Well, our Summit Team made it back safely last week from Everglades National Park. It was an amazing experience that helped us grow as a team. LeaderTreks uses the wilderness as a leadership laboratory, so our trip consisted of prepping us for that laboratory. Here's a tour of the trip. We put in at Everglades city on Monday and went south through the wilderness waterway on the left side of the map. By Wednesday we reached the Gulf of Mexico and spent two days on island campsites.
Ah, canoeing: my favorite way of travel. Chase and I are clearly working hard as we paddle through the waterway. In the back you can see the mangrove forests surrounding all the rivers.
I am obviously confident in my canoeing skills. Then I saw what was in the water in the next picture.
Yep, that's a alligator. It may not look big here, but that sucker is 13 feet long. I'm not confident anymore.
The sunset at our second campsite, Watson's Place. Which, by the way, is haunted. Watson used to take slaves out to his land in the Everglades, promising pay for their work, but then murdered them. It's said that his ghost still wanders the forest, looking for more lives to devour. But I slept pretty well that night. Go figure.
The amazing Mrs. Susie Gerber. She's our new favorite addition to Summit. Well, not official, but she's welcome whenever she wants.
A sweet shot from one of our kayaks looking into the passageway to the Gulf.
When we got to our first island campsite, Pavillion Key, we spotted huge manta rays fishing near the shore. Phil decided it would be fun to pet them. Needless to say, Phil is no longer with us.
Renee, Susie, and I pull our canoes onto the key before the tide comes in.
Aww, I love you Pavillion Key!
By the way, Phil survived. I was totally joking. He's loving the fact that this is his job!
An osprey, Florida's state bird, prepares to do some fishing of his own over the ocean waters.
A pretty cool pre-storm shot on Pavillion Key.
Billy and I decided that instead of prepping for the hurricane coming our way, we would read. Our high school English teachers would be so proud.
Storm clouds rolled in, thus the hurrying of us in the picture. Have you ever seen a tornado form over water and come right towards your island? I have. Twice. That night.
Luckily, the next night on Rabbit Key was a little calmer. Our four tents set up on the shore line, just above tide level.
Sunset over the ocean. Beautimous!
Thursday night=Our first fire. We had our team time on the beach next to the flames and it was totally magical.
Then we woke up in the morning to find the tide had completely beached us. That whole area where the guys are walking is supposed to be water. We were literally trapped on our own tropical island. Pretty amazing!
So, while we were waiting, Andy and I decided to race through the mud past the island. Here you can see how close of a race it was......in the beginning.
This is where I notice Andy is 45 pounds lighter than I am, thus making me sink a ton more into the mud and proving that this was a stupid idea.
But I gave it my all, running as much as I could. This was one of the few times I wasn't up to my waist in poop smelling mud.
Sweet victory! But not really. Second place actually, which also means dead last.
Chase looks hopeful, but hope is not enough. What he really needed was water.
Our team:(from front, left to right)Steve, Andy, Me, Phil, Renee, Billy, and Chase. It was an amazing journey and I wouldn't have picked a better team. Thanks for all your prayers. Enjoy your days.
Well, we're finally back! And we all survived two weeks in the Dominican Republic! The trip was amazing. Our thirteen girls from Wheaton Academy worked so hard and accomplished a ton at the orphanage, Casa de Monte Plata. They acheived so much more than we ever thought was possible. In two short weeks, the girls leveled by hand mulitple huge piles of rock, dirt, and solid clay with just shovels and pickaxes. They poured a new section of a basketball court and laid new sidewalks with concrete. And they led a VBS for a group of 20 Dominican orphans who did not speak a word of English! The girls poured their hearts into the work and into the lives of under priveledged children, leaving that small orphanaged changed in real ways. Throughout the trip Jesus' words from Mark 9:37 rang in my head: "Whoever welcomes one of these little children in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me does not welcome me but the one who sent me." These girls saw the face of God in those childrens' eyes. Thirteen girls from the suburbs of Chicago left everything they knew for two weeks and entered a world unlike anything they could have imagined. It rocked them, broke them, and hopefully....changed them. 
