Matt's visit, part four

As I knew it would, the time flew by and before we knew it, Matt and I were in our last days together. All in all, we were very pleased with the time frame the military gave us. Matt had 15 full days in Hungary, plus two travel days, both of which we were together most of the day, so it was really more like 17 days.



Matt chose the general dates he wanted for his R & R. He chose September-October because he wanted to come to Hungary when the weather was still nice. God was very good to us! We had beautiful weather, a bit on the cooler side, but still lovely, and hardly any rain.


Another blessing about the timing of Matt's deployment was that we were able to be together on his birthday on October 2nd. I was so excited because we had a little surprise planned for him. On his birthday, a Saturday, Jozsef and Csilla had a cookout at their home for the church congregation. Almost everyone came! A dear friend of mine, Agi, made a special birthday cake just for Matt. He had no idea! Matt was standing outside and the church members gathered around in a circle and sang "Happy Birthday" {in English} as Agi brought out the cake. It a huge sparkler in it that made for quite the presentation!


Matt said that this was his best birthday ever--one he would never forget. That makes me so happy. :) Matt also bought a special present for himself on his birthday--a dagger from World War I that was used by the Austro-Hungarian army.


Two days later, Matt's visit was over. I took Matt to the Budapest airport by train and we arrived quite early, so we were able to eat lunch together at the airport and wander around a bit, trying to stall the inevitable.


I cannot tell you how hard our goodbye was or how much my heart hurt (and continues to) because there are no words for it. This deployment is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.


But I can't let this post become sad, because I have some video and photos of Matt's birthday surprise to share with you! And although we are apart again, facing our longest stretch of time, Matt and I had an incredible, unforgettable time together in Hungary. Sickness aside, it was even better than I imagined it would be. We will treasure those special memories forever--our time together in Hungary.
 
 

Here's my room...

Wedding Weekend Part 2

I forgot to include this picture of me and my dad at the wedding:

I also wanted to share a video I made of the wedding event. Sorry for the shaky parts...I'm new at this video thing. You'll see that I was standing at the back during the ceremony, as there were only enough chairs for about half the guests--it was too hot for most to sit in the sun. Szabina was like a tall, gorgeous Hungarian model with a breathtaking wedding gown.

Enjoy!

Oregon Trip, March 2010

Last month I went on a fabulous trip to Oregon with my parents. Matt was in Florida for three weeks at the time, training for his upcoming deployment. My parents were planning to go out for a visit during this time, so they invited me to go along! It was wonderful! Oregon contains, other than all its natural beauties, some of my favorite people in this world: my big brother & his family, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and friends!

Although I usually go to Portland at least once every year, this trip was exceptional in that instead of flying there, we drove there. Yes, that's right--we drove all 2,400 miles from Dayton, Ohio to Portland, Oregon. My parents were driving a car out for my big brother. When the three day drive had ended, we had driven the length of seven states and passed through a total of TEN! It was long, but I really enjoyed doing that with my parents.

A highlight for me at the tail end of our journey-by-car was a short stop just over the state line in Washington where there is a replica of England's world-famous Stonehenge. It's built to represent what Stonehenge would have looked like when it was first built, and unlike the real Stonehenge, you can walk through the structure. I had my mom take a picture of me lying on the "Altar Stone," ready for sacrifice. Haha! Although the history-lover in me must tell you that scholars now know that the real Altar Stone was never used for sacrifice, be it animal or human.

We arrived in Portland on my Grandma Dorsey's 85th birthday, and she didn't know I was coming out with my parents, so I got to surprise her. That was so fun! We had a joyous dinner with family to celebrate her birthday.

We spent the weekend with my big brother, Brandon, his lovely wife Karyl, niece Krista, and nephew Samuel. I love them all so much--I hate that we live so far away from one another. My parents and I snuck away, just the three of us, one afternoon while Brandon, Karyl, and the kids attended a neighbor's birthday party. We visited one of my favorite places in Oregon: the Columbia River Gorge. We stopped for a view of the Gorge and Crown Point, then stopped at various waterfalls that dot the Old Scenic Highway of the Gorge. The biggest and most beautiful waterfall is Multnomah Falls. There are two levels to the falls and a majestic stone bridge crossing over the second tier of the falls--it makes a hauntingly beautiful scene. We browsed the gift shop and warmed ourselves with vanilla lattés.

On Monday, my dad, my mom and me took my grandparents to the Oregon Coast. This is one of my grandparents' favorite things to do! We stayed in a rented beach house that had the most amazing view of the ocean! The first evening, there was a gorgeous sunset that seemed to transform moment by moment. There were stairs running straight down from the back of the house to the beach. The beach literally stretched for miles in each direction, and I spent a lovely solitary afternoon walking up and down the coastline. Unfortunately that was the only time I got to spend on the beach itself while we were there...as can be expected in Oregon in March, there was rain, rain, and more rain. Nonetheless, we spent three lovely days lounging, eating delicious meals at local restaurants, and doing a bit of shopping. It was perfect!

The last two days of our trip, I had more visiting time with friends and family. My cousin, Kristen, took me to one of my favorite spots in Portland: Hawthorne! It was here that many years ago she introduced me to what is now one of my favorite stores in the world--Presents of Mind. Anyway, we ate dinner in Hawthorne at a French Crèperie called Chez Machin and I was in heaven: melt-in-your mouth Boeuf Bourguignon, a sweet lemon and sugar crèpe for dessert, and Orangina.

Lastly, I got to spend two nights at the house of my lifelong friend, Katie Kyle. Katie was my FIRST friend in life...we "met" and became friends before either of us was one years old! I'm not kidding! To this day, she is one of my dearest friends. Katie didn't always used to live in Portland, so it's wonderful that she does now, because I can be sure to see her each time I'm in Portland. We had lots of girly giggling-time, but also spent a lot of time with her son, Josh, and my brother and his family, who literally live just around the corner.

Here are some pictures of this fabulous trip!

(I've included several pictures of my Uncle Roger and Aunt Penny's home and property just outside of Portland. It's literally on the side of a mountain, in the woods, and is incredibly breathtaking. I always tell them how once I win Publishers Clearing House, Matt and I are going to buy it, and since they have wanted to sell their place for years, they're crossing their fingers for that, too!)

Trinidad & Tobago 2010--last entry!

As I have mentioned previously, our mission trip ended with a weekend stay at a resort on the island of Tobago. We flew there on a small plane and Jaela and I had a room to ourselves! The weather was just perfect, too.

I've created a second slideshow of our weekend in Tobago. It showcases the resort (and the view from our room--of the pool AND the ocean!), our Sunday morning visit to a Church of God, a boat trip, and of course, gorgeous scenery!

The boat trip was my favorite part of our time in Tobago. For only $15, a group of us went on a two hour trip on a glass-bottom boat. The glass-bottom part makes our boat sound luxurious...on the contrary! You'll see it in the slideshow--we kept joking that we were going out to sea, but most likely wouldn't make it back! The tour people even picked us up at our hotel. However, they transported 10 of us in a very small white pickup truck, which meant 7 of us were piled in the bed of the truck--awesome. The tour itself was amazing! Our boat floated over a shallow reef and our guide explained all about the fish and plants we were looking at. Then we got into the water to snorkle over the reef. Our guides almost didn't let us snorkle because the waves were so choppy and the current so strong that they were afraid for us. But they agreed to let us do it as long as the whole time we were in the water, we would hold onto a long rope that was tied behind the boat. It was so fun!!

Then our boat took us over to a very famous part of Tobago--Nylon Pool (named by Princess Margaret). It's a huge sandbar located a few miles off the shoreline. You can get out of your boat to enjoy the water because it's ony about 3 to 4 feet deep! The water is warm, clear, and calm. It was so amazing to be standing in shallow water when we were so far from the island! You'll see pictures of Nylon Pool in the slideshow, also. And the other awesome thing--normally Nylon Pool is full of other boats taking out tourists to wade there, but our boat trip began at 9 am (due to our flight schedule) unlike the rest of the boats who begin at 11, so we were the only ones out there! It was so peaceful and so gorgeous. I could have stayed out there all day!

A few last pictures to share...

Check out this guy's dreadlocks! All the way to his knees!

Can you image how heavy that must be?!?

Pink faces after a day in the sun.

This is my favorite kid, Akem (sp?), pronounced AH-kem.

He was stinkin' hilarous! He got to know each of us in our group

and I think he was everyone else's favorite kid, too!

Back in Detroit--posing for one last picture.