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Garret Kaleki Ehlers

@gsehlers

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Morningside University Distance Coach. Running Enthusiast. Pain-Cave Explorer. Husband. Father. My best material is on Strava.

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When you get married you stand in front of a bunch of people and you think about all the best parts of life you get to experience with this person that you love. You make some promises about good times and bad times and sickness and in health and richer or poor but it's your wedding day so you focus on the beauty in life and not the ugly. You stand up in front of family and friends holding the hand of your spouse with no idea of the storms and trials you will be thrown into. You can't foresee the family deaths and funerals you'll attend and how you'll grieve. You can't see the stress of money and bills and making ends meet or how the economy will eb and flow so much you feel like you can't enjoy the small pleasures you once did when it was cheaper. You don't see the wildernesses you will wander through together searching for a Lord who's with you or the furnaces you'll be thrown into crying out "even if He doesn't". You are blind to the sicknesses on the horizon. All you know is you love this person and they are cute and make you laugh and when you are with them hard things seem bearable. Thankful today for the woman who said yes to me and to always have each others back no matter what storm we wade through. by @gsehlers

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7 days ago

My beautiful wife turned 34 today. I've been in love with her for the better part of 15 years even if I didn't always know it. We have weathered a lot of storms and I'm confident we'll weather a lot more and with her by my side nothing seems to hard or too daunting. She is strength even in the moments of weakness. She loves incredibly intentional and generously. She is hilarious and makes me feel like the richest man on the planet. If you know Maddie you know God created her to change worlds big and small and she's spent her life meticulously working through how to do that. Grateful to be the #1 Beneficiary- if you see her in the wild today wish her happy birthday and sing some Shania Twain to her. by @gsehlers

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15 days ago

Thank you to all the thoughts and prayers. We appreciate you and the community behind us. We've had a lot of people tell us we are handling it better than they expected and a lot of parents of T1D who say normally parents are "shell shocked" a lot longer than we are. Here's what I know - someone once told me they could deconstruct my faith in a thirty minute argument but I have never had an academic faith. I have a faith rooted in suffering and encounters with the man Christ Jesus in the valleys when no one else could be found. I've found God in wedding when I officiated vows for a couple with an expiration date on the horizon and I found God when I officiated their funeral a year later. I've seen God in mothers who spoke of Gods mercy when they buried both their children on the same morning. I've felt the Lord eating egg rolls and chicken wings at a funeral for a friend whose husband spoke of mercy and kindness. I've found God every marathon I've ran when I've pressed my body as far as I could before it faulted on me. All I know is before this girl was on earth I prayed for her and if God would have told me I could have her but she'd forever have a thorn in her side I would have taken her. I am not grieving - I am thankful for this sacred day and the ability in dark waters when I cannot swim to call out to Jesus and have Him save us. Suffering isn't bad most days I treat it like it's a sacrament I get to partake in to bring me closer to the man Christ Jesus. I am embracing every day because to dull one part of our soul is to dull all of it and there is too much to be thankful for in a world that's falling a part. We are blessed and we've practiced suffering so much this all feels more and more like breathing. God is good. Nothing is wasted. by @gsehlers

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a month ago

It has been a whirlwind of a week for the Ehlers. We took Millie in for a suspected UTI on Monday to Urgent Care and we were thrilled to hear she didn't have one but unfortunately she had high sugar in her urine so they ran a glucose test. They found that number to be too high so they sent us to the ER to monitor it. While we were there they got in touch with an Endocrinologist at Children's Hospital in Omaha and they wanted to see Millie Brave. We found ourselves in Omaha Monday night, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday morning. Somewhere along the way someone walked in the room and said some words that included "Type 1 Diabetes" and our worlds changed. We've done a lot of learning over the past several days on what it looks like to care for and parent our daughter. She has been a rockstar handling pricks and shots and getting use to a new way of eating. She's learned a lot about administrating it and living with it. All in all, she's resilient and knows the Ehlers motto "Ehlers never give up, Ehlers stick together" - she's a little shy about everything and then adjustment so be kind and don't ask her about it unless she brings it up. After all, she's a kid and kids want to be kids and talk about kid things like unicorns, gymnastics, kindergarten and how much she loves swimming. She doesn't want this to define who she is and we don't either, no pity, and no tears. God is still good and we praise Him through unknown circumstances.

We have felt an ABUNDANCE of love and support over the last week from friends and family and community we've shared in over the years. Thank you all! If you have insight feel free to share it and any questions send them my way but let the girls just enjoy life and be who they are. Love you all! by @gsehlers

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a month ago

Marriage is all about who you get to share ice cream with before you run a marathon. There's a lot of counting involved how are you doing and navigating through stressful weeks of work and kids, dreaming about tomorrow and surviving today. There's planning birthday parties and holidays and who's picking the kids up when and who can get a 20 minute nap in later in the day and who can sleep in on a Saturday. ELEVEN YEARS has gone by very fast but maybe marriage is more about the small moments than the big ones; like who you get to hug after a hard day of work, who tells you're doing a good job even when you aren't sure you are, and most importantly who you get to ice cream with before marathons. Thankful for eleven years with this woman. More in love with her now than when we would walking around Morningside walking all night talking about life and how much she didn't like me in high school. Here's my advice to men looking for future wives as great as mine : fall in love with your best friend, if you are really funny she'll look past your younger folly, and lowkey walks are timeless. by @gsehlers

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2 months ago

I saw a meme last week of guy playing guitar hero during economy crisis of 08 while his parents navigated how to survive. Dude was jamming and I laughed because it was a funny meme and also because I didn't understand the extent of the economy crisis but I did understand how to jam out to "Heart-shaped Box" on my PlayStation 2. My parents are wonderful saints. Always, most days I can't comprehend those times. I got my oil changed and a new air filter yesterday and it was $116. I questioned a lot of things because I swear Mt. Dew use to be $1.25 and now it's on sale 2 for $6. 9/11 was a wild time though I mean to be 10 years old trying to learn about multiplication and then to have a TV cart wheeled in with the idea "this is big and you'll want to remember it seeing it live" but it's just actively watching 2,000 people die on TV. Somedays, I look in the past and I count the funerals for those I went to high school too that we dreamed of growing old together. Most days the world feels pretty red and blue which is to say it feels a little ugly. I always joke the last five years because of having young kids is a blur like I haven't had motivation to stay up on the news because there's always diapers to change and nights to be woken up in - sometimes when your in the forest you can't see the trees or maybe it's your can't see the forest from the trees. All I know is God is faithful and somehow against all odds He's been very kind to me. I'm seeing His kindness a lot more clearer lately than normal which I'm glad cause there's a lot of suffering around me but that doesn't negate joy. I've found God is kind even when I'm not asking for kindness. He's kind even when I forget He's there. He's kind even in the middle of the night when I wonder what's next. I've maybe experienced more of His blessings in year 34 than any other year. Praise God for that and if you are reading this Praise God for you. For being you and being alive and being worthy of love because you are created in Him. by @gsehlers

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2 months ago

I have no grand expectations for following God. Last night I took my wife on a date to a concert in an old church basement and with forty other people we drank Baja Blast and sang songs about love and miracles happening or maybe not happening and that being okay too. I have no grand expectations for following God - I don't believe I'm entitled to anything other than that which the Christ Jesus experienced: to be born into a broken world, to experience abandonment, to question and doubt and be filled with hope, to have the people I love leave me over time or maybe I leave them. Maybe I'll give my heart and soul to a group of people and they'll reciprocate it or maybe they won't I'm not sure. I have no expectations that following God will lead to prosperity and good things (at least not from what I read in scripture). I'm not sure if I'll bury my kids or if they'll have to bury me. Life is full of whimsy and miracles even if we don't see them and maybe none more than this - that we are here and we are alive at least for today. I have no grand expectations with walking with Him except maybe this: I will suffer, I will hurt and He will be there and He will reconcile what is broken when I meet Him face-to-face. We will walk on rocks chasing adventure and we will surely fall and scrap our knees looking at things we can't touch but want too. Our parents will wrap us up in their arms and tell us it's okay or maybe we'll hold our kids and we'll get in our cars and drive home drinking a Baja Blast because we can and God is with us and as I follow Him even if no prayer is answered again - that will be enough just knowing He is here in our midst suffering alongside us as He did when He was born to be man. by @gsehlers

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3 months ago

I held my grandmothers hand for the last time this week. I didn't say a lot of words, sometimes it feels like with the good ones there's not a lot left to say. Just thought about how when I was a small child this beautiful and strong woman saw me for the first time when I was four or five and took me in to be family. I remember writing a paper in middle school called "A Blessing in Disguise" on my parents divorce and how without it I never would have met this family that loved us so well and how grateful I was for them. I thought about growing up and how this woman had a way of making you feel like the luckiest kid in the world. Every holiday, every sports event, every special day date and school shopping date - Cindy found ways to make it feel spectacular. There wasn't a lot of words to say, just some humble "thank yous" for giving me such a remarkable childhood and how thankful I was to God that I got to not only meet her but be loved by her. It is a hard good-bye but the good ones always are and I'm thankful for that I think it means we did a good job living our lives and Cindy was incredible and deserves all the tears we shed. by @gsehlers

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3 months ago

3,853 days ago we got married in humid barn after a storm passed. I was pretty naive back then, though you could argue that hasn't changed over the last decade. I didn't know a lot about most things but I did know Jesus loved me with a love I couldn't describe but could only feel and for some reason I felt like the world had never known a love I'd felt for you. Your vows were perfect - I was jealous for the compliments you got on them but with every passing day I realize they were all right. If I could tell myself ten years ago what to expect I would simply say life will be richer than you ever dreamed even if it doesn't look like what you envision, I'd tell him be strong and maybe don't take those seven years off from racing and just follow in Jays footsteps, and I'd tell him maybe the world has felt this before but we will still believe it hasn't. Every day I have a simple goal - tell my kids I love being their dad so they never forget and tell you I love being your husband. Grateful every day that against all odds I somehow married a Ram. by @gsehlers

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7 months ago

10 athletes. One team. Three great performances. A season of hard work and perseverance comes to a close but this is only the beginning.
#HorsePower by @gsehlers

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7 months ago

Valentines Day means pizza and Wedding Singer, my favorite Ehlers tradition and this year this song stuck out to me for the first time in a decade.

"I can only give you love that lasts forever
And the promise to be near each time you call
And the only heart I own for you and you alone
That's all, that's all
I can only give you country walks in springtime
And a hand to hold when leaves begin to fall
And a love who's burning light will warm the winter night
That's all, that's all
There are those I am sure who have told you
They will give you the world for a toy
All I have are these arms to enfold you
And a love time can never destroy
If you're wondering what I'm asking in return, dear
You'll be glad to know that my demands are small
Say it's me that you'll adore for now and ever more
That's all
That's all" by @gsehlers

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8 months ago

Brooks loves wrestling. He loves tackling and jumping on people. Over Christmas we got a mat to put in the living room so when I body slam the kids and they jump off the couch's on me it's a little safer for all of us. We have nicknames we call each other. Millie an ever changing flower pending on the day. Brooks is Mr. Bones and they call me the Junkyard Dog. We were getting ready to play the other day after the theme songs came to closed I yelled out are you ready for the Junkyard Dog at Brooks and he looked at me and said "you a puppy" - and that's kind of who Brooks Wilder is. Funny. Witty. Full of joy. Full of adventure. And today if you ask him how old he is he'll say "5" so just remind him it's actually only 3 and then he'll agree with you. by @gsehlers

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9 months ago