Our summer has been surprisingly eventful, particularly toward the end. In July, we went on a vacation to the Washington coast with Stephen's parents and alllllll his siblings, including Mary and Tim and their two little ones, and also Cari's boyfriend, Eric. We just spent a week at a resort town in the process of development, walking on the beach, hanging out and playing games at the house, swimming in the pool and relaxing in the hot tub. We each took turns cooking dinner. We had some very tasty steak-and-veggie kabobs by Cari and Eric, a yummy Mexican meal by Tim and Mary, and Stephen and I made spaghetti. It was a very relaxing, laid-back vacation all together.
Shortly after the family vacation, Stephen shot his first paid wedding gig. There is a lot invested in wedding days, so he was under a lot of stress leading up to the wedding day, and also some in the photo editing phase as well. But he finished it, and the couple was very, very pleased with the photos, for which we are very thankful.
In August, one of my college friends got married, so I flew down to Idaho and stayed with my aunt, uncle, and cousin and attended Mindy's wedding, which was butterfly garden themed--very pretty! They put a lot of humorous personal touches to their ceremony and the reception was one big, fun party, complete with a photo booth and props. :) I got to catch up with some old friends and meet some new ones and had a really good weekend all together. I am really glad I got to go.
My car's A/C stopped working sometime earlier this year, and we finally took it to get checked out in August, and found out we had to get a new part and the whole thing had to be reassembled. God graciously provided the money for us, and we fixed it toward the end of August. In the same month, I had to get a new car key, because the buttons on my remote-entry car key didn't work anymore! And today I got into a rear-end car accident (I was rear-ended by a car who was rear-ended by a car), but I'm not hurt at all and the damage to my car is very minimal. The accident was not my fault at all, so insurance will be taking care of everything.
We've had an Indian summer this September, with temperatures in the high 80s and 90s. I think the weather is trying to make up for the very cold and dark beginning of summer we had! For now I am totally okay with sunshiny weather....I know those cold dark days are coming again!
Our church got a new music pastor, an answer to prayer after 3 years of searching for the right person. Our church is now able to do so much more music-wise than we were before, because our temporary worship leader was doing so much other work in his position as Communications Director. Now at our women's Bible study, Mark (the new worship pastor) comes and leads us in worship with a guitar, and we don't have to sing off a CD! I am especially thankful for that.
Another answer to prayer is that Stephen got a nice raise this year, and we are so grateful for God's provision there! Now it is actually a possibility for us to move into a bigger apartment, although we won't be taking advantage of that just yet. For now it does ease up our budget some, and we'll hopefully be able to start putting more money toward debt repayment.
Overall, I think this year has been an incredible year of growth for us and our marriage. I've grown in my faith in leaps and bounds, and as I've spiritually matured, I'm maturing in other ways. Praise God for His faithfulness! I sense good changes coming up for us. I'm hoping to find my niche in the church we attend, although I'm not sure what that is yet. And Stephen will be leading our regular small group Bible study again. This year we will probably be going through 1 Corinthians to go along with our pastor's sermon series. You can pray for us through that. We want to help our fellow brothers and sisters deepen their faith, as many of them are new Christians or just aren't sure how to grow deeper. So you can be praying especially for Stephen as he bears the responsibility of teacher, and for me as I try to figure out where I fit into the mix.
Those are the biggest pieces of news. Thank you for your prayers and your support! You don't know how much it helps. :)
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label friends. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Thursday, July 1, 2010
A Tearful Goodbye
We said goodbye to the refugees tonight.
It was rather sudden. They are moving to Pennsylvania, in hopes of finding jobs over there.
I always knew our time with them would be temporary. Last week when I learned that Samira and her dad were in Pennsylvania, I kind of felt that our time with them was coming to a fast close. The rest of the family joins them a week from today, July 7. We helped them look for flights today.
We didn't get to say goodbye to Samira and Said. In a way, that was almost better, because it would have been really, really hard to say goodbye to Samira. I really learned to love that girl, and toward the end she was really starting to trust me.
I started crying when we left tonight. Then Soher and Salima (the mother) started crying. We hugged a lot, and they called over Sara, who was at a neighbor's house, to say goodbye, too. It was extremely difficult. But it was such a relief, in a way, to see them cry--to know that they loved us, too. That it wasn't a one-way relationship.
Sometimes I think the cultural and language differences made our relationship even more meaningful than it would have been otherwise. They didn't hear our words; they saw our actions. We visited them faithfully every week, helped them with whatever they needed every week, and I think that spoke much more to them than words ever could, Arabic, English or otherwise.
I also think the cultural and language differences made the goodbyes more real. With them, there was none of this meaningless, "We'll keep in touch," said with a polite nod and smile and an anxious get-me-out-of-here-quick look behind the eyes. No--those American rules of etiquette were irrelevant here. We cried, and they cried. And we hugged, obeying the deepest, most honest desires of our hearts. It gave us closure.
Closure is something we all seek at the end of an era, a chapter, a friendship. So many times I think we obey the rules of society instead of the rules of our hearts, and we don't get that closure. America doesn't like goodbyes, I don't think.
The refugees are nomads; their time in Portland, and with us, was always temporary. In a way, their lifestyle better reflects the truth of our existence than the American way does. We are all temporary residents here. One day we'll all say our goodbyes.
I have lots more thoughts on goodbyes, but I think I've said enough for tonight. It's time to take my tears and rest on God, and sleep with peace in His arms.
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Tooth Update/God's Provision
I went to the dentist a couple weeks ago to get my crown seated; all that went well and is paid for, so now we are just waiting on news of this second tooth that might need dental work done. I have made an appointment that will be next Thursday (the 29th) to look at this other tooth. It'll go like this: When I go in on Thursday, the dentist will drill out the old filling in my tooth. Once he has gotten it all out, he will be able to determine two things: 1) if the filling is big enough that I'm going to have to have another crown, and 2) if the new decay is close enough to the root that the root is exposed and compromised and will have to be removed. One, the other, or both things are likely, and the dentist seems to realize this, but as a rule, nothing is absolutely positive until he gets into it and sees what the circumstances are.
I would like to add that we have really been blessed. In the last couple weeks, God has provided some of the cost of a root canal/crown combination through the generosity of friends and family. We are no longer worried about having to empty out our savings and pay for the dental work on credit. Praise God for his love for us!
Pray that despite the ease of this burden, we still have the strength to live carefully within our means. It's so much easier and more convenient to eat out all the time, and it has been difficult to fully make the transition to eating in more than we eat out. Continue to pray that God will bless me with a job, preferably in floristry, and that he will grant me the courage to go out looking for one. Thank you for your prayers and support. We wouldn't be anywhere without our loving friends and family, and the God that inspires the love within them.
I would like to add that we have really been blessed. In the last couple weeks, God has provided some of the cost of a root canal/crown combination through the generosity of friends and family. We are no longer worried about having to empty out our savings and pay for the dental work on credit. Praise God for his love for us!
Pray that despite the ease of this burden, we still have the strength to live carefully within our means. It's so much easier and more convenient to eat out all the time, and it has been difficult to fully make the transition to eating in more than we eat out. Continue to pray that God will bless me with a job, preferably in floristry, and that he will grant me the courage to go out looking for one. Thank you for your prayers and support. We wouldn't be anywhere without our loving friends and family, and the God that inspires the love within them.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
December Trip to Idaho
Well, it's our first extended period of time away from each other since we've been married. I'm in Idaho. I flew out here chiefly to see my old friend Elizabeth, my best friend growing up, but also decided to take a few days to see Jenny, Mindy and Becca, my best friends from college. I flew out on Saturday and am flying back home this Friday. I visited Elizabeth Saturday, Sunday, Monday and half of Tuesday. She lives in a very small town with not much to do, so we spent a lot of nights staying up late, playing games with her other friends in town. We also spent a night decorating Liz's Christmas tree, which was a lot of fun and quite an adventure, as it was a pre-lit Christmas tree and it took forever to locate all the places where the different light strands plugged into one another! We also looked at Christmas lights, went shopping at Maurice's, made brownies and made a couple Wal-Mart runs.
Wal-Mart seems to be the thing I do when I'm visiting friends in Idaho, because I've made 4 further Wal-Mart runs with Jenny and Mindy since I got here. It feels just like I'm back in college! :)
The most interesting part of the trip so far has been adventures resulting from the fact that I arrived the week record low temperatures occur across all the Pacific Northwest. Although Jenny and Mindy's apartment is very warm, the subzero temperatures outside at night have frozen all the water pipes. No showers, no brushing teeth, no washing dishes, no using the toilet. And daytime highs aren't supposed to reach above freezing until Saturday, the day after I leave. Our landlord says there is nothing we can do; the pipes are all underground. Would it be wrong of me to pray that God would suddenly change the weather pattern?
In the meantime, Jenny, Mindy and I are going to have movie nights and girl talk and do Christmasy things around the area. It's good to get to spend time with them.
It's good to hear Stephen's voice every night when we do our nightly devotions. Being away from each him makes me appreciate having him more.
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Edit next day: I stopped my story far too soon. Things got much more interesting AFTER our pipes froze.
After about an hour after Jenny got home from work, we suddenly heard a ringing sound that seemed to be coming from outside our apartment. I almost didn't take notice of it because it seemed so distant, but it occurred to me that in below-freezing weather, odd sounds always ought to be checked out. So Jenny and I followed the sound to a huge red fire alarm bell ringing deafeningly loud, just above the apartment door. A fire alarm? Jenny and I circled the apartment looking for smoke but didn't see so much as a wisp. The big red bell said "Dial 911" on it, so that's what we did. At least the fire department could figure out how to turn it off? So Jenny first called the landlord, who did not answer his phone, and left him a voicemail letting him know what was going on, and that she was going to call 911.
About 25 minutes after we called 911, a few very easy-going firemen drove up. The first one stepped out and as he walked to the ringing bell, said to us, "Aren't you guys going to answer that?" and chuckled. He and the other firemen opened the door to what we thought was a neighbor's storage closet, but in fact it was the closet where ALL the water pipes were! (I would like to note that none of it was underground, as our landlord had mistakenly informed me earlier.) We peeked into the closet with the firemen and one of the sprinkler system pipes was visibly busted--about a 4" long, 2" wide gap in the pipe--with a chunk of frozen water inside. The firemen checked out the situation and then turned to Jenny and I to explain what had happened. The water heater that keeps the pipes from freezing had broken and was blowing cold air instead of warm air. The water had subsequently frozen (hence the lack of water in our apartment) and then expanded in the sprinkler system pipe so much that it burst, setting off the fire alarm system. By this point it had also set off a flood-warning system inside our apartment, which was even more ear-shattering than the bell outside.
Mindy had gotten home in the meantime and we all decided that whatever happened, we were sleeping elsewhere tonight. Jenny called her sister, who lives in a dorm on-campus, and asked if we could stay with her overnight. We packed up bags and blankets and pillows to the blaring flood alarms and took them in two cars over to Megan's. Just before we left, the firemen finally got the alarms to turn off, but we were all packed up and ready to go, and still without running water, so we went to Megan's anyway.
While the firemen had been figuring things out, Jenny had called our landlord's cell phone half a million times. Not even joking--she hit redial about 50 times and left about 4 messages on his voicemail. He never picked up--not even when the fire department called from their own lines. He got back to us at 9:30, three hours after it had all happened, and then Jenny finally got to show him where the pipe was that had broken. At least he won't ever get to tell someone "Everything's underground" in good conscience again.
So we spent the night at Megan's, and today the landlord came over with a guy and put an extra space heater in the water pipe closet, and a few hours later the pipes thawed and every faucet in the entire apartment gushed on, scaring Mindy and I half to death. Apparently no other pipes had broken, because we haven't seen any flooding.
The actual space heater for the water pipe closet was also fixed and eventually the landlord returned and took out the extra space heater. Our apartment has stayed in working order so far, except for one minor incident when I plugged in a space heater downstairs to warm my feet up, and not 2 minutes later, the living room power went out. I figured I had just overloaded the circuit or whatever and went to the fuse box, found the switch for the living room, flipped it off and then on again. That fixed it. THANK GOODNESS.
I could go into more adventures in Idaho in sub-freezing temperatures, but they aren't nearly as interesting (and it's time for bed). Tomorrow I see Stephen again and my life returns to normalcy. :)
-------------------------------------------------------
Edit next day: I stopped my story far too soon. Things got much more interesting AFTER our pipes froze.
After about an hour after Jenny got home from work, we suddenly heard a ringing sound that seemed to be coming from outside our apartment. I almost didn't take notice of it because it seemed so distant, but it occurred to me that in below-freezing weather, odd sounds always ought to be checked out. So Jenny and I followed the sound to a huge red fire alarm bell ringing deafeningly loud, just above the apartment door. A fire alarm? Jenny and I circled the apartment looking for smoke but didn't see so much as a wisp. The big red bell said "Dial 911" on it, so that's what we did. At least the fire department could figure out how to turn it off? So Jenny first called the landlord, who did not answer his phone, and left him a voicemail letting him know what was going on, and that she was going to call 911.
About 25 minutes after we called 911, a few very easy-going firemen drove up. The first one stepped out and as he walked to the ringing bell, said to us, "Aren't you guys going to answer that?" and chuckled. He and the other firemen opened the door to what we thought was a neighbor's storage closet, but in fact it was the closet where ALL the water pipes were! (I would like to note that none of it was underground, as our landlord had mistakenly informed me earlier.) We peeked into the closet with the firemen and one of the sprinkler system pipes was visibly busted--about a 4" long, 2" wide gap in the pipe--with a chunk of frozen water inside. The firemen checked out the situation and then turned to Jenny and I to explain what had happened. The water heater that keeps the pipes from freezing had broken and was blowing cold air instead of warm air. The water had subsequently frozen (hence the lack of water in our apartment) and then expanded in the sprinkler system pipe so much that it burst, setting off the fire alarm system. By this point it had also set off a flood-warning system inside our apartment, which was even more ear-shattering than the bell outside.
Mindy had gotten home in the meantime and we all decided that whatever happened, we were sleeping elsewhere tonight. Jenny called her sister, who lives in a dorm on-campus, and asked if we could stay with her overnight. We packed up bags and blankets and pillows to the blaring flood alarms and took them in two cars over to Megan's. Just before we left, the firemen finally got the alarms to turn off, but we were all packed up and ready to go, and still without running water, so we went to Megan's anyway.
While the firemen had been figuring things out, Jenny had called our landlord's cell phone half a million times. Not even joking--she hit redial about 50 times and left about 4 messages on his voicemail. He never picked up--not even when the fire department called from their own lines. He got back to us at 9:30, three hours after it had all happened, and then Jenny finally got to show him where the pipe was that had broken. At least he won't ever get to tell someone "Everything's underground" in good conscience again.
So we spent the night at Megan's, and today the landlord came over with a guy and put an extra space heater in the water pipe closet, and a few hours later the pipes thawed and every faucet in the entire apartment gushed on, scaring Mindy and I half to death. Apparently no other pipes had broken, because we haven't seen any flooding.
The actual space heater for the water pipe closet was also fixed and eventually the landlord returned and took out the extra space heater. Our apartment has stayed in working order so far, except for one minor incident when I plugged in a space heater downstairs to warm my feet up, and not 2 minutes later, the living room power went out. I figured I had just overloaded the circuit or whatever and went to the fuse box, found the switch for the living room, flipped it off and then on again. That fixed it. THANK GOODNESS.
I could go into more adventures in Idaho in sub-freezing temperatures, but they aren't nearly as interesting (and it's time for bed). Tomorrow I see Stephen again and my life returns to normalcy. :)
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
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. :)
Monday, July 20, 2009
Camping Trip
Steve and I went on a camping trip with the young marrieds group this weekend. We tried to find a regular campsite, but all of the group spots were taken! So some friends of Sara and Jason's offered us the back yard of their cabin in the Gorge to camp in. Everyone took off separately Friday night after work. Stephen and I arrived latest of all--he gets off work at 7, and there was still dinner to get and last-minute running around to do. We didn't end up leaving until 8:30, but we made good time and arrived at 9:45.
We had my mom's 6-person tent to set up (that really only fits 4). My mom, sister and I used to camp in that tent every summer on the Oregon Coast with family. It was fun to get to use it again. The tent memories live on! Steve and I set it up with the help of Alyse and Robert's high-power lantern and a flashlight. It went okay--one of the pieces had broken, but it wasn't a problem. It created a great exercise in communicating, though, which we're studying in our small group right now. :) "We have three short bars and no long bars when we should have one long bar and two short bars," I lined it out to Stephen. When he didn't catch on, I clarified: "One broke."
As we set up our tent, the rest of the crew was talking in a circle around the campfire. We learned that we had missed a few things in the 2 hour delay. Since we're studying fighting in marriage right now, they had decided to "count" all the couples fights that happened over the weekend. So when Stephen asked Ethan if he could help him figure out how to inflate our air mattress, Ethan flatly refused and Rachel scolded him with, "ETHAN!", and the rest of the group called out, "That's number one!!" We joked that of course it would be Ethan causing the first fight.
Disclaimer: Ethan was totally joking when he refused, and we all knew that. :)
We started with 1, 2, 3 and 4 in counting the "fights," but quickly lost count and probably skipped a few sets of ten here and there. :D It was fun.
Another thing Steve and I had missed was a snippet of conversation in which Jason had talked about how Sara always asks completely random questions associated with details she doesn't understand, and he's learned to just say, "...Do you really want me to answer that?" I gather they all thought it was hysterical, and I think it's pretty hysterical too, and it's become a staple in our group much like, "We've got ember!" from the last trip. These are the reasons God puts friends in our lives. :)
Once Steve and I set up our tent, we were able to join the circle at the fire. Much of our weekend was spent just sitting around the fire chatting with everyone, and our group's repertoire of inside jokes as a group is chock full now. :) It was great camaraderie.
We fit in some adventures too though!
On Saturday after breakfast, no one was really sure what to do. But Ethan (of course) had researched great hikes around the camping area and told us about one he had read about that wasn't too far off and not too terrible of a hike, from all accounts. Alyse, Robert, Hannah and Jordan opted out of the hike but Jason, Sara, Ethan, Rachel, Stephen and I were up for it. So we sprayed on the Deet and rubbed in the sunblock, put on our hiking clothes (however loosely defined!) and headed out in two cars to the site. Ethan had directions and both cars had GPS units, but none of us knew the area--and no two GPS units ever agree on one route to get somewhere! We ended up driving well past a turnoff and getting somewhat lost. We pulled off onto a random forest service road to look at our options. I grabbed our GPS unit and compared the road names in Ethan's directions with the road names on the GPS map and figured out how to get to us to where we were going. We led the way in my PT and covered poor Ethan and Rachel's car in dust as we drove the forest service roads to the hiking place.
The hike was beautiful, but tougher than we expected it to be! It didn't help that it was 85 degrees outside. I was sure glad I'd happened to wear my loosest-fitting shirt that day.
The hike was a total of 4 miles long (there and back) and 300 feet in elevation. The waterfall was 250 feet tall--smaller than Multnomah, but still very impressive! Stephen got some fantastic pictures.
The beaten path only went this close to the falls--there wasn't really a conceivable path up to the very top. Nevertheless, Ethan and Jason decided they wanted to go all the way to the top. I would have liked to go to the top, but wasn't really interested in risking life and limb for it. But Jason and Ethan did, in fact, make it up to the top tier of the waterfall--and discovered there was yet another tier above that! They attempted to get there, but the path got a little too risky even for their comfort... So they were contented with the middle tier.
Ethan picked Rachel some yellow flowers at the very top of the waterfall and brought them down to her. :) And then he made a show of presenting them to her: "Not everybody could have gotten you these flowers!" he said. I wished Stephen had gotten a video of Ethan presenting them to her; it was hilarious.
The hike exhausted most of us. Sara, Rachel and I all took long naps when we got back to the campsite. Ethan and Jason went on yet another hike...which, in Sara's words, was more like "wandering." They made their way to the smaller falls (30 and 100 feet) near our campsite and went swimming in the creek.
Saturday night around the campfire was my favorite part of the trip, especially after midnight when we got really goofy. Everything was funny. We also did a bit of planning for the young marrieds group though--trying to figure out how it's all going to work when we are no longer "young marrieds." It was kind of sweet to think of the lot of us growing old together. I can't explain how much value the group has been to Stephen and me, and I think everyone in the group feels the same way. It's so great to have them.
Sunday was packing-up day. We were in no hurry to leave, though, so we just packed our cars and then spent the last few hours enjoying the time. Stephen and I tried to go see the falls at the campsite, but couldn't find the path. Jason, Sara, Ethan and Rachel joined us, and Jason did his very best to find the path he and Sara had taken back in December when they were there, but in the middle of summer, it was overgrown with blackberry bushes and horsetail weeds. Jason got down there and back up, but none of the rest of us really wanted to attempt it. We got to see it from a distance--I was sad we didn't get to see it up close. But apparently we're going back to the cabin for a winter retreat! So we might be able to go see it then.
The last thing we did before leaving town was visit an ice cream parlor in Stevenson. Best ice cream I had tasted in a while! Their scoop sizes were enormous too. Their "Single" was pretty much a triple mashed into one giant scoop. The sizes we got were "Kid One Flavor Size" and "Double Kid Two Flavor" size. That was about all I could've eaten! It was delicious.
At the very end of the time at the ice cream shoppe, Ethan proposed an idea to the group. He'd never been to Mount Hood and had heard that you could drive around the base of it. He wanted to do that and invited everybody else to come too. My answer was an instant, "No, no thanks." Didn't even consult Stephen--whoops! But I was just exhausted. I needed to go home and crash--and Stephen, I think, did too. So we parted ways--Steve and I headed home, Sara, Jason, Ethan and Rachel drove around the base of Mount Hood.
We had my mom's 6-person tent to set up (that really only fits 4). My mom, sister and I used to camp in that tent every summer on the Oregon Coast with family. It was fun to get to use it again. The tent memories live on! Steve and I set it up with the help of Alyse and Robert's high-power lantern and a flashlight. It went okay--one of the pieces had broken, but it wasn't a problem. It created a great exercise in communicating, though, which we're studying in our small group right now. :) "We have three short bars and no long bars when we should have one long bar and two short bars," I lined it out to Stephen. When he didn't catch on, I clarified: "One broke."
As we set up our tent, the rest of the crew was talking in a circle around the campfire. We learned that we had missed a few things in the 2 hour delay. Since we're studying fighting in marriage right now, they had decided to "count" all the couples fights that happened over the weekend. So when Stephen asked Ethan if he could help him figure out how to inflate our air mattress, Ethan flatly refused and Rachel scolded him with, "ETHAN!", and the rest of the group called out, "That's number one!!" We joked that of course it would be Ethan causing the first fight.
Disclaimer: Ethan was totally joking when he refused, and we all knew that. :)
We started with 1, 2, 3 and 4 in counting the "fights," but quickly lost count and probably skipped a few sets of ten here and there. :D It was fun.
Another thing Steve and I had missed was a snippet of conversation in which Jason had talked about how Sara always asks completely random questions associated with details she doesn't understand, and he's learned to just say, "...Do you really want me to answer that?" I gather they all thought it was hysterical, and I think it's pretty hysterical too, and it's become a staple in our group much like, "We've got ember!" from the last trip. These are the reasons God puts friends in our lives. :)
Once Steve and I set up our tent, we were able to join the circle at the fire. Much of our weekend was spent just sitting around the fire chatting with everyone, and our group's repertoire of inside jokes as a group is chock full now. :) It was great camaraderie.
We fit in some adventures too though!
On Saturday after breakfast, no one was really sure what to do. But Ethan (of course) had researched great hikes around the camping area and told us about one he had read about that wasn't too far off and not too terrible of a hike, from all accounts. Alyse, Robert, Hannah and Jordan opted out of the hike but Jason, Sara, Ethan, Rachel, Stephen and I were up for it. So we sprayed on the Deet and rubbed in the sunblock, put on our hiking clothes (however loosely defined!) and headed out in two cars to the site. Ethan had directions and both cars had GPS units, but none of us knew the area--and no two GPS units ever agree on one route to get somewhere! We ended up driving well past a turnoff and getting somewhat lost. We pulled off onto a random forest service road to look at our options. I grabbed our GPS unit and compared the road names in Ethan's directions with the road names on the GPS map and figured out how to get to us to where we were going. We led the way in my PT and covered poor Ethan and Rachel's car in dust as we drove the forest service roads to the hiking place.
The hike was beautiful, but tougher than we expected it to be! It didn't help that it was 85 degrees outside. I was sure glad I'd happened to wear my loosest-fitting shirt that day.
The hike was a total of 4 miles long (there and back) and 300 feet in elevation. The waterfall was 250 feet tall--smaller than Multnomah, but still very impressive! Stephen got some fantastic pictures.
The beaten path only went this close to the falls--there wasn't really a conceivable path up to the very top. Nevertheless, Ethan and Jason decided they wanted to go all the way to the top. I would have liked to go to the top, but wasn't really interested in risking life and limb for it. But Jason and Ethan did, in fact, make it up to the top tier of the waterfall--and discovered there was yet another tier above that! They attempted to get there, but the path got a little too risky even for their comfort... So they were contented with the middle tier.
Ethan picked Rachel some yellow flowers at the very top of the waterfall and brought them down to her. :) And then he made a show of presenting them to her: "Not everybody could have gotten you these flowers!" he said. I wished Stephen had gotten a video of Ethan presenting them to her; it was hilarious.
The hike exhausted most of us. Sara, Rachel and I all took long naps when we got back to the campsite. Ethan and Jason went on yet another hike...which, in Sara's words, was more like "wandering." They made their way to the smaller falls (30 and 100 feet) near our campsite and went swimming in the creek.
Saturday night around the campfire was my favorite part of the trip, especially after midnight when we got really goofy. Everything was funny. We also did a bit of planning for the young marrieds group though--trying to figure out how it's all going to work when we are no longer "young marrieds." It was kind of sweet to think of the lot of us growing old together. I can't explain how much value the group has been to Stephen and me, and I think everyone in the group feels the same way. It's so great to have them.
Sunday was packing-up day. We were in no hurry to leave, though, so we just packed our cars and then spent the last few hours enjoying the time. Stephen and I tried to go see the falls at the campsite, but couldn't find the path. Jason, Sara, Ethan and Rachel joined us, and Jason did his very best to find the path he and Sara had taken back in December when they were there, but in the middle of summer, it was overgrown with blackberry bushes and horsetail weeds. Jason got down there and back up, but none of the rest of us really wanted to attempt it. We got to see it from a distance--I was sad we didn't get to see it up close. But apparently we're going back to the cabin for a winter retreat! So we might be able to go see it then.
The last thing we did before leaving town was visit an ice cream parlor in Stevenson. Best ice cream I had tasted in a while! Their scoop sizes were enormous too. Their "Single" was pretty much a triple mashed into one giant scoop. The sizes we got were "Kid One Flavor Size" and "Double Kid Two Flavor" size. That was about all I could've eaten! It was delicious.
At the very end of the time at the ice cream shoppe, Ethan proposed an idea to the group. He'd never been to Mount Hood and had heard that you could drive around the base of it. He wanted to do that and invited everybody else to come too. My answer was an instant, "No, no thanks." Didn't even consult Stephen--whoops! But I was just exhausted. I needed to go home and crash--and Stephen, I think, did too. So we parted ways--Steve and I headed home, Sara, Jason, Ethan and Rachel drove around the base of Mount Hood.
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