Reflections: Our Honeymoon

I will begin where I left off in my last Reflections post. 

Benjie and I were planning to go back into missions with YW*M in Europe (where we had served as staff the three years prior to getting married) about five weeks after our wedding.  We were going to join up with a mobile team in Germany and be part of an outreach to prepare the land for the 2006 World Cup via worship and intercession.  Because of this, we asked for our wedding guests to give us money to go toward our honeymoon instead of the typical housewarming wedding gift. 

Our honeymoon was going to end up being a hodge-podge of travel.  My mom let us borrow her car because we had a good family friend from San Francisco buy us a one-nights-stay at two romantic little B&B's on the shore of Lake Tah*e, and we figured it would be a lot of fun to enjoy the whole experience by road tripping there from Dur*ngo (a whopping 17 hour drive!).  We hopped in our car and drove to Salt L*ke City where we ate Denny's and found a cheap motel for the night, then we continued our drive and ended up at Lake Tah*e the following day, late afternoon.  We enjoyed two beautiful evenings exploring the little mountain village, finding a cute little Chinese restaurant to eat at one day, and a quaint diner on the lake the next.  We stayed at one B&B the first night which was a house owned by a nice middle-aged couple that was across the street from a wooden pier that jutted out into the lake.  I remember standing and laughing and being amazed at life under the moonlight on that pier the first night.

The second night, we stayed at a B&B that had a little game room where they served wine and appetizers in the early evening, and we enjoyed playing games of Scrab*le, snacking and running outside to jump into the hot tub that overlooked the lake.  Our room was like a little log cabin of its own, complete with log walls and a large jacuzzi tub.  Breakfast was served on the shore of the lake the next morning.  It was such a gift from our Father.

When we left Lake Tah*e, we decided to drive down to San Franc*sco and stay with the family who bought us the nights at the B&B's.  They have a beautiful home with a large backyard, library, pool and the neighborhood they live in had miles and miles of cozy, winding roads to ride bikes on.  And that's what we did.  We rode bikes, read books, sat in the garden and took a whirlwind trip into downtown San Franc*sco to explore a little bit of the city. 

While we were there, we caught wind that a good friend of ours from YW*M Switz*rland was getting married in L.A. the next weekend, and we would have loved to go, but we had run out of money at the end of our time in San Franc*sco, so we decided that we would leave the next day for home.  The very next morning, as we were about to get our bags packed and back into the car, we opened the door to head out of our room, and there was a small envelope laying on the floor.  Benjie picked it up and opened it to discover several hundred dollars given to us by one of the people we had met while staying there!  Another of God's blessings :)  Needless to say, we packed up and were headed down to L.A. that very morning!

We had several friends from L.A. that we had met while living in Switz*rland and one of them found us an incredible home to stay at while were in L.A.  We attended the beautiful wedding of our friends, Paul and Marie-Noelle who just happened to have their reception at a little place called YW*M L.A.  During the wedding, a man and his wife, who were sitting in front of us, turned around and introduced themselves as the base leaders at YW*M L.A.  (Later on after we moved to Dur*ngo and were working at the R*ver Ch*rch, we became great friends with him and he is one of the reasons we are in L.A. right now-small world!)  We enjoyed fellowship with them and our good friend Estee, who was my roommate in Lausanne.

Estee took us to Universal City for dinner at Hard Rock Cafe, she took us exploring in downtown Hollywood and to the beach as well.

At the end of our time in L.A., we thought it was time to head home, but decided that we would make a pit stop in Las Vegas on the way.  Benjie's mentor growing up in Ghana had moved to the States when Benjie was in high school and was (and still is) working with YW*M Las Vegas.  We wanted to visit him and his wife.  When we got there, we got put up in wonderful YW*M housing, ate a wonderful meal with our friends, and they escorted us all around the Strip, taking us to many different shows (the Bellagio fountain was my favorite!) that night.  Benjie even rode his first roller coaster at New York, New York while there! (I made him ride by himself because I don't like roller coasters ha ha.) 

The next morning was my birthday, and we headed out bright and early to make the beautiful ten hour drive back to Colorado.  I am amazed at the lavish generosity of my Father.  He overwhelms us with goodness, blows our mind with His gifts, and captures our hearts with His love.

Thank you, Dad, for an intricately woven honeymoon, perfect for Benj and I in every way.  Thank you for showing us that a little flexibility and faith goes a loooong way to making something unexpected so incredible!