Kailey's 2nd Birthday

More pictures here...

Me with the two most beautiful girls in the world

Here's one of my favorite photos of me with Gina and Kailey. Came across it today and had to post. See more pictures of Kailey here...

The sky at my house

This is what the sky looks like at my house sometimes...

From last week... A big thunderstorm illuminated by the afternoon sun over our backyard. I love it because I don't have to try too hard to imagine the thunderclouds as snowcapped mountains in the Himalaya.


Here's a sunset from a few weeks ago..


Here's an awesome sunset back in January...

Alabama vs. Rivals - 2008

Click here to see statistics I've compiled to show how Alabama compares to its three biggest rivals - Tennessee, Auburn and LSU (there's no comparison)
(photo from AP - Eryk Anders sacks Auburn's Codi Burns in the Tide's 36-0 thrashing of Auburn on November 29th)

Pictures from Cambodia are now up

I've finally got the pictures from my Cambodia trip up (at least a few hundred of them :)). See them here... (select any thumbnail to see the larger picture)

Kids in a village outside of Battambang


Me at New Life Orphanage in Battambang (thanks for the photo, Jo!)


Angkor Wat Temple in Siem Reap - The eighth wonder of the world

Chris's trip update

One of the guys on our team sent this email to his family and friends. I've published it here (without permission :)). It's a good email and offers another perspective on the trip.

Hey friends,

I'm back home from Cambodia. Our team got back safely on the 14th of December. I had planned on writing a bit sooner but Life was not willing to cooperate and allow me some time to decompress a bit before getting back into all the responsibilities that were waiting for me when I got back. Suffice it to say, it was a crazy week last week trying to adjust through the jetlag and the before-Christmas work deadlines. However, I did want to give you a sense of my experience in Cambodia... FAQ-style!

Where exactly did you go?
Battambang, Cambodia.
Battambang is the second largest city in Cambodia... behind the capital, Phnom Penh, and just ahead of the real touristy destination of Siem Reap (which houses all the ancient temples and ruins).

What kind of ministry were you involved with during your time in Cambodia?
For 5 days, we spent most of our days at the New Life Orphanage in Battambang. This orphanage is home to 36 kids... ages 6 to 17. During those days, we did a Vacation-Bible-School type of program where we taught them some Bible stories in the morning, sang some worship songs with them (including teaching them some crazy dance motions), played a variety of games and sports such as Twister and barefoot volleyball, and made a whole bunch of crafts and colored a lot with the littler kids.

Yes, we played around a lot with the kids... we had somewhat of a theme which we tried to incorporate into all of our activities. We tried to emphasize "Generosity". That through this Christmas season, one of the biggest things they can remember is generosity. And so one day we even invited all the kids in the surrounding neighborhood to join us for a birthday party for Jesus. On that day, we were able to give those visiting kids a special gift that the kids at the orphanage had made for them. During the entire time, I was wondering if the orphanage kids were getting the whole "Generosity" thing that we were trying to teach them about. And on the last day, as the kids were going around sharing how thankful they were that we were there, one of the kids said, "Thank you for coming. Thank you for helping us show God's love to our friends in the neighborhood." BAM! Yup yup... that's what I'm talking about!!!

Sounds like God did some awesome stuff through you guys. But weren't you gone for 10 days? What did you do the rest of the time?
Well, we hung out at the orphanage for 5 days. We spent 1 day in Siem Reap touring through some of the famous temples. (I got a chance to take a ride on the back of an elephant.) It probably takes 1 full day to account for all our travel in Cambodia. We rode from city to city and from hotel to orphanage by bus. And if you've ever been in a third-world country, you know that transportation is a little bit different from our super-highways. And finally, it took about 3 days for all the round-trip travel between Atlanta and Cambodia.

How were the conditions?
Not bad. Sure it's a third-world country... but we stayed at a local hotel where a number of foreigners were staying. Plus, we ate most of our meals at restaurants that specially catered to foreigners. Although I tried to eat local dishes, there was always Chicken Fried Rice if I wasn't feeling too adventurous. I was able to take a daily shower and we had running toilets... so no worries about that.

I financially supported your trip. What exactly was I participating in?
Well, even if you wanted to really bad, not everyone has the margin in life to take 10 days off and head overseas. So in my mind, I think these short-term trips are opportunities for you to partner with others who do have the margin in life to do so. I had asked you to partner with me... "hey, let's be a team"... both financially and in prayer... and help show love to these Cambodian children. And you did. You made it possible for me to go... and as an extension, I loved on them with you. But here's some other ways that your generosity was reflected. We were able to give this orphanage:
* A five month supply of vitamins for all 36 kids in the orphanage
* A five-plus month supply of fever/pain medicine
* A TV and a DVD player for the orphanage to use for different ministry purposes. You should have seen the kids watching the movie Cars... they were mesmerized.
* Posts, a net and a ball for a volleyball court. (They had dug holes and filled it with cement and were playing the next morning at 8am!
* A digital camera for the orphanage. Apparently, they need to document each kid with a photograph and submit to the local authorities.
* Christmas gifts for 100 kids in the surrounding village. The gifts included crayons, pencils, pens, highlighters, erasers, sharpeners, bracelets and candy. The kids at the orphanage invited the kids from the surrounding village to a birthday party for Jesus and give them the gifts. They did this as outreach and to show others God's love and generosity for us.
* Lots of love and attention through songs, games, crafts and sports.

Great stuff, Chris. Any personal highlights?
Well, developing relationships with kids at the orphanage were awesome. As soon as we got off the bus, they were all over us... holding our hands... grabbing our arms... hanging off our necks. They loved the presence. So did I. But there were also some other things that I enjoyed. The day trip to Siem Reap was pretty awesome. AND... the going rate for one-hour massages in Cambodia was $6. (The legitimate kind.) I definitely took advantage of that. Several times. In fact, at one massage place, they hired blind folks to provide the massage... so that instead of these folks begging on the streets, the massage place would train them through a real massage certification course. Can I say... "Best Massage Ever!"???

How was your team?
9.4 out of 10. My team was ridiculously Christ-like... especially for some of them who had never traveled outside the US.

Anything else?
It was an amazing trip. I've got some pictures if you want to see them. I have a lot more I could go on and on about. So if you want more detail... I'd love to talk to you about it. But let me just say, Thank you. A personal "thank you" for allowing me to experience what God is doing on the other side of the world. And "thank you" on behalf of the kids at New Life Orphanage. You'd fall in love with them if you met them. That's a guarantee.

I've attached a photo. It's meant to be for you. (I'm standing in the center-back row in case you can't tell me apart from the Cambodians :-)

Merry Christmas!

-chris

Back home from a great trip to Cambodia

Hey Guys,

Most of you know this, but I'm home from Cambodia. We arrived back safely Sunday morning. I would have emailed sooner, but I've been a little out of it. I guess a 12-hour time difference and nearly 48 hours of traveling to get home will do that to you.

I'm going to be posting pictures in the next few days, but I wanted to go ahead and say thank you so, so much for your prayers while we were gone. God was so good to us. The trip was a huge success. Here are a few things we were able to give the kids in Cambodia through your generosity and God's help.

* A five month supply of vitamins for all 36 kids in the orphanage
* A five + month supply of fever/pain medicine
* A TV and a DVD player (you should have seen the kids watching the movie Cars...they were mesmerized). The TV will be used as entertainment, of course :), but also for educational videos
* Posts, a net and a ball for a volleyball court (they were playing the next morning at 8am :)). Volleyball is the sport in Cambodia
* A digital camera they can use to send us pictures of the kids
* Christmas gifts for 100 kids in the surrounding village. The gifts included crayons, pencils, pens, highlighters, erasers, sharpeners, bracelets and candy. The kids at the orphanage invited the kids from the surrounding village to a birthday party for Jesus and gave them the gifts. They did this as outreach and to show others God's love and generosity for us.
* Lots of love and attention through songs, games, crafts and sports

Except for the brief bout with food poisoning, tripping breakers trying to show a movie, deep fried tarantulas...oh, and flying coach to the other side of the world :), I wish you could have been there. The kids were just amazing. They were so gracious. You truly, truly made a difference in 36 people's lives this holiday season. Thank you.

I can't wait to tell you more about it, and hopefully share my 800-picture slide show with you :).

Merry Christmas!

Jason


(Thanks for the photo, Jo!)

We're on our way!!!

The gear is packed and the team is ready. We're taking a ton of fun crafts, clothes and medicine. Pray that we make it through customs! :). The kids are going to have a ball!

We appreciate all of you who have given so much. We've been prayed for and given money, medicine, crafts, and clothes.

Continue to pray for our time in Cambodia

Love you all! Be careful while we're gone :).

Jason

Here's our itinerary:

Cambodia is 12 hours ahead of Atlanta.

Thursday, December 4th:
Korean Air: Departs 11:55am Atlanta - arrives in Seoul at 5:05pm (3:05am Friday in Atlanta)

Friday, December 5th:
Korean Air flight: Departs 6:50pm Seoul - arrives in Phnom Penh at 10:40pm (10:40am Friday in Atlanta)

Saturday, December 6th:
Drive to New Life Orphanage in Battambang (about 5 hours)

Sunday, December 7th - Thursday, December 11th:
At New Life Orphanage in Battambang

Friday, December 12th:
Drive to Siem Reap (about 5 hours). See temples at Angkor Wat (from the move Tomb Raider)

Saturday, December 13th:
Drive to Phnom Penh (about 5 hours)
Korean Air flight: Departs Phnom Penh 11:40pm - arrives in Seoul 6:40am on Sunday

Sunday, December 14th:
Korean Air: Departs Seoul 10:05am (Saturday night at 10:05pm in Atlanta) - arrives in Atlanta 9:30am Sunday morning

Cambodia curriculum set

Our theme for Cambodia is generosity. We want to teach the kids about God's gift to us and how we can be generous with what we have.

Each morning we'll sing fun songs like "Father Abraham" and "If you're happy and you know it." We're taking over kazoos, slide flutes, maracas and tambourines. We know the kids love to sing and dance (even if they don't know what the words mean).

We'll then do a story and skit highlighting what God says about generosity.

We'll end the morning with crafts they'll put together. They'll give them as Christmas gifts to kids in the surrounding villages.

We'll spend the afternoons playing team games and just hanging out with the kids.

Here are the lessons...

Day 1: Lesson 1 - God wants us to give to others - 1 Timothy 6:18 - "...be generous and willing to share"

Day 2: Lesson 2 - Everyone has something to give - Mark 12:43 - The story of the widow giving coins worth only a few cents

Day 3: Lesson 3 - God loved us so much he gave us his son - John 3:16

Day 4: Birthday Party celebrating God's gift to us. We're inviting kids from the surrounding villages and the kids in the orphanage will give them the crafts they made

Five weeks until Cambodia!

Just a quick update on our Cambodia trip. (I'm going to start posting updates pretty regularly until we leave.) Things are definitely coming together. As with any short-term trip, there are challenges. Overall, however, we have a great feeling about what we're doing.

We're in good shape finically but still need to raise around $6,000. If you've not given to a short-term trip this year, I'd love for you to consider helping us. It's tax deductible and just a terrific ministry - helping give Christmas to kids who have pretty much nothing. See my post below for options on giving.

One of our biggest challenges is just getting our thoughts narrowed and the supplies we need to pull them off. We've got a lot of ideas. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of direction from our contact in Cambodia. We're choosing to look at this as an opportunity. Our goal now is to have a few options ready to go and then decide which ones to use when we get there.

Our team is terrific. I'm really excited about the talents and personalities God has pulled together. We also have a great network of people who have supported us financially and are supporting us through prayer. We've had so many people offer supplies, more than we could ever take with us (we can only take two bag each :(). I'm always amazed at the generosity of the people around me.

Please be praying for our final weeks of preparation. Because it's such a busy time of year, one of my concerns is that we'll get on the plane worn out. Pray that we'll be able to find some margin in our schedules to prepare spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically. The time change, the long flight, the different food, the lack of sleep, the germs :), all of those things can overwhelm a tired body (or even a healthy one for that matter). I would love to be in a position to give 100% to the kids there.

I would love to ask you to pray that everything goes great and we have not problems, but that's not the point. Just pray that in whatever circumstances we find ourselves, we would be patient, flexible, humble and reliant on God.

Talk to you soon.

Jason

Pictures from the orphanage in Cambodia

Here are two great pictures a good friend of ours, Rachael Walkup, took while she was at the orphanage in Cambodia in July.

Cambodia in December

If you would like to help fund our team, you can give securely through http://globalxm.org/ (it's tax deductible :))

Yes, I'm off on another short-term mission trip :). This time I'm headed to Cambodia! I've been asked to lead a team of nine people to the town of Battambang in December. We'll be putting together a Christmas event at an orphanage North Point Community Church supports. I’m so excited to have another opportunity to lead an international trip, an area where I feel God has gifted me, and I can't imagine anything more fulfilling than serving at an orphanage. Gina and I have been blessed with the time, resources and support to help children in Peru, Bosnia, South Africa and India, and are grateful for another opportunity in Cambodia.

Cambodia is a country with incredible needs. A communist revolution in the 1970s resulted in the death of two million people and untold hardships on millions more. Hundreds of thousands were executed between 1977 and 1979 alone. A peace agreement was reached in 1991, but free elections weren’t held until 2002. The country is trying to reach some kind of normalcy, but is far behind the rest of the world in almost every area.

Decades of war and famine have left the people of Cambodia with few resources. Weak government institutions have allowed abuse and corruption to go unchecked. Children have been particularly impacted. Cambodia is listed as a leading location for child slave labor and sexual abuse. There are few places in the world where children need help more than in Cambodia.

The orphanage in Battambang is unique in that it only takes in about 40 kids and cares for them until they have completed secondary educations. North Point sends three teams a year to help with its three-part mission: take care of the children's immediate needs (food, shelter and love), educate and train them in marketable skills, and lead them in a growing relationship with God.

North Point hopes to build lasting relationships through these trips. The kids of Battambang will be the next generation of leaders in Cambodia and will have a tremendous impact on their community and the country. In a place with so many needs, imagine what God can do through spiritually and emotionally healthy people who have a desire for him and a desire to help others.

I'm writing you because you have been so faithful to support my trips in the past. Thank you! You have made a difference. Travel expenses for this trip are $2,900. We are leaving on December 4th and returning on the 14th. If you feel led to give, I've included information for online giving, and return postage if you prefer mail. Our team appreciates anything you give and will be praying that you feel very much a part of our team. You will make a difference in these kids’ lives!

If you don't feel led to give (please don’t feel obligated), I hope you will pray for our team, for our preparations here and our time there. I would also love it if you prayed for the children of Cambodia. Pray that God will continue to meet their immediate needs, to protect them from terrible abuses, and to use organizations like North Point to educate and prepare them for adulthood.

Thanks again for your prayers and ongoing support of my mission trips (this will be my fifth!). I'm so thankful to have family and friends who support my desires, who pray for me and love me, and who are willing to help others.

Talk to you soon!

Jason

Blanca Peak and Ellingwood Point

Chad and I had a successful trip to Colorado. We made the summit of two of the three 14ers on our itinerary. We were able to climb Blanca Peak and then traverse the connecting ridge to Ellingwood Point. It was a great climb. There was a little 4th class scrambling, which I really enjoyed. We got ourselves into a place where we had to pull off a small section of probably 5.6 or 5.7 moves, no problem except we'd been on our feet for about 6 hours, were at 13,000 feet and had been at sea level 48 hour earlier! Oh, and we didn't have a rope for that warm snuggly feeling I like to have when a fall could result in something getting broken or dead.

We had planned on climbing Little Bear Peak as well, but called off the attempt after reading more about the objective dangers and talking to a few people coming off the mountain. Our guidebook said Little Bear was the most dangerous standard route 14er in Colorado (I somehow missed that when planning the trip). That info, coupled with reports that one of the more difficult sections of the climb had running water on it from a late melting snow pack, gave us pause. A nice thunderstorm the night before we'd planned to do the climb, which would have made the route even wetter, sealed the deal for us. We decided to wait until another trip. It looked like a terrific challenge. This is going to be one of those mountains I want to go back for (I already have that regret feeling, that I should have tried/what if I never get to go back feeling).

I would give you some info on the route, but there are already some great resources out there. I'll let my pictures and the brief timeline below be a supplement. We did everything standard. We got most of our info from Gerry Roach's book, Colorado Fourteeners, from www.summitpost.org and from www.14ers.com.

Here's what we did:
Route: Blanca/Ellingwood Combination - Ascend Blanca's Northwest Face (Grade III, Class 2) then descend Ellingwood's South Face Route (Grade III, Class 2). 15.1 total miles and 6,900 ft of elevation gain. Low point - 8,000ft. High Point - 14,345ft.

Day 1 - Fly from ATL to DEN, drive to Lake Como trailhead and camp at the car for the night. We left ATL at 8am (local) and arrived at the trailhead at about 6pm (local). The drive from DEN took about 4 hours. In addition, made stops at REI, for grocieries, dinner, etc.

Day 2 - Lake Como trailhead at 8,000ft to Lake Como at 11,740ft - 5 miles and 3,740ft of elevation gain. It took 5 hours. Probably the roughest, rockiest trail I've ever been on. Brutal. I'll blame the slow time on coming from sea level and fighting a head cold.

Day 3 - Lake Como to Blanca Peak via Northwest Face, down Blanca's north ridge to the saddle between Blanca/Ellingwood, to Ellingwood's South Face Route. Descend Ellingwood's South Face Route - 5.1 miles and 3,160ft of elevation gain. It took 9 hours (9 hours - 6 up/3 down).

Day 4 - Lake Como to trailhead - 5 miles (3 hours). The bad thing about all that elevation gain is that you've got to go back down. With a 40 lb pack and the rockiest trail I've ever been on, it was one of the longest 3-hours of my life.

Day 5 - We did a little detour to Colorado Springs on the day we were going to do Little Bear. We visited Garden of the Gods and drove up to Pikes Peak (does that count as a 14er?).

Day 6 - Fly back to ATL.

Here are pictures from the trip. That's me on the summit of Blanca Peak - 14,345ft, the 6th highest point in the lower 48 and my 7th 14er

Blanca Peak plans finalized

Here's our itinerary and some awesome panoramic photos (from 14ers.com) of where we'll be:

Monday: Fly from Atlanta to Denver, get needed gear in Denver, drive to Blanca Massif (south, central Colorado), camp near parking area.
Tuesday: Big gear haul to Lake Como. Establish base camp for the next four days of climbing, acclimatize.
Wednesday: Climb Ellingwood Point (14,042 ft) then traverse to Blanca Peak (14,345 ft) then back down to base camp.
Thursday: Climb Little Bear Peak (14,047 ft).
Friday: Make-up day. Break camp, drive back to Denver late
Saturday: Fly from Denver to Atlanta

Here's the summit of Little Bear Peak as seen from Blanca Peak (select the "Peak Names" button and you'll be able to see Little Bear Peak, Lake Como and Ellingwood Point)


Here's the summit of Blanca Peak as seen from Ellingwood Point (select the "Peak Names" button and you'll be able to see Blanca Peak and Little Bear Peak)

Blanca Peak in August!

We've decided on the mountain, the tickets have been booked and the training has started. Chad Cross and I are headed back to Colorado to climb a group of 14,000-ft peaks called the Blanca Group. Our main objective will be Blanca Peak. At 14,345 ft, it's the 6th tallest mountain in the US outside of Alaska.

Here are a couple of pictures of Blanca from 14ers.com:



There are four other peaks in the area. We'd like to do a traverse across a connecting ridge between a couple of these peaks. Any traverse in this area is really exposed (meaning if you lose your step, you fall a long, long way), so may be a little out of our comfort zone. We'll see.

The Blanca group is straight south of Denver, Colorado Springs and Pueblo, so sorta south central Colorado. It's not too far north of the New Mexico state border near the town of Alamosa.

This will be my 8th summit attempt on a 14,000-ft mountain in the US. I'm 6-1 right now (see my mountaineering resume on a previous post).

Chad was with me on my first 14er summit back in 2003. He led the way on a semi-technical route up the north face (cable route) of Longs Peak. He's the only person I would completely trust on the other end of a rope.

Chad and I on the Summit of Longs Peak (Chad on the right):


After climbing Longs, Chad and I back at the car and feeling pretty sweet:


More details to follow.