Grass Spurs: June, Twenty-first, Two Thousand and Twelve

79.7 miles to White Sulpher Springs, Montana

I woke up this morning doing the same thing. Pray, dress, pack, eat, ride.

Today as the sun rose higher and higher, my heart and mind felt somewhat blank. I had the opportunity to ride alone for 12 miles. The entire time I felt like it was a good opportunity to think about the future and try to talk to God to see where He wanted me to go. But my mind was blank. I couldn't focus on questions. We broke at mile 40 and listened to some Bob Marley. Today is the first day of Summer and I can't think of a better way to spend my summer.

At mile 60 we broke for lunch. And at mile 63 we scaled up a roller coaster, not knowing what would be on the other side. We soared  down into the canyon. Wide turns and the most wide sky with landscapes. I couldn't help but laugh and scream. What an incredible feeling. It was as if I were on skis. We rolled into White Sulpher Springs with one of the best tail winds while Rob convinced cows to stand up. We dropped stuff off and headed to some relaxing hot springs when after an 80 mile ride could have provided instant coma... Before the potluck.

Again and again we are blessed daily by community, food and a place to lay our heads for the night. While food was being prepared, I stared out at a cloud as it seemed stationary yet changed constantly. We are like clouds, I have decided. We change constantly. Never stopping. Gaining and loosing different things. Shaping out perspectives and views of ourselves and the reflection of those around us. Projection. Flow.

We ate then went on a tour of the town castle after bell practice with the White Sulpher Spring Ding-a-lings, where Connor helped and Meg, a 12 year old Fidler was playing with them. Her Grandmother, Jerry, was so proud and excited.

 After seeing local history my lungs were stolen by the Big Sky Montana sunset. I couldn't do anything but look. Ellen saw my shock. All I could do was cry. The shape of the clouds clashing with snow topped mountains while the pastels streamed pink, orange, yellow, blue, white, gray. Sheryl and Tim Mcguire didn't know how to react. I couldn't contain the joy. God shows us so much in such little ways. Like sunsets. It's merely a speck. A little something to slightly show us and try to help us comprehend how much He really loves us. Praise God. Thank you, though I don't have all the answers, I am blessed and thankful to know that my God is one who shows himself daily.















This was the day after toward Harlowton...Waiting for Sweep.

Escape Goats

There are times like these I am sure of it that God so desperately wants our attention that He sets things perfectly in place for us to walk right into, like a wall that physically stops us and to acknowledge Him. It began with a pumpkin patch and ended with the excitement of chasing lightning. Flashes that caused us to detour onto Coleman Valley road. Flashes that kept our faith high hoped for seeing an awesome light show swirl over the Pacific.

Cows in Pastures and patches of fog dancing to Ragina Spektor. And as we reached the coast we could see the moon high to our left and a cloud to our right. Straight ahead the yell of the Lord proclaimed, "I am alive and well!" The moon cascaded of the moving vast sea that gave off black and blue. It was as though the lungs of the earth were breathing, moving the chest cavity. And yet it was as though light and dark were dancing while our eyes focused in awe of what we stumbled upon in the heat of the moment. Searching for something that seems so pointless and forgotten in the presence of such divine beauty.

We sat for the longest time as the smells hit our senses and that wall hit our hearts. Awakening something different in each of us. Praise God. Thank God it was His plan all along.

I'm went on a Cross Country Bike Tour:

And this is what I saw...

Appalachians-J
Bikes-D
Crazy Coulee City-E
Dogs chasing me-R
Eauclaire-J
Fantastic fog-D
Gravel galore-E
Huge hills-R
Ipswitch-J
Jessica jogging-D
Kristina Iniguez-E
L-(?)-R???
Montana-J
Nectarines-D
Over large Hobbit doors-E
Painstaking Passes-R
Quick Stops-J
Ridupid Routes-D
Sweaty Bib backs-E
Timid Train hoppers-R
Unbelievably disgusting underwear-J
Various Varieties of Root Beer-D
Wind-E
X-rayed wrists-R
Yellow corn-J
Zoo York-D

Rest Steps.

Purpose... It is what is instilled in every single being on this earth. Some of us know in the very core, what we think we are made for. And yes, at times these things are made very clear. Others still fitting pieces together and looking to fill those places with other purposes.

The life that is put in these bones serve a life of purpose. And through each day as the circumstances unfold that build upon the muscles of our legs to keep moving forward and for our arms and hands to hold tight to climbing holds of community and purpose seen and felt through passions that have been built into us. The muscle of our hearts build upon faith, courage and purpose of all things around us. There is a purpose for everything. There is a purpose for everyone.

As I looked down at my dust covered, Chaco tanned feet on a mountain side with bike shoes in hand for two hours, gazing to my right at the Pacific ocean, I felt purpose in all of that. I don't know why I have been chosen to feel purpose in these various destinations while crossing other paths of purpose. But the mere glimpses of feeling purpose, I feel brings someone all the more steps closer to the fuzz being extracted from eyes balls to see the next step that must be taken up this dusty, rocky (but beautiful), epic path.

Keep Adventuring.

Strained Ear Drums.

With all of these things in mind and with a heart wide open I come here telling you that The Lord reveals His plans as the days unfold and as Love breaks through barriers and bashes down the walls of our hearts creating new paths, opportunities and New things we never would be able to imagine in our wildest dreams.

With these things said...

I will cut to the chase. The Lord is overflowing my heart with the plans He has set out for me. They are not clear in any sense of the word but I know that these directions will mean something down the road as these paths crisscross and brush alongside others. One thing I do know is that God is faithful and has been so loud in that. With various plans and callings, He has called me forth to pedal over 3400 miles. He has sent me on planes to play with and love children half way across the world. He has set divine appointments with those who have blessed me and others beyond anything I have ever encountered across an entire country and with my heart continually on the mend with His redeeming grace I have been learning so much about myself and the unveiling of spiritual gifts He has shed light on thus far in my short 25 years. And as I reach upon stepping into my 26^th year , I wonder what He has planned. Shortly after my 26^th Birthday I will be diving back down into the depths of the poverty stricken populations of South Africa to continue the growing movement and ministry of Camp South Africa. Working a long side incredible individuals who continue to hear and see Gods plans and purpose daily through day programs and residential programs that are offered for free to educate children and show them how much love there really is for them and to remind them of their self worth.

The ministry has grown tremendously over the last year. With the word of CSA spreading across the nation we have gained incredible donors and supporters from California to New Jersey. This has expanded the number of volunteers and service projects. Over the summer there have been multiple camps and day programs provided by the continued work of the South African team who continues to work diligently and enthusiastically.

A team from across the United States and I will be traveling to Cape Town South Africa on November 16^th, 2012 and I will be returning to the States on December 17^th, 2012. While we are in South Africa we will be focusing on day rallies, residential camping/ministry opportunities and furthering plans to create a more permanent headquarters for the continued growth of Camp South Africa. In order to provide these ministry opportunities I am asking for your help in support raising and prayer. To travel with the CSA team my fundraising goal is $1,750. This number is small compared to the lives that have and will be changed through the incredible ministry opportunity through CSA combined with the lives God has put in sync with the growing programs.

Through these things the Lord continues to work within me and around me, little by little moving the next thing into place that guides me through this life. Fitting the pieces together and creating more building materials for the Kingdom. Please join me again in this journey. 

Your thoughts, prayers and encouragement touch my heart on a daily basis. My heart swells with the incredible work that is being down through your gifts and words. I cannot thank you enough for listening and being open to what is not planned by us but what is planned by our incredible Father.

In efforts to raise support in this cause I will be riding my bicycle from Occidental, CA to San, Francisco, CA on October 7th, 2012. The ride will be 72 miles. I am asking for donations of $1 per mile. Please comment. email, call, or message me if you would like to give.

Blessings to you,

Daria

For more information on Camp South Africa please visit campsouthafrica

Financial blessings graciously accepted at: 
Alliance Redwoods (6250 Bohemian Hwy Occidental, CA 95465)
Memo line: Daria Middleton CSA

Treks, Wrecks And Sturdy Steps.

Lamentations 3: Hope in the Lords faithfulness
15He has filled me with bitterness and given me a bitter cup of sorrow to drink.

I have been feeling bitter. And for what? Why do I feel such sorrow in the season of new things? Why do I have such a bitter attitude towards things that I find myself with discontentment. When again I can't fully comprehend or figure out what would make me content.

16 He has made me chew on gravel. He has rolled me in the dust. 17Peace has been stripped away and I have forgotten what prosperity is. 18I cry out, "my splendor is gone! Everything I have hoped for from the Lord is lost!"".

I find myself thinking about the word prosperity. I honestly don't know what it means. Did I ever? I don't feel the peace I did way back when. So then where am I to go from here? God what are you trying to teach me?

19"The thought of my suffering and homelessness is bitter beyond words."

I have been so homesick. I have been so overwhelmed. I have been so overwhelmed with wanting to be back with friends. Back with those who I smiled so much with. Discovered so much with. To breathe the same air and hear their voices as though we were on bikes again, in the middle of no where. I am so homesick that I have stayed at less than a vacation.

 But yet the ties and conversations held with people from each of these places have become more valuable than any vacation stay that can easily become so shallow in conversation and seclusion. Privacy stripped and feelings bare like our hearts baring scars and fresh wounds that continue to heal as we offer parts of ourselves as living, breathing, pedaling sacrifices. Making that trek of multiple pedal strokes our daily offering. Where were we in these conversations and can we feel the way we felt those nights when we let walls crumble? Can we be that honest with ourselves again as we feel the bitterness of these moments pass through our hearts and souls like swallowing ice cubes and feeling it melt. Casting that cold from the inside out. Could it be true that our hearts give the same reaction? How will we thaw these frozen parts of ourselves again? Places of the heart that have been experiencing the latest ice age?

I am still homesick for these places, these faces that I've gotten used to calling home.

20 I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss. 21Yet I still dare to hope when I remember this: 22The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. 23Great is His faithfulness. His mercies begin afresh every morning. 24 I say to myself, The Lord is my inheritance; therefore I will hope in Him"

Amen.

Revival.

I dread because I have so quickly forgotten. It is strange how the tired parts of these bones hope in their own little way that maybe  perhaps buses wont come. That plans have changed and they turned around. What an odd thought. Because while I'm in it, I am revived by each second that passes and by each face that I see.

Learning names and being goofy. Getting extra excited because of how animated these kids are without even knowing it. These jolts of reminders of feeling like they do now when I was a camper those days so long ago looking up to people like Megan, Joe, Sarah, Brooke, Karen, Jay and Meagan. These people were on my path and parts of my personality fed off of them and grew in various ways, helping to develop other individuals who will hopefully take on the trend and pass those positive characteristics yet to another... and soon.

It is truly amazing to see what one person can change or influence in anothers life. Like musical notes mixed with lyrics. Coming together to create something beautiful and unique.
Life.
Lives and the ways in which we come and go. I spend four days with nineteen fifth graders. Those who's names I have learned in fifteen minutes and a name is so important. Four days of impact filled with continued revival in why I love what I do. Little bits of me continue to wake up from whatever this is. And I can feel myself slowly coming back to life feeling others heartbeats in rhythm with mine and dancing and singing and swinging. Spending these moments that we've been given, doing what we know best. Smiling, laughing and loving. Teaching, growing and loving. Helping, serving and loving.

Nineteen reminders. Each one reviving my heart all the more.