From this coast to the other coast

If you read the side bar entitle "Why from Coast to Coast" you will read that my life has always been lived near water. Large bodies of water (whether oceans, gulfs, rivers, bayous, lakes) have always been a consistent factor in any place I live. I love the water, and my living by water reflects that love and need to be by a coast. Well, after living nearly two and a half years in the land of big skies, rolling hills, and gorgeous oak trees, we are packing our bags (and entire house) and heading back to more familiar waters. Yep, you read correctly. We are moving and, quite fittingly, to the other coast, the east coast. In fact we are planning on living on the east coast of Florida. [Insert author's deep sigh of sadness, trepidation, and excitement here].

When we moved here we excitedly packed our bags after seminary and decided that California was about as far west as we could go. We were thrilled with the prospects of adventure, the thrill of the unknown, the courage to actually do it (not just talk about it). We moved into our life filled with instant family and friends here at our local church. In those relationships we found healing from our battle wounds from prior years and relationships. We also found community and acceptance. California was the land of opportunity and we struck gold in many ways. As our time here progressed we knew that there were challenges to living here. Cost of living is incredibly high. We lived soooo far from family (all on East Coast). Travel time and costs alone were so expensive. It was easy to overlook these obstacles because we knew God called us here, and, if He wanted us here, those issues would be worked out. But when our daughter entered the picture we felt the weight of the distance. She is also a granddaughter, niece, and cousin to many people (many of whom have yet to meet her). So after much prayer and consideration, we decided to pack our bags, again. At first I struggled with the decision. Was the adventure over? Were we losing our "get up and go" spirit? Instead of looking at the move that way, Matt and I both feel we are going back to gain so much. We desire more consistent relationships with family. The thing that was hardest for me about being out here was the idea that my nieces would only know me as "that aunt that lives in California". So here we go. A song we really love is "Satellite" by Counting Crows. It is about going back home to reclaim your relationships. It isn't that we don't have relationships with family right now. Rather we are excited to deepen them. That is our new adventure!

A little experiment
To change the subject just a little bit, I started thinking about who has been following our journey the last couple of years through this blog. I hear bits and pieces from you guys who comment and then from word of mouth and emails. In celebration of our move and the two year blogiversary, I'd love to hear from you readers out there. Drop a line in the comment section and let me know what body of water you live near. I think it will be interesting for me and you all to see how many oceans, rivers, lakes, pools, and puddles are represented here.

To finish, I thought I'd leave you with some pictures of this past weekend's trip to Yosemite and the Sequoia National Forests. We did a "drive by" visit--you know, the kind where you want to see it to say you've been there but don't have the time to stop and linger more than 20 minutes! It was amazing!!! One thing I love about California and will dearly miss is how BIG everything is. The oceans, mountains, trees, hills (I call them mountains), rocks, sky. To most Americans back east we haven't seen the likes of such big and grand acts of nature. To Californians, they are an everyday fact of life. It's just pure beauty. Enjoy the pictures!

Speaking of Big trees...here is the General Sherman, largest tree in the world! It was, um...big. Matt is standing next to it to give you an idea of it's size.

View of the Sequoia National Forest

Morning fog settled on Hume Lake, Sequoia National Forest.

Karis and I standing on Glacier Point in Yosemite. Behind us is Half Dome.

Our own little natural wonder!

Morning sun shining down on Tunnel view in Yosemite.

Me being a dork and loving the vivid green moss on the forest trees.

This was the coolest moment for me in Yosemite. We witnessed the bobcat (in the middle of the picture sitting on the log) trying to attack a fawn. A bunch of adult dear charged the bobcat and kept it from getting to the fawn. Here you can see the stare down between the deer and bobcat. It is a little fuzzy but you can actually see the deer has her tongue sticking out. Interesting method of intimidation! It was such a cool experience to watch it all happening a few yards in front of us. I felt like I was in the middle of a nature show.