Home Sweet Home!

Well we made it safely home :) I'm a little behind in posting pictures of the last 3 days of the road trip, but I'll get to it this week sometime. Classes start tomorrow :(... I'm not really ready for the craziness that it will bring but I just keep thinking that in 4 months it will be over and I will have survived (somehow)... and try to enjoy surviving it along the way (I put that in there just for you, mom).
Thomas and I are graduating in May... yay! But that means the job search is on, at least for Thomas. For me, the important thing is to remain a legal resident of the US when my student visa becomes void... haha. We're in the middle of getting a one-year extension which permits me to work until we can get my green card.
Tonight feels like the calm before a storm... a storm which (for me) includes completing 27 credit hours worth of classes before May 8th, finding a job for Thomas, trying to remain "legal" in the US, having no idea where we're going to be headed after graduation in four months, and more. God has faithfully taken care of us over the past year of our marriage, and even just today we saw how he was clearly looking after us. So we will praise Him in this storm, because He will get us through when we cannot see around those storm clouds.
That's all for now folks... it's late and I have class in the morning. Pictures will be coming soon.

Road Trip Day 3 - Jan. 8th

We did so much stuff today, it's hard to believe that it's only been one day! We stayed at Esther's house (in Santa Clara) last night and left around 8:30am on our way down to Santa Barbara. Esther came along with us in her car, and her friend Cambri came too. I rode in Esther's car for most of the day, and we got to catch up on about a year and a half's worth of stuff since we last saw each other at alumni.

 Our first stop was at a giant redwood tree grove... we walked a 1.3 km loop and saw some ENORMOUS trees. The next stop was at the Santa Cruz boardwalk to take a look at the beach and get some lunch. There were some crazy people in swimsuits on the beach playing volleyball... it's not quite warm enough for that people! We went to a pizza place called "Pizza My Heart" for lunch... apparently it's a famous little chain, and we got a huge slice of pizza each and a free T-shirt! It was yummy, and we got free clothes... can't beat that.
So the NEXT stop (there were a lot of them today) was along the coastal road to take some pictures of the beautiful Pacific ocean... we actually stopped a few times to do that, and once or twice for coffee, ice cream, and bathroom breaks. We drove along the windy road on (what felt like) the edge of a cliff for several hours, watched the sun set over the ocean, and even saw some elephant seals up close and personal. It was a jam-packed beautiful day.
We left Esther and Cambri at San Luis Obispo (what a name), and drove on to Santa Barbara (about an hour and a half more) and found a cheap hotel to crash at. All four of us are crammed in a little (but still nice) room on two queen beds... haha. At least we get our own beds.
Tomorrow we're off to see Los Angeles and the Malibu beach, the night lights of Las Vegas, and the Hoover Dam...  and somehow we're going to do all that in between 8 hours worth of driving :)

Here are some pictures...

Walking to see the giant redwood trees

In front of a cross-slice of a giant redwood that is over 2000 years old

Jordan photographing an enormous tree

Sarah standing at the foot of a giant redwood

Eating at "Pizza My Heart" in Santa Cruz for lunch

Driving along the beautiful Californian coastline

Stopped to take a few pictures

Thomas, Sarah, Esther

Cambri and Esther

And then we saw elephant seals! These were literally 4 meters away from me down a little hill.

This one was right underneath where I was standing, and would look up like this when I whistled at him :)

A beautiful sunset over the Pacific ocean

Had to get a lighthouse picture in there somewhere (that thing in the distance is a lighthouse)

And this is the itty bitty hotel room that all four of us crowded into for the night of the 8th

What a crazy, fun day! And more fun to come tomorrow... better get some sleep.

Road Trip Days 1 & 2 - Jan. 6th and 7th

We have had a great time. Yesterday (Jan. 6th) we drove from Roseburg to near Chico, CA... the Kramers have a walnut farm in the area, and we stayed the night with them. It was wonderful to see them - they were Thomas' dorm parents in 7th grade at RVA :)
The very first hour of the road trip has been the only bad part so far... I had a 7:30am dentist appointment that morning to have some cavities filled, then we packed up (me with a numb mouth and feeling very drugged haha) and left around midday. Ten minutes into the drive I started feeling really sick... apparently dentist and curvy roads don't mix, because I never usually get car sick! So we stopped for a while and I got out and walked around and felt better, but as soon as we started driving again I felt ill. So then I started getting panicky because I was freaked out that the whole 6-day road trip would be miserable because I would feel ill the whole way and we would have to stop every half an hour! I had  mini-panic attack, and we stopped again for like half an hour and I calmed down and felt better. So the first 20 miles took us over an hour - haha! After that I felt fine and it was lots of fun :)

So anyways... here's a couple pics of the Kramers and their walnut farm.

Today (Jan 7th) we left the Kramer's farm around 9am and drove 3 hours to San Fransisco, took LOADS of pictures of the Golden Gate bridge and drove around the city - which is CRAZY! So many hills, and awesome buildings, and traffic jams! We stopped at Pier 39 for some fish 'n chips and clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl.  Then we drove on to Santa Clara, where we are right now (in a cool little coffee shop, using their internet!) with Esther! It's so fun to see her, and she's actually going to drive down the coast of California with us tomorrow!

Driving from Chico to Santa Clara, California

And stopping in San Fransisco on the way - the Golden Gate bridge!

Us at the bridge

You can see the bridge better in this picture

Jordan and Anna at the bridge (it was a little hazy at first, but it cleared up)

Bridge again, different view

We had a little snack overlooking the bridge

..

Then we went on a little walk around the hill we were on - funny picture of Jordan and Anna walking :)

"We're driving over the Golden Gate bridge!"

San Fransisco!!! - steep hilly roads and crazy driving (we even had to manually shift into a lower gear in our automatic car to get up one hill!)

We stopped at Pier 39... lots of shops and restaurants (Jordan and Anna walking in)

And Californian sea lions

I forgot to take pictures of my fish 'n chips (I was too hungry to stop eating), but I got a picture of Jordan's clam chowder in a sourdough bread bowl before my food arrived.

And this is the infamous Alcatraz... used to be a high security prison out to sea from San Fransisco... kind of foggy

Then we drove onto Santa Clara and met Esther Wright! We went out for coffee and used the internet for the first time in 48 hours! We were pretty excited...

The coffee place was seriously hippie/granola... but good coffee!

Then we went back to Esther's house and made a yummy dinner of tortilla soup

.... and then we went to sleep!

So there's days 1 and 2 of the road trip - 4 more days to go!