7-Quick takes

I should also say this – I walk 2 miles or more most days in the summer. I try to hit 3 miles but if Rosie is running particularly fast, or not running particularly far, it’s hard for me to get more in while she’s out and I’m uncomfortable being on the trail while she is waiting for me. If I really push, I can get in 3  to 3 1/2 miles in an hour.

Nonetheless, when Mr. Pete and I had to walk to get to Rosie’s starting line, I wasn’t even winded and we had to walk about 1/2 a mile uphill.  So there are a lot of benefits to keeping active that way!

Izzy is on her way to the Steubenville Youth retreat this weekend. It’s her third or fourth time to go and she is very excited about it.  It is the first time in maybe seven years that I have sent a teen to this retreat alone, without another sibling and I felt strange about it until I saw how easy going she was with the other teens in the group. It pays that she has been so active with them all year long. 

I used to think of these youth retreats as kind of a magical time that will help instill the faith into my teens and reinforce the church teachings that we have tried to give them growing up. 

It’s not that. 

My three oldest children abandoned the faith at least for a time, lived with their girlfriends, and quit going to church. But as my oldest approaches 30, I see that the faith really did have a deeper meaning for him and he and his wife go to church every week. And although Miss C’s dad isn’t a regular churchgoer, he is very happy that she is exposed to the faith at our home and he says grace with us and shows her how to make the sign of the cross. 

So maybe these Steubenville experiences go plant some seeds that just take some time to germinate.