A Long Time Coming

Hello Everyone.

For some reason we're having a harder time keeping up on this thing than we thought we would.  Last time we wrote, we had been here for about a month and were still trying to settle in.  We are now officially settled in and feel like we've made a home in this place.

We've done everything you could imagine needs to be done at a camp of this size.  We spent about three weeks deep cleaning the space where 700+ campers will stay in the summer. What a project.  We even shampooed every carpet in the campers' dorms. We're learning a lot, some things useful, some things maybe not so useful.  Either way, it's been entertaining and fun, although boring and monotonous at times.

Up until this last weekend, we hadn't had a group of campers come for nearly 7 weeks, which is quite unheard of. This past weekend was a reunion for everyone who worked at camp during the past year.  There were a lot of familiar faces to see and a lot of activities to attend to. We both helped lead worship through the weekend; Leann sang and David played the upright bass, it was awesome. We had a great time with the busyness, but it was also extremely tiring.  Probably wouldn't have been so tiring if we hadn't had such a long break in camps.


We also celebrated Thanksgiving at our humble abode this year.  The Hoiland clan and Grandpa Jim came out to be with us here and one of the other interns that stayed for the break was here and ate with us as well.  It was A LOT of fun.

{Our beautiful Thanksgiving table}

 Although we don't live in our studio anymore, we are still eating in the living room....

{Greg, Micah, Ken, Paula and Leann at the ropes course}

{Our first turkey. Thank you Paula for teaching us what to do!!!}

{We took a tour through camp, it was a lot of fun, especially for those in the far back of the Sequoia}

{Ken, Becca and Paula on the Screamer}

{Grandpa and Becca making green bean casserole}

{We also got a Christmas tree. Leann handmade most of the ornaments, she's just so creative}

So that's most of the good news or at least an update on what's been going on camp-wise.  On the home front, we found out that a couple of weeks ago that I (David) did in fact tear my ACL while we were dancing at Greg and Micah's wedding.  SOOOOO.... Yesterday I had surgery on my right knee to replace my 80% torn ACL with a healthy, strong ACL from a kadaver.  So here I sit, knee elevated, ice machine running full-bore, watching movie after movie. Luckily for me, Leann is amazing at taking care of me, and as hard as it is to let her be so helpful, I'm learning to do so.  So just another 12 days of laying down, and then I'll be able to resume some normal function in my life.  Praise the Lord we have amazing health insurance through Young Life! Holler.

{What the next two weeks will probably consist of...} 

The Christmas season is upon us and for the past few weeks we've had many get-togethers with the community at the Ranch, from an auction, to a Christmas party, to two different children's Christmas programs, to carolers at lunch the other day. It's definitely a different feel from "civilization" during this season.

{Our intern group}

We will be at the Canyon until the 23rd when we make our trip to the valley to have a short Christmas celebration there with family and friends.  We would have loved to have gone down to Klamath Falls to see the Crawfords, but with my knee, traveling a total of 14 hours in one weekend fresh out of surgery would be pretty difficult not to mention simply painful.

Anyway, we hope everyone is doing well.  Merry Christmas family and friends, we love you all.

The Reeces

A New Home, New Jobs and Some New Faces

Sorry for neglecting our blog for the past six weeks.  I know y'all probably haven't missed it terribly, but we also haven't had a chance to talk to many of you in a while, so there is some necessary updating that needs to happen either way.

{View of Canyon at Washington Family Ranch from the dual zip-line}

Last you heard from us we were still in Portland, saying good-bye to some friends and getting everything packed up for our move to Antelope, OR.  We fit as much as we could in the truck and Subaru and headed to Corvallis to help load our freezer-o-beef onto Andrew's trailer.

We hopped in our vehicles on Wednesday October 5th and began the treck to Central Oregon.  With walkie-talkies in hand and all of our earthly belongings, we made the 4 hour trip through the mountains and arrived at Young Life's Washington Family Ranch.

The last five weeks have been full, to say the least.  We have received training in so many areas that for the first week or two, we felt like our brains were going to explode for all the information we had soaked up.  We have been trained in housekeeping, landscaping, ropes course elements, the rock wall, go-carts and more I'm sure.  We have learned how to properly do more things than we ever thought possible.  David even learned how to refinish a gymnasium floor... who would have thought.

{Adventure Experience training on the High Ropes Course}
{Lucas, Ben & Andrew}

{David, Jason, Lucas & Elizabeth after refinishing the gymnasium floor}

{Breanna, Jayme & Elizabeth cleaning paint brushes}

{Leann & Jack painting the camper quads at Canyon}

We are two of twelve year-round interns this year and are enjoying getting to know everyone.  As with any group of twelve [seemingly] random people, we are learning to love each other for our differences and grow through working and living side by side everyday.  It has been a blast and we have really settled into life at the Canyon.

{Leann & Molly during AE training at the Screamer}

{Jack, David & Ben}

{Leann & Elizabeth}

{Leann, Andrew, Jack & Molly}

{The group (minus Jack) from left: Lucas, Jason, Breanna, Molly, Jayme, Leann, David, Andrew, Ben, Bre, Elizabeth}

It is nice to finally have a home again, and to have a place to store our schtuff.  All of the condos that are at the Canyon are 7 bedrooms and 3 bath, so we have a lot more space than we used to.  Having counter space is phenomenal. OH! And a dishwasher... what a luxury. It's the little things really.

{Our old kitchen}

{Our new kitchen!}

{Our living room! Look at all the space}

{Our upstairs living room! What?!}

{Stairs? Wow.}

{A bedroom! Yayer}

    

We will keep updating our blog with more frequent posts, but for now you have officially been updated.

Meals w/ Friends

MJ didn't make it up Tuesday night to hang out...we were pretty bummed. But work schedules can sometimes pose as a complication. We are hoping to see her for even a moment before we head East.

*****

Tuesday afternoon we had Jackie Roth over for lunch- David went to high school with Jackie, and they became really good friends. She works just a few blocks away from our apar-condo (apartment/condo)! She walked over and we had a great time with her. We made Curry Chicken Salad for lunch- it was amazing.

{Leann & Jackie}

Let us tell you.... next time you make chicken salad- add curry powder. It was a delightful lunch.

Jackie could only stay for a little bit, she had to get back to work, but she told us all about the organization she works for (she loves it) and told us about a concert the group was putting on for Wednesday night. They were hosting an Algerian music group (they played all kinds of music) and we thought it would be really fun to go! So we decided to go! 

We had Kyle Lindros over for dinner Wednesday night, we made chicken and gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes and green beans. It was yummy. After dinner we headed to the concert! And it was amazing. The musicians were so talented. Their music was very hip-hop, but incredibly different than what we do here in America. They rapped in French, Arabic and English- it was incredible. Obviously there wasn't a lot we could understand, but David could make out a few French words. The concert only went on for an hour and it was a delight. Some great people watching as well.

Thank you, Portland.

{Kyle & Leann}

{David & Kyle}

{Leann, Jackie & David after the concert}

{David, Kyle & Leann}

 We were blessed to be able to see some good friends before we head out to the canyon. The Lord has really blessed us with spending time with good people, has given us amazing sunrises in the city, and blessed time together. Hope y'all are doing well. 

We are headed to Corvallis today! Can't wait to see Ben and Nakalan, and have dinner with Uncle Ken and Aunt Pat! 

Until the next post!

The Berg

Monday Morning...

We had a great morning spending time together. Ran some errands around town and then headed to Newberg (The Berg) to visit some friends! 

Spent some time with MJ and BB (what is it with initial names...)

We sat around the kitchen table and caught up with MJ. Heard about the happenings in her life and what she's been up to; it was wonderful to sit with her, talk with her, and joke with her. There is nothing like MJ's humor... 

{MJ, BB & LL? Yeah it doesn't work...}

{RED HEADS!}

It was just awesome to spend time with MJ. We have really missed her... She is headed up tonight as well to hang out AGAIN, holler.

***

We came back to Portland when MJ headed off to Young Life club around 7. We met up with Greg and Micah to go to this awesome restaurant for happy hour. It was a really fun restaurant that had great food. We had a fun time just talking and spending time together.

Gal we love them.

We didn't get that many photos...but here are a few gems.

{Didn't even plan that}

{Gotta love her}

{Welcome to Portland}

*WE ARE BACK*

We are finally back in Portland, Oregon! We made it back early Sunday morning (as you read previously). We stayed the night at my parents house, which was great. Slept really well and woke up ready to run some errands and clean out the Subskee. Because Lord knows he was dirty. Leann worked on unloading everything from the car while David worked on painting the wheels. We enjoy painting our wheels black.... did it with the last Subaru as well. Guess we just think it looks pretty sweet. So David worked on the wheels and Leann worked on the inside of the car. After a few hours (literally) the Subskee is CLEAN and without our entire-life-packed-into-every-nook-and-cranny of the car. Hallelujah.

 BTW: Nelson Subskee is the greatest.

***

We headed to Portland to meet up with Dina and Gordy Welborn- the wonderful family members who are allowing us to sleep/eat/bathe/hang out/etc. in their condo! It is the greatest blessing. They gave us a [quick] tour of the condo and made us feel so welcome and excited. It was great to see them again and chat for a minute, and amazing to be able to stay in such a beautiful place. We moved our stuff in Sunday evening and it feels like home. 

It's amazing to feel like we have a home.

It's been a little difficult living out of our car and living from house-to-house (with our gracious friends and family members). We moved out of our apartment August 5th, so we haven't lived in our space with our things for almost 2 months. Kinda tricky. So being able to live here is an incredible blessing.

*THANK YOU GORDY & DINA*

After we moved some things into the apartment (and I mean our clothes are in the closet, our food is in the cupboard, our stuff is organized in the bathroom- it is amazing)... we met up with Greg and Micah later that evening. They invited us over for dinner at their new place and it was great. Their place is old like our first apartment and has so much character, wonderful smells, and class. We can't wait to see what they end up doing with it! There are many boxes all over, but they had a beautiful new table set-up and we had a wonderful dinner. Hung out with them in the kitchen while Micah and Greg made waffles, turkey bacon and orange juli'i (plural of Julius?)- anyway- mmmm, yum. It was a joy to hear about their honeymoon and tell them a bit of our travels. It is just fun seeing Greg married :)

{Mr. & Mrs. Hoiland}

{Couples that scoop waffles together, stay together}

{Beautiful Table}

Dinner was great; afterward they asked to see some of the pictures from the road trip. We played a slideshow of almost every picture we took... and found out just HOW MANY VIDEOS Leann took on the trip. You're welcome? Most of you won't see them all, hah, but Micah and Greg did! We had a great time on the trip and had fun capturing it all as well. Then Micah and Greg shared with us photos and video from their honeymoon. Their place seemed so cool and relaxing. It seems like they had an amazing time together and praise the Lord for that!

***

Here are some photos of the condo!

We are having a great time! Visiting many friends and family in our last week before we leave. Until the next post... 

Football to Futbol

{In Seattle}

_____________________________

We made it back to Spokane and went out to dinner with Mike & Sue.

***

We had pizza and then headed to Jeff's high school football game!

{David with our backpack of goodies- packed by Sue, of course}

David and I have been wanting to go to a high school sport event, so we were pretty stoked when we found out Jeff had a game on Thursday night. Mike and Sue thought it was a little odd, but hey, high school sports are awesome. 

{Leann & Sue}

We had a great time at the game, Jeff's team won 31-21! Jeff is the quarterback and played great. It was a blast to sit with Sue and be introduced to their friends and family.

***

The next day we headed to Seattle to hang out with Becca! Her and her team from Western Oregon University were playing in Seattle on Saturday but had free time on Friday, so we headed over to hang out with her. It was a long drive, but of course beautiful. We stopped in Leavenworth as well- such a cool town. We plan on going back at some point to spend more time. 

****

{Us on our drive...}

We made it to Seattle and saw this license plate- ha. larious.

 Finally made it to Becca! It was great to see her, as it had been a while since we had seen her last. She went to dinner with her team and we headed to find a restaurant. It took us a while to find a restaurant we wanted to go to, and finally decided on Rock Bottom. It was about 8:30 when we headed to dinner, and there weren't too many people in the restaurant. The moment we sit down, a man gets up and walks to our booth and asks if he could see our ID's. Guess who it was..... UNCLE ANDY! From Santa Barbara, California! WHAAAAAT?

{Shocked @ seeing Uncle Andy in Seattle}

It was so fun to see him- crazy and out of control- but awesome. Out of all the restaurants in Seattle... we go to the one he was in! AND sit right next to him. God is awesome and spontaneous, I love it.

{Us and our awesome beers}

We had a great server; became friends with her so we took a picture with her, duh.

{Leann, Rebekah & David}

We stayed the night at a hotel in Seattle (courtesy of my Mom's hotel points! Thank you Chia!) We slept great and woke up ready to take on the city. 

We parked our car and walked ten blocks with a woman named Melanie, she was great. She is an architect who designs restaurants and coffee shops, etc. She was a fun woman to walk with and chat with. We hung out downtown, talked with Children International for about an hour... We seriously contemplated giving, but looked into the organization more and found out from a reliable source that the CEO (of a non-profit organization) makes a little under $500,000 a year. That didn't allow us to feel great about where the money goes. Either way, the Lord has led us in other ways to give to charities. Like giving clean water through Compassion International. 

-----

CHECK THIS OUT

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http://www.compassion.com/volunteer/

water-life-2.htm

{Sidenote: you can check the validity, trustworthiness and accountability at: www.charitynavigator.org}

******

We had a great time seeing Becca and hanging out around town on Saturday. We hung out down town and went to Pike's Market. I bought a new hat, David got a new belt and a new shirt- it was fun. 

*******

{Just putting out the vibe with his fanny}

[Pike's Place Market]

                                

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

{Waiting for the bus}

{Where we parked our car and met Melanie}

{Looking at the tall buildings}

*****

Before we headed to dinner at the Old Spaghetti Factory (David's first time!), we walked around a beautiful park. The sky was amazing and we took some fun pictures. Dinner was delicious and a great price. Holler- we will go again. Then we headed to Bec's game!

{Picture of food for Uncle Ken}

*************

Western Oregon University 

vs. 

Seattle Pacific University

*GO WOU* 

SPU is #1 in the league, so WOU was defeated. But it was great to get to watch Becca play.

After the game, we drove back to Portland. We watched (David listened to) Practical Magic on the way home, and it kept us awake. We made it back home around 1:00am and it felt good to sleep.