33 Years Ago Today (33? Really?)

33 years ago today I married my best friend- 

. . . has it really been 33 years?  Unbelievable!    Love you!

San Francisco In A Day

Natalie and I traveled with Kelly H. to San Francisco on Wednesday to meet a friend from Romania coming to America for the first time. It was quite the fun adventure! Corny, a staff member at Heart2Heart, made the long journey from Bucharest and we were there to greet her at SFO.

Even though Corny had not slept much in the last 24 hours, she was ready to experience some of San Francisco.  Our first stop:  the Golden Gate Bridge.  We had a great time, even with the fog.  Natalie enjoyed the time too as this was her first time in the city.  Because it was breezy and cold, we had a picnic lunch in the car near the GG Bridge, all the while hoping the fog might clear.  After lunch, we bundled up and walked the bridge!

Natalie and Corny

As you can see, we had to keep an eye on those two......

We did manage to get a spectacular view of Sausalito.

Then it was on to Lombard Street - Fun!  And no fog over here, so the view was great.  The flowers along the street were beautiful.

We then parked and walked along Fisherman's Wharf and saw the many street performers and sights and sounds.  And no trip to Fisherman's Wharf is complete without being startled by "The Bush Man" - and we were!  Even a sleep-deprived Corny is no match for a Fortune Teller:  Corny promptly told her she didn't believe in that--she believed in Jesus!   Pier 39 was next.   We had dinner at Boudin - yummy soup and lots of bread to choose from for Corny.  Of course none of it was as good as Romanian bread!

We laughed and laughed at the antics of the Sea Lions.   Then it was time to head back to SacTown.  We had a nice view of the Bay Bridge before going over it.

Corny is here for a few days and then she heads down to San Diego.  We are so excited that she was able to come! Next week:  We get to host Jen, Jenny, and Kirsteen visiting from Romania!

My Romanian "Family"

When our Romania missions team returned to Sacramento, instantaneously we were "back" and that meant we had to shift gears and get in step with the beat and rhythm of life here.  That, on top of jet lag, can be quite a challenge!  We were de-briefed on how to handle the post-mission time and "return",  so our team knew what to expect.  That has helped the transition immensely.  Those of us who had gone over and returned before also had a good idea of what to expect. 

One of the best times for me, since being home, has been to order prints of our pictures- in doing so, I got to go through our two weeks almost day by day.  It brings such joy to look at all the faces of our trip:  the kids, of course, but each of the Heart2Heart staff and interns brought special memories too.  And I must add to that, the 8 other Bridgeway members that made up our team.  Our team was something special and I couldn't have had a better group of friends to share this special experience with.  Thank you Shannon, Tyler, Becky, Sabrina, Brian, Cami, Berit, and Natalie for making this summer's trip to Romania such an amazing experience.

We have to be careful about posting pictures of the kids on the Internet, so to see any of those, you'll have to come by and look at my photo albums.  But, one of my favorite pictures has no restrictions, so I have posted it up top.  It is the picture of our team the night before we headed home. 

I love that our Bridgeway Team is intermingled with the H2H staff and interns - a beautiful picture of how our team became part of the H2H family, and that family in turn, is the family that God has provided for the orphans in Bucharesti, Peris, Voluntari. and Rosiori.

Psalm 68:6  "God sets the lonely in families."  (NIV)

Fun Day in Old Town Folsom

We have been enjoying a few days with my sister-in-law, Debbie.  This morning we decided to walk through Old Town Folsom.  Kristin met us there and we all had lunch at the Sutter Street Grill- a fun place with very tasty food!  Then we walked back down the street checking out almost all of the Antique shops.  One shop had an old Wurlitzer record player that played 78's.  The owner had just sorted through a crate of 78's and loaded a group of Big Band era records into the machine to be played.  We had fun looking through the rest of the 78's - I was hoping to find a copy of "Hold That Tiger" - a 78 my sisters and I used to play and dance to way back when!  The weather was perfect for exploring this historic part of Folsom and we had a great time.  We got back with just enough time to get ready for and go to the 4 o'clock church service.  After dinner, we played 2 games of Yahtzee--which has now become a tradition when Debbie visits!