Boomerang Backpack

The backpack carrier is back from a wonderful journey.

I have written before about the one piece of baby gear that was special to our family. I bought the backpack carrier prior to Morgan's adoption and used it in Russia - primarily through the busy streets in Moscow - and on several vacation and hiking trips since then. In Moscow we used it as a high chair to feed Morgan while on the lawn of the Kremlin. We were close to the adminstrative buildings and watched Vladimir Putin's motorcade pass by us at slow speeds. We waved.

After Moscow and after our three daughters grew out of it, we sent the backpack to our friends for their daughter in Costa Rica. What a great adventure this backpack has had traveling the world. The backpack held little Soraya McEuen during Costa Rica's Independence Day where she watched the Costa Rican president speak and watched a parade. This backpack carrier must have a thing for foreign heads of State.

Now our friends are moving to Peru and their youngest daughter is nearly two years old. I found one more picture of Soraya snoozing in the carrier at a Costa Rican cathedral from her parents' blog.

Soraya's grandparents returned the backpack to us after visiting the family in Costa Rica. We are happy it was well used and served our friends. We are praying for their continued success as they begin their missionary work in Peru. Please consider joining us in prayer for this family and their work. You can visit them through their website and blog at

http://www.opencircleperu.org/

Update to the Backpack Chronicles

It has been awhile since I have posted about my friends, Audra and Ash. They are missionaries to Peru, currently studying Spanish with other missionaries in Costa Rica before heading out into the field.

Audra was my college roommate and Ash was in the guys dorm and was in several of my classes.

They have partnered with several churches and individuals to fund their mission. But some of that funding has dropped, and they may have to return to the U.S. , interrupting their mission to serve the people of Latin and South America. Here is Ash, explaining their situation. It's been fun to hear his voice again, after sitting on the opposite side of many debates in class - 20 years ago!

We have enjoyed the blog of their adventure [Here]. One of their teenage daughters is sharing her facebook page, profiling the life of a missionary kid in Latin America.

We are praying for the McEuens for their continued work in Latin America. If you are interested in finacially supporting the McEuens, there is a link on their blog front page in the upper right corner. Above all, please consider this family in your prayers.

Of course, this posting would not be complete without another cute picture of the McEuen's youngest daughter, Soraya, out and about in Morgan's backpack carrier. What a beautiful child!

My Friends Need Your Prayers

Please consider praying for my friends, Ash and Audra, and my friend Sara.

Sara has been my best friend and confidant since I moved to Arizona. She is newly diagnosed with cancer and is starting the path of a still uncertain course of treatment.

Ash and Audra were my college roommates. (Well Audra, actually. Ash was in the guys dorm). They have answered God's call to become missionaries in Peru for the next five years or so. They spent one year preparing for this journey, traveling throughout the U.S. with their three kids securing funding. During this past year, they also welcomed their daughter, Soraya. One of their requests to make life easier during travels was a baby backpack carrier. I blogged about this a few months back, and mailed our carrier to them in Georgia. Click here.

Now they have embarked on the second part of their journey in preparation to becoming missionaries - language school in Costa Rica. In order to serve as missionaries in the mountains of Peru, they must be able to communicate in Spanish, plus the indigious dialects. This will be a challenge.

You can read more about my friends here if you wish: http://www.opencircleperu.org/

Before leaving their home in Georgia, they took this picture on the 4th of July. Soraya is using Morgan's backpack carrier. Pictured with Audra, Ash, and Soraya are their older children, Kia, Alyis and Todd.

The Farewell Tour

Last Saturday I took Ingrid for a walk in the backpack carrier in the rain. It was a double farewell. Rain in the desert doesn't last - especially in late May. Our weekend of relative cold (60s) and rain was a blessed anomaly. We knew we would be saying farewell to that weather for a long time.

Our backpack carrier is going on a new journey. It's on its way to Georgia before heading out to Costa Rica and Peru with our friends, and former college roommate. They have answered the call to be missionaries in South America. This carrier has a special position among all of our baby gear over the years. I bought it for the trip to Russia with Morgan. In the course of seven years, the backpack has had some great adventures - walking in Siberia; posing at St. Basil's cathedral; functioning as a highchair on the lawn of the Kremlin; comforting as an upright bed through the halls of the Mayo Clinic; hiking through the red rocks of Sedona; returning to Russia for friend Alexandra; walking the boardwalk on the Pacific Ocean; delighting a girl as a doll carrier and completing countless shopping trips.

And last Saturday the backpack carried Ingrid around the neighborhood on a farewell tour. Its use has waned with our third child and we knew the backpack would serve our missionary friends well. Their young daughter is about to become a world traveller. We've been promised updated photos of the backpack carrier and its occupant which we will post in a soon to be made new blog label, called "The Backpack Chronicles."