Currently Reading The Grand Weaver By Ravi Zacharias see related

journey

   So...on the 5th of August, Andrew, myself, Mom and Dad Sonnekalb, and Meg, along with a 10-foot U-Haul and a gray Camry, will embark on the long-awaited trek across the country to Pasadena, which we will call home for at least four years. (Maybe more if we like it too much.) Along the way, we will be privileged to enjoy the beautiful transition from the summery east coast to the golden mid-west to the cool, austere northwest, down through the red rocks of Utah and into the sunny arms of southern California. For lack of a better way to occupy my time (since I left my Thank-You notes and half-crocheted baby blanket at home this morning), I will work through our itinerary so that you can see why I am so excited.

August 5th: we depart our dearly beloved Houghton (at last) and drive 11 hours to Rockford, IL....

....where we will stay with relatives for the night.

Aug 6th: Up through Wisconsin, Minnesota, and South Dakota..........all....day.....long.

(perhaps the day would be more accurately captured in a picture like this:)

Aug. 7th: Before driving the rest of the way to Yellowstone park, we get to feast our eyes on the handiwork of Gustav Borglum (with the help of his cheaply-hired Chinese day-laborers):

I shouldn't sound so cynical. I like Mt. Rushmore. I just don't like large portions of our history.

Aug. 8th: Yellowstone! That amazing park which possesses more than half of all surface geothermal activity.

who wouldn't want to see pools of earth-heated water, boiling at temperatures far beyond boiling (like 400 degrees), decorated with brightly colored bacteria? Creation is so unusual sometimes.

Aug. 9th: Grand Teton National Park - one of God's masterpieces, well-hidden from civilization, fortunately.

If you have never been to the Grand Tetons, you should rectify the situation as soon as is convenient. These are not just "more rockies". After driving through the Rockies, the Tetons are like the encore that is so much better than the actual performance.

Aug. 10th: On through Utah.....

past the Great Salt Lake.....

and hopefully into Zion National Park (so named because anyone who has been there feels that it surely must bear a resemblance to the Promised Land)....

Aug. 11th: home sweet home

Yes, that's a palm tree sprouting from their sign. In Houghton we have tulips next to our sign that bloom during graduation so our parents can see how beautiful Houghton is. At Fuller they boast tropical plants so prospective students can glory in the fact that they will have no winter out there!

This concludes our pictoral tour of the Sonnekalb Family vacation '08. Look for actual pictures after we have actually been to all these places.

Currently Reading The Grand Weaver By Ravi Zacharias see related

life together

The biggest change that has occurred in the last 2 years is the process of living with another person. This has been quite an adventure: thrilling, hilarious at times, painful, stretching, and outrageously wonderful. Growing up, I always thought that my wedding day would be this huge transition from single life to married life. I would walk down the aisle as one person and walk back up it again feeling totally different, not complete without the person by my side. While the second part is entirely true, the first is not. I discovered a few things about getting married, not the least of which is that the act of marriage is a heart process; it does not happen in a few minutes of promises, prayers, and sacred organ music. For us, it started the moment we became engaged. Looking up at him after he rose from his knee, the stormy wind swirling around us as we stood together on the stone bridge in Letchworth where we had our first date, I finally allowed myself to see him as a part of my future, and me a part of his. It was an awesome moment. I almost wonder if I enjoyed getting engaged more than I did getting married sometimes, at least if we are rating great moments based on feelings.

The wedding itself was....well, fun! I couldn't help it. I have always wondered if it would be sad in any way...leaving my family...having my dad walk me down the aisle...all the relatives and friends there at the same time...all the things people say make them mawkish. I tried to feel appropriately somber, but to be honest, the most somber part was communion. The rest was just exciting. My very very favorite part was walking down the aisle and watching Andrew start to cry. 

And then.....it was over and we were outside the church, able to snatch a moment alone together before everyone filed past. "We're married!" I exclaimed, but it didn't feel different. Maybe it's like when you "become a Christian" - for some people it is this instant, life changing, forceful transition, and for others (like me) it is a slow, steady process, like the way a waterfall makes the rocks behind it smooth.

While it didn't feel different, it was still jarringly strange when Andrew described me as his wife for the first time.

Before we knew it, we were taking pictures in the garden at my parents' friends' place, then my cousin Heidi was dropping us off at our cottage, and we came to the startling realization that it was all over. Except that it wasn't.

And then the honeymoon, and back again to Houghton life (except not), and now we are almost at our one-year anniversary. With a year's worth of water-under-the-bridge, it is fun to look back and see how far we've come along the path of togetherness. How much we have learned. What kinds of things we didn't know about each other (mostly such trivial details, it's funny we never talked about them before!). Probably the accomplishment I am most proud of is that we still miss each other all day long at work and are happy to see each other in the evening. It's not this fact that I am proud of, per se. It is what it takes to be able to say that. I would not trade being married for anything.

encouragement

Well.

It is encouraging when you open a site you abandoned for so long, post one little post, and have people actually respond to it! Amazing. Thank you.

And now it is time to close up shop for the night and bicycle home, for we are having company tonight for supper.

Currently Watching Martian Child By John Cusack, Joan Cusack, Amanda Peet, Bobby Coleman, Sophie Okonedo see related

back again

Well! Now that almost two full years have passed.....

Such a lot can happen in two years. My two "little" brothers have almost passed me in height. Sarah, the sister who was so sick last I talked, is 16 and a half and goes to public school. Naomi, the next older sister, is coming to Houghton in the fall. Micah, who was not even a freshman during my last post, is now a junior at Houghton, and will be an RA in the fall. (He also plays wicked good guitar.) The young man in the profile picture with me is now my husband, and he is going into a doctoral program for psychology in 4 months. I am going to a masters program at the same school. This school happens to be across the country, in California, and we will head that way soon, with my parents-in-law and sister-in-law (who will also be at Houghton in the fall). And I am going to be an aunt in July!

Life moves fast, y'all.

It's exciting.

Well, that is all for now, but shortly I will try to make some improvements to this site and get back into the wonderful world of blogging.

See, I don't even know if anyone reads this anymore...but it doesn't matter, because I never really did it for anyone else. Do you? Isn't every entry merely a selfish expression? We're not really doing it for anyone else.