Happy 1st Anniversary!

Three hundred and sixty-five days ago, Brian Marsh, in his unique (& awesome) style, stood in flip-flops, with an open Bible in hand, and married us in front of God, family and friends. It was a perfect day and we both agree that choosing each other as husband and wife is the best decision we've made.


We spent the actual day of our anniversary driving back from Kalaloch, Washington where we said goodbye to Brian's parents and his brother & sister-in-law after a wonderful family vacation. (we spent 9 days on the Olympic Peninsula, in/near Olympic National Park...vacation photos to come soon)


Thanks to Brian's generous family, we were treated to a special dinner the night before at the Kalaloch Lodge (Thank you, again, Kevin, Tracey, Lew & Val!)  We ate a delicious dinner, drank tasty wine, and enjoyed a beautiful view of the Pacific Ocean.  

The friendly staff at the Kalaloch Lodge gave us a special table for two by the window to enjoy the view.

"And like a fine wine...it only gets better with age." - Brian Marsh (referring to marriage)

At dinner, one thing we reflected on is not only the amazing gift of our love, but also the unending love and support of all our family and friends.  So, to you, the people who have loved and helped shape us, we say thank you.

Yippee!
Our bridal party line-up:
Alison, Meghan, Caroline...Milt, Kevin & Ben

Brian's family: Kevin, Tracey...Val & Lew Vander Naald

Anne's family: Becky, Ben, Alex, Laura, Tom, Ella...Pete & Chris Yost

After dinner, we went to a nearby gazebo overlooking the beach and sat next to each other, with a hand over the other's heart (just like during our ceremony), and read our vows to each other again.  It brought back the feeling of being in that sacred space, surrounded by the energy of our community of friends and family.  

Anne had handwritten our vows in her journal so that we could remember the special words out loud together again.

Here's to many more years on this adventure!

Some more of Brian Marsh's wonderful words from our wedding ceremony:

BENEDICTION and SENDING

‘And now, ANNE and BRIAN…receive these words of blessing and sending…

May all of your expectations be frustrated.

May all of your plans be thwarted.

May all of your desires be transformed,

so that you may experience the powerlessness and peaceful contentment of a child,

and sing and dance in the powerful and passionately loving presence of our Lord…

And may The LORD bless you and keep you,

May the LORD make his face shine upon you,

May the LORD be gracious to you,

and may the LORD turn his loving presence towards you

and give you peace…

through the love of God our Father,

the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,

and the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, Amen.’

“It is my pleasure and privilege to present to you…Mr. and Mrs. Brian and Anne VanderNaald”

The Big 2-9 Celebration

Anne's 29.  Giddy up!

Anne's 29th birthday is this week, so over the weekend we threw a party and had tons of fun.  (Anne has two final exams on the actual birthday, so an early celebration was necessary.)  We wore fun hats, ate a lot of whoopie pie (in lieu of traditional birthday cake), drank lots of wine and beer, played games and shared a lot of laughs.  Here are some shots of our friends who are our "family" in Eugene!

Evie, Matt & Riley (2 yrs. old)

Anne & Ryan, with their 5-week old baby Lucy.  (Ryan's hat is made from Alpaca from Peru, in case you were wondering!)

Alissa & Shelly didn't get the memo about the hats, but we love them anyway.

Damon & Veronica, with baby girl 1 month away!

Rebecca & Michael win for "Best Overall" headwear selections.

Brian wins for "Most Jewish" headwear.

Kim & John...such a cute & hilarious couple.

Shelly picked these beautiful flowers out of her backyard!

After recovering from our hangovers Sunday morning (Anne more than Brian), we decided to extend the celebration in a calmer way with just the two of us at a nice dinner at Cafe Soriah, a local fine-dining restaurant with amazing Mediterranean food.

Happy Birthday, Anne!

A Visit from The Reverend: Gone Sabbaticalin'

Brian Marsh came to visit while on the kick-off to his Sabbatical.  He tries to visit an Oregon monastery about once a year, anyway, so we usually get to see him when he's on his way out there.  This year, his trip to the monastery is just a tiny part of his time away from his pastoral position in Missoula.  He received a grant that is allowing he and his family to take some well-deserved time away.  Brian is taking some good quality alone time throughout his summer off, as well as having some incredible family trips in Europe, Africa, and the California beaches.




So, needless to say, we were grateful to get some time with him, as he embarks on this incredibly transformative time in his life/career.  We talked about everything from faith to Will Ferrel, we ate pizza and ice cream, we drank beer, and of course laughed and shared hugs.

"So what I'm sayin' is this..."

Oh how the Brians have missed one another...

"Strike a Pose": Inspired by the mural on the side of the Bier Stein, Eugene's infamous bottle shop.

 Can you hear the polka music in the background?

Hooray for Eggs!

Every Sunday is a great day.  Why?  Because we get a new batch of eggs delivered to our door, that's why!

If the hens lay smaller eggs that week, Paul gives us 18 instead of 12

A couple years ago Brian won 12 weeks of free eggs delivered to his door by a local farmer, at an event at our church called "That's My Farmer".  Our church is well-connected to the local farming community, and holds this event each year to help round up support for CSA sign-ups.  (CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture)  The premise is for people to pay money up front to a local farmer, and each week during the season supporters receive a box of produce straight from the farm.  If it happens to be a not-so-good harvest season, the farmer is still supported.

After Brian won this egg prize, he asked the farmer, Paul Fleck, to see if he'd continue it for a reasonable price, and Paul agreed.  So, every Sunday, we open our door to find a dozen farm-fresh eggs for cheaper than the "farm-fresh" eggs in the grocery store.

Confirmation

For the past 8 months, Anne was Confirmation mentor to a sweet 12 year-old girl named Gabi (pronounced Ga-BEE).  For the Confirmation process at our church, they do a really cool thing; each youth is given a mentor to join them in monthly classes, and to spend time getting to know them and talking with them about life, faith, etc.  Gabi & Anne had a good time together throughout the whole process, and the friendship will definitely continue beyond Confirmation.

Last weekend was the Confirmation banquet on Saturday, and Confirmation Sunday for the morning church service.  All of it was meant to celebrate each youth for the unique gifts they each bring to life.  

Gabi, with her mom Julia (who happens to be the church organist).

For the Sunday service, Anne got to get up in front of the congregation to share about Gabi, and how she is incredibly intelligent, thoughtful, compassionate, outgoing, adventurous (was born in Brazil and continues to love travel), she's nearly fluent in French, runs track, is involved in drama at school, is an older sister & a younger sister, sings Soprano in the choir, and plays piano like a champ!  What stands out most about Gabi is her perceptive eye...for both people and creative outlets.  She's very good at seeing the good in people and situations (she's always positive and likes to make others smile) and she also has a creative flair with crafting together anything with color (art, clothes, beads, stickers, etc).  

Gabi's maturity stood out during the conversations she had with Anne, especially during Confirmation class.  We talked about things like whether or not it's OK to question if God exists, what would God look like, why do bad things happen to good people, did Osama Bin Laden really deserve to die?, what is the Rapture and why do people take it literally, should the Bible be read literally or not?, what kind of social justice issues are important to you, how to pray, and lots more...  

Anne was a very serious mentor, as you can see.

Each Confirmand was given a patch for the Confirmation banner on display.

It eventually became obvious that Anne was Gabi's mentor not just for Gabi, but also to open the door for her little brother, Alex, to meet Brian.  Her family had us over for dinner one night, and Alex immediately took a liking to Brian and they have become fast buds.  Alex's mom said that normally Alex is quiet and serious, but when he met Brian, he lit up and was goofy and filled with laughter like she hadn't seen in a while.

Alex & Brian have become fast buddies.

Brian is a popular guy with the kids (and adults, for that matter) at church.  Whenever Anne walks in alone, someone (a child or an adult) is bound to come up to her and say with enthusiasm, "Where's Brian?!?!"  Wherever he goes, he attracts people!

This weekend we took Gabi & Alex bowling, and they obviously had a boring time.

Then we took them out for waffles, and Gabi obviously didn't like her's.

 It's so neat to be a part of a church that emphasizes the celebration of each youth for the individuals they are.  It's been such a gift for Anne to be a mentor, and for both Brian and Anne to get to know some really cool kids in our church family!

Wednesday Night Walks

At the beginning of this term, it became apparent within the first two weeks that the busy schedule was going to take some adjusting for both of us.  Brian was nearing the deadline for his Prospectus defense (BTW, he got the email of approval for candidacy today.  Yippee!), and Anne was working and taking three classes (the most she's ever taken in one term).

After basically "passing in the night" for a couple weeks, and getting snippy with each other without knowing why, we decided to make a change.  Rather than listen to the constant call to do school work during the evenings, we enacted "Wednesday Night Walks".  Sure, it might sound cheesy, but it made a world of difference in our relationship in the midst of a busier-than-normal schedule.

So, here's a little glimpse into our Wednesday night walk:

This is Brian, outside our front door, all ready to go!  

 It turns out, we live near some really cool places within walking distance.  Our apartment complex is in a great location: right next door to a track, a park, a mulch running trail, ...and Willamette Street, which is packed with fun spots.  Restaurants, bars, our grocery store, etc.  It's so nice to be able to walk around and access our neighborhood so easily.

This is one of our new favorite places.  Love the name, the food is awesome (local, organic, etc.), and they have super yummy kombucha.

My favorite part is the wall mural with the cool rural mountain scene... cow included :)

And here we are, drinking kombucha, and enjoying some one-on-one time AWAY from our apartment which is full of "work" to do.  

How To Write Right Now

I haven't written in a long time, partly due to a busier-than-usual schedule this term with three classes (the most I've taken along with working).  Another reason I haven't written is that I'm not sure I want to continue writing this way.  It's been fun for me to have this space to "play" with my words and find more of my own voice.  I think it's a step in my process that doesn't need to continue, though.  I want my writing to continue, and yet this blogging thing feels a bit self-centered now...I think because I've been able to hear my own voice enough now :)  Now I want to channel my energy into letting my words be more thoughtfully crafted and time consuming than a blog entry.  I want my words to take shape into something that others will want to read...in some form that isn't this blog.  I imagine this is going to take me years and a lot of ups and downs, so wish me luck, and thanks for reading during this phase of my exploration.  Maybe in my 40's we'll have a publishing party?

I think I will start a blog that is purely for updating you on the life of Anne & Brian, and let my writing take a backseat for now in this blogosphere :)

Love,
Anne