We started this week visiting Jasper National Park in Alberta Canada. There was a forest fire last year that wiped out thirty three percent of the park. We met up with our Airstream caravan in Dawson Creek, BC., and have been driving north and west on the Alaskan highway. The landscape is scarred for hundreds of square miles (if not thousands) from fires fairly continuously burning over the last couple of years. It was beautiful and sad.
I have been reflecting on the fact life is often like this. Beautiful and at times devastating. Death of loved ones, illnesses, and a world that often seems to be spiraling out of control: A flash flood killing many leaving devastated families. Life is often unbearably hard. But we have also birthdays, weddings, family times, and vacations.
Yet, as we travel down the road, the wildflowers grow where the fire destroyed. Seeds sprout from the forest floor. Fireweed, a beautiful purple-flowered weed, is the first thing growing back after a fire. There is beauty in the ashes of devastation. There is hope that renews. I believe there is a God in heaven that is good, and who hears and comforts the brokenhearted. He is present in our everyday. Joy is found is in the laughter of friends and family at the goofiness of life. And joy is in knowing I am loved. Deeply loved.
We must process losses and mourn for what was. We must lean into blessings of the day, the unexpected glimpses of grace, the beauty of a bird, of bears along the road, and the resolution of conflict. The acceptance of the imperfect.
Highlights of the week:
1.Meeting up with our Airstream caravan and making new friends with fellow adventurers.
2. Going where we have not traveled before: the wonder of it and the history and beauty of the Alaskan highway.
Bumps:
Bugs–they are an intrinsic part of camping and quintessential to the functions of nature, but I really dislike them.Feeling disconnected with family and friends.
Go, Friends, and continue to engage in small adventures!
Colleen
Epsilon Adventures 
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