Lots has happened in those 10 years: New house (bought in June 2001), new wheels for both of us, Randy's transition into the ministry at our church and reducing his hours at Perry Pallet, my change in roles at Blythe and reduction of hours as we add kids to our home, wrestling with the inability to conceive our own bio kids, and then traveling the adoption road resulting in two fantastic gifts from God. And then there is our miracle baby girl who is due to arrive mid-June this year. Through it all, we have found God to be our most ever-present and faithful Guide and Friend, and we have grown in our relationship with each other and the Lord.
This 3-day getaway was a wonderful opportunity for us to reconnect and spend quality time with each other. Originally we planned to leave Ryan with my sister and take Abby along for the weekend, but our sister-in-law recommended that we try to do the weekend alone. It was kind of scary for both of us, because we weren't sure that we would enjoy being together by ourselves. Sure, we did it for 7 years before Abby came, but that was then. Thankfully, we found out that we DO still enjoy being together and we DO still love each other! We had a great time talking, going on outings, sitting in the hot tub, working on our projects, and just hanging out together. I particularly enjoyed getting up early in the morning and sitting in the lounge chair and working on my Bible study book (Beth Moore's Esther book). My back often hurts by the time morning comes, so it prompted me to get out of bed around 7am each day. I was able to open the shades and watch the rising sun shine on the Olympic mountains, and the boats and shipping vessels travel in and out of the inlet. The weather was gorgeous while we were there (clear and sunny every day!), so it was a very peaceful and beautiful time of day. I also enjoyed discussing a variety of things with Randy. We love talking to each other!
{Randy is not here to give his input on his favorite part of the weekend. I'll have to get that from him later and add it to this post.}
Abby and Ryan got to experience their first nights away from home. Abby stayed with our friends, the Peacock family. They say she did great, and was a good girl. They've raised 3 girls, so they are very familiar with the needs and habits of little girls. They also have a very laid back dog, whom Abby enjoyed very much. Abby was very wound up when Randy picked her up on Sunday afternoon! She was excited to see her Daddy and Mommy and to be home again.
Ryan stayed with my sister Laura and her family. He didn't fare quite as well, but he was alive when I picked him up and he recovered and was back to his normal self in a couple days. He decided to make sleeping and eating a challenge, and was therefore pretty "wigged out" - almost in a stupor - by the time I picked him up. He was well loved by his boy cousins and aunt and uncle, and did give them some smiles and giggles to make the time worthwhile for them, but they were ready to give him back. :)
Here are some pictures we took over the weekend:
The front porch of the cabin (the Bush Point Hideaway). We actually didn't sit out here during the weekend; it was just a little too chilly. But this gives you a flavor of the view we had.
The inside of the cabin:
Top left picture shows the living room and the view out the windows.
Top right picture shows our bedroom. Every time we go to a nice place we say we should take pictures BEFORE we mess it up! Well, we didn't this time either. The bed was very nicely made before we used it...
Bottom left picture is of us in the front room, looking toward the dining room table. I spent a fair bit of time at that table doing some scrapbooking, and Randy had his laptop set up and did a good amount of work and play on it.
Bottom right picture is looking at the living/dining room from the other direction, toward the front door.
Randy noticed this sunset on Friday night, and I grabbed my camera and got it on "film". The vertical streak above the Olympic mountains caught his eye, and the colors were really pretty too.
We took a little drive on Friday and found a spot where we could get closer to the water and look further up the inlet. It's hard to grasp the view in a single picture, but if you look closely you can see Mt. Rainier in the background, some of the Seattle skyscrapers to the right, and a ship coming up the lane. VERY neat view!
We took a hike on Wilbur Trail in South Whidbey State Park on Friday. It wasn't a long hike (.8 miles), which is good since neither of us is in great hiking shape. It was perfect for us! It's just a walk through the trees - kind of boring if you're looking for great views - but we found some small streams, interesting trees, and a woodpecker along the way. I took a movie of the woodpecker so we could show it to Abby. We got quite close to him, but he didn't seem to mind us being there.
Self-photo of us on our 10th anniversary!
These two trees were both leaning. The smaller one is hung up on the larger one. I'm sure they'll both fall down soon - not by Randy pushing on them (which is what he's doing in this picture).
My 23-1/2 week pregnancy picture.
We came across this little side trail that took us to this "Ancient Western Red Cedar Tree", which apparently is over 500 years old. If you click on the sign picture, you should be able to read the notes on it. It actually was quite a fascinating sight! Very hard to get in a single picture, but I tried! :)
And here is a sample of some of the neater looking boats we saw, with the Olympic Mountains as a backdrop. Beautiful!
As I close, I want to say THANK YOU to Randy for planning this whole getaway, to Mandi for telling us to do it alone, to the Peacocks for taking care of Abby, to Laura and Kevin and boys for taking care of Ryan, and to Alex and Sherilyn for taking care of our house and cat while we were gone. And Randy gets another big THANK YOU for being a wonderful husband, leader, father, and friend. I love you Honey!!! To God be the glory, great things HE has done!! (that was the theme of our wedding, and it is still true today).
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