Perspective

When I was making plans for my trip to New York,

I considered going last Thursday when Dan left to Birmingham.

Eventually I decided it would be nice to have time home alone (on Haven)

and then plan for a couple of days in New York without plans.

I'm so glad I did! I've had verrrry busy days 

and was also able to go sledding/hiking with my sisters,

enjoy a snowstorm,

and hike with KT this morning in fresh snow, following in just a few tracks of others,

rather than a compact trail.

When we stopped to admire the gorgeous mountain view 

(not captured in these photos),

KT said, "How Great Thou Art."

Just ten minutes from home.

Reminded me of a conversation in Sunday School.

Rachel W. (who is so kind, energetic, thoughtful and smart that we call her "grown-up Courtney"

Also, she has a darling daughter named Florence! Who new it would become popular again!

Oh! and while I'm on the topic, a new baby in our ward has the middle name Wanda!).

So Rachel had just taken her family to the Clark Planetarium and watched 

the documentary "Deep Sky" with images taken by the James Webb telescope.

The pictures capturing the immensity of space were so moving she cried through half of it,

moved by a testimony of God as Creator and a vision of eternity.

I can't wait to see it myself.

KT and I have hiked Rattlesnake trail to the Pipeline and overlook a million times.

The trail is steep at first then flat for a while and a little shorter than we like.

But its close and quick. Sometimes we've hiked up the hill a bit, but the trail peters out.

Today, with the new snow and a totally different visual perspective following

snowy footsteps, we noticed, for the first time, that the trail actually rounds the mountain and continues into a valley and around another hill all the way to Foothill.

We followed it for a ways until we hit the 2.5 mile mark.

How amazing to discover a completely new trail in a very familiar place

all because we had a different perspective.

(There's a church talk in this lesson!) 

Grateful for good friends and deep conversations

alongside casual conversations and people who I care about and who love me in return.