Warning: Brag Alert!

OK - I warned that on occasion I may use this space for nothing other than to brag about my kids.

Well, this is one of those occasions.

I would proudly like to announce that my favorite first born son is now a Lance Corporal in the United States Marines. He received his promotion on Monday and we are so excited for him.

Ooh-Rah, Semper Fi and Way to Go!  

We love you, Christopher!

Lance Corporal Christopher M Samuels

Going the Distance: A Little Inspiration

For a little added inspiration following yesterdays post, read this from the Fargo Forum in Fargo, ND.  Truly inspirational...

Going the distance: Wheelchair team sets goal for Fargo Marathon

Rory Eidsness and Rollie Johnson will tackle the Fargo Marathon as a two-man team with a silent partner.

Eidsness, a former Fargo fire captain who suffered a stroke four years ago and has very limited movement, will ride in a customized racing wheelchair while Johnson pushes.

The two 50-year-olds completed the half marathon two years ago after Johnson came up with the idea as a way to challenge himself physically and give Eidsness a chance to get out.

“There’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think about him in terms of what I can do and what he’s not able to do,” said Johnson, director of contemporary ministries at Fargo’s First Lutheran Church.

This year, they decided to attempt the full 26.2 miles but first enlisted the help of North Dakota State College of Science welding students to design a wheelchair that would fit their needs.

And this isn’t any ordinary wheelchair.

The three-wheeler is designed to look like a dragster car and is customized just for them.  The car is aluminum with carbon fiber wheels and weighs less than 50 pounds. It has hand brakes for going downhill and is insulated to keep Eidsness warm. The hood detaches so Eidsness can be lifted inside, where he fits snugly in foam and padding.

Eidsness primarily communicates by nodding or looking up with his eyes. A mirror will be mounted on the windshield so Johnson can communicate with Eidsness without stopping.

“They really nailed the design,” Johnson said. “It is really a smooth-pushing machine.”

Welding instructor Lee Larson and his students at the lab in the Skills & Training Technology Center didn’t forget the cool factor.

In recognition of Eidsness’ 19 years with the Fargo Fire Department, the wheelchair is painted fire-engine red and will feature his badge No. 344, flame decals and his helmet mounted on the front.

On Thursday, as Eidsness was trying out the car in the NDSCS Fargo welding lab, Johnson asked, “Whoa, doesn’t that look cool?” and Eidsness nodded and looked up with his eyes to signal yes.

Eidsness suffered a stroke while training with Johnson and other members of a church group to climb Devils Tower in Wyoming.

Kari Eidsness said it means a lot to her husband to participate in the marathon.

“He used to be so active, and it allows him to get out and be part of things that he’s not been able to be a part of,” she said.

Eidsness is in physical therapy to work on his core strength with the goal of being able to sit independently. He’s also in aqua therapy.  Johnson said Eidsness has a lot more neck and torso strength than he did two years ago.

“He’s just a walking testimony to courage,” Johnson said.

But Eidsness, who has a special computer that he controls with his eyes, said through an e-mail interview that his partner deserves the credit.

“I have the easy job with the marathon,” Eidsness said. “I just sit there. Rollie does all the work.”

Johnson is training to not only run his first marathon but run it while pushing his 230-pound friend.

He’s always been active, but Johnson wasn’t a runner before deciding to take on the half marathon in 2008.

Johnson has been doing practice runs with the new wheelchair, sometimes with Eidsness and sometimes with his children and some sandbags to add weight.

Johnson said his motivation is faith-based.  “I believe that when God gets involved, we’re able to do so much more than what we’re physically or emotionally capable of,” he said.  In 2008, the cheers and prayers from the crowd helped them finish the half marathon in two hours, 20 minutes.  “The effect of the crowd and the cheering and the stimulation of that, the adrenaline, was beyond anything I could have ever predicted,” Johnson said.

Eidsness said the highlight for him was running into the Fargodome and seeing their pictures on the big screen.

That year, they used a modified wheelchair, but not one that was custom built or had safety features.

They expect the full marathon may take them four to five hours.  Kari Eidsness will bike alongside them in case they need anything during the race.  “I need to get ready, too,” she said.

Johnson said he doesn’t know whether he’ll be able to run the whole 26.2 miles, but if he has to walk after mile 18 or 20, it won’t be the end of the world.

“I’m really confident that this is a vision born spiritually of God, and if he wants it to happen, it’ll happen,” Johnson said.

I can say 'Amen!' to that!! Talk about not letting a disaster getting you down.  Hope you were as inspired and encouraged as I was. - Dawn

Don't Put Down the Pansies

Last November I noticed the most amazing thing. Peeking out from underneath the blanket of snow that had begun to cover up my seemingly lifeless flower bed were little snips of purple and yellow. Looking closer, I found them to be the pansies that I had planted that past spring. I was confused. They were supposed to be brown and shriveled up like everything else in my garden. Didn’t they know it was NOVEMBER! What were they thinking? They were just going to get frost bite and then they would regret not laying down and dying like all the rest of the ‘smart’ flowers, I thought.

Well, soon enough another layer of snow fell and I forgot about those pansies...until about the last week of March. An early spring had melted away the snow in my front flower bed and the sun was shining. I walked out my front door on my way out to run some errands and what did I see? Those perky little pansies!

There they were, arriving ahead of the tulips, daffodils and even the snow crocuses. Now I have no idea if their blooms truly lasted all winter but they did not seem any worse for wear. I bent down and gave them a good inspection. Green leaves, healthy petals and not a trace of frostbite anywhere! “Well, good for them!” I thought.

Then someone whispered, “Don’t put down the pansies.” 

Now what is that supposed mean? Well, for once I stopped and asked “OK, Lord, what are you trying to tell me?” And this is the answer that I got:

Don’t put down those that seem weak or small or too young. I am enough. If I have called them to do something, I will give them what they need to do it. And that includes you – when you think you can’t possibly do something, that it will be too hard, that you are not big enough, strong enough, that you are bound to fail…remember that when you are weak, I am strong!

Wow, thank you, Lord! But He wasn’t done with me yet. The next morning, I read this:

“The days of the blameless are known to the Lord, and their inheritance will endure forever.

In times of disaster they will not wither; in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.”

(Psalm 37:18-19)

And this…

“If the Lord delights in a man’s way, he makes his steps firm;

though he stumble, he will not fall, for the Lord upholds him with his hand.”

(v.23-24)

When I saw those pansies back in November, peeking their heads out of the snow I scolded them – thinking they were in for trouble. That the inevitable North Dakota winter we were about to enter into certainly meant ‘disaster’ for those pansies. I mean, maybe if they were a hearty hosta or a mighty oak tree….but they were pitiful little pansies and everyone knows pansies are weak and fragile and just plain wimpy.

But maybe those pitiful little pansies were trusting in something greater than my doomsday weather forecast. I know they didn’t survive due to my extraordinary gardening skills (insert sound bite of family’s howling laughter.) Maybe they made it through because they were trusting in their creator, who promised he would ‘weather’ them through the impending disaster. Maybe, just maybe, they had the faith to know that if their little petals fell or their leaves started turning a little brown…he would be there to pick up their heads and bring them sunshine and rain to refresh and restore them. That even when the situation seemed unending and hopeless, he was there to hold them up and not let them wither away. Pretty powerful…for a pansy, huh?

And that’s what I learned from a pansy. That no matter how small or insignificant I may feel or someone else may appear, our God is BIG. Big enough to provide for us when we are struggling, big enough to hold us up when we don’t think we can stand any longer, big enough to weather us through whatever our next disaster may be - even when others may tell us its hopeless and that we should just give up and run for cover.  If God called you to it – he will bring you through it!

In the meantime, I’m keeping my eye on those pansies. Something tells me God’s not done with them yet and I’m thinking that with faith like that, the weeds better get out of their way (I think there’s a whole other lesson there :)

Stay tuned for a Tale of Two Tulips…