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.

East Coast, Part II

Let me just say, I love the Pacific Northwest and have never been so glad to see it as when I exited the Sea-Tac airport on Saturday. One blast of that crisp cool PNW air and I was definitely back home where I belonged.

Friday we packed everything up and left New Jersey in our rental van to head for Lancaster, PA. Steve's (my father-in-law) GPS wasn't working and it took longer than expected to get there, but on the way I got to see Amish people everywhere, a people I'd only heard about from my grandma and mom. I didn't know anything about them and was surprised when I first saw a young lady in a white bonnet, a white apron and a stark black or brown dress. In my ignorance, I thought to myself, 'Oh cool, they dressed up in historic clothing! Must be some kind of special event going on.' Then I kept seeing more of them and it dawned on me that this was Amish country. After I realized that, it was kind of astonishing every time I saw young boys in suspenders, white shirts and black pants riding on bikes or working in the fields. The experience just left me with a feeling of: I'd have to spend a lot more time in Pennsylvania to fully understand why and how they choose to live that way.

Once in Lancaster, we drove around visiting houses, schools, stores and churches that Steve remembered from his childhood. Cari and Stephen were our designated photographers and probably took 2000 photographs between them over the entire trip.

We also ate at the Shady Maple Smorgasbord, a huge buffet-style restaurant with a gift shop on the bottom floor. We all ate way too much at the smorgasbord! But I got to try shoofly pie and corn fritters and a giant Pennsylvania Dutch sweet 'n' sour meatball. Afterward, Stephen and I went to the gift shop to buy some chocolate. Nate went to the gift shop too, but we forgot that he had, and the six of us nearly drove away without him! I was horribly embarrassed for forgetting him--but everyone kept a good-humored attitude about it, and Nate wasn't even fazed. :)

We stayed in a beautiful hotel, Hampton Inn and Suites. I'd never seen a hotel with fluffy white bedspreads before! Stephen and I were settling into the room, preparing for bed, when I found a tick on my stomach. I guessed I had gotten it from sitting in the grass by a covered bridge earlier. It kind of freaked me out and I called my family and Stephen consulted the Internet and his family to find out how to get rid of it... I killed it first with hand sanitizer, but it didn't back out like it was supposed to--so we finally resorted to pulling it out with teeny-tiny tweezers. Stephen performed the "operation"--I was much too freaked out to do it myself. He did a great job; he got it all out, head and all. Then we covered the wound with a band-aid and Neosporin, and now it just looks like a small bug bite--no infection. Hooray!!

Saturday was our last day of LOTS of travel. It was a really long day. Our flight was at 4:15 PM EDST, and it was 7 hours long, with one connection in Chicago. The flight from Philadelphia to Chicago was a very bumpy 2-hour ride with a hard landing. Then it was a one-hour wait for our next plane. The flight from Chicago to Seattle was long and hot. I felt really, really sick for the last half-hour of it, but thankfully didn't throw up. Closest I've ever been to doing so, though. We landed at 9:30 PM PDST, and as I said--the blast of fresh, cool Pacific Northwest air was about the best thing I had ever felt. The whole entire ride home I just listed all the things I love about living here.

Stephen and I spent Saturday night at his parents' house and most of Sunday. It was good to get back to "life as normal." We got home about 8:30 or so. Our poor kitty was literally yelling at the door as we mounted the stairs. She knows our footsteps, somehow. She was sooooooo happy to see us.

Now to get back to living in our own apartment... I definitely felt a bit of culture shock, or something, when I got back. It'll take some getting used to, LOL.

Jon was sick the entire trip, and he's been sick for a while. Everybody is praying very hard for him, because nobody is sure what's going on with him. Please keep him in your prayers too, if you think of it.

Stephen had dizzy spells today at work. I took him to an Urgent Care and the doctor told him he has "rocks" in his ears that have gotten loose. He will be fine, but it's good to know about.

We're all (I'm sure) still recovering from the trip. I know I am. Thank you for your prayer support for us. :)

New Jersey

I have some down time right now, so I'll write about the trip so far. I haven't mentioned it in here yet--so FYI, Stephen and I and his family are in New Jersey for a family reunion on his mother's side. They picked New Jersey (even though none of them live there anymore) because that's where Steve's grandpa (who has passed away) and his siblings grew up. His great-grandparents are buried here, across from America's Keswick Retreat Center, which is where we are staying.

After spending Monday night at Steve's parents' house, we flew out Tuesday at 11:30 AM for the East Coast. Our first flight was 4.5 hours long, from Sea-Tac to Nashville, TN. We had a 1-hour layover in Nashville, which was just enough time for the seven of us to snatch lunch/dinner and get to our gate. The second flight was about 2.5 hours, from Nashville to Philadelphia, PA. Both flights were without problems, although there was slight turbulence as we came into Philly and a rather hard landing that shook everybody awake.

We arrived in Philadelphia at 9:00 local time (6:00 our time!) and took a shuttle to Avis, where an 8-passenger SUV with decent trunk space was supposed to be waiting for us. Unfortunately, for whatever reason, they did not have our SUV waiting for us. What they did have would not fit all seven of us and our luggage, so we instead rented a tight, but sufficient, mini-van. Using Steve's dad's GPS phone, we drove it from Philadelphia for about an hour and a half to America's Keswick. We got in about 12:30 AM. Stephen's great-uncle Dave was there to meet us and give us our keys, and two of his Georgia cousins, Victoria and Lauren, came running down the stairs to greet us. It was kind of entertaining, because they know Steve and his family very well--I'm kind of on the "outside"--but they hugged me anyway. :)

The humidity of New Jersey surprised me. It felt like Portland on a muggy day. I keep expecting the weather to turn around and be not-muggy anymore, but I don't suppose it does? Anyway, it's tolerable. It feels a lot like Hawaii to me, and like Korea to Stephen. Tomorrow is supposed to be 87 degrees though--we'll see how tolerable it is then! :)

Tuesday at 12:00 we all went to see the great-grandparents' gravestones. I thought that was a good thing to do; it gave meaning for the trip to me, reminding me why I'm here with all these people with names I'm not familiar with, LOL. One of the people--I can't remember his name, EEK!--gave a short message there about the legacy the great-grandparents left by passing down their faith in Christ. It was kind of neat to look at the people there and know they are all connected to those two people, Ida Marie and Bob.

After lunch, most of us headed down toward the Point Pleasant Beach boardwalk. We got to experience a lot of East Coast driving firsthand, and Stephen's dad was doing a lot of it. :D Kind of terrifying!! On the way, we stopped at the house Ida Marie and Bob had lived in, and one of the houses Stephen's grandma lived in as a child. It took us a long while to get to the places because Steve's grandma couldn't quite remember the addresses. We made lots and lots of turnarounds! But we did eventually find the houses. Steve's mom said that they had a picture of Stephen when he was a little, little boy sitting on his great-grandma's lap at the house they lived in. That was kind of cool too--a tie-in to my own life.

When we got to Grandma's old house, e-ver-y-body got out to take pictures and stare and wonder and everything, in this small East-Coast neighborhood... The neighbors were really giving us odd looks!! A few of them finally came up to us and asked who we were and what we were doing. We must've looked like the news come to town or something, pulling up in two vans and pulling out cameras all over! LOL!

After seeing Grandma's old house, we tried to head down to the boardwalk, got a little lost, and wound back up on Grandma's old street. And just as we were pulling through, a woman about 65 years old with tight white curls frantically yelled and flagged us down. She knew Grandma and her sister when they were young--Grandma's sister taught her how to swim. That was all I caught... Grandma was in the van behind us, so the woman went back there to talk to her through the passenger seat window. I watched through the back window of our van, and Grandma's expression when the woman introduced herself was totally enough for me. :) It was worth it. They held hands, enraptured by the joy of finding each other after so many years... It was really, really sweet. I think both women will remember this meeting for a long, long time.

After that, we finally made it down to the Boardwalk. Nobody rode any rides, but we did stick our feet in the Atlantic. Now seeing the Atlantic was sure different!! I'd never seen it before, and the first thing that struck me was how insanely close the waves crash to shore. It scared me to death for a minute until I realized that the waves come very regularly, slowly and only one at a time--which was also bizarre! And it was really strange knowing that to my left was the North and to my right was the South. It was a little disorienting, in all truth. LOL.

I had to avoid the waves, sadly, because I scraped up my ankle pretty bad on a bike (or rather, falling off a bike) yesterday, and I had bandaids on it. But I let the seawater wet me up to the bottom part of my ankles. It felt like California water--very nice!

The sand was really different. Somebody said they probably trucked a lot in. What I noticed was that it was dark yellow, not white like the West Coast. It looked for all the world like yellow cake mix to me! It also felt different, though I could never pinpoint quite why.

We went in a couple souvenir shops and I realized something else different. They wrap their saltwater taffy in rolls instead of blobs. I should have bought some, but looking at the way they were wrapped, my brain kept saying, No, I don't feel like caramel... LOL. I did buy some souvenirs for my mom and sister, and a beautiful little sand-sculpture castle covered in glitter for me. It looked so perfect! I wish I could have bought a couple others too.... They're just so cute and pretty!

Wow, that's all yesterday--I haven't even gotten to today yet. Today has not been terribly eventful, really. We took group pictures galore mid-morning. We had lunch on our own. Stephen went canoeing with one of his cousins and I took pictures. There's stuff to do but none of it jumps out at me, I guess. Dinner is in about a half an hour, so I think I'll wake Steve up. He's been sleeping for the last hour and a half. We're a tired bunch! I took a long nap earlier. Jet lag catches up to us on the second day, I guess. :)
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Tomorrow we go to Lancaster County, PA, where Stephen's dad grew up.

Oh, and I have a possible job interview coming?! Crazy?! I got a call today from CampusPoint saying that there was a temporary (3-week) proofreading job available for a software company. It starts Monday. Yeah. Insanity. We're getting back Sunday, so I could do that--but how insane, right?! I kinda hope I get it. It's a possible foot-in-the-door for that company too, in whatever positions they might have for me. So pray for me! Wisdom and guidance and strength too.

Also pray for Stephen's brother Jon. He's been sick for about a month, and nobody's quite sure what's going on. Stephen thinks it's mono. Please pray that we'll sort that out. Thanks everyone!

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!!

Grandparents House Visit

Stephen and I went to my grandparents' house this weekend to celebrate my grandma's 71st birthday. My mom and sister also went, and my aunt and her boyfriend surprised us all by showing up as well. :)

Saturday was a crazy, fun day of Apples to Apples, birthday cakes, ice cream and presents. I gave my grandma 21 homemade cards that I've been working on since February. That was what prompted the whole trip--both me and my mom wanted to see Grandma's face when she saw them. She loved them!

Sunday, we went to my home church and I was delighted to see old family friends again. I took a walk down memory lane with Stephen at my old elementary school, walking around and telling him all the memories I had connected with the school. What a fun trip through the past!

The rest of my family left on Sunday afternoon, but Stephen and I stayed another night and were blessed to spend time alone with my grandparents. We played a hilariously frustrating game of Sorry! and talked with them about family, marriage and spiritual things. Peaceful chatting nights with my grandparents is what I most look forward to whenever I visit back home.

My grandma is having hip replacement surgery on Wednesday morning, so please pray for her. My grandpa injured his knee a while ago, so also pray that he will be able to do things for her while she is recovering.

Refugees in June

Stephen and I have been working with a refugee family in the area for almost a year now. We go once a week and teach them English or math, whatever they need help with. Usually half the family is there, sometimes only a couple of them. Yesterday it was only Soher, the 21-year-old girl. The rest of her family was at a soccer game. Soher doesn't speak much English, so communication was pretty much nil the whole time.

At one point Soher did try and talk to us, and she explained through her broken English and hand gestures that she and her siblings that are older than 18 have no medical or dental insurance here. She talked about how one of her teeth is broken and how it would cost $1300 to fix it. :S "Big--big money!" she said. "Thirteen one hundreds. In Syria, $100, $200...Here, no. Big money." That really bothered me. Having had thousands of dollars of dental work done on my own teeth, I understand how important it is to have insurance. I told her in the best way I could that I would see if there was some way we could get her dental insurance.

At 9:00 the rest of her family came home along with a few of their friends. Stephen and I usually leave at 9:00, but I really didn't want to go now that everybody was home. We hung around for another hour. Their friends that they had brought home were fun to talk to. They have been in America for about 4 years and speak and understand English just fine.

Soher explained in Arabic to one of them what I had said about trying to find her some dental insurance. He turned to me and translated in English. "She says you're going to find her dental insurance?"

Oh great.

I explained very slowly and thoughtfully that I would sure try. I didn't know if I'd be able to find it or not, but I would sure see what I could do.

Never promise refugees anything you can't follow up on. LOL.

So as if June isn't crazy enough--with one weekend trip back to my hometown (this weekend), a day trip to the beach with our small group and one week-long trip to New Jersey for a family reunion--now I'm the personal assistant for the refugees! But I feel like this is really important. It IS really important. Got to get that girl some health care!

The best part of the night was at the end, when Samira, the 17-year-old girl, stopped us in the door with a troubled look. "Next week? Wednesday, Thursday, Friday - no more school." She looked really bothered, which I thought was sweet. Then she suddenly resolved it in her own mind. "You come visit," she said with a big smile. Yay! They want us to keep coming! We just grinned back at her and said, "We'll come visit."

I am kind of glad that Soher was the only one there tonight for that whole first hour. It forced her to try and communicate with us, and she met with a lot of frustration at not being able to communicate properly. I think it will push her to learn English, which will do her a world of good.

Well, here I go to do research for the refugees!

Mystery Dessert Theater

A month or so ago Stephen and I saw on our church's website (www.countrysidechurch.com) for a Mystery Dinner Theater event happening May 30th. We'd both heard about them before and wanted to go to one, but neither of us had been to one. We signed up right away.

The week after we signed up we were given pamphlets for our characters - Stephen was "Mark" and I was "Maria." The pamphlets had directions for how to play the game, descriptions of the other character couples, and our own personal character backgrounds. We were strictly ordered to not look at each other's pamphlets because there might be secret information in there. :D

My story was fairly simple. "Mark" and I started dating after his twin sister Marilyn was killed by a "fall down some stairs" at our graduation party. (Hmm, suspicious.....) Before, I had been part of a very popular group of people, dating a very popular boy, "Michael." But Michael had never felt right for me; I just dated him because he was an acceptable boy to the group I was a part of. Mark was NOT an acceptable boy, and the leader of my group, "Jenny" (not my friend Jenny!! :D ), had kicked me out of the group when I started dating Mark.

"Mark" was a CIA agent. He won't tell me anymore than that.

Our two characters were happily married with two kids and a dog; "Mark's" cover was that he was a very successful mystery novel writer and traveled a lot to write his books. That's what everybody else knew about us.

Other information everybody had was that one of our classmates, "David," had been killed two nights earlier, and the murderer was suspected to be at the party. So we all had to figure out who the murderer was. We were given confidential information at the start of the party, plus a few goals to accomplish in the course of the evening.

The rest we had to make up! What an adventure! I was glad I only knew a few people in real life at the event--that made it much easier to excuse my acting horrendously toward the people my character was supposed to hate (i.e. "Jenny"). But it was still so awkward at first, with trying to keep everybody's stories straight, checking my notes, having to think really hard to ask the right questions of the right characters.

It got worse as the night wore on--learning so much information! Toward the end of the party, our pastor, Paul, was pelting Steve and I with questions (he was the best question-asker!) and he asked me, "Were you ever in a relationship with 'Michael'?" I had completely forgotten about that part of my character's story, and I said straightforwardly, "Yes. I was." And Paul's reaction was SO dramatic. He gasped at me with big eyes and said, "You never told me that!" and ran off to tell other people!

Somehow Stephen kept all the information straight and wound together a very nice little theory that tied together all the deaths that had happened in our class's history. His theory was off, but he did get the killer right!

The theme was '57 class reunion, so we were supposed to dress in 50s style. I was dressed in a black-and-white shirtdress, white heels and a black chunky necklace. Stephen wore, like 99% of the other guys, a white T-shirt and blue jeans. Guys have it easy, LOL. The music was great! We swing danced to it at the beginning--what fun!

There are a lot of other stories I could tell, but I don't have room for them all here. I really enjoyed it, though. I want to do more so I can get good at it. :)

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In other news...

Stephen's toes haven't healed as quickly as we hoped. He went to the doctor a couple of weeks ago because they had suddenly turned bright pink and swelled up. The doctor said it was because he wasn't cleaning them out well enough and did a pretty brutal cleaning-out on him that day. He also gave us a prescription for cortisporin.

Stephen was in horrible pain all week--worse than it had hurt before the surgery, which really concerned him. So we went back again. The doctor said they were looking better, despite our protests, and cleaned them out again, slightly less brutally this time. He asked us if we'd been using the cortisporin. We hadn't--after an hour and a half wait at Walgreen's, we were told that they didn't have any and couldn't make any, but we could just use cortizone and neosporin and get the same effect. The doctor was annoyed at us or them and emphasized the cortisporin again. So we finally got the cortisporin and Stephen's toes finally started showing signs of healing.

He's still soaking and bandaging them every night. But the good news is, they're finally down to itching instead of hurting. And they are definitely looking better. He has yet another follow-up appointment tomorrow, but I have a feeling the doctor will just say, "They're doing fine. Don't come back." :P

Other updates: I still don't have a job, but worked for Stephen's grandma for a couple weeks and my mom a couple times to earn some spending money. I volunteer at Medical Teams International now, with the REAL. LIFE. Exhibit, a couple hours a week. I'll save that story for another blog, I think.

Stephen and I are still teaching our Iraqi refugee family. School will be ending soon and the kids will no longer have homework for us to help them with, so we aren't sure what God wants us to do with them next. I've gotten to know their personalities and love them to pieces. If my experience with them ends, I will look for other opportunities to teach refugees English, because I honestly do love it.

I love it so much that I've been thinking of going to graduate school to get a master's for teaching English as a second language. I have so much information left to gather about that, though, before I do it. I still don't think I have the constitution for a career in public schools, so I need to find out where else I would go with it.

That's all for now!