Soon Umbrellas Must Make Everything Rainy

I love summertime, and I'm not ashamed to say it. Sunshine is my friend. It makes my world seem more balanced, more right. And yet I have returned to the land of rainy gray seasons that take up the better part of the year. We have been so blessed to have an amazingly beautiful summer, but now the mornings are downright chilly, and very soon I'll be heading home in the dark.

In honor of these last few blissful days of blue skies and warm temperatures, I thought it best to post some of my summer pics that have been left out for too long.

This summer things in my family made a big change. Last year I was the final member of my siblings to get married, this summer my nephew, Ryder, had his day in the sun as he welcomed his beautiful bride Lauren into our family.

The wedding took place up at the Mt Ashland Ski Lodge just south of Medford. The weather was beautiful, although at that ele
vation the chill in the air didn't take long to show up as we headed into the evening.

The ceremony was beautiful, and it was quite amazing to watch my Dad, just a few days before his own 50th anniversary, perform his grandson's service. It was also great to see my nephews all dressed up :)

After the Mr. and Mrs. were announced, we had the chance to follow them in a little ride.

I enjoyed having the chance to have a little romantic ride with my Love as well ;)

We caught up with the bride and groom at the top of the mountain.

Then we headed back down for a fabulous dinner, followed by the amazing wedding cake that Lauren made. If only I had known her better at our wedding, I would have WAY rather had her make our cake. It would no doubt have been a thousand times better than the pathetically tipping cake that we had.

Also, at the wedding, I met my new niece, Myrtle, for the first time. Here she is with her cousin Jack who gave himself the title of "The Baby Whisperer."

Stay tuned. Next time I'll put up some photos of the incredible week we spent with the whole family in honor of my parent's 50th anniversary.

2012: Now Official Worldwide

Well, over here in the Czech Republic we brought in the new year with a BANG! And a pretty serious one at that. My father-in-law is amazing in the pyrotechnic department. It might have taken a little while to get it set up, but that just meant that all the amatuers were finished so they could enjoy a real show. I've got a few pictures of the set up, and I'll try to get them in later, but for now, just trust me, it was amazing. I have now experienced New Years celebrations in 5 different countries, and I have to say that the fireworks here were by far the most exciting. We didn't go into the middle of town to see the craziness there, but out here in our little corner there were all sorts of people setting things on fire and letting them shoot up into the air all over the place. However, at the end of our display there was actually applause. Nice! The rest of the evening was spent quietly watching TV, including some New Year's celebration from 1979 which was pretty interesting. Defintely a different era. This country sure has been through a lot during it's long and tumultuous history, and I wish it the best in the coming year. I've also been thinking a bit about resolutions. I think I mentioned before that I've been hearing a lot more about goals vs. resolutions. There seems to be something mroe palatable in the idea of a goal that you are striving for, rather than a complete an unequivocal change in lifestyle. Some of these are rather general ideas, and others are things brought up by my inspiring husband, so let's see what I can come up with... 1) Collecting more than 5 recipes (not counting cookies) that I am not freaked out to get in the kitchen and make. 2) Publish an e-book (this one is from Mark, who is encouraging me to put out some of my old stories as free books to start creating a following) 3) Contact traditional publishers with my (soon to be) completed manuscript. 4) Finish up some of the other books I have lying around on various devices in various stages. 5) Get a job (did I mention these are in no particular order?) 6) Work on creating a more balanced and healthy lifestyle, as opposed to my general lackadaisical approach (this is partly due to the fact that, while I might still feel 23, my body has slightly different and more bloated ideas.) 7) Scrapbook of my wedding 8) General crafting incorporation into life. (I'm hoping that once we have our own place and can sort of set things up I can create a better system so it doesn't take so much effort. I'd really like to work more with the journal making project that I came up with last summer and see where it can take me.) 9) Find a way to integrate myself more into local life, wherever it is that we "end up." 10) Try to join a writer's group. 11) Improve my Czech. (This is a constant, endless, and frustratingly impossible goal, but it is something I always want to try. In my dreaming of 'someday's I imagine sitting in a real classroom with other language learners, studying Czech in a serious sort of way, but it's not likely to come anytime soon.) 12) Improve my blogging record. It would be great to hit the 100 mark. That only means a couple blogs a week, and if I stay focused I don't see why that shouldn't be manageable. I'm considering monetizing as well, but that's still in the air. There are more things bouncing around in my head right now, but I'll stick with this as it's already a long list. as always, I want to live more, love more, and experience God more. There is so much in life to enjoy and experience, whether in good times or in bad, and I hope to continue making a concentrated to be engaged in the life that I am living, rather than just passively letting it slip by me. So I end again with Happy New Year! and wish whoever stumbles upon this humble blog of mine all the best in life and health and love and joy in this new year.

Catching up at last

So now that I've officially gotten married here in Blogsville, I'll finally finish catching up on my past photo postings and be ready to enter into the normal day to day excitement of life in Moscow. Ha ha ha. No, really, that was a VERY funny comment. You see, life in Moscow (Idaho that is) doesn't exactly have a lot of chills and thrills to report. It'll just be more about how exciting it is when someone has explosive, eh hem, issues in the bathroom that I get blessed to help clean up. Here I thought I'd given up on life as a maid after three miserable attempts in the past, but it seems there's always a chance that I'll be called back to the front lines or hygiene duty. But that's definitely enough of that.
After the wedding Mark's parents stayed with us for another week. While this sort of cancelled out the idea of a traditional honeymoon, it really did make the most sense. The week before the wedding was so hectic that about all I did was drive them to shopping malls while I got more work done. So after a night to ourselves we came back and were able to say goodbye to my family and spend some quality time with his.
We bandied about lots of ideas where we could take them, but in the end decided on a trip down the Pacific Coast. Funny that my parents and my sister Julie and her husband both had spent their honeymoons on this same stretch of highway.
I've always loved the Pacific Ocean, and it was great to be able to share it with my new family. We drove all the way from Lincoln City, Or to Crescent City, CA. We were actually there just a week before the Japan earthquake, which sent harbor destroying tsunami waves into the little town.
Everyone enjoyed time spent at the beach. One afternoon we were walking on a beach just south of town and we discovered dozens of complete sand dollars. Sadly, I don't have any pictures of them, but we collected over 30. We also spent a day visiting the Redwoods. Mark's dad is a big nature enthusiast, and really loved these massive trees. He was so cute using the new video camera we got for them, and trying to get quiet shots of the towering giants.


Our drive back up coastal HWY 101 took place on a day of insane weather. We had blue skies, rain, and, believe it or not, snow! I'd never seen snow falling on the ocean. It was fascinating, but made the drive a bit stressful as I was trying to be really good for my in-laws.
We made a stop at the Sea Lion Caves, just as my parents also did on their honeymoon trip back in 1962. After almost 50 years, I don't think the place had changed much. This was apparently a good time of year to visit, because during the winter they spend most of their time inside. There were over 200 stinky barking sea lions in the cave. It was definitely a memorable experience.


It was here that we watched the storm clouds sweep in, dropping a flurry of snowflakes right into the ocean. Just craziness.
After a lovely trip, we returned the Jindrich's to the airport and sent them back to Czech land. I'm so thankful that they were able to come here and experience this place. It helps everything seem more possible, somehow.
Mark and I did end up with a few days of honeymoon, again at the Oregon Coast. Thanks to my parents we got to stay in some really nice timeshare places right near the beach. Then we had a little while in McMinnville before heading back to Idaho to try out married life.
And here we are, pretty much caught up to the present. I just wanted to add one more thing here before I end my catch up posts. I finally had the chance to finish up a wedding blanket for my friend Laura and her husband Dan. Managed to get this one done before their two year anniversary, so that was good. It actually took me about three weeks to complete I think. I found the directions here and just had to adapt it a bit to my own desires. There was no explanation for how to attach the sunflowers together individually, so I just had to figure that bit out for myself, but I think it worked out pretty well in the end. When she opened the package, Laura was able to recognize that it was designed after her wedding. Not too shabby if I do say so myself.


Maybe some day I'll do a post of all my wedding/baby blanket projects. I've been trying to archive my pictures recently, and have found quite a few of my projects there. Could be interesting.
For now, however, it's time to relax a bit after a long day of work. Tomorrow we're off to Spokane, and hopefully we'll head out to Montana for the weekend, so I'm sure I'll be able to post fresh photos soon.

Oh Yeah, I Got Married...

Life changes some times in the most startling ways. Okay, it's not like I didn't see my wedding coming or anything like that, but in a sense, it still all took me by surprise. Some of the changes are subtle at first, but as time passes they become more obvious. When you're single for the first thirty years or your life, you tend to form some habits. Most of these habits have to do with the fact that you're responsibilities are few. I'm not talking about what you do for work, or what you have to do to survive or anything like that. Obviously, you could be single and still be doing something that requires you to act responsibly, like taking care of babies alone on a night shift. However, ultimately, you're only responsible for yourself. Your decisions are your own. You can go where you want, when you want (within reason of course.) Being in a relationship starts to change that gradually, but once you're married, it's a whole new ballgame.
I find myself now living a life in which I'm really not in control anymore. Not only is God in control, a fact which I've long had to wrestle with, but I have to think of someone else too. I can't just make up my own mind about what I'm going to do or where I'm going to go. I have to take into consideration the thoughts, feelings, and needs of someone else. And after thirty years of getting all set in my ways about how I want to do things, that's a pretty big adjustment. It would be great if I could say this is something that comes joyfully and easily to me, but that would be a lie. I can be pretty selfish when I get right down to it. I like to do things my own way, and when another person comes up with a whole new line of thoughts and opinions that aren't exactly in tune with my own? Well, I have to adjust.
Living cross culturally has often forced me to learn how to "be flexible." When I joined ESI (aka Teach Overseas) they pounded into my head the importance of living with ambiguity. It would appear that this is exactly what I've chosen as my life style. It should fit in rather well with the transient world I've called my home, but it still makes me stop and force myself to think on a regular basis. No more lackadaisical running around for me anymore. I'm a wife now.
That all being said, I'll jump right back into the big photo share I started working on lately. Along with the collision of friend worlds, I also was so happy to have my entire immediate family involved. To my knowledge, this was the first time all of my siblings, their spouses and their children have been in the same place at the same time, because the last big get together we had was before all the kids were born. So cool.






Sadly, not many people from Mark's family were able to come, but we were so thankful that it worked out for his parents to be there. His mom was really sick the week before they were supposed to fly, and since they're not used to flying, and don't speak any English at all, we were really afraid they wouldn't be able to make it, but thankfully God had other plans and knew just how important it was for them to be there with us.

Having these people, my friends and family, all together to celebrate was really such a miracle. Just look at how great they all looked :)



We also had the usual sorts of things like a cake that ended up a bit sad looking, but at least tasted good.

And these beautiful mints that my sister Janet made. They were just like the ones we had at her wedding only those were sea green and pink and there was such an overabundance that we had to freeze them and continued to eat them for years. She was much better at calculating this time around.

I had a lot more photos I thought about putting in, but for now I think this will have to suffice. It's at least enough to make it pretty obvious that a wedding did, indeed, take place. After years of being more than certain that it would never happen for me, having failed to get my MRS. while attending Simpson Bridal College (funny, they didn't give me my money back...) I at last have it in hand.

Six Months Stateside

I think I've been living in some strange time vacuum. In some ways, it's hard to even fathom life back in Czech. It's such a different world from the one I now in habit that it's difficult to compare time here with time there. On the other hand, I find myself wondering just what exactly I've done for the past six months. Sure, there was the whole wedding business, then the job search, and all that time spent just trying to figure out where I'm at and how my new life is going to look. There has been culture shock, and being a wife shock, and a boundless number of questions about where and when and how. I'm still reeling, trying to figure it all out. I'm ready, just not sure exactly what it is I'm ready for.
In about two weeks my parents will be moving back here to their home, and then it'll be yet another time of transition. I must confess I'm beyond ready to have space that I can really call my own. I love decorating, settling in, putting everything into it's place, and I haven't really been able to do that, well, for about three years now. I put my special spin on the Skalka flat, but the city center flat in Cheb was so fresh and new that there wasn't a whole lot we could do to really decorate. I had a cork board of photos, and a little window sill full of nick-knacks from around Europe, but it's not the same as really claiming space and making it my own.
I have some things hanging in a closet, a few things in drawers, but even the majority of my clothes are in big plastic bins or a trash bag shoved in the bottom of a closet. Not exactly homey, if you know what I mean. My parents house is just beyond full of their things and spill over from my grandparents, not to mention all that stuff of mine that sits around in boxes collecting dust. It's not that I don't want to have it out where I can enjoy it, there just isn't any space, and out time here is always a question mark.
Anyhow, the point of my post is actually supposed to be a bit of a review. I think I set out more than thirty photos, so I might have to make this one a double in order to prevent an overload. I guess the wedding can have it's own post. Hard to believe it's already been three months since then as well. Did I mention time warp?
So here are a smattering of photos to represent time that has passed.
Okay, so I thought I had actually put in some pictures from before the wedding, but then realized I didn't have anything very interesting to show from before that time, so we'll get right into it. Planning a wedding in three months is a bit crazy. It can totally be done, but there were several things that complicated it. One, we were living in Moscow, ID and planning the wedding in Blodgett, OR. Not really all that practical. Second, it was pretty much all up to me because it was in my part of the world, the people attending were my family and friends, it was basically my day, rather than being a celebration combining our two worlds. I was disappointed that it had to be this way, but it was either here or there, and whichever location we chose one side would have been totally empty.
I know that for my sweet shy husband, of whom there will be very few photos because he prefers not to be pictured, it was all overwhelming and insane. He would have preferred a private ceremony with fewer than twenty people (a number so small that it would not even encompass my immediate family comfortably) which is more in keeping with Czech tradition. I, on the other hand, had been dreaming of my wedding being a grand event for as long as I could remember. I wasn't one of those girls who had already planned everything out, but I wanted to be able to invite all the people I could think of. My guest list spanned the world, literally. Obviously, I knew that not everyone would be able to make it, especially on such short notice, but I was blessed to have a combination of my worlds collide for one special day. Of course, it's always a bit crazy at weddings, so I wasn't able to give them each the devoted time I would have liked, but it was still just amazing to have my family and friends from every stage of my life present to witness my entry into marriage.


Bowen Girls Unite! We had a little mini Mother's Choice reunion. While several other HK friends have settled in Portland recently, none of them were able to make it, but Malin flew in from Sweden, and Rachel came with her daughter Lizzy from Memphis.
Some how I didn't end up with any photos to prove it, but two of my friends from elementary school, Savana and her mom, Diane, and Nicole and her husband BJ were also there. There were people from all three of the churches I grew up in as well as Laura and Kelly who I served with in the Czech Republic.

I'm going to cut this post short for now. I suppose this will suffice to at least get things started and maybe I'll have a chance to finish it up tomorrow.

Wasting Away

Time. It's one of those things that are just so difficult to gauge. There are times when it seems to fly due to busyness. There aren't enough hours in the day to get all the things done that need to be taken care of. There are other times when you realize it's disappeared but nothing has really been accomplished.
I always find it interesting at the beginning of any experience when days are easily measured. When I start a new job, move some place new, start a new project, each day really feels like an accomplishment. I can tell you the number or days, or even hours, that I've been tackling a certain task. But generally after a week or two the blur factor sets in. It's no longer so easy to separate what happens from one day to the next, and suddenly six months have passed.
I've fallen into one of those slumps where the days seem to evaporate before my eyes, I feel like I'm working hard on "something" but I can't really tell exactly what. Partly I'm filling out pointless job applications seeing as how I never get a call back. I find myself caught in momentary bursts of inspiration, only to notice several days later that nothing seems to have come of it all.
I've also experienced a strange sort of disconnect with life. While I seem to have gotten back into the swing of blogging, my e-mail in-boxes are jam packed with messages I don't even know how to deal with. Not only are there still pages of ads and such that are tied to wedding planning (sign up for one helpful service and suddenly they're all after you) and job applications, but there are also letters from friends that I should find some way to respond to, but somehow don't seem capable of doing it. It's not even that I don't have time, but that I seem incapable of knowing where to even start, so I just don't start.
I think that's a good way to look at my life right now in general. There are so many things I could be doing, but I just get so overwhelmed by the sheer number of possibilities that I don't do much of anything. I read a little here, write a little there, help out in the kitchen, but have trouble really assessing what I've managed to do when I get to the end of the day.
I've long been aware that structure is important to my life. I work best when I have a plan and just know what is going to happen next, but I'm at a loss to know how to create a schedule when I have no idea what I really need to be doing. I know I need a job, but seem incapable of making that dream a reality. I know people are going to need food, but find myself craving my easy world where I made myself a fruit salad and felt like I'd done something good because I was happy with it. Everything in my world seems to have turned into some sloppy mess that is, as usual, completely out of my control.
So the time is blurring, and I'm ready to feel like I'm doing something for the greater good and not just sitting around and expanding. (sigh)

McWeddings...

Whilst casually flipping through the newest edition of Everyday with Rachel Ray I found a full page ad talking about the newest HK trend. Okay, it might not have hit trend level just yet, but I was still rather astounded by the very thought, and how much my husband would find it desirable. Hard to believe, but true. You can actually book a McDonalds wedding where they even provide things like "themed invitations" and a fabulous wedding "feast." The downside, if there could possibly be one, is that the restaurants are still open to the public, so you might be sitting there in your stunning gown and suddenly find a random person sitting right next to you dripping ice cream everywhere.
I remember when I first moved to HK how strange it was when people you didn't know would join your table at a restaurant. It's the sort of thing that American's with their need for a certain kind of privacy and personal space would never dream of doing. Funny how we think we need this personal body bubble, and yet we'll post things all over facebook... anyhow, I just found the whole thing rather amusing and absurd all at the same time.
My list of jobs applied to, in case your keeping track, now includes FedEx and Safeway. I actually think the Safeway Courtesy Clerk would be a sweet gig. I could bag groceries with a smile, and whisk them out to peoples' cars so I could feel all neighborly and helpful. Anything for a paycheck.
In other news, paperwork is tedious and frustrating because they can't ever just easily tell you exactly what they want on everything. I have become the queen of making coffee (seriously Starbucks, you're missing out!). I need to do laundry and clean out the refrigerator, especially since tomorrow is garbage day. That probably means the dead bird needs to be removed from the front lawn as well. I have achieved more crock pot wonder, but still feel incompetent when it comes to all things kitchen. Walks with the kids are getting me out of bed in the morning, and Rowan's imagination continues to be fabulous.
And finally, while it was a lot of stress and planning and stress, I'm glad I got married in a normal fashion and not in McDonalds...

A Small Accomplishment

It's kind of funny how much Mark and I have enjoyed cooking shows. On both sides of the world, we've found shows about culinary greats and wannabes that have highly entertained us. In Czech there was the celebrity cooking show as well as a couple shows with chef Zdeněk Pohlreich who helps restaurants improve the quality of their kitchens or challenges chefs to be the best they can be. Over here we actually have the Food Network. Can I just say there are a ridiculous number of highly entertaining cooking reality shows. From "Cupcake Wars" to "Chopped" they've got all kinds of kitchen drama.
I even occasionally look at my friend's food websites. Whether it is Crystal with her beautiful food photos and recipes, or Robin constantly wowing me with how many projects she manages to do while still producing a blog explaining how to get it all done, I'm more than impressed by what so many women manage to do.
While it may be true that in Hong Kong I often had to cook for as many as 15 people, what I produced was far from something spectacular. Basically, it was something to get them through evening shift without starving. Not that it was inedible, but it certainly wasn't anything exciting either. Basics. Pure and simple. Things quickly chopped up and served cold or thrown together at minimal risk and tossed in the oven for a while. Those are the sort of things that work for me. I was always thankful when there were enough people around that I only had to cook twice a month. Those days when I had to write up the schedule and sometimes put my name down more than twice in one week made me want to cringe.
Needless to say, cooking isn't my passion. I recently was reminded in a wedding card that I once said "For me, food is fuel." And that's the truth. It's something that my body has to have in order to keep going. Not that there aren't plenty of tasty dishes out there. Those Food Network shows even manage to make me salivate every now and again. But the thought of going out of my way every day to put something fantastic on the table is a huge stretch for my imagination. One one side food is fuel, and on the other side cooking is stress.
But these days I find myself a wife. That has to mean something, right? For a while in Czech I got all excited about wanting to cook for Mark, but life there was complicated and it just didn't end up happening very much, so that flame sorta died. My kitchen wows in Cheb focused on the likes of fruit salad and hot open faced sandwiches. So it's a bit of a struggle for me to suddenly need to feed more than just myself.
Now we come to the main point of this post. Beyond the fact that cooking doesn't give me any sort of thrill, I'm excessively paranoid about touching raw meat. It's just gross. Slimy, unsanitary, ugh. But yesterday...yesterday I cut chunks of fat off raw meat. I held it in my hands, I got goo everywhere. Then I put it in a crock pot under the direction of my sister Julie, and I produced an honest to goodness dinner. It's not likely that anyone will give me the honorary title of chef any time in the near future, and I'd likely even fail at "Worst Cooks in America" but it's a step in the right direction...right? And if nothing else, I've gotten really good at making the Czech version of Turkish coffee. If only Starbucks would get back to me on that job ap...

Time for a change

Can I just say that living out of a suitcase...well, basically it sucks! And that's essentially what I've been doing since July. JULY! That's a long time ago. That's also how long I've been unemployed. Seriously. SERIOUSLY. I'd be lying if I said I'd been scouring the earth for a job since then. No, first I was waiting on paperwork, then I was planning a wedding, and now...now I'm just waiting to figure things out.
Tomorrow Mark and I will be heading back to Moscow, ID where we get the privilege of filing paperwork once again. Time to pay the government once again, and ask them for a little piece of paper that says it's okay for my new husband to live with me here on this continent.
Wait a minute. Husband? Oh yeah, that's right. I got married. Yes. Me. The girl who has been whining about being alone and single for something like forever. I'm now...a Wife. Changes abound, eh? And yet it's still hard for me to really define what that means. What has really changed after all? As of yet I haven't started on the paperwork that would legally change my name as well. But it's all out there, waiting for me to put it into order. I'm not just me anymore. I'm now me as a part of someone else. Let me just state right here that when someone has been on their own alone for as long as I have, it's difficult to revamp life in order to fully take on another person. But it has happened.
I'm sure I should back log. I mean, obviously quite a lot has happened since we headed to the US back in November. But I sorta don't think I'll do that. It was kind of a black hole, and it's better to move forward than to spend all my time looking back.
The wedding was crazy and amazing and ethereal and so many other things. I was there in this beautiful dress, not really looking like myself, surrounded by all these amazing people that were there just to bless me. With the exception of Marek's parents, who were blessedly able to be there even after his mom being sicker the week before they were supposed to fly than she had been in years, everyone who was there was there because of me. What a blessing. I mean for real.
Despite all the concerns I had leading up to the wedding about everything falling into place, it really did. My whole family was there, which was positively brilliant, and I was able to have all my nieces and nephews involved in the wedding in one way or another. My only regret is that there weren't more people there for Mark. I can't imagine how it must have been for him, on this day that was also important for the rest of his life, not to have a contingent of well wishers there on his behalf as well. But we can't have everything in life the way we wish it could be, so I'm thankful that things went as smoothly as they did, and that, as has been spoken soooo many times to soooo many couples, at the end of the day we were married. And the two became one...
Since that time life went through more transitions and craziness. The day after the wedding we were back with the family, making it feel even more surreal. We opened gifts, and started saying goodbyes. Then Mark and I took his parents on a trip down the Oregon Coast all the way to Crescent City. Crazy to think that only a couple weeks later it was struck by a tsunami. A reminder of just how unpredictable life can be. It was great to introduce his family to the Pacific Ocean and the Redwoods, and the Sea Lion caves. We even had the bizarre experience of seeing snow on the beach. What a wild ride for sure.
They flew back to Czech on the 27th, and we had a moment alone to breath and to start trying to figure out what this whole being married thing means. We were blessed to have a short honeymoon on the Coast by ourselves, with beautiful accommodations thanks to my parents timeshare property. This past week I've been working on catching up on almost a month of journal writing, and trying to put the house in a bit of order. We're hoping to move into my grandparents old house in a few months so we can have a chance to figure out this life on our own a little better.
In the meantime, we're heading back to Moscow to get that paperwork out of the way and to hopefully dedicate a bit of time to our passions. That is, Mark and his music and me and my writing.
Life is strange and unpredictable to be certain. What a blessing to know that I am not in control, and that no matter how complicated and busy and confusing things may look from my point of view, God is there keeping it all on track.

Time is tickin' away...

The days are short before the big event, and I've definitely been running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I know it's far beyond time for an update, but the most I have to say is, wedding planning is a long process for something that will last one day. I'm super excited to see so many people I haven't seen in ages, but I know it will all be such a blur that I'll hardly remember who was even there in the end.
We're back in McMinnville now, trying to get the last minute things taken care of. I mean, I guess we really should have some sort of cake, right? And flowers are usually expected...So, as you can see, there are still a few details to fit into place.
Today, however, we're taking a wee bit of a break for a beach trip. Can I just say I LOVE the beach? I know that the Oregon coast is a far cry from the sun blasted beaches of Bali for example, but it holds a very fond place in my heart and I'm so excited to finally have a chance to introduce Mark to a place I've been blessed to love all my life.
We'll be heading to Lincoln City first, a place where I used to spend lots of time in the summers with my Grandparents. They used to have a beach house there, and every summer we'd to and stay with them there for a week while my parents were at their mission conference. It was always great to walk with Grandma on the beach, looking for smooth rocks to draw faces on, or beautiful shells and agates. So many memories.
From there we'll head down to Newport and then loop back over to Blodgett to do a bit more of that wedding kind of research.
Hard to believe that in less than two weeks I'll be a married woman...but for now, off to the beach!

Oh the joys of transience

I'm feeling overwhelmed, out of my element, and generally confused about pretty much everything. Christmas is only a few short days away. We're heading down to Medford on Wednesday so hopefully the weather will be good. All Janet's boys are home now so it will be great to see them all.
It's also now less than two months until my wedding. It's still so unreal. Having trouble processsing where I am and wht I really need to do. At least I have this super cool new phone that allows me to blog where ever I happen to sit at the moment.
My head is awhirl with it all... I want to drink in these moments, but instead find myself waking up in the night with noclue how to make everything come out right.
But it is almost Christmas. Nearly the day we celebrate the. Birth of our Savior, the one who is truly in control. So in the midst of my inner mayhem and stress this is what I must cling to, and in this alone can I truly rejoice. May God bless you all in the days to come as the new year awaits us just around the corner. And in the holiday spirit of cliches that still ring true, may you remember that Jesus is the reason for the season!

Chaos!

That's a pretty good title and explanation for no new blog updates for the past few weeks. It's been a roller coaster trip through paperwork and train rides, trying to tie up loose ends and prepare for the future.
I've heard stories about people who did things differently. Rumors that there is some easy way, some way that isn't so time consuming and expensive. And maybe it really does exist. But I've also heard horror stories. I've watched Green Card. I know there are things that can and do go wrong, and the potential costs and years that could be required to make them all right. Those are all things I really didn't want to have to deal with. So we went about the visa process as laid before us by the US government pages. It wasn't always easy or cost efficient, but it was legal and we did manage without the help of a lawyer, which did save us a pretty penny.
I won't bore you with the details of rushing from town to town for apostilles (a word which does exist but never wants to be accepted because it's just such a strange thing. A stamp to prove that another stamp and signature are valid. What?) and every single piece of paper required, but I'll tell you that it was a hectic back and forth sort of battle, full of nerves and stress at almost every corner. It's not like either Mark or I had ever done anything like this before, so every step along the way was something new and uncertain. For all the international traveling I've done, there has always been someone else who handled the visas. I have much more empathy for them now to be certain. When I think of all the red tape Amy had to go through to get me back to HK, I shudder and offer up a HUGE thank you!
Anyhow, the culmination of this story resulted in an interview being set. This wasn't so easy as we'd hoped either, because after being given a list of potential dates, we weren't able to reach the office by phone and our e-mails weren't answered. It seems the person responsible was on holiday and didn't think to set up an automated response so that we could breathe. In the end, Mark called at a time when we'd been informed that they wouldn't be available because they were doing interviews at that time, and we were given an interview time in the slot when we'd been told they would be free to take phone calls. Hmmm...anyone have the feeling there are some gaps in the US Embassy system? Either way, it worked, and that was what was important.
We had our appointment in the afternoon, so there was time to take the train in to Prague that day, which was nice, rather than having to stay in a hostel again. We were both quite nervous, and had come loaded with photos, e-mails, and anything else we could use to prove that our relationship was valid, as well as the beautiful engagement ring that is glowingly on my finger

Sorry for the greasy hair in this shot. Did I mention things have been hectic?
Anyhow, we turned in the official packet of stuff required and then sat to wait. We were the only ones in the room, which was nice and gave us the chance to enjoy the beautiful ceilings and try to talk about things that aren't so stressful. Then a man called us up to the counter and started telling us what things are going to be like in the future. He had us switch sides and took Mark's fingerprints, and then continued telling us how long to allot for going through immigration once we got stateside, and what they would do to process us there.
We were a bit confused. Where were the questions about toothbrush photos and distant family relatives? Or at the very least, where did we meet. I think he did say something to the effect of, "So you two want to get married right? And you know it has to be within 90 days of when you get to the US." He made some jokes about people who go through all this work and then change their mind at the end of the 90 days because really the person just wanted to travel. Let me tell you, that was a waste of their time and money. There are MUCH easier ways to get tourist visas.
Anyhow, the next thing we knew he was asking if WE had any questions. Mark asked if he wanted to see the photo album, etc, and he said, "no, you're clearly over prepared." He then went on to point out that we are obviously in a real relationship and that is what is important for this kind of visa. He said we were comfortable touching each other, and didn't jump away at the slightest arm grave having only met each other the week before. It was also clear that we could communicate in the same language, and that I wasn't old enough to be his grandmother. Images of some of the cases he must have seen come through passed across my mind. So basically that was it. Except that they had to process the finger prints and facial scan and have us pick it up on Friday.
When we left the office we were excited but still a bit confused. Could it possibly have been that easy? But Friday came, we got the visa, and the truth was in Mark's passport. It really did work out just as they had said it would.
So now we're gearing up for the big trip to America. Mark is now the owner of luggage and we've been starting the process of going through things to see what we'll take and what will stay. We're flying out on the 29th, so the time is short. We'll take another weekend trip to Germany to see his sister and family, and do all we can to work on saying good bye and preparing for whatever God has in store for us next. These are crazy times to be alive for sure!

Julie is married!!!

First task on the list for this year's Christmas break: make it to Julie's wedding.
That might not sound very difficult. I mean, I bought the tickets, I packed my bags, I took the train to the airport the night before my flight and "slept" there, so you'd think that it would follow quite easily that once I was through security I'd have no trouble getting to the wedding. Of course, if you really think this way then you've probably never flown anywhere. Especially not internationally.
After saying goodbye to Mark in the security line I hurried to my gate and looked at my boarding passes. Now I've always known that the departure time and boarding time are not exactly the same, but generally I'd expect when you order tickets they'll offer you flights that you can actually make. This time, however, as I looked at my tickets I realized that my arrival time was ten minutes after I was supposed to begin boarding my next flight. Having never flown into the Warsaw airport I had no idea if I would be able to make such a tight schedule, and when our flight was delayed by ten or twenty minutes my worries escalated. Fortunately, there were at least ten or twelve other people on my current flight booked on the same flight to Chicago, and it was the same airline, Polish Air LOT. All the same, I was nervous, and spent the whole flight reminding myself that God is in control and I am not and there was nothing I could do in the meantime. To make matters worse, we were on one of those little planes that they land far from the gates and then you have to take a bus to get to the terminal, so even though we were first off the plane we had to wait for everyone else to get off anyway.
You should have seen the group of us running through the Warsaw airport. We pushed it for sure, rushing through passport control and through security to get to our gate, only to discover our next flight had been delayed so we were in good order.
The good things about this fact:
1.)We got on the plane
2.)Our luggage also had a chance to make it on the plane.
The not so great things about this:
1.) Our plane left about an hour after it was scheduled to leave.
2.)The two hours I was supposed to have between landing and boarding in Chicago were reduced to about an hour.
Now an hour might be enough time in general between flights, but this was an international flight. That means that, after arrival we had to reclaim our bags, go through customs, recheck our bags, go on a train to a totally different terminal (mine was the farthest possible from my starting point) go through security once again, race from the front of the terminal through the underground passage and then to the far end of the terminal. Needless to say I was a bit out of breath. Especially since my luggage didn't arrive until the 3rd little burst or bags which had about a five minute delay in between. All the same, I did make it to my flight on time. It too, had been briefly delayed. Sadly it wasn't delayed quite long enough for my bags to show up in Portland when I did arrive at last. (sigh)
It was great to be greeted by Janet, Ryder, Tyler and Jack at the baggage claim from which I did not claim any baggage. After filing my claim and giving them the address of the hotel I was going to be staying at we continued out of the airport and off to Taco Bell, my joyous return to stateside dining ;)
My first night back in the US was spent at a lovely Salem hotel, no doubt the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in, celebrating Julie's last night as a single woman. It was nothing crazy, but it was great fun to be with her and Jessie and a few of her other close friends. Jessie went home for the night, seeing as she has motherly duties to attend to, and the rest of us talked until around 2 AM. So crazy to think that little Julie, who I have had the privilege to know since she was 14 and sometimes the annoyance of knowing from the age of 6 (ha ha ha) is now a married woman. What an amazing thing. I've seen her grow up from the little six year old who bit me into a truly amazing woman who I am blessed to call my friend and little sister.
I woke up around 6 and went down to see if my bag had, indeed, arrived. Sadly it wasn't there. After a call to United, they assured me it would be there by 11 (which was consequently when we needed to check out of the hotel.) We had a lovely breakfast in the hotel, and then people started getting ready for the day. My bag did show up around 9, so I was able to have a dress to wear to the wedding after all. Jessie came back to join us and then we headed over for Julie's hair appointment. Then it was off to Jefferson, with a stop at Dutch Brothers on the way where I got a most scrumptious candy cane mocha.
The wedding was a truly lovely affair. I was there for all the hug support that Julie needed, as well as checking on little details, like placement of corsages and boutonnières, making sure that the mix of music I made for the event was ready to be played, adjusting the blanket and petals for Citlati and Dylan's wagon, and telling people to head on inside so we could get things started. It all turned out fabulously.
The wedding was lovely, and the reception was a lot of fun. Janet and the boys were there as well so we sat together and just enjoyed the festivities. I helped with some of the clean up, then we headed back to McMinville where I crashed out by 9.
Here are a few pics to commemorate the occasion.




I give you the happy couple: Chad and Julie Granum!