Anniversary Celebration in Sonoma

Pete and I had a getaway overnight this weekend (yes we are back already, one night really cuts down on the hotel bill :)

We took off a daring 1 hour before 5 PM and found the commute grand until little old Sausalito. But that was okay, we had a few eating/delaying options up our sleeves thanks to Yelp. We finally landed at Avatar's Restaurant. It was a really fun experience. Then to make sure we really avoided the rest of the traffic we enjoyed a coastal stroll and went to see "Bottle Shock".

From Handel Travels

We found a great little B&B thursday (yes I was a little delinquent on the planning... had a few things going on). Creekside Inn & Resort was an awesome place to stay. We woke up a little earlier than the B&B's 9:30 breakfast time :). Being up to early was a first for us. We even had time to explore a local redwood grove!

Breakfast was divine! Red bell pepper and corn strada, and an assortment of homemade scones.

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Then we were off to see the wineries. Here is us with an indecipherable Russian River behind us:

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First stop was a little winery suggested by the B&B owner: Porter Creek.

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After that we visited Arista.

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Followed by Twomey.

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Where we were inspired by the art.

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We then had a barrel tasting (thief and all) at Zichichi.

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And then stopped in at Quivira. We splurged on a wine barrel top lazy susan. I'm so excited to use it.

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Our final stop of the day was Seghesio Family Vineyards.

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We were so impressed we joined the wine club and signed up for the food and wine paring.

From Handel Travels

It was such a lovely day. On the drive home we hit up a Thai food restaurant and got a 1/2 Gallon at Mitchell's.

Oregon with the Bernard and Sue

We flew up to Oregan to spend a week relaxing with Bernard and Sue. Our first night we stayed with Scott and Elisa in their beautiful home in Corvallis.

From Snooling

Then we were off to our final destination: Canon Beach... here are Pete and I in front of Haystack rock - the third-tallest monolith in the world!

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Here is another one with Bernard and Sue.

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Bernard and Sue looking cute...

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We took this killer hike... I know it doesn't look hard but it was steep!

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This tree was interesting looking.

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The views were breathtaking.

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On of the highlights of our trip was lunch at this cool little culinary school called EVOO. YUM!

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It was such a lovely time!

Camp in Michigan With Family

We had an awesome time up at Portage Lake Bible Camp with Pete's side of the family. Why camp in Michigan you ask? Pete's sister Susanne and her husband Michael have been planting a church in Germany that has a sister church in Detroit. Being the frugal lot that we are a camp was the cheepest source of Lodging, food and entertainment that could be had so they asked around at the church and they suggested Portage Lake. We had a blast! Here is some evidence.

On the bigger lake (lake Michigan)

From Snooling

Mami looking stellar

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Susanne, Michael, Matthea and Marc

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I was so excited to pick blueberries while we were there... Matthea totally bested me a the picking contest, I could barely pick one without eating two :)

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We had so many fun hours sitting out on the camps deck just chatting and watching the kids play in the littler Lake Portage.

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It was so fun guys!

Day 17 – Homeward bound

Caught a bus at 7:30 this morning to Munich airport. Sad that the trip is over and a Long plane ride is ahead of us, but we will be glad to be back home.

From Moldiva July 08

We almost missed both of our flights! We were so relieved to have made it onto each aircraft!

From Moldiva July 08

It was so fun to see Hillary reunited with her little ones!

Day 16 – Gmunden Day 4

Our last day of R&R we actually made it out of our room before 10 today, enjoyed a nice leisurely breakfast on the terrace overlooking the lake with our fellow teammates. We deceided to take the Gondola and lake hike despite the thunderous forecast. It was breathtaking.

From Moldiva July 08

From Moldiva July 08

Lots of fun and fellowship along the way. After the hike we engaged in various leasure activities, reading, journaling, napping etc till dinner time. That evening we followed the established MO for dinning accommodations. Carmen shared her story.

Day 15 – Gmunden Day 3 / Salzburg

The next morning we left with Mark and Hannah to enjoy a day in Salzburg. We stopped along the way to pay a visit to Mondsee Chapel where the wedding in the Sound of Music was filmed.

From Moldiva July 08

We walked through the town and along the lakeshore. Once near Salzburg we visited the two mansions that served as the respective back and front views of the hollywood Von Trap family.

From Moldiva July 08

Hannah and I did lots of renditions of “I have Confidence” and “Do Ray Mi”.

From Moldiva July 08

From Moldiva July 08

We then made our way into Salzburg proper and explored the gardens there…. Yet more frolicking and musical reenactments ensued.

Pete and I split off to peruse a used German bookstore and sit in a local café. We rejoined Mark and Hannah for a lovely dinner and a capstone classical concert to top off a magnificent day.

From Moldiva July 08

From Moldiva July 08

From Moldiva July 08

The ride back to our hotel was a chronicle of Showtunes… Mark and Pete are such troopers. Pete and I utilized the hotel sauna before bed and slept marvelously as a result.

Day 14 – Gmunden Day 2

We slept so soundly that we missed the 11 o’clock cut off for breakfast. So thoughtfully our team mates had prepared some plates from the buffet for us and Pete and I ate them in the “upper room”. It was our day to relax and Pete and I started by renting the little electric boat and tooting around the lake.

From Moldiva July 08

It was sooo fun to see all the beautiful houses with private docks and beautiful gardens right up to the lakeshore. We headed back when the sprinkles became a little much for our little nautical canopy. When we got back we found Rares and he drove us into town. We looked at the German bookstore and picked out a bunch of books to buy. After that we met up with the rest of the group who had visted the woodcutters house and were now finishing up a visit to the pottery shop. We picked up a few gifts to bring back home and visited a few shops and the grocery store on our way home. Dinner was again nice and we had a private room in the back of the restaurant all to ourselves. We again retired to the “upper room” to eat dessert and hear Rares’ story. It was a fabulous evening together.

Day 13 – Gmunden Day 1

We woke up the next morning and after two short train switches we were in Gmunden. Back at the Hotel Grünberg. So lovely. We booked it into town and looked for some warm clothing for what looked like a really rainy cold week ahead. I found two long sleeve shirts and Hillary found a sweatshirt. We headed back to the Hotel for our “half pension” dinner. This time they opened the whole menu to those on “half pension” and we had a great selection. Dinner was lovely and after we listened to most a humorous German reading we retired to an upper room for dessert and some sharing. It was great to reflect with the team on all that we had experienced and pray. We fell into bed afterward.

Day 12 – Cluj Day 4

Our last day in Cluj we got up a little earlier ☺ and packed up. Emma made us Pancakes and Pete had the tenacity to pair them with Zarcuska. They gave us two jars to bring home ☺ Carmen picked us up and brought us to Marty’s Café for lunch.

From Moldiva July 08

We had a fun time and a few of the Lemudim joined us. The food took a while to come out (think because we were a group of about 20!) but Marchelous, a member of the Lord’s Army church there and manager of the Café gave us all free desserts, really yummy stuff. After our meal we went back to Carmen and Rares’ and had yet another meal (yes, were sere not starving….) we ended the evening with some worship a la Liviu, prayer and communion. We then collected all our bags packed into Carman’s Dad’s van and a van flavio had provided and headed out to the train station. It was an hours drive in the pouring rain down a windy road full of semi trucks to pass. There were a few prayers for safety issuing from the back seat let me tell you…. We made it to the train station in one piece and the sleeper train arrived only 40 min late. Pete and I had a room with 3 bunks all to ourselves. It was really fun! The motion of the train rocked us right to sleep.

Day 11 – Cluj Day 3

The next day we slept late again, and again had a lovely breakfast with Emma. Bogdon picked us up and we and met up with the group at Carman and Raras’ flat (where Alex and Hillary were staying) . We prayed together and then headed out to see a little of downtown cluj before the youth meeting that evening. Pete was asked to share and so he spent sometime in a park putting together his testimony. We looked at several old churches and wondered through some shops. Back to Carmen’s partents house (were Mark and Hannah were staying) About 40 people showed up for the meeting and we worshiped, Pete did a great job sharing, and Mark gave a message from Acts.

From Moldiva July 08

After wards we hung out and talked for a while, finishing up the evening at a Starbucks at the local mall.

Day 10 – Cluj Day 2

We slept in and had breakfast with Emma. We were picked up and taken to CoaCoa’s were Kris was staying for a lovely lunch. From there we walked to Church, it was an experience. We walked in late while worship songs were still being sung. One of the Romanian leaders gave a message and then we sang again… time to leave… no way. Now it was time for Mark to preach (they have 2 messages every Sunday sometimes 3!) he did a fantastic job preaching out of Genesis. After service we all hung around and chatted a bit. Then we hopped in our cars and headed out to Falvio and Emma’s for pizza and watermelon. The guys stayed up late watching a progressive guitar concert.

Day 9 – Trip to Cluj

Carman had made a fruit cheese cake for breakfast to celebrate my birthday. I felt very cared for. Pete had surprise gifts all lined up for me and a boqeit of flowers. Pete and I were put in Carman’s dad’s car for the trip to cluj. Liviu rode with us. We had a pleasant trip, I started tot get a little sick and moved to the front and Liviu gave Pete a guitar lesson. We took a stop at a quaint midevil town that was on the way. And had pizza there. It had a very strange sweet read sauce on it that didn’t remind me of tomatoes much. But it was still a very enjoyable trip. After we arrived in Cluj we were shuttle off to enjoy a lovely dinner that Emma had prepared. Pete and I had a lovely evening with Emma and Flavio. They had such a lovely home and vacated their master sweet for us. We stayed up chatting till 2 in the morning.

Day 8 – Camp Day 5

It’s the last day of camp, ate breakfast quickly and then prepared to give my testimony. Liviu was here so Pete didn’t have to do worship. The testimony went well I think and I felt a lot of love from all the people that prayed for me following… It felt like a weight lifted to have it finished ☺. That afternoon we took a marvelous hike. It felt so much like Switzerland only wilder. We walked through field after field of wild flowers and some wild strawberries.




The view at the top was worth it all and it was as if we were on top of the world.




On the way down we stopped for local toasted treats :)



That afternoon we took naps after lunch and it was really hard to wake up for the study session that I was supposed to lead. It was a more subdued group but we still had a good time. I think we finally came to the crux of the issue with the alien believing lady and she clearly doesn’t accept the inspiration of scriptures and kept trying to contradict the global flood account with written accounts of local floods from other cultures. It was hard to know how much to address and how much to contradict but then move on. Hopefully we reached a good balance. After the small groups it was time for dinner and then we had our last session. It was time for mark to give the end of the week invitation. 3 more people came forward to receive Christ it was amazing! After we heard from the coverts and prayed together Mark called to people to re-commit to seek God anew. Olga’s husband stood, it was a clear answer to prayer for her as she didn’t even know that he had made a commitment to start with! After all the sharing and crying, rejoicing and singing we were all exhausted when the bus was ready to take the Moldovan’s back to Chishinau. Maria had some more doughnuts for us and we said so many goodbyes my head was swimming. After they were gone we had a midnight snack in the kitchen with the Romanians that remained to take us to Cluj the next day. The homemade cheese was a big hit. Off to bed finally at 2 AM!

Day 7 – Camp Day 4

Woke up this morning tired. Stumbled to breakfast and then up to our meeting. Right before our session started Mark leaned over and asked if I was willing to share my story that night. I said that I was and started immediately being nervous. I had been sure I would get away with not this trip ☺. After the session most of the group went on a hike. Pete and I decided to pass and I wrote out what I wanted to say that night. After that we went on a walk to burn off some energy. We had lunch when the group came back and talked Maria into showing us how to make yummy doughnuts for dessert after dinner.



Then the marriage seminar. After dinner we gathered for a meeting again.



Natalya shared her testimony, and it was really powerful. She has been through a lot and God’s process of drawing her to himself was incredible. Mark decided it would be better for me to give my testimony the next day. We had the skit night following and we tried out a few that I remembered from high school days: the chocolate kiss skit, the ball naming skit and the all time favorite "getting ready in the morning" skit.



Pete, Mark and Alex played the young lasses getting ready for the day and I, Hannah and Hillary were their respective arms. It was messy but fun. We were all worked up after so much laughter. But somehow managed to drift right off to sleep ☺

Day 6 – Camp Day 3

All meals are outside here… rain or shine, hot or cold. The first and the last in this case. We had a message and small groups again this morning. Small groups were much better as more people were open to sharing after our two icebreakers (favorite ice cream and tucker or free footer revelations). Lunch was welcome after another long session (they tend to go almost 1.5 hours). A large group went on a hike down the canyon this afternoon, Pete and I stayed in and slept, we hadn’t gotten very good sleep the night before.



Hillary shared her story at night. It was nothing short of amazing. Many women were crying and we all gathered around afterwards to pray for her. People were milling around afterward and I brought out the kitting supplies I had brought and many of the women started to knit. They all knew how! I taught Hannah and she caught on really quickly. Kris and I continued working on the projects we had started before. Pete and the guys all gathered around and told riddles.

Day 5- Camp Day 2

We woke up at 7:30 to find that rain was pouring torrentially. We still had breakfast outside, underneath the newly built awning over the picnic area.



After our feast on sausage omelets and homemade preserves on buttered bread we gathered together to sing and listen to a message. After the message we had our first ever small group meetings. Hillary and I had a small group together. We went through Mark’s study method with Gen. 3:14-24 and had lots of interesting discussion.



I had to think really hard and pray a lot to come up with answers to a lot of tough questions. Of course there were some on the role of women, but I feel like those were easier to answer after my 5-aspects training. Their was one lady in our group who was studying mythology. She was telling the group that the trinity was not real and that good and evil will always struggle against each other and that there are an infinite number of parallel universes in outer space with duplicates of every human. It was really tough to know how to answer her questions. After small groups we had lunch and took a trip to the market to pick up supplies to make brownies for Olga and her husband’s 30th anniversary.



They turned out okay considering the ingredient conversion etc. After the cooking process we took a hike back through down through the canyon, Kris, Hannah, Hillary, Mark and Me. After we got back it was time for dinner and then another lesson. Alex shared his story. Afterwards Victor came up and gave a short story from his life, about when his mother was saved. Two women from the Moldovan group who where visitors (there are 14 people of the 30 some people here to do not go regularly to the Lord’s army church) came forward and publically professed that they had given their lives to Christ. What a moment! People stayed up late playing 4 on a couch. The laughter could be heard throughout the building.

Day 4 – Camp Day 1

We continued the drive into the night and arrived around 3 in the morning, unloaded the bus, found our rooms and settled in a bit. Pete and I scored the only room with an attached bathroom and shower. We invited the rest of the team to share it with us and ended up having all 7 of us huddled around the sink brushing our teeth together.



We slept well the rest of the night and were allowed to sleep in the next morning. Our first gathering Mark laid out the general guidelines for studying the text and camp rules were explained. Pete and I stayed behind when we broke for lunch so that we could work on the PowerPoint slides for Pete’s first time leading worship. and had our first experience of the camp food. Miles above our last Romanian camp experience, yet definitely not as good as the home cooked meals we had had in Chisinau.

Here is Maria, our amazing cook:


After lunch we had worship (Pete did great!) and Mark taught through the first chapter of Genesis after Kris shared her testimony.



After the worship session we were all so tired (getting 5 hours of sleep the night before had nothing to do with it I’m sure). But we still had to sit around and talk a little bit – we had fun chatting with Carmen a little bit and Pete and Alex played ping-pong. Then off to bed, after a quick team meeting.