The Cross Family: Canada!!!!

Something we've been praying about for awhile is going on a mission trip. This is something we've done individually but never together. And just recently we've talked about actually taking the older two boys with us. Our church supports a church plant in Vancouver Canada. They started advertising the trip as "family friendly" and planned on putting on a sports camp as part of the trip. So even though we decided late they had room in the group and we decided to do it. So we left last Friday and headed to Canada with the older two boys. They were SO excited. They had their little backpacks all packed with snacks and stuff to do on the plane. They were amazed with the moving walkways in the airport :).

Our Caleb is just one of a kind and talks to literally everyone and anyone. We hadn't even boarded the plane and he already had a friend and was carrying on a long conversation with him.

They both are SO curious and just turned and saw the cockpit as they walked on the plane and started walking into it. I was trying to get them out and the pilot welcomed them in. He let them sit in his seat and look at all the controls. They loved it.

We actually flew into Seattle because it is a lot cheaper than flying into Canada. We spent a few hours in Seattle.

We went to Pike Place market and saw the open markets. The boys got some famous doughnuts and we ate some crepes.

Then we started our drive north and decided to stop at one of the many state parks. This one was Deception Pass State Park. We hiked some trails and got to see some pretty views of the coast.

We got to Pitt Meadows which is where the church plant (Church on the Rock) is located late Saturday night. It's a smaller community outside of Vancouver. The church is small and trying to reach out to the lost. We got to hang out with some of their church members Sunday night at the park and play baseball and grill out. It was gorgeous weather and so fun to be with everyone. Josh and Lisa Arrington are the leaders of the church. Their heart for the lost is incredible. Here I am doing my best at baseball but sadly striking out!

Monday morning we got some time to hang out around Pitt Meadows. We drove to their lake and rented canoes. On the way to the lake is nothing but blueberry farms!!! It's beautiful seeing those with the mountains in the background.

The lake was beautiful! And canoeing with our two was well....work :) We managed to go far up the river but I was definitely tired when we finished. As you can see Caleb is dragging his paddle....quite the opposite of helping us go forward!

We got over to a shallow area and they stripped off their pants (it was a little cold that morning) and had to pee of course. So here they are in their cute little undies :)

We found out later that we actually took a wrong turn in the river but this is where we got up to....it got really shallow so we just got out and took some pictures. It was really pretty and the water was freezing!!!

Notice the hard work by Caleb :).....ha ha!

One of the biggest ways Church on the Rock is reaching out to the community is by putting on sports camps and block parties. So we got to be part of both of these. They are reaching out and getting out in the community instead of trying to get the community to come to them. They are loving them without strings attached. So the second night we were there we had a big block party at the park right in town. We had bounce houses, snow cones, free hot dogs and music. It was a fun night just serving the community, sharing the love of Christ and helping out COTR.

Another thing we did as a family was prayer walking. In my years of mission trips I've actually never done this. We literally walked the streets of Maple Ridge (new community where they are wanting to plant another church) and prayed out loud for God's spirit to move. It is a very dark place spiritually with hardly any Christians. I took one boy with me and Logan took the other. It was really neat to do this with our boys. Along the way we found MANY wild blackberries growing along the road. So we got plenty of snacks during our prayers :)

Each night after the sports camp we were able to cook meals and just sit and eat with our group and the missionary families that were there. This was one of my favorite times. These families are unique. They are giving their lives to make much of the gospel. Talking to them and hearing their hearts was really cool, challenging and contagious. Both families are from Texas and have several kids all around our kids ages so of course the boys made lots of new friends.

An ice cream date with our boys one afternoon.....

Tuesday afternoon we started the sports camp. Our family was in charge of soccer. It was fun to do it together and love on these kids. We taught them some soccer and also got to do a devotional with them.

New friends!

This was our "home" away from home for most of the week :)

We had decided before we booked the trip to stay a few extra days and do something fun with the boys since we were in Canada!! So we found a camping/hiking adventure that we did. So after we left the group we met our guides in Vancouver and went with them north of Whistler. This was one of the spots we stopped on our way up!

Basically they provided everything.....tents, sleeping bags, food, etc. All we had to do was show up :). It was an awesome experience and our boys LOVED it!!!

On that Thursday we did a few short hikes that afternoon. We first went to a beautiful waterfall.

Graham was one of our guides and Weston found a new buddy quick! He wanted to be right with him all the time.

He was fascinated with his camelbak and wanted to drink from it like every few seconds :)

The views were gorgeous!

Next we hiked to a lake and the boys went for a swim!

The next morning we got up and ate some yummy pancakes! Then we headed out for our big hike to Joffre Lakes.

It was about a 6 mile hike and the boys really did great. There were a few moments and several breaks but overall they did great. The scenery was unreal and so beautiful! We hiked beside a river some of the way up.

Logan was the blueberry and blackberry hunter. He always had a handful and we were eating them all along the way.

So there were 3 lakes that looked about like this.....unreal!! They all are fed by a glacier so the water is so clear and FREEZING!!!

They put their feet in but that was about it :)

This was the top lake underneath the glacier. We stopped here and had lunch.

This is one of my favorite pictures :)

Then we headed back down and stopped for a swim at the 2nd lake. It was SO SO cold. Weston actually jumped in first and went all the way under. When he came up he was screaming....poor thing didn't know it was going to be that cold! Caleb got dunked in a little by Logan. Logan jumped all the way in and well I sorta jumped in but definitely didn't go all the way under. Gosh it was cold!!