We're Back!

Maine was phenomenal, and so great to be there with the Stevens House "family". Folks seemed to be amazed that our whole house (an extended house family) would make the trip that far to be there. I've said it before, I forget how weird our house is.

Our house feels empty without Emily, and we're still waiting to see who the new roommate will be. My heart is kind of heavy, missing Emily and after sending Maria back to Grafton, I think we're missing her too.

Here's a few highlights from the trip:

The first night I arrived in Maine, Matt and I canoed, while Emily kayaked late at night. The ocean was calm, almost like glass, and the stars were reflected on the surface of the ocean. Then, a little farther into the harbor, as I pulled my canoe paddle through the water, it churned up plankton with bioluminescence, and so there was a glow in the dark trail wherever my paddle had been. SO beautiful!

The next day, Vicki and Erwin arrived from the Netherlands, this time, Emily and I kayaked while Vicki and Erwin canoed. I had a great time and discovered that while I'm a great kayaker, I'm not a very good getting-out-of-the-kayaker. I didn't exactly fall into the ocean, but the ocean fell into me. Here's Em, Vicki, and Erwin:

In case you can't discern the family resemblances, this is Matt's dad and Em's mom:

I was blessed by the Bright and Krusack families' hospitality. I want to be that gracious and that welcoming at such a busy time. So much like Jesus! They were awesome!

I was also quite amazed by the lobster industry, I could watch the lobstermen check their traps every morning while I drank my coffee. I loved looking for lobster buoys on display as we travelled around. We enjoyed a really great fresh lobstah dinner (lobstahs, steemahs, cahn on the cahb, bring your own soda or beeyah) two nights before the wedding. If I could perfect one accent this year it would be a Mainer accent, it's like a kinder-gentler/more country version of a boston accent maybe. Besides eating a lot, we got to canoe, kayak, swim, hike, and visit an island 9 miles out. It was absolutely wonderful.

We've got more pics from the trip on our facebook pages. I can't wait for the professional photographer to post pics from the wedding. She was great, and if you get married in maine, I'd recommend her :0)

The wedding was as beautiful as Maine itself. Here's Matt and Em's first dance, with a little bit of unintelligible comentary from me and steph (the Maid of Honor)

Since we've returned we've had a few adventures, I'll post a more thoughtful blog post soon, but I wanted to get a few pictures up and thank you for your prayers while we were away.

peace

katie