Bethany and I got to go back to the New England area this past week for a wedding and my brothers graduation. It was also a good time to see both our families. It was great to see familiar faces, a happy groom, a brother with a diploma, family, and green grass! Our friend ended up doing the same kissing game for his wedding that we did for ours. In the words of Charles Caleb Colton, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery". This quote also happened to be the theme of the kissing game because every time the guests rang their glasses a couples name was drawn and read aloud. The couple was then expected to give a public kiss performance and the bride and groom had to imitate the kiss. Bethany and I were the first ones called! My wife cried out, "NOoO!" at the prospect of kissing me in such a public and showy manner but she then delivered a great kiss to me in the eyes of all. One of the things I really appreciated about my friends wedding was the amount of family and prayer that were intimately involved in his life and wedding. What a blessing to see my friend being welcomed into manhood and "trained up in the way he should go" in every stage of life!
After the wedding we had to rush to take a train from Philadelphia to Boston at midnight. It ended up to be quite the interesting (and tiring!) ride. A very generous man offered to give us a ride to the train station and give up 4 hours of his time. However, he really did not seem to be the most well practiced navigator or driver, which are shortcomings I normally like to think I am gracious about - but we had a train to catch! So after a few wrong turns, a couple instances of slamming on brakes, and prayers given aloud by myself we arrived in time. We thanked and gave the man a tip for his time and were on our way.
During the two days at home in NH we went out to a local mountain and lighthouse with our families which was fun. Got to see local friends at our NH church and then returned home to 104 degree Arizona and a rainstorm. I still love the sun!
Praises: I would like to report that our 16 day respite went beautifully. So praise God and thank you all for interceding for us in our Father's heavenly throne room. It certainly made a difference! God had also continued to find avenues for my gifts in computers. God has also continued to show us His love through the fellowship and loving hospitality of our local church! What a blessing the body of Christ can be!
Prayers: Pray for the respite we are about to start. Pray for my wife to see the fruit God is bearing through her. Pray for us to continue to find our place here as long as God would see fit to use us in this ministry. We want to serve with joy, peace, love, and expectation where God has us now without being anxious about the future. (Matthew 6:25-34)
Yikes! Tomorrow we begin a 16 day respite. That is twice as long as any respite we have ever done before. Needless to say we are a little worried but at least when this respite is done we will get about the same amount of time to rest. Bethany and I are still striving to make friends. We have realized Christian friends are so important to us. We had a good time at a church picnic shown above but we feel like we have so little time to really spend time with other Christians, let alone find people we can pray and live life with.
When we got out of the car and began to approach the peak we continued to hike towards a solid rock wall. The question on all our minds was, "How will we ever get up this thing?" For my Dad and I this was a reason to have excitement. For our ladies, it was somewhat of a daunting thought.
The first half of the hike actually turned out to be not too difficult. When we got to the top of the lowest peak we could see for miles on the other side of the mountain. We stopped to have some food thinking the end was only a short hike away. We had already climbed 1100 of the 1500 feet to the top. I will let Bethany tell you what happened next while I stand on top of this cliff looking awesome.
After our snack, I (Bethany) felt like I had enough energy to keep going despite the hot sun and my quad muscles which were starting to get sore from feeling like I had climbed 500 flights of stairs. We examined where the trail headed next and found that we had to go down before continuing up. This is when I started to get nervous about the last part of the climb. We climbed down the back side of the mountain between a big rock wall and steel cables that were keeping us from sliding towards the edge of a drop. It was like a stair case with a railing but no stairs as you can see below. I chose to scoot along on my butt for most of the way down and hung on to the cables with most of my weight.
We then turned the corner and headed back upwards towards the very top of the peak. This started out just like hiking any other steep mountain until we hit the last section which consisted of steep jagged rock and cables to support us and block us from any edges. I almost talked myself out of this part of the hike partially from the heights and partially because I knew I would have a harder time getting back down (I once hyperventilated trying to come down the stairs of a large fire tower.) I decided, however, just to keep my eyes focused on the steps in front of me and I didn't spend too much time looking around to contemplate the possibilities of what could happen to me if I slipped. It was quite the exercise of my willpower. As you can see below, we were very thankful for the cables and there was no safe way to do it without them. 
We finally reached the top and had a complete 360 degree view of the surrounding desert and mountains. It was very spectacular! At this point I was grateful for the chance to sit down and rest my aching feet which now had blisters and refuel my tank with lots of water because of the hot sun. While on top we also saw a big lizard and were dive-bombed by birds that you could literally hear whizzing past you like feathery missles. After lunch we started our next challenge which was the descent.