Moving...Again!

We moved to Bend knowing that it might be temporary. We had been planning on going to seminary this fall, and just wanted a cool place to live. As we've lived in Bend, we've been praying and processing and honestly, the verdict has fluctuated all over the place from staying in Bend to going to seminary to going into ministry again.

Four to Six weeks ago we prayerfully decided to put out Mark's resume to some local churches. We had been praying about going to seminary, but weren't feeling 100% about going to Duke or Azusa, which had been the plan. We had been hearing about IWU's new MDiv program, which could be done onsite or online, and so as Mark put out his resume, I put in my application for the online program. You have to go to IWU for the first 2 weeks of August, but other than that, the whole program is done online. The program requires you to be in ministry at least 20 hrs a week, so the hope was that Mark would get a position as a lead pastor in a smaller church, and then I could work part time (paid or unpaid), and do school. Eventually Mark will look to start school as well.

Mark's resume went out to DS's all over the country - some in the east, a lot in the midwest, and quite a few out west as well. But what ended up working out for us was a great church near Salem, OR called Mt. View Wesleyan Church. We went and cadidated a few weeks ago, and couldn't have been more welcomed by the congregation. They were pleased with us as well, and they collectively voted us in and extended an invitation to Mark to be their new Lead Pastor. We start on Aug 2, and soon thereafter, I will leave to do my first 2 week stint at IWU. We are really excited and are looking forward to beginning our life and ministry with this great group of people in Aumsville. The great thing is that, although we will have to go back to IL to move all our stuff from there, it is only 2 hrs from Bend (in good weather), so we still have great access to the mts and all they have to offer.

Thanks to all who prayed for us and gave advice through this process. We look forward to seeing what God has in store for us and for our church!

Parents Visit

My parents came out to visit last week for 5 days or so. They had never been to Oregon before, and Mark and I hadn't gotten to do much of the touristy stuff around the Bend area yet, so we had a great time showing them around, trying out the local restaurants, and seeing the sights. It was a bit overcast with rain forcasted for just about every day, but luckily the rain held off and didn't hinder our days at all.

Jess and the parents at Benham Falls. The falls here is more of a long cascade...nothing too dramatic, but still pretty. And we could hike up to this viewpoint to get a head-on view of the falls.

We walked a lot this day...along with hiking to Benham Falls, we also walked a mile back into the Lava River Cave - a lava tube that is quite big, but gets pretty small toward the end. This is my dad about as close to the end as we got. We weren't up for crawling.

We also walked around the Newberry Crater Monument. There were some shorter trails that wound through the lava fields, which were pretty cool. We also drove up to the top of Lava Butte (behind us), which gave a great view of the surrounding area and the mts.

If you look closely to the top of the cliff, you'll see, mom, dad, and Jess overlooking Benham Falls.

We made our way over to Tumalo Falls one day as well. Mark and I hadn't ever taken the makeshift trail over to the bottom of the falls, so it was cool to get that close.

Mom and Dad up at Bachelor standing on snow in warm weather. This doesn't happen in WI! :)

We spent one afternoon canoeing at Elk Lake for a couple of hours. We got a pretty good tour of most of the lake, and pretty good views of South Sister and Mt. Bachelor as well!

Mom and Mark canoeing with Bachelor in the background.

Devil's Lake is just off the highway back toward Elk Lake. It's hard to tell even in this picture, but parts of it are an incredible shade of green.

We had such a great time, and my parents were excited to do some things they don't get to do in the midwest (lava caves!). Maybe next time we can coerce them into white water rafting ;).

Goodbye Friends

We first met Stephanie and Ryan at church one morning. We had just decided to start attending our church, and during our 5-min. break between the music and the message, they introduced themselves. Then, after the service was over they said, "Hey, we're having a Christmas party tonight if you want to come." And we did. And we hit it off right away. We got asked all evening, "how do you know Stephanie and Ryan?" and I got to say, "we don't really! we met them this morning!" It was really fun! They quickly became great friends. We had a lot in common, but as it turns out, they had applied to the peace corps a year or so before, and were waiting to find out what country they might be going to. So, quite excitedly, and also quite sadly, we said goodbye to them recently as they headed out for a two year stint in Mongolia. Yes, Mongolia :). Even though we hadn't known them too long, we became good friends fast, and we will miss them tremendously. Good Luck friends. We will miss you, but are excited for what is ahead! Keep in touch!

Summer in Bend

Balloons Over Bend was last week in the Old Mill District. Apparently hot air balloons go up in the mornings but it was too windy this year. We didn't get down to see the balloons because I was working, but we went down on a sunday afternoon and they still had festivities going on....vendors, blow up jumpies for kids, and sidwalk art. Here's a taste of the artwork...it was pretty cool!

Kids could even join in the fun!

4 Year Anniversary :: Newport, OR

It just worked out that I had a long weekend off just after our 4-year anniversary, so we planned a mini vacation to celebrate. We have been told by so many people that we just have to get to the coast sometime, and similarly, we had heard how cool Newport is, so we decided to head there. Our original plan was to go to Newport for a day and a half, and then drive up to Portland for a day and a half, but after driving 4 hrs to Newport, we decided it would be too much driving and instead stayed in Newport the whole three days. We camped at Beverly Beach State Park the first night, which was really beautiful, but packed, and got a cheap hotel the second night. We live in a section of OR that is high desert, so it is dry and brushy, and well, deserty. West of the Cascades OR is green and lush. It was a gorgeous drive with great views of the mountains as well.

When we first got to the coast it was cooler out (the highs were in the 50's and 60's), but sunny. Our second two days were overcast, so we didn't have as great of views, but it was still nice. It looks warm in this picture because of the blue skies, but it was chilly and really windy! We got to see some guys kite boarding and wind surfing, which was cool. They were wearing full wet suits! i hear the oregon coast water is never warm.

Beverly Beach State Park, OR

Part of the rocky coastline from Yaquina Head "Outstanding Natural Area." This is the headland where an old, but currently functioning light house is. It juts almost a mile out to sea!

We ended up at Yaquina Head at low tide, which was cool because we got to explore the tide pools. These are sea anenomies...I called them "green nasties" because, although they look cool when they are open like this, they are nasty looking when they fold in their light green tentacles...kind of like a green nasty blob.

A bed of muscles.

the coastline from Yaquina Head

The lighthouse at Yaquina Head.

a starfish in a tide pool.

Sorry about the sideways picture, but I was taking them directly off the camera, so it wouldn't let me turn it. I know it's annoying to view them sideways. But, this is a fresnel lense at the top of the lighthouse. In the late 1800's it cost $11,000 and was shipped from France!

A view down the lighthouse stairs.

fishing boats in the harbor.

We had been walking to dinner in the "historic bayfront" and could hear sea lions barking, but couldn't see them. We wandered out onto this deck and bam - there they were, right below us! It was really cool! This one was posing for everyone :).

There were a bunch of them...

It was a really cool trip...not too overdone, but enough sight-seeing and relaxing to make it just right. We are not huge beach people, but it was a great time to see a part of OR that we hadn't seen yet, and there was enough stuff to explore that it made it fun. If you ever have a chance to get to the coast, it's totally worth it!

Friends and Family

Tomorrow, Tuesday, will be one year to the day that Mark and I took the first steps of our thru-hike of the PCT - a journey that would take us 4.5 more months to complete. It's incredible to me that it has already been a year since we started that adventure. It doesn't seem that long ago that we were hiking. I took off of work this past weekend so that Mark and I could go to the PCT Kickoff Weekend, which marks the official beginning of the PCT thru-hiking season. It's essentially a big party, with vendors, current hikers, past hikers, seminars, food, and all things for long-distance backpacking. We didn't get to go last year because of timing, so we thought we'd go this year to reconnect with people we hiked with last summer.

Needless to say, it didn't work out (again), but I still had this long weekend off and a free flight to use. It wasn't long until I figured out that friends from college were going to be visiting some other friends in the Quad Cities, so I jumped on the chance to go. Mark decided to stay behind to be available for job interviews, so a few days ago, I headed out alone to see friends and family.

I got to stay with Mark's parents while in the QC's. It was fun to get to see them and catch up on life in person! They were also very generous in letting me borrow a car to visit friends, etc. The funny part about this picture is that we decided to take the picture at night instead of in the morning before I left, so I have pj bottoms on, but changed into a sweater to make it look better for the picture!

Julie was visiting from Michigan, along with Steve B (not pictured). It was super fun, but I think we tired amber out since she's got a new little baby who keeps her up at odd hours of the morning :).

Amber and Lincoln. I just love how she keeps track of his pacifier!

Aimee is just one of four friends that had babies in the past 6 months. Elijah is 5 months old!

Kate is due with her second...and she just so happened to have her shower the weekend I was here! It was really fun to get to connect with so many great friends!

Babies galore! Elijah, Lincoln, and Oliver.

Virginia and Oliver...he's tiny because he was born 6 wks early!

Libby...she didn't have a baby (one of the few), but we got to catch up over coffee.

I wasn't so great with pictures, so I didn't get pictures of Stephanie and her son Will, Steve B, or Liz. There are always more people to see than there is time for, but I had a great time squeezing in time where I could. It was just so nice to get to reconnect with so many people that I miss and love, but I am looking forward to seeing mark again tomorrow! Off again to battle the airlines...

Winter Camping

We had planned an overnight winter camping trip with our friends, Ryan and Stephanie, at least a month ago. We just got lucky that when the days rolled around to go, it was the two nicest days, not only of the week, but of the year so far. It has been snowing a week or so before, so there was plenty of snow on the ground, but our days were bright, sunny, and warm. It was probably 50-60 degrees, but the sun made it feel even warmer. Mark and I snowshoed, and Stephanie and Ryan are telemarkers, so they skinned in. We chose a destination that wasn't too far away, about 3 miles or so from the car, but you would have thought we were miles from anything. It was beautiful and so much fun!

Mark, Jess, Ryan, Stephanie

Our view as we headed out from the sno-park. On the left is South Sister; the little bump in the middle is Middle Sister, and on the right is Broken Top.

Mark and Ryan headed down the trail.

This is what happens when you try to walk backwards in snowshoes without stepping carefully :)

When the snow isn't here, this is a bathroom like you'd find in a campground. It gives you an idea of how much snow we are standing on.

We stopped for a break right around Todd Lake, and apparently these birds are accustomed to people. Mark put a tiny piece of a chip in his hand and the bird came right over and took it, but not without posing for a picture first!

Our camp near Todd Lake, with Mt. Bachelor in the background.

Surprisingly, we weren't too cold...we had enough warm clothes. "Big Pink" kept me nice and toasty.

It did get cold at night, and since we were kind of in a little valley, some fog settled in overnight, leaving a pretty frost layer on everything.

The fog.

Our view of Broken Top after climbing the ridge behind our camp the next morning. We thought about climbing it, but didn't have enough time. Another day...

Ryan and Stephanie got to ski down the ridge while Mark and I slugged down on our snowshoes.

R & S have a kite like you would use for kite boarding, so we brought it along for something to do at camp.

Headed back to the car the next day. We were roasting, and if I could show you my face now, it would be a pretty shade of red, even with 50 spf sunblock :).