Limestone Cliffs and Finding Friends

We had an amazing weekend.
Saturday we slept in and then packed our things and headed about an hour north to Logan Canyon to experience our first taste of Utah rock climbing. We found ourselves in a beautiful canyon filled with limestone cliffs. With only a few of the cliffs bolted for sport climbs (although there are more than 400 routes on those cliffs) among the hundreds of cliffs, we were excited about the potential of the canyon - for enjoying rock climbing and other things. We decided to drive to Logan, even though a canyon outside of Salt Lake would have been closer, but we were hoping Logan would be less crowded. And it was. We were alone most of the day. When we did climb among others, we actually made some friends and swapped phone numbers and everything. That's never happened to us before! I'm excited at the potential of Landon having a climbing partner with a much higher skill level than me, so that he can be challenged.

Well, it was beautiful in this canyon and there were many people fishing, pic-nic-ing (how to spell that!?) and camping, but much less rock climbing. Landon told me that there is very little Limestone in the Rockies, so i think we hit the jack pot this weekend!

I also saw 2 friends this weekend. This is crazy, and i think it was absolutely God's gracious hand in my life. I was so encouraged to see these women!
When i was... eleven, i started playing on this soccer team that i would continue with and play on until i graduated high school. A few of the girls on that team would change each year, but mostly we were the same team every year and we had the same amazing coach that really was an influential and inspirational person throughout my adolescence. Anyways, it just so happens that the only 2 people that i know that live in the entire state of Utah are two girls from this soccer team. We had practices 3 days a week and a game each weekend for years and years and years. These girls were a huge part of my life.

Kristen and i even went to school together through middle school and high school and during some of those years she was one of my very closest friends (in middle school we even passed around a journal between classes and at soccer practices where we wrote letters to each other - but we coded our names after bubble gum so that if the journal was discovered, no one would know it was us (ha!). We called ourselves the "Bursts" - after the gum. Kristen, along with another friend, Nikki, and I were each a flavor: Cinn-a-burst, Mint-a-burst, and Fruit-a-burst. i wonder where that thing is these days.) Well, I haven't seen Kristen for many years, and we recently got back in touch through reading each other's blogs, actually. She and her husband live in Logan and we got to meet up with them last-minute for some Mexican food after our day climbing. It was amazing! I was so encouraged by my time with them, and with my beautiful friend.

Sunday morning we decided to attend an Evangelical Free church out here since we liked our Evie-Free church in Chicago. We were warmly greeted at the door, and were just a bit late stepping into the sanctuary. We scooted into an empty row and as the first song of worship began, i had a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and saw a beautiful face, of which i haven't seen in eight years! It was Adrienne! I just hugged her and blushed and tried not to squeal with joy. But i was beaming with joy and worshiped God with such gratefulness at his faithfulness and sweet provision. Adrienne and i didn't get to talk long after the service, but i hope that we can meet for lunch next week, maybe. How amazing! That i got to see Kristen, and that i just so happened to sit in the very seat right in front of Adrienne out of every open seat in all the churches here in Utah that we could have attended - i sat in the seat in front of the other person I know. Wow. I still am overwhelmed by this, can't you tell?

So wonderful to see two girls from my childhood this weekend. I am so grateful to God for providing me with those encounters. How amazing!