Boogie-Boarding and Frolicking: Celebrating 11 Years

Note: I am still trying to figure out how to post a video of me skim boarding. It's painful to watch, and was even more painful to shoot.

Kathy and I celebrated 11 loving years of marriage last month with a fun weekend at the Oregon coast. Her parents' ten year anniversary present to us was a stay at the Nordic Oceanfront Inn at Lincoln City, and we cashed it in.

With no luck necessary, we both took off Friday the 13^th from work to start our getaway. After making a quick stop in McMinnville for coffee, we headed for the coast. I'm not sure why my body looked quite so pale and washed out in this photo.

After checking in at our hotel, we briefly admired the ocean view from our room before heading downstairs to the beach. The sun was shining, but the brisk air was keeping everyone else out of the water.

Never one to be a crowd follower, I donned my neoprene top and dipped my skim board in the ocean. Everyone seemed to be having a good laugh at my futile attempts to master the waves with any shred of dignity, but I didn't care. Bruises and goose bumps are a small price to pay for a good time.

Kathy stayed dry and, well, not quite as cold on the beach. She demonstrated her commitment to animal activism and renewable wind energy by feeding the seagulls and flying her kite.

After a soak in the hotel Jacuzzi (pictured at the top of this post), we drove up to Pacific City for the evening.



Dry suit clad surfers vied for waves in front of Haystack Rock as the sun went down. We dined on an overpriced but tasty dinner, served at a table with a beachfront view of the famous Oregon landmark. Back in Lincoln City, we took a nighttime stroll on the beach and then walked up the stairs to our hotel room for the night.

We woke up early on Saturday morning, grabbed a quick continental breakfast at the Nordic's dining hall, and checked out. I had planned a hike near Beverly Beach for the day, but the weather did not cooperate.


There was a rainstorm in Depoe Bay with wind gusts so strong that incoming Coast Guard ships were unable to dock. It was exciting to watch them try, though!

Newport was as far south as we made it. We abandoned all hope of hiking as the rains began to pound us even harder.


We ducked inside Moe's for fish tacos and the requisite bowls of clam chowder before heading back towards Lincoln City.

Returning through Depoe Bay, we pulled over to browse surf gear, crunch caramel corn, and sip some drinks at the Pirate Coffee Company.

Kathy recommends ordering a grande Spicy Wench, but you can't go wrong with a donut and an Ethically Challenged Sea Merchant, either.

Every weekend at the beach seems to conclude with a stop at some sort of outlet mall, and we didn't buck that trend this time, either. The Tangier outlet stores were our last non-food stop before we headed home, ending an unusually conventional (for us) weekend getaway. Considering that we usually fly overseas for our anniversaries, it was a nice change of pace to remain in the U.S.A.

Eleven years of marriage have whizzed by, and it doesn't seem to be getting any more difficult. In fact, it's a pleasure. Marrying someone as wonderful as Kathy makes it easy to stay in love.

Student Ministry Newsletter- Mar ‘09

There have been several highlights from our student ministry at Aloha Church of God this past month. Here are a few:

• Our students volunteered at the Oregon Food Bank warehouse: We partnered with other volunteers to process 7560 pounds of oats. That comes out to 22,680 meals/ bowls of oatmeal for Portland's needy, or 311 meals per volunteer!
  
• We finished our teaching series on the growth and maturity of the New Testament church.
  
• Garth resumed his high school campus lunch visitations with students.
  
  
• Schools have to make up for missed snow days, so we made up for our church's December weather cancellations with a "make-up" Christmas week.
  
  
  
  On Wednesday night, we decorated faces with shaving cream Santa beards.
  
  

 

Warner Pacific College admission counselor Alyssa Draper was on hand to judge the quality of each carefully shaped shaving cream beard.

 

After we cleaned up, Alyssa enthusiastically shared about Warner Pacific with our students.

 

• Garth and Kathy's place was the place to be that Saturday night. Our make-up Christmas party wrapped up a week of better-late-than-never Christmas joy.
  

 

• Of course, we threw a Super Bowl party at Garth and Kathy's the next day.
  

 

 

• A couple weeks after Alyssa's visit, Garth took Aloha High School students Alissa, Kenny, and Kevin to Portland for a WPC campus tour.
  

Thank you for continuing to pray for the growth of our student ministry (and for Garth's dad during his recovery from melanoma surgery!).

In Christ,
Youth Pastors Garth and Kathy Hamilton

 

As always, here some bonus pics:

We pray hard, but we also play hard

 

Will prepares to flash the applause sign for a sermon illustration

 

Stacking our trays with delicious food, compliments of Warner Pacific College

 

Striking a pose during Christian family bowling night at Park Lanes

A Slightly Snowy Update

Kathy and I were praying for March snow, and it arrived just in time for our hike last Saturday. The snowfall was short lived, so most of it melted away almost as quickly as it had accumulated.


Gail’s Creek Trail was badly damaged from the previous winter storm. Fallen trees and branches were strewn across the trail, and the path was washed out in a few places. We hiked in as far as we could before turning back at the trail closure signs.



I helped Kathy navigate most of the rougher spots, but I backed off for a moment to photograph her climbing over some frozen branches. What a trooper! I plan to upload more photos from this hike in the future.




We actually got a tiny bit of snow accumulation at home on Sunday and Monday. It wasn’t much, but I always welcome an occasional break from our typically mild Northwest climate. Clicking on this photo should enlarge it enough to see the falling snowflakes. This pic was taken from our back porch.



Finally, here is a photo that didn’t make the cut for my last “Arctic Blast” retro blog post.

My dad took this shot of Kathy and I at his house on Christmas morning. I wanted to post it here because Kathy looks so beautiful, as always.

Let It Snow... In March?

Note: Photos were added here on 3/8/09. Additional winter storm pics can be found on my January 2 post.


The forecast calls for more snow this weekend in the Portland metro area. I hope it starts falling in time for Kathy’s and my hike on Saturday! Either way, I am happy with the snow levels that have hit the Portland metro area this winter.



Last Thursday’s snow accumulation wasn’t too impressive, but waking up to a view of white trees prompted me to make an early Americano run around the corner to Black Rock coffee bar (pictured above, from this winter’s second snow event in January). Whether or not our snow storm earned the news media’s “Arctic Blast” moniker, this has been the best winter weather I’ve seen in my life.


The snow started falling on Friday, December 12. I caught my first glimpse of it while driving home from a class reunion at Warner Pacific College.


On Sunday morning, the snow started to accumulate while we worshipped at church.


On Thursday night, December 18, we met my family at a yacht club on the Columbia River for a tour of the annual Christmas ships parade.

My parents, Kathy, Summer, and I boarded a friend's yacht and gazed out the windows as the other brightly lit ships bobbed past us.

We even ventured outside to the deck, breathing in the chilly air as we weaved through the display of floating Christmas imagery.


By Saturday, ODOT had issued a warning for motorists to curtail any unnecessary driving. Of course, I used every excuse I could think of to drive my Jeep all over town.

The icy ruts were the cause of several accidents, many of them worse than the pile up in this photo.


Sharing the road with only a few other brave souls allowed me to rescue stranded drivers at will, glide through sparsely populated stores, and, most importantly, replenish our depleted supply of Peet’s coffee beans.

Running out of coffee qualifies as a household emergency, right?


Other fond memories of the 2008 “Arctic Blast” include:


Our neighbors building a sharply dressed snowman…






Kathy contemplating life, falling snowflakes, and the future of the Dallas Cowboys…




Our snow covered cars (yes, there is a blue Camry buried below)…






…And spending Christmas Day at our parents’ house in Vancouver.

Student Ministry Newsletter- Feb ‘09

2009 did not begin quietly for Aloha Church of God's students. We rang in the new year with the Insomnia 2009 all-night party, hosted by Vancouver's First Church of God.

Over 300 middle and high schoolers got crazy at this annual event.




Highlights included two concerts (The Nathan Arnold Band led us in worship through midnight)...




...a message by Pastor Don Doe...




...an inflatable obstacle course, door prizes, an interactive game with Warner Pacific College...




...adrenaline-soaked sleep deprivation (even through 6 a.m, as we snapped this pic while waiting in line for breakfast)...




and a Mountain Dew chugging contest (between Ben and Kenny) gone horribly wrong. Anyone with a hankering to see a photo of Ben's anticlimactic, gut wrenching (no pun intended) finale should request to be added to my "private" www.flickr.com contact list.

 

We are concluding our study of the church's beginnings with a unit on instructions for spiritual growth, as found in the epistles of the New Testament.

One of the more memorable moments was staging a minor food fight between theater students Alissa and Kevin to illustrate loving (and not so loving) methods of resolving disagreements. This vignette, taped by Derek and featuring a random cameo by Will, also touched on themes of gender discrimination and legalism.

Public service announcement: any foods harmed in the filming of this production will be matched by a donation to the Food Cupboard ministry.

 

We would like to say a special word of thanks to those who have already helped out our student ministry in 2009:

• Wendy: for being the best ministry volunteer leader ever!
  
  
• Sharon (pictured further below with Pastor Tim, at his installation ceremony): for teaching our students while Garth and Kathy were in Canby at the SHAPE pastoral development retreat, for filling in as our supportive Reaching Servant , and for helping us with our fundraising efforts.
  
  
  
  
  
• Janelle: for being a guest speaker on January 14, inspiring our students with her own disciplines for spiritual growth.
  

---and last, but not least---

• Pastor Tim: for starting out strong with his pastoral leadership and following the vision that God has given him for our church.
  
  We were pleased to honor him at his installation ceremony on January 25^th.
  
  
  
  We got even more bang for our buck when Ben gave his debut rock star performance for his dad during the service!
  

In Christ,

Youth Pastors Garth and Kathy Hamilton

Here are a couple of bonus pictures, not included in the church newsletter:




After getting knocked out of a Wednesday night crowdbreaker, Derek cries out to the heavens, "Why?"




ROMANS 16:19 SAYS!!... Well, our student ministry does strive for excellence in what is good. But who knew that praising God could be so hard on the furniture?