Fords at the Pyramids
You wouldn't know from this photo but there were at least 500 other tourists trying to get a photo from this spot...going inside The Great Pyramid...The Ford boys rode a camel called Mickey Mouse (a bit unexpectedly, they were supposed to just be having a photo!)... I mean ALL the Ford boys......we stayed at the Mena house, this is the view from our room...these Ford boys like to play catch with a baseball anywhere...here we all are at the Mena House......the Sphinx has seen alot of things over the past few thousand of years....The step pyramid at Saqara...

in

Fords in Coptic Cairo

After getting oriented and recovering from the long flight the first stop on the Ford family visit was the old Christian part of Cairo, just 4 stops on the Metro.It was the day after Palm Sunday so there were lots of woven palms left over from the celebraitons. Lisa explainsPalm Sunday to her boys... A beautiful carving of the Last Supper in the Church of St. Sergius. We visit the Hanging Church...

Ready to go home.

Climbing Mt. Meru in Tanzania
I just got some photos of our hike from the students (I did not want to carry our camera).

Signing in at the ranger's station before the hike...Last minute re-packing...Our porters (carrying 20kg each of our food and water)...Contemplating the last Red Bull for 3 days...Our route up the mountain: We started at the gate (middle bottom), took the path to the right, wound behind the Meru Sumit and then climbed Little Meru peak...OK it's this way...Across a grassy plain-WOW!!...Then up hill to hot drinks, food and our huts at the first camp...View of Mt Kilimanjaro as the sunset...Second day hiking through 'enchanted' forests...We can see the peak...Second night camp from the peak...The viewof where we've come from from the peak...Then the clouds rolled in...Then down, down, down for the whole day! Mel resting...We were so happy and had such a great sense of acheivement, both when we made it to the top and when we finally got back to the Ranger's Station!

Marc in Bhutan (again) CAC Week Without Walls
While Mel was with her students in Tanzania, I took a group of 16 students to India and Bhutan for an adventure trip! We had a great group of kids and got to add two hikes to last year's itinerary. Sadly, I broke our camera within an hour of arriving in Bhutan, so I had to rely on borrowed cameras and borrowed pictures. The entire country feels like an open-air museum, so I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves....

We had a day in Delhi on the way and got to visit the home in which Ghandi spent the last months of his life. This picture shows where he took his final footsteps....

a bridge we crossed on day 1....

the entrance to our first monastery....

the second monastery...

spinning prayer wheels inside the second monastery....

the view through some prayer flags at the top of the pass....

The destination of our most challenging hike - a nunnery at around 3700 meters (12,000 ft)

resting about half-way along our final hike....

our group at the top....

the destination - Tigers' Nest Monastery

a foot bridge we crossed on one hike....

... a closer look!

We really did have a wonderful trip and are thankful that God kept us safe and relatively healthy throughout!!!!

Wadi Natron Today I went with a friend, Carmen, to visit the Coptic Orthodox Monasteries at Wadi Natron. (Natron is a naturally occurring salt (sodium carbonate and sodium bicarbonate) used, among other things, in the mummification process by ancient Egyptians.) In Egypt early Christians sought to clear their minds of earthly desires and unite with God by living a simple life in the desert. For this purpose a well, grain mill and chapel was set up at Wadi Natron in the 4th century A.D. This soon became three monasteries supporting resident monks and hermits living in the surrounding desert caves. Various additions have been added over the centuries but many of the original structures and frescos are still there. This is the refectory where monks came to share a meal in silence after the service. The lectern at the far end was from where scripture was read while they ate. The desert hermits would come in once a week to take confession, hear the service, eat with their brothers and replenish supplies.

Today these monasteries remain places of quiet and calm, a place to seek God, a retreat from the world, as well as a living documentation of Christianity in Egypt-a living museum.A number of monks still reside at each monastery, all be it in more modern quarters, and were happy to give us very informative and entertaining tours of each.The coptic language, used for services is supposed to be the closest thing to ancient Egyptian still spoken and apparently uses some heiroglyphs as well as greek letters.