ADVENTURE  

Adventure - an exciting or unusual experience. It may also be a bold, usually risky undertaking, with an uncertain outcome.
This is a value that I know we're going to experience all throughout our life.  You have to fill your life with adventure.  I feel that you have to fill your life with different and unique experiences to stretch yourself and allow yourself to grow.  Through these adventures, I feel that your self understanding grows and your self confidence is strengthened.  
Adventure comes in different forms.  It could be that you're going to College, it could be marriage, it could be your first child.  Adventure could be going somewhere that you know nothing about, but want to learn and experience more.  When one chapter of your life closes and another chapter opens, that could be considered Adventure.  Whatever your adventure is, embrace it, learn from it, and you'll be a better person because of it.  It all depends on your attitude and your willingness to ask the question, "what can I learn from this new adventure that I'm going to embark on."


Personal Experience - There have been a number of times that I have felt like my "adventures" have allowed me to grow and experience things to make me who I am today.  I have been on several camping trips, ski trips, road trips, and lived in several different areas.  I have lived in Idaho (lots of adventure there), Japan (Kobe area), and Iowa.  I have visited several states in the United States, been to Mexico, been to Ecuador, and Canada.  I have had so many adventures in all of these places.  I have learned so much about the different people, the cultures, and what makes them unique.  I am grateful for all the adventures I have had.  There is one adventure that I recall that allowed me to grow as a father and allowed my 3 oldest kids to grow.  
     We love to hike as a family and enjoy the outdoors.  There was one time that I took my 3 oldest kids on a hike to some mountain lakes called the Hansen lakes.  Logan (my son) was about 11, Makayla was 9, and Maddison was 7.  
      We had to hike about 3 miles along a well marked trail, and then hike 3 miles cross-country up a steep mountain side to the lakes.  I had never been there before, but we had heard from a friend that there was some great fishing there.  The start of the hike, we had a great time.  We were talking, singing, and having some bonding moments.  We were hiking late June and the start of the hike was beautiful and comfortable.  My 3 oldest kids had smiles on their faces and were excited to catch some great big fish. 
     After we had hiked about 3 miles, I looked at the map and decided to hike a little further before hiking cross-country.  Well, we had overshot the distance.  We had hiked too far.  We started hiking cross-country up the steep hill side.  We started getting into 3-4 feet of snow and it was slippery and really tough to hike.  In fact, there were several places where I was afraid my kids or I would fall off of some steep cliffs.  I felt like a horrible father and knew that if anything happened to the kids, Heidi (my wife) would KILL me.  The only thing that fell of the steep cliffs were my kids packs.  We had to hike down and retrieve the packs.  We continued to hike for a couple of hours and I could tell that my two little girls had had enough.  I told them that if we didn't find the lakes in another half hour, we would stop and camp right there.  At this point, we were hiking in about 4-5 feet of snow in some areas.  We were equiped and warm enough, but it was hard to hike in that deep  snow. 
     After about 40 minutes, we finally saw a creek that was coming out of the bowl that we thought would be the lake.  I showed my son and two girls where I thought the lake would be.  It gave them new hope and new energy.  We hiked for another 20 minutes and saw the lake.  The kids were so excited!  When the kids took a closer look, the lake was completely frozen over!  WHAT!!!!!  All of us were so disappointed, but we were at least glad to have made it.  We couldn't fish, but we set up camp, we told some great campfire stories, we saw a full moon, and we had a great couple of days of backcountry camping and hiking.  We played games, we ate some great food, we sang some songs, and we laughed at the situation that we were in.  We had worked so hard to get to this lake and catch some great fish, but instead, we made some great memories that will be everlasting and taught my kids some great lessons.  One of those lessons is to not trust Dad to lead you to a great fishing spot in the middle of the Stanley mountains in late June.  :)  The kids look back on this experience and laugh.  They know that they can do TOUGH things.  We ended up hiking about 8 miles each way.  When times get tough later in their lives, they know that they've done tough things in the past and they can do tough things again.
I know as we embark on this journey to Tonga to serve the people there, it will be an amazing adventure and we will learn so many great things.  It is my hope that our 5 kids will learn to have adventure, love the people that are there, and learn from them and their experiences.

                                       

ACCEPTANCE   

  This is the first of the 20 values.
Acceptance is a noun with three different meanings.
1.  Act of taking or receiving something offered.  If someone gives you a gift, you receive it.
2.  Positive welcome and belonging; favor and endorsement.
3.  Act of believing or assenting.
      It is the 2nd definition in which I want to focus.  The reason I included the picture above is because Acceptance includes diversity and inclusion.  It is a principle that everyone has heard about, but is sometimes difficult to practice.  All too often, we get too comfortable with who we choose to have our friendships with.  We choose people who have the same interests, look the same, or have a lot of the same commonalities.  We, of course have our families.  We have our Fathers, Mothers, Siblings, etc., but what about the people around us who may be a little different.  What about making a point to accept someone that may be taller, shorter, skinnier, wider, different color, etc.  I think you get my point.
     What about the person who seems they have everything going for them.  You may think that they have everything, but they may have something missing that they try to hide.  What about the person who we think is obviously missing something and seems a little strange, but really has everything.  Things aren't always as they seem.  Everyone loves to be accepted and included.  No one likes to be the outcast or considered strange or weird.
     This is a principle that we are trying to teach our children.  Everyone appreciates a kind smile, a helping hand, or uplifting words.  As we are preparing for Tonga and a culture of it's own, my hope is that all of us can give a little more effort on including people around us despite their differences.   Trying to reach out to the quiet one, or lend a helping hand to the one that is by themselves.  Not seeing people with  different skin colors, different way of doing things, or different language.  BUT, seeing people for people and finding the commonalities and building on those.  Loving others for who they really are and for what beautiful qualities they have.

Personal Experience -
      When I was about 14 years old, I was a Freshman in High School.  I had a number of friends who I thought were friends.  We did a lot of fun things together and I felt that I belonged.  As time went on, my friends were doing things that I knew were not right and I felt that I was a little trapped.  They were still good guys, but were getting into some mischief, experimenting with some drugs, and not being very productive with their time.  I didn't want to lose my sense of belonging with them and didn't want to be considered a "loner" or "loser".  I knew it was time for me to separate myself from them and their influence if I wanted to go in the direction that I wanted to go.  There are those times in our lives where we have to make tough choices.  This was such a time.  So, that's what I did, but then I found myself with "no friends".  I was hoping and praying that I could find a group where I felt like I belonged, I felt valued, and I could have a good time without compromising my values.  About 2 months went by and then a miracle happened.  A young man by the name of Taylor Kartchner came up to me and asked me what I was doing during lunch.  He invited me to come hang out with him and his group of friends.  To this day, I'm not sure what prompted him to ask me to join his group, but I am eternally grateful for his action that changed my life.  You see, this was a group of guys (about 12 of them) that loved to just have clean, good fun.  We did sports together, went on ski trips together, went hiking and camping together, teased each other about girls, had lots of fun and built many memories.  We still stay in touch and do things with our wives and kids.  It was because of Taylor and his friends ACCEPTING me that changed my life and helped make me into the person I am today.  I will forever be grateful to him for his friendship and taking action to include me.  From that experience, I have always tried to look for the one that might need just that.  I have tried to teach my kids to look for the one.  Through all of us doing that, you just might make a difference in their life, and also yours.

The last two weeks, I have been thinking and pondering about the 20 values that I would like to pick, and I have narrowed it down.  These 20 VALUES are a few of a vast list, but I feel that these are the ones that I would like to focus on, study, and write about.  The 20 VALUES are:

Acceptance
Adventure
Change
Communication
Courage
Creativity
Empathy
Faith
Family
Freedom
Gratitude
Health
Humility
Humor
Integrity
Love
Loyalty
Service
Trust
Wonder