Because of the COVID-19 shutdown, we can't go to any pools. But, it has gotten really, REALLY hot. So hot, that after playing in our makeshift pool, which I wrote about in the post "How to Make a Pool From Absolutely Nothing," and the sprinkler for days in a row, we needed to do something else. We have these 5 dollar tubes that we bought when our cartop carrier exploded on the highway, and we lost the boogie boards. We took the tubes out to the local park, Glen Falls, and went to play in Ellicott Creek. We found a spot where we could get in, and two people got in the water and rafted down the creek. We were actually able to go a good distance before the creek got too shallow. two people would raft down while the others waited at the end. Then two different people would pick the tubes up, run back upstream, through the prickers, and over a small stream, and start all over. They would get in, and raft through some good-sized rapids, a calm part, and back into some more rapids. It was amazing!

By Daylia Wilson

What do you do when you're bored out of your mind because you've been stuck in your house all May while its still snowing? You go to Florida, of course!

This is what we were thinking the 3rd month quarantine. We were sick of the cold and needed a change of scenery. Thankfully our grandparents have a condo and Florida so why not just crash  it right? Exactly, makes sense, but how do you get to Florida? You also take your grandparents car! It was the greatest plan ever until your car top carrier breaks and your clothes are spread out all along the highway, but thats all part of the adventure!

We finally got to Florida after a 21 hour car ride. You would probably think that now we would take a long nap maybe watch a movie so we can rest after a long night. But did we do that? NO! We were in Florida! Who cares if we were drowsy! We jumped in the pool only an hour after we arrived. As the days went by we got into a pretty good routine

Beach.
Pool.
Repeat.

What could get better than that?

By: Hazyl Wilson

One of our family values is to create and share memorable experiences together. As some form of outdoor enthusiasts, before Erin and I had kids, we loved to attempt a number of different activities. Now, with our oldest at twelve years and our youngest at four we must approach world differently than we could back then. However, this family life is an exciting one, and we feel like we should do our best to savor every moment. Embracing the social media hashtag, #adventureisafamilyvalue, we pursue difficult things and give it our best effort. We believe this will instill personal identity in our kids as well as draw them closer to their Creator.

Last week, we took our two big girls out on a new adventure by backpacking a section of the Appalachian Trail. We had never attempted anything like this before, but we hiked for three days, and tent camped out overnights, carrying everything we would need for the journey on our backs. We chose a section on the North Carolina / Tennessee Border called the Roan Highlands, starting at a place called Carver Gap. This section of trail includes a number of "balds" where you are well above the tree line, and can see out for 30-40 miles or more on a clear day.

Our adventure took us out and back over these "balds" which meant that we had the opportunity to engage with the breathtaking sights on two occasions. After a sweaty and labored ascent on the one day, the views were far more incredible than any picture on the internet could grasp. It was honestly pretty mesmerizing. What a beautiful display on hand by our Creator. On another day however, our trail was swallowed up by billowing clouds of fog. Rather than 30-40 miles, we were not likely to see even 30-40 feet ahead of us.

What a difference! Isn't this what happens to our spiritual vision sometimes? Some days it just seems that there is a that fog obscures many of the wonderful views along the way. Dr. Ray Pritchard says: "Cloudy spiritual vision afflicts every Christian to some degree. None of us sees as clearly as we would like for now we see through a glass darkly." 

In Mark 8 we read of the interaction between Jesus and the blind man Bartimaeus. If you know the passage, you know Jesus heals him of his blindness. However, after hiking through the fog myself last week, there are a few points from a sermon I preached I was reminded of.

A Follower's Faith Can Move a Friend Closer To God
22 And they came to Bethsaida. And some people brought to him a blind man and begged him to touch him. Mark 8:22

I love friends who love their friends so much that their priority is: "We gotta get them to Jesus." That's the best thing you can do for your friends--get them to Jesus, tell them about Jesus. It wasn't that man's faith.There's no record of this man having any faith. But evidently his friends had the faith that when Jesus hit the shore in that boat, they thought, "We gotta get him to Him." And they brought their friend to Jesus.

A Follower's Faith Grows As Jesus Brings Things Into Focus
23 And he took the blind man by the hand and led him out of the village, and when he had spit on his eyes and laid his hands on him, he asked him, “Do you see anything?” 24 And he looked up and said, “I see people, but they look like trees, walking.” 25 Then Jesus laid his hands on his eyes again; and he opened his eyes, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Mark 8:23-25

Jesus had to grab him by the hand. What a tender picture of the Lord directing him around obstacles, and he leads the man out of town. Why? I mean, he's in town, why didn't he just stay in town and do it? He leads him out of town away from the crowd, away from the relatives, away from the fans. Jesus leads him out of town, and then he puts spit on his eyes. "Uh, I see men like trees walking." "Okay, well, come here. Let me do this again." Lays hands on him. "Now, what do you see?" "I see perfectly clear." In touching him the first time he enabled the man for the first time to see light, color, shapes, though not clearly defined. Just that would have prompted a certain kind of faith to well up inside of him. He put his faith and he would put his trust in Jesus, so that the second step it was a response to that Bartimaeus' faith. 20/20 vision. Jesus wanted this to be individual. Jesus cut through the fog and heals this man wholly and completely.

He can do the same for you. Will you take the first baby steps on your spiritual adventure? Watch and experience your faith grow as Jesus brings things into focus!

We Are The Wilsons. We Adventure Boldly.

Few things have been as impactful in our lives and marriage as our family vision. Years back when we felt aimless and flustered, we took the time to have in-depth discussions about what matters most to us: as Christians, as a family, and as a couple. The result was our family vision statement, which has helped us immensely since.

“A family mission statement is a combined, unified expression from all family members of what your family is all about — what it is you really want to do and be — and the principles you choose to govern your family life.” - Stephen Covey

"A family vision statement will give you vision in the valley, clarity on the mountaintop, and intentionality for the journey." - Ryan Frederick

We Are The Wilsons. We Adventure Boldly.

Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were uneducated, common men, they were astonished. And they recognized that they had been with Jesus. Acts 4:13

Boldy Know.
-We will know; Whose we are.
Boldly Be.
-We will be; Who we are.
Boldly Love. 
-We will love, Our actions speak clear.
Boldly Go.
-We will go; Adventure is near!

Have you ever considered what's most important for your family?  
Have you ever considered how you are going to get there?

Here are some questions you can ask if you are a family of three or more.
- What is the purpose of our family?
- What do we want our family to be known for?
- What kind of family do we want to be?
- What kind of things do we want to do?
- What kind of feelings do we want to have in our home?
- What kind of relationships do we want to have with one another?
- What things are truly important to us as a family?
- What are the unique talents, gifts, and abilities of family members?
- What are the principles and guidelines we want our family to follow?
- What families inspire us and why do we admire them?

If you’ve never taken the time to answer these questions, or even contemplated them, maybe it’s time for you to draft a family mission statement?

I ride my bike to work nearly every day of the week, albeit today I am carrying some precious cargo on the way to church. Before you read the rest of this article, you need to know, it's totally safe. When I bring the kids with me, I ride the whole way to our worship building on the sidewalk. But man, we have a lot of reflectors. We definitely want to make sure you can see us!

Overall, even on my normal days, it's pretty tame around here. Metro Buffalo pales to the chaos of urban center cities around the world where cycling in traffic is a dangerous activity requiring the rider to risk his life every day. Because of snow removal in the winter months, our roads have wide shoulders and additional buffer space between my handlebars and a fast moving rear view mirror.

Occasionally, even though I'm usually left well enough alone, there are certainly times that a driver will lose track of me, and I get pushed over to the side by a stiff breeze, or get cut off by a motorist making an abrupt right turn into a parking lot or driveway without making any signal to alert the maneuver. Usually, I can navigate around disaster without too much trouble by jumping up on a curb, or ditching the bike into someone's front yard. Nine times out of ten, the motorist turns pale white when they realize how close they came to me. They are concerned and apologetic. They realize they were distracted in some way from their main task. They realized what they were really missing going doing the road.

The Apostle Paul writes: Stay alert, with your eyes wide open in gratitude. Don't forget to pray, that God will open doors for telling the mystery of Christ. Now, to my knowledge, Paul never pedaled a bicycle or commuted to work in a prius or a pickup truck.  However, I do believe that he would remind us to keep our eyes alert when driving from place to place for locations, and people, and situations that might be an open door for telling the mystery of Christ. I do believe that we can be people who are prayer walking, prayer bicycling, and prayer driving so that the Good News of the Gospel can go out once again to our friends, family, and communities. Do you know what you're missing on the road?

We were able to ski from 2-4pm. Visibility was low, so we had no idea how beautiful it really was. We got in enough runs to get a feel for how to get around.
Tuesday morning with the time change we were up at 4am. We decided to get a good parking spot and get our coffee and breakfast at the resort. Got in line at 8:15 with all the powder chasers. Opened at 9. Bluebird morning.
Went up the first gondola with a local who now lives in Maryland. Didn't ask her for permission, but followed her around for 2 or 3 runs. It was like having a personal guide. Followed her right off the backside of granite cliffs on the first run and survived! Probably would not have taken such a risk on our first run, but because we did it gave us a ton of confidence for the rest of the day.

Also learned the hard way that our East Coast skis are pretty good on everything except fresh snow. We went off into the deep stuff two times only to both end up waist deep and in a full sweat trying to get out. That's a good way to tear an acl! Would need to rent skis to try that again.

10am on top of the Siberia Bowl.


2pm on top of the Siberia Bowl

Skied in perfect conditions all morning, until a storm came in and blew us off the high peaks. But, with some practice and learning to trust the edges of the skis, we were still able to have a great afternoon. Tahoe is just unbelievable!

For us, it's been15 years in the making. Incredible!

maple the dog