Ocean to desert

We had the good fortune of spending this last weekend in Sunriver. We went on a retreat with 6 other couples from Netarts Friends Church. I guess we have pretty much made that our home church, which Jeff and I are both happy about. Last Sunday (the 30th) was only the 2nd time we had been there, but both the pastor and associate paster approached us and asked if we would be interested on going on the "young couples retreat". So Jeff asked if he could take the weekend off and his boss was totally supportive (how awesome!).

We drove over Friday afternoon and it took about 5 hours. I was a little bit frustrated because we were running late leaving the beach, and we don't really have a concept yet for how long it takes to travel on all these little coastal highways, so we arrived about an hour and a half late. We had been told that all of the couples were staying one house, so I figured that since we were the last couple to arrive, we would get the only bedroom (or bed) left, which would probably be the least desirable one because everyone else would have taken the best ones. And 3 of the families have little kiddos, and they always get the best rooms anyways (at least from what I've experienced on other retreats). Well, when we arrived I was in for a huge surprise!

The house we stayed in had just been built this summer, and it was gigantic. It belonged to the uncle of one of the girls in the group, and she and another girl in the group worked for him. He owns 4 furniture stores on the coast called Roby's. The house must have been at least 4,000 sq. ft. with 8 bedrooms in the main house each with their own bathroom! There was also a guest house above the garage with 2 bedrooms, a living room and a kitchenette. The main kitchen was huge and amazing, there was a beautiful gas fireplace, and it was on a huge lot that went down to a quiet little river that is an offshoot of the Deschutes. There were 4 large flat screen tv's throughout and of course all the furniture was fabulous since they own high end furniture stores. So needless to say, the room that Jeff and I stayed in was perfect. The bed was sooooo comfortable and we had a view of the river. The bathroom was bigger than any I've ever had, even in the house I grew up in, and it wasn't even the "master bedroom"!

So the house was phenomenal, but the fellowship was even better. We really enjoyed getting to know people from this amazing little church. Everyone there was so kind to us and really made us feel welcome. We spent the weekend focusing on Romans 12 which spoke to our hearts in many differnt ways.

The babies were adorable, the company was great, and the location was perfect. Now the only problem is that I'm torn about where I want to live. I so loved getting to know people from the beach, and feeling we're making some great friends, and of course we are going to live here for a while because we're buying a house and we know that we need to stay put, but whenever I go back to Central Oregon, I just feel so at peace. I think my a part of me will always want to live there, but I suppose anything can happen in the future. Right now we're excited to be where we are!