It's not hard to see why people fall in love with the Pacific Northwest. We just returned from a trip to Oregon and Washington and, if not for our call to Haiti (not to mention the frigid climate!), I might be ready to make the move myself.
Of course, the Northwest's draw on me may not have so much to do with the beauty of the surroundings as with the wonderful people we encountered there. Our trip was "double-duty" - with the opportunity to visit with family at my nephew's wedding AND opportunities to share with friends and strangers about the Lord's work in Haiti. (While our kids enjoyed the week in Indiana at Grandma's, spending time with her and various local friends.)
Our main hosts for the week were our good friends, Paul and Jen. They arranged the speaking engagements, got us to and from the Portland airport, fed us, housed us, made us laugh, and poured hospitality all over us. Their love for Haiti has brought them to the island on several trips now, so it was wonderful to have the opportunity to visit them in their home neighborhood of Albany, Oregon, south of Portland.
In the interest of keeping as current as possible (while wanting to share more pictures than should go into a single blog post), I am starting at the tail end of our trip - our side trip to Newport, Oregon and the ice cream social with the fine folks from the Dever Conner church.
Our hosts in Newport were Jan and Chester (once little more than acquaintances, now dear friends!). Sunday evening, they fed us some wonderful Thai food and then introduced us to their congregation at South Beach Church for evening worship.
SB Church meets in a nondescript warehouse ...
Which, on the inside, looks kind of like an upscale bar. Melissa and I have never seen a church quite like it and we were so impressed with the spirit of the worship. Those gathered together were from clearly diverse backgrounds but they shared an obvious love for Jesus.
We only had five minutes to share with the entire congregation, but we were able to speak with a couple of folks after the service about possibly coming to Haiti themselves. I get excited about these sorts of conversations because you never know when you are participating in some sort of divine appointment. Time will tell!
Before heading out, Jan gave us a couple of SB Church sweatshirts to help keep us warm along the coast.
Jan and Chester had offered to host us overnight before we headed back to Albany and we were so glad they had made the offer. It would have been a shame to leave Newport without stopping to admire the beauty of this special place.
So, on our way to their house after worship, we stopped here ...
To admire this ...
The next morning, Jan walked Melissa and me across the road and down to the beach!
It turned out to be a lovely setting for a long conversation about the needs of Cowman School. Jan is a retired teacher, so she can relate to some of the challenges Cowman is facing.
By the end of the conversation, Melissa had Jan considering coming back to Haiti this fall for a few weeks to help get the next school year started right! We're praying this will become a reality.
Before we hit the road, Jan buried Melissa in some excellent curriculum and several educational games leftover from her years in the classroom.
This is Melissa's "I must get these resources to Cowman" face:
We had a hard time tearing ourselves away from Newport, but we needed to get back to the Albany area for a cookout and ice cream social put together by our friends George and Linda and hosted by new friends Neal and Melinda.
What a gorgeous evening!
And Linda went all out on the ice cream and toppings. (Check out her granddaughter's reaction in the background!)
Again, we had the opportunity to share information about Haiti with some folks who are looking at the possibility of a trip in the fall. We will be looking forward to their arrival in Haiti!
Our hosts for the evening:
Between dinner and dessert, we slipped out for a few minutes with George to get a quick tour of a special farm just a mile away. It almost felt like a pilgrimage because this property belongs to Dave and Marilyn, a couple of heroes in the faith and role models for us in serving in Haiti.
We've had the pleasure of knowing and working alongside Dave and Marilyn for several years now and have often heard about the family farm in Oregon.
It's an even more impressive operation than I had imagined - built with countless hours of hard work and strong family bonds.
We had heard about the hazelnut trees, but weren't aware of all the other crops. Like blueberries...
And mint. They harvest the mint and then run it through a "mint still" (below) to extract the mint oil, which ultimately ends up in chewing gum and toothpaste and elsewhere. We would have loved having a little more time to explore the farm - with Dave as a guide! Maybe another day...
Next thing we know, our week was up and Paul was driving us to the airport. He told us we needed to experience one more local landmark before leaving the Northwest: Voodoo Donuts in Portland.
He was right! And generously bought us some incredible donuts and even a few to take back to our kids.
What a guy!
The kids were certainly happy to see the donuts the next morning. The photo below is how they looked BEFORE I accidentally dropped the box at the Portland airport.
Many thanks to our brother in Christ, Bob, who was willing to pick us up at the Indy airport after midnight and deliver us and the donuts to Columbus.
So good to be reunited with the kids after a week. I was thrilled that their first order of business once everyone was awake was to present me with a couple of belated Father's Day gifts. I didn't even mind the cliche, because, as a matter of fact, I actually DO need a new tie and wallet.
The wallet, I was informed by Sarah, was the "greatest present EVER" (because she bought it with her own money). And it IS pretty special. One more blessing to add to all the other blessings, too innumerable to count.
Thank you to all who made this trip possible and so very enjoyable - from Chris who drove us to Indy, to Keri, Bonnie, Melinda and Trudy who watched over our kids, to the pastors and youth pastors who gave us a platform to share, to Ryan and Suzan who included us in the wedding festivities, and especially to our gracious and generous hosts, who made even the great state of Oregon a WARM place for us.
In working backwards, I hope to share some photos soon from the FRONT end of our trip - time in Albany and my nephew's wedding.
We'd appreciate prayers as we next pack the whole family for a trip to camp in Pennsylvania, with a church visit in Grove City on the front end and a weekend with The Refuge in West Virginia on the back end! So much to look forward to...
