Camping

 For the last three weeks we've had the pleasure of providing meals for an awesome young lady named Monique. She came from New York having "not a lick" of experience with gardening (her words). She became committed to the Lord two years ago and in the process of time became persuaded that she should learn something about gardening. So, she decided to come for a month to learn whatever she could. As we ate one evening we discovered that this "city-girl-turned-farm-girl" had never in her life been camping. So, we quickly made plans to change that. We arranged an impromptu camping trip for one night at Cochise Stronghold. After church and potluck we grabbed some fire wood from our barn, loaded the sleeping bags and food and set out for one night of rugged living.

As we were hiking Sabbath afternoon Omega says to me, "Mom, I'm a good figure-outer". So I said, "what are you good at figuring out?" Then she says, "I'm good at figuring out where to go!" Typical of a first born, she liked to be in front leading Orion. Often I have to remind her to slow down and to stay within eyesight. 

Then she says, "I have good balance." I smiled and said, "Yes you do! You're getting to be a very safe hiker!"

I think it's important for kids to recognize what they are good at and not be afraid to acknowledge it. There's a difference between pride and confidence and I believe at the moment it is the latter. Although up until now hiking with the kids has left me more stressed than refreshed (the mommy instinct of wanting to be extra cautious so that no one gets hurt or falls off a rock and cracks their head open) but now both my kids have decent balance and I can trust (for the most part) that they have enough discernment to know what they are capable of doing by themselves and what they need help with. Orion still likes to hold my hand and I don't mind that a bit. I know it won't last long.

In the first picture above, Jonathan is sitting right in front of a cave. This is a picture inside the cave. I thought it looked like one of those "He is Risen" pictures you see around Easter.

By the time my kids are teenagers I wouldn't be surprised if they are full fledged rock climbers.....

And pyromaniacs....Just kidding. What kid isn't fascinated with camp-fires? (This was Sunday morning).

We had a great time. Jonathan slept in the back of his truck (seen in the back), Monique slept in our tent, David and I slept right in front of the campfire, the kids slept in the back of David's truck, and Julian (our newest intern living in our home) slept on our Nicaraguan hammock. We ate popcorn and fruit for supper, David shared a Bible study on Daniel 8 and we all went to sleep under a full moon and a clear night. Monique said her night of sleep was a 5 on a scale from 1-10 and her interest in camping again would be a 7. So, I guess we succeeded in giving her a decent first experience camping :)

I saw three new birds while we were there (I've taken up the hobby of bird-watching to develop my skills of observation). I saw a Mexican Jay, an acorn woodpecker and a titmouse 

    
Now, I get to do lots of laundry to get the smell of campfire out of everything! Better get to it!