Making the Most of Our Situation

(This is an excerpt from our June Ministry Update.  To see the entire update click here or look under 'Ministry Updates' in our right column.)

A couple days after we arrived back in New York I pulled all the seats out of the van. I was shocked at what I found residing underneath. After several weeks on the road, a thin layer of cookie crumbs, crayons, army men, and fruit snacks had accumulated, now hiding much of the vehicles carpeting from sight. It’s no secret that our career requires us to travel often. The longer we serve as missionaries the more we are learning that transitions are the norm, and in turn when stability and structure come, they are times to be treasured. The last five months at language school has been just such a time for us but with the completion of Sarah’s Spanish studies, unfinished business required us to drive back to New York one last time. Some time before we hit the road we began to think, ‘If travel is going to be a regular part of our lives… why not make the most of it?’ And that’s just what we did- taking the long way back to New York from Texas (and that’s saying something) we scheduled extra time so we wouldn’t have to rush and visited four of our nation’s National Parks- it was unforgettable! Grand Canyon, Mesa Verde, Rocky Mountain, and Mammoth Cave National Parks are now a part of our family’s memories.

But when I say that the experience was unforgettable, it wasn’t just because of the scenery. The weather shocked us as we left 100 degree weather in Texas and ascended up to 8000 feet in Arizona. We found ourselves in snow showers, hail storms, and sleet while camping in a tent! The cold temperatures also had an unexpected effect on our children’s bladders as bathroom breaks became a routine procedure. We also dragged our dear South African friends and teammates into this fiasco, who had seen very little snow before. By the time we reached Rocky Mountain National Park we were driving past 10 foot high snow banks- IN LATE MAY!!! One particularly memorable experience came when both our families hiked around frozen Bear Lake. Snow balls were thrown, snow angels were made and the heads of the households volunteered themselves as human toboggans.

We parted ways with the Cameron’s when we turned due east, dropping back down into much warmer temperatures at Mammoth Cave National Park. There we enjoyed several days of solitude as a family, sitting around a campfire, and exploring the world’s longest underground cavern, in Kentucky of all places! There we also put a Christmas gift to use visiting the Creation Museum. It was amazing to get a much more biblical perspective on how the Grand Canyon was made. All in all, it was a ‘necessary’ road trip that we will not soon forget!