Here Comes The Sun.....

Disclaimer: this is gong to be a long post...so hang on!!
I can't believe it has already been a week since we summitted Mt. Shavano!Last week was such an incredible week for all of our kids. We started our two day travel on Friday, July 8th. We traveled all night, and stopped in Amarillo to swap drivers Saturday morning. As we were exiting New Mexico we blew a tire!! If you have kept up with this blog at all...you know that this seems to be a recurring theme with any trip we go on!...so we were stranded in a podunk town for about two hours!...We finally got the tire fixed and back on the road....until we needed to stop to get fuel...which presented another issue! Apparently when the tire blew, it blew the fuel line off as well!! So we were stranded once again in Pueblo, CO for another several hours!...BUT we did eventually make it to Twin Lakes, CO!! We spent Saturday afternoon getting our gear and packing our backpacks. When we woke up Sunday morning we had worship on the point overlooking Twin Lakes (AMAZING view!)..then we loaded up and headed off to our rappel site...bear in mind that rain/tstorms is in the  forecast for everyday we are there! Rappel day went awesome! We did have a little bit of rain while we were all trying to get down the mountain...and I will be honest to tell you that I was a little uncertain of walking down the side of a cliff that is slippery from rain!!...But our kids did amazing! It was so precious to watch them encourage each other as they took that leap of faith right on over the edge of the cliff! We finished rappeling and got back to the barn to load up our gear and start our trek to low camp. We had to drive to the trail head of Shavano, so our low camp wasn't too far from the bus the first night. We finished up dinner and devo just in time for the storm of the century to blow in!! Oh my goodness..I was terrified! Of course, I'm sure the storm seemed magnified by the time the thunder vibrated off the surrounding mountains, but it was still very scary!
Monday morning we got up and packed all of our gear up to start the hike to high camp. This day is the day I always dread the most! For several reasons: 1. It is a hard hike, 2. You aren't acclimated yet, 3. It is a very physically strenuous day! Our kids stayed positive and did an excellent job on this hike! And just about the time we all started to get tired, and whiny...we stopped for what the guides called a 'quick break'....then as we got up to put our packs on, they announced bathroom areas and said the beloved.." WELCOME TO HIGH CAMP!!" We got set up and settled in to our new camp sites...this is where we stayed the remainder of the trip. We were awaken Tuesday morning to the glorious scent of pancakes and spam!! Oh my goodness, if you are like me, this sounds disgusting...but let me just tell you that is the best meal ever!! Then we were released for our solo time..this is a perfect 3 hours of alone time with you and the Lord...this alone time never ceases to be the most amazing time for our entire group! The Lord always shows his faithfulness in this time that we have..our devo on solo night was full of incredible stories, alot of laughter, and even tears. We spent the remainder of solo day playing mindless games and telling silly stories before we went to bed early anticipating the summit hike. We all went to bed with a knot in our stomachs...we knew if we woke up in the morning and it was raining that we wouldn't be able to summit...this would have been a very harsh reality to have to swallow after hiking so far. It was kind of funny, because I could hear the girls in the tent next to me chanting prayers to God, begging him to hold the rain!...and as always, he was so faithful! Not only did he hold the rain off, but he gave us the most beautiful day!! We got up at 2 am to start our summit hike. Thankfully, it wasn't too terribly cold and the wind was not howling bad at all! Our summit hike was absolutely amazing..we would stop periodically to look at the stars..and then to watch the sun rise...sheer beauty. Let me tell you, this was my fourth mountain to summit...but I have never felt more accomplished than to summit Mt. Shavano, 14,229 ft! One of the things that TEAM Ascend does that I LOVE...is they have each hiker find a rock along the way. This rock represents a sin, burden, problem, or whatever the student needs it to represent...and then when we reach summit, they have some time to pray over their rock and then toss it over the edge of the mountain, never to be seen again. So in our final devotional, they give everyone the opportunity to share what their rock represented. At the end of this night, there was not a dry eye in the room! I sat in my seat humbled to sit and listen to these students that I have come to love so much...get it. I listened as they finally started to grasp the concept of redemption and community. They were loving on each other as they struggled, they reassured each others insecurities. It was just beautiful to experience. I am so thankful that the Lord saw favor on me and allowed me to experience this with this group of students!
Sorry this was so long! I will leave you with some pictures!

solo time

here comes the sun!

my girls at summit

getting ready to hike off!

Summit of Mt. Shavano -14,229ft!

Rappel site!