Nothing Much Happening, Except...

You'd think we'd had a quiet, uneventful month since I obviously haven't had anything profound to post about.

Wrong.

Unless you call three weddings, two trips to Illinois, a baby shower, an extremely inconvenient fiasco, a visit from both sets of parents, and a dissertation defense, nothing.

Where do I start?

To begin with, August was a month full of travel.  After the trips that comprised my last posts, we took two separate trips to Illinois for weddings.  Such is our stage of life, I guess, that we have so many good friends tying the knot!  First up: my dear sweet Sarah, the only roommate I've ever had, fellow Magdalena warrior, and owner of one of the most brilliant smiles!  Also on that trip, Jonathan spent the weekend with some good friends of his from way back.  The Roanoke guys that make up that core group got together to relive their young teen days camping out at a local lake.  Amid the goofing off and fun (too much fun, apparently, as one ended up with a fishhook through his finger), they also reconnected and got serious enough to have some deep conversations and really challenge and sharpen each other spiritually.  Praise God for those kinds of friends!  That same praise welled up in me as I watched Sarah walk down the aisle that weekend.  So much history with that girl--many long talks as we walked around CVE campus, many middle-of-the-night prayer sessions, many battles fought and won, many tears, many laughs and joys too.  Those kinds of relationships run deep, and when our paths cross again, it's such a joy and encouragement!

The next round of weddings wasn't for a few weeks, so home again we went.  After just a short time back at the Beach Cottage, I was headed back to Illinois, this time without Jonathan.  He came the next week, after taking care of some responsibilities at school and also helping host the high school Labor Day weekend get-together in Altadena.  The first weekend in Illinois I watched my kid cousin, Elisabeth, get married.  Also that week, my dear family hosted a baby shower for Silly Goose!  It was such a fun evening with friends and family, and, of course, everyone blessed our little guy with all kinds of great things he'll need when he arrives--fun little outfits, books, toys, diapers!  Then Jonathan and I were reunited and enjoyed some family time before the next weekend's wedding: a childhood friend of Jonathan's.  The big wrinkle in the weekend happened on Saturday.  We spent the day up in Chicago with my family--just enjoying the city, like we used to often when Caleb and Liv still lived up there.  To our horror, when we got back to our vehicles in the evening, someone had broken into my parents' jeep and stolen Jonathan and I's luggage.  Besides losing most of our clothes, the greatest loss was our laptops and my personal Bible.  While it was just belongings, and thankfully nobody was hurt, it was still a frustrating end to an otherwise wonderful day!  Thankfully, I'd forgotten my piano book at my parents' house which would have been a painful loss, and all the baby shower gifts were packed in another suitcase, which wasn't with us in Chicago.  Needless to say, it was a rotten end to our trip.

Back home again!  We were a week into September and facing the stressful few weeks leading up to--drum roll please!--Jonathan's defense!  The climax of 4 and half years of grad school!  Praise the Lord, his dissertation work was all backed up online, so unexpectedly getting a new computer (thanks to the Chicago fiasco) wasn't a problem.  Our kitchen appliances listened intently during practice sessions, and after many long rehearsals and revisions, it was finally the big day!  Both our parents were able to come for the weekend, some uncles, Grammy, and Steven who has just moved out here, rounded out the supporting audience.  The presentation was excellent!  It was the best version I'd heard--and I'd heard it a few times!  There were some tough questions thrown at Jonathan from the panel of professors, but he never let them fluster him.  Even when one was so kind as to point out the spelling mistake on a few of his slides.  Oops, that's my job as editor!  I never caught the "principal" that should have been "principle".  Oh, well, I don't think they held that against him--being an engineer and all!  We waited nervously out in the hall after the defense, curious as to what they were discussing behind the closed door.  Finally, the exciting moment came and the door opened.  Jonathan's research adviser came out and offered his hand, "Congratulations, Dr. Sauder!"  We applauded!  All glory to God--He's the one who gave Jonathan the opportunity and the talent that made getting a PhD possible!  The degree will be officially conferred in December.

 Dr. Jonathan Sauder

"Collaborative Stimulation in Team Design Thinking"

 With the Sauder parents.

 With the Zobrist parents.

So, I guess you could say we've had a rather busy few weeks!  Will life settle down now?  I guess we'll see.  Now full focus is on the job search and enjoying these last few months at the Beach Cottage and before Silly Goose's arrival!  We find ourselves constantly needing to remember God's past faithfulness and take courage as we look to the future, knowing He will provide for us.

The Undisclosed Location

Well, continuing from the last post...

After Portland, Jonathan had told me we were not going home right away.  We were going to "an undisclosed location", a surprise vacation, a "baby moon" (taking a special trip, while you still can, before the baby comes).  He did a really good job keeping a secret.  Oh, he dropped hints (c'mon, he's Jonathan, after all), but too many, I was totally confused and had no idea where we were going.

We checked out of the Hilton in downtown Portland and took off on foot.  To the metro stop.  When we got off the metro, we walked some more.  

 To here.  Union Station. 

 ...where we got on a train headed north to a place called Tukwila, WA.

 Then Jonathan picked up a rental car and we headed toward this lovely city,

Seattle.

 And we stopped for lunch at my favorite place in Seattle:

The Crumpet Shop!

 Tomato/cheese/pesto (Jonathan's), salmon/egg (mine), nutella (to split)

and of course, tea.

Can't have crumpets without tea.

 I know, I know, I look like a dork.

But seriously, words can't describe these delicious treats!

 And, by the way, I think we got the last few crumpets of the day.

As we left they put this up: "Sold out of crumpets"

Good timing.

Then we were on our way again, heading north some more.  We got in a long line of cars at a place called Anacortes.  A few hours later (yeah, this part was lacking a little planning) we finally boarded a ferry.

 Headed to our final destination: Orcas Island.

It's one of the San Juan Islands off the coast of Washington state.

The sunset view from the ferry.  

I love pink mountains.

After a short drive across the island, we arrived at our resort, a place called Rosario.  It was an amazing trip!  One of the best vacations ever, in my opinion.  We slept late, ate at some fun restaurants in the small island town, drank good coffee, relaxed, and talked and talked and talked.

 Mini chocolate frosted donuts dipped in coffee,

a vacation must.

 The view overlooking our island from the mountaintop.

We took the ferry to another island one day,

 And almost plowed through some sailboats!

 We rented a tandem bike on San Juan Island.

So funny, we assured the guy we'd ridden a tandem before, but he still made us prove to him that we could before he let us leave!

 We rode all the way to the point,

boy, was it hilly!

 The lighthouse on the point.

 My view.

I'd say it was one of the most beautiful bike rides I've ever done!

 I think those mountains in the distance are the Cascades.

 We had a blast watching from our room window 

as the sea planes took off and landed.

The resort had a really nice pool and spa, and while it isn't overly warm even in the summer in the Northwest, it was still a great place to relax.  I was even treated to a "Mommy and Me" massage, so amazing!  

We packed a picnic and spent a few hours hiking around the state park on the island.

 Our picnic spot.

 Some gorgeous red-trunked trees, 

and that crystal clear water below!

 Tall, tall, tall pines that smelled amazing!

 A waterfall.

Overall it was fantastic, wonderful, beautiful, relaxing, fun, and basically a blast!  We had a great time! And we were thankful for so much set aside time for talking since just before we left on vacation Jonathan heard from Apple.  They made him a pretty tempting job offer, and we desperately needed those quiet days to really consider what God was calling us to.  It's been tough to have to turn it down, but we're confident following God is always the best way.  Now we're working to keep trusting that He's got something even better for us and our little family!  

Portland

Jonathan had an engineering conference in Portland last week at which he gave two presentations.  We took the opportunity to hang out in one of our favorite cities, and also the chance to see some dearly loved people we've gotten to know at the Portland AC church.  

The weekend was spent with some families who graciously agreed to host us.  Starting off with one of those fun sushi places where the options go by on a little conveyor belt (sorry, there's no picture) and some good conversation, our stay with the Gallops also included good wisdom on life, cool stories from Holland, funky fish in huge tanks, and lots of fun!  Sunday was church followed by a picnic with the church family at a State Park nearby.  That night we stayed up late chatting with the Lemans who saw us off early the next morning and even provided transportation to downtown.  

Jonathan took off for the conference, and I wandered my way toward Powell's City of Books.  Yes, the biggest bookstore you've ever seen, I literally got lost in the towering shelves of new and used reading material.  I even picked up a few special books from my childhood to add to Silly Goose's collection.  Then, off to the famous food trucks for lunch.

 The view of Mt. Hood from our room.

My initial fun time hanging out around Portland downtown kind of faded after awhile.  I apparently don't enjoy wandering around even a fun city like Portland if I'm by myself.  Not to mention, there's kind of some weird characters out there who gave me the creeps.

 Yup.  They're doing a good job!

I did venture out for coffee (it's too good to resist!) but otherwise I made use of the pool, took long naps (no shame, I deserve it, right?), read and generally relaxed.  In the evenings Jonathan and I would take to the streets.  I enjoyed it much more with him!  We ate at fun places and enjoyed the sights.  The last day of the conference, he was done early and we spent the afternoon doing some really fun stuff--and we even had coupons from a book he picked up at the conference!

First we visited and toured the Chinese Gardens.  Very cool.  Not as humongous as the Huntington's, but (according to our biased tour guide) more authentic.  

 My favorite part was the very intricate stone work 

that varied room to room.

Then we hit up the Art Museum.  They had a super cool display called "Cyclepedia" being featured which was basically a bunch of cool/old/interesting/unique bicycles suspended from the ceiling at eye level.

It was a blast!

I posted some of my crazy favorites on Facebook.

Check it out!

By chance we caught an open air free concert about a block from our hotel on the way back from the museum.  Only in Portland!  First there was an upbeat and talented acapella group singing, and then a super fun marimba band!  I haven't been exposed to much marimba music (a percussion style from Chiapas Mexico), but I'm a new fan!

We topped off our Portland days with, what else, Salt and Straw ice cream.  We waited in a line that went out the door and around the corner!  All to try their unique flavors like "Blue Cheese and Pear", "Strawberry Balsamic", and "Coffee and Bourbon", and you can't forget their house-made waffle cones pressed right before your very eyes.  Mmmm!  As my dear friend, Louisa, would say, "I'm craving a little calcium!"  (meaning, I want some ice cream!) 

All in all, Portland was a success!  

The Grand Revealing of the Gender

Da-da-da-daaaaa!!!

Announcing!

Silly Goose is a boy!

We are thrilled!  I was so excited when we first found out, the nurse had to retake my blood pressure after asking me to take a few deep breaths to calm down a little!  

He's doing great!  Everything from the anatomy check looks healthy and right on schedule.  We got to see his extremely brilliant brain developing, all four ventricles of his heart, his spine, femur, cute little baby face, and, my favorite,

his adorable little baby feet!

What a miracle!

He's an active little guy, too!  I've been feeling him summersault, poke, kick, and squirm for a few weeks now.  And Jonathan is just starting to be able to feel him too!

Thanks for blessing us with love, support and prayers during this incredibly special stage of life!  We can't wait to meet our sweet little baby boy!  Halfway to December!

And in case you're wondering, while it's been a blast to share is gender with you all, we will be keeping his name a secret until his arrival.  There has to be some surprise!  

Visitors!

We love it when people visit us!  (*hint, hint*)  And you'd think living in an exotic location like Los Angeles would bring in dozens of families on vacation.  Not so much.  We get a few every summer, but not as many as you might imagine.  I guess people do other things, like hike in Colorado or go boating on a lake somewhere rather than come to the smoggy big city, never mind that we have beaches and nice hotels and hiking and attractions and wonderful people--like us!  Okay, enough of a travel sales pitch.  All that to say, a few weeks ago, when I met a darling young girl at Girls' Camp whose family was planning to vacation near L.A., I immediately suggested we meet up!  I didn't really think she'd see it through considering I was scaring myself away with my over enthusiasm, but she did! Last week we met her and her family at The Getty Museum, a beautiful art museum not too far from us.  Amazing architecture, beautiful gardens and fountains, and, of course, lots and lots of art--it made for a fun afternoon.  Well, that is to say, their oldest daughter, an art major, loved it.  The younger...was patient, we'll say that.  That evening we went to Santa Monica Promenade to watch the street performers and ate dinner together.  

I forgot to take pictures.  Well, I did snap one shot of the gardens before putting my camera away and totally forgetting about it.  Typical. 

 But, here it is, the one I did remember to snap!

A few days later, we enjoyed some more company and a church picnic!  Bill Schick brought Manuel for his routine doctor's appointment, and Karla got to come along!  Karla was one of the 5 girls who lived with me at CVE.  We were reminiscing that, even though that was just a little over a year ago, a lot has changed for both of us!  She and her younger sister, Tania, are both in the process of being adopted by Bill and Joan.  This was Karla's first time in the States!

Sunday, as I said, was a church picnic.  It was gorgeous weather, the food was fantastic, and the fellowship even better!  And, as is tradition, the kids broke a piñata!

 Little Evy takes a swing at the shiny star!

 Her older brother's turn.  I love that he's wearing his candy bag as a hat!

 Now they're blindfolded!  I love everyone's faces here!

 Some of the spectators.

Unfortunately, my camera died before I could document the mad scramble for candy which is so classic!  Sorry!

The rest of the week was full of catching up with my lovely Karla.  She's so grown up!  This last year she did a fantastic job with the 1st and 2nd grades at the school on CVE campus, and this year she'll be teaching English.  It was so good to catch up with her!  

 Ice cream at Manhattan Beach Creamery.

Tiramisu cheesecake from Cheesecake Factory.

Apparently we bond well over food!  Random fact, we accidentally got cheesecake on National Cheesecake Day, so the place was packed but the cheesecake half price!  

We spent time at the beach, went for a walk, sang together, and generally goofed around.  She got to spend the night with me too, which was a lot of fun!  

Actually, Karla's spending the night worked out perfectly because Jonathan left for a quick trip up to Cupertino (near San Francisco) for, of all things, a job interview at Apple.  Speaking of job interviews, thank you for your prayers regarding our future.  These next few months will bring lots of change to our family, and sometimes the unknown can drive us crazy!  Me, especially.  But we're learning the daily surrender of choosing to trust God and wait on His good timing!  And He's never late!  Some sweet words that have encouraged me lately:

"Be still my soul: the Lord is on your side;

Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain;

Leave to your God to order and provide;

In every change He faithful will remain...

Be still, my soul: your God does undertake

To guide the future as He has the past.

Your hope, your confidence let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know

His voice who ruled them while He dwelled below."

I love this modernized version of the hymn sung by Jadon Lavik.  Check it out.

Be Still My Soul by Jadon Lavik

"Normal" Life

These precious summer weeks are flying by.  I can't tell you how much we both couldn't wait for this "last" summer, as we called it.  The last summer with Jonathan spending the majority of time at home--working, but at home, not out in the "real world" with the demands of a full time job.  The last summer of being just a couple, no little kiddos vying for our attention.  The last summer of life at the Beach Cottage, since, as our family grows, so will our home.  Since most of August we'll be traveling (a conference in Portland, a vacation/babymoon, weddings in Illinois), and September will be the dissertation defense (yikes!), and then it'll be moving (somewhere) and a job (hopefully!), and eventually Silly Goose's arrival into the world...well, let's just say it's been our goal to enjoy these precious weeks of "normal" life at the Beach Cottage.

And they're going too fast.  

What have we been up to?

 Well, this.

There's nothing like being able to grab a beach towel and your sunglasses and walk down to the sand.  Boy, have I missed this!  And I know I will too!  I mean, a day at the beach can be planned.  A week's vacation can be anticipated and thoroughly enjoyed.  But, stepping out the front door to spend a few extra minutes soaking up the sun--err, getting one's daily dose of vitamin D?  Who gets to do that?  We do.  And we're making every effort to fully savor our last summer by the beach.

But we haven't just been beach-bumming it, trust me.

I bake.

Mmm, actually this banana bread is in the oven right now.

And it smells sooooo good.

Is this classified as a craving?

Maybe.

Traveling so much meant eating out all the time.  Granted, it was on the company card, but after a while, it gets old.  I missed my cute little (cantankerous) oven, grocery shopping, and--I'll admit it--even the cooking.  It's not something I ever thought I'd enjoy, but I really did miss it.  It's good to be home.  Not to mention all the wonderful fresh summer produce in abundance!

Let's see, what else?

 Home improvement.  

These are my new mint plants growing outside the kitchen window.

From my Mom's mint plants in Illinois, graciously brought all the way out to California by my Father-in-law, I dearly hope these make it!  I'm not known for having a green thumb, but I'm willing to learn!  And I sure love having a little green right outside my kitchen!  

Jonathan's been busy too.  Surfing.

Just kidding, that's not all he does!

 Actually, this is what he does most of the time.

Write, write, write.

Did I mention the dissertation is scheduled for September?

Speaking of which, I'm way behind on the editing part.

We've also been relishing our Sundays back in Altadena church and getting together with family and friends.  The other week we went to a free performance of Shakespeare in a local park with some friends, out for pizza another night with another friend, fireworks with aunts and uncles and cousins on the 4th, midweek bible study with our much-missed South Bay group...

And I was worried I might get bored!  Suffice it to say, that's not been a problem!  God has given me plenty of opportunities to not only keep busy, but also prepare me for that big daunting thing called motherhood looming ahead in just 4.5 months!  I've started spending a few days a week with a darling family with 2 little active guys and a third due to make an appearance next month.  Getting to serve is a blessing, but being mentored and seeing a wonderful mother in action?--even better!  

I've also been blessed by getting to spend time with these crazies!

Some of Jonathan's cousin's adorable kiddos!

My days with them are full to bursting of giggles and FUN!

Basically...we have a full life!  And we are loving it!  This really has been a wonderful blessing of a "last" summer!  

Back home.

The Beach Cottage welcomed us home to stay just a little over a week ago.  The following days were some of the craziest yet with dozens of visitors pouring into L.A. to celebrate with Ben and Suzy on their wedding day!  The ceremony was beautiful, the bride was beautiful, the flowers I brought home after helping cut the cake were beautiful, and, most of all, the fellowship was beautiful!

I especially enjoyed a traditional Sunday afternoon walk with this dear girl!

Well, not really traditional, I guess.  

We usually walked the dusty paths of CVE; this was a beach walk!

Jonathan's family was also in town for the wedding and stayed the following week soaking up days at the beach and enjoying family time with aunts and uncles and cousins.  After seeing them off, I celebrated the fact that we were home to stay by giving the Beach Cottage a good going over!

Then...well, now, I guess, life starts getting back to "normal".  Is it even okay to say "normal" on this blog dedicated to chronicling the "abnormal", the times where everyday life gives way to adventures?  The fact of the matter is, our life feels so far from back-to-normal I think I may keep up this little chronicle, just to have a record of the adventures we seem to find even in the everyday stuff.

Like take the past week for example.  You can imagine the unknown mounting ahead of us: Jonathan's dissertation defense in the fall, graduation in December--right after we welcome the upheaval of Silly Goose's arrival into the world, and then...well, a job.  But where?  Here in L.A.?  Back in Illinois, with the same company that just took us all over the world and close to family?  Or somewhere else entirely?  And with job opportunities come other decisions like where to live.  If you can imagine all that, then you can probably imagine the kinds of conversations we've been having.  To top it all off, just a few days at home in dear California and I was clinging to the idea of never leaving again.  I like it here.  I love our church, our romantic little Beach Cottage, the gorgeous weather, having extended family close by.  God had to do some major work in my heart as I listened to Jonathan's big dreams because his heart hasn't settled here like mine did so quickly.  When things came to a head and I shut up enough to listen to the Spirit's call to be surrendered to His plan for us, it seemed like all we could do was wait.  Yes, there were major decisions to be made.  But nothing looked like it would be cleared up in a week, no matter how many times we hashed it out.  Wait.  Be patient.  Know God in this moment.  It's a tough place to be in, but a sweet one.

And then, BANG!  It's all thrown back at us and into our conversations again.  Nothing will be settled in a week?  No, probably not.  But we did find out that a day can bring some pretty significant opportunities.  In the course of a few hours, a new idea was on the table casting a different light on the upcoming fall.  What will come of it?  God only knows.  But meanwhile we've have a good lesson in waiting on Him, 'cause He's got some crazy adventures up His sleeves, that's for sure!