Stations of the Cross

I was able to go with some friends to The Cloisters on the Platte, which is a Jesuit retreat, based on Ignatian spirituality (if you're interested in learning more about what that is, you can go here - there's a really beautiful video that explains it on that page too). It was built in 2017 by Joe Ricketts (founder of TD Ameritrade), who has gone on a Jesuit retreat every year for 20 years, and wanted to bring that experience to people in Nebraska. I'm glad he did. They have SILENT weekend retreats there (yep, NO talking the entire weekend), which I'm super fascinated by and interested in, but we went there just to walk through their Stations of the Cross - a 2,500 foot walking tour with audio meditations, comprised of 14 sculpture stations that represent Christ's trial through His burial. The sculptures are by various artists, and are absolutely beautiful, as is the setting.

 

 

 This one of Christ being taken down from the cross was my favorite one. You don't often see that depicted.

We all kind of wished that the tomb had been empty, or that their was another statue of Christ when he was resurrected (maybe when he appeared to Mary), but this was the last one. We did, however, like that the angel was a woman :)

We had really good weather when we went, so it was a perfect day of reflection and beauty. I would recommend it to anyone.

Minus 2 Daughters and 1 Husband

I forgot to post about a couple of things that happened during the summer.

Right after our graduation trip with Cora, she went on a trip with 2 of her best friends from Germany, Jackson and Jacob. Jacob is originally from Idaho, and a lot of his family still lives there, and Jackson is from Wyoming, and lives there with his family now, so that's where they headed.

Her many adventures included a LOT of time outdoors, and mostly in areas that don't get cell/internet service, so they were sans phones, which was great. She also quickly realized that she had not packed appropriately for the crazy mood swings of Wyoming weather. She had one hoodie, which she wore constantly, but borrowed other warm items from her friends to help her survive. Luckily, there were several warm sunny days, during which time they enjoyed hiking and hanging out at different lakes.

Cora taught the boys how to paddle board.

And they built sand castles.

They went to a hot spring up in the mountains.

And visited a dam.

There were many scenic hikes.

One day they helped out a neighbor with branding and vaccinating his cattle. Cora was tasked with keeping track of how many cows vs. heffers there were, and which ones got their different vaccines.

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Of course, they couldn't miss the opportunity of going to Yellow Stone together!

It started out as a sunny warm day, then got cloudy and rainy, and was snowing by the time they left. A friend of mine who lives nearby posted this picture of Yellow Stone the day after Cora visited it.

They visited the Idaho Falls Temple.

 They visited a restaurant that had made it onto "Man vs. Food" (a show our family used to watch all the time, and they ordered the Double Big Jud. Cora ate about half of her third.

 They also went shooting one day. Not the first time that Cora has shot a gun, but she definitely got more of a variety this time.

Other days included learning to drive a 4-wheeler, going to a trampoline park, drinking the best chocolate milk of her life (made with potato flakes, eating square ice cream, going to a museum, and visiting a Japanese garden.

All of these photos, videos, and information was sent to me by Cora while she was on her trip, so I could see what she was up to, and not worry about her ;)

In the mean time, Joe left for a month to do some language training in Georgia, and on his drive down there, he dropped Madelyn off in Tennessee/Kentucky to spend the month with her friend Rebekah (Jacob's little sister, and daughter of my friend Eleanor, who was kind enough to take her for the month). She had plenty of adventures of her own, including hiking, the lake, bonfires, and a color war.

One day they even got dressed up in old prom dresses and did a photo shoot, just for fun.

 

 

She looks SO MUCH OLDER in these pictures....or maybe I just REALIZED how old she actually is. Anyway, she had a good time, and I'm grateful that we have such good friends in the Rolfes!

In the meantime, Joe was just trying to survive his language class. No fun. But he passed his Iraqi/Arabic tests when he got home, so YAY! I'm so dang proud of him and his big brain :)

It was good to get everyone back home again. It was weird to be a single parent of 2 boys, hahaha.