A league with the Devil

Well, that's what it felt like, and we definitely weren't IN league with the Devil.

We went Sedona for Memorial Day. We brought a friend who doesn't hike much and we thought we'd take her to our favorite spot, West Fork in Oak Creek Canyon. We read about a natural bridge in Sedona called Devil's Bridge we hadn't seen yet and we thought we'd stop there first and then go on to West Fork. Everything we read said it was a quick little hike to the spot with spectacular views.

 See? straight from the website:  "The rugged sandstone arch tucked away in a small canyon a couple of miles off Dry Creek Road is a popular destination, and for good reason: a short and easy hike, fairly easy access to the trailhead and panoramic views of Sedona's cream-and-salmon cliffs."

Let me just say, after this trip and a similar trip were we explored a canyon called Hell's Canyon we decided to stay away from hikes with any names like Hell, Devil, Lucifer's Gate, Purgatory... because they seem to turn out to be just that. It took ALL day to hike to this crazy bridge. There was a road we had to hike first to even ge to the trailhead. That probably took 40 minutes. 2 girls kept saying they had to go to the bathroom so we stopped every so often to find a nice secluded bush only for them to say 'never mind, I'll hold it.' We finally got to the trailhead and we hiked some more. At this point it got difficult because the trail wasn't clear where we were supposed to go so we wandered a bit and got lost a lot. We took turns sitting with the girls in the shade while one of us explored trying to find this crazy bridge. Our friend was done and didn't want to hike any more. We knew we had a long hike back and we'd better find this Devil's Bridge after coming this far. After getting lost some more and meeting other hikers who assured us it we were almost there we found a nice cave like overhang that we could rest in and Brent and I took turns searching for the bridge again. We were told we were almost there. We also met other hikers who couldn't find it either. Brent and some other hikers went straight up some natural steps next to were we were resting. About 15 minutes later I heard Brent calling me from afar. I looked up and Brent was this little tiny spot on top of the rocks way above us. He was standing on the bridge. We just couldn't tell from the angle we were at. If you look close, Brent is the tiny blue speck in the middle of the picture.

  I climbed up and saw the Bridge after he came back down. Our friend wasn't going up, and the girls certainly weren't going up. The bridge was spectacular, very narrow, and it freaked me out to go on it, but I did.

 Then we turned around and took the long hike back. It took just as long as we were tired, out of water and we still had to stop at different ideal looking bushes as 3 girls now had to go to the bathroom, but could never quite manage. So tough being a girl in the wild. By the time we finally got back to our van, all we wanted to do was go get something cold to drink, some dinner and go home. Which we did.

Mother's Day in a group home

Like many other people, Mother's Day is one of those days on the calendar that I just survive. Not my favorite day.

I used to make sure I was volunteering in children's ministry on this day so I didn't have to hear another sermon about mothers and how wonderful it all is. I'm so grateful to be attending a church now that doesn't make a big deal out of Mother's day except to give all women that day get a piece of chocolate and a rose at the doors of the church.

Today, I sat with the kids in the group homes in church today and was again grateful for the non emphasis on Mother's Day as I know it's a difficult day for them as well.

One little six year old girl from one of the homes wrapped her arms around me and gave me a big squeeze and told me Happy Mother's day. I know she wished she could be giving that hug to her own mother.

I encouraged the kids to get a rose before leaving. One girl was pretty excited about getting her rose. Her house manager told me that they were planning on stopping by the cemetery on the way back from church so she could put a rock on the grave of her mother. That rose was so special to her, now she could put a rose on her mother's grave.

My family took one of the girls from the home out to lunch and when we took her back to the home afterwords  the house manager told me one of the girls had run away from the home just a few minutes before I got there. When a kid runs away from the home, the house manager doesn't chase after them, they can't leave the other kids, all they can do is call the police and ask them to look for the child. I found her not very far down the road and walked with her. I just listened to her cry and tell her sad story. She was upset because she wanted to call her aunt and wish her a happy Mother's Day and tell her she loved her. But her aunt had specified that she was only allowed to call her twice a month and she had already used up her two calls this month. So heartbreaking. Eventually she did go back to the home.

Those kids had such a hard day today. My heart breaks for them.

Looking forward to the day- "He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the olde order of things has passed away." Revelation 21:4

Jack sees his family for the first time!

Do not be afraid, for I am with you; I will bring your children from the east and gather you from the west. Isaiah 43:5

We received the sweetest pictures today. I had made a family book for Jack and mailed it to him. He is in a loving foster home in China and I thought it would be a good idea to send pictures of his family to him so he can start to prepare his heart to look forward to his family waiting for him. I'm sure it will be very hard for him to leave this good family that has cared for him for the past 2 years and I pray that this will help him as well as perhaps ease the hearts of the family to know he is going to a family that loves him and are eagerly awaiting his arrival. 

Anyway, Jack got his photo book and today I got pictures of him looking through his book. Just precious. Makes me cry and I can't wait to bring him home to his family.

I love this one, he just looks like he is studying his daddy's face.

He likes Amy.

Look, Jack has dimples!

He's pointing at our dogs, he looks happy about the dogs. That's good!

A little beach time for myself

After the Summit, I had a few hours on Saturday before my plane left. Since I was so close to the beach, I headed out! Spent the day on the sand and arrived at the airport with sand still between my toes. Lovely! I went to Newport Beach and Laguna Beach.

 I had lunch in a little restaurant right on the beach in a State Park. The park had preserved some old beach bungalows from the 1920s that used to be a thriving Japanese settlement. The people lived in these sweet houses and sold fruit on the costal highway to tourists passing through. During WWII they were all "relocated" and none returned to the community after the war. I found the houses haunting. They were charming and were covered with flowers that were planted close to 100 years ago and still growing. Such a sweet life they must have had. Such  a sad way for the community to cease. I'm glad California preserved these houses so we will never forget.

Orphan Summit VIII

My church sent me as a our church representative to Orphan Summit VIII hosted at Saddleback Church in California. What an incredible time and such overwhelming thoughts I'm still processing about our role as Christians in the plight of the fatherless.

First, Saddleback was amazing. The campus was huge and I kept having to consult my map to find out where I was and how to get to the next breakout. The youth building was my favorite. It looked like a themed restaurant and actually had a grill a deli and a snack shop inside as well as the whole second floor dedicated to recreation. It had a skate park outside with a waterfall/baptism pool defining the edges of the skate park.

Youth Building

Baptism pool behind youth building

Children's Building

Dinner outside the main Worship Center

Rick Warren gave me a hug- twice. That was cool. :-) Everyone was asking to have their picture with him so I resisted the urge and just got my hug. I got to hear him speak as well as Francis Chan, Dennis Rainey, Russel Moore, and Karen Purvis. All so wise. I could listen to them for hours- wait, I did!
I got to hear two of my favorite Christian artists, Steven Curtis Chapman and Geoff Moore.

 I got to hear so many great speakers and powerful testimonies.  We already have an orphan care ministry at our church and it is going well. I was mostly energized with the great sense that the Church  as a whole is making a difference and answering God's call to defend the fatherless.

Some things that stuck out to me:
Rwanda is on track to be the first nation to have NO orphans! They are down to just 30 orphanages in the entire country and are diligently seeking families in their churches and communities to adopt these children. Just amazing.

Last year was the first year that Ukraine participated in Orphan Sunday and they had over 6000 churches participate from all denominations.

I learned so much about Saddleback and their orphan ministry. They do orphan care completely different than how they did when they first got started. At first they built orphanages, now they refuse to build orphanages, their goal is to empty them. Love that.

I found several ministries that I can learn from including some that help kids who are ageing out of foster care. This is something we've been led into as we've seen a few of the kids we're working with in the group homes age out and we try to come along side of them and help them in their adults lives. We've been exploring ways to best help these kids.

Here's one of my favorite quotes from the conference. It was spoken a long time ago, but it is still oh so good, "I have found there are 3 stages to every great work of God. First it's impossible, then it's difficult, then it's done." - Hudson Taylor

There are now over 167million orphans in the world. The church is God's answer for the fatherless. "God set the lonely in families." Ps 68:6