Good and Bad things at the Badlands

What a beautiful and desolate place all at the same time.  We all felt a sense of awe as we came from the flat lands of Wyoming and a long drive day, into Badlands National Park.  I have a growing sense of anticipation of the National Parks, now, after we've visited so many. There is good reason why they've been preserved and valued. They truly are some of the most beautiful and unusual areas in America.  Badlands is no exception.  Striking jagged mountains among beautiful prairies.  Very "Dances with Wolves" like.

Matt having a moment

The kids holding up pelts of local animals (we are very good hunters)

I must include one story that had my heart pumping.  Without internet, I wrote about it on Word one night.

Badlands Story: 

Highly emotional day in the park.  What a fantastic place to allow my kids to explore, climb, jump and slide down the interesting hills surrounding us.  However, later on in the afternoon, while I was reading a book and listening to their gander, my mommy radar went off when I heard, “Elise, come up here!”  I looked behind me and discovered I couldn’t see them any longer.  They must be just on the other side of the hill.  I decided to go check out where they are.  Tanner was coming down the hill and said, “Mom, Elise is stuck!”  My mommy radar is going off in high gear as I begin to climb the hills to find Alex and Elise.  Tanner directs me to a section we had not explored.  I climbed up 30 feet and began to shimmy my way towards them.  My heart sank when I looked over to see my small six year old curled up against the dirt of the downward sloping ledge barely one foot across, looking down on a cliff.  Now, my pounding heart went into overdrive as I saw Alex about 5 feet ahead of her, also paralyzed with fear on the small ledge of dirt.  Anger rose up and I began to lecture him on why he should NEVER get his sister into such a predicament, that he was in so much trouble and on and on. Then, I began to see his quivering lip and realized my reactions were not helping him at all.  One of those truly terrible mommy moments for me.  I was terrified as I inched my way towards my whimpering six year old and began to realize that I was becoming stuck myself.  My feet were slipping, my heart was racing and all I could think was, “we are going to fall”.  I had just been reading up on the sudden storms that overtook this area in the summer, and a gust of wind came and blew my hat off.  I couldn’t go forward, I couldn’t go backwards and there was a storm coming.  Suddenly, there was another voice and I heard Alex call out, “we need help!”.  Two men appeared and one turned out to be a teenager who was a cook at the local lodge.  He quickly scaled the hill and began to talk very calmly to us.  He slowly made his way out to Alex and was able to help him get off the ledge in the opposite direction.  Then he made his way back to Elise where he put himself and his 12 foot tennis shoes on the outer rim of the small ledge, protecting her little body and he coaxed her to the wider part of the ledge.  At this point, Matt, who had been working in the RV, appeared around the hill and quickly climbed up to my stiff body.  He calmly directed me to hold on to his pocket as we made our way off the ledge.  I told myself not to look down and somehow my shoes did not slip off the edge.  The other older man had been calmly directing and encouraging his teen cook and our family as we slowly made our way down the steep crevice.    We were all able to slide on our behinds down the steep hill and thank our rescuers.  The older man was the manager of the local lodge and invite us in for ice cream.  I was so grateful for his kind and encouraging words and the fact that he took notice of our predicament and reached out.  His teen cook had more courage than I could muster at the moment, and without a care for his own safety, took care of my kids.  I am forever grateful.  We had a family meeting afterwards to talk through what had happened.  We hugged and I asked for forgiveness for yelling out of fear.  Alex told me that he kept praying for a rewind, that God would grant him a “do over”.  Tanner quickly added that he had prayed continuously for God to get us off the ledge safely.  I am so grateful for kids who turn to a Lord that hears our prayers.