Flickr Photostream

We posted all of the photos of Cam's trip (and a few of Adi opening her "surprises" from Daddy upon his return). You can click here to see them.

Cam's Home

Cam got home at 3:30 am on Friday and is safe and sound. Well, mostly. He's had some stomach issues since his return but is feeling better. The trip was really wonderful for him and I'm sure I'll have more time later to post some of the stories and more photos but for now I'll just post a few.

On the way there:

Clinic:
The beach:
A Colonia home:
The team (Bill, Stephen, Cam & Katie):

More Blogging About Mazatlan

Since the info I get about what is going on in Mexico is pretty minimal I thought I would post a link to the blog of one of the mission leaders, Katie Iverson, for all of the friends and family that don't already know about Katie's Blog: http://www.iowaiversons.blogspot.com/

Katie tries to blog as often as she can about the goings-on of the team and their mission in Mexico. Enjoy!

Adi's First Haircut and Cam's Safe in Mexico

Cam left Wednesday night at 6:00 pm for a long drive to Minneapolis where the mission team were flying from early Thursday morning. That same evening Adi and I had a 7:00 hair appointment. Yes, friends and family. I finally did it. I finally complied to Adi's requests over the past year or more to get her hair cut. It was hard to do, but the motivating factor for me was the fact that between the two of us we were donating 20 plus inches of hair to Locks of Love. Here we are before the cut: This first haircut was a really big deal for me and Adi. Nana accompanied since our appointments were at the same time and I figured I was going to need some help. I'm also grateful that she brought her camera and got several really great shots to remember this milestone.
Now Adi has this super cool, hip haircut that I totally love. Because we have different stylists, my hair is a bit different but about the same length. To be honest, I think I like Adi's cut better. I'll have to ask Joelle at Bellissimo to do mine a bit more like Adi's next time around.
So here's the final product. Joelle let me know that her brother Derek is studying hairstyling at The Salon Professional Academy on First Ave in Iowa City and needs people to come in and get color done for $19. I didn't have the heart to tell her that I'd just been to Walgreens to buy my favorite shade of Chocolate Cherry for $9.99, but I'm telling all of you so if you'd like to have color done really inexpensively here's your chance. Just make sure you ask for Derek.
Cam took our Cannon camera with him to Mazatlan so I'm using our old Fuji Film which I'm having a really hard time operating. The Cannon Power Shot is so much easier and the quality kicks Fuji butt! That said, here' the best photo I could muster of the new cut with new color :)
I talked to Cam this evening and he said everything is going really well. Maybe a bit unorganized but with only four people on the team it seems like people would have to do a bit more than they would if the team was larger and I imagine that might feel a little chaotic at times. He said they saw 80 patients yesterday! That's a ton of people!!!

We weren't able to talk long but he did also mention that they visited a church that had some sort of youth ministry (I think Cam's true calling is to youth ministry - personally speaking) so he was really impressed with the way they did things. He got some video footage of them dancing; I can't wait to see it and if the quality is good I'll post it when he gets home. He can check emails but can't upload any photos right now so all of that will have to wait.

Please pray for Cam and the team's safety in their day to day activities and that God would bless them in ways they'd never imagined possible.

Off to Mazatlan

Tomorrow Cam departs for his first mission trip to Mazatlan, Mexico. This is a huge deal for him as he's felt it on his heart to do mission work for the past year or so. In many ways this is a dream come true for Cam. He really wanted me to go with him, but for a number of reasons it didn't work out:

1. Money is always an issue (the trip costs $900 and Cam put all of his birthday money toward it and a few others helped out as well but the rest came out of our pockets. If you are interested in helping fund this mission trip you can visit First Giving to donate. If you've visited before you might notice that the total raised off-line has been significantly reduced - that's because we had previously included the amount we had saved on our own and I've updated it to reflect the total that has actually been donated.)
2. Though I'm on my 3 month contractual leave from work and don't have to try to get time off, we weren't able to make arrangements for someone to care for Adi while we would be gone
3. In addition to finding someone to care for Adi we would have needed to find someone to care for our 2 cats, Bella & Mojo as well as our dog, Ihry and all our little fishes
4. I'm completely paranoid about both of us traveling together and the plane going down, therefore leaving Adi with no parents - it's the truth
5. I still hope to be pregnant some day and as we planned we weren't sure if it would be safe to travel to Mexico while pregnant if God blessed us with pregnancy by the time of the trip, which He has not (we're still waiting on you, Lord)
6. To be perfectly honest I would do better on a mission trip with a different mission. I'm not a huge fan of Western medicine, and while it certainly has it's time and place, I don't think pharmaceuticals offer a long term answer to many health issues people are afflicted by (for example: heartburn). I believe that God created perfect nutrition to achieve perfect health... eating that way is the hard part. So honestly, I'd rather share God's love in other ways, by praying, teaching, and loving those in need. I know that's going to sound super snotty to many people and honestly I've never been there so I don't know what these people are afflicted by or how easily they could acquire proper nutrition so ultimately I'm at a loss here. It's just how I feel. This is where Cam is probably cringing at my honesty and thinking I said too much!

So today Cam and I were completely moved, blessed, and encouraged in a way we hadn't previously known possible. We decided to enjoy some coffee at the Java House to spend some adult time together while Adi was at preschool. A friend of ours from church was there and before this friend left, out of nowhere, they handed Cam $50 to use as he saw fit on the trip. It felt like such a big deal, someone handing over their hard earned money in the name of Jesus to support the mission.

It didn't end there. When we got the mail there was an envelope from one of Cam's co-workers. She's a single woman who lives simply and modestly on her own. We expected to see a note of encouragement, which is precisely what we received. What we did not expect was the $150 check she included. She felt God asking her to bless Cam with this money (which felt like such a huge sum considering her circumstances) in order to encourage him on this mission. Let me just say that both of us cried. Yes, we did. Even Cam. We tried to smooth it over a bit because Adi didn't know what was going on so I had the opportunity to teach her another life lesson about how sometimes we cry when we are so incredibly happy.

$200 in one day may not sound like a lot to most, but it was a big deal to us. It was God's provision in a way we've never experienced it before and we were at a loss for words. Only praise for our Lord and the path he's leading Cam on. Maybe someday I'll be on the same path.

How High Raw Eating is Making Me Free... and Part Crazy

So now that I'm eating a high raw diet and have begun to lose a little bit of weight I wonder what I'm losing with the weight. I know fat stores most of the toxins in our bodies so I'm guessing as I lose fat I'm also losing some MSG, pesticides, herbicides, antibiotics and who knows what else. I find this fascinating because for a rare moment in my life I'm losing weight as a bi-product of a much bigger goal. I'm not eating raw to be obnoxious, to see if I can do it, to isolate myself from my friends and family or even to lose weight. I'm eating raw to heal my body. To heal. I'm in awe that God created these bodies to be able to do that with the nutrition available in the natural state of the foods he created for us to eat. I don't eat everything just as is - I do my fair share of blending, mixing, dehydrating, etc. but the key is that heat isn't being used to process the food I eat and all of the enzymes remain intact. This sounds insane but it is so incredibly liberating!

I'll be honest about how I felt when I realized I was getting my period this month. I was pissed. That's really quite an understatement. A more accurate term would be furious. So angry at God for making me wait even longer. How long will he make me wait? There were several other factors wrapped up in my anger but I have not felt that intensity of emotion in years. It didn't happen at a women's conference, or a prayer meeting. It was here in my home where I groveled with God, cried until I had no more tears and even refused to pray anymore (for my prayers weren't being answered so what was the point?) And after a day and a half of catching myself wanting to pray dozens of times yet stubbornly resisting I finally released it all in my journal (which will someday prove to Adi that her mama really is crazy), I gave it to God, discussed it with Cam and came full circle back to the God I love and he who loves me.

I don't know if I would have gone through all of that if I hadn't been eating raw food. I most likely would have ordered a pizza and drank soda to be followed by beer and Doritos later that night. There is just no comfort in raw food. Only flavor, love, life and nutrition. But as for stuffing those emotions, it doesn't work when you're eating raw food.

So what I'm losing with each pound that happens to coincide with the healing of my body, mind and spirit is the dependency I have on food to make me feel better emotionally. I'm losing my unhealthy relationship with the sustenance that God has provided. I'm losing a large part of my gluttony. It's a very rocky road (ask Cam, he'll verify) but I'm on a path to health, vitality and freedom from the chains that bind me. I knew that I had issues with food and eating but I had no idea how BIG those issues really were. What a journey this is. What a blessed crazy journey. I feel like the namesake of this blog is being affirmed: What a Long Strange Trip!