A journey of a thousand miles....

Beginning with our first steps out our door in New Braunfels till taking our boots off in Santiago, it is hard to imagine our journey has finished (at least this part). God birthed the idea and inspiration for our Camino through our good friend Harold (who was 82 when he walked with his daughter) and a movie ("The Way"). These brought into full light and vision the physical, mental and spiritual realities that when all present (at least when all are seen) transform into what I consider to be a calling. This calling may have sat on many heart's shelf for five to ten years our more if it was not for the catalyst of my beautiful, youngest daughter, Kristina. She grabbed a hold of her Spirit given dream of walking the Camino and put feet to our calling. Without her, my Camino may never have materialized.

The Camino has many facets. One of these is its ability to push you in every area. Physically: as I laced up my boots each morning for the first week or so, my feet would ask "Are you going to do this again? " Does the new pain (just pick a part of the body) just need another mile of walking for it to go away or would this end my Camino. Mentally: after the 2nd or 3rd week - Does your will/soul really want this? Can you let go of the "normal" life with all of its distractions and busyness, in order to grab a hold of what is meaningful? Are you ready to wrestle and walk through things left undone? Spiritually: The deepest journey remains as the others quiet down. Am I prepared to let His wind blow and lead? When I am finished with my list, am I prepared for for His? A calling to be present and real - awake and attentive to His leading and His Camino - His Way.

A journey of a thousand miles (in this case - five hundred) begins (and ends) with a single step. These steps are done for us but we have more each day. We are not done with our pilgrimage as true with everyone we meet. We will love to share our story and I am sure there is much more to unpack from this part of our Camino.

Thanks for following. I plan to post more.

Buen Camino!
Nihil Sine Deo.

Thomas

Pictures:

Us in front of the cathedral in Santiago de Compestela.

Christmas eve

This picture is of all of us at our last dinner. Tonight's dinner feels like we are having our "Christmas Eve" dinner, because tomorrow we are walking into Santiago! Emotions vary from sad to happy to excited to scared. Some all at once. Tomorrow is the day that we have all been working so hard to get to. It is the prize we've all been walking miles every day to get to. Once we get there it is all done! Is it? Our life doesn't end once we get there! We all have a big day tomorrow and prayers are much appreciated! I know my life has changed, but I won't know exactly how or what until I get off the trail! Please pray for us as we are going into a very emotional day! Thank you all for following and praying for me and my family for the time we've been here. I really appreciate it a whole lot!

♡♥Kristina Kay

Then there were 5!

I, amy, arrived in Spain a couple of days ago- gorgeous country. I caught up to the  family and did my first day of walking yesterday. ..which is why you didn't hear from me...I was almost dead!

So, I met up with them at this little albergue (bunk style hotel\pension\hostel) with a nice yard- picnic tables, kids were playing with their puppy, hikers were finishing their day, showering and enjoying the 70* , beautiful afternoon!!! I thought- so far this camino is a taxi ride and a little roadside resort- I am enjoying this!  Well,  the next morning was good- I was ready...that lasted the first maybe 5 miles! By mile 17.5- I was not admiring the beautiful scenery, or the quality family time, or even air coming in and out of my lungs- I would have perhaps shaken my fist at heaven but I couldn't raise my sunburned hand that high in the air! My main difficulty with the day was actually in that my family (who are all in better physical condition than I am & have been walking longer/much longer than me) were missing the chance to finish the camino at their speed with their dear friends who they have met along the way. In short, I was holding them up- so, after deliberation  last night- we agreed that I would catch bits of walking and catch cabs here and there- I do feel a bit like I'm cheating but I am assured that each person must do their own Camino. I don't even really know what that means- but I think for me it means it's ok if I let my family go on and I don't try to save face by walking almost 20 miles a day for the next week.

So, today I sat in a cafe- had a good prayer time-looked around a church-sat in a different cafe with my kids and helped everyone settle in for tonight. Tomorrow will be cooler so perhaps will walk! My feet and legs are not as sore today. I'm so proud of my kids. They are doing so well. Only 3 days left!!

Prayers are appreciated for all of us as it is winding up- especially Thomas and Kristina- that there would be a good sense of closure and we would be able to grab whatever nuggets the Lord has for our initial processing of this whole event. Love from Spain!

Pictures are

1.towards the beginning of my first day
2. LESS THAN HALFWAY through my day and i alredy look exhausted!!!this was a big deal- the 100km marker!!! (Thomas and Kristina started at 800km!)
3. The 5 of us.
4.some of the amazing places we walked.
5. Wild lilies!
6. My love and i -even if love was not the emotion I was feeling at that moment!

Another set of pictures - May 14 th

On another bridge

Beautiful river

Dinner with a Dutch pilgrim

Pictures keep coming - May 13th

Just nice to have all three together

Break in the shade

On the Camino

Yet more pictures - May 12th

Back in the hills/mountains

Roses for us to enjoy

Who is copying who?

And more pictures - May 11th

Yet another bridge picture - this one has a jousting story behind it

Lunch in the shade at a remote bus stop

Looking out on the landscape

Communal meal at the albergue

Pictures - May 10th

Getting ready in the morning

Breakfast by the river in Leon

Flowers anyone?

On The Way

So four days after my last final of my sophomore year at Baylor, and I find myself laying in bed in a tiny town in northern Spain. It took a plane, a bus, and two days of walking to get here, but here I am. Looking back over the short distance I have come, and looking forward to the road I have left to cover, here are my thoughts:
1) I wish I could have been a part of of this from the beginning, to have started in France, but I know that this is the time on the Camino that I have been given and I will walk what I can.
2) it is oddly familiar to be in Europe again, very similar in culture to much of Western Europe (and even Romania in many ways). The one major difference is that I am used to being in a foreign country where I know the language, and this is definitely not the case here in Spain. I am happily reminded of the days abroad where communication is not taken for granted.
3) I am enjoying the time spent walking with my family (sans mom for now) and seeing the beautiful countryside of Spain. Obviously the other pictures on this blog show more of that, but it is really neat nonetheless to experience it for myself. It is also encouraging to get a taste for how it is to walk for miles and just get to relax. To take a step back from the frenzied environment of finals and packing up that I just left, and will soon be returning to.
4) so that leads to my last reflection: I pray that the next 10 or so days on the Camino are able to change me. That God is able to use this time to remind of simple truths and give me insight into where I am walking. Lastly I hope to be able to enjoy this opportunity to walk along The Way to Santiago

Daniel

Then there were four. .. - May 12th

After one finished finals and the other her school work and having her insides all looked at, Daniel and Elizabeth joined us today. It was so great  to see them step off the bus in Ponferrada. We cannot wait to introduce them to the other pilgrims and to the wonders and trials of the Camino.

Pictures from May 7th

Us at the halfway mark

Stork's nest

One way to get to the next town

Sunset

More pictures from May 8-9th

Along the Roman road Augustus traveled

I used to go to this but I can't remember what for? ??

Outside the Leon cathedral

And more pictures - May 6th

Two examples of the fields and paths on this part of the Camino (Master)

Even the rocks sometimes point the way

Sunset

Irony at Its Finest - May 13th

On my first day on the Camino, I was the first to wake up, even before my dad did. I was also the first to be ready to walk out the door. Several times along the way,  I was ahead of my family for a matter of minutes. For those of you who know me, this is indeed irony at its finest in this country. My father also did not get most of the puns that I told him.

Pun: When the doctor took my blood the other day,  he told me it was a Type A, but it was only a Type O.

Elizabeth :)

Not all lessons start with a smile - May 7th

For the most part, our interactions with other pilgrims and locals has been quite pleasant if not joyful. However, one rest stop this was not the case. I and another pilgrim sat down at a table outside a cafe/bar while waiting for someone buying something inside. We had not ordered or purchased anything from this location and were eating something we had brought with us. I had forgotten that it is not polite (not to mention how many cultural boundaries crossed) and before I realized it, the owner approached us asking for our order. Communicating the best I could in Spanish, I told him I was not ordering and apologized for sitting at his table. He immediately became angry and after a little dialogue, I am pretty sure he said something insulting to us ( it is sometimes nice to not know all the vocabulary of language). Despite the lack of exactly knowing what he said, the emotional and spiritual meaning was  understood.

We left without further interaction, but this gave me a chance to think and pray through what happened. Working on something negative is not new, but not the norm by having it thrown at me from someone while on the Camino. Many things ran through my brain: quick comebacks, sarcasm, insults, how he should be a better business owner, customer service facts, should be gracious to pilgrim's whom he makes a living off of, etc...

Then, after my loud flesh quieted down (that took a while) the still small voice had a chance to weigh in: what might be going on in this man's life that made him react this way, his marriage, family, something else...

What would be life giving? Heal? Show light? Reveal God?

That took longer to ponder and I hope better prepared me for the next non-smiling lesson that comes my way.

Buen Camino!

Thomas

Stone and glass versus people - May 9th

We had a wonderful visit in Leon. Beside choosing to walk a lot, it was great being in a big city to get a taste of Spanish life. People walking the streets and sitting in the beautiful park by the river. We also took time to watch the equivalent of shuffle board Spanish style.

We made a special trip to see the cathedral of Leon. What an amazing site to walk around and just soak in the beauty of the height and space and color of the stain glass windows.
There were two points in the cathedral that allowed one to look at wall after high wall of light. Pictures cannot contain the full content or effect of standing in that cathedral.

The audio guide told some interesting points. As Europe was emerging out of the Dark Ages, two hundred churches were built in a span of one hundred years. The race was on to have the biggest, most spectacular church. This ran parallel with the emerging Gothic design that sought to have a person look up to new heights that the ceilings allowed and more light than ever pouring into the church in order to see God. Seeing God by being a disciple of Christ and experiencing the love the Church has for a dying world was replaced by civic pride and a structure. Resources were poured into a building, not into people that could be salt and light to the people around them. In the end it seems they got what they invested in, stone and glass that appears void of a community empowered by love.

Half empty or half full.... May 7th

We have officially made it to our half way piont! Our feet have walked over 400km and are still alive! Through weather, trials, and blisters, we've come this far. What have we come to? It is not the end and it is not the beginning. We still have a long way to go, yet we've come so far.
I don't want to think that I will be leaving this trail, (I requestion that in the middle of a hot day!), because I have gained much in this last 400km. It also makes me excited to see what I will learn in the next 400! The people who we meet, the views we see, and the experiences we have here are too much for words! Then I look back at home. The people I love, the home i see, and my experiences there are why I look forward to the end of this journey. To end my great journey here and be able to go back to my great life there! But not to worry because I'm only half way done! I have only drunken half the glass, I still have half more till it's empty!

I would like some prayer for my health! I just got over mono, as many of you know, before I left. So I haven't been at my normal energy level and now I have a cold/allergies going on. Please, also, keep prayer for my dad's blister and also the blisters of the family we are traveling with! They are NO fun! Thank you all very much for praying and reading!

Happy Birthday in 8 languages - May 5th

The kilometres are going by, not necessarily faster, but easier since we have been walking for over two weeks. Kristina is still inspiring others with her endurance and no complaints. When she gets hungry, she steps it up a notch and I trail behind trying to keep up.

We chose an albergue that night because it was run by a group of nuns. They offered you cold tea upon arrival and had a very well kept and run facility. We missed the 6 o'clock meeting in order to get food supplies for the next day that had no towns or villages for 17 kilometers (just over 10 miles). We did make the 9 o'clock meal where all the pilgrims brought a food item to share, while the nuns provided the soup, rice and salad. Kristina and I brought chocolate and wine (you can guess who chose what). It was a wonderful time with many of the pilgrims staying at the albergue attending. A pilgrim from  Australia was celebrating her birthday. We first sang in English "Happy Birthday." The nuns then went round the room and asked each country represented to sing the song in their home language. It was breathtaking to hear the familiar tune in: Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, Russian and Korean. At the end, everyone was laughing and clapping and enjoying a taste of each other's country. The same but different!

Pictures:

Giving our backpacks a rest

Kristina with her new pilgrim friend

The sign for our albergue

Buen Camino!

Thomas

And some more pictures - May 4th

A view from the top of the  we climbed early in the day

Looking down the hill

A typical side view of this region (Meseta)

Us in front of a very Romanesque church (Fromista)

Beauty from ashes

Upon arriving to the big city of Burgos, we separated from the main group to go toward the albergue we had chosen. I was drawn by God to the description of a parish overseeing the albergue. It was away from the city center and we were told a challenges to find, especially at the end of a long day of walking and having forgotten to eat lunch (this  we did not realize until 6 pm that night).

We are away from the regular signs/markers and barely make out a yellow arrow (yellow spray painted arrows mark the way of the Camino). It turns out to have the name of our albergue on it and we turn. We still overshoot and a kind gentleman points us back in the right direction.  We see over a door a small shell (the symbol for the Camino and for the albergues) and our hearts rise as the end of our day's journey is in sight.  We are greeted by the volunteer who we thought was telling us to come in.   We get closer and I find her telling us the albergue was closed that day. Apparently, today was a certain saint's holiday and the bishop was in town staying at the albergue. They had been turning Peregrinos (pilgrims) away all day. Both of our faces and spirits just deflated. The thought of walking another mile or two to the next albergue just flattened us. Then this kind volunteer (Maria) asked me who Kristina was. I told her she was my daughter. She looked at Kristina, then me, and then looked cautiously around - then told us to come in. We were honored and thrilled to get to stay. We had the whole place to ourselves and it was brand new with great facilities (beds, showers, bathrooms and internet). We did our daily chores and went into Burgos to see the cathedral. We came back in time for mass, receive the bishop's blessing and have a meal prepared by Maria. What a night! It is something to see what was looking to be a big dissapointment, instead turn into a very unique and special time in our Camino .

Picture time - May 2nd

Just the two of us in the albergue in Burgos

Along the river in Burgos

The day's scenery on the Camino

Up to the sky through the ruins of a cathedral (San Anton)