Week of Prayer

Thank you to my many sisters that will be joining me this week in a week of prayer for Women Creating A Safe World. I have attached the link to the blog below.

http://womencreatingasafeworld.blogspot.com/

The instructions are easy. Just a moment every day to read the blog for the day. Pray and reflect for our mothers, sisters and daughters around the world.


Blessings,

Cara

Join me in a week of Prayer for Women Creating a Safe World

Hello to my dear sisters. This past month The YWCA joined together in a powerful movement of prayer and mediation on creating a safe world for women. As you already know Robby and LAM work internationally to help bring an end to sex trafficking and other issues such as domestic violence that threaten the very lives of our dear sisters and mothers abroad. My work at the YMCA has brought about a perfect opportunity to join forces.

The YWCA put together a great booklet that leads us through a week of prayer and meditation for social justice. I invite you to partake in a week of our own of prayer for the work of LAM and the YWCA and YMCA. I have attached the link to the booklet.

Starting on December 13th all who chose to participate will join together for 7 days to reflect daily on the meditations of the booklet. If you have a heart for our enslaved and beaten daughters and mothers please join me. I am planning sufficiently in advance as I know that the holidays are around the corner and our schedules do tend to get a little overwhelming. On the other hand it is during the holidays that those in need suffer the most. Let this be your gift to the many missionaries working oversees and back home.

If you choose to join us please send me an email and I will provide further instructions. But please know it is as simple as a reading, prayer and words of reflection that you can share with other women participating in this event.

Blessings and thank you for joining Robby and I in this journey.

http://www.worldywca.org/content/download/61717/739754/file/Week%20of%20Prayer%20Booklet%20-%20EN%20-%20web.pdf

Artist Venue

As I spoke with Robby today he shared that this past weekend he was able to attend an artist venue. It was so good to hear that spark in his voice that comes from being around kindred spirits. Robby is a unique being(aren't we all!). He has incredible talent both in logic and reason and in the arts. He is exercising his right brain every day at LAM so the event could not have come at a better time. He sounded excited and ready to tackle another day having connected with the arts and made some new friends.

Robby returned from his brief stint back here in Phoenix to a very busy office with many projects awaiting him. We are comforted right now knowing that in the new year we will be able to spend more time together as I plan to head to Miami with the dogs.

We ask for prayer as the next month brings a lot of travel. I just returned from Chicago and head back there this next week. After that I am only home for a couple of days and then I head out to Miami! Yes, Miami! We are taking a short weekend trip together with Mom and Dad Chaney. This trip is very needed right now. From Miami I will head to D.C. and San Diego and then home for the holidays. We ask for patience and support as we will not be able to connect much with folks througout our travels and during our time in Miami we plan on disapearing! We love you and we know you will understand!

Pithy Platitudes

So Rob and I are not big on pithy platitudes. In fact we aviod them at all costs. We both believe it does nothing but invalidate feelings we are meant to experience. But over the past five years and our many struggles we have landed on the following motto's for our own home:

1) There is my way, your way, and then there is God's way.
2) This one is stolen from my very own wise Uncle Gordon- Vices are just overdone virtues.

So where am I going with this...
Today was my last day at Valle del Sol. I have been there for five years. It has been a stabilizing force in our life and home. As I said my goodbyes today I pondered how complex my feelings are related to change. See, as a missionary's daughter I have said goodbye my entire life. In fact, I don't think until I married Rob I really knew much of anything else. See, his upbringing was about as opposite as mine. He spent most of youth and young adulthood in the same state, city and even home. He was surrounded by family and the family business as far back as he can remember. A good analogy to our different ways is constantly displayed in our physical home. Rob holds on to everything (and I mean everything). We have boxes after boxes of belongings. Well, I toss things after I don't find a purpose for them within the very same week I receive them (this goes for even the mail). Rob is constantly looking for things I have tossed. I am constantly trying to remember why I tossed them. Another great example...our furniture arrangment. Every couple of months Rob comes home to find everything in our home rearranged. It alwasy leads to us putting everything back in it's original place. The key has always been to find the balance somewhere in the middle: God's way not our way.

The complexity in my feelings leaving the office today lied in the strange comfort I found in leaving such an important and meaningful part of my life. I have wanted to part ways with Valle so many times and only in the past year have I not thought once of being anywhere else. But here I am leaving. I am sad but strangly comforted by my uneasiness.

This is not to say that the past week has been anything other than overwhelming. But something was different this time. The goodbye was expected, planned and there was closure. I have to give credit where credit is due...Robby showered me with support and acts of service. With only three days in town he spent it fixing a flat tire, moving boxes, walking the dogs for three hours at seven am in the morning and most importantly holding my hand. There is always time to change your relationship to "change".

So once again, you are probobly asking me...Where are you going with this? Well, I am amazed by God's grace as He continues teaching us with every breath we take. Robby's work at LAM requires him and our marriage to welcome change. Not only change but constant change. The past six months of our marriage have been little more than an ongoing series of goodbyes to one another. Ironic, that the man that resists change readily accepts such a position? Well, I guess if you believe in irony-but we don't. Furthermore, a job that is placed in my path that requires me to thoughtfully plan a goodbye. So once again I reminded there is my way, Rob's way and then God's way.

Many folks might think that all this change is just a season...please don't say it...it is just a pithy platitude. Work has never just been work. Both Rob and I throw ourselves into our work. It is our passion, our calling and in many ways part of our soul. See this is where the the whole, "vices are just overdone virtues" comes in. Rob and I would not pretend to say that living on opposite sides of the country is healthy for us or that we wouldn't have it any other way. That would be plain lie. We don't want to live apart and it has taken it's toll. We just couldn't see any other way. We are committed to our passions and felt the calling. We were and in many ways are still perplexed. Confused yet? I hope so because so are we. So instead of finding a simple solution we just take it day by day. Today, I accepted a job to be closer to Rob and we are discussing what is to come after Rob returns to his original position with LAM (part-time).

So we readily accept your support and prayer as we take it day by day and find God's way in our life, purpose, passion and calling.

Honduras

Rob returned from Honduras safely. I received many calls about the pending Hurricane and how it would affect his travels. We were so blessed in that he was able to leave Honduras the day before the storm hit. I write "leave Honduras" instead of "return to the US" because with each trip Rob's love and desire to serve Latin America grows leaps and bounds.

It was such a blessing that Rob was in Miami when the call came to travel to Honduras. The plans were made and he was traveling within less than 48 hours- no small feet but the fact that he was so close to Honduras allowed him to jump on a plane in time.

It is so hard to fully explain Rob's experience when he travels. There is so much richness that is lost in narrative format. But I will try as best as I can. Rob was documenting the very first seminar of it's kind in Honduras. It was a leadership training developed, trained and delivered by the people of Honduras. It is so exciting when you get to experience the power of grassroot movement.

During the seminar Rob participated in the event and had an opportunity to engage with the leaders and many men who attended. Rob's style of participating in events and documenting them is to step into the background and engage one on one with individuals as they share their story. The greatest challange for him is the language. Speaking the language is the gate into the lives of others. It never ceases to amaze me how once I speak Spanish the fact that I am such a "guera" (white folk) ceases to exist. I am never questioned on my race or ethnicity. The simple fact that I speak like them earases any barries. Rob's Spanish skills have improved. We have even tried speaking Spanish only in the home... swim or drown. Mom and Dad Chaney even gifted the Rosestta Stone program to Rob on his last birthday.

Rob was able to understand and follow the seminar and engage with his limited Spanish but arrived in Miami with an increased urgency to continue learning. I think after a little more travel he will have mastered the language.

We are still downloading and editing pictures but once we are finished we will post on the blog.

We have received several requests for more information regarding Rob's current role at LAM. Understandibly so, folks are wondering why he is spending so much time in Miami and not in the field. Well, the easy answer is that in order for the mission to survive a transition period needed to occur at the headquarters. Rob was asked by the LAM team to step into a temporary role to assist with coordinating the transition to better serve our missionaries and further support the native leaders in South America. We did hesitate to ensure it was the right decision for Rob and I and agreed to serve in this capacity for a short period of time. This transitory role is until March of next year and is in addition to his duties traveling in the field. While I have to admit that his work at the headquarters does limit his current travels it has not dampered his passion for the field work. Quite the opposite. Rob is able to design and create processees to improve the infrastructe to further the work LAM in Latin America.

Rob will continue as he did this past month to travel and document the lives of our Latin brothers and sisters. Past March he will transition out of his role at the headquarters and return to his part time status traveling and working on the testimonial aspect of his role as Creative Director.

So what does the next month hold for us? Well, lots of travel and then more travel. Starting on Monday I will begin my marathon journey to San Francisco, Simi Valley, San Diego, Chicago, Miami and then D.C. I finally return a couple of weeks before Christmas. It is hard to imagine how to even prepare for being gone for so long so our plan is to take it week by week. But I am thrilled to say that Rob will be returning home for two weeks in November and then we will be traveling together again in December where we will solidify our plans to spend more time together Miami.

How can you support us? Continue to pray for Rob's role at LAM and the patience and endurance to continue this dual capacity of change catalyst at LAM headquarters and missionary in Latin America. Also, please encourage us to plan carefully around Rob's stay in Arizona. During his last trip home we didn't spend enough time reconnecting and we agreed we wouldn't let it happen again. So if you don't hear from us- you know why, Also, this next month brings a lot of change with my new role starting at the Y. On a different note give thanks that Rob was able to find a way to incorporate his love and gift of music into his weekly work. He was asked and he cheerfully accepted to lead the music portion of weekly devotional for the staff.

As I travel I will continue to provide updates and feel free to contact me at cara@orchidsound.com.

Enjoy the change of leaves and the cool weather reminding us that Christmas is right around the corner!

Y of the USA

Thank you to all of you that have prayed and encouraged through the past 5 months of uncertainty. I am excited to share with you that I have officially accepted the position of Project Manager of Health Equity with the Y of the USA. I will be working nationally to reduce health disparities for our racial and ethnic minorities.
I have been working on a contract basis with the Y for a little over a year and the opportunity came about for me to apply for a full time position. I have been interviewing for the past 5 months and had almost given up when the news came that they had selected me for the position. I will be traveling 30% of the time and working remotely for the remainder. This means I will be able to work from either here or Miami! And yes, that means I will be able to spend more time with Rob. This is such an exciting opportunity and it would not have happened with the support of family and friends. Thank you!

Also, on a high note...Rob will be traveling to Honduras this week. His heart is working alongside the men and women of Latin America and that is just what he will be doing this week. The project entails supporting and documenting the role out of a training/education and leadership program. It the first of its kind in Honduras- the program was created by the men and women of Honduras to meet the unique needs of their community. What is most exciting is that this is what LAM is all about: Supporting the local grassroot work of hardworking men and women in Latin America. The role of LAM is come alongside and support them to create sustainable change... And it is amazing to know we get to be a part of it.
Please pray for Rob as he travels. Honduras has its safety challanges to put it mildly. But we are simply thrilled to witness the very first roll out of such an incredible program.

One last note. As you already may know October is fundraising month for us. If you have not already please consider a small donation in the amount of $10. This is approx. 2 starbucks trips. Those $10 go a long way to support the very men and women who are working diligently to start programs such as the one in Honduras. I would also encourage you to pass on the invite for support to 10 of your friends. We have found that supporting LAM in turn blesses you! Please share the opportunity to be part of such an incredible organization with your friends and family. You too can support the local leaders of Latin America as they create sustainable change in their own communities.

Thank you and expect an update of the Honduras trip!

http://www.causes.com/causes/529361?m=9e4cc0c7&recruiter_id=145894931

Two Ways of Living

So there are two ways of living. One is to make God fit you or the other, which I am constantly reminded of, is to make my life fit God.

So the past couple weeks have been trying. Finances are two step forward and one step back. Just when we think we are making it...bam! Huge vet bill and major car repair on one weekend. Does anybody else find themselves asking, "Why God?". But it came just in time to rally as Rob was coming home for a week. It was clear right off the bat that he was over committed. His days and nights have been full filling obligations previously agreed upon while he was still living in AZ. A wedding, studio time, etc. All good things but it has left very little for the two of us. Big mistake. So we are trying to figure out how to protect our time since we see each other so little. Clearly this time we didn't do a very good job. So this morning before work we just looked at each other wondering how we got here.

And then the big wammy... joy of knowing that Rob doesn't need heart surgery is completely overshadowed by the news that my baby sis is facing the big C word...Cancer. She is 19...again I am asking God why?

So tonight while Rob is at the studio I choose the leave the puppies in the kennel albeight much protest to spend some time with loving, encouraging women. Just what my soul was demanding. And once again I reminded of the peace that comes with living life on lifes terms.

So my prayer requests are obivous. But here are a couple more:
One, I am awaiting news in the next week of the potential of spending more time with Rob in Miami. Two, we chose October as a a fundraising awareness month. Sounds contradictory, no? Well, the idea is to reach 50 friends and family that would support us with a one time donation of $10. We are hoping that each of you will also send the request to 5 additional friends. The purpose is to bring awareness to LAM and the work Robby is doing. Please take a moment to pray in how you might bring awareness to your loved ones.

Thank you once again! I leave you feeling encouraged and at peace.