I'm a Writer, Climber, Runner, B Baller and Kid Wrangler

Michael here-I wrote this a few days ago but was not able to get it posted until now.

It has been awhile since I have posted to our blog. I have been keeping rather busy. During the month of November I was taking part in Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month). The idea is to write a 50,000 word novel during the month of November. You don’t edit, you just stream words onto the page as fast as possible. I finished! It was pretty exciting for me. I learned a lot. I am taking a break from my novel but eventually I will attempt to edit the book and make it something readable.
I have also been doing some other things on campus. A few of the other staff members and I have been training to be leaders on the Alpine Towers on campus. So we have spent a lot of time climbing and learning the ropes (literally). Jen really wants to do it as well; she worked a high ropes course one summer on Mt Hood and really enjoyed it. I’m sure she will be able to join us once she pushes out her puppy (as a staff member called it). My coworkers and I have to trust each other with our lives and it’s a pretty bonding experience. Climbing to the top is a beautiful feeling. We have a view of the mountains and hills that surround our campus. Today we were climbing when it was 30 degrees out. It is more difficult to climb when your hands are frozen but we made do. I started out today by climbing up the easy side as I have done several times. Then I had to climb the harder side which has smaller holds. In doing this I actually had to learn a bit of technique and so it took some adjustment for me to get up the first half of the tower. After I found my footing (literally) it felt like it took me no time to make it up to the top. It was one of the scarier things that I have ever done and I am glad I have had this experience. One of my coworkers who is a more natural climber was able to climb the firecrackers. Firecrackers are basically dangling logs with climbing holds. They swing around so it is much harder to move from one log to the other. It was awesome to watch. It will be cool to lead the kids in doing the climbs. It is a great way for them to conquer fears and for us as leaders to be able to start discussions with the kids about difficulties that they face in life.
I have been in the running club on campus with our eleven year old twins. I have cut 2 ½ minutes off of my mile since we have started and it has been awesome to get back in shape and to run around campus with the other kids in the club. The twins have a hard time pushing themselves but they definitely push harder when they are competing against each other. You know that the girls have worked hard because their faces turn bright red and their cheeks turn bright white. It’s cute. We are going to be participating in a 5k run and possibly an 8k as well.
I just started doing church league basketball with a few other guys. We lost our first game badly. The other team was fast and very tall and apparently God was with their team instead of ours. We play for a local Methodist church so apparently God likes the Baptists better than the Methodists. It was fun and we have a team with some good players so I look forward to playing against some other slower, shorter teams.
Jen has been wonderful to allow me to be involved in so many outside activities. For awhile I was getting really restless because I spent so much time in the house with the foster baby. I am trying to give Jen as many breaks as possible, tonight she is out with one of our girls doing Christmas shopping and going to dinner and a movie. I stayed home with the rest of the kids. It was a quite evening. I had three girls giggling and arguing, a baby crying, yelling and breaking stuff and a hyped up border collie/husky shedding hair all over and chewing on every little thing he can get his teeth on…good times. All of the kids are now in bed and I am finally able to have some down time so I am going to head off and do absolutely nothing. Peace out.