Motorcycle trip winds down

and down and down and down and then back up and up and up and up the Bear Tooth Highway. This road was ridiculous! We zigzagged like 4-5 laps up the side of the same mountain. Sharp turns, steep inclines, lots of motorcycles! We went above the treeline to 12,000 feet and even then, we kept going up. what the heck! We saw the bowls of long gone glaciers from above them in stead of just below them. We pulled off to look at some mountain goats and a chipmunk sat in my lap. He crawled into my lap and sat on it. Yea.
Yellowstone was pretty sweet. It's a supervolcano. What kind of idiots drive on top of a supervolcano. Us. We sat and watched Old Faithful spit and steam and headed down to the Grand Tetons. The Obama's were there two days after us. They put the park on lockdown for their visit.
Geeze- we had to drive till 11:00 that night and I didn't eat dinner. It was so stinkin cold! The stars were AMAZING though! I saw a shooting star and two meteors and a few satellites, of course. The other guys didn't get to see them because they had to watch the road. naninanibooboo.
The next day we made a break from Southern Colorado and made it. We drove down this crazy high highway from Silverton to Durango and that was pretty sweet. Then we went down to Santa Fe and ate downtown. What a cool cool place! So cool! I want to go back sometime. Third Honeymoon or something (chris and I plan to have at least 5 honeymoons).
Then we drove thorugh a pretty intimidating storm to Amarillo, slept, got up and ate a bagel and drove to Dallas. Yay- 8 days and 3900 miles later, I'm home.

Motorcycling Post-Canada

This morning, we drove through Glacier Natl Park of the U.S. So I got to compare ours to Canada's. haha. as for number and size of glaciers, Canada wins; as for sites, ours ups them! Adjectives do not exists to describe the spectacularness of this place. The valleys were just so deep and wide! And there were waterfalls everywhere. And we drove down high high guardrailess zigzaggy roads. I wasn't scared though. :). I love the anticipation of coming around a big corner or going over a pass and not knowing what you are going to see next. Will it top everything you've seen so far? Will it be normal? Will there be a mountain goat in the road? haha.
Right after we left Glacier Natl park, we came into 180 miles of treeless hills that were blown and blown by like 40-50 mph winds!! What a change! I felt like it was trying to treat my helmet like a parchute and lift it off my head. I got a neck work-out just trying to hold my head up and I had to plug my nose sometimes bc the wind was blowing up it so hard. ahaha. Tomorrow we are driving through Yellowstone national park, the Grand Tetons, and Jackson whole and are hoping to nip the edge of Utah and reach Colorado by night fall. Not so sure that'll happen- it's 539 miles. haha.

Motorcycling in CANADA

We crossed the border into Oliver Valley, British Columbia. A sign said that the valley is "the wine capital of Canada." It went on for miles and miles of vinyards and orchards and crops. It bursted with grapes, applies, pears, apricots, peaches, even zuchini, tomatoes and corn! Corn? Ya. After the valley came a lake. A 90 kilometer lake! It's called Lake Okanagan. This lake was the weirdest shade of blue I've ever seen. It was like the died water in a lazy river park or like muffled Caribbean water. That is apparently what glacial run-off water looks like and we saw it over and over again as we passed more northern lakes. We stayed in a town on the shore. The town is surrounded by huge mountains and the twilight reflected off the weird blue lake. Gorgeous! They were having a live music festival in old downtown. So we went to an Irish pub and listened to live music.
The next morning, we got up early and bought Harley shirts that say Canada on the back. whoop. ha. There have been lots of forest fires around there lately, so for the next 100 miles, the sky was so smokey that we couldn't see the mountains clearly at all- they were blue and gray instead of green and the smell of smoke was pretty strong. Geeze. Fortunately, we pulled out of that before we reached Lake Louis and Banff. Lake Louis is astounding! Huge bowl edged with jagged mntns, a glacier in the back ground, sub beams gleaming down into water bluer than that of Lake Okanagon! And the road to Banff was pretty darn sweet. We saw elk, deer, (both a bull and bucks included) mountain goats, foxes, hawks, eagles (and 2 baby eagles), and some guys saw a bear.
We spent two nights in Banff, Alberta. We drove up into Glacier Nat'l Park of Canada and drove through its icefields. We counted like 6 or 7 glaciers and stopped at the intersection of three and hiked around it. So cool! In one place, there was this huge wall of ice. Bright blue and way over our heads and there were just chunks of ice melting and falling into this rushing river below it. They predict that the now mile-long glacier will be completely melted within 100 years. That night, we had celebratory cigars on the lodge balcony. It made me feel special that the guys got me one too and they wanted me to smoke with them. They are all between 45-55 and they picked on me and I picked on them back. They called me princess and they bought me icecream and gave me twizzlers and made me taste scotch and gave me a cigar. haha. I was afraid I was crashing on their man time (only girl), but they said they liked me and called me a trooper for going so many miles and staying energetic.
The next day we got up early to race a storm. We beat it and drove down to Idaho and Montana.

flying to Oregon, we flew over the Great Salt Lake and the salt flats. It was one of the funniest looking things I have ever seen. I wrote that "The water is the exact same color as the sky, so the mountains beyond the lake look like they are hovering in the air and I cannot tell what is a cloud and what is a flat of salt."

Panarama!

Motorcycling through Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, Alberta, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas.

Riding on a motorcycle is a completely different experience from riding in a car. No ceiling, no blindspot. The floorboard is only 2 ft wide. Plus you get to engage all 5 senses: see the panoramic view; smell the freshness of the forest, the wheat in the field, the horse poop and the road kill; hear the wind, the birds that you do and don't see, the waterfalls, and of course the pipes of the bike; feel the wind, handle airconditionless heat, and bundle up for the cold. Speaking of cold, it definitely got down to 35 degrees on the ridge of Mt St. Helens. And today, it has been a surprising 85 in Montana. We are all decked out in our black leather chaps and jackets and boots so the cold wasn't that bad, actually.

We landed in Portland, OR and took a taxi to the Allied Co. where our bikes were waiting (it costs less to ship 6 bikes than one). How could I even describe the beauty of this place? Luckily, it was not raining, but you can tell it usually is by the lushness of the land! The furriest conifurs I've ever seen and the bluest lakes between smooth slopes. There was a break in the lushness in the 12 mile circumference of MT ST. HELENS. 29 years after the erruption, a valley 11 miles away was still desolate. Dead trees laid on their side like dominoes where 300 mph 2000 degree ash blew them down. The roadsides were, however, lined with lively wild flowers! Purple, blue-purple, pale yellow, bright yellow, orange-red, white, and a prettier white! Oh I love the flowers! I like them better than all these men I am with do. haha. Ya, I am on this 4,000 mile trip with six 50 yr old bikers.
Day 2 Journal notes: Yep, we are in Johnny Appleseed's realm. So many mountains terraced for orchard after orchard and the roads were lined with towers of empty wooden crates waiting for the harvest. Apples, peaches, apricots, cherries, pears... Man it made me hungry.
Suddenly, about 100 miles east of Seattle, we rounded a ridge and slipped out of lush green valleys, conifur covered peaks, and orchards, and into bald and barren brown hills! What a crazy transition! The wind there was so strong and the air was so dry! We drove in these desert-like foot hills for a full day till crossed into CANADA.

this time tomorrow

This time tomorrow, I will be in Seattle, Washington with my dad and his motocycle buddies.
This time tomorrow, I will already have started my 60 days apart from Chris. He's off to the Caribbean until almost October. So I cried on him last night and I probably will again tonight.

In the meantime, Daddy and I are riding the motorcycle from Portland, Oregon up through the Canadian Rockies and back down to Texas through Idaho and Colorado. I am really excited about this ride! He and I have been in 15 states on the motorcycle and this trip will add three more states and another country! Wow.

Right now, I'm sittin in the coffee shop here in Portsmouth. And a girl across the room is reading The Shack. (amazing book. go get it now.) So I got really excited and talked to her for a while. Did you know that New Hampshire/Maine/ Vermont is rivaling Washington/Oregon as the least christian parts of the country. We are currently at the raging 5%. My pastor said the other day that if you go to downtown Dallas (funny that he chose that example huh?) and cross two sticks and throw them in the air, 2,000 people will show up in that spot the next Sunday. Here it is a mission field. If you cross two sticks, even the crickets will hop away from you.

I made Chris chocolate chip cookies and sweet tea to take onto the boat. I also created an "I miss you" song list on his ipod, painted some Bible verses for him to hang up in his bunk, and wrote him a very loving letter. I'll post excerpts from the letter later. And I will try to get those wedding pictures up. I am so behind. Stay tuned for news of 47 degree Canadian beauty!

Salem means Peace.

heading back from Boston, I drove through good ole Salem, Mass. There, I dropped by the House Seven Gables (Hawthorne novel) among other things and statues. My favorite part was dinner. I ate a blue cheese, apple, walnut, & field green salad accompanied by hot peony white tea and followed by a strawberry nutella crepe- messily- on a yellow couch. I bet Dana's mouth is watering. Yes dear, it was really good.

Carter's visit

My 16-yr-old brother left today.
Day one in Boston was the the most adventurous. We wondered around the historic district and into the oldest restaurant in America, theThere, we swallowed half a dozen oysters, listened to the oyster crackers jokes and drank some of the best dang lemonade that ever I've had. After that, we hiked through a lovely park and listened to some live guitarists and bongoists. Along the way, we discovered, which was called the Bull and Finch before 1982. They make really good hamburgers. We sorted through the assorted tv show paraphernalia and then wondered around the beautiful Beacon Hill for a while. It was dusk, so all the old school street lamps were glowing and the tall x skinny brownstone houses looked dreamy. THEN the funniest thing happened! Liz Gilson, my crazy college roommate texted me,
"Any chance you're in Boston?"
"...Yes."
"Any chance your just ate at Cheers?"
"...Yes."
"Okay. The girl that I brought with me to your wedding that you don't know swore she just saw you there."
"Whow. What the heck. Okay thanks."
Crazy huh? Crazy.

Day 2
Kayaking in Kennebunk. via York Beach and Ogunquit. (the york lighthouse just might be my favorite so far.) We stopped at a roadside veggie stand on the way home and grabbed some fresh cobbed corn and green beans to accompany the leftover roast for dinner. Cater said my cooking was good. Encouraging.

Day 3
Rained. Defiance is a good movie.

Day 4
Rock climbed. Woodfire Pizza. Back to Union Oyster House for more lemonade. Dropped him off at the airport. Tear.

UNH BIKE TRAIL CHRONICLES

We drove out to UNH so Chris could practice throwing the 16 lb. metal ball 180 ft like normal.Then, we decided to ride our bikes onto a pretty forest bike trail adventure. After about 20 minutes of leisure biking, we got sucked off of the main path and onto a (in my journal I drew a picture of a hilly rocky muddy rooty mosquito-ridden nontrail, but I cannot draw on the computer screen and if I did, you would still not be able to see it and my computer would be damaged.) Anyway, we got sucked off the path. After about 30 miles, we deadended into a rushing river. Chris and I decided that, since twilight was approaching and the temperature was bound to drop to 30, we would have to cross. So with the power of Hercules, Chris stacked both bikes and his weary wife on his shoulders and waded into the waist-deep white water. His feet stayed steady and we talked about spices and youtube videos as we went. We emerged safely on the other side with out noses to a 30-foot wall of granite! Chris ascended it as easily as Andre the giant did the cliffs of insanity in the Princess Bride and unloaded me and the bikes from his back at the top. To our surprise, there was a skilled Spanish swordsman waiting for us there. Chris was quite tired but he broke off the high bar from his bike and assumed battle position. The swordsman asked Chris, “What is your name?” “Christopher .” “What is your quest?” “To take my damsel safely from Mirkwood.” “What is the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow?” Naturally, Chris asked it the swallow was African or European. As soon as Chris asked this, the Spaniard was supernaturally flung from the cliff. So Chris resautered his high bar and we rode home for dinner.

Okay so maybe the nonpath hit a stagnant, mosquito-ridden stream AND Chris carried the bikes and me across individually AND we ascended a slippery mud slope then hopped our bikes and rode home. But which story would you tell?

Hammer throwing

Ascent of Mt. Morgan and Mt. Percival

Oh Oh! We went hiking with our new friends Mark and Lindsey the on Saturday! We made a 5.5 mile loop to one summit, across a ridge, and down from the other summit. The trail was rated double diamond. Apparently that means steep path and multiple stream crossings and does not exclude 5.6 rock climbing! Yes, at about 2,000 ft, we came to a yellow arrow/sign.
“Summit by trail Right”
“Summit by cliffs Left”
OF COURSE WE CHOSE CLIFFS! By cliff they mean climb this ladder up a 30ft rock face, then squeeze through this cave and pull yourself up onto a granite slab and take in the VIEW: the white mntns all around us and Squam Lake and Lake Winnipesaukee (huge!) to the south. And then we looked to the north and saw more cliffs. haha. Our tummies told us it was time for lunch so we ate up our PBJs, fruit mix, and cheese snacks and watched a 2ft snake slither across our path-to-be (boulders). From there, we, wary of the snake, made our way to the summit. WOW! That’s all I got. Mt. Morgan was grand. Time for Mr. Percival. Have you ever walked across a mountain ridge? It is really neat. In a lot of places, the soil had eroded away and left nothing but granite. The other peek was of equal awesomeness. We perched there for a while and rested before our descent. There are some tight-squeeze- damp-n-cool-echoee-caves just below the summit. We climbed around in those for a little while and then continued down more steep boulders. I vote that it is easier to go up such routes than it is to go down, but that is arguable. You know, I thought I was a hoss, but I have to admit that the bottom of the mountain was a little further away than my body wanted it to be; it was very happy to sit down in the pizzeria booth for a slice of greasiness and bottle of soda (any calories we burned we put right back on). We ate in Meredith, NH. Meredith=adorable. After hanging out there for a little while, we watched the stars on our drive home.

Did you know that I live in the oldest town in Maine? Kittery was founded in 1617.

We rode our bikes a few miles to Kittery Point/ Fort McClary (cool place, but I'll spare you the history lesson) We parked da bikes and hiked along the cliffs from which we could see 2 lighthouses and we inspected the blockhouse fort and battery. We explored the forest and surrounding hills till we came upon a brackish lake and spotted an island close enough to wade to. So we did. We took off our new snazzy (investment) hiking boots and barefooted our way across oyster shells up the grassy bank. We sat and chatted and kissed there for a while. It was quite relaxing.
Now comes the sad part. On the wayde back from the island I stumbled and caught myself on non other than my boot holding hand. In slow motion, I watched the water spill into the tops of my boots. Ah! I have a strong dislike of wet shoes. So I continued my hike barefooted and just stepped carefully. Then opted to be a "weanie" (thanks chris) and let my very kind husband ride home by his lonesome and come get me with the truck so that I would not have to put my feet in wet socks and boots and quite possiprobably get blisters or something. I had a peaceful sit by the sea while I waited for him and he was probably happy too because he got to ride as fast as he wanted for once.

portland

The sky in Portland, ME in gray. Well, just because it was gray yesterday doesn't mean it is grey all the time, right? Actually, Lindsey Allen said it pretty much is gray all the time. Despite the brightness of the diffused light that penetrated the layer of clouds and bounced back and forth from the ground to belly of the clouds and back in all directions like a jarred grass hopper and mine and Chris' failure to bring along sunglasses, Portland was pretty neat.
We walked around the old port and drove by poet, Longfellow's house and ate at a neat Pizza Pie place and saw four light houses and scoped out the coast guard base.


The fourth lighthouse was on the shore of an island. sorry no picture. it was brown.

There are so many islands near Portland! We walked around on this fort perched on the almost highest point in portland and looked out across the bay at all the islands and ruins of island forts. The boat traffic was more trafficy than it is here in Portsmouth and the variety of boats was a little higher. Map:

Yesterday Boston. Tomorrow Portland

Boston is an hour south of Kittery. Chris and I spent the whole day there yesterday
We parked for free at the coast guard base (now doesn't that work out nicely)and walked around the North Boston historic district. This place is old.

We wondered around Faneuil Hall and the old Quincy Market then ate lunch at a really old Irish pub. It was next door to "the oldest tavern in America" but that was closed for lunch so we pubbed it instead.



We got to go on a free (military again) tour of Fenway Park where the Red Sox play. There is a lot of neat history there. Oh and we got free hotdawgs (that's me trying to pronounce it like a Bostonian).
We watched a stunt guy that Chris and I were quite sure was high climb a free standing latter in the middle of the sidewalk then juggled a bone, a bowling pin, and a stick while he balanced a spinning ball on his nose. And he dropped and egg named Gerald into a cup of water from 9 feet up. We don't know how he did that high.
We also watched Jamaican break dancer stunt men in the same area.
We walked by Paul Revere's house and a friggin old cemetary and the famous Old North Church (you know, I still have the first 3 stanzas of the poem, "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" memorized from the 7th grade.
Then we decided to get lost for a little while and when we found ourselves, we were at Hawvawd (Harvard in Bostonian). I think I'll go back there sometime to sit on the grass and read with coffee and feel smart. ha.

We didn't stop at Harvard though, instead we drove to MIT and walked around this giant domed neo-classical style building and took a nap on the grassy knoll in front of it. Then we watched some weird student juggle various objects and ride on semi-unicycle things. And then we self-taught ourselves some jitterbug stunts.

Tomorrow we are going to Portland!

I only get to keep him for one more week before I have to be alone for a long time.

morning walk

I decided to walk to the coffee shop this morning. I crossed the Memorial bridge at low tide. 8:15am. The white fog was still lingering over the water. I had never seen the harbor so still. I was wearing blue and white so I felt like I blended in well. As I walked, I watched a small, lopsided lobster boat creep from her barnacle laden dock. She cut through the white fog and the fog-smothered glass (water) as well as the sleepy patch of bobbing seagulls, who rose and fell in the air like bars on my radio screen at the climax of an Edvard Grieg composition. The gulls fell back bickering to the water and resumed bobbing in the lone trail of wake. The boat half-way faded in the fog, but I watched her stop to drop her first line of lobster cages. Then I walked on.

Well Chris and I got a present last night. The musical Guys and Dolls was showing at the Ogunquit Playhouse (Ogunquit is a really cool beach town in Maine- right next to a really really cool fishing village called York that has a lighthouse) Anywho, we sat down to look at the tickets online and they were $53 for the cheapest ones. Oh dang. So no go.
Well, we had plans to go to our small group leaders for dinner last night- they are such a cool people- and she calls me and says, hey my friend has these free third row center seats to Guys and Dolls TONIGHT that she is trying to get rid of. Do you want them? HAHAHA. So Chris and I had dinner at their house and then headed to the show and it was amazing! So good! So good! Whata date.

hiking in the white mountains

I hiked Mt Major with my new friend, Meghan this past weekend. I was pretty proud of my physical aptitude. I made it to the top of the (1,786 feet) mountain without having to stop at all. Some parts were relatively steep and we passed some dang good boldering spots. We ate sandwiches and fruit at the top as we looked out over Lake Winnipesaukee and the White Mountains.

I wrote a song.

Search me oh God in my thoughts and in my heart (Psalm 139:23-24)
For from the overflow of my heart my mouth speaks. (Matthew 12:34b)

Repeat

CHORUS:
Lord open my lips and open my mouth
Let it declare your praise (Psalm 51: 15)
Open my lips and open my mouth
Let it declare your praise
And search my heart and search my thoughts
For nothing I can say can be said without you. (Aaron Shust ha)

I need not rack my brain for many words of eloquence (1 Corinthians 2:1)
Nor can I ever boast or claim my own wisdom

When I'm sent to preach your name I needn't fear what I will say
You said you'd guide the tongues and lips that proclaim you. (Matthew 10:19-20 and Exodus 4:10-16)

CHORUS















When I seek out not my God my empty heart brings empty words
But when I set my thoughts on you, you speak through me.

So search me O God in my thoughts and in my heart
For from the overflow of my heart, my mouth speaks

Bridge: You speak through me>You guide my mouth>you guide my lips>you steal me mind>you fill my heart>into to my my mouth>upon my tongue>across my lips>unto your ears>into their ears>into their hearts

CHORUS

verses connecting in da brain

Oh oh read how well Job 3:3-5 connects to Hebrews 12:12-13!

Den dese go good togeder too:

Proverbs 4:25-27
Isaiah 30:21
Isaiah50: 10-11

old email to Chris from back in January when we were still dating:

To Chris Man,

Guess what. I got to talk to my boyfriend on the phone today! He's wonderful, in case you didn't know. I have already told him several times, but I absolutely adore him. I honestly never knew that a man could be so genuine and so faithful, deeply spiritual, wise, servant-hearted, and dedicated to God and to me and so caring and giving and thoughtful and chilvarous and so honest/unrepressed about telling me about himself and what he calls flaws and so excited about knowing me and so undaunted by my faults and so welcoming/nonjudgmental in hearing about them and so willing to listen to me talk (sometimes about overly detailed things). He exhibits joy, patience, peace, wisdom, humility, unselfishness, self-control, and trust-worthiness. He is a man of integrity and it makes me want to honor him. How can you put all that together and still get an incredibly funny, impressively athletic, stunnilngly masculine and good looking, and exceedingly intelligent man that wears glasses AND looks good in them? Ya- he really does exist! Who'd a thunk? AND THIS GUY LIKES ME?! Oh my Lord, really? I can't believe this. I really think I might fall over.

From Heather Lady

(we hadn't said the word love yet)

my amazing husband

Chris is so sweet. I had praise band practice last night and he got home from rugby about an hour before I did. And he did all he dishes and cleaned the kitchen and swept! And he moved some boxes and metal stuff to the attic.
That and he is extremely good looking.
I got back and he was standing in the bed of his truck without a shirt on and he looked at me like he loved me and he said he missed me too much and pulled me up to him and hugged me a tight sweaty rugby hug. (polysendeton)
Last week he brought me beautiful yellow and purple field flowers!

-the beloved Mrs.

alliteration d revisited

dainty dandelions disperse dallying dandiness.
and dimpled dumplings are dolloped onto doorknobs.
this disturbs dazed daydreamers and disappoints disillusioned deists.
what a dumb waste of dimpled dandy dumplings.

the yellow kayak

We rented a sea kayak! How adventuresome we are.
After church, it was a little rainy and foggy and cold but we threw on sweatshirts and took the kayak out anyway for a grand self-guided tour of tributaries and coves all the way to old downtown, by the shipyard and back. Oh wow- it was so peaceful. It makes you want a waterproof panoramic camera even though you know you couldn’t capture the experience- the crispness of the air matched with the thickness of the mist in your lungs and the taste of the salt and the stickiness in your hair- You’re practically in the water, just dry with an oar in your hand, a still mist sits over the waters only occasionally pierced by the most graceful white crane; colorful wooden houses line the shore to the distant left and heavy woods sit still to the right. You pass 30 yr old lobster boats and a series of old, crooked docks with their barnacle-covered posts and dangling buoys revealed in low tide. Everything is quiet except for the fish that just jumped on your left.
I can’t believe I am here.

Before that, we had put in in the brackish waters of the inner bay/ mouth of the river and wondered under a bridge and to a little island that ended up having an intriguing history. The island had been used as a midway point on an 18th century highway bridge. We found the foundations of a toll booth and an inn in which George Washington once stayed. We also randomly found a geocache under a rock. There’s an old church downtown that George Washington once attended, still rings a bell that was recast by Paul Revere, has the oldest working organ in America, and displays one of only four copies of a particular Bible. The house next door to it has a lighting rod that was fixed there by Benjamin Franklin.

Watching fireworks over the sea from the boat

Tonight Chris and I watched an orangypinkpomegranate sunset from the flight deck of his boat and then doubly enjoyed the Portsmouth fireworks display. I say “doubly” becausewe watched it in both the sky and the reflection on the bay. GRAND! Oh so grand. What a horizon we have to look at here. From the deck, 9:00 is the pier, 12:00 is the entrance to the harbor, 2:00 is the old Portsmouth skyline which includes a high white steeple of a 17th century church, red brick white trimmed buildings that back up into the water, 3:30 is the drawbridges green from weathering (it was build in the 1930s as a memorial to the soldiers of WWI- of course it just says “World War” on it since it was constructed before the second one. Interesting.), 4:00 is our house although you can’t quite see if from the boat and 6:00 begins the naval shipyard. Chris was on duty today so I spent most of my afternoon on the boat with him. I love just hanging out with him. Hehe- after the grand finale, all the little boats around tooted their horns, so Chris and I ran up and blew our horn too! The biggest ship in the harbor= the loudest and deepest horn. It was quite funny.

I asked Levis if they had July 4th in France. He answered no and I laughed at him till he figured it out. I’m mean.

Oh! For the fourth, we drove down to Connecticut to visit the Masalin fam.
Friday we went to Ocean Beach on Long Island Sound. What a pretty beach. Ha- Chris and I are pretty cheap, so we didn’t want to pay stinking $14 to park. So, we just parked a couple miles away and hopped a fence, crossed a meadow, climbed some rocks, waded through an inlet, crossed a beach, climbed over more rocks, snuck over another fence till we got to our friends to eat cheap hotdowgs and play sand volleyball. To get back to the car for the dinner feast, we opted to sneak back over the fence and wade across a stream where young men were crabbing with nets- there were big ole crabs everywhere! Running over our feet while we walked with our shirts pulled up and my bag over my head- then we crossed a bigger meadow and walked along a road to cut across another meadow until we got to a bigger road which we followed to our car. Ha. We felt adventurous and well-exercised.
It was a weekend of feasting (and cooking), volley ball, bad mitten, and extensive wifle ball playing, go-carting, chasing small childrening, napping, and of course, jitterbugging on a several-acre retired farm. Oh what fun. The weather was ideal and land was so green and the hotdogs were cooked just perfectly and the ice cream really hit the spot. What a down home, country, lovin’ family of welcoming and stinkin’ hilarious people. Chris and I had a wonderful time.

Oh I forgot to tell you that we went contra dancing. Ya. It was interesting. Have you seen Pride and Prejudice or another movie set in that era? Well, contra dancing is much like what they do in the first scene. Except we did it to a merry live band of fiddles, a base, a banjo, a piano and surely something else too oh my. Hehe. I didn’t dance with Chris the whole time. I would get spun and swung by other random men- most of them old and bearded and even suspendered! Oh it was so funny. They were so adorable and it was weird to touch them. Usually you just look at old people and don’t touch them. But I danced with a fair share of old guys the other night. We may go again sometime. They dance give lessons in Dover City Hall every other Thursday.

I discovered "light cream" at this coffee shop. My dream just came true! No seriously, I have been looking for a cream that tastes like this since I left glorious England in 2007. I haven't been able to find one with the same creamy sweetness and resolved that it did not exist in the US. Alas, it does here at my coffee shop in Maine. Glee.

Girl Wakes Up to Light House Horn Instead of Train Whistles

It is wierd. My family moved 9 times and I think 7 of those 9 homes where next to RR tracks. I can sleep through train whistles better than anyone I am quite sure. But now I wake up to- what is this? A light house horn?! And I am growing accustomed to hearing boat whistles throughout the day. That and the siren that means the bridge next to my house is raising or lowering to let a boat pass under. Guys, my house is right on the harbor! I can see it through the trees from the front yard and the back! Delight. I have never experienced anything like this before.
Yesterday, a sweet sweet and quite funny lady from church took me out for fish and chips and beach strolling. It was wonderful! And we drove up and down the coast and just talked about life and faith and New England weather. Tonight, Chris and I are going down to Hampton beach to see the sand sculptures and then we are going to an outdoor musical at Prescott Park! It is a grassy theater on Strawbery Bank, the old part of town where the 400 year-old house/museums are! It is called Strawbery Bank because of all the wild strawberries that grew there, why they misspell it, I don't know. Anyway, we are taking a picnic basket and sitting on a blanket to watch Grease! Wait, I don't have a basket- maybe it'll be a shopping bag. I have a pot shortage wihch is super fun for cooking. I have a small skillet for eggs and one piece of meat at a time and I have one pot. So I have a system now: make the pasta while cooking the meat, strain pasta and store in collinder (try to keep warm by keeping in microwave), quickly clean pot, add and cook beans... haha. not bad.

So, cooking hasn't been as big of a nightmare as I feared it would be. I married a big man and he eats a lot of food. ha and he has complimented me so far.
Dinner 1: LemonGarlic Chicken with greens and penne pasta
Dinner 2: Chicken Fried Steak, mashed potatoes, corn
Lunch: Left over chicken- grilled and tossed with lettuce, croutons, and ranch dressing (from a packet, not a bottle =way better) served with red grapes and apple slices
Dinner 3: Sliders! mini cheeseburgers and tots! So fun oh so fun.
Lovely Laura made me an AMAZING cook book!! It is amazing and it is homemade and it is beautiful and it makes me very happy and she is beautiful and she brings me much joy and i love her. It will arrive here on monday with the Uhaul trailor and it will be splendidly helpful.
This man is amazing. He is so giving. He thinks of me first and that makes me feel so good. Dang, how did I snag this one?
Now for grocery shopping. Coupons! bye.

Merry Old Maine where it is 40 degrees cooler than it is in Texas.

Yeah, I'm wearing a sweater. So right now I am sitting in a coffee shop called "Breaking New Grounds" in Market Square of downtown Portsmouth. oh wow, you would love this town. I walked across this bridge from which i could see things like this and this . Then I walked by things like this and this . Right now, out the bay window in which I am sitting, I see this and this .

This place is incredible. It is so old. For a girl who has grown up in big, spread-out, and relatively new Texas almost all her life, a 400 year old town with streets and allies that were designed for horse&buggies and taverns with low creakey rafter ceilings and doorways that require ducking to get through (well, I don't have to duck, but normal height people do) and so many bicycles is a big change. My house is 100 years old. I was surprised at myself- when I stepped into the house on Saturday evening, I almost immediately started crying. Actually being here and realzing that I am not leaving this time was a little shocking and overwhelming. He held me a while and then told me to put on a pretty dress that he had given me and took me out to a nice dinner down town. Sunday, got up for church this morning. I love his church. I'm super excited about going there- it is so service oriented and people stayed for like an hour talking after church- hah I think I heard once that you can tell the health of a church by how long it takes people to go home. I'm surprised- there are actually alot of people here our age. That is nice.


The honeymoon was amazing! Perfect. exhausting but perfect. The Gaylord was super nice and he was so sweet to me. In the morning, he got this huge roomservice breakfast and ate it in our complimentary robes on the balcony. hehe. In Memphis, we went to the is fabulous live music joint on old, birth-fo-the-blues Beale Street and listened to some blues music from an cute old man band. This hilarious rickity old black singer led the band. He wore a suit and sunglasses even though it was a dark bar. haha. He would get out a tamberine every once in a while and shake his whole body with it and tell silly silly stories while the big bald base player picked in the background.
Day two, we drove through northern alabama where it is much hillier than you think. Day three was absolutely the best day ever-- okay so we get up in the morning at this splendid bed and breakfast on a 100 acre farm and the the British host makes us a lovely meal and then asks with his British accent. "Would you like to ride the horses?" Yes. haha. So- we were shocked- he just introduces us to Chili and Rooster and says "be back in an hour and be sure to close the gate." OKAY! haha so Chris and I went riding through some woods, around a chicken coup, and across gorgeous rolling hills covered in yellow flowers and we ran! Our hourses must have been giddy- so they just wanted to canter and canter and we didn't mind. (we both worked in horse barns growing up so we knew what we were doing- ha.) it was so amazing. I never expected him to just let us go out like that. THEN!!! we left the farm and drove to two 25 foot waterfalls. (i'll post pics later) and cliff jumped off like 20 ft cliffs next to the falls and we swam all around there in and through the canyon. wowowowow! Whoda thunk that was in Alabama? not me.

Yea so then we headed to Charleston SC and that was really romantic and we went to the beach in the rain and now one was there but us and we danced and watched a lightning storm. And then ate a pretty dinner in pretty downtown.
After that, we drove up the Blue Ridge parkway, a beautiful winding road across the ridges of the appalachians and then to DC where we met up with his best man and that made for a nice break. we explored the city and some museums and then made our way to Philidelphia then to HERE! Whoop.

Oh my wedding was so beautiful! I am going to post pictures of the wedding later too!! When people asked me, I said, "This is the most beautiful wedding that I have ever been to AND IT IS MINE!" Wow. Oh I love it. Post comments- I have a fear of loneliness. Heather

Little Trip

Chris had a portcall in Virginia last weekend so he flew me up. In the meantime, my students watched The Hunt for Red October- excellent movie- Sir. Sean Connery played a Russian with a Scottish accent; that's okay because it was still a really good movie.
We went to Colonial Williamsburg



I wish we had taken pictures. We both brought cameras, but didn't take any pics. We walked up and down the street amongst cheese shops and bookshops and taverns. Colonial Williamsburg is the old capitol of VA and still looks the way it did int he 18th century. The employees walk around in colonial garb and speak with old school accents; there is a blacksmith, silversmith, cobbler, weaver, milliner, printer and binder, tailor, cooper, wheelwright, and a gunsmith. It was so green and there were lovely gardens with smell-good herbs and flowers. Chris rebought me a ring therethat I had lost. It is silver and says "vos et nul autre" on the band, which means "you and no other." I love him so much.
Oh and we jitterbugged on the beach!

haha. He picked this one up on the first try. I thought we were going to do another prep and he lifted me right over his head and held me there. I love it! Oh I'm so happy. This is so perfect.
Sunday, we went to Busch Gardens theme park and rode rollercoasters and ate turkey legs and got soaked enough for our toes to get pruny.



Ya that blue ride^ It was fun. ha. He had never had a Turkey leg before, but I wanted one. So we asked around to find where they sold them and he bought one for me. We sat down. He tasted it. Pretty promptly, he got up and went and got his own. I think he liked it. ha. We called our beautiful mothers to tell them Happy Mother's Day and stayed till the park closed.
We got in really late to the base and I dropped him off at the boat at stinkin 5am before I hopped my plane.

Chris and Heather

I know this is a little late in coming. With the super-busy first year of teaching, I have been out of the swing of blogging.

The not-quite-so-new-news-that-you-may-already-know is that I am engaged to the most wonderful man that I have ever met. I know, crazy, you meet the man of you dreams and he likes you back. How often does that happen?












Yes he is a Texan. He is in the Coast Guard and is currently stationed in Maine. He is an amazing man of faith; He is pretty much a hoss; he's incredibly smart; and he is stinkin hilarious.



Here's the dang quick run down:

We met in December at a wedding (I was a bridesmaid).
He took me dancing two weeks later.
He took me to lunch the next day.
He invited me to New York for New Years. I went.
He held my hand in Times Square, asked me to be his girl at Bryans, and kissed me at the airport.
We spent his January sea patrol emailing and realizing that we are meant for each other.
He surprise-visited me in Dallas and told me he loved me.
I visited him in Maine mid-February and he accidentally proposed.
I went back to Maine and we went duplex hunting. Found one.
Now we are getting married June 12 here in Dallas and then making a honeymoon out of driving my jetta to our new home in Maine.

That's 6 months from meet to marriage. 2 months of dating.
4 month engagement.

He goes out to sea again in August so be expecting a lot of blogging bout Maine life.

TOMS SHOES

http://www.tomsshoes.com/content.asp?tid=284

love, God, and marriage. (notice which one is capitalized)

On the plane coming back from a great snowboarding spring break and finding a cute duplex in Maine, I was thinking about the sermon from the Ledyard church we attended and I was reviewing his 09-10 schedule (Chris will be out to sea for half of our first year) and wrote this in my journal.
"Soon I shall be his wife. I will be a strong wife. confident, courageous, sturdy, and unafraid. Loneliness will not intimidate me. It will be an opportunity. And when my darling comes home, I will be there for him to offer him the love and tenderness and encouragement and support and entertainment that he needs. I will be his wife. He will be my stronghold, my cornerstone. Christ will be our foundation. I messily sketched our marriage as little a solid structure with Christ as the foundation, me as the support and Chris as the roof and cornerstone between my columns. I will encourage him, I will not complain to or about him, i will not mock him or bring him down. I will not lie to or deceive him, I will be fully straightforward and honest with a love for Christ above us both and farthest above myself.

I had thought a lot about John 14 "Ask for anything IN MY NAME and I will give it." I wont go into the workings of the secong part of that sentence, but just that first part- what does "in His name" mean? It is not a phrase to tag onto a prayer. It is a life style. when I take my new name, it is not just something we say at the wedding or a new signature to practice, it is a lifestyle. Lord make me IN YOUR NAME. Oh God, I love you. You first loved me. The pastor was right this morning. You cannot talk about oneness in marriage until you talk (for a really long time (ha)) about oneness with God. I am longing to be "in Chris' name." I am going to take his name onto myself. When I relinquish myself and my own will and desire- like the Jone's binder says, I am letting my name go and also my pride and selfcenteredness and ambition.
The pastor also said this morning that, like with God, once I let go of myself (which I do not claim to have sufficiently done), it is not like my joy becomes irrelevant. It will be considered and cared for by the one whose name I take. Just as we, together, have taken Christ's name and Christ cares about our joy, I will take Chris's name and Chris will care for my joy. Sidenote: Christopher means "Christ bearer." I will bear the name of the bearer of Christ's name. Mr. and Mrs. Christopher- selfless as individuals for each other and selfless as a couple for God. Yes, I know that is not fully attainable. But the Jones to us to accept reality while still striving for the ideal.
Jesus is very concerned with our personal joy and fulfillment. When we give ourselves to Him and let Him care for us instead of looking after these concerns ourselves (aka sin), he will do so and the results will be far better than our own sillyface ideas. As I look to Chris, Chris will look to Christ (not that I am not also looking to Christ, because I am) and our marriage will make His joy complete and fulfill His purposes and He will in turn make our joy complete and we will be fulfilled with and by Him. John 15:11. I know that Chris is not perfect and I am so imperfect; the Jones said that we must recognize that two imperfect people cannot make a perfect marriage- it needs focus and reliance on God. And even as we aim to rely on God (the ideal), we still have to understand that that perfection, though it is possible and will be remarkable at times, is not realistically going to be the case all the time. I know.

Bring what into the light?

I was listening to my ipod on an airplane from Maine to Dallas. Jennifer Knapp's song, "Martyrs and Thieves" is such a true and honest and humble song. I typed the lyrics at the bottom of this blog.

It made me think about several verses and a deep meaning that would have to be deep rooted in a persons subconscious being in order for it to displayed in their life. Ephesians 5:11 says, "for one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true,)... Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but INSTEAD EXPOSE THEM. For it is shameful even to speak of the things they do in secret. But when anything is exposed by the light, it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light." Okay that is deep and confusing. Expose your sins?! That is scarily humbling. Once again, humbling ourselves= glorifying God- hence Jennifer's chorus... "turn on the light and reveal all the glory. I am not afraid (of being embarrassed and a known sinner) to reveal all my weakness." Revealing it/ exposing it/ letting people see that we are imperfect/ letting down our pride= this "lets His light shine bright in our lives"? hm... So we Christians are to bear all our weakness to glorify God. The showing off of His grace ads to His glory. If I do not reveal my failure, I falsely glorify myself and the example of living grace is not revealed. It is like saying Christ died for nothing (Gal. 2:21); it empties the cross of its power (1 Corinthians 1:17). Therefore I will boast all the more in my weaknesses! (2 Corinthians 12:9-10). We know and must announce, instead of hiding it like many churchgoers do, that while we strive to follow his commandments and he makes us holy and blameless and righteous, we are not holy on our own. It is by God's glorious grace ALONE! Declare your weakness from the rooftops. "My grace is sufficient for you. For my power is made perfect in weakness" -2 Cor. 12. "We must become less; He must become greater" -John 3:30. So "turn on the light and reveal all the glory I am not afraid to uncover my weakness..."


John 3:19-21 talks more about those who fear exposure. "This is the verdict. Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light lest his deeds should be exposed. But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it mah be clearly sen that his deeds have been carried out by God."

There's a place in the darkness that I used to cling to
It presses harsh hope against time
In the absence of martyrs there's a presence of thieves
Who only want to rob you blind
They steal away any sense of peace
Though I'm a king I'm a king on my knees
And I know they are wrong when they say I am strong
As the darkness covers me

Chorus-

So turn on the light and reveal all the glory
I am not afraid
To bare all my weakness knowing in meekness
I have a kingdom to gain
Where there is peace and love in the light, in the light
Oh I am not afraid
To let Your light shine bright in my life, in my life
Oh I... am, I...

There are ghosts from my past who've owned more of my soul
Than I thought I had given away
They linger in closets and under my bed
And in pictures less proudly displayed
A great fool in my life I have been
Have squandered till pallid and thin
Hung my head in shame and refused to take blame
For the darkness I know I've let win

(Chorus)

Can you hear me? (repeat 6x)

Well I've never been much for the baring of soul
In the presence of any man
I'd rather keep to myself all safe and secure
In the arms of a sinner I am
Could it be that my worth should depend
By the crimson stained grace on a hand
And like a lamp on a hill Lord I pray in Your will
To reveal all of You that I can

(Chorus)

Thought...=Destiny

This is a cool quote about it. It's a chain reaction:

Sow a thought, reap an action.
sow an action, reap a habit.
sow a habit, reap a character.
sow a character, reap a destiny.
-Samuel Smiles

And I thought, so, Shakespeare's Macbeth actually taught us something. Macbeth let the THOUGHT of killing the King turn into an ACTION, then the act of killing people became a HABIT and he killed lots of people, then he grew a destructive (and self-destructive) CHARACTER which inevitably brought his bloody DESTINY. Of course this is a little extreme but it also applies to other things like drugs, alcoholism, pornography, and smaller things like gossip and laziness.

I worked backwards. 1) My Destiny: I want to have a DESTINY where God says, "Well done good and faithful servant." Matthew 25. Not "Dang, I wish you had chosen to live a little differently." 2) So in order to have that DESTINY, I need to have the CHARACTER of a godly woman. 3) In order for me to be a godly woman, I really need to have good HABITS. 4) If I want to have good HABITS, then obviously, I need to make the decision daily to ACT in a way worthy of Christ. 5) Each ACTION sprouts from the admittance of a THOUGHT. So the goal is to "hold every THOUGHT captive." 2 Corinthians 10:5 and Philippians 4:8. We have the ability to choose what we think about and it is on that choice that our destiny hangs.

Back to Matthew 25, after He says, "Well done good and faithful servant", he says, "You have been faithful over a few things, now I will put you over many things." One of the "few things" that He first puts us in charge of is our own self-control and if we are faithful with that little thing, then He will put us over greater things like mentorship or mission work or whatever He has planned for each us. If we can not prove faithful with something small and personal like that, then why would He put us over His flock? We have to prove faithful with the little things He gives us now so that He will trust us to give us bigger roles in furthering His kingdom later. It is impossible to be perfect all the time. We are human and He wouldn't give us forgiveness if He didn't know that. Still it is good to bare in mind that He has instructed us to be faithful. So we try. Jesus says, "If you love me, you will follow my commandments." So not following Him is straighout saying, I dont love you more than myself and I don't trust you that you can satisfy me fully. When we take our pleasure into our own hands, we must be breaking God's heart. He is a jealous God and that is something to be jealous of. (read 1 John 2)
I want to grow to my full potential for God so that He can use me without the disruption of selfish sin NOW OR LATER/ LATER THEREFORE NOW with the chain reaciton thing.
In order to be who He wants you to be later, you have to choose what you THINK now. "Hold every thought captive."

Galatians 6:7-9
"Whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eiternal life. And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up."