11/20-11/24: Headed South!

We departed from Oregon and headed back to California for the first time since June. For the first time this trip we were returning as planned (instead of because of sudden loss). It felt good to be excited about the return towards home!

Our first stop was to see my great-aunt Ruth. On all of my trips north and south between my California home and my Washington home, this has been our halfway stop. This time we spent an extra day in order to actually spend time with my extended family. Aunt Ruth is one of the most welcoming, down-to-earth people you will ever meet. I love spending time with her! We were also able to see some of my extended family during a meal Aunt Ruth hosted at her house. It was a treasured time in a place that I've been many times, but rarely am able to stay longer.

The Jelly Belly factory was only a short detour from our planned path south, so, of course, we decided to stop! It was such a fun adventure being able to see the process of making the candy, trying the jelly beans at a couple different stages of production, and observing all of the different flavor options. We both really wanted to buy a bag of Belly Flops, jelly beans that don't quite make the cut, but resisted in order to save money. Instead we sampled a few flavors and took our memories with us. :)

In order to break the length of driving and to be close enough to Santa Barbara to meet my family in time, we wanted to stay with one more person on the way down. Many of our options fell through. We made one last contact to a Biola friend that we had gotten to know better through our former roommate. She had room and was available for us to stay! Little did we know that God perfectly timed it for us to be there exactly at a time when she needed our encouragement. Ahhh I love how God works in the smallest details!

Then it was time for us to spend time with our individual families for Thanksgiving. Wow...had we really come this far?!

11/9-11/10: Heading West Again--Utah State University

*Note: This post is out of order by a little bit*

Prior to leaving on the trip Alyssa took classes towards a Post-Bacc in Speech-Language Pathology through Utah State University. Of course all of the classes were online since we live in a different state. (She will be returning to school this coming fall to finish up her degree!) From the start of the trip, she had wanted to stop to see the campus of the school she had been a part of for the past year. Timing and location had repetitively not worked out. This was the last time we could make it happen! We booked a night at an AirBnB close to campus...and made the long drive from Colorado to Logan, Utah. The scariest weather driving of the entire trip happened on the last 12 mile stretch into the city. It was dark with snow blowing horizontally towards the windshield...and I was driving...!! The road was a curvy mountain road that I was completely unfamiliar with and people kept barreling past me. It was a stressful half hour filled with a lot of prayer and deep breaths. ;) We made it without incident and bought a Starbucks drink to celebrate. While we were at Starbucks the snow followed us. Thankfully the AirBnB was close, so we easily found it and were able to sleep and rest while the snow finished falling.

When we woke up, there was snow on the ground, but the roads were clear. God is so good. We headed over to the campus and wandered around. It was a BEAUTIFUL campus!! The accents of snow everywhere highlighted its beauty. Alyssa was able to meet up with one of her professors which she had set up last minute the day before and then managed to have a spontaneous meet up with a second professor! What a blessing and treat! I found it comforting to sit inside the clinic at the school...and dream of my future. We also made a stop at the book store to pick up a few mementos. :)  I was pleasantly surprised at the beauty and feel of the campus. I'm so grateful we stopped, especially because I think it'll give Alyssa the boost to get back into school again come the fall.

11/11-11/18: Washington--Birthday and More!

As I begin to write about this week in Washington, I realize just how inadequate words are to describe this special week of our trip. After all of our crazy times of transitions and traveling, coming home for a week of rest and rejuvenation was *exactly* what we needed.

Our week didn't exactly start off restful though...

If you remember back to the last post about Idaho, I mentioned that we shortened our stay by a night. This put us into Washington a day early...which was a blessing because of multiple reasons. One of those reasons is that snow was right on our tail. I'm not sure how severe it was, but I am thankful that we didn't have to think about it! Secondly, we had planned an update luncheon to share with everyone about how the trip was going. This required far more work than we had predicted, so an extra day was abundantly helpful. 

The first two days we were there we worked morning until night to prepare. We made greeting cards to sell. Alyssa worked countless hours on a slideshow video of our trip. The table settings, food, and arrangements were made. It was tiring, but so worth it in the end! Twenty or so people came from all areas of my life in Washington. It was an incredible show of support and love. There were people from my mom's Moms in Prayer group, a next door neighbor, friends from my Book Club, and others who have been touched by the trip. We showed off our dirt collection from the states we had been; we played the video of highlights while answering questions. I loved hearing what people wanted to know about! Even though Alyssa and I were physically exhausted, this time gave us the encouragement we needed to continue pressing forward to the finish line. Most importantly it showed us all that God had done in and through us during our time of obedience on the road.

Two days later was my birthday. I had not been with my family for a birthday since I turned 18...and I was now turning 25! I LOVE that we were able to arrange our trip so that I could be home for this special occasion. Usually I like to explore for my birthday, but since the past few months had been so full of exploring, I opted for a restful day. My mom made pancakes for breakfast. Yum! For lunch we went to my favorite root beer place...and got delicious hamburgers too! Dinner was full of my favorite foods. Mom even arranged my favorite zucchini side into a 25. Hehe. For dessert we had ice cream sundaes with all foods that I could eat. :D We also spent time decorating Ukranian Easter eggs, which was so relaxing and amazing until mine rolled off the table and broke. :( I also introduced Alyssa to K'NEX which felt like reliving my childhood. It was the best birthday I could have imagined! 

Washington had gotten a lot of rain in the weeks leading up to our visit. We heard that Snoqualmie Falls, which we had visited in August, was incredible. Naturally, we wanted to check it out! My mom, brother, Alyssa, and I drove out to the falls...and WOW!! I have never ever seen it this full! It was making us all wet because of the spray. I think I should let comparison photos explain the difference between August and November to you. :)

Our last night in Washington we volunteered with Operation Christmas Child helping them pack up boxes to ship to the processing centers. Ironically it was at the church that I attended in high school. I was able to see the children's director that I volunteered under when I helped in the 2s and 3s room as well as an unexpected meet up with my youth pastor. It was amazing to be able to reconnect with these people. I knew they were special to me in high school, but I had no idea how much their influence would positively shape my future. Anyway, we were blown away by how big the semi truck was that we were filling!!! I love that we had the chance to be a part of something so huge. It may have only been a few hours on our part, but it was making a forever impact. <3

I know I say this often in conclusion of my posts, but this is another week that I will treasure forever. <3 <3 <3

11/10-11/11: Idaho

Idaho was a much briefer than we had originally planned due to a variety of factors. However, it ended up working out perfectly since snow arrived the day after we left. ;) God's hand is in the timing of everything, even the disappointments and frustrations!

Our one sightseeing stop was at the Idaho State Penitentiary that has been turned into a museum. It may sound strange that we stopped there, but awhile ago we visited a historical prison in Yuma, Arizona and found it so fascinating, that we decided to give this a try!

We ate dinner with one of Alyssa's RAs from college. She enjoyed being able to catch up after so many years! The thai food we ate was also delicious. ;)

Our night was spent at an AirBnB home with a wonderful, welcoming couple who did everything possible to make us feel at home. We hadn't intended to talk much with anyone that night due to exhaustion, but ended up chatting with the couple until 11pm. Right as we were headed to get ready for bed, we were even invited to be featured on their blog. Although we were exhausted, we couldn't pass up that opportunity! ;)