Crevice Hike

When asked at the end of the week what the students' favorite thing was, "THE CREVICE HIKE!" got the unanimous vote.  This was a hike I had done 16 years ago and one of the things I was most looking forward to revisiting on this trip.  

When you hike the crevice, you battle winds blowing sand into your eyes and mouth, you walk through amazing red rock valleys, you ascend and descent steep cliffs, you have to do some "wall-sit walking" across a crack in the earth not quite a quarter of a mile long, and you end by taking a huge leap off a rock about 15 feet in the air.  You'll never get the full appreciation for how strenuous, scary, and satisfying this hike is, but here are a few pictures for a small taste...

Climbing the cliff walls required four points of contact.  The last time I did this hike, we used ropes to get up.  But, that was January and I'm thinking it was probably icy.

We made it!  You had to just approach this hike in pieces and take a moment to celebrate the achievement of getting up or down another wall.

Delia started the hike at full throttle.  I had to get her to stop leaping from cliff to cliff.

Probably the best views any hike has ever offered us!  I liked watching the people around me just take it all in.

A break to breathe and drink!

After scaling walls and climbing up, up, up, now we start to make our way down again.

And here we enter the crevice.  Now, the best way to get across the crevice is to put your back on one side and your feet on the other and shimmy across.  But, let me say that if you were to fall or just not want to do this (like Ella and Delia), you could also just let yourself down a ways and walk through the crevice.  People like Grandma should know that there was never any danger of falling into a crack in the earth and disappearing! :)

This is my favorite picture of the trip. It's a group shot.  Most of these students have already made their way through and out of the crevice, a few of us are literally still hanging off the walls of it!

And this is how you get out: embrace your inner Spiderman, say a prayer, and take a leap.  Phil stood at the bottom to help catch us.

By the end of this hike, my girls were definitely done!  They will tell you the crevice was NOT their favorite part of the trip.  It was interesting to watch all the different reactions to the elements of this this hike.  Some love, love, loved it.  Some conquered it with tears and shaky legs.  Some even asked to come back the next day and do it all over again.  Many of us left it with achy muscles, scratches from the rocks, and bruises.  It's the kind of thing that makes our students jokingly yell, "CREVICE!  YOLO!"  and gives us each a huge sense of accomplishment.  We're super proud of our girls and our group for being willing to tackle this big hike!

Visiting the Weaver

Another cool opportunity to learn about Navajo culture came when our group was able to visit a traditional weaver.  This sweet old woman does everything by hand and took the time to walk us through each step.

Step 1: Run the wool through the carding combs several times to clean and soften it.  The wool was passed around to touch and smell.  Surprise, surprise, it smelled like sheep.

Step two: Spin the wool on the spindle to make huge balls of yarn.

Step three: Use wild plants like rabbit brush, sumac, cliffrose, and juniper to naturally dye the yarn different colors

Step four: (and here she kindly let anyone in our group who was interested jump in...) Start weaving the yarn through the loom strings.  The pattern she creates is totally unique each time.  No two Navajo rugs are ever alike because each yarn strand is placed based completely on what the weaver feels.

She said she weaves mostly to make gifts for people.  One of her favorite things to do is weave names into her designs.  Dave and Phil were laughing about how she'd weave our last name into a rug!

Step five: Push each strand down with the combs.  These combs belonged to our weaver's mother.

As a mom and leader on this trip, it was stuff like this that made me smile.  What a cultural experience for these kids!  The appreciation that comes from doing something like this.  And how to cool to be able to say that they've tried weaving on an authentic Navajo loom with an instructor who has had this art form in her family for generations!

Window Rock and Cross Canyon

We did work 7 hours each weekday with the kids, but every afternoon and evening, as well as our first Sunday, we had an itinerary full of fascinating activities!  The goal was to not waste a moment of time that could be spent exploring this gorgeous piece of creation or learning more about the Navajo culture.  We were worn out, yes, but every person on the team said they would not have skipped a single thing we squeezed in. 

So, this was our first full day in Rehoboth-- a Sunday.  We went to a tiny church that focuses on outreach to the poverty-stricken community.  We worshiped with them, helped lead the music, and then served a free lunch afterwards.  A sign on the door of the church that said, "No drunks! Please only enter if you are sober!" tipped us off that this would be a church service very different than any we were used to!

Then we headed across the border back into Arizona to visit Window Rock, the tribal council, or capital, of Najavo Nation.  The Navajo Reservation is the largest in our country.  It was really interesting to learn about how they elect leaders and make decisions.

A staff member at the school has a father and brother who live on land given to their family generations and generations ago.  They graciously allow Rehoboth groups to visit them and see their traditional (and very rustic!) living conditions and then hike around the incredible canyon that lies in their 3 miles of property.  It was such a contrast to me to see families so rich in land, yet residing in hogans with no electricity or plumbing, living in what we would consider such poverty.  This canyon is literally their back yard!

In the cliffs of this canyon are some ancient ruins of old cliff dwellings.  This property is private and not open to the public.  Only a very few people have seen these ruins, so they are perfectly preserved.  To get to them required some very intense cliff wall climbing and nerves of steel.  Dave took a few brave students up to check them out.

 This is their view looking down at those of us who were perfectly happy to just see pictures of the ruins!

 The man who owns this property is in his 70's.  He had such a generous spirit to spend the day leading us around his land and telling us interesting stories.  It was connections with individuals like this that gave us the best appreciation for this culture so different than our own.

This family owns a bunch of mohair goats, so Ella and Delia spent a good amount of time trying to charm, pet and feed them.

And if allowing us to hike around their canyon was not gift enough, this family had dinner waiting for us when we returned!  We feasted on homemade blue corn meal mash and Navajo Fry Bread (like an elephant ear or funnel cake) topped with taco ingredients.  This was our first taste of Rehoboth and it was fun to see the something special about this place start to make its way into our team members' hearts, the way it did mine 16 years ago!

June Camp

When Dave and I first started chewing on the idea of a Service Trip to Rehoboth, I knew I wanted to be a part of it.  But, my going would depend on having some place to put our kids.  Well, God worked that out perfectly for us when we learned that our project in Rehoboth would be running the first week of their June Camp and our kids were invited to enroll and attend as campers while Dave and I worked on staff with our youth group!  I am not sure who had the better week-- those of us who were so blessed in our work with this camp, or those of us who had straight-up fun attending it, making new friends and learning new skills!

While Delia kind of got to know everyone, Ella formed tight bonds with just a few fellow campers.  One friend in particular, Maya (below), became so close, Ella shed a good amount of tears at goodbye time!  They have exchanged addresses and plan to be pen pals.  I loved hearing stories about how my girls, though not official staff, found their own ways to serve the camp and their new friends.  One girl attending the camp seemed very nervous and shy.  She did not talk to anyone in a voice above a whisper...except Ella.  With Ella she was comfortable and out of her shell.

At June Camp orientation, we were reminded that many of these kids live in a dark place.  June Camp is a place for them to feel safe and unconditionally loved.  We were told that our greatest job would be to "bring the Joy of the Lord" to the campers.  I proudly say that I think we achieved this!  The team of students we brought were SO AWESOME!  They spent all their energy actively engaging these kids and finding new ways to deepen relationships with them.  We arm wrestled, signed shirts, played tag, danced, braided hair, pushed swings, gave countless hugs and saw smiles every day.  June Camp would have happened without us, but we feel we did what we came to do to the best of our ability and glorified God in the process!

June Camp runs every day from 8:00 to 3:00.  In the morning our team divided up to lead age groups through various stations that Rehoboth staff taught.  I had the first grade class (that's my crew in the above picture) and our rotations included reading, math, science and outdoor activity.  Dave led the 4th graders and had Ella in his class!

Then in the afternoon, the kids could sign up for more specialized activities for the week.  They could pick two from this list: computers, soccer, cooking, art, dance, drama, woodworking, and outdoor games.  Our team also divided up to help lead these sessions, depending on what gifts and interests we had.  Ella chose cooking for her first rotation and learned how to make homemade ice cream, cookies and pancakes.

 Delia chose dance and learned how to do some fancy ballroom steps with a partner.  There was only one boy in this section, so all the girls had to take turns and share him! :)

Then for their second session, both girls chose drama, which Dave helped to lead.  The girls will both tell you that June Camp Drama Class was their favorite part of this Rehoboth trip.  They spent an hour each day playing improv type games.

Then on the last day of camp, their class went on the stage in the cafeteria and performed for us all while we ate lunch.  They loved it so, so much!

I helped lead the art class.  We spent the week working with bright colors and textures to make Eric Carle inspired layered murals and collages.  The kids that came to me picked art because they had an interest or gift for it, so working with them was really exciting.

In his night talks, Dave engaged us in conversation about "Kingdom Building".  Again, we were so blessed to be able to take this short time to do God's work and learn so much from it.  What a privilege to participate in the building of His Kingdom this week!  The following are just a few of my favorite shots of some people in our group, not posing, but showing true love for the June Camp kids they came to serve...

How to Fill 40 Hours in a Van

Sixteen years ago I had the great privilege of teaching for a month at Rehoboth, a Christian school on the Navajo Reservation in NM.  Rehoboth is a true light in a dark place.  It ministers to all sorts of students and families dealing with poverty, broken homes, addictions, and bondage to Navajo "religion".  They do an amazing job of recognizing and honoring the culture, but also seeking to redeem it and claim it for Christ.  

 This community has always held a special place in my heart, so it was such a joy to be able to return all these years later with my entire family and an enthusiastic team of 18 students and leaders from our church's youth group.

About one week ago, we set our alarms for 3:00 am and departed on a life-changing mission trip to Rehoboth, NM.  We have many many stories and about 350 pictures, so I'll share this journey in pieces here on the blog and with a focus on just my family (as opposed to the stories and pictures of the 14 others on our team).  Since it was a literal journey to trek across 3 states to get to Rehoboth, I'll start there.

 We started by asking God to bless our travels and keep us safe.  God did this and more!  I can truthfully say that the rides there and back were filled with nothing but fun and good memories!  The part of the trip that gave me greatest pause was subjecting these poor high-schoolers to riding with my children for 16 hours straight, but THEY DID GREAT!  So, if you are planning a long road trip any time soon that involves starting in the middle of the night and riding with 9 others, here are 10 suggestions for you...

 1.  Relish watching the sun rise.  Greet it by belting out Lion King songs.

2.  Take in the scenery.  We had to drive through the Mojave Desert and the entirety of Arizona.  These were totally new landscapes for us.

 3.  Bring along the video player, but limit its use.  We actually only watched 4 movies total and they became whole-van experiences.  "Let it Go" was, of course, performed by everyone.

4.  Decorate the van with artwork.  Have drawing contests where one person picks a random subject (like "Monster truck driving through a ring of fire") and two people compete to draw it the best.

 5.  Bring along walkie-talkies. nickname your vehicles, and have some fun practicing your trucker talk with the other van.  Ella's birthday fell on our first day of travel.  She smiled huge when we heard the walkie crackling, "White Duck, do you copy?  We have a message for Ella" and the singing from the other van that followed.  Also, share the good news when you actually find a good radio station.  If it is playing "Bohemian Rhapsody", perform a 2 van duet!

6.  Play the licence plate game!  I found a great printout and by the end of the week, everyone was into it.  We found 38, missing mostly the Northeast states.  And Wisconsin.  Could not find darn Wisconsin!

7.  Let the guy with the best music on his iPod sit shotgun and play DJ.  Rock out for a few hours to classics like "Don't Stop Believin''" or "Ice Ice Baby."

8.  Play lots of games!  Cards, Old Maid and Auto Bingo fill the hours.  Would You Rather? gives you some interesting insight into the minds of the people you're with for the next week!

9.  Just read, if you don't get carsick.  Ella read 3 whole books. I think "The Fault in our Stars" was passed around to just about everyone this week.  Three people got it read entirely in the van.  We joked that we'd have to have a Book Group to discuss it!

10.  And of course, SLEEP!  The high-schoolers had no trouble doing this.  Unfortunately, my girls slept a total of 45 minutes in the vans and me, zero.  Too excited, I guess! :)