By golly, I think I've found it!!!

Guess what....I think I've stumbled on something really cool...the great outdoors. For those of you that have known that all along, feel free to laugh at my excitement of this "revelation!" Last weekend I went camping for the first time since I was in Girl Scouts...which was around 30 or so years ago! I absolutely loved the experience. I have never bonded with the outdoors during my adult years (actually I don't think I bonded with them in my childhood years either) and really didn't think I had the desire to, until a couple of years ago. I'm not sure what changed...some say I'm having a midlife crisis and if I am, all I can say is "COOL!!!"

All this came about as a result of some neat coincidences. I found out about some cool stuff that the Hamilton County Parks does with teaching people about the 'great outdoors' and started experimenting with outdoor stuff and I love it... A LOT!! Last weekend I tent camped and had the time of my life. Over the next few months I'm gonna attend some seminars about Wilderness Skills and Backpacking and in October I'm gonna go on my first Backpacking/Camping Trip. (on a side note, if you ever want to learn about any of this stuff, I highly recommend Hamilton County Parks, University of the Great Outdoors...here's the link: http://www.greatparks.org/edu/UGO.htm).

What's interesting is now I'm thinking about ways this can be used for outreach. One of my passions is working with at-risk kids and I know from first hand experience that at risk kids don't get many opportunities to do "outdoors stuff" which is such a shame because there are all kinds of studies that show how noncompetitive activities like hiking, backpacking and paddle sports help kids find their internal strength and build esteem value. I'm beginning to think having an outdoor recreation program for at risk kids would be a really cool thing. Not sure what I'm going to do with those thoughts or if God has an plans for using this or how He might put all this pieces together but I can't wait to find out!!