JUGHEADS
Youth Juggling Company, LLC
5905 Concord Avenue
Edina, MN 55424
jugheads@comcast.net
or 952.926.0896

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January 2008

“Conquering Mountains for Marriage”

In summer 2007, Wendy and I trained for 150 miles of hiking in order to tackle the daunting Half Dome hike in Yosemite Valley, CA. It took us 14.5 hours with some choice extended breaks, including 90 minutes on top of the mountain and time to filter water and wash our feet on the way down. The trip served a double purpose for us: 1) It fulfilled my marriage-long goal of hiking Half Dome with Wendy and visiting Yosemite Sierra Summer Camp in Bass Lake where I got my start in youth work in 1989; 2) It "forced" us toward a tangible goal of physical training and quantity of time spent together in the wake of Wendy's Dec. 2006 surgery and my realization that despite our having no children of our own, we have scarcely prioritized time together for dates & vacations due to the demands of running a large youth company on top of involvement in two large extended families and a small church.

In order to further our resolve to invest in our marriage despite our various obligations, we're going to literally further our goal to "Climb Ev'ry Mountain" together in 2008: we're visiting Austria this summer for our 15th wedding anniversary! The Sound of Music and Band of Brothers are favorite epics of ours filmed partially in Austria, and this adventure will be designed to unplug and celebrate 15 years of God's goodness to us. May many of the marriages among the JH families figuratively or literally take adventurous strides toward growth, development, and restoration this year. Even in my case of seemingly working perpetually with youth, kids will come and go, but Wendy is my lifetime companion to whom I owe the best of my time, the best of myself. A strong marriage over the long haul is among the best forms of role modeling to youth.