Aloha!

So what has the Prather Family been up to lately? Sitting in the car. Last Thursday we drove to Peoria, IL and back for the Ordinations of two dear friends (one of whom is pictured in the previous post). It was wonderful to celebrate such an incredible occasion with them. We then had a quick trip to Chicagoland Sunday for the Missus' bro's 30th, a visit with my sis' and kids and a visit with some dear friends (all of which we did in about 36 hours!). Other than that we've just been doing stuff around the house to prepare for our trip to Massachusetts and a short vacation for me and the Missus.

Tomorrow morning we leave for our first-ever trip together without our son...an early Wedding Anniversary getaway (this Sept 5th marks nine years). Through some incredible circumstances and the generosity of family we've got 6 days in the land of Blessed King Kamehameha...a.k.a. Hawaii! We're stoked. We're attending a Christian Marriage Retreat and are going to relax and enjoy some fun in the sun. It'll be nice for the two of us to get away. God is very gracious in the gifts he lavishes on us. I feel the need to do something zany and daring while we're there like cliff dive, surf in a typhoon, wrestle a shark, get a tattoo, walk on hot coals... I don't know, maybe I could get a tattoo of myself surfing on a shark across hot coals off a cliff? Even if I don't do any of those, it's gonna be a blast with the Missus!

Other than all the above I've just been enjoying being my usual summer bike nerd and having fun with my son. Today was the first time he ever came up to me and said, "Dad...you wanna builds trains with me?" Yes! I dropped everything and we built a sweet train layout downstairs. Being a Dad just keeps getting better.

So I got in my first long ride of the year on Memorial Day with my dear friend Scott, who just became the Rev. Scott...congrats brother, who dragged me through 60 miles of beautiful, and grueling, WI hill country. Being from the flatland of IL I'm not used to all these hills! As I would pant my way to the top of a hill feeling every fiber of my muscles screaming in pain, gasping for breath there was Scott...who'd crested it well before me with a look that said, "Hill? What hill?" This is to say Scott is one hell of a great cyclist, an awesome climber and a dear friend and riding companion whom I'll truly miss having as my next door neighbor. This summer I will being doing another Cycling to Seminary too so stay tuned.

So....you won't see any posts for a few days while we're in Hawaii presumably drinking out of a coconut, wearing grass skirts and strumming a ukelele on the beach...ahhhhh. Thank you Jesus for such awesome blessings.