The VanDyke Wedding

After months of anticipation, Ross and Hannah's wedding weekend finally came!  Drew and I proudly take credit for our friends' marriage... if it weren't for us, they wouldn't have met.  Long story short: Hannah came to visit me in Portland on Memorial Day weekend 2009, Ross came to climb Mount Hood with Drew that same weekend, they met on the campus of Reed College, we took them on a progressive dinner around Portland, then on a road trip to Seattle the next day; Ross and Hannah went back to Texas, he asked her on a date, they fell in love; exactly two years later, Drew and I are standing next to them at the alter.

The wedding weekend was a whirlwind, but it was absolutely wonderful!  Hannah and I had an amazing group of girl friends in college and it was so much fun to spend time with all of them.  It's very rare that we're all in the same place at the same time.

Ross and Hannah: I'm so blessed to have been a part of your relationship from the start.  I had the unique opportunity of watching your relationship grow through both of your eyes.  Your love for one another is so apparent to anyone who is around you.  You encourage and challenge one another, you lean wholey on God as the foundation of your relationship, you're selfless and find joy in one another, and you have more fun than any couple I know!  I'm so happy for you.  Congrats, Mr. and Mrs. VanDyke!

Friday bridesmaids luncheon

the bride and bridesmaids at the rehearsal dinner

bridesmaids at the reception

the bride and her wedding party

the happy couple

  

The Perfect Woman...

This passage in the book I just read and blogged about, Through Painted Deserts, made me think of Ross and Hannah and I used it in my rehearsal dinner speech:

"Describe the perfect woman."

"She's got a great smile. She's going to be an athlete and like the outdoors. I want to travel so she'd have to be willing to live on the road. I'd like to hike Europe sometime. And when we hunt, she has to help carry the deer back to the truck. I want a companion. Just someone to share life with. I want her to be my biggest fan and I want to be her biggest fan too. I want us to raise kids in a home where they know their parents are in love with each other and with them... A friend. A true friend, someone who knows me and loves me anyway. You know, like when I'm through putting my best foot forward, she's still there, still the same... I guess that's all I want."

Through Painted Deserts

I just finished reading a wonderful book by Donald Miller, native Texan, current Portlander, and author of Blue Like Jazz.  This book, Through Painted Deserts, really struck home with me since it is about Don's journey from Texas to Oregon and what he learned about "light, God, and beauty" along the way.  Here's a quick synopsis:

"Fueled by the belief that something better exists than the mundane life they've been living, free spirits Don and Paul set off on an adventure-filled road trip from Texas to Oregon in search of deeper meaning, beauty, and an explanation for life. Many young people dream of such a trip, but few are brave enough to actually attempt it."

This book fell into my hands with perfect timing.  Every now and then, on a normal day, for no particular reason I ask myself, "What the heck am I still doing in Portland?"  There is a back and forth struggle between living in an amazing place where I am constantly being challenged, learning about myself, having once-in-a-lifetime experiences, being forced out of my comfort zone, and experiencing real community... and at the same time missing my family, longing for the deep relationships of friends I grew up with, wanting to be in a familiar place, wishing I felt settled, and growing tired of missing out on the life I used to know.

Through Painted Deserts reminded me that life is a story made up of many journeys along the way; and each of those journeys helps us understand a little more of what life is all about.  Some of my favorite quotes that really spoke to me are:

• "Are we on a pilgrimage?" he asks. "I don't know," I tell him. "Maybe we're all on a pilgrimage... Maybe it's all one trip, one big road trip through the cosmos, through the nothingness. Maybe we're all going somewhere. Or really, maybe we are all being taken somewhere." "Where are we going?" I ask. "Maybe it isn't for us to decide, just to give in to it... It is whatever God wants it to be. Maybe we are just supposed to trust that He won't beat us up when we get there. Maybe we are supposed to trust the He is good."
• And so my prayer is that your story will have involved some leaving and some coming home, some summer and some winter, some roses blooming out like children in a play. My hope is your story will be about changing, about getting something beautiful born inside of you about learning to love a woman or a man, about learning to love a child, about moving yourself around water, around mountains, around friends, about learning to love others more than we love ourselves, about learning oneness as a way of understanding God. We get one story, you and I, and one story alone. God has established the elements, the setting and the climax and the resolution. It would be a crime not to venture out, wouldn't it?
• Everybody has to leave, everybody has to leave their home and come back so they can love it again for all new reasons.

Eugene Marathon

Today I successfully completed my second marathon.  My friend Adele and I signed up for the Eugene Marathon about 5 months ago, started training about 10 weeks ago, and decided we would actually go through with it this week.  Going into the race we weren't sure if we were going to be able to actually finish the whole marathon or if we would end up cutting it short and just running the half marathon.  I have to say, all odds were against me actually being able to pull this off.  I was in Africa on vacation for 2 weeks during what should have been my peak training time; I had a work event 200 miles away in Washington last night meaning I didn't get into Eugene until after 11pm; my lodging situation fell through 3 days before the race; and I only got 2 hours of sleep last night due to anxiety and not sleeping in my own bed.  But we surprised ourselves and ran the whole 26.2 miles without ever stopping to walk and actually having fun and smiling the entire way.

We kept a nice, steady pace the entire time and completed the race in 4:41:58 (with about 7 minutes worth of bathroom breaks).  It was the perfect day for the race in Eugene, OR - aka Track Town, USA.  The sun was shining with temperature starting around 40 and getting into the low 60s with a nice breeze.  The course was wonderful.  We looped through forested areas, ran by the Willamette River on bike paths and started and ended at Hayward Field, home of the University of Oregon track team.  We actually sprinted the last 200 yds on the track in the stadium with people cheering us on in the stand - it was surreal.  There were aid stations at all the right spots serving us water, Gatorade and Goo.  And Alan and Adele's husband Brock rode their bikes along the course and met up with us every few miles to offer us food, drinks, Advil and cheer us on.

I have to say, this marathon was much more enjoyable than the rainy Portland Marathon I ran this past October.  Adele and I had a great time and never felt like we were about to die or wanted to give up.  It was quite miraculous actually!  Thanks Adele for being such an amazing running partner!  What should we train for next?

Adele and I chugging along

post race in front of Hayward Stadium

us with our support crew - thanks guys!



Sisters in Portland

This past weekend, my sisters came to Portland for a weekend visit!  I was so excited to finally show Emily and Sarah around my city (let's just say that I emailed them their weekend itinerary within hours of them booking their flight to PDX).  We crammed so much into 48 hours... we ate at food carts (which are way better than the hot dog stand they were expecting), toured my house, stopped in at my workplace, shopped at Trader Joe's, got pedicures, had a nice dinner in the Pearl with Alan, walked through Powells, ate at Voodoo Donut, went to the Portland Farmer's Market (amazing!), went to the Portland Saturday Market (a little weird), visited with the Moores, ate lots of food, went shopping, had a progressive dinner (The Bagdad McMenamins, The Montage, Papa Hydens) with several of my friends, went to Imago Dei, ate some more, and shopped some more.

I can't remember the last time we Carter girls spent that much time together - just us, no kids, no other family, just hanging out.  There was lots of girl talk and lots of quality time together - it was great!!

Emily and Sarah: thank you SOOOO much for making the trip all the way up to Portland to visit me.  Y'all are the best!  Shoooooot...

Emily and I with our crepes at the food carts on Hawthorne

Friday night outside of Powell's (in the Portland rain)

Saturday morning at the farmer's market

by the waterfront near Saturday Market with Drew

with the Moores at Saturday Market

the whole crew outside of The Montage after dinner Saturday night

There's No One Like a Sister

"Sister is probably the most competitive relationship within the family, but once the sisters are grown, it becomes the strongest relationship."

- Margaret Mead

"Having a sister is like having a best friend you can't get rid of.  You know whatever you do, they'll still be there."

- Amy Li

"If you don't understand how a woman could both love her sister dearly and want to wring her neck at the same time, then you were probably an only child."

- Linda Sunshine

"Whatever you do they will love you; even if they don't love you they are connected to you till you die.  You can be boring and tedious with sisters, whereas you have to put on a good face with friends."

- Deborah Moggach

Uganda Adventure 2011

I returned on Sunday from two weeks in Uganda with my mom, aunt Judy and cousin Claire.  It was an amazing trip... and quite an adventure.  This was my third trip to visit my Aunt Janice and Uncle Tim at Restoration Gateway in Northern Uganda but the first for the rest of the crew.  Another family friend and her two daughters joined us for past of the time as well... it was quite the "mother-daughter" trip.  I loved having this experience with my family.

There were hundreds of memorable moments in this trip, but I will share some of my favorites and then let the pictures speak for themselves:
- going to sleep when it got dark and waking with the sunrise
- sitting on the porch of Mama Grace's house playing with little David, Christopher and Santo
- Santo appearing out of nowhere all the time
- playing frisbee with the kindergarden class
- observing my mom teaching the children how to read and write
- sitting under a tree sipping a cold Coca Cola and discussing Ugandan culture with Joseph
- walking through Karuma village and running into Ugandan friends from past trips
- biking to Karuma and back with Claire
- Claire screaming as she rode a boke with no brakes or shocks down the bumpy road
- playing dominoes by headlamp
- spending the night in the container with Janice and chatting in bed
- helping Mitch calculate and pay the worker's salaries
- climbing the water tower to watch the sunrise over the Nile River
- fishing in the Nile with Mitch
- sitting by the fire listening to Joel tell how he was captured by the LRA
- nearly getting attached by a 10-foot crocodile on the boat safari
- eating dinner at Acholi Inn where the LRA used to stake out during the war

Little David singing the "Allelujah Amen song" over and over

... it never got old

Headed Back to Uganda

Today I leave for my 3rd trip to Uganda.  My mom, Aunt Judy, cousin Claire and I will visiting our family the McCalls at Restoration Gateway for nearly two weeks.  It's been 2 years and 2 months since I was last there and it still hasn't hit me that I'm finally making it back over.

I don't really know what to expect from this trip.  I'm excited to see everything that has changed at RG in the last two years.  I'm excited to see all of my Ugandan friends again.  But I'm most excited to share this experience with my family and see Uganda through their fresh eyes.

Other things I'm looking forward to:

- spending time outside in the sun

- no cell phones

- no agendas or obligations

- fresh mangos, pineapples, papaya

- amazing sunrises and sunsets

- playing Scrabble with the fam

- subconsciously speaking with a Ugandan accent

- the safari at Murchison Park

- sleeping in a hut

- spending time with the Ugandan people

I'm sure I'll have plenty of stories to share when I get back in two weeks!

"The World is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page."

- St Augustine

Community

It seems that a lot of my conversations over the last couple of weeks have revolved around the importance of community.  Authentic community is something I've learned a lot about in the last few years and am still learning.  I feel like I have two very strong communities in my life right now, both for which I am very grateful.

First, I have my community in Texas.  The people I have grown up with and with whom I've spent the first 23 years of my life.  These people know everything about me; where I come from, who my family is, have seen me through all stage of my life so far (including the really awkward ones), and with whom I will always be connected.  All of us are so similar and we seems to really "get" one another.  The roots of these relationships are deep and I am so grateful that these relationships are still so strong even though I am now 2,000 miles away.

Then I have my community here in Portland that is so strong despite me only being here for a little over two years.  I am still amazed at how quickly I got connected when I first moved to this new city.  I didn't know anyone, yet I was able to instantly get plugged in at church (thanks to Drew), in the community (thanks to the Moores and Murdock), and with a great friend group (thanks to my fellow interns, especially Carrie, and my new roommates).  I don't think I've ever experiences such authentic community as I have here in Portland.  Let me try to explain what I mean by authentic.  Each of us here in Portland are very different; we all have different backgrounds, family upbringings, stories of how we ended up here, goals in life, interests, talents.  People are completely open about who they. And everyone is very accepting of everyone else's differences.  My eyes have been opened to people's real life stories, many which are very different from mine and have been difficult journeys.  We are all willing to genuinely live life together and be in authentic community with one another (I just realized how hippie that sounds).  I hope this kind of community is something I strive for wherever I go in life.

My book club just read the book Life Together by Dietrich Bonhoffer.  These are some of his thoughts on community that I really like:

"When God was merciful to us, we learned to be merciful with our brethren. When we received forgiveness instead of judgement, we too were made ready to forgive our brethren. What God did to us, we then owed to others. The more we received, the more we were able to give... Thus God Himself taught us to meet one another as God has met us in Christ."

"God is not a God of the emotions but the God of truth. Only that fellowship which faces such disillusionment, with all its unhappy and ugly aspects, begins to be what it should be in God's sight."