So you want to hear something REALLY crazy?

It appears that I will be leaving for Ghana in just two weeks. An opportunity for our ministry presented itself that we all agreed was one that God had obviously provided. I will be working with several local pastors serving in an orphanage of 25 kids, all orphaned as result of AIDS. We have been looking to develop a long-range collaborative relationship where we can support believers on the ground as they care for orphans in Africa. The connection we have made for this trip may allow us to do just that. We are also hoping that our ministry may be able to play a role in helping find forever families for these particular children. It is going to be a CRAZY push to make everything happen that needs to happen before I leave. Super Dad is going to hold down the fort in my absence along with help from Gammy and Poppa. Our family would so appreciate your prayers as we take what feels like a HUGE step of faith. Our team has been asked by the pastor we will be working with to bring vitamins for the children. I will be traveling with three amazing girls from another church in town. We are going to cram as many vitamins as we can into our suitcases. We will also be providing monetary support to help feed the kids as the orphanage is very poor. If you have a heart for African orphans, or perhaps Ghana in particular, and would like to send financial support along with me, you are welcome to do so. We will actually be purchasing the food when we get there and driving it TEN HOURS (ouch.) to the village, along with a medical team who will provide the children with deworming, medical care, etc. If you feel moved to donate, feel free to email me at the address here on the blog. I will happily post pictures upon my return to show how your money was a blessing.

Thanks in advance for your prayer support. It is much needed. I am not the most spontaneous person around (it take me 2 hours to pack for a weekend away - at my parents' house!) so just jumping on a plane to Africa is a stretch, but it is a door that we feel God has opened so we are stepping through it.

Still not sure how I'm going to manage not seeing these faces for a week...

"Camping" Part Deux: The Promised Slideshow

So I actually did it. Here is the promised slideshow for those of you who may find this remotely interesting. Please excuse the repeated clothing, bad hair and general disarray in these photos. Remember we are "camping". The girls got to see real snow (not the shave ice stuff that was delivered to the preschool for a California version of "snow day" last winter) along with A LOT of marmots at the top of one of the mountains we climbed (and I do mean "climbed" - up hill, with many -- many --switchbacks and a 34 pound kid needing to be carrying a good chunk of the way...made for a killer workout...next time your spouse asks if you really need two hiking backpacks, the answer is yes). Inspite of a grueling climb, the snowball fight at the top was very worth it. We also spent the best $14 of our lives on a rope swing that we tied up to a rafter on the deck (they are on sale at Target now for $10 - go get one!). The little ladies LOVED this and when they weren't rolling around in the dirt (and I do mean this literally where Little Bear is concerned), torturing the critters in their bug boxes, or smearing sticky marshmellow mush on Mommy's sweatshirt, they were often to be found recreating scenes from Tarzan on their swing. The girls also got to dip their Barbie fishing poles into the water for the first time. I can't really see Barbie fishing but apparently she does that too these days now that she has quasi-normal feet. All in all, good times were had by all. Thanks to Uncle Ray who was kind enough to entertain Junia on mornings she got up WAY TOO EARLY. We somehow managed not to hear her (see previous post about exhaustion) and he was good enough to take Big Bear on a brisk morning walk around the camp in the wee hours in her striped jammies, bright orange crocs and poofy pink down jacket. He also put his fine motor skills to work coloring Dora the Explorer. Pays to have a doctor in tow who is used to early morning rounds, especially one who excels in both orthopedic surgery and coloring.

"Camping"

We set off on a grand family adventure over long holiday weekend taking the girls up to the mountains for our second annual 4th of July family "camping" trip with some dear family friends. (Ok, so we were in a cabin with a flush toilet but still...) We had a wonderful relaxing time. It's hard to believe we are starting to have "second annual" events with our little ladies. How time flies when you are having fun (or really exhausted all the time - sometimes we are not sure which is operating in our case). I had grand visions of catching up on my blogging given that we were supposed to have wifi on the deck at our "camp site". Sadly, the wifi was down last weekend so I continue to find myself further and further behind in my blogging life, having had numerous funny, serious, silly and sad posts rattling around in my head for weeks. I am realizing that you have to choose your platform to advocate for orphans. There are those who have amazing influential voices here in the blog world and there are others who are working outside of the virtual domain on so many orphan projects that we find our blogging personas becoming more and more ephemeral. There are also those Incredibles who somehow manage to do both. For my part, I just can't seem to effectively straddle the demands of the virtual and the "real" these days. I miss you, Sweet Blog. Maybe someday I will come back here and stay awhile. For now, here are just a few pics from our trip. Slideshow to follow...




(How stoked is my entire family - Grizzley Adams included - about the $1.00 poppers purchased on a last-minute whim from CVS?)

Congratulations, Big Blog Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to friends near and far who entered our Big Blog Giveaway. We wish we had goodies to send to all of you who entered. Congratulations to Shannon Rapp who was our big winner. She will be getting her autographed copy of Priceless in the mail along with the sweet sari bag from Raven and Lily. We hope you enjoy them, Shannon. So exciting to hear that you will also have a pair of little Ethiopians coming your way soon! Please email me at the address on the blog with your address and I'll send you your goodies.

We are off to the mountains this weekend. I am REALLY hoping not to get barfed on on this trip. Junia has barfed on me TWICE on road trips of this nature -- once all over the back of my head when we still had several hours to go. Yum-o. Crossing my fingers in my sleep tonight.

Happy 4th of July to all!