Our Final Weeks

So, the end is drawing near. We head back to the States on Friday. I am excited to head home, though I know there are many things I will miss. This is really a beautiful place—if only it weren’t so hot or I weren’t so pregnant.

We’ve spent the weeks since our trip to Jerusalem doing pretty normal things. We’ve done laundry, played at the parks, gone to the beach one morning after dropping Kip off at work. The beach at 8am is absolutely perfect. The breeze is cool and the sun is not yet too hot. William loved playing in the waves as they rushed up the sand. He didn’t throw rocks the majority of the time we were there that morning, having too much fun splashing in the water. The only problem was that I got worn out pretty quickly. I’m not used to standing up following him around for a full hour. If I turned my back on him, though, he ran off straight into the oncoming waves and I had to run after him. So, there was no chance to just sit back and enjoy the waves and the weather. I’d like to go back with Kip, but we’ve run out of time.

Kip went biking for his last Friday here. He had a great time and I feel bad about taking him back to Oregon where there really aren’t any good mountain-biking trails nearby and no mountain-biking friends to go with either. I know he’ll miss his rides, although we’ll go through fewer bandages and first aid supplies. When he got home Friday, we headed off for a final time to the Carmel Center Park and dinner at one of our favorite restaurants, Habank. (Yeah, the name is pretty lame, but the food is good.) It was super hot even though it was getting late. I’ll enjoy getting back to Oregon, at least until the heat hits there. The weather here now is probably comparable to the hottest weather Oregon gets and we’ll get back to Oregon just as that weather gets going. But at least we won’t be here for it to get hotter than it already is.

It was sad to say goodbye to our little branch. They got us a going-away gift and were very sad to see us go. I’ve got a lot of respect for the members here. They have incredibly strong testimonies and are generally very intelligent and interesting people. I will miss them.

But it will be nice to be back home!