hands at conquering the mountain. A number of guests were watching the show. We didn’t have time for the Ghost Town experience but did go to the restaurant in an attempt to find food that wouldn’t kill me. An amber alert sent everyone’s phone off in the restaurant. Our waitress was kind and we enjoyed our time. The things that I found funny were that there were no restrooms in the lobby. There was no Wi-Fi in the rooms but there was Wi-Fi in the lobby. There was no air conditioning in the rooms either. It was like a person stepped back in time.

I found the bed very comfy but my dear, husband struggled with the light coming in the room and when we set up the fan with the sliding door open, there was a lot of train noise and traffic noise coming in the room. My ear plugs saved me!

When we were children, one of my sisters was complaining that she couldn’t go to sleep because it was too light out. This was in Cherry Grove, where the sun doesn’t set until well after children’s bed times. My dad’s response was, “Well, you have to close your eyes to go to sleep!” Soooo, you know that I tell Erik the same thing!

On our way home from Vancouver Island, we received a message from Meaghan, who sent a link to a listing for a house in the area that I would love to live in. Erik looked at me and said, “Should we turn around!?!” I said that we should just keep going and think on it. We were driving through dense smoke because of a forest fire and I wanted to get through it.

I liked the look of the house and we made arrangements for Meaghan and Dallin to go look at it for us and see what they think. During the viewing, they both agreed that the house would work for us. If you don’t know, I have an industrial quilting machine and her name is “Miss Elaine”. Even the realtor learned this and was asking us during house tours if “Elaine” would fit in the house. Miss Elaine needs a LOT of space; at least 20 feet by 12 feet. Dallin made us a couple of videos to show us the house as well. It was really difficult to get the full scope of the house and we agreed that if we made an offer it would be contingent on us going back and viewing it in person.

Last week on the way home from Edmonton, we were passing a semi truck hauling a backhoe. A sizable rock loosened from the track of the backhoe and struck our windshield leaving a huge mess. I used a German word to express my dismay; Scheiße! I should have used Sheibenkleister! Unfortunately, I learned some bad words from my dear mother when we lived in Germany. There are days where everything seems to go sideways and I want to say, “Alles Kacke!” Yes, there is pain and joy because the rock didn’t go all the way through the windshield and kill us. We’re still here to tell the tale.

We booked flights back to the island to see the house. We flew out on a Friday and flew back on Saturday. The small airports make flying reasonable and everything went smoothly. The tiny glitch was the window seat occupant. She had perfume on and I couldn’t sit next to her so Erik did and I used the emergency procedure card as a fan to blow the air away. Our realtor picked us up from the airport and we stopped at a farmstand along the way to pick up fruit. Then we met up with Dallin to see a boat that he was interested in. At last we made it to the house for the viewing. After our time there, we walked down to the ocean to get a view of what we would be living next to.

Meaghan and Dallin took us to Witty’s Beach. The tide was out so we made our way down from Tower Point to the beach. This is an expansive beach and we were able to walk through tide pools and watch people with their dogs. It was windy but I believe that any day at the ocean is a good day, wind or not. I am looking forward to bird watching there. Witty’s Lagoon is a designated bird sanctuary with over 160 species of birds documented there including the Great Blue Heron. At Tower Point we saw so many harbor seals basking on an island taking in the sun.

At the Edmonton Airport, we met the mission president and his wife from the Edmonton Mission. I guessed that they were headed to Yellowknife to meet missionaries. When we passed in the line up again, they did say they were headed to Yellowknife. We had a lovely visit with them before heading to our gate.

Dallin drove us back to the Victoria airport and we had lupper (lunch/supper) before boarding. The plane wasn’t as full so Erik and I had our row to ourselves. I sat in the window seat and all was well until I heard the pilot talk about preparing for landing. I looked out the window and saw tornado skies. I had been receiving notifications on social media about what was coming up through Rocky Mountain House, weather wise. As we hit the big cumulous clouds, I knew that we were about to go on a roller coaster ride. The turbulence was fun. Erik could see everyone’s heads going up and down throughout the plane. I was laughing and the lady across the row was also smiling. I did learn that airtime is from wheels up to wheels down. We were scheduled to have flying time of 1 hour 21 minutes but did the trip in 1 hour 10 minutes.

The drive back to Gull Lake was like being pushed around because of the strong winds coming from the south west. We watched the skies and by the time we got home there was another wave of the storm coming through. Our home was safe, praise the Lord! There were trees down along the highway in the morning on our way to church. We were so grateful that we followed the prompting to take out some big old trees on our property.

Now Erik has some tree sections to split to make room for moving our trailers back onto the property. The time has come yet again for more downsizing. Marketplace will be my friend again.

I know that we will be facing more adversity but as we approach it wisely, we will receive grace and happiness.

In honor of our pioneer ancestors, I found a quote from James E. Faust. “In the heroic effort of the handcart pioneers, we learn a great truth. All must pass through the refiner’s fire, and the insignificant and unimportant in our lives can melt away like dross and make our faith bright, intact and strong. There seems to be a full measure of anguish, sorrow, and often heartbreak for everyone, including those who earnestly seek to do right and be faithful. Yet, this is part of the purging to become acquainted with God.

Stay strong and remember that adversity is not disfavor from the Lord or a withdrawal of blessings. We all must pass through the refiner’s fire and emerge stronger and brighter.