Angels Go Before Us

It has been a great couple of days in San Diego. The families here enjoyed exploring Sea World with minimal lineups, nice weather and generally happy kids.

The men were able to minister to a young man at our hotel. It's a good reminder that you don't have to "to do missions" to be able to minister. God can use you any time, any where-- you just have to be willing.

We were also reminded of how quickly life can change. We were nearly involved in a collision that would have affected both families--very scary (please keep the men in our families in prayer as they have a tremendous strain on them as they navigate crazy interstates, high speeds and unpredictable drivers). We thank God for His protection!

God's favour has clearly been upon us. We had amazing weather all the way down. Our hotels have been great, each allowing our families of 7 to stay in ONE room and breakfasts have been included in all but one.

Even the storm system that has impacted almost our entire route followed the remainder of the team down, missing them completely.

Tomorrow early we enter Mexico and set out on this next chapter of our adventure. Next time you hear from us, we will be in Mexico!

31 Hours of Driving

We have arrived in San Diego after 31 hours of driving. This includes a day trip into Zion Canyon and rush hour traffic coming into San Diego.

Yesterday, included some unique stops, including a old store that sold gator and python jerky (yes, Kim gave in to the temptation).

Today, we drove through desert, 30+ (C) temperatures, extreme fog and, according to my weather map, a minor earthquake (not that we felt anything).

Coming into LA close to rush hour was a little intimidating, but traffic wasn't too bad until San Diego, where I needed to navigate us through some crazy traffic to our hotel (which we found on the first try). After settling in, we walked down and authentic Mexican tacos with rice and beans, followed by a chilly dip in the pool.

Tomorrow we look forward to seeing the ocean and maybe visiting Sea World. The next group of drivers left Lethbridge today, so we are praying for safe travels for them. We have 2 days of taking it easy before we join them and travel south of the border. The rest of the team will join us in Mexico on Sunday.

Please continue to pray for little Zak, (and his very tired parents) he's recovering from the stomach flu. Pray also that no one else gets it:).

Thank you for your words of encouragement and your prayers, we certainly have seen God's favour thus far!

Faith to Do ALL God has for You

Driving for 20 hours gives you a lot of time to think, pray and ponder all that God has been doing. Daily I am in awe of the fact that we are actually driving with our entire family down to Mexico.

I have also been thinking and praying for the family that we are building for. One of the members of our team has been journaling the fruit of the spirit and praying for Carmela and her family daily. As I ponder the impact our team will make on this family, I feel a measure of understanding in what she must be feeling.

It's so easy to feel like the hopes and dreams God gives you are just beyond your grasp. There is great desire to do what God wants you to do, but too often we feel limited by our circumstances, finances, physical limitations or more. Yet God does not desire for us to give up hope. So what are we to do?

God has been teaching me so much about giving my hopes and dreams to Him instead of putting pressure on myself or my husband to bring them to pass. I believe this is how God wants it. Scripture is clear that we are to "cast our cares on Jesus", "trust in the Lord", and "believe God for the impossible".

I don't believe that God intends for us to do His work and go into debt, forsake our responsibilities or neglect our family. In this, however, we are again faced with the big question of HOW?

With us, a mission trip (or any travel, for that matter) seemed out of reach. However, I wasn't afraid to dream. I first believed for a cruise. It seemed crazy and out of reach, but I gave it to God. Years later, we ended up winning a cruise, going on that one day mission trip and catching the vision of taking our whole family to Mexico. I remember as we were traveling home from our cruise and praying for God to give us an idea of how we could take the family. That's when He placed the idea of how to raise money as a family for our trip. We worked for years and when the door opened, the basic funds were in place.

When I said I could understand how Carmela might feel with us building a home, I am referring to that feeling of overwhelming gratitude. As we prepared for this trip, we were stunned by the generosity of those around us. We were humbled by the overwhelming response to the stolen pop bottles (20 times by the day we left).

We realized that this money given to us was not intended to stop with our family, no, we were merely the funnel to pass on this blessing that God has given us. Just as I hope that Carmela (and her grandchildren) will recognize that the expansion of her home is intended to be a blessing for her to share with those around her.

God doesn't bless us so we can hold tightly to it. No! Blessings are meant for us to pass on to those around us.
Let's endeavour to be generous with all God has given us!

Unforgettable

It has been an amazing day! After staying at a beautiful hotel (which again allowed our entire family to stay in a single room for no extra charge), we enjoyed a delicious complimentary breakfast and then set out for a day of seeing some amazing sights.

Following the road into Zion National Park brought scenery like we had never seen before. Already we were in the land of red rock, cacti, and palm trees. The "road to Zion" brought beautiful rock formations, breathtaking mountain passes, incredible hiking trails and an amazing day of making memories with the family.

After hiking along the bottom of the canyon, we drove to the top, experiencing dizzying heights, hairpin turns and a tunnel over 1 MILE long. . The teens and Kim hiked to the lookout and enjoyed the scenery. We even drove through (a) Hurricane!

On the down side, one little guy from the other family we are traveling with started throwing up . . . so we are praying that whatever he has will be healed quickly and that no one else will catch it!

We head to San Diego tomorrow and get one step closer on our journey to Mexico.

PS at our stop in Mesquite, we didn't have wifi, so this was from yesterday. We are on to San Diego today.

The Power of Words

Day 2 of travel has went relatively well. No one really slept well the first night, so we were very thankful for the extra hour of sleep. According to Kim, we found the middle of nowhere (while traveling through southern Utah desert). We are over half way through the distance we need to drive--and thankful for a bit of a lighter day tomorrow.

It was sometime near midnight that I recalled an interesting event in our lives. Close to 9 years ago, Kim and I packed up our kids for a very unique field trip. I will never forget the puzzlement in the border crossing guard's voice as she questioned us, "You're going to Shelby (Montana) for ice cream?". Once we explained that we were homeschoolers, she understood and invited us in to see what a crossing station was like. We drove on down to Shelby, had some ice cream, explored the grocery store and headed home. While looking on the map, the kids asked where the road (Interstate 15) led. I told them it went to California. Abby immediately asked if we could follow it someday. I said, "Yes, someday we will take this road down to California".

Memories of this conversation came flooding back as I was pondering this amazing journey. What power there is in the spoken word! Scripture reminds us that the tongue has the ability to speak life or death.

Little did I know at the time that by speaking out in faith that we would drive that road, we were planting seeds of faith. This was long before a family mission trip was ever considered.

Never underestimate the power of our words. Maybe once we realize that we hold the power of life and death (of dreams, hopes, self-esteem, etc), we will consider how and what we speak more carefully.

My prayer for this journey is that despite fatigue, stress, uncertainly and more, our words will be chosen carefully and used to bring glory and honour to God.

On an interesting side note, we have seen license plates from 24 states and 6 provinces:)

Traveling: Day 1

Everyone was up early and ready to get out the door. Thick fog blanketed Lethbridge and Coaldale. After meeting our "traveling buddies", we headed south. Just outside of Coaldale the sun shone brightly. The border crossing was uneventful and we soon found ourselves traveling through Montana. We made a couple of wrong turns (after that, we turned OFF the GPS), but soon found ourselves straight along the I15. Despite being tired, everyone is traveling well--right down to the 3 year olds.

We are relieved to have great traveling weather, very little traffic, and interesting sights along the way. Now, after a great swim, we are thankful for an extra hour to sleep in:)

The adventure has begun, we are on the way and trusting that God will be with us and direct for every step. I am reminded of Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, says The Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans for a hope and a future."

Ready or Not, Here We Come

If days were measured by fatigue, today would be the longest ever. . . who would have thought that getting a family of 7 ready for a 3 week trip would take so much work (and that's with 3 amazing teens who are nearly as tired as I am). . . who would have thought that having your own business would keep you working late the very night before you leave???

We have discovered that when you are tired and under pressure, things can disappear, like wallets, purses, shoes . . . we have also discovered that the 8 suitcases we tested in the back of the van fit much differently loaded . . . it's a bit squishy.

Nevertheless, we are ready for this adventure. Our itinerary is to be in Idaho Falls, followed by Saint George, a quick look at Bryce Canyon before heading to Las Vegas. We will spend 3 nights in San Diego (a day to recover and a day to visit Sea world) before meeting with more of the team and crossing into Mexico. For the next 10 days, we will be helping out wherever needed (house build, daycare, migrant camp, puppets, women's shelter, etc). We will be working with "welcome home outreach" and "new beginnings (Baja)".

We will be traveling down with great family friends (who also have 5 children) and joined by another 4 families. In all, there will be 34 of us working together. Let the adventure begin!