a week in oregon...

at the end of july, lane and i along with his team headed to the beautiful oregon for his 5th and final week of MOVE. we had decided back in february that i would be going to this one with him, without the kids. i was super excited, but worried about leaving the boys for 8 nights. of course, i knew they would be well taken care of and would have the time of their lives! after much prayer and anxiety, we boarded the a plane to take us to what i'm convinced is the most beautiful region of the country. i HATE flying! i was a nervous wreck on the plane. so much so that i spilled lane's coffee on him. after the first leg, i think lane may've been second-guessing his decision to invite me ;) 

the view from my bed! the dorms didn't have ac since it's rarely hot enough to run one. i thought this would make it miserable, but we never once were uncomfortable. in fact, most mornings we woke up cold. the window stayed open all week long and it was glorious!

i loved how lane made his bed every morning. i only made mine because he did! he said he did it all summer and thinks maybe because everything else feels crazy about the week, his dorm room is the one thing he can control :)

i enjoyed getting to help out behind the scenes since my littles don't allow for me to do that when they're with me :) but my favorite thing was getting to sit in all of the sessions...SO good!

we ate really good (shocker, huh?!) while there! it was fun trying all the local spots. one of the interns, jordan, was our eating buddy. he appreciated good food as much as we did! on thursday, every single MOVE conference all summer skips lunch. CIY takes all the money from that skipped meal and funds the international conferences. it also allows for an extended recreation day. so since we were just 1 hour east of the coast, we took that time to drive over to newport, oregon for the afternoon. jordan, lane and i had lunch at this local fish restaurant in the harbor. it was AMAZING and, hands down, the best meal all week. i had a crab poboy that i'd be ok eating everyday for lunch for the rest of my life. it was a chilly 57 degrees, but we sat outside under warmers.

this was our view while we ate!

after lunch, we drove up the pacific highway to a little state park that housed a light house. we wound up the side of a large hill and then came around a bend to this...

the lighthouse was so cool. it sat up on a bluff that overlooked the pacific ocean. i could've spent hours there! after oohing and ahhing over that, you could walk down several flights of stairs to a black, cobblestone beach. super cool experience! i LOVE going on adventures with this guy!

tons of different sea birds and walruses on the big rocks. 

as cool out as it was, i'm glad the weather was overcast . it totally set the tone!

found an orange starfish :)

i adored getting to hang out with the summer staff. we were this group in texas, but since i had the kids with me and we did our own thing, i didn't really get to know them. by the end of the oregon week, i was so sad that weren't going to be able to get to hang out all day, everyday anymore. i LOVE that they "gave up" their entire summers to help tell god's story. kingdom worker right here!

saturday morning, we all peaced out. while the rest of the team went home, lane and i drove to portland to meet up with our friends, cana and dennis. they moved out there about a year ago. lane was able to se them when he was out there in february. it was so great spending 24 hours with them! we don't get to see them near often enough. we had a blast seeing their city and going to some of their favorite places. look at the view from their neighborhood...so beautiful!

sunday morning, we went to brunch with cana and dennis before they dropped us off at the airport. i was nervous about the flight home. mainly since we had one long flight to dallas that wasn't broken up like on the way out there the week before. from the start, i wasn't handling it well, but by the time we landed in dallas after having a mild panic attack mid-flight, i'd decided to just stay in dallas with my sister who was already planning on driving the boys to meet us in oklahoma the next day. best decsion ever! i got to hug my big boys that night and relax. 

i was so thankful for that time away. even though, i didn't get to spend hardly any one on one time with lane, i loved just being with him and watching him work and everything else about the week. it was so good for me mentally and spiritually to not be mom that week. i was able to be me and do things at my own pace. by the time i became mom again, i was refreshed and up for the challenge :)