Amy Medina

When I was in sixth grade, I wrote a short story that took place in the Carlsbad Caverns.  My mom had told me about them, and I was fascinated.  I have wanted to visit them for practically my entire life.  

Today was the day.

How can I possibly describe this place?

Indescribable.

Like something out of a fantasy novel.

Unlike anything I have ever seen.

Gil is a great photographer, but these pictures do not do justice to this experience.  These caverns are 750 feet below the ground.  The magnitude of the rooms under the earth was completely mind-blowing.  

Once in a lifetime.  

Such a creative, magnificent God we serve.

The formation behind us is called Rock of Ages.  We learned that many years ago, when guides got to this place, they would shut off all the lights except the one on this stone.  Then everyone would sing “Rock of Ages.”

Can you imagine?  

In a cavern of that size, what that would sound like?  Look like?

Someday, on That Day, maybe we’ll get the chance.  

So much scope for the imagination.  It gets into your bones and makes you a different person.

Oh, the great state of Texas.  I find it interesting that out of the six families we visited in Texas, 5 of them formerly lived in California.  Hmmmm….

Phil and Megan were part of the college group we led 10 years ago.  

Tommy was part of it too.  It’s been pretty neat to see the fruit of that ministry.

Mike and Laura were friends from our church in California.

Nathaniel and Wendy were friends from college.  

Christine and I were also friends from college.

1998

2013

We haven’t aged a bit, haven’t we?  

Don’t answer that.

We also visited the Cox family in Texas….the one family so far that we forgot to get a picture of.  Argh.

Two more states to go….we are almost there!  Moving into our apartment on Saturday!

So I’m getting behind in my blogging…..But here we go….headed west!

Georgia

visiting Steve and Danae and family

Steve was the director of HOPAC from 2005-2008 and we loved working under him.  

visiting Dan and Janine and family–friends from California

Josiah was a Pterodactyl in Georgia.  What does this have to do with Georgia?  Nothing.  He was just the cutest Pterodactyl ever.  

In Atlanta, we visited the neighborhood where Martin Luther King Jr. was born, the church he preached in, and the place where he is buried.  

Alabama

visiting Dan and Amy

Amy was a teacher at HOPAC and a leader in our youth group back in 2005-2006.  

Last year in first grade, Grace did a big report on Helen Keller.  So of course, everyone in the car was super excited to find that we were only minutes away from her house.  It was a Sunday, so we couldn’t go in, but at least we got to see the outside.  

Tennessee

Despite being in Memphis, we did not see Elvis.  However, we did see Josiah and Lindsey.  Josiah was one of our college students during the years we led the college group at our church.  He is also brother to a number of our other friends!

Arkansas

Amanda and I were friends from college…she lived across the hall from me, and we’ve been in touch ever since.  (That was….gulp….over 15 years ago.)

Our kids were very excited about visiting “the house with the 7 kids.”

They were not disappointed!

The kids told us today that they want seven kids in our family.  “Because then you never get lonely.”  

Heather was a teacher at HOPAC a few years ago, and we knew Quincy from college.  We got to be a tiny part of their love story in Tanzania.  They hosted us in their house that they had just moved into the day before.  Now that’s hospitality.  

“Aunt” Heather was pretty special to the kids in Tanzania.  

We also visited Brian and Ruth, friends from my childhood in Liberia and Ethiopia.  I had not seen them in 20 years.  

Karen and Victoria and their family were wonderful friends for many years in Tanzania.

We’re learning things about the south….their love of BBQ, peaches, good manners and cotillions.  (Yes, cotillions–as in, all the junior highers learn social dancing….how cool is that???)

And then there was Christa…who was a part of our lives since she was in 6th grade…and now she is a college sophomore.  She baby-sat our kids for years….stayed with us a few times while her parents were traveling….so it’s pretty amazing to see her all grown-up and responsible and loving Jesus.

I knew that I would find Washington DC fascinating.  

I had no idea that so many parts of it would so deeply move me.  

that’s about as close as you can get to the White House!

We stayed with our friends Chris and Heather in Virginia during the days that we were in DC.  

Their daughter Lisy and our Lily were fast friends during the three days we were there.  Lily cried when we left…Lisy was special.  

at the Museum of American History–this is the car that made the very first road trip across America.  It took him about 3 months….we did it in 2 1/2 weeks.  

at the Museum of Natural History.  This was seriously probably the coolest museum ever.  Dinosaur bones, the Hope Diamond, an incredible mineral/gem display…we only got 2 hours there, but could have spent all day.

and this starts the emotional part for me.  

These were the chairs from the Greensboro Sit-In during the Civil Rights Era.  

We saw the actual 13th Amendment.

We saw an original copy of the Emancipation Proclamation.  

And I knelt there with my African daughter and tried to read it to her, and I choked up.  

And we gazed on the Memorials of these two great men, who changed America, and are a major reason why I could stand there with my African children and call them my own.  

and we thought on all the men who gave their lives so that we could have freedom.

and at this tomb, in Arlington National Cemetery, we taught our children about respect and reverence and honor for those who sacrificed for what we have in this truly great country.

the Washington and Jefferson Memorials at night

There is much we can complain about in this country.  But I have lived in several other countries in my lifetime, and visited many others, and there is no place like America.  

No other country encourages immigration like she does, who welcomes the poor and the refugee.  No other guarantees the freedoms and the opportunities that we have.  

There is much that is wrong, but there is still much that is right.