Gettin' Down and Dirty

Two years ago on spring break, we took our three youngest children (Katie, Kody, and Jacob) to Washington DC and spent five days touring the sites. Dirk had visited as a child, but the rest of us had never been. One of the most remote places we visited was Roosevelt Island. It was a place Dirk really wanted to see. And it didn’t disappoint. Since Roosevelt was such a conservationist, this island in the Potomac River between Arlington and Washington proper is a perfect location to honor his memory.

This quote by Roosevelt is lengthy, but worth the read…hang with me.


“It is not the critic who counts;

not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better.

The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood;

who strives valiantly;

who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming;

but who does actually strive to do the deeds;

who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions;

who spends himself in a worthy cause;

who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

So let's not allow ourselves to get fatigued doing good. At the right time we will harvest a good crop if we don't give up, or quit. Galatians 6:9

What is your worthy cause?

Get sweaty!

Strive valiantly!