long overdue

I know, I know I've been neglectful. So let's begin.

Why are we so happy?

Besides the usual living-an-incredibly-blessed-newly-wedded-life-in beautiful-Northern-California way? 

Because we are moving on to something incredibly exciting & adventurous & inspiring.  We got the job. We're moving to Bethlehem Farm in West Virginia to live a crazy, prayer-filled, intentional life of service & simplicity.

So, yes, the pictures from my last post are from our trip out there. We spent 9 days in there getting to know the community members, seeing what life may be like there, & exploring what our areas our responsibility may be. And we loved it. The slogan of Bethlehem Farm is, "Welcome Home" and we felt very welcomed home. This was the end of an almost 2 year process of applying & it truly seems like a great fit, dare I say, "calling" for us.

I've been creating a website to explain this whole deal to the world at large, or perhaps just family & friends so that's part of the blogging neglect. When it's up you'll be some of the first to know.

Some logistics in the meantime, we're moving sometime in September. Right now I'm still at my job (& will be until they tell me to leave), the teens in the ministry were quite shocked & that's been difficult but it'll be OK. And... I think that's all for now. 

More later.

Much more!

it's quite fun

for me to check out what everyone is reading as I walk through the aisle of a plane.

The best was two summer ago when everyone was reading the last Harry Potter book & everyone wanted to talk about it without giving anything away. It was like a nation-wide community builder.

I wish we could have more of those. 

What do ya'll want to read this summer?

a man was sleeping on the street

this morning. To be honest, there were probably a lot of men, women, & children sleeping on the street this morning. But I was up before the sun, driving to meet with some friends for prayer & I saw this man.

I kept driving. I told myself I saw wrong, it wasn't a man curled near the mailbox post, it was bags, trash waiting to be picked up.

But I wasn't fooled.

I turned around. It was a man.

I stopped. I took the blanket out of my trunk.  I snuck up on him & laid it on him, praying he wouldn't wake up.

Because I was scared. And I didn't really want to do it. 

What if he woke up?  What if he asked for more?  What if he wanted more? A ride? Some cash? A place to stay? Things I didn't feel I could give.

What if he was angry at me? For butting in? For not butting in enough?

I didn't want to do it. But I had to. Because I have lots of blankets, a warm car, a soft bed, a comfortable home.  

Because if I hadn't it makes everything I preach nonsense.

But just doing that one thing isn't enough & I could still be a hypocrite.

I know I am called to more but often I am stopped by my unwillingness to see, by my fear, by worry I will be called to sacrifice more than I want to.

Lord, help me. 

But mostly, help me help him & all the others sleeping on the street.

Yosemite

is stunning! Here are some pictures:

The mythic Half-Dome. I say mythic because the one other time I was in Yosemite it was so rainy & foggy I couldn't even see it. Clearly, not a problem this time.  Now I want to climb it! Maybe this summer.

Lower Yosemite Falls. You can just keep climbing closer & closer so we did... and got wet. But the fall was so powerful.  I kept thinking about the waterfall we swam under in Thailand which was much smaller but still instantly drove me down to the bottom of the river. This one would have been like being hit by a cartoon piano as you walk down the street. 

Only, you know, wetter.

Rebs gets excited about snow.

Me? I've had enough snow in my life. But I like hot cocoa.

Even our shadows are in love.

this weekend

Rebs & I went to Yosemite. It was beautiful, mind-bogglin' majestic, & oh, so very tall.  Also, strange because at the tops of the mountains it was sunny & blooming green yet in the valley, snowy & cold. Isn't the snow supposed to be on the top of the mountain? That how I always used to draw mountains in school. I have so great pictures but am too lazy to track down my camera & cord - so you'll just have to wait. 

But I'll give you a little taste with this: we saw a WOLF! Enjoy the google image until I'm willing to dole out details:

Ok, I'm ready. 

I was driving, due to a serious bout of carsickness the nastiest conclusion of which was avoided when I got out of car, walked around, consumed water from my new, awesome water bottle*,  ate copious amounts of original flavored Goldfish crackers (TM?), & thus fortified, took the wheel. 

For those of you who don't know, once you get into the park you still have to drive for an hour to get down to the valley where you can park, rest(room), start a hike, etc. I was behind another car on a 2 lane, windy road & they hit the brakes for know apparent reason. Luckily, I do likewise saying, "Why are these people slowing down?" As Rebs starts to reply, "I don't know." I look out the passenger window & finish my sentence, "Maybe because of that WOLF!" It was about 10 feet away from the car just watching morning traffic pass by. We don't actually have a photo of our wolf because I had to keep going to prevent a serious, although low-speed pile up in one of our National Parks.

Amazing.  It was one of those sights I have to keep checking in with Rebs about to make sure. "You saw wolf too? I'm not crazy?" He would say I'm not crazy because I saw a wolf but... 

ha. ha.

  I just can't help but wonder what happens when you are that close to a wolf when there's no car between you & it.

* Named Liquid Honey & deserving it's own post.