We're here!!! Mexico Missions 2014 day 1

We started our trip yesterday as we flew down from Seattle to join 3 from our team already here in San Diego. Everyone made the flight(though some May have cut it closer than others). Safe flight for everyone, we'll except Richards bag, but thanks to the fine clothing store Inn 'n out burger he now has a replacement wardrobe. The border was an adventure and we are still waiting for our final 3 to show up but that may be because after they had a little detour at the border and got to go on a lil adventure. They may have stopped at a taco stand on the way down to reward themselves for surviving. Well deserved I might add.

So for all you concerned family members. We are all safe. We were greeted with a great meal and smiling faces as we arrived. Everyone is heading to bed soon and tomorrow the work begins.

It's been great to see our team already coming together and the genuine love and care they have for each other. This isn't just with our team but with Crossroads as well. It was great to see people from both teams pitching in to put these bean bags together for one of the games planned for the kids. You had people making funnels, others filling the bags, then even more people sewing them shut. All this while riding in a bus with no AC and some fairly tight quarters. 

It's like the guy who took this picture at the airport told me after he saw us praying and took my camera so I could get in the pic. " it looks like y'all are off to do some of God's work, as a brother I'd like to do my part no matter how small it may seem!"

We covet your prayers, appreciate your support and pray that our eyes will be opened to what God's planned for this week. 

Cory

For Father's Day!

This morning I was listening to the radio and as usual jamming in my car to the music and laughing at the DJ's as they went through their morning routine. But then one of them said something that made my heart sink. They were talking about calling there Dads for fathers day and one of them was posing the question who should he call? That the others had Dads that had stuck around but that his just left. The hardest part for me is that as I've been listening to these folks for awhile I know that he is a new dad and that in what I hear him talk about, it seems like he is doing an awesome job. What for many of us is a natural shift where we go from being the child in our primary child/parent relationships to being the parent couldn't and wont happen for him yet despite that he is bucking the trend and ensuring that his child doesn't have to grow up with that void in their life.

 The words that popped into my head were this. "Fatherhood is not about what he did, it is about what you are doing and will do."  

This fathers day as I reflect on my own life and my relationships with my Dad and my kids, I realize that I have a long way to go but that I've also come a long way. My wife and truly my partner has helped push me to have those conversations that I didn't want to have.  To seek help when I thought I could do it alone and to slow down when I became blind to what was happening around me. 

To all you fellow dads out there let me encourage you. Stick around. Sometimes it will be hard. You will need to occasionally be the rock when you feel like a sponge. It is no longer all about you, yet by pursuing your dreams you will help them to have dreams of their own. By loving your wife you will show your daughters how a woman should be treated and your sons how to love a woman. Find other guys with similiar values and circumstances to journey through life with. Don't fall in to the traps of self doubt and learn to focus on those things that are truly important. To all of you guys I wish a Happy Fathers Day, and to that DJ if you'd like feel free to give me a call because I want to wish you a happy fathers day, and tell you well done.