Ellie Goes Skiing!

This past weekend we hosted a winter ski retreat up in the Cincinnati area. Nathan's brother, Stephen, was our guest speaker. We were so appreciative of him coming -- and from the evaluations we've received, he really made an impact on the students with his messages and challenge.

Following the Saturday morning session and lunch, we headed for the slopes. For the past couple of years I would take Ellie on the tubing runs but Nathan was determined that this would be the year we would get her on skis. I must admit that I was quite skeptical. You see, Ellie often has irrational fears of trying anything new. For some reason though, she had no qualms whatsoever about trying skiing! I came down to the rental area while Nathan and Ellie were picking up their skis after putting on their boots. Ellie looked so grown up carrying her own pair! I think she was excited to do what all of her college friends were doing!

Her sense of balance was really good. She really didn't need to hold onto Nathan's poles, but it gave her a little bit of assurance.

Reni and I watched them do a few passes on the bunny slopes before heading back to Wilmore early. Then Nathan and Ellie proceeded to have a wonderful afternoon and evening of father/daughter time. Nathan later described it as quite possibly the most fun day he had ever had with her, sharing conversations on the ski slopes and on the runs down the hill.


The sign below reads, "Caution. No easiest way down." Then Ellie proceeded to tell her dad that she had to go potty.


We were blessed to make a new friend on the retreat. Linda (center, below, pictured with our cabinet president, Caleb, and another retreat attendee, Kendra), attended Asbury for one semester in 2004 . She has returned to Wilmore and works for the State, training visually impaired individuals in ways to lead a more independent life. She told us that she had been skiing before, but it had been some time. When a student invited her to joins us on the retreat, she jumped at the opportunity, and we were happy to have her. It turns out that the slopes, Perfect North, had adaptive skiing assistants available to help her enjoy several hours getting her ski legs back! She said they were some of the best she had ever worked with. It was interesting for us to learn about the program because we have a feeling our son will be anxious for his turn on the slopes and their adaptive instruction will be something we'll want to access before long!

Funny side story about Linda and Ellie: Saturday morning we were enjoying breakfast together at the hotel. Ellie asked Linda what was wrong with her eyes and if the doctors could "fix" them. Linda explained that her eyes were small and didn't grow right when she was a baby. Ellie proceeded to put on her "doctor hat" and try her hand at healing. She holds up an imaginary tray to Linda, "Okay, I have a bunch of eyes. Which ones would you like? The telescope eyes? or the Dinosaur eyes? And don't worry. I won't give you a shot. No shots. No steposcopes. No TB skin tests --" At that point, we all lost it. Have we mentioned our girl has quite the imagination?

COMING SOON -- a great little video that Nathan made with Ellie on the slopes. Check back!