A new blog!!!

I've been thinking lately how it would be nice to have a place to share a little bit about our life now that we live so far away and telling you all in person isn't really an option. Computers aren't my forte so we'll see how I manage keeping up on it.


But for now, Tim and I are living in a Duplex (which means another family lives on the other side of the house, but we're not connected inside) in Fair Oaks, CA, a suburb of Sacramento. We are starting a church in Folsom (yes, as in Folsom Prison--but our church won't be IN the prison).

Last Sunday we had our first meeting in a building! Up until now we have been meeting at our pastor's house. Now we meet at the local community theater; it seats about 60 people. It feels tiny
but I think it's a good place for us to start.






Tim is the worship pastor at Disciple's Church and, if I might say so, is doing superbly. He has formed a small band and been holding practices in our garage. It's been an adventure already :)


Aside from church, Tim and I have actually really enjoyed spending lots of time in our backyard gardening! I find this to be a new favorite past time. I feel refreshed, soul-fed and occasionally like I meet with God while pulling weeds and singing to my flowers. It has been a challenge, however, adjusting to a COMPLETELY different climate!!! This place is HOT. and that is an understatement. The clay has some soil. And things that flourish in WA die here and things that I could never grow in WA are surviving :) Tim has designed and executed a masterful drip-line irrigation system in our backyard so I don't have to water by hand anymore...I'm so spoiled.

He actually installed the water system originally because we couldn't water while we were on vacation in MEXICO!!!!

I have to say it felt extremely odd to be going on what felt like such an exotic and romantic vacation while we are pathetically poor. But we had saved up all year to do it! Tim and I went to Puerto Vallarta and stayed in a private condo overlooking the entire bay for a whole week!! It felt so luxurious and relaxing.

We arrived in Mexico on Monday, stayed one night at a place that I won't get into but lets just say we then moved to this other condo which was fabulous. Tuesday we just relaxed, sat by the pool, soaked up sunshine, read books and gardening magazines. Wednesday, Tim and I walked down to the beach, swam in the ocean, layed in the sun and fended off hoardes of venders that are praying on the very FEW tourists who have ventured south. Wednesday night Tim took me out for an incredibly romantic dinner right in the harbour. It was so fun to sit outside at restaurants because the temperature outside was just heavenly. Like the air was just kissing your skin.

One of the highlights of the whole trip for me was on Thursday. Tim and I took a horseback riding tour through the jungles of Mexico. We forged rivers, hiked up to a waterfall and went swimming. I had my first experience with cliff-jumping. Boy. That was exhilerating. It was only about 20' but man! it sure feels further!!! On the way back, the guide signalled to me and Tim and we fell behind the rest of the group. The guide told us to turn our horses around and head back into the jungle if we wanted to run the horses. He didn't need to tell me twice!!! I wheeled that horse around so fast! Now. If you've ridden in the US you know that horses for tourist are usually old nags who won't go faster than barely moving unless you have either grain or spurs. This is NOT the case in Mexico. Lets just say Tim's horse was named 'Diablo'. Our horses took off through the jungle and I'm sure I looked pretty goofy grinning and laughing the whole way. On the way back, we of course had to catch up with the group--so we let our horses have their heads again. I held mine back for a second while I fixed the stirrup. Tim was galloping away, but when I let my horse lay out, we just F L E W by Tim. It was one of the most exhilerating experiences of my life.

Moving right long, on Friday Tim and I took a day trip to the coastal surfing town of Sayulitas. It was about an hour's bus ride out. And lets just say that the Mexican safety precautions are different than the American's. I think that ride would have taken at least 2 hours in the US. But it was really fun to see the country side and not be in a flock of tourists for awhile. When we arrived at the beach, we realized that it was the one day we had forgotten the sunscreen. I'm sure you can guess how that played out for us (sorry mom--we really tried). Tim rented a surf board and went surfing. And I sat under an umbrella and drank margaritas, pina coladas and thouroughly enjoyed my quiet afternoon.

We took another tour on Saturday and took a boat cruise out to go snorkeling, kayaking and exploring a quiet fishing village accessible only by boat (Jalapa). Snorkeling was really fun minus something the Mexicans call 'water mosquitoes'. Tim and I didn't think anything of it and jumped in the water. Promptly, things began stinging my skin--mini jellyfish (you would've REALLY enjoyed that part Becca). So you kinda had to watch where you were swimming and not swim into flocks of these tiny little guys or they'd sting your lips, arms and anything else they touched. It probably wouldn't have hurt so much if we hadn't gotten so sunburned the day before!!!

Jalapa was really fun too! All of the roads were only big enough to walk down and ride a donkey. It was a bizarre and fun change to every other city I've ever been to. The town itself is quite small. So everyone that lives there knows each other. And it's not on an island; they've just never built roads to it. So if people ever want to leave, go on vacation, get supplies, etc, they take boats and go to Puerto Vallarta or further south down the coastline. We were accosted by a number of vendors here as well, but not nearly as many. (Dads, this is where we bought your drawings--and they are actually painted on bark!!!).

On the boat ride home from our galavanting, they fed us lunch, entertained us and hosted an open bar. The boat ride was just over an hour long. We had lots of fun :)

For all of the tours that we did, we went through a tour agency that Kim knows, MH Tours, and they were FANTASTIC!!! The owner of the company, Paco, was extremely knowledgeable and gave us lots of discounts :) Anyway, he took Tim and I out to breakfast on Sunday morning with his family. It was so fun!! It was immediately clear that he knows all the good places to go in PV and all the right people. He has had such a fascinating life too! It was interesting hearing about all of his stories. I guess he was almost the francise owner for all of the Starbucks in MX. And the one I was most excited about--he was the boat driver/cultural guide for AVA GARDENER while she was filming Night of the Iguana!!!! Man!!! My jaw just dropped!! So that was really fun!!!

Monday morning, Tim and I went touristy shopping one last time and then packed up our cute little condo and flew home!!! Man. That was such a fun vacation! We both came home feeling so refreshed and relaxed. It was a little painful going to work the next morning though. :(

Also, before our trip to Mexico, Tim and I had the pleasure of having a 'stopover' at home in WA!!! We got to see all of our friends and family for the weekend before we left for PV. I have to say, it was crazy how quickly it felt like home again. Even the culture of the people--in talking to complete strangers--was different than it is here. I felt myself just relax socially. It's weird. You wouldn't think that it would be that different culturally from such a short geographical distance...but it is. I think Candace could attest to that.

I hope this link works! If it does, you can see all our pictures here!!!

http://picasaweb.google.com/JulieR.Morris