Trips, Trips, Trips!

Wow, our life got busy! Our small group has been keeping us on our toes, always out on new adventures. We love it. Our newest members, Ethan and Rachel, are quickly becoming good friends as they invite us out on hikes all over the area and we have them over for dinner and movie nights. A friend of mine from college recently moved over here with her husband, so Stephen and I are planning on dinner together with them sometime soon. The volunteer work I do is increasing now that the school year is coming closer. Our refugees will be needing our help with not only homework, but with graduating high school and deciding what comes next. Fortunately a friend of theirs who speaks their language and has been in the United States for a good 13-15 years will be helping them out a lot as well.

The latest busyness that has come up is trips, trips, trips! We just got back from a short jaunt to the coast to visit Stephen's sister, who is working at a conference center there for the summer, and we're planning to go again for our own enjoyment this weekend. We are also planning on another visit in September to my hometown to see my grandparents, go to a wedding, and also visit a theme park, so Stephen can have his first experience on a roller coaster. :) On the way back from there we hope to pop up to Stephen's parents' place, since his brother and sister-in-law will be in town visiting. It's been difficult to arrange a visit with them, since we are rarely all in the same place at the same time.

October will be our 1-year anniversary and we will be traveling to cross-state to stay at a bed & breakfast and visit a harvest festival. I am also planning on taking a trip, or two trips (I haven't quite figured it out yet!), to visit my friends back where I went to college. And the holidays will be upon us shortly, which is the scariest thought. I told Stephen the other day, "Wow, October was a dumb month to get married in! No sooner are we finished with our anniversary plans than we are trying to figure out how to visit our families for the holidays!"

I decided the month to get married in, of course. ;)

Those are the trips we are taking, but we also have trips that we might take. Stephen and I have earned a couple nights of hotel stays by visiting presentations about Wyndham Worldwide. We have the opportunity right now to go to either Hawaii, Las Vegas, Los Cabos or Florida. We have also talked about wanting to travel around the southwestern United States to visit family we have living down there. And finally, we have talked about taking a mission trip together at some point. None of these plans have become concrete, as we don't currently have the means, but we know we want to take them. So our heads have been full of plans and maybe-plans lately. But I am trying to focus on the plans for trips we will be taking for now. :) That's exhausting enough to figure out!

At least we have our bed and breakfast booked for October, and my grandparents know we're coming in September. Now, to address the trips to visit my college friends.... Back to planning! Pray for me/us as we try to figure out how to accomplish these financially, logistically, etc.

In other news, we finally got our settlement money from the accident Stephen was in in November. Stephen now has a new camera and I have a new computer. We've also made some extra payments on our loans and replaced Stephen's back tires, which were uncomfortably close to bald! We are so thankful for God's provision.

Please continue praying that God will provide me with a job, and with the stamina to persevere through the "job-hunting game," as Stephen so wisely put words to it. I am tentatively searching for a floristry job, as floristry is something both Stephen and I know I would enjoy. Unfortunately, I don't have the experience. I am hoping to take a class at the local community college on floral arranging which will hopefully provide me with knowledge, if not experience, that I need to get a job in that field. We have the money and are working on finding the time in between the church commitments, the volunteer work, the trips!

Thank you for your prayers and support. Lord willing, we will see a lot of you in the near future, and make it through the last part of this year with our sanity intact. :)

Beach Day!

Stephen and I spent yesterday at the beach with our young marrieds group. It was exhausting, but a lot of fun!

Here are some highlights, and later a story:

• At 2 p.m., Six of us drove an hour and a half to Neskowin Beach in a truck and a car. Two others met us there in their own vehicle. It was overcast but not too cold, and didn't rain on us a bit!
• Jason and Sara brought wood, which Jason and Ethan carried in a tarp about a half mile through the sand to a spot within the high tide line but at least 50 feet from the water. A passerby told us that the low tide was at 6:00, so high tide wouldn't be until midnight. "We'll be long gone before then," Jason said. Famous last words.
• My husband jumped at the chance to dig out the fire pit. The rest of us stood around watching him go (I took a video) and making remarks. We decided he must've been a mole in a past life. :)

• We learned that dryer lint is a very good fire starter!! Steve and I brought a Trader Joe's bag full of it. We used about a third of the bag--that was a pretty decent depletion.
• We made LOTS of trips back to the cars through the sand, continually forgetting things in the cars. Sara beat us all with 4 trips total to and from the car--8 treks through the sand altogether. Go Sara!
• We got our fire going and realized that the combination of really dry wood and a strong ocean wind was going to make for a very short-lived campfire! So we built a berm on the windward side to protect it. Several of us walked around the beach later, picking up driftwood for the fire. Ethan tried to bring an entire log, longer than he was tall. He managed to stand it up on its end, but got no further. :)
• Ethan, who had brought hiking boots for just such an occasion, decided immediately that he wanted to climb up Proposal Rock nearby. Jason opted to go with him and my husband jumped in as well. Unfortunately there was a small river flowing to the ocean water that they had to find a way to cross over get to the rock. They doubled the length of their journey to the rock by going backwards along the river to the smallest part to cross. By the time they reached the rock, my husband had decided not to climb up it but just to take pictures at the bottom while Jason and Ethan hiked up. I don't blame him.
• When Stephen had finished taking photographs, he attempted to cross the river at the widest part, which "didn't look too deep," and learned about halfway across that it was much deeper than it looked. He turned back (good for him!) to look for a more optimal spot to cross, but soaked his jeans through! My poor love... Thankfully Rachel had extra towels for him to cover his legs with as he sat by the fire. His jeans had dried by the time we left.
• At about 6:00 we realized that the water seemed to be getting awfully close! We were obviously misinformed about the time of the tides... Sara stuck a stick about 20 feet from us and declared, "When the water reaches that stick, we're moving camp!" Robert adamantly claimed that we were fine; that we could probably stay there for another three hours. So the rest of the day there was a friendly battle between Sara and Robert for who was right about how long we could stay at that campsite and stay dry.
• Jason and Ethan came down the rock not too long after. The peanut gallery watched in great amusement as they looked at the water surrounding most of the rock, not sure if they should attempt to go through it or not. Jason threw a pebble in to try and test the depth of the water. Eventually they decided to just travel around the side of the rock as they had done before and jump off where there was little water. They still had to cross the river, however... Ethan, in his hiking boots, went straight through the shallower, rocky part without hesitation, soaking the bottom of his shorts and part of his shirt. Jason took his shoes off and waded carefully. Ethan, of course, had brought an extra change of clothes. Boy scout of the year.
• At 7:30, the tide was only about 10 feet from the stick, and we decided that that was enough, and moved camp another 50 feet in from the edge of the water, right at the edge of the visible tideline from the previous high tide. Most of the boys were dismayed at the idea of "wasted energy" since the fire was still going well. So Ethan came up with a solution: "It's still got ember. As long as there's still ember, we can start a fire with the wood we have going already." So the boys carried glowing pieces of wood between two cold pieces of wood from one campsite to the other. Ethan cheerfully called out, "I've got ember!" and it became a catchphrase for the rest of the day, repeated many...many times. :)
• Even though the sky was overcast, the sun broke through as it was setting, at about 9:00. It was beautiful.

• I got to play Frisbee with Sara, which was a blast--it's been WAY too long since I threw a Frisbee around!

Okay, now here's the best story.

The tide continued to rise as we sat by our second campfire. We talked and chatted, occasionally glancing out at the water. We watched the water splash up against our berm, to the sound of Robert's insisting, "We'd still be dry!" Then a BIG wave came up and washed entirely over our first campsite...and kept coming.

I remember seeing the water's edge bubbling up to us, WAY too deep and fast, and knowing more than thinking it was going to cover our campsite. I snatched my purse, and all of a sudden our little sitting, chatting group was a running, screaming group being chased by the water. The wave coursed over our campfire and soaked everything sitting on the ground! I feel like I screamed bloody murder--but I figured out later that I did it, not for my sake, but as an alarm to anyone who hadn't seen it the same time I did.

Nothing was destroyed and nothing was lost. Jason's jacket got a little wet on the bottom (it was hanging on a chair), and some stuff got wet. Our paper bag of campfire food got soaked on the bottom. I was SO glad I had thought to grab my purse!!

That had to be the best part of the whole trip, in the sheer hilarity of it.

One last bit. The campfire, wind, smoke and salt killed me. :( My eyes and face hurt so bad when we got home, my hair felt awful, and my body was worn out from running and walking and carrying things in the sand. It was late, late, late--about 12:30--but I couldn't go to bed in that state. Even after washing my face to alleviate allergies, I was miserable. I had to take a shower. I tell you, that long, hot, luxurious shower was the best decision I've ever made. It felt soooooooo good... Lovely!

Tomorrow Stephen and I take off for his parents' house and we are leaving from there for New Jersey for a family reunion on his mom's side. We'll be gone until next Sunday. Pray for safe travels and a good trip for us.

My grandma's surgery went well last week, but please continue to pray for healing and a quick recovery for her, and energy and strength for my grandpa to support her. Thank you!!