It was the summer of 2016. We had added another boy to our crew and our 10 year anniversary was coming up (on September 15). For years we had talked about wanting to do a humanitarian trip to celebrate the big 10 year mark. On the top of our list was Peru. We wanted to hike Machu Picchu, visit the floating villages of Lake Titicaca, then go down to Uruguay and visit Beau's mission and do some service down there. We had been saving for it and it seemed like the perfect plan. I can't tell you how many hours I spent planning out this trip and yet EVERY single time I would be ready to hit the "Book It" button online...I could. not. do. it. It's as though the Spirit was kicking me in the gut. (Can the Spirit do that? Because it happens to me often!) I was so confused why it wasn't feeling right. We had saved up the money, we wanted to serve, we would be able to revisit Beau's mission and all the people he loves down there, so.... why was this not a good idea? After multiple attempts and praying for it to feel right, it never did, so we scrapped the idea. We then looked at cruises, looked into visiting states we had not yet been to and when none of them felt right either, we finally ended up thinking we'd just do a weekend in Park City. We didn't need to do anything big, but I do have to say I was a bit disappointed and confused. BUT God has done this to me before (multiple times actually). Stopped me in my tracks and re-routed my plan and His plan always seems to work out so much better, so I just waited to see what was up His sleeve. I went ahead and got my passport anyway, even though I didn't think I'd be needing it.
On August 11, I received an email.
I remember being completely taken aback by the email. The lady who helped organize the trip, Sandy Puc, is an amazing world class photographer based out of Colorado. I had attended one of her seminars years before and was still on her emailing list. A service trip to China seemed pretty amazing. But it was also a photography trip, and I wasn't quite sure Beau would be thrilled with the idea of being with a group of photographers. So I kept it in my inbox, but after a couple days I couldn't get it out of my mind, so I finally showed it to him. After seeing the email, we both felt we needed to look into it more. The next day, I called Sandy (a star struck moment for me!) to get the details. She told me we would be flying to China and meet up with a group of people (other photographers from all over the world). We would be tourists for a few days then be sent out, two by two, all across China to photograph/video some of children that had been deemed "un-adoptable" due to their severe medical circumstances. In essence, we would be helping to create a marketing campaign for these children in hopes they could find families before their files became exempt. Sandy explained that after we took the photos/video we would need to upload them to our computer, go through them, edit them, then compile them to be given to the adoption agency.
When she described this part, the image of a computer screen full of Asian orphan children popped into my mind, and Beau's dream came back vividly. We had not talked or even thought about the dream recently and I was shocked that this trip may be part of what Beau saw in his dream. As I wiped away tears, I told Sandy that I needed to double check with Beau but to count us in. I had an overwhelming feeling that we were supposed to be on this trip. So, on August 15, 2016 (this date will be important later), we paid our first deposit and prepared to head to China to take photos/video of Asian orphan children that would be viewing on our computer screen. Part one of the dream - CHECK.
Oh and by the way...that passport I didn't think I would need but applied for anyway... it came in the mail on August 13. Just in time to sign up for the trip.
