Hiking with the Girls

Bryan has been so happy to have his family here, instead of in Colorado. A couple of weeks ago, he decided that he wanted to take the three oldest sisters hiking. He loves to hike and has missed going since we now have too many people to drag along with us. He really wanted to take Dalin, too, but because he is only 7 and Bryan's legs aren't what they used to be because of the MS, he was skeptical that he could handle three teenagers with very little hiking experience and a 7 year old.

Plans were made, but Bryan couldn't bring himself to tell Dalin that he wasn't going to take him along. I didn't have a good feeling about Dalin going. I really wanted Bryan to see how his legs handled the trail alone, before he drug Dalin along with him and the girls. So that night, I prayed that Bryan would be able to go without Dalin, but that Dalin's feelings would not be hurt. Then, a funny thing happened. Dalin got up in the night to tell me that he didn't feel good. I took his temperature, and sure enough, he had a fever!! Was this an answer to my prayer?

In the morning, I explained to Dalin that he needed to stay home with me because he was sick. He was OK with that, because he really didn't feel much like hiking with a fever. Bryan, Krista, Haley, and Tamara had so much fun!! The went about 4 miles, I believe, and really enjoyed themselves. They saw a huge tarantula along the trail and stopped to take pictures of it to show Dalin. Tamara took a lot of neat pictures for me. (Thank you, Tamara!)

It was a good thing things happened the way they did, because Bryan realized that he is not 18 anymore. Hiking is more of a challenge than it used to be. He would have struggled if Dalin had tagged along. Funny thing, too, Dalin's fever was gone in the afternoon and never returned. Hmmm?? Interesting! We'll take Dalin when we can all go as a family and take a short, easy trail. It will be safer that way for all of us.