Our Trip To California Part 1

We recently went on vacation in California to see some friends and go to a wedding. We drove to Chicago Midway airport and didn't get stuck in traffic, and then each leg of our flight was early, which was really nice. When we got to Sacramento, the capital of California, we were picked up by our friend's grandma and taken to their house. Sarah, our friend who was at summer camp in Romania with us, was at work so we hung out with her grandparents for a while. Her grandparents have also been to Romania so we watched a video of their pictures and had a great time getting to know them. Mark & Kristin, two Heart 2 Heart missionaries that we got to know during camp, stopped by to see us and we caught up on what we've all been doing since camp. Then another friend from camp, Marci, stopped by to say hi before she had to go to work. Later Sarah came home and Marci came back after work, and we spent the rest of the night hanging out and catching up with each other.

Friday morning we went to see Sarah at work at the local coffee place. She made us some wonderful drinks. When her shift was done we headed out to San Fransisco for the rest of the day. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed the ride there and the sights we saw. We went to the Exploratorium first, a place were there were lots of cool science demonstrations. After that we headed over to see the Golden Gate Bridge.

Alcatraz as seen from a far away bridge.

Driving on the Golden Gate Bridge was fun as the clouds began to roll in.

We enjoyed a beautiful view of the bridge and the sunset and the fog rolling in over the mountains was really cool. After that we went in search of dinner, so we drove down by the pier area. We walked down to pier 39 where we watched a guy twirling flaming torches and then we decided to go to Bubba Gump Shrimp Company to eat. When we looked at the menus we were surprised by how expensive it was and how little we liked on there, so we quietly left. It was pretty weird leaving like that but it was worth it because we went to a great pizza place and split a pizza. Overall the pier was really neat with all the different shops and restaurants.

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On Saturday morning we went to where Marci works: Starbucks. We got some good drinks and enjoyed the sparing between Sarah and Marci over which coffee is better. Then we went to downtown Sacramento and walked to the capital building. There were beautiful gardens all around and lots of orange trees as you can see above. We ate at a great Mediterranean place for lunch and then headed back to Sarah's place to get ready for Mark & Kristin's wedding.

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At the wedding we got to see lots of people we knew from Heart 2 Heart. We enjoyed catching up with them and it was nice to know that we were going to be a part of that organization.

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The wedding went great and the reception was fun. It was great to see Mark & Kristin and we wish them the best in their new marriage. They are going to stay in California for a year and then return to Romania to minister to the orphans there with H2H. So then we will be working with them again.

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On Sunday we went to church with Marci, and then we had to say our goodbyes. We went to the airport and met up with Jim & Jodi Sorrels, the founders of H2H. Anna & Austin, their daughter and son-in-law and JT their son were there too, and we flew out with them to San Diego. You can read about the rest of our vacation in the continuation of this post in a couple days.

It Is Official - We Are Going To Romania Full Time!

This is big news! We have officially been accepted by Heart To Heart International Ministries as missionaries! The H2H board went over our application and references and decided that we would be a good fit with their ministry. We are very excited!

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Our goal is to start our ministry to the orphans of Romania by April 2009. In order to do that we will need to raise support funds for our ministry. We will be sending out support letters soon and will also post the letter on this blog. We will also need to sell our house before we go, so if you know anyone who is looking, please let them know about our house.

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Above all we really need your prayers, please pray that we are able to raise our funds and sell our house quickly. Also pray for all of the planning we have to do before we go. Pray for guidance, wisdom, and strength.

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We are looking forward to being used by God to change the lives of orphans in Romania. This is an amazing opportunity and a big life change for us. We know that God has placed this call in our hearts and that he will provide for all our needs. Praise God!

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A Teaser Post

Wow, it's been a long time since our last post.  We have been quite busy lately, and a lot of different things have been happening.  Right now we are in Ramona, California, hanging out with some friends.  We got some big news recently too.  So when we get back home we will be posting quite a bit to catch up.  Stay tuned!

Fall Colors

This has been a beautiful fall and we have really been enjoying the burst of color in the trees. This year the reds, oranges, and yellows seem to be more vibrant than before, probably because we've had ample amounts of rain. Even though our yard doesn't have a lot of trees we are still getting quite a show.

This is the same tree as the picture above, only a week later.

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We've also been enjoying the late blooming of some of our rose bushes, it's always nice to see them come out.

Fireproof Movie Was Awesome!

On Saturday we went to see the movie "Fireproof" at Rivertown Crossings Mall. We had heard great things about the movie and wanted to see what it was all about. The movie was so amazing and had such a great message, this is a must see movie. I'll write a little about the movie without giving too much away.

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The movie is about a couple that is having severe marital problems. They are both constantly at each others throats and are not feeling in love like they used to when they dated. It gets to the point where they both want out and decide to get a divorce. Caleb (the husband) calls his dad to talk about it and his dad asks him to work through a book for 40 days to try and save the marriage. He is reluctant at first but as he works through it some changes take place. It is a hard road but in the end it pays off.

The movie's main theme is that marriages are meant by God to be a permanent covenant, not just a contract that has escape clauses. It places great value on saving marriages that are failing, and that it is well worth the work it takes. It stresses that love is a choice and not a feeling, and that you must put your spouse first in order to have a great marriage. I think that if everyone saw this it would give hope to strong and struggling couples alike.

The movie also gives a very clear presentation of the gospel with nothing held back. This was another central theme of the movie, that marriages work best with God in the center.

Fireproof was a great all-around movie, with lots of action, comedy, and drama, and a heartfelt story. There were quite a few tear-jerker moments too. The only hard part about watching the movie was realizing the pain and hurt that so many people go through in their marriages. It felt very real and it will surely hit close to home for many people. I highly recommend this movie to everyone.

.http://www.fireproofthemovie.com/

http://www.fireproofmymarriage.com

Pictures From The Weekend

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the Post Family Farm last weekend. It was a lot of fun as you can see.

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Rebecca had fun with Brian & Tarah's daughter Johanna in the corn maze and on the hayride.

TJ & Rebecca's son Micah had fun playing in the pumpkin patch.

Chris & Heidi's daughter Molly and Mike & Nicole's son Evan had fun in the corn maze too.

Ryan & Kara's boys Andrew & Michael enjoyed a ride on the pumpkin train.

An Action Packed Weekend

Last weekend was really great as we got to relax a bit and see lots of friends too. On Friday we watched "Mr. Bean's Holiday," which is a great movie, classic Mr. Bean. It was a relaxing night and we just enjoyed spending some time together.

Saturday morning we went to a fun outing at the Post Family Farm with our LifeGroup from church. It was a beautiful sunny day and it was so refreshing to be outside with our friends. The farm has a corn maze, pumpkin patch, and lots of animals. There were hayrides and some play areas and games for the kids. The corn maze was really fun, and the corn was very tall this year. At the end we enjoyed fresh doughnuts and apple cider, it doesn't get any better than that! I will post some pictures from this in a later post.

We had the afternoon to spend together again, and we ended up watching "Iron Chef" on the computer, that was one of our favorite shows while we were dating and still is to this day. At dinnertime we went to Peppino's Ristorante and met with the group we went to Romania with last spring. Jim Sorrels, the founder of Heart 2 Heart, was up from California for the weekend so we got to visit with him. We had a great pizza and found out that his meeting with our church went really well and was very encouraging. We always enjoy getting together with our Romania group, they are so friendly and caring and are some of our best friends.

Sunday Jim came over after church and we had some Pad Thai for lunch. Then we went on a drive to see some color because it was just such a beautiful day. It was great spending time with Jim, he is a great guy and a great friend. He'll also be our boss when we become missionaries since he's the president of H2H :-) After Jim left we headed out to Mark's sister and brother-in-laws place to visit. We had a campfire which was very nice and relaxing. Mark's mom was also there. We had a great time hanging out with them.

A Very Memorable 5 Year Anniversary

Saturday October 4 was our 5 year anniversary! It doesn't seem like it's been 5 years already since we've been married, time has just been flying. We celebrated with three types of chocolates, and Rebecca made a picture collage for us both to enjoy. We wanted to do something fun and out of the ordinary but we didn't want to spend much because we'll be going to a wedding in California soon, so that will be our big 5 year anniversary vacation. So we looked at different nature preserves and came across the Saul Lake Bog Nature Preserve. Rebecca had been there before for some biology classes and had really liked it, so we decided to go there. It was a little over an hour drive but it was a beautiful day so we really enjoyed it. It was brisk outside but when the sun came out it warmed up a bit, such a nice crisp fall day.

When we got out to the bog we were surprised that there was no boardwalk through it, just a couple observation decks to look out over the entire thing. We decided to walk into the bog, because we wanted to do something fun and just looking over it wasn't what we had in mind. As we were walking around our shoes started to get wet, so we took them off and walked around barefoot.

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Mark had never been to a bog before so it was a new experience, and walking on sphagnum moss was totally wild. With each step the moss would sink in a couple inches and water would fill in the hole. When we jumped up and down we could feel the whole area around us moving up and down, it was a little freaky but really fun walking on a floating land mass.
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There were all sorts of cool plants, like this pitcher plant. We were really excited because pitcher plants are one of our favorites. There were thousands of them because we have had quite a wet year. Rebecca didn't think the bog had ever been this wet when she was there before.

A natural cranberry.

As we were making our way back to the observation deck, we had to cross a small stream that was running through the bog. As Rebecca walked through she took a step and fell in up to her hip! We both laughed so hard and then we had to figure out what to do with her mucky pants and legs. We were going to go out to eat after we were done at the bog, and going home to change would have taken two hours more of driving. So Rebecca got creative...

She used Marks socks to clean her legs off and then used his sweatshirt to make a skirt. It actually looked pretty convincing as you can see above.

We walked around some more trails after we were done in the bog, and then we headed over to Pietro's Italian Restaurant. We started out with some Bruchetta and great homemade bread. Rebecca ordered Chicken Fontina, which was a chicken breast with Fontina cheese and a sweet glaze, and Mark ordered Talapia Piccata with a white wine sauce. It was all very good and the restaurant was quite nice. We were just about done eating and the power went off. It was really weird but thankfully we were by a window so we could at least see what we were doing. We got to order our desserts since they didn't need to be cooked, so we got some Chocolate Mascarpone, which was very delicious. Anyone just coming in could only order salads or wood fired pizzas since the entire kitchen was down with the power outage. We got a hand written bill and had to use the old fashioned credit card swiping machine. Quite an experience. It turned out that someone had hit a power line or transformer so the whole area was out of power. When we left we were thankful we were going right because traffic was backed up really far going the other way.

We had a great day and had some fun adventures. We are so thankful for each other and are glad that God brought us together and has blessed our marriage. We know we will have many more wonderful years together.