I was checking a friends blog and was irritated at the lack of new news and then felt a twinge of guilt realizing it had been a while since I had posted anything of interest. Caleb is off at school, although not as enthusiastic as he was the first day, and I have a quiet house to myself. Sure there are many productive things I could be doing but I am choosing to spend quality time with YOU, whoever you may be.

Last weekend I took a mini vacation without the boy and went on 3 day backpacking trek in the Sinai. What an amazing experience! I have driven into the Sinai Peninsula a kajillion times but I never knew it held the beauty and magnificence that I saw, maybe that is why Moses and the Israelites hung out there 40 years!!! I will post pics as soon as my friend passes them along. It was by no means a hike in a barren desert. I had taken a camel trek a few years ago and enjoyed the scenery but wasn't awed per say, (although we had been promised a waterfall and beautiful oasis huh Jen?) but this trip just blew me away. There were gardens tended by Bedouins, natural oasis springing up all over the place, wells, and greenery sprinkled through out. The mountains were much higher than I had expected and the coloring of the rocks was fascinating. I was worried about trying to drag my sorry 43 year old butt up a mountain with a bunch of 20 somethings but did alright. I did get a bit whiny on the last day cause my boots were killing me but other than that I did great. My favorite part was sleeping out under the stars. I don't see stars in Cairo, but out in the desert it is as if the sky droops heavy with the weight of so many stars. And the silence is deafening! Cairo is a constant whir of white noise, if it isn't the horns honking, or the mosques praying it is the cats mating or the locals screaming but it is always something! Even as I sit and write I am listening to 5 different classes at the French school across the street shouting their recitations through their broken windows( a very advanced education system.) In Cairo there is no rest from the noise, ahhhh but in the desert even the wind caught your attention as it broke the silence. It seems so easy to pray there under the stars, Heaven seems so imminent. Each night we struggled by the campfire to stay awake at least until 8 p.m. by playing the initial game (I am thinking of someone whose initials are G.M.)and setting ants ablaze. To bed at 8 and up with the sun! The last night was one of those cool youth pastor moments when I sat surrounded by 4 old youth group kids catching up on their lives. Such amazing kids I have worked with! One lives in the Gaza strip, another in Jordan, one is heading up a Bedouin trekking company and the other is back in Cairo (home) teaching. God so knew what he was doing when he brought me here!