Luke&Angela

Europe

2011-11-17T17:00:00.001-08:00

The British Invasion

2011-11-16T09:23:00.001-08:00

From Paris we travelled to London where we stayed for sevennights with our friends Justin and Nicole Collins and their baby girl,Hadessah. Nicole and I met at Northwest University and we became fast friends.It was so much fun to stay with them and we laughed quite a bit! Justin is aregular ‘ole travel guide and was so excited to show us around central London.They live outside of central London in a borough called Harlesden. From therewe were able to take the overground and the underground to different areas thatwe were interested in. Our first outingwas to the Richmond area of London. This was a very cute area with lots ofshops as well as what used to be the Royal hunting grounds. The park area wasbeautiful and all the leaves were falling making it a very nice stroll. We alsodid a day trip to Windsor Castle, which is said to be the Queen’s favoriteresidence. The castle was very beautiful and we were able to see many of therooms that the royal family actually uses when in residence. There was an amazingdoll house that was a gift to Queen Victoria. It is a fully functioning replicaof a palace and I can’t imagine how fun it would be to play with it. Ourfavorite sight in London was the tower bridge which we were able to see atnight. It was very spectacular and Luke took some amazing pictures. London atnight is much more magical than during the day. On our last afternoon there, wewalked through Hyde Park which is an open forum on Sundays for debates to takeplace. Anyone who cares to can stand on a small ladder and speak out to thecrowds. Some people were there to speak for Christianity, some for Islam, andothers were speaking just to speak so it seemed. This was really interestingbecause the Muslim population is huge in London and so they were quite a fewdebates going on about the Bible versus the Koran. Luke and Justin reallyenjoyed this scene, I felt it was a little off putting because a lot of peoplewere heckling and it was not friendly. There was one conversation that we foundvery interesting. A Muslim man was trying to argue against the bible and he wasvery abrasive. Another man who was a Christian from the Middle East, and Ithink converted from Islam, was arguing with him. They obviously did not likeeach other but the Christian man kept saying that only people who speak Arabiccan fully understand the Koran. There were quite a few young men there and hewas asking them to speak Arabic and he would tell them where they come frombecause of their dialect. It was very interesting and he was right about whereeach person was from. It really did make us think about why we are Christiansand why we CHOOSE to serve the Lord and believe what we believe. It alsoreminded us that our daily lives are a testimony to what we put in our heartsand the time, or lack of time, we spend in the word and prayer is veryimportant to our walk. It would be a very challenging thing to stand on aladder and face derision and heckling because I believe in Jesus. But that isalso why it is important to be able to articulate why we love Jesus and to beable to openly share about him, something that seems to be becoming less andless acceptable in the U.S.

We left London from the King’s Cross station and passed byplatform 9 ¾ thank you very much! We were very pleased about our little HarryPotter experience. Our next stop was Edinburgh, Scotland. I loved Edinburgh! Itwas such a cute, medieval town and it was so much more wonderful becauseeveryone spoke English, something we really have appreciated since being in theUK. We were able to tour the castle and the Queen’s residence, Holyrood, whichwere pretty grand. We also walked around Arthur’s seat, an enormous hill whichyou can also walk up. We opted not to since we didn’t really have proper shoesor clothes. The Royal Mile which is the main road that stretches from thecastle to the palace is lined with shops and restaurants. I found a storecalled ‘Ness’ which is the cutest shop full of women’s clothing andaccessories. There were two on the Mile and I made Luke go in both even thoughthey really had the same things. We also saw the café where J.K. Rowlings wrotethe first Harry Potter. Edinburgh has one of the best museums we have ever beento. It was full of interactive things and covered history from the start withlots of special exhibits about different cultures. There was even an exhibitabout the Yupik people of Alaska which was cool. Luke’s favorite area was theone on sharks. He really loves those guys. Our Bed and Breakfast was so cuteand comfy and they served warm breakfast though the scrambled eggs more closelyresembled a mush and were not what we were used to. We thoroughly enjoyed ourstay in Scotland and agreed that we need to make a return trip to do exploringoutside of Edinburgh.

From Scotland we trained to North Wales where we stayed in avery small town called Conwy. It is enclosed inside its original medieval walland had a medieval castle. It was very small but very cute and it was nice tobe able to enjoy a small town with a history. We were a little disappointedwith the restaurants we ate at. The first night there, we were so hungry andthe places our B&B host recommended were closed, so we winded up going to alittle café like place. It was bland and tasteless though I ordered mushroom soupwhich I did not like but which Luke thought was so tasty and ate right up. Lukedoes not even like mushrooms so I was very proud. The next day we had lunch ata pub and we ordered scones with butter and when they were brought to ourtable, besides being really small, they were pre-smothered in butter and jam.It was a far cry from the delicious scones we had in Scotland. Did I alreadymention that I love Scotland?

From Wales we took a ferry to Dublin. Now we have ferries inSeattle and I have never been seasick while riding a ferry. But this particularcrossing was extremely rough and even walking to the bathroom was a challengebecause of the swaying. Needless to say, I winded up spending most of the ridein the bathroom throwing up. Not the best way to begin my Irish experience. Sohere we are and we spend three days in Dublin and then begin our journey home,which we are both very excited for. Our original plan was to spend a coupledays in Galway but our plans fell through so we spent that time in Walesinstead. We are little sad about our time here because of how tired and readywe are to go home. Hopefully we can push though for a couple more days ofsightseeing as we wrap up our trip!

Viva Paris

2011-11-05T15:03:00.000-07:00

So our last days in Paris were busy ones. We realized that we had been alittle too laid back and that we had a few things we still wanted to see andnot much time. This included heading to the Orsay museum, seeing the LuxembourgGardens, visiting the graveyard where Jim Morrison and Chopin were buried andgoing up and in the Eiffel Tower. We also took a short cruise on the riverSeine. The OrsayMuseum was filled with paintings by some very famous artistsincluding Monet, Van Gogh, Renoir and many others. We actually enjoyed this museummore than the Louvre. We went in the evening which was cheaper and was kind offun since we haven't really been out that late except to see the EiffelTower. We spent about 4 hours wondering around and Luke and I actually split upand toured a large part of the museum separately.

The gardens in Paris are beautiful and we especially enjoyed Luxembourg.Lots of statues and flowers and tons of chairs so that people can sit and enjoythe views. The cemetery was actually very interesting and we wished we had moretime there because there were quite a few famous people that were buried there.However, our time was very limited because after seeing Chopin's grave we hadto hurry and see Morrison's. When it is time for the graveyard to close, staffwonder around ringing bells and rounding up the people. So our timethere was quick but it was fun to be rounded up by a bell and escorted to theexit.

On Sunday morning before we left, we went to the tower at 9:00 a.m. andstood in line for about 90 minutes. We then were squeezed into an elevator andtaken up to the second level, where we then had to walk around the base andsqueeze into another line to get on a different elevator to go to the top. Nowit felt like a process to see the famous site but we read that it was justsomething you had to do. From the very top of the tower, you can see an amazingpanoramicview of Paris. It was a little high to distinguish actual sights but still agreat view. The next deck is the second level which you get back in a line to godown the elevator to but the view is much better and you can easily spotlandmarks. We had fun being inside the Eiffel Tower and felt like it was worththe cost and time.

Paris was such a wonderful place to stay and we are so thankful that we hadthe opportunity to stay there. Although, we highly recommend learning conversationalFrench though you can get by without. We also recommend learning the publictransit system which really makes you feel connected to the city. Our lastmemory there will be riding on the metro to make it to the train station tocatch the Eurostarto London. Our first mistake was that we had the wrong departure time so weactually were already running late without knowing it (when I say we, I meanLuke). Our second mistake, or rather issue, was that the metro we were on whichwas a direct route all of a sudden went out of service. However, that and thereasons why were all broadcasted in French so we had to scramble and take twodifferent metro lines to get to the train station. This means that we missedour train to London. However, the staff was very helpful and we were able toget on the next Eurostartrain to London at no additional cost. It was a bit of a hectic way to leaveParis but something we figure we'll remember.

We are finding that as we work our way to Dublin, where we end our trip,that we are actually very anxious for home. As of today we have been travelingfor 10 weeks. That's a long time to be living out of a suitcase and to beliving like a nomad. We are missing the comforts of our own space and bed aswell as our family and friends! It is exciting to be here in Europe but it alsomakes us thankful for a stable place to live and a routine. We are looking forwardto the holidays and comfort that only our home can give!

The River

2011-10-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

After leaving Volterra and heading north to Florence, we knew we only had 2 days to experience all the city had to offer. This was our first "short" stop of our trip after 2 weeks in Rome, 5 days in Amalfi and another 5 days in Tuscany. With this in mind, it seems we didn't take many pictures in Florence (compared to the numbers Luke had previously clocked per day on his camera in the other regions).

We hit a couple great museums and saw the big sights (including the Duomo Cathedral and the Ponte Vecchio on the River Arno). We also got to hang out a little bit with Luke's friend Brian and Brian's wife, Jen. It was a crazy coincidence that their vacation crossed ours not only in Florence, but also in the Cinque Terre a few days after Florence.

This is the front of the giant church in Florence, simply called the "Duomo" by most, because of the giant Dome that the church is famous for.

Another angle on the Duomo. It was a beautiful church on the outside, but the inside wasn't that impressive compared to the churches we had seen up to this point.

This is the square outside the Duomo. Everything in Florence seems to have this hue that makes you feel extra romantic.

It was an impressive church. We visited the museum right behind it which contains all of the artwork and cool stuff that would typically be inside the church, but for some reason they put it all in this little museum.

This is Jen and Brian on our first night in Florence. We got to have dinner with them and then did some exploring around Florence. We had a great time and hope that our vacations connect again in years to come!

On our second day in Florence, we actually scaled the Dome of the Duomo. It was a lot of steps and in this shot, Angela is standing between the outer dome and the inner dome, which helped the architect create such a big dome so many years ago.

Florence looked awesome from the top of the Duomo. It has a reddish gold glow that makes you feel very "laid back".

Although I guess if you are scared of heights the glow might not help too much.

Luke is feelig laid back at the top of the Dome.

The Bell Tower and church under the Dome.

This is the bridge that led to our lodging's street. We loved the bridges in Florence. We wouldn't swim in the Arno, but it was cool to look at.

That is the Ponte Vecchio behind Angela (and in the next couple pictures). It is a world famous bridge. Ponte = Bridge.

Ponte Vecchio and Luke.

Ponte Vecchio in Florence, Italy.

Ponte Vecchio and rower.

Ponte alla Carraia and rower.

Reddish Gold Glow... don't you think?

Angela and Luke on the Dome.

All Along the Watchtower

2011-10-27T18:12:00.000-07:00

Following up our post about being in Paris, of course we need to post some pictures of our time in Tuscany a month ago... Well, we promise to get some of our pictures up of Paris soon, but we definitely wanted to show some of our pictures from earlier in our trip to eventually show all the places we've visited.

After leaving the Amalfi Coast in September, we took the train to Florence and rented a car to drive all over the Tuscany region of Italy. We stayed in a small town called Volterra on a hill in Northwest Tuscany. We really enjoyed our time in Tuscany. It was really only marred by our frustrations with the road system in Italy (that was tough to learn) and our lodging accommodations at a small Convent in Volterra (because of the room, we were not able to sleep very well, unfortunately). We visited about a dozen towns in the Tuscany region and had a couple days of sporadic showers (the most spectacular of which was while we were at the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa). But the weather was mostly great. The region was gorgeous, but we seemed to have come after the harvest season and most of Tuscany seemed freshly plowed. Angela put her aggressive driving to good use, and really seemed to fit in with the other drivers in Italy. Luke put his expert navigation skills to the test to figure out how to traverse the region without a GPS unit in the car. We were also up against the clock each day, as our Convent keepers told us that our curfew was 10pm and we would be locked out for the night if we weren't inside by then.

We really did like Tuscany as a whole, and hope to come back some day before the harvest season.

Luke was always trying to capture the Tuscan countryside.

This is Volterra, the town we stayed in during our Tuscany time. Angela was very excited about Volterra, because it is menioned in the "Twilight" Books.

Volterra

Orvieto, our first "Hill Town". Technically, I beleive the first couple towns we visited were in Umbria and not Tuscany, but it was all gorgeous.

The neighborhoods in these hill towns spill down the side of the hill in a cascade of rooftops. Orvieto.

Orvieto.

Civita, probably one of the coolest (and smallest) towns we visited.

And one of the most picturesque...

Definitely frameable.

This will be hanging on our wall someday... probably in the garage.

Civita.

This is the main town square in Civita... it makes up about a quarter of the town I think.

Civita and Luke.

If we were going to live in Civita, this would be our house.

The front gate to Civita.

On our way back to Volterra from Civita, we discovered this little resort town on a lake called Bolsena. It was just like a little southern Californa town, but with Italian people. We loved it and wished we could stay there longer... but we were worried about our curfew!

On our 2nd full day in Tuscany, we went to Pisa, famous for it's leaning tower.

The Leaning Tower is located in the "Field of Miracles" with a large Cathedral (center) and a Baptistry (in the forground). Can you see those clouds in the sky as well... don't they look ominous?

This picture was taken at the top of the Leaning Tower, shortly after the downpour started. We were literally stuck at the top and had to find shelter next to the large Bell because they would not let us down the slick stairs at first. So in the extreme downpour, lightning and thunder, we took pictures and video and hoped the tower would not lean any further (tipping us over the edge). Angela stayed in good spirits and we both nervously giggled every time the lightning lit up the sky and the thunder roared.

On our way back from Pisa and Lucca, we stopped at San Gimignano, just north of Volterra. We really liked this small hill town as well. It was very Midieval looking and we could imagine ourselves living in those times easily in this town.

Luke was very excited to go to Assisi, the hometown of St. Francis. It was definitely one of the most interesting towns we visited, but also one of the most touristy in many ways. This is a picture of the Basilica of St. Clare.

Cool looking castle above the town... check!

Cool watchtower and ramparts above the town... check!

We didn't go in this castle, but it was definitely impressive up above Assisi.

Angela looking back from her view over the Assisi's countryside.

Cool looking castle above the town... check again (it was that impressive)!

Duomo of San Rufino in Assisi. Angela was sitting in a nearby cafe having some coffee while this was taken... she was already getting really good at sitting in cafe's.

Right about the time we were looking at San Rufino's Duomo, the clouds started looking ominous.

The little town of Assisi has a ton of cool looking churches, both big and small.

We had another rain storm in Assisi, but we just went to our car to get our rain gear and toughed it out... we ARE from the Pacific Northwest. This little Angel didn't seem to mind the rain at all though.

This is the Basilica of St. Francis. It was very cool looking, especially with the statue of the horse and rider opposite (I believe the horse and rider symbolize Peace).

The rain started up again about the time we were heading in to the Basilica. We got to go down and see St. Francis tomb... so we are pretty sure he IS dead.

On the way back from Assisi we stopped in a small hill town called Cortona. This is it's main town square I believe.

Cortona had really great views of the surrounding countryside.

Would it be easiery to live at the top or bottom of one of these neighborhoods?

The sun kept peaking out of the clouds and you couldn't help but be inspired by Tuscany!

Cortona, Italy.

As Angela drove, Luke would continually pop his head and camera out of the window to try and capture the beauty of the Tuscan Countryside. The pictures down't do it justice though. It was gorgeous.

Tuscany

Grapes in Tuscany.

On our last full day in Tuscany we visited Siena. If we only had one day to come back to Tuscany, I think we both agree we would go back to Siena.

There are a lot of bells and crosses in Italy, and Siena was no exception.

Basilica of San Domenico, Siena.

Duomo in Siena.

The architecture in Siena is so unique with it's glaring white Cathedral and other structures (Baptistry, Bell Tower, etc).

So white!

The world famous Piazza del Campo. The main square of Siena.

This was probably one of the coolest Piazza's we saw in Italy. Piazza del Campo. Siena, Italy.

We probably could have spent many, many hours here in the Piazza... stupid curfew!!!

Angela... relaxing at another cafe. Piazza del Campo.

We visited a museum in Siena that had great views of the entire city. So this is a birds eye view (if the bird were perched atop this museum we were at) of Siena.

Bell Tower and Baptistry of Siena.

Another Bird's eye view. The colors of Siena were so dramatic and cool.

This is a "Luke's Eye View" of the Duomo.

One last shot of Siena.

Can I have a farm in Tuscany? I will split it with you.

This is the courtyard of the convent we stayed at in Volterra. See those doors at the end? We feared the locking of those doors every evening we drove back. They were really nice though. But our room seemed as if it hadn't changed since the middle ages. And the room would get so hot at night, we didn't sleep much. And pretty sure there were g-g-g-ghosts... but don't tell Angela that.

Tuscan hillsides.

Just outside of Volterra, there was a giant letter "O" (at least, we think it was... it could have been a zero maybe or an unfinished "8" or something). We couldn't resist taking a picture with it, but we still don't know what it was for. Luke's best guess is that they are going to spell out "VOLTERRA", and started with the letter "O" because they got a good deal on it. Next year, they are hoping for a price break for the two "R"s.

Angela on a Tuscan Hillside... can't tell which is more lovely. Wait, it's Angela! I should have just said that first.

Tuscany, Italy.

Someday I want a house with a tree lined driveway... in Tuscany.

Grape Fields in Tuscany.

One last look at Tuscany on our way to Florence.

I Love Paris

2011-10-26T11:21:00.000-07:00

Bonjour! We have been in Paris for over two weeks now and this will be thecity that we spend the most time in. So far, it is better than I thought it wasgoing to be. I was a little worried about the language issue since we heard andread that Parisians were "snooty" towards Americans that don't speakFrench. However, in our experience, it is a small percentage and we don't takeit personally and so aren't bothered by it. We just try to say our pleases andthank you's often and in French and that seems to be enough.

We decided to spend almost three weeks here because we thought we would bevery tired by the time we actually made it to Paris. I did quite a bit of researchto find a flat to rent; which arrondissement was the best and which monumentdid we want to be closest to. I would just like to say, I chose very well :)Our flat is on a main road near the metro and plenty of shops. It is a cutestudio with a great bathroom and an odd piece of art on the wall above our bed.It was exactly like what I saw online, which is very relieving because youreally can never be sure what you are getting into. There is a market outsideour window twice a week which I go to every time; in fact this morning we gotsome quiche to eat for brunch. Everything I need is in walking distance,including the Eiffel Tower. While we can't see the actual tower from ourwindows, we can see the spotlights that twirl around the sky every night. I findit almost more satisfying to walk around the corner and spot the amazinglandmark. In Seattle we have the Space Needle which is nice and big, but I amnot sure anything can quite compare to the Eiffel. It is lit up at night andsparkles at 8:00 every evening and in almost any part of the city, you can lookover and see the tower. I'll wager that Luke will have taken about 1,000pictures of just the Eiffel by the time we leave here. As Paris is fairly wellknown for the tower, I am glad that it didn't disappoint.

Since coming to Paris our travel pace has slowed down quite a bit. We wentfrom filling every day with massive amounts of activities in an attempt to maximize our time. But here in Paris, having our own space andbeing able to make our own meals, has made us feel more relaxed. Some days wedo almost nothing which really makes us feel like we are on vacation. Thoughobviously this whole trip is a vacation, being able to be stationary has madeit more so. Our first week here we tried to familiarize ourselves with the cityand orient to the different neighborhoods. We found it wasn't very confusingand that the Metro is our friend, connecting us within minutes to almost everysight we hoped to see. Our neighborhood is technically in the 15th district butis also very close to the Montparnasse neighborhood and the Latin Quarter. Bothhave cute shops, cafes and feel very urban. We went to church in this area toHillsong Paris, a sister church of the ministry in Australia. The worship wasin French and the sermon was in English. It was a great service and it was funto experience worship music in French.

We of course went to the famous Musee du Louvre in the 1st district. Now we spent6 hours there and I think there was still more to see. In Italy we went to a plethoraof museums and so we didn't really feel the need to make the Louvre experiencemore than a day, though it would probably be better as a two-day sight. Therewere quite a few interesting paintings and I had to literally fight my way tothe front of the crowd to see the Mona Lisa, though Luke felt ok with seeingher smile from a distance. I also ran into a doctor from Bethel, AK while wewere in the museum which is pretty crazy. The area that the Louvre is located isvery pretty as is the museum itself. Nearby, there is a huge garden and quite a few other museums worth seeing,including the Orangerie which has Picasso's and Monet's. It also is right nextto the Seine River which is lined with stands filled with books. Further downthe Seine on the Ile de la Cite, is the Notre-Dame Cathedral andSainte-Chappelle, a not as well-known gothic church. The Marais neighborhood isalso within walking distance and is filled with trendy shops and also houses a large Jewishscene. There were quite a few vintage shops I went to in this neighborhood,though to be honest, the stores felt like the Goodwill and I didn't find anytreasures. This neighborhood is also suppossed to have the best falafel which I am hoping to try before we leave.

The Arc de Triomphe had a great view of the city and is also where Paris' grandboulevard, Champs-Elysees begins. This street is very long, filled with shopsand hundreds of people! It was a bit overwhelming though, especially since we were there mid-dayon a weekend which probably wasn't the best time to go. We also were able to goto royal palace at Versailles. This was one of my favorite experiences andreally added to our interest in French history. The grounds are astounding, theinside of the palace is full of original pieces and Marie-Antoinette's personalvillage is beautiful! We walked around the palace and grounds for about seven hours. It was completely worth my aching feet!

I don't feel that I can adequately describe how beautiful Paris is or howmuch fun we are having. There is always something to see here or do and thecity landscape is riddled with historical landmarks. I love walking around andseeing history and knowing that I have stood where historical figures havebeen. Drinking coffee is more fun here and there is a cafe on every corner. Welove people watching and find the scam artist crowd the most amusing to observe. People are constantly out and about and the citydoesn't really seem to sleep, something we can attest to since we get to hearit at night.

We are sad that we have to leave in five days and are hoping tosqueeze in a few more sights including the Orsay Museum and Luxembourg Gardens.Our favorite pictures will follow in the next couple of days. We are so excited that so many people seem to like reading our blog. It is fun to share our experiences and makes us feel closer to home, friends and our families.

War

2011-10-25T16:26:00.000-07:00

As promised, here are some of our pictures from our time in Normandy, France. We really enjoyed seeing the locations where a major piece of history took place. Angela and I have been reading about World War II for a long time and being in the same places where men fought and died for their country really hit home for us.

Angela and I in front of the Caen WWII Memorial Museum. We spent over 7.5 hours here and it was a great start to our time in Normandy.

We really liked the old posters from both sides of the fight.

We mentioned this plaque in our previous post. We are probably biased, but thought this was poorly phrased by the French.

Angela at Gold Beach near Arromanches. That is a piece of the old makeshift port (Mulberry) in the background that the Allies used to land so much equipment necessary for the push inland on and after D-Day.

A Cannon at Gold Beach.

We visited some Nazi fortifications above Gold and Omaha Beach at Longues-Sur-Mer.

These were well hidden gun placements.

This is the lookout at Longues-Sur-Mer that communicated to the guns where to shoot.

We visited the American WWII Cemetary above Omaha Beach as well. We spent a lot of time there.

We hiked down to Omaha Beach from the cemetary.

Omaha Beach. It is a huge beach and it is hard to imagine how many men had to cross it at low tide.

Angela and Luke at Omaha Beach.

Our last stop that day was at Point Du Hoc. This is the monument to the Rangers that had to climb the steep cliff to take the placement that overlooked both Omaha and Utah Beaches.

The Cliffs were very steep and we read about how difficult it was to climb up amid enemy fire.

Point Du Hoc was one of the most bombed fortifications in Normandy and all the craters are still there. Most of them were deeper than both Angela and I put together. I can't imagine being a German at this fortification. So many craters and all of them so deep. It must have been a nightmare.

This is the primary lookout on the point. The monument below represents a Ranger Dagger, and is sticking in the top of the above fortification/lookout.

The Ranger Monument.

On our 4th day in Normandy, we took a day trip to Mont St. Michel, a small island with a huge Mideval Church and town on it.

The view on the road to the island.

You actually can't really call it an island these days because most of the time it is just a mud flat. We saw a lot of people walking between the small islands across the mud. They seemed to be having a great time.

That is the big Church structure in the background on Mont St. Michel.

This is part of the little town on the island.

It was really a pretty cool place.

We spent our last full day in Normandy back on the "war path". We headed to Ste. Mere Eglise on the Penninsula where many of the Airborne troops landed and fought Germans the night before D-Day. One Paratrooper landed on the corner of this church and they put a parachute up there in recent years to commemorate it. Check out the movie "The Longest Day", which highlights the battles here.

A Tank at the Airborne Museum in Ste. Mere Eglise.

We loved the Museums in the area that showed actual equipment from the troops.

And we always like the cool posters from the war days.

At the Airborne Museum in Ste. Mere Eglise.

Ste. Mere Eglise

Outside of St Marie Dumont we found this memorial of the actions of Easy Company (as seen in "Band of Brothers" from HBO) when taking the guns at Brecourt Manor. We drove right next to the Manor.

We looked all around St. Marie Dumont, where this picture was taken. Easy Company helped to take this town.

St. Marie Dumont held a lot of history for the war, and a lot of it surrounded this church in the very center.

A tank at Utah Beach.

Utah Beach was pretty incredible as well. Several Monuments were dedicated to the different troops that helped make the landing a success.

Utah Beach was not as long or as wide as Omaha (from what we saw), but still must have been incredibly challenging for the landing of so many Americans.

Angela at Utah Beach.

We went to this small Museum (Dead Man's Corner Museum). We were only there for a little while, but it had some very interesting things in it. This spot was where some major fighting took place on the road to Carentan. Carentan had to be taken to unite the 2 American Beach Heads (Utah and Omaha).

I guess a bunch of American soldiers signed this Nazi flag.

Our last stop of the last day (before heading back to our hotel in Bayeux) was back at Omaha Beach. Luke is standing on a washed up section of a Mulberry (temporary Harbor) at the West end of the beach.

Hotel Casino at the West end of Omaha Beach.

There were several monuments on Omaha Beach. We appreciated them all.

This is the big church in Bayeux where our Hotel was. It was untouched during the war it sounds like.

Bayeux was a classic Norman town. We were really glad we got to stay there.

Bayeux, France.

Here Comes The Sun

2011-10-24T12:24:00.000-07:00

I know we said we would post some pictures of our time in France and Normandy to accompany the last post, but before we do that, I had some pictures from our time on the Amalfi Coast that I wanted to post. As it gets cooler here in Paris where we are currently staying, I think back to the warm sun of the Amalfi Coast in central Italy. These pictures make us feel a little warmer. We hope they do the same for you.

Positano

Amalfi Town

That is Capri Island in the backgrond

Mount Vesuvius

Sorrento

Blue Grotto

Island of Capri

Amalfi Town again

Bus-ing along the Amalfi Coast

Capri

Positano

Sorrento

Ooh La La

2011-10-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

Just so you know- we officially love France!!

I’m sorry that this is so long but we had a lot of ground to cover and wealso want to be able to look back and read where we have been. Luke will follow up with a post containing pictures. So powerthrough :)

Our first stop was Nice on the French Riviera. Unfortunately, we arrivedmid-day without eating and so our first French experience was not our favorite.The French have very specific meal times. Lunch is between 12:00 and 2:00 p.m.and dinner starts at 7:00 p.m. This meant that our 3 p.m. arrival left us withlittle options. We winded up eating at a shabby outdoor cafe with a veryunfriendly, non- English speaking French man. After traveling from Venice forover 6 hours, it was a disappointing first encounter. Since Luke and I werefeeling so comfortable with the Italian we picked up, it felt like a rockystart to a new language. However, we still managed to walk around the city andsee some great views. The weather was warm and sunny and there is nothing quite like a French sunset. We didn't get toexplore as much as would have liked but felt that coast was for sure worth thestop. The beach was beautiful and we winded up walking for quite a while. Andif you heard that the French are comfortable sans bathing suits, you wereright! We had to advert our eyes on quite a few occasions. For dinner we found a very nice little restaurant and hadour main staple, pizza :) The staff was very friendly and didn't mind our poorFrench. The next day we picked up our rental car and I successfully drove us toMonaco! We were really excited to go there to see the famous casino, theMonte Carlo, and also because it is home of Prince Albert. It was fun to walkaround and see his palace and there were also quite a few pictures of PrincessGrace Kelly around. I find it interesting that Monaco is its own country andthat no one pays taxes. It also had a harbor filled with some of the largestyachts I've ever seen. It is a very ritzy place and I am glad that we stoppedthere even if it was just for an afternoon because we probably will never be able to afford an actual vacation there.

From there we drove to Arles, which is in Provence. We were there for 5nights. Arles is famous for Vincent Van Gogh who spent a lot of time therepainting. It also has Roman ruins, cobblestone streets and outdoor markets. Wereally enjoyed our time there and were able to drive around every day to different sights/towns nearby.Many of the towns also had ruins, such as Orange and Pont Du Guard which has the largestaqueduct in Europe. It was impressive to tour the museum and the see the actualsight and imagine how big it must have been when it was first built. Othercities we explored in the area were Avignon, Vaison la Romaine, Roussillon andLes Baux. We spent each day touring 1-2 towns. Some were smaller and reallydidn't have much to see while others we spent more time exploring in. Vaison laRomaine was a pretty town with more Roman ruins, a trend for a large part ofsouthern France, but not really impressive compared to what we had already seen.We hiked to the upper part of the town to glance around the historical centerand take some pictures. Roussillon was a very quaint town on a hilltop ofOchre, a type of clay. The whole town is colored in red and orange hues and wasworth a stop just because of how pretty it was! Avignon is famous as it used tobe where the pope officially lived and so it has a papal palace and some grandstructures. It also has a very medieval feel which we really found appealingand the main city center is entirely surrounded by ramparts! Les Baux isanother medieval city and had a very interesting castle that we were able totour and got a picture in the stocks. The audio guides were very thorough in describing what life during thattime was like. We also experienced the mistrals which were very strong in thatpart of Provence.

Our next stop was Sarlat which is in the Dordogne region. We didn't reallyplan to stop there but during our planning we found that it was going to beeasier to keep our car and drive to Normandy. The distance between Provence andNormandy was going to be a long drive so we planned to spend two nights pokingaround the river valley. And we were quite pleased we did though we didn'tactually spend much time in Sarlat and wished we had. The Dordogne River Valleyis a beautiful region and we were able to squeeze in some castles. Now, it wascolder than we had been used to and it also rained a little. This was good for onereason because it meant that there were almost no crowds (except at Carcassonnewhich is pretty much a tourist trap). This was fun because Luke and I took lotsof fun pictures and we were the only people in them for once! We did a shortboat tour and then drove between the five towns that line the river and stoppedat some of the castles or chateaus as they are called. It was a bit tiring tosqueeze into two days but we find that since we are here, we want to do as muchas we can. We'll just be unavailable when we get home for a while as we'll be catching upon our sleep :)

On the way to Normandy we stopped near Amboise to see Chateau de Chenonceau.This was more of a mansion than a castle but was still very pretty and also hadgardens and a labyrinth. We didn't dally though because both Luke and I werevery anxious to get to Normandy. We really wanted to see all the WWII sightsand beaches and were excited to be by the ocean. Our hotel was probably thecutest we have stayed since traveling. It had a little restaurant that hadwonderful food including savory crepes and pizzas. We ate there every night. For breakfast we would go to one of the bakerys and get quiches and pastries. The town we stayed in was Bayeux and was very centrally located and has a veryfamous tapestry with some historical scenes as well as some graphic ones. Luke and were trying to imagine what the little old ladies were thinking when they were needle pointing the male anatomy. We found that most people spoke English and were veryfriendly. The Caen Memorial Museum was amazing and thoroughly goes throughpre-WWII through the crumbling of the Berlin Wall. We spent 7.5 hours there!!One whole section is devoted to D-Day and takes you step-by-step through theplanning and the day of. It was one of our favorite museums. There was a moremodern section that talked about censorship and it was a little anti-American.It boldly stated that the U.S.A is the most wasteful country in the world andthat between us and China, we are the only ones that can do anything aboutglobal warming (I'm not exaggerating). I found that to be a bold statement that seems to takeresponsibility from the rest of the world and puts it solely on two countries.The section that was devoted to the Cold War had a plaque that had a statementabout the opposing ideologies of the U.S. and the Soviet. America was describedas one “whose ambition was to win over the world to its liberal model andestablish a social order based on the law of supply and demand, privateenterprise and faith in God." and then it also refers to "Americanhedonism". Again a bold statement especially when you consider thedefinition of hedonism. Those are just my own thoughts on the matter and reallyI am not well-versed in politics so I won't continue on but I just thought Iwould share some of the opinions that are out there regarding our country. Wealso toured the D-Day beaches and towns that played a role in the war. Luke andI were constantly in awe when we thought about what happened in these places aswell as the obvious thankfulness of the communities that were liberated by theAmerican troops. Many of the towns had reader boards along the sidewalks inEnglish detailing the troop’s efforts in liberating Normandy. Our flag was alsoflying high in most towns and along some of the highways. The U.S. cemetery wasbeautiful and sad at the same time. I felt very proud to be an American whilevisiting the places that so many soldiers fought and where really theturning point of the war was. This part of France experienced the most physical destruction during the war because of it's location. We loved Normandy and enjoyed every day there. It was nice to have a car to drive around see all the history and to explore France. We for sure appreciated the experience and took some amazing pictures.

Well we are off to Paris. Actually, we are already here but I will blog about that at another time.

Food Glorious Food

2011-10-16T13:45:00.000-07:00

We wanted to post some pictures of food we've experienced during the first half of our time in Europe. Enjoy!

Luke's breakfast in Dublin on their layover from Boston to Rome. Beans (in the little dish), Toast, Ham, pudding (did not like the pudding).

Angela's Dinner in Normandy (Bayeux), a Chicken, Potato and Egg Crepe. In France so far we've mostly eaten Crepes and Omellettes (although I don't think we've taken any pictures of our Omellettes).

Angela's FABULOUS Mint Mocha in Normandy! It was only missing a sparkler!

This sweet little pastry is called a Pepito, and we ate them for breakfast almost every day in Normandy. It is a sweet pastry with chocolate, creme and seemed more like dessert than breakfast.

Luke's Creme Brulee (you can't go to France and not try the Creme Brulee). It was delicious!

Angela's Crepe Dessert with ice cream, whip cream (called chantilly in France), and almonds... delicious!

Angela has had many, many Cappucinos during her time in Europe. This was one she drank in Omaha Beach... one of the more expensive ones and not the best she had.

We ate Himalayan Food today (after church for lunch). It is very similar to Indian Food (almost the same I think). These were the spices we used with our Naan bread (spicy - right, Sweet - foreground, yogurty - back left).

Himalayan Chicken Vindaloo, Rice and Naan.

Angela's Ratatouille in France. It was really good. Like a really good and flavorful Vegetable stew (I'm sure I'm not doing it justice with that description).

A very interesting Himalayan "after meal" dish that helped cool our mouths down from the spicy Vindalloo and everything. It tasted like licorice and had grains in it as well. It was surprisingly good and refreshing.

Luke drinking the local wine in Tuscany in one of the many hill towns we visited.

We drank a lot of Fanta in Europe. We love Fanta. Also, they call "Diet Coke", "Coca Light" in Europe. Luke drank a lot of Coca Light.

In Italy our primary sustenance was Pizza. We loved all the pasta, but were almost never dissapointed with Pizza and tried all kinds. We had one with Egg on it, ones with sausage and onion (delicious), all kinds of different flavors... Pizza was our friend.

To the left of this pizza is what remains of a "Rice Ball" (can't remember what they were called in Rome). Those Rice Balls were fried and had different ingredients mixed in with the rice. Delicious!

Angela with her favorite European Pastry (Chocolate Croissant)!

Lunch at a little Italian Cafe. This was the dessert portion of the meal. Angela's Chocolaty custard cake thing and her Cappucino, Luke's Cannoli!

We can't believe this is the only picture we have of Gelato from our time in Italy. We ate so much of it... I guess we were so focused on the Gelato we always forgot to take pictures... and so amped up on the sugar, we apparently couldn't even keep the camera from not shaking.

More delicious Pizza in Rome! (Don't forget the Fanta!)

We were often on the "go" in Italy and would grab a quick sandwich. They were good, but almost never had any sauces on them (like Mayo, Mustard, etc) so Luke thought they were a little dry.

Most nights in Sorrento, Italy we finished our night off in a little cafe on the main Pallazzo and ate delicious treats, Angela drank Cappucino, Luke drank Espresso (at Angela's urging) and watched the Italians stroll on by.

Sorrento is famous for it's Lemons and Lemon groves, but we must have been way out of season because it was touch to find ripe Lemons. This is the ripest one we found in a grove and it really looked like a Lime... maybe it was?

Angela ordered something off the menu in Varenna, Italy (on Lake Como, near the Swiss border) that she wasn't totally sure what it was... It ended up being toasted bread smothered in Creamed Radish, topped with Brie Cheese and Slimy Bacon... Out of politeness she ate about a third of it before acting full and offering it to Luke (who politely refused).

We rarely had Appetizers in Europe (as we were on a budget), but couldn't resist the Bruscetta in Rome (toasted bread with olive oil, Tomato and garlic). We devoured most of it before remembering we were going to take a picture of it.

Luke had Lasagna only a couple times in Italy and can definitely say that Angela's Lasagna is still his favorite! Angela has an interesting pizza as well... Not sure what the ingredients were though.

Angela tried the delicious Watermelon in Rome! She loved it!

We hope to take more pictures of food during the last month of our trip and will post more when we get a chance.

Like a Rolling Stone

2011-10-15T12:10:00.000-07:00

Here are some pictures from our stop in Pompeii after we left Rome in September.

Mount Vesuvius: Looks like 2 peaks, but that is actually the crater in the middle!

It's amazing how much is still intact from so long ago.

Angela gives a big thumbs up to Pompeii.

Luke recreates life in Pompeii (crossing the street)... very accurate recreation.

These streets are made for walking.

The theatre in Pompeii.

Angela recreating walking in Pompeii.

Columns were all the rage in Pompeii.

This is the main drag in Pompeii... I can totally see why... the columns.

Pompeii was hot... but interesting.

Columns...

Carry On My Wayward Son

2011-10-15T12:01:00.000-07:00

Now that we are in Paris for the next couple weeks, we plan to try and catch up with pictures we have taken over the last month or so. We also plan to hopefully post some more thoughts on our trip and experiences in Europe so far. If you are interested in seeing any pictures specifically, please let us know and we will try to accommodate.

That's Amore

2011-10-09T12:22:00.000-07:00

I know we haven't blogged recently so I apologize. We had a couple placeswith no internet or internet in the lobby only which made blogging a littledifficult. We are now in France and have been since the beginning of October.So, I wanted to make sure and wrap up our time in Italy.

While in Italy we went to: Rome; Sorrento and the Almalfi Coast; Tuscanyregion where we stayed though we also drove to the Umbria region as well;Florence with a stop in Pisa and Lucca as well as Sienna; Cinque Terre; LakeComo; Venice. I didn't include each hill town we visited in Tuscany and Umbriasince I would need to get a map and locate them all, but there were quite afew! Looking back at this list, I am amazed at how many places we were able tosee!! We were very pleased with each place we stayed and for the most partfound our lodging very sufficient. The exception to that was Tuscany where westayed in a convent with a moldy shower, an overly warm room and lots ofmosquitos! We also think this is where my credit card was compromised becauseafter using it there, the bank notified me about fraudulent charges on websitesand my card had to be cancelled. Unfortunate but I was very glad that it wascaught before any damage was done. We have so many experiences from each placethat we will always remember! In Sorrento I had a pair of leather sandals madespecifically for me by a shoe maker. In Pisa we experienced a severe thunderand lightning storm on the top of the Tower of Pisa. That was fun and scary! InFlorence we happened to meet up with Luke's friend Brian and his wife, Jen. Itwas fun to meet in a foreign country and experience Italian culture. We werealso able to meet them in the Cinque Terre for dinner. In Lake Como I almoststepped on a scorpion and Luke killed it with my shoe! I hope to never repeatthat experience but I know we will always remember it! And then of course thereis Venice. We loved Venice and our one regret is that we should have stayed onemore day there!!

While in Italy, I also got to experience driving, mostly in the country. Acouple things I learned: Italians seem a bit reckless compared to our Americandriving. Tailgating is the norm as well as passing on curves and not signaling.I found that I was very glad that I only had to drive for a small portion ofour time in Italy. We also felt that we mastered the eurail system which weread was easy but felt overwhelmed by it at first. For the most part, we foundItalians to be very friendly and to not be offended by our limited Italian.Though by the time we left Italy we felt we had the basics down and wereslightly disappointed to arrive in France and have to start over with a new language.It was very exciting to finally travel in Italy and to see what a beautifulcountry it is.

For our French experience, we will try to be more regular with our posts.Luke is also hoping to put up quite a few more pictures and we will try toinclude food pictures as requested :)

On Top of Spaghetti

2011-09-26T11:40:00.000-07:00

This post is about food! It was hinted that perhaps wearen’t detailed enough about our food choices and experiences. One area of ourbudget where are trying to pinch pennies is food. This means that we aren’tsuper bold with our palates and since we both are somewhat picky, we stick towhat we know. In this case, our main staple since arriving to Italy has beenpizza. We eat it for at least one meal a day, sometimes two, and on occasion,three times a day. Now, some of you may wonder why we don’t grow bored or tiredof it. Well, in Italy, the pizzas are thinner and are made with freshingredients. They are much tastier than what we have in America. Also, theytend to put toppings on that we may find odd, like eggs. Mostly we eatMargharita and sausage and onion. Sorrento so far has had the best sausage andonion pizza. We had it in Tuscany as well and it was good but they used redonion and layered it all over the whole pizza. It was a little overwhelming.Also, pizza is easy here. We can usually buy it by the slice and most streetshave 2 or 3 shops that sell pizza. Sorryif that is too boring but remember cheap is key when you don’t have a job!! Onepizza costs between 6,50-10,00 euros depending on toppings and since we sharethat means we are saving quite a few dollars for each meal. Also, most restaurantshave a cover or service charge. This can be 1,50-3,00 euros. But this alsomeans that we don’t tip though we might leave a euro on the table for servicethat was exceptionally good. When you sit to dine, the waiters take your ordersand serve you but they don’t check on you or try to converse with you. Whichmeans sometimes we’ll sit for 20 minutes waiting for the waiter to walk by toask for our check.

Luke and I have also tried gnocchi in San Gimigano which wasdelicious, spaghetti and lasagna in Sorrento were our favorites, and in Orvietowe had Tortellini al Ragu which was delicious. The sauces here are more saltywhich we love. We have tried to try foods/drinks that are popular to theregion. For instance, in Sorrento they are famous for Lemincello. It is drunkas a digestive. We bought a small bottle at the store and it was very strong. Ididn’t care for it but Luke did. After we ate at a restaurant they gave ussmall complimentary glassfuls. It must have been a higher quality, and wasslightly creamy similar to Kahlua, and much better than what we purchased. Wealso tried red wine in Tuscany. I don’t like wine but Luke thought it was tastythough he didn’t think it was much different than what we have at home. Sadlywe did not go to any wine tastings which I am sure would have had a higherquality of wine especially in the Chianti region of Tuscany.

And of course there is always gelato!! We try not to eat itevery day but usually fail at that. It is very delicious and creamy. I tend toget rich flavors like chocolate and yesterday for my first serving I had a mascarponeand nutella gelato. It was soo tasty! Luke leans more towards mint which isgood as well. We have tried tiramisu and a chocolate torte which were good butwe much prefer the gelato. For breakfast, we usually eat a pastry or some fruitwe bought at the market. Unfortunately, Italians are not really breakfasteaters. Though while we were in Cinque Terre we got to eat bacon and eggs, whichwas a good thing since we were hiking between the towns and needed the protein.

Now as far as sea food goes, the options here are plenty.But for those of you who didn’t know, Luke and I do not care for seafood. Theonly thing we have tried since coming here is calamari, which was good butthere were pieces that were very large and very unappetizing.

On to the coffee. No matter what, every time I get a latteor a cappuccino, it is delicious! Always great flavor and I usually put a smallpacket of brown sugar in it. It beats Starbucks every time! The espresso isgood as well but I am a bit wimpy and don’t really care for it. Luke drankespresso with hazelnut in it and then added two packets of sugar so of courseit mostly tasted like sugar and not coffee which he really liked. One thing Ididn’t really think about until last week is that I have been drinking wholemilk in my coffee. Usually I order non-fat but that doesn’t work here, sowithout thinking, I have been drinking 2-3 servings of whole milk each day!!Add that to the pizza and gelato and hopefully I will still be able to squeezeonto the plane when it’s time to come home!

Indescribable

2011-09-13T14:10:00.000-07:00

We ended our time in Rome having done everything that we hoped to do andmore. Our guidebook said that one visit would not be sufficient to do and seeeverything there is to see. However, we feel that we saw and did so much duringour stay that we won't need another visit for quite some time!! A couple thingsto note in case you are thinking of traveling to Rome: go in the springtime! Wecame at the end of August and it was too hot for us. We spent most everydaywalking around in a constant state of perspiration, which means a long day feltmuch longer. Also, Luke and I saved quite a bit of money by eating the same things.We ate lots of pizza which we could share for cheap, and we bought lots of sandwichsupplies and ate that for at least one meal every day. We did eat out a coupletimes to experience some common Italian dishes such as spaghetti and lasagnabut otherwise we enjoyed our simple fare.

A note about public transportation- it was much easier to use than wethought it would be. But it was still overwhelming because often we werestanding on the bus or train with so many other people that we couldn't move. Iam on the short side so occasionally people's arms would be touching my face aswe all held onto the same pole. I was reminded of the Seinfeld episode whenElaine is stuck on the subway on her way to a wedding and she is having amental monologue due to the anxiety of being stuck on a crowded subway. I feltvery close to that sort of crazy!!

Rome was a great place to begin our trip. After a whirl wind 12 days we werevery ready to move on. Next stop- Amalfi Coast!! We have 5 days planned hereand after Rome it has so far provided some much needed down time. Sorrento isour base and it is proving to be every bit as beautiful as you see in thepictures. From here we have been down to Positano where we swam in the MediterraneanSea and walked around the picturesque town. Today we took a boat to the islandof Capri and did the Blue Grotto which was a fun experience! We took a chairlift up to Mt. Solaro and saw some amazing views and then hiked back down tothe town. The island is full of small winding roads that the buses fly down andthe streets in the town center are lined with shops and small restaurants. Thecoastal life is very appealing and we were thinking that we could easily settleinto the slower pace here.

So far we have been trying to focus on enjoying each day here and notlooking ahead to where our next stop is. I find that this requires a spirit ofcontentment which I admit is often a challenge for me. However, I don't want tomiss making this time with Luke as memorable as possible. I am reminded thatthis is a dream of ours and I feel thankful that God has blessed us and saw fitto make it come true! Who knows, maybe one day we will live in one of theseplaces (which I bet would give everyone an excuse to visit)!

Beautiful part 2

2011-09-10T07:57:00.001-07:00

Beautiful

2011-09-10T07:48:00.000-07:00

Colosseum Song

2011-09-05T12:44:00.000-07:00

Something Beautiful

2011-09-03T14:31:00.001-07:00

A Roman Holiday.....

2011-09-03T04:17:00.000-07:00

Bonjourno! We have now been in Rome three full days. We have posted plentyof pictures and video but I thought I would share some of my thoughts andimpressions about what we have seen.

First off, we arrived from Boston very tired with only about 4 hours ofsleep. This meant we slept well the first night and were deceived into thinkingthat we wouldn’t have any jet lag. Wrong!! As I write this, Luke is passed outnext to me and its 12:15 in the afternoon (a running theme I guess, I told Lukehe is starting to show his age). That first night has been our only restfulnight and so we often are napping which then creates a cycle which we arehaving trouble breaking. Good thing we are in Europe for nine more weeks!

I use to travel often when I was younger but mostly on church organizedmission trips. So, I did not anticipate the anxiety of planning and executingthings ourselves! Thank you to all my pastors I have traveled overseas with, Idid not truly realize how big your job was! Due to this naivety, I found myselfextremely overwhelmed and anxious the first day. Rome is loud, intense and hot.It felt nearly impossible to navigate with tons of traffic and crowds ofpeople. It didn't help that our first three days were filled to the brim withsightseeing and walking (remember sleeping Luke). However, after 3 days I feelway more settled and excited for the rest of our time in Rome. The constantactivity is fun to enjoy for a while each day and then we can seek solace inour quiet hotel room. Which by the way is a great place! It is clean, quiet andsafe and the staff is wonderful and helpful. We find it very comforting tostart the morning speaking English before heading out into busy Rome where wetry and speak basic Italian to communicate. It is an adventure though, so wetry to assert ourselves when we can. So far, I have liked the Borghese Gallerythe best. The sculptures and paintings there were amazing and I enjoyed seeinghistory in person. For that reason, I also loved seeing the Sistine Chapel. Wesaw what Michelangelo worked on personally and that is a very remarkablefeeling. I was also curious about how I would feel going in to St. Peter's Basillica as it considered Holy. While it was truly amazing and beautiful to see, being there didn't make feel any closer to the Lord. Which I think is ok since God is not contained in a building.

On a more personal note, Luke and I have been praying for direction, since after this trip we reallyaren't certain what we are going to be doing. With that in mind, I have reallybeen trying to pray continuously which is not easy. But it makes me think aboutthings from a new perspective. For instance, there are so many paintings of “Madonnacon el Bambino", Mary and her son, Jesus. I kept thinking about having myown child when I saw those pictures and how I can't even imagine what God andMary were thinking when Jesus was sacrificed for our sins. I look forward to theday when having a child helps me to see God's love in a new way!! I alsokept thinking how this travel may be one more step towards missions. See wemoved to Alaska away from our families and comforts because we needed a changeand to get out of debt. It was a great experience and we were blessed by theLord. But it was still the U.S.A, though sometimes it didn't feel that way,Seattle and family were only a four hour flight away. Being here in Italy foronly 4 days has made missions seem more real. Can we really move away from ourfamilies and comforts to serve the Lord on another continent? It is a littlefrightening and overwhelming. At the end of this trip, we go home but that maynot always be the case. We both feel called to missions so as we travel I amgoing to keep in mind that this may be our future, leaving behind our comfortsto serve! This trip is one more way God is training and preparing us to bemissionaries, wherever that may be.

I hope our pictures and videos are interesting and entertaining! If anyonewants a picture of something specific, let us know. We try to accommodate ouraudience :). I have to go now though because I am very hungry and also becauseLuke is still asleep. Poor Luke, he wore himself out with all that walking. Thefunny thing is he thought I was being a baby because I kept saying that we weredoing too much in one day. This just affirms that old adage that behind everyman is a very smart woman or something like that!

Chow!!!

Agnus Dei part 2

2011-09-02T13:52:00.000-07:00

Ponte de Angelo and Vatican/St. Peter's Basilica

Vatican/St. Peter's Basilica

Angela's favorite Painting at the Vatican Museum?

St. Peter's Basilica

Castel Sant' Angelo

Ponte Sant' Angelo

Castel Sant' Angelo

Agnus Dei

2011-09-02T13:44:00.000-07:00

Where the Streets Have No Name part 2

2011-09-02T13:38:00.000-07:00

Top of Spanish Steps

Bottom of Spanish Steps

Spanish Steps

Ara Pacis (Alter of Peace)

Piazza del Popolo

Colisseum

Piazza del Popolo

Where the Streets Have No Name

2011-09-01T13:36:00.000-07:00

Rome wasn't Built In A Day part 2

2011-08-31T14:38:00.000-07:00

We had a great first day in Rome. Check out our Video in the last post.

Trevi Fountain

Trevi Fountain with Angela and Luke

Building across from Trevi Fountain

Roman Street, NO SUVs

Pope Pius IX monument

Church of Santa Maria degli Angeli/Baths of Diocletian

Rome wasn't Built In a Day

2011-08-31T14:07:00.000-07:00

I'm Shipping Up To Boston part 2

2011-08-31T07:11:00.000-07:00

I wanted to get some pictures up from our time in Boston. We had a great time in Boston after getting stuck because of Hurricane Irene. We were only delayed on our trip to Rome by one day, but it was a little stressful as, at first, it sounded like we wouldn't be able to go for at least a week.

We did the Freedom Trail on Monday, August 29th before catching our flight to Rome (via Dublin), ate some Boston Baked Beans and Luke practiced his Boston accent. Here are the pictures.

I'm Shipping Up To Boston

2011-08-31T05:53:00.000-07:00

Sigh No More

2011-08-15T16:20:00.001-07:00

Well, in the last 3 weeks we felt so busy that we didn't really feel like we had the time to post to the blog, but as we drive to Bend, Oregon for a week of real vacation with Angela's family, we wanted to update on how our California trip ended and what we've been doing since then.

After waking up on Friday, July 22^nd in Santa Maria California, we drove down to Santa Barbara and enjoyed the beach for about a minute before deciding to just keep driving down to Mission Viejo to see our friends, the Rosenbaums. We were welcomed into the Hollywood area with a ton of traffic. We also learned not to listen to our GPS system too much. The GPS lady kept telling us there was a faster route around the traffic and it really got us confused. We ended up back on the main highway we started on when all was said and done.

We got down to Mission Viejo in the evening and it was great to see our friends and catch up before "hitting the hay". We stayed with the Rosenbaums for several days and got to spend a lot of time outside and hung out with the 4 boys (3 Rosenbaum boys and 1 cousin) and Sara and Ryan Rosenbaum. We got a lot of sun and got to do a couple runs. We also got to spend a day at Universal Studios in Hollywood. Luke had gotten to go to Universal Studios with Ryan Rosenbaum on their road trip 16 (or so) years ago and he thought it hadn't changed that much. The rides were different, but the studio tour was about the same (not too exciting) and there really wasn't that much to the place. At the end of the day, we went to the big theater there and saw Captain America in 3D and really liked it. What we liked even more was the trailer for the Avengers movie coming up in 2012 though.

On Wednesday, July 27^th, we headed north out of the Los Angeles area. We had found out that Angela's brother Jon was stationed in Monterey, so we drove back up to that area and got to spend some time with him and see a little more of Monterey. The next morning we headed north again, towards the Sacramento area to see Angela's Aunt and Uncle. We had a great time with them and went out for dinner and a tour of the area. Angela had visited when she was much younger and had a lot of great memories from her first trip and we made some more memories this time. On Friday morning, we headed out early from the Sacramento area with the intention of driving the remaining 12 hours straight to Poulsbo, Washington. We took turns driving and listening to music and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" audio book. Harry Potter's adventures really make time by go fast, by the way. We made it in just a little more than 12 hours in the end (with stops included for gas and snacks). It was good to be back at a home with Angie and Nicholas, Paloma and Jude.

One thing California showed us about blogging from the road was that it is a lot of work. Picking pictures, writing about our experiences and then getting it all posted online takes a lot more hours than we thought it would and when a lot of our time is booked up with driving and seeing things and people you have to do everything at the end of the day or at the beginning of the next day and it can be a little stressful. So we are trying to figure out how to successfully blog while we are in Europe based on what we have learned recently. We think our blogs may be much shorter than we thought and a little more structured and with limited pictures. Or we may just upload pictures and let those tell the story some days until we get time to spend some time writing about our adventures. We plan on journaling each day in little books, so we might just use excerpts from our journals as well. I guess time will tell, but I am glad we learned some of this from our trip so far.

On Saturday, July 30^th we hung out with the family and then headed over to Kirkland, Washington (our old home) to meet up with our friends from Alaska (Deyton and Kelly) and spend the week housesitting for our friends Mark and Lindsay. It was a fun, but mostly busy week. We ran a ton of errands to get ready for our long trip to Europe (bought back packs, some clothes and travel items), we also spent quite a few hours planning and making reservations for car rentals and lodging in Europe. But we managed to still spend a bunch of time hanging out and having fun in the sun with Kelly and Deyton. We went kayaking at Greenlake in Seattle, we played Tennis at Greenlake and Coulon Beach Park in Renton, we did some shopping with them and ate some really good food.

During the week, we also got to spend some time with Luke's brother, Andy and sister in law, Laura. We went to see a great movie with them called "Cowboys & Aliens" and ate some dinner at Il Forniaio in Seattle, which was the site of our first date over 6.5 years ago. It was a good week in the Seattle area, but somewhat exhausting because of all the errands and running around.

We are definitely looking forward to this week in Bend, Oregon. We won't really be doing any errands, and the weather is supposed to be great so we plan on spending a lot of time relaxing in the sun and just hanging out with the family.

Lighthouse

2011-07-22T00:53:00.000-07:00

We loved Monterey County! We had a great time on Thursday looking around the area and heading further south. This was definitely Luke’s favorite part of the trip so far.

We woke up in Monterey and had a good run near the ocean. Once we got checked out of the hotel, we headed down to the Aquarium and Cannery Row area and had some lunch and looked around for a while. We got to see some cool historic areas in Monterey and took a bunch of pictures.

After getting lost a bit on our way to see the Lighthouse in town, we headed south towards Carmel. Carmel was definitely a favorite of Angela’s. There were so many great shops and shopping opportunities to be had.

Here is a before and after picture for one of the shops.

We also had a chance to hang out down at the beach, near the famous Pebble Beach Golf Course. It was a bit overcast, but still very warm and really nice out. After doing a bit more shopping, we decided to head further down the coast.

Luke really wanted to drive down highway 1 along “Big Sur” towards San Luis Obispo so we headed down the picturesque coast. After waiting more than 30 minutes for an accident to be cleared at the start of the trip, the going was slow with all the traffic. It was a really beautiful drive the whole way. We listened to “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” and “Mumford & Sons” the whole drive and there was really nothing better we could have done. Angela hung out the window taking pictures as Luke drove the windy route.

We were exhausted by the time we got to San Luis Obispo and stopped for some grub at the Firestone Grill. We ate a delicious late dinner and decided to stop down the road in Santa Maria for the night.

On Friday we are excited to hit Santa Barbara and the Los Angeles area and see our friends the Rosenbaums in Southern California.

If You're Going To San Francisco...

2011-07-21T10:59:00.000-07:00

Today we continued our leisurely drive down the coast of California. We started our day at 6 a.m. by jogging outside around Santa Rosa which is way better than running on a treadmill! It took us a while to get out of town but mostly because our GPS was not as smart as we thought. One thing we discovered as we were driving is that sun roofs are rad! Unfortunately, so is sunscreen.

Our first stop was San Francisco, more of a drive by actually, as we didn’t stop anywhere and allof our pictures were taken from within our car. No matter how many times we go to/thru San Francisco, we love seeing the iconic Golden Gate Bridge. The only things missing were the flowers for our hair, which I know I could have convinced Luke to wear.

Our next stop was Santa Cruz, mainly the famed boardwalk which resembles a fair but is cooler since it’s at the ocean. Luke and I are mostly trying to eat well so we made turkey sandwiches before hitting the boardwalk. This was a great idea otherwise we would have stuffed ourselves with deep fried Oreos! As it was, we enjoyed some tasty and expensive soft serve. We didn’t really walk by the ocean since the sand was so hot and our poor Alaskan soles couldn’t tolerate the heat!

Our driving was mostly short today as we decided to do less stops and get to our destination- Monterey! This is my first time here and I love it. Luke did a brief senior class trip here eons ago and felt like the town was even better then he remembered. Monterey is picturesque and quaint and has a great historical section of town which incorporates a modern scene. It has a great feel to it and of course is a coastal town so wherever the ocean is we love! As always, we take about 100 pictures of the same things and only a couple make the cut for public viewing. We love creating our memories and it is fun to look back at our pictures and remember what we were thinking while we were taking them. Luke loves his new camera and we are excited to explore more of the town tomorrow and to capture our favorite moments. (I would like to note that the Steve Madden wedges I am wearing have been in storage since I moved to Alaska; they are still my most favorite shoe ever).

It seems no matter how much we try to branch out with our food experiences, we wind up eating the same things! For dinner we went with Mexican cuisine at a restaurant recommended by our hotel. I was disappointed since it was like Azteca and wasn’t anything new. Hopefully, we will have more interesting and inspiring meals in the future.

To end our evening we went to see a movie. We saw “Midnight in Paris” which is a Woody Allen film. It was not very popular with the so-called critics but we really enjoyed it. We really liked looking at the Paris scenery which we are excited to experience firsthand in October.

As I write Luke is sleeping next to me and I am trying to decide if I should secretly stay up and read “Hunger Games” by Suzanne Collins. I say secretly because tomorrow morning Luke is going to drag me from bed at some ungodly hour and I will have to pretend I want to be up. Seriously though, I am only about 50 pages into the book and it is awesome!

Tomorrow we continue down Highway 1 to get the most of the coastal towns! I am sure which ever “Santa” town we stop in next will be a great place to take pictures and get some sun (we’ll be sure to keep Luke’s poor forehead covered.)

California

2011-07-20T00:14:00.000-07:00

We woke up early Tuesday, but it took a couple hours for us to get out of Grants Pass. I mentioned the rain from Monday night, but here is a picture I took from our Motel Room’s door.

Angela programmed the GPS so we would head down Highway 101 through the Redwood National State Park from south Oregon to Northern California. It was a very twisty and turny route, but it was fun and we got to see a lot of very big Redwoods all morning.

We were very excited when we entered the border to California. Right before we got to the check point into California I realized Angela had brought a banana and apple from the motel. I panicked and told her we needed to eat them quickly before they made us throw them out, but Angela wouldn’t do it. When we got to the check point we “declared” our fruit and they said we could keep them. It was a true agricultural victory.

When we finally hit the coast in Northern California, Angela cried out that she saw Ocean so we quickly pulled over and took some pictures and breathed in the fantastic ocean air!

The ocean stirred something deep down in Angela and I, and we realized it was because we had drank too much water and soda during the drive. We quickly found a Rest Stop to alleviate our need, and then had a quick lunch out of our cooler in the trunk. We’d barely driven a couple miles after that when Angela cried out “Go Left, NOW!” Luke quickly complied and pulled into a parking lot with huge statues of Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox.

Angela posed next to the true source of Babe’s power…

We continued through the Giant Redwoods southward and had to stop and take a few pictures with one of these Giants.

As we continued, we saw a sign that said “Elk Crossing”, and sure enough, minutes later, a herd of Elk were right next to the road. It was fascinating that the Elk were not disturbed in the least by the cars zooming by.

Shortly after the Elk, we hit Eureka further down the coast. We stopped for some Starbucks and another Restroom break and also picked up some quick and early dinner as we weren’t sure what might (or might not) be available between Eureka and San Francisco. We strolled around Eureka a bit as we waited for our dinner to cook and decided that it looked like one of those towns that might have boomed in the 70s and 80s and then froze in time after that.

Angela decided to take a turn at the wheel as we left Eureka, but she slammed on the brakes and pulled over about 90 minutes south of Eureka realizing that she didn’t have one of her rings (given to her by her late father and step mother for her graduation). We called the Starbucks we had stopped at to see if they had seen it, but they hadn’t. We searched the car, but couldn’t find it. We are praying it turns up, as the ring means a lot to Angela.

As we continued south, we decided to try and find a cheap place to stay north of San Francisco. With spotty cell service, it was tough to search. We drove through the wine vineyard country north of San Francisco and decided to stop in Santa Rosa and just try a couple places to see if they had vacancies. We settled on a Hotel that had a pool and checked in. We ended our day with a quick dip in the pool before heading to bed.

On Wednesday, we are continuing south and hope to see some nice areas south of San Francisco and enjoy the sunny weather that the weather people have promised.

On the Road Again

2011-07-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

We are currently waiting out a rain storm overnight in Southern Oregon after the first leg of our Road trip up and down the West Coast of the United States. The forecast for most of the trip was supposed to be sunny, but it is apparent that we didn’t check southern Oregon’s weather. We are ok with the delay though, as road trips are best when things don’t go as expected.

As we listen to the thunder and see the lightning through our very small motel room window, we started talking about our week and how relaxed/busy it was. After arriving back from Las Vegas in Seattle, we were car-less and spent the night in a hotel so we could rent a U-Haul the next day (Tuesday) to pick up our belongings that we shipped from Bethel (basically just 12 small boxes of odds and ends and my electric guitar) and get them to our storage unit. Things went pretty smoothly, but we did get reminded of how bad traffic gets here. It was like a race against the clock to get our stuff into storage in Redmond and back down to Sea-Tac (where we rented the U-Haul) before the real traffic started. We then got to experience the Metro area’s public transportation offerings. We spent about $25 to take the bus, light rail and ferry to get back to Bremerton in time to have dinner with Angela’s family and her Uncle and Aunt that were up visiting from California.

On Wednesday, we meant to get up early and get a good start on our primary goal for the week: FIND A CAR. But we lollygagged and didn’t get out of the house until the afternoon. So we decided to run a couple other errands and then went to visit Angela’s brother at work right before he was getting off for the day. Angela’s brother works at a Volkswagen Dealership, and he had been on the lookout for cars for us and helping us find a good car, but so far we had not had too much luck. But when we went to pick him up, he had a surprise for us. His dealership had just got a trade-in that was exactly what we were looking for: A 2003 4-door Volkswagen Passat. We bought it after a quick test drive and drove our new car home that night. We really owe it all to Angela’s brother and want to thank him for all of his help. Freedom is just another word for having a car!

The next night we picked up our nephew in Bremerton so he could stay the night with us in Poulsbo for an early start to our adventure on Friday. We woke up early on Friday and drove to the ferry to walk on and ride to Edmonds to visit the “Rick Steves’” Travel Consultants and buy our Eurail Passes for our Europe trip at the end of the summer. We’ve been reading Rick Steves’ travel books for about 3 years since we started getting serious about our trip to Europe. We love his advice and information in his books and are really basing the core of our trip on his advice. So we made an appointment with one of his consultants to take a look at our itinerary and get some questions answered about our trip we still had. We had a nice breakfast and coffee in Edmonds before our appointment and it was a really nice day. Out appointment went well and we got our questions answered and then bought our Rail Pass tickets for Europe and left Edmonds feeling pretty excited about our trip. Our nephew wasn’t feeling 100%, however. He was a trooper for the entire trip though and we thought it was a lot of fun to have him with us.

After we took the ferry back to the other side of the water, we took our nephew back to his house and then ran a few errands before meeting up with Angela’s family to see the opening night of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2”. It was the first time we got to see a movie on opening night in longer than I can remember and it was great! We loved the movie. It reminded Luke that he had read “Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince” right after its release during our Honeymoon in Kauai, Hawaii.

On Saturday, we drove over to friends’, Lindsay and Mark’s, house in our old town, Kirkland. They had just had a baby girl a couple months ago and this was our first chance to see her in person (as well as our friends of course). We got to go to Lindsay and Mark’s wedding last year in March in Colorado and we really like hanging out with them. After spending some time interacting with the baby, Mark and Lindsay took us to a great little Cuban place for dinner in the Ballard neighborhood of Seattle called “Paseo”. It was delicious, and the first Cuban food we had eaten in forever. After eating, we went to the nearby Golden Gardens Beach Park and took a long walk and caught up some more on what’s been going on in all of our lives.

On Sunday, we slept in a bit and then headed off with Angela’s family (brother Nicholas, sis-in-law Angie, niece Paloma and nephew Jude) to the Lavender Festival in Sequim, north of Poulsbo. For some reason we had all been anticipating the Lavender Festival (maybe because it was the first “festival” we had gone to in a while). When we got to Sequim, however, they were trying to charge us a ton of money to visit the Lavender farms… at some point you realize the value you do (or don’t) put on seeing a Lavender Farm. We decided to skip the farm tour and went straight to the middle of town for the actual Festival Area. There was live music, and Paloma got to take a pony ride, and there was food (we were all pretty hungry by the time we got there) and that was about it. We didn’t even really see much Lavendar. The weather was not great, either. So we packed it up and headed back to Poulsbo… however it appeared that so did everyone else, because we hit very bad traffic and the ride home was pretty tough. Being with family makes things much more fun, however, so we still chalk it up as a good day… I don’t know that we will ever return to the Lavender Festival in years to come though.

On Monday morning we woke up early so we could get a quick start to our road trip. The plan for the road trip was to mosey through California and see family and friends on the way down and back up. After doing so much planning for our trip to Europe we really liked the idea of just driving and seeing where the road took us. We brought a tent, just in case things got campy. But mostly we figured we would stay with friends, family and a motel or two. We realized we had a couple errands to run before leaving town so we started on the errands and didn’t get to leave the area until about 1pm and then Luke had to stop at a Best Buy in Tacoma for something important (anything you buy at Best Buy is important, according to Luke).

Luke drove, and booked it south through southern Washington and northern Oregon. Angela needed some refueling in mid-Oregon though, so we stopped in Eugene at a little diner and tried to come to a decision on how far we would go before spending the night. The rain really made the decision for us in the end and we stopped in Grants Pass, Oregon and listened to the storm as we fell asleep in our little motel. We are looking forward to the rest of the road trip and are excited about our next adventures as we head into California.

Think of Me

2011-07-11T23:49:00.000-07:00

Our first week back in Washington was quite busy, but enjoyable. We got to celebrate the 4th of July with our family, buy new phones, go car shopping and then got on a plane to celebrate our 6th anniversary in Las Vegas.

It made Angela sick to leave Bethel… literally. She was very sick the night after we left and it took her a couple days to really recuperate. We aren’t positive, but we think it might have been something she ate. But Luke got to have dinner with his Brother, Sister, Sister-in-law and niece on Saturday night after arriving in Seattle. It was good to reconnect and catch up a little bit.

On Sunday afternoon we arrived in Poulsbo and got to enjoy an early 3rd of July celebration (I think Poulsbo celebrates the preparation of Independence Day - maybe the writing of the Declaration of Independence or something - but not the actual event) with Angela’s family. It was good to see nieces and nephews and hang out with family all day. There is something about just doing nothing with family that makes you feel a level of comfort that is difficult to find anywhere else.

On Sunday night (yes, still the 3rd of July) we went down to the bay in Poulsbo and watched fireworks. It was our first fireworks display we had seen outside of the New Year’s Eve celebration in Bethel in 4 years. It was about the same as I remember it from 4 years ago. Not too exciting, really. But it was still fun. There were probably more people in the area we were in to watch the fireworks than the whole population in Bethel.

On the actual 4th of July we got to hang out with family again and shoot off some fireworks. It is always exciting to be near teenagers lighting explosives. Then we continued our holiday celebration on the 5th as well when we got to hang out with Luke’s family and play games and catch up some more. They were all excited to see Angela and it was exciting for us to see how much our Nieces and Nephew have grown.

The next day we ran a few errands and bought new phones so we could keep in touch with everyone. We had phones in Bethel, but there is a level of connectivity in the lower 48 that we forgot about I think. We don’t know that we like it, but it is a way of life I guess. Something about having email, texting, video and (of course) phone always in your pocket that makes you feel a little too available (even when you don’t want to be).

On Thursday we went car shopping with the crucial help of Angela’s brother Nicholas. He was indispensable in our search and steered us in the right direction. In the end we didn’t have any definite luck finding a car, but we got a good bite on it and think we will be able to find one early next week. We also got to see our first movie since returning to the lower 48. It was “Super 8” and we really liked it.

Friday morning we headed to the airport to fly to Las Vegas for our 6 year Anniversary. We got a really good deal, thanks to Angela’s diligence and expertise on travel deals, to stay at the Venetian for 3 nights. It was a great trip. The temperature all 3 days was in the triple digits so we got good tans (Luke’s was a tan/burn, but he was still pleased). We had a great Anniversary Dinner and got to see “The Phantom of the Opera” as part of our vacation package. Luke has been listening to the Play since he was in high school (he had a cassette tape he played in his car) and it definitely met his expectations. This was Angela’s second time seeing it, but she enjoyed it again with Luke. We got to relax a bunch and see one more movie before we left: “Kung Fu Panda 2” was a very fun movie and Jack Black is hilarious!

We are heading home (it is weird to think of Seattle as “home” again) on a plane now, looking forward to our next week. We plan on finally buying a car, seeing the last “Harry Potter” movie, doing some Europe Trip Planning and Finalizing and then getting ready to head to California for a couple weeks.

Leaving On A Jet Plane

2011-07-01T00:29:00.000-07:00

Angela and I are very excited about heading back down to the Seattle area to see our family and friends, but we will definitely miss our friends from Bethel, Alaska.

We arrived in Bethel in March of 2008 and didn't know what to expect. We had faith and hope in Christ that moving here was in His plan for us. We had a rough start as Angela lost her father right before we moved and it was difficult to be away from family during those hard times. But the last 3.25 years has helped Angela and I grow closer together and rely on each other and on God when times are difficult.

We've gained so much by living up here among our new friends, but we have also lost quite a bit. For instance, we lost all of the debt that we came here with. We eliminated over $100,000 in debt in less than 3 years. We also lost some weight. I lost about 80 lbs in the last 6 months and Angela prefers to keep her total weight loss to herself. We've also lost all of our furniture and most of our belongings, however we were paid handsomely for them (they were all sold through the wonderful Bethel Art of Garage-Sale-ing), so we didn't really count it as a loss.

We got the opportunity to get involved with a little church in Bethel as soon as we arrived. I got to lead worship for a great congregation (with Angela usually at my side singing). We were able to be involved with the Youth Group for a couple of the years we were here. We also got to help with some of the missions teams that came to Bethel last year. We will miss the congregation at the church very much and pray that God will bless them.

There are so many things we will miss about Bethel. We will miss the sunrises and sunsets that go on and on forever. Angela will miss the long, long, long days (however, I will be excited to finally get some sleep during the summer months - the eye mask my sister bought me to use after we moved here was a bit too feminine to utilize unfortunately). We will miss boating on the Kuskokwim River and shooting guns (yes, Angela too... we call her eagle eye for her water shooting skills). We will really miss hanging out with our friends, Russell and Brenda Lamont at their fish camp during the summers (we have so many great memories and pictures).

We will miss our fantastic friends who have made our experience in Bethel completely unforgettable and we will miss our co-workers who we have spent countless hours with and created such interesting memories. We have gotten to know so many amazing people and have created many lasting friendships that we know will continue to grow past our time here in Bethel.

We are so excited about our next adventures in the world, but we will always keep Bethel in our hearts.

Blog Re-Design

2011-06-19T16:13:00.000-07:00

We are re-designing our Blog. We are very excited to renew out commitment to updating our friends and family as we enter the next stage of our journey. Please stay tuned in the upcoming weeks for our new design and new posts.

Home for the Holidays?

2008-09-20T22:17:00.002-07:00

Angela and I have been struggling lately with the decision of whether or not to go home around the holidays. The biggest obstacles to our hopes for a Washington Thanksgiving or Christmas are getting the time off from work and money. Angela and I both have positions that make it tough to get time off from work. But I think the larger issues is whether we spend the money now to go home, or wait and spend more time on our vacation and time with our families next summer. Plus we have several short trips that we are taking to Anchorage, so that makes money a little tight right now.

The more we talk aout it, the more we seem to be torn on the subject. We both kind of like the idea of having our own little holidays with just the two of us and maybe hanging out with a couple friends. But we also feel sad because it would be the first holidays we have really spent without our families.

We haven't made a final decision yet, and things might change between now and the holidays to make us lean further one way or the other, but the problem is that right now the ticket prices are way down, so if we wait to decide, we might end up paying twice as much.

Well, we will update on our holiday plans (especially if we decide to do our own holidays, because that will be quite the experience).

In the meantime, we are planning on going to Anchorage in October and December (and maybe November). We look forward to that, as we miss seeing movies and shopping, etc. It can be hard to understand why people love Anchorage so much, but I think we are starting to understand as we live longer in Bethel.

Radio Days

2008-09-15T22:17:00.000-07:00

We are a little out of our blogging schedule after our trip home to the Seattle area to see our family, but I will definitely put up some new pictures from our trip down south and from some recent events in Bethel.

But I really wanted to put up a new post about last Saturday.

I had the opportunity to play guitar on the radio. There is a Christian radio show on Saturday nights that plays Christian rock and rap and I was asked to play some guitar with my friend Roger. It was fun and interesting. Roger's wife took some pictures, so maybe I can get a copy and put it up, until then, please imagine me with headphones on in a small studio playing into the mic for about 10 minutes or so. It was pretty cool and I hope to do it again.

Bethel has given me the chance to really start playing guitar again. I play at least 2-3 times a week (sometimes more) at the church. I'm really starting to get a handle on the electric guitar and bass as well, and I think I am also going to be learning the drums (our former drummer just left for Masters Commission in Anchorage).

Anyways, we are doing well. We are struggling with the amount of light already a little as we are down to about 12 or so hours of daylight again (about 7:30am is sunrise, and about 8:30pm is sunset I think). I think we lose about 10 minutes of daylight a day and the darker mornings are making it really tough for us to wake up... I've been late a lot to work since we've been back from Seattle.

Well, we are watching Predator right now (can you believe how far the guy in this movie has come... first Predator, then Predator 2, then Alien vs Predator, then AVP requiem... that predator is one tough cookie and quite a star), and then we are off to bed (where we fall asleep watching The Office season 4 (we just got it in the mail). So goodnight everyone... jim, pam, toby, kevin, phyllis, angela, kelly, michael, meredith, oscar, darrell and especially Dwight. FACT: Bears can climb faster than they can run.

The River is Here

2008-08-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

Today was our first time out on the river (The Kuskokwim River). We went with our friends Roger and Charley and their friend. It was a cool experience and it reminded me how much I miss the water. I really wish that Bethel was on the ocean, but being on a river is pretty cool too. We were on the Church skiff from Bethel Community Assembly of God and it was awesome! We stopped at a fish camp (Charley's aunt's fish camp) where they catch and dry and smoke fish at certan times of the year. Then we landed on a beach up river and went out on the tundra to pick berries (mostly blueberries and salmon berries and some blackberries) and get eaten by mosquitos. It was a fun little trip and we are excited to get back out on the water soon. Here are some pics.

Independence Day

2008-07-27T20:18:00.001-07:00

On the 4th of July, we saw what people do in Bethel and got to be a small part of it. There were no fireworks that we were aware of (we would have had to wait for 4am for it to get dark enough to see them well). But there was a parade, a little fair (our church had a booth) and live music (which Luke was a part of). Here are some pics.

Busy Days

2008-07-20T20:39:00.000-07:00

Its been really busy the last couple months as our lack of blogging may or may not indicate. I have a goal of posting once a week though now, whether it be just a picture or something more significant. For now, here is a picture of our home out on the Tundra and a view of the sky from our home at around 2am these days (when the weather is decent.

Freedom ended... kind of

2008-06-04T17:08:00.000-07:00

So a week or two after the last post, we got into a car accident. I was looking left while taking Angela to work one cold, icy morning and hit a car in front of me. Everyone was ok, but our car's front-end was destroyed. So we were again without the freedom of a car. Luckily, our insurance reimburses us for part of the cost of rental cars in the case of an accident, so we were able to both borrow our friend's car (Thanks Alessandra) and get a rental car (which is actually very spendy up here in Bethel).

It took them a month to fix our car, and we just got it back a couple days ago after our trip to Mexico and Seattle. I will cover our trip and some of the new updates (new house, etc) in the next couple posts.

The freedom of the open road

2008-04-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

Our car finally arrived. I picked it up yesterday and I can't describe the feeling we now have. I don't know if you know, but it is cold in Bethel. We have been walking a lot (and bumming a lot of rides), but now I feel like I just got my license and have newfound freedom. Our Honda Pilot is a great car for Bethel's snow, mud and potholes, and it is a huge relief to have our own transportation. Plus we had 4 boxes of clothes in the back and our bedding. I never realized how soft our sheets are until last night!

The Journey (of Natty Gann)

2008-03-31T20:38:00.000-07:00

I wanted to talk about the trip from Seattle to Bethel, Alaska as it was a big move for us. For the purposes of this post, Angela and I are "Natty Gann". If you don't understand the reference, you really need to check out this wonderful movie about a girl and a wolf.

Our flight from Seattle to Anchorage was scheduled to leave at 12:30pm, so we woke up around 8am to get our things together and go. We planned to meet Joseph at the airport at 10:30am so we grabbed some coffee at the Starbucks next door and left the hotel at about 9:45am. Angela wasn't feeling well when she woke up, so she abstained from coffee. When we were grabbing our car, my stint (retainer) for my fake tooth broke in the front. Luckily it still worked, but I was ticked because I had just told the dentist that I wanted a back up for the stint while I was in Alaska. My first stint had broken about 3 days after I first got it, so I was worried. But then the next one was doing well and the dentist said it would be fine. And then the day I was leaving it broke. So it was a great start with my irritation and Angela's sickness.

We got to the departures area with the rental car and Joseph walked out (right on time) to meet us. Joseph and I brought the 12 pieces of luggage into the airport while Angela watched the ones already inside. Then I left them to drop off the rental car.

After dropping off the rental car and signing off on it, I caught a shuttle to the airport and met back up with Joseph and Angela and our luggage. But then I got a call on my cell-phone from the car rental company. They informed me that I left my keys (which I had joined with the rental keys) in the car and that there was a crack in the windshield that I was responsible for. Well, I was pretty upset at this because I paid a bunch of money for full insurance coverage. So I asked why my insurance didn't cover it. They said that I didn't get the insurance, and then asked if I had my receipt. I said I did, but that they needed to take a closer look at their computer. They put me on hold for a couple minutes and then got back on saying that the insurance did cover it. I asked them if they could send my keys with the shuttle to the airport and they agreed so I ran back down to the shuttle area to wait.

After getting my keys, I got back to Joseph, Angela and the pile of luggage. We got in line to check in and went to one of the auto-check-in computers. I put in our ticket information and nothing happened. I repeated this a couple times and then we flagged down a ticketing agent. She grabbed the itinerary we had printed off earlier and started mumbling at the screen as she punched in the info. She seemed puzzled and started saying something about our tickets not being good. At this point (no home, no car, no things, except our mound of luggage) we were a bit distraught at the thought of having to leave the airport, re-rent another car, find a hotel, etc, until we could contact the Bethel relocation people to get new tickets. The agent talked to a couple of her colleagues and after several minutes they found that the tickets were in the system, but because we had switched dates, our ticket numbers were all wrong and the itinerary didn't have the new ones for some reason. So she got us all checked in and we had to pay a crapload of extra money for our extra suitcases ($100/each) over our check-in and carry-on allotment.

Angela and Joseph had a tearful goodbye as we entered the security line. We waded through the security (shoeless of course) and then headed off to our departure gate. Angela still wasn't feeling well and was pretty emotional about leaving, so got her some water and we waited for our flight.

I don't have a lot to say about the flight from Seattle to Anchorage. I looked out the window every now and then to see if we were over mountains or water (mostly it was water). We watched the movie "Martian Child" with John Cusack. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't great. It somewhat passed the time, however I also watched my Zune a little. One thing I do want to say about the last couple minutes of our flight is that I was glued to the window. The approach to Anchorage is gorgeous. The snow covered mountains, right next to the ocean and inlets was so cool to see. It really made me wish we were moving to Anchorage.

When we got into the airport in Anchorage Angela was feeling a little better and we knew we had a travel break to stretch before our 1 hour flight to Bethel. The part of the airport we first got into was unlike any other airport I have been to though. There were 5 more mooseheads than I have ever seen at any other airport I've been to before. We had to wait about 25 minutes outside (it wasn't that cold in Anchorage) for a shuttle to the other section of the airport (which we realized was only about 200 yards to our right after our short shuttle trip). Then we went to the airport chilis restaurant and ate lunch and hung out for about an hour and a half.

Our flight from Anchorage to Bethel left at about 7pm (I'm not sure if it was Alaska time or not at this point - which is an hour earlier than Seattle). It was a small plane, but not a propeller plane. I continually looked out the window at the landscape on the short flight, while also playing Donkey Kong Junior against Angela on our Nintendo DS's. As we approached Bethel, Angela and I looked out the window and marvelled at how flat everything was. We saw few trees and couldn't tell if what we were seeing was frozen river, lakes or land. We did see a winding strip of very flat snow that we were pretty sure was the river (or some rivers). Then we noticed a track through the snow and a truck driving over it. I am pretty sure it was the river highway. I guess during the winter, the river is frozen so thick, it is used as a highway to all the villages up and down it. We landed and went quickly inside the (one building) airport (but not before my nose hairs started to freeze).

We didn't know who was meeting us to take us to our temp housing, but we waited for our luggage and started stacking it up. Then the PA system asked Angela Williams to come to the counter. She went and came back to our luggage with a guy and a little boy. I think the guy's name was John and he was there to help us get to our temp housing and give us a tour as well. As we started taking our luggage out, our friend Alessandra met us and offered to drive us, while John took our luggage (there really wasn't room for Angela and I after John filled his small car with our 12 pieces of luggage anyways).

We got to temp housing (which was only a 2 minute car ride from the airport - in fact most things in bethel are only 2 minutes away from wherever you are at) and John gave us the lowdown on the place after we got our luggage in. He told us about the water tank that is filled once a week. He let us know that we can't take long (ten minute) showers or we will run out of water quickly. I didn't realize that John was supposed to (and meant to) take us on a tour of the hospital (where Angela would work) as well as the town, but we were so tired and didn't think we wanted to take a long tour with someone we had just met. So we let John know that we were wiped out and would have our friends give us the lowdown on Bethel. But John wanted us to be prepared, so he used our kitchen counter to draw invisible roads for Bethel and explain where everything was. My eyes glazed over and I just kept nodding, as I had no idea what he was talking about.

After he left, we realized that we did need to grab some food, so Alessandra took us quickly over to introduce us at our new church (the youth service was just getting out when we got there) and then we went to the nearest grocery store ( I think there are only two in town) and grabbed some food to eat.

When we got back to our temp housing, we crashed. We ate, and watched some tv and then hit the hay.

It was a long day and it was physically and mentally hard to leave Washington, but we made it and are better for the journey. Maybe our wolf friend died (I don't remember the Natty Gann movie that well), but we made it and hope to do well in our new town.

My next post will be about our first impressions of Bethel. As of tomorrow, we will have been here for 2 weeks, so we have a lot of first impressions, including Seal soup. I've taken a few pictures too, but don't have the chord to download them onto the computer (it is with our things sitting in Anchorage). But as soon as possible, I will get some pics on our blog. There is a lot of beauty here in Bethel, and I'm trying to capture it and let you enjoy it as well.

We haven't talked in a while

2008-03-28T21:17:00.000-07:00

First off, we have arrived in Bethel, Alaska. But before I get into that I feel the need to talk about our journey since our last post in early February.

Second off, I just finished this blog and came back up here to the top to say that this is a really long post. As I scan back through it, it seems more like a log of our activity and less like our thoughts on the things that transpired. This post may well be more for Angela and I and posterity than for our reader. But if you have time, read it and understand why we are so completely exhausted and conflicted about our move to Bethel at this date.

We filled up February getting things into storage (although not enough as most of our storage was filled up the week we left for Alaska) and finishing up our jobs. My Redmond based position at Microsoft ended on the last day in February (but I was back as a contractor as of this week).

In mid-February, I finally went to the dentist (the insurance clock was ticking, so Angela and I tried to get all of our medical, dental and vision taken care of) to figure out what I needed to do to get my fake tooth fixed. The tooth had loosened a few months before, and in the past couple weeks was pretty loose and almost falling out of my mouth (for those that don't know, this is my front right tooth - if you are facing me). The dentist said that the best thing to do was take the rest of my tooth base out and put in an implant (basically a screw socket with bone marrow infused around it) and let it heal for 3-4 months and then put in a more permanent fake tooth. So I had the minor surgery ( I made them put me out because I can't take it) and they gave me a retainer to hold my existing fake tooth (which broke within 3 days). They gave me a new (thicker) retainer the next week that didn't break until later. Just so you have the full picture, without that retainer, I have a great lisp and a huge gap in my mouth where my missing front tooth should be.

Angela's dad was also hospitalized in Spokane in February and we went over there for a few days. He's been sick off and on since October.

At the end of February I had a couple of days off I had to use before my last day so Angela and I went to San Francisco for a few days of rest and relaxation. We had a fun trip, but I will save the highlights for another post (maybe a flashback). The one thing I will say is that we visited The Rock (Alcatraz) and finally understood what Sean Connery and Nick Cage went through.

Since we got back from our vacation the last week in February, our lives have really been a crazy fast, exciting and sad blur. But I will now walk you through it as best I can.

With Angela's start date set for March 24th, we got flight reservations for March 20th and asked the moving company to pick up our stuff on March 13th. I was unemployed (for the transition from Employee to contractor at Microsoft) as of March 1st, so I tried to start getting our things organized into areas that we were putting into storage, what we were sending with the movers and what we were bringing with us in luggage. Angela still had a couple days left to work at Children's Hospital, but we also squeezed in some time to look around for a new vehicle (this was quite an interesting search as we started off wanting a Rav4, then decided to get a CRV or an Outback and finally decided on a Honda Pilot by the end of the first week in March). I was supposed to start again at work on Friday, March 7th, but there was a small delay and I was told I would start the following Tuesday or Wednesday instead because of a technical glitch.

On Thursday (March 6th) we made a final decision to buy the Honda Pilot from a dealership in Bellevue. We were planning on going in to buy the car on Friday morning and then going to visit Angela's dad at the hospital in Richland (he had gotten better since Spokane, so they sent him back to Richland - where he lives - so he could start physical therapy, but he had to return to the hospital in Richland because he had gotten worse again).

On Friday morning, while we were at the dealership haggling with Karim (our salesman) on the real trade-in value of my Acura Integra and Angela's Pontiac Vibe, we got a call that Angela's dad had a turn for the worse and they were trying to find him a bed in Spokane at a hospital that could give him more specific care. This sped up our haggling, and as soon as we finished the process of getting our new car, we went home quickly to get our stuff and sped to Richland (as there were no beds available at any other relevant hospitals in Washington for Angela's dad).

On Saturday, Angela's dad coded and required intubation. All 7 of his kids (who weren't already there) quickly travelled to Richland to be by his bedside. Gene (Angela's dad) has a wonderful set of kids and a great family, and it was more than obvious that he had a lot of people that loved him. We stayed until Monday, as I supposedly had to work on Tuesday and we still had a lot of things to do before the movers came, but we planned on returning the next weekend to visit again.

On the drive back to Kirkland, a cough I procured in Richland started to get violent, and by the time I parked the car, I was shivering like I was already in Alaska with only my skivies on and felt ridiculously sick. As soon as I got all of our baggage and was in the house, I started violently throwing up in the bathroom (the whole time this was happening, Angela was outside talking with our neighbor). I was still coughing so hard it felt like my ribs were breaking, and I had developed a bad fever. The next day Angela took care of me as best she could (but I don't remember most of the day) and then Angela adopted my fever on Wednesday. Not that I would have gone to work the way I felt (I might have tried to get a couple things done though) but the technical glitches were still delaying my start date so it was a non-issue. So Angela and I tried to take care of each other as we also tried to get some things separated into piles of what the movers should take on Thursday and what they should leave.

When the movers came on Thursday morning, we were both pretty incapacitated, and just sat on the couch downstairs (until we moved to the futon, which was the only piece of furniture we knew they were leaving). The movers asked us to stay away from them because they didn't want to get sick. One of them actually told Angela that she looked terrible.

I thought I might work on Friday, as I needed to start getting things going before we were leaving the following Thursday (I didn't want to get to Alaska and not be able to do my job). But they still didn't have my new stuff set up in the system, so I couldn't start.

We left back to Richland on Friday in the evening. I was almost over my sickness but still had a cough, and Angela was still pretty sick and running a fever. Angela's dad was not getting better at all. By Saturday, Carol (Angela's step-mom) sat down with all the kids. He wasn't going to make it and we needed to decide what to do for him to make him comfortable. We talked to the doctors and decided to start with high pain meds and pull out his breathing tube.

Camillus Eugene Williams IV died on Sunday, March 16th at 1:13pm. Below is his obituary:

Gene Williams

July 07, 1948 - March 16, 2008
Birthplace:
Oakland, California
Resided In:
Richland Washington
Service:
March 20, 2008

On March 16, 2008 Gene Williams left us after a long battle with illness.

Gene is survived by his loving wife Carol, his children Camillus, Anthony, Pamela, Nicholas, Angela, Joseph, Michael, and step-son Jon, his sister Nancy and brother Mark, his Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary, and many nieces, nephews, and beautiful grandchildren. Camillus Eugene ''Gene'' Williams IV was born on July 7th, 1948 to Camillus Eugene Williams III and Margaret Wagner in Oakland, Ca. He worked for more than seventeen years as a Radiologic Technician at Our Lady of Lourdes hospital in Pasco, Washington. Throughout his life he loved having pets and even at his sickest he was worried about everyone else more than himself. He never lost his sense of humor and taught us all how to laugh. He was the toughest man we will ever know. We were blessed to have his love. We miss you, Pop.

end of obituary.

Because of the funeral, Angela asked to move her start date and flight out by a week. So our new flight was going to be on Thursday, March 27th and Angela's new first day (orientation) was going to be Monday, March 31st. We left Richland on Friday, March 21st and Microsoft still did not have my technical glitches sorted out, but hoped to have it done by Monday (March 24th).

Since our home was reduced to piles of things that needed to go to storage, luggage or garbage, we tried to figure out where to stay from Friday through Wednesday. We decided to stay with our friends the Fraziers over the weekend and then hotels (Marriotts) in the Seattle area from Sunday through Wednesday. My brother in law basically helped us with discounted prices on Marriott hotels for the last month (he helped us for our vacation in San Francisco, our hotels in Spokane as well as Richland (and even offered to help with Angela's families reservations during the funeral). He was a life-saver and we would have been broke at this point if it weren't for him. We did stay at our home one night (Monday night) so we could really finish getting things squared away, but Angela got really sick (again) that night and had the stomach flu from then until the morning we left on Thursday.

On Monday, I still wasn't able to go to work because I wasn't in the system yet, but was basically guaranteed that I could start on Tuesday (even though I wouldn't be able to work full days because of everything we still had to do. On Tuesday I went to work for a couple hours in the afternoon and got my computer set up, while Angela and her sister in law (Angie) sorted through clothes and put everything into luggage. My little brother came over after work to help move our last pieces of furniture (the futon, dresser and a bookcase) to his home in Seattle.

Wednesday morning, we had to drop off our car in Tacoma to be shipped to Bethel, so we trekked down there and back to Kirkland. The Fraziers came over while I went to work for a couple hours and helped clean the entire house. It was pretty much spotless in about 2 hours or so. Then Angela and I finished getting everything into our car (12 pieces of luggage - including my guitar-, 4 boxes we needed to mail and some bags of things we were giving to our families - mostly left over cleaning supplies and things). We dropped off our keys to the house, mailed our boxes (xbox 360 and tivo included) and went to Seattle. We had booked the Waterfront Marriott for our final night in Washington so Angela's family could walk on the ferry and meet us in Seattle at the Red Robin on the waterfront for one last dinner. My brother and his wife came as well and we played cards with them in the hotel afterwards. The goodbyes were all tearful for Angela, and sad for me. I keep thinking that we will see them all again soon (we're back in May for a week and will probably be down every couple months after that if not more frequently).

So I will end with the night before we left for now. We will write a couple more blogs this week (we hope) to talk about our actual trip to Bethel and our first impressions of our new home.

We are excited about being in Bethel, but are so completely exhausted right now because of this last month (emotionally and physically). Angela is worried about starting her job in the right spirits because she is still (obviously) dealing with the death of her dad and the sadness of moving away from her entire family. We know our friends in Bethel will help us get settled, but we would love any prayers you can spare for Angela's new job, my home office, and our new home in Alaska.

Moving....

2008-02-05T15:44:00.000-08:00

As Luke mentioned before, we are officially moving to Alaska. Sooner that we thought too! I start my new job on March 24th, so we are anticipating being in Bethel around the 19th. It seems soo fast. We are both very excited. Though I think Luke is more excited than I. I know God has his hand in all this, but I tend to be a pessimist which is probably why Luke and I are perfect for each other. He is almost always positive, annoyingly so sometimes. However, I am learning to go with the flow and let Luke talk me into seeing the good side of things. Don't get me wrong, I do want to move to Alaska and I think this is a great time for us to go. But I can't help but think of all the changes we will face. I used to feel excited about change but somewhere in the past three years, I have become a bit stagnant which is partially what prompted the thoughts of actually taking this huge leap. If you have relocated before, say to Jerusalem which of course is on the way to Bethel, than you know there is a lot to do before you go and a lot of people to say goodbye to.

For instance, I gave my notice yesterday. That was a sad moment for me because I truly love working at Children's Hospital and there are so many kids there that I love. Also, it is respiratory season and so staffing is a challenge right now. Thankfully my boss was very gracious.

Also, I have a very large family and can't quite keep straight who I have updated and who I have not. I think my whole family is sad that we are going. If I think about it too long I am so overwhelmed with the thought of not seeing them that I actually have anxiety. I am very close to my brother Joseph and the other day I read his blog about how his glue(me) is moving away and how sad he is. It was heartbreaking. But I know that God works all things for His glory and that us moving will change us and our families for the better!

So, the next few weeks will be filled with business as we sort through our belongings. Already our house is a mess as we are trying to put things in storage. We have an amazingly long list of things to do, some things are very mundane but time consuming all the same. Luke gets very excited as we cross things of our list.

If you are praying for us, please pray for housing in Bethel. We are hoping to get into the hospital provided housing but there is a wait list. God took care of our jobs and I know that He will provide here as well.

We will keep updating as our adventure continues!

It's Official

2008-01-29T18:06:00.000-08:00

Angela and I are excited to say that we are definitely moving to Alaska. We haven't established a hard date yet for the move, and are working on a couple specific details, but we are moving. The more we learn about Bethel, Alaska, the more we get excited about the move. There will be a lot to get used to in Alaska (Angela can't take it when the heat in the house is lower than 60 degrees, and I think the weather in Bethel is a little lower than that), but we are sure that God can use us up there.

Everything that we were hoping would line up to make this move work has totally worked out. I am keeping my job with Microsoft and will be able to work remotely from Alaska. This will be huge for our goals around getting out of debt quickly. Angela will be able to work days, which will totally help with her sanity and for her and I to spend more time together and be involved with church in Bethel.

This is a very exciting time for Angela and I. We are setting off on a great adventure and are stoked for what God is doing in our lives.

We will keep you updated on our actual move date as soon as we set it. We will also let you know how we are doing with getting ready for the move. We have to buy a bunch of warm clothes and a new truck or suv. But the most important thing is making sure I can get both of my flat screen tvs up to Alaska safely.

Answers to question

2008-01-18T20:58:00.000-08:00

I’ve been getting questions from our blog reader (yes, I count one (1) reader right now, unless you include Angela and I), and wanted to respond. The question, specifically, was in regards to where we are in our decision to move to Alaska. The answer, specifically, is that we are still weighing some things. I’ll dive a little deeper into where we are at:

A huge reason we are considering going to Alaska is because there is a possibility for Angela to work at a hospital where they will help pay off a huge piece of her school loans. This is very important to us, as we need to get out of debt before we go into missions. This opportunity would allow us to get out of debt much more quickly (possibly more than twice as quickly) than if we were to stay in Washington and do what we are doing now. However, it has come to our attention that these loan payoff programs are not a “sure thing”. We have to apply for the program, get approved, and then the hospital will pay off part of the loan, based on their funding that year. We are not worried about the approval as much, but if we are uprooting based on this piece of the puzzle, and then they only pay off a small part of the loan, we are worse off than if we stayed in Washington. Angela is researching how much funding the hospital in Alaska gets typically and working with the hospital for assurances that this piece of the puzzle is less precarious than it seems right now. So we are at the research stage of this piece.

Another piece of the puzzle (maybe a corner) is how I will make money if we go. I think we would still be better off moving to Alaska if I had no job and the loan repayment went as we hope it will. However, we were crunching numbers and found that I can make about half of what I make now and we would be able to pay off even more of our school debt. The problem is that I don’t think I could handle not working and bringing in money. There are not that many jobs that I know of up there, and the ones I do know of I’m not really qualified for. So I’m trying to figure out if I can keep my job with Microsoft and work remotely. This isn’t completely out of the question, and actually might be an option. But it isn’t a certainty. Once some of Angela’s things fall in place, I will see if I can get a direct answer on whether I can work remotely in my current position or not. Once we get that answer, I think we will have a little more direction in whether this is the right plan for us. But if I can keep my job, it is likely that we will be able to pay off all of our debt as well as save a good chunk of money over the next two years.

The biggest piece of the puzzle is trying to figure out what God wants us to do. We are praying for his guidance as we plan for this and decide which direction to go in. We are excited about the possibility of all of this, and do feel God leading us in this, but we definitely want more clarity. We may just step out in faith on this, whether we have certainty on the things I’ve mentioned or not, but obviously, we would love a roadmap and GPS.

So I hope that satisfies our reader for now. We will definitely update as things move along. But in the meantime, let me tell you a couple facts you probably didn’t know:

Last meal I ate: Waffles
Last Netflix I watched: Extras - Season 2 – Disc 1
Last thing I put in the garbage: Our Christmas tree (last year it was up until March I think, so we’re doing better)
Last board game I played: Scotland Yard (at Christmas), I won

How cold does it get in Alaska?

2008-01-05T20:53:00.000-08:00

When I moved to St. Croix in the Caribbean, I don't remember having a lot of questions. I knew I couldn't take my car, I didn't have a lot of things to take (I remember wanting to bring my tv, but left it with my friend Ryan). I assumed the weather would be sunny (and it was a good guess). When I decided to move it was 1994 (I think) so I wasn't online and didn't think about looking up info on St. Croix. I pretty much just decided I was going and then moved a month or two later.

As Angela and I consider moving to Bethel, Alaska, I find myself coming up with more and more questions. Where will we live, where will I work, where will we go to church, how cold does it get in Bethel, is there a movie theatre there, how far away is the closest Best Buy? Many of the questions are more out of excitement and wonder than concern. But I'm not finding a ton of answers yet. There are not a ton of sites on the city of Bethel Alaska (if you find a good one, let us know). We have a good friend in Bethel (props to Alessandra) who we are going to be asking a lot of questions, but on my own I've found some answers online, but not all of them. There is a lot of excitement about a move like this for us, but a lot of questions too.

We have found out that there is NOT a movie theatre in Bethel and it is a $400 flight to the nearest one it sounds like. So that is the real concern at this point. Not so much for Angela, but I don't know how I could cope. I guess we can get Netflix up there and movies hit DVD just a few months after the theatre, but what happens when Transformers 2 comes out and I have to fly to Seattle to see Optimus Prime.

All in all, we are more excited than scared about the possibility of the new adventure. I guess I just have a tendency to try and figure out all the angles before we make a decision. Below are a couple of the sites that we found that were somewhat helpful with our questions.

BethelAK.com
City-Data.com
Indeed.com
Wikipedia
BestBuy.com

We'll keep you updated with everything, but if you have additional questions that we might want to consider about this potential move, please let us know.

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The Holidays

2007-12-31T20:53:00.000-08:00

Well, it's been a whirlwind holiday season that is soon coming to a close. Right now we are laying on the couch watching Intervention (an amazing show, jealous?). I am home early from work because I have been feeling sick i.e. cough, sore throat, runny nose etc. But Luke and I are excited to spend the evening together.
Christmas was busy. We spent Christmas Eve with my family which was fun. Then Christmas Day morning Luke and I opened our gifts and then I went to work and Luke went to his sister's house. We missed each other but hey, I got some holiday pay. The next day we went to his sister's again and then off to the Frazier's. It has been a fun couple of weeks. Luke has not been to the office since the Thursday before Christmas. I don't how he is going to go back to work this Wednesday.
During this time, Luke and I have been entertaining the idea of moving to Alaska. Sounds cold, I know. The thing is I can get my loans repaid, we'd have less costly housing and Luke would possibly have a higher paying job. I of course would work as a nurse. It would be an opportunity that would prepare us for missions(the uprooting from family and living in a different culture).
There are so many pros to the situation and we are praying for God's wisdom and for open doors aplenty if Alaska is where we should be.
All in all it has been a good year. Luke and I have enjoyed being married and are excited for our future together. So, as the year comes to a close in just a few short hours, we are looking forward and waiting to see what the new year brings.

Happy New Year!

Angela and Luke

We've created a blog!

2007-12-23T14:16:00.000-08:00

So all our friends can read about our amazing lives. Just in time for Christmas.

Angela and I decided we wanted to do a shared blog so our family and friends could keep up to date with our lives. We are currently excited to share our 3rd Christmas together as a married couple (Angela is quick to point out that it is our 4th Christmas together, however). Due to some interesting family dynamics, we are stretched thin, this holiday season. Angela has to work at her exciting new Nursing job on Christmas Day, so I will be missing her (as will our family) while she is working that night. Otherwise, we are excited about our stockings and presents (and Jesus, of course). I (Luke) will be working from home Christmas week (i.e., playing XBOX and catching up on my cartoons (are the Smurfs still on?), but hope to see a lot of family and friends. Anyway, we hope to keep this up to date at least once a week (with either Angela or I posting something). We hope you enjoy our stories as much as we enjoy living them. - Luke & Angela