Road Trip Part 2: Oregon

After 5 days in California we crossed the border into Oregon.

Jason's tendency to get carsick made me want to keep driving while he was napping but Joshua had the wisdom to pull off the highway at the entrance to "The Hobbit Trail".

We spent our first night in Oregon in a cabin in Florence. 

Below was the view from the porch for our 11th Wedding Anniversary (plus two more children).

When we arrived in Portland we immediately went to Powell's City of Books which claims to be the largest independent bookstore in the world. About a week after we returned from our trip, Sophia asked if we could go back to it.

The highlight of our Portland visit however was visiting with one of my dearest college friends Nicole and her family.

Sophia & Mary, and Jason & Isabelle match up in age and had a lot of fun together in the Rose Gardens and Children's Museum.

Road Trip Part 1: California

Since I visited the Oregon Coast in 2005, I have wanted to drive along the Pacific from San Francisco to Seattle. When a work conference was scheduled in San Francisco this summer, we decided to go for it, partially motivated by the fact that we only had two children and were planning to grow our family. We thought it would be simpler this way, but then were happily surprised by #3.

Since I was already in California, we asked the children's Godmother Carolyn if we could fly her out with Joshua and our 5, 2, and 1 year old. She made the trip possible and visited a college roommate for a few days before flying back home. 

We spent the first day of our trip walking the city of San Francisco.

We made a stop to see the Sea Lions, which Sophia observed had "mermaid tails".

And the site of the first public playground in the United States.

We stayed in 8 different accommodations on our adventure and Sophia loved the royal theme of our second one, which was located in Glenhaven, CA.

We continued to drive North to Fort Bragg, CA where we explored the glass beach.

It is known for having a high concentration of sea glass. Similar to searching for seashells, we were able to bring home many different colors.

 We veered off the coast to drive through the Avenue of the Giants. The Redwoods seemed even more immense in comparison to our little ones.

 Our last stop before crossing the California border was Eureka where we stayed with our friends Jill and Dale Maples. Sophia was thrilled to have more children to play with and we enjoyed talking with them about foster care ministry as they represent The Forgotten Initiative in their region.

Sophia's 5th Birthday Letter

My dearest Sophia (favorite nicknames this year: Monkey, Sweetie. Sophia Girl)

Happy fifth birthday!

This year has been fun. You have continued to flourish at CKH and have a deep love for reading. You have taken to memorizing books, so you can “read” to your mom or I, or your brother. You love words, and are always asking “what do these letters spell?” or “what does that word mean?” You love to take out joke books and books full of puns from the library and laugh along to each, and have started to get into knock-knock jokes.

I can’t wait till you connect all the dots for reading and the world of reading on your own is opened for you. (Even if I worry slightly about being able to get your attention when you are deep into a book in the future). 

This was a big year for our family as Jason was adopted and you formally welcomed him into our family at the party at church by singing your heart out in front of 150 people a song you came up with on the spot "Happy Adoption Day", sung to the tune of Happy Birthday. You have fiercely loved your brother into our family from day one and have not skipped a beat celebrating the good of adoption, even as you try to wrap your brain around the hard parts of adoption at the same time.

Your compassionate heart has been on full display this year as we welcomed numerous “foster friends” into our home for a weekend, or a week. My favorite quote on this topic was one you shared with Mom, that you wished we had more beds in our house so we could welcome more foster friends.

Your first instinct is often to get down on the floor to help a new friend in our home feel comfortable with toys or help feed them. You beam with pride when you tell your mom and I that you now classify as a helper and not a kid. Thank you for those moments, and we look forward to seeing that helper mentality grow with age.

When you were born, I remember looking forward to the day that we could have full conversations about every day things. Those days are here. And driving in the car is often a great chance to hear your thoughts and questions. For example, while driving the other day you asked how medics were able to help sick people in the ambulance while it was moving. We then proceeded to have a 10+ minute conversation about different situations of sick people of varying ages and what medics would have to do for each while driving to the hospital and how they would do that.

You often ask to play car games or sing songs in the car, and love time with any extended family. It is only when your mom and I are alone that we realize how much of our daily conversations involve your participation. You are all in.

You take an "all of the above approach" to life. When asked what you like best, and are provided a list to pick from, you often say "all of them". When asked what activity you want to do, and are given options, you often say "all of them". It is this passion for life that we love most about you.

You run hard, play hard, love hard, negotiate hard, and want to do “just one more” and try it all almost every day. You are fiercely (and stubbornly) independent at times, but still ask to sit in my lap to read books (and I will never turn you down for that).

You have internalized many of the truths about Jesus this year, and I so enjoy hearing you make sense of the world through that lens. And I am so grateful for so many in our church family that have loved you well this year.

Have a great sixth year, as the fifth was truly fulfilling.

Love,

Daddy