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20TH IN OREGON (PART 2)
Jen Mininger • Oct 28, 2019
20th in Oregon, Part 2
Before I share more about our trip, I gotta tell you about this DRESS!!
A couple of weeks before our anniversary trip, Korey asked me to check freecycle.org for chicken wire for our new coop. Great idea! I checked it out, and here was the conversation that followed:
Jen – “Ok, I didn’t find chicken wire, but I found a vintage wedding dress!!!!”
Korey – (laughing) “Of course you did!”
As a photographer its just good to have this kind of stuff on hand, right?! And it was free!!!
Fast forward to the next week…I’m packing for our trip to Oregon! So excited I’ll get to see the Pacific Ocean for the 1st time..and wishing I could do some AHhhh-mazing photo session there with that vintage dress I just brought home. … then I realize, I CAN, because what would be more amazing then to capture MY relationship with MY husband…and to capture me…a mom, a wife, a girl who is learning where freedom and joy truly come from! So much grace here!
So, I stuffed that dress in my suitcase and we headed for the airport!!!
It was SUPER late on Thursday night when we arrived in Portland’s airport, and after what felt like driving for 100 hours on a dark windy road in the rain, we arrived to our Air BnB in Seaside, OR, and slept, because in just a few short hours we would get to see, FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER, the Pacific Ocean!!
It was beautiful! It IS beautiful!
and, THIS is exactly how I felt about it! Korey was snapping photos of me while I was taking it all in. I soaked in the environment around me, the smells of the sea, the sounds of the waves crashing, the feeling of freedom, and the hope that redemption is real! I felt so grateful to have this moment to feel not embarrassed, to feel unashamed… to feel freedom to be me! Like a little girl, wild and free (in my free dress!). It felt so so good!
After snapping PLENTY of photos of me in that (now wet and heavy) dress… it came time to capture US. I set up my cameras (film and digital, of course!) on a mini tripod that kept sinking in the wet sand. I established the settings that I wanted and clicked the timer button... then I ran into Korey’s arms, over and over again.
Staying perfectly still, we held our breath. I could see on his face, he must’ve KNOWN that his thumbs were digging into my rib cage and that it HURT! ‘We were both grimacing... holding still, waiting until we heard the camera click.
CLICK. He let me down… RELIEF!
I take a breath as Korey, laughing and wiping his mouth, informs me that he was grimacing because he was watching the SNOT from my nose drip and land directly onto his lip… like, it was in slow motion!!
We laughed SO hard! Tears from laughter forming in our eyes… cause, I didn’t know!! I didn’t know that my nose was running… I didn’t know that while he was standing perfectly still, he was staring at my runny nose..waiting and watching to see where my snot would land! How’s that for romantic?!!
A true highlight of our trip, seriously. It felt SO good to laugh that hard. It felt SO SO good to laugh that hard TOGETHER! In a very weird way, my snot landing on his face while he stood waiting and watching for it…it felt like a gift. A gift from God. We could not have planned for that moment, God knew what would truly bless us.
(Don’t judge us..you know you have your weird too! 🙂)
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Bobbie went from full hustle to full halt and discovered what God can do in a valley season.
It ached to hear the harsh words that she knew could be her own, yet it felt so safe and reassuring to know that God sees her and wants her to have new lyrics in her own heart.
Acknowledging the dark as well as the light feels so honest and helpful in these moments. Although, I will warn, that it can also feel raw and not always easy, YET it is a kindness to ourselves when we start with honesty, isn't it? It is both, difficult and kind.
Letting go.. or saying "no" can be SO HARD ! We don't want to, we'd rather be awesome, all the time, in all the things! BUT... is that really working for you and your people? What do you need to steward (manage, maximize or multiply) better? Do you need to let go of something so that you may better steward something of more value… for a season?
Tracy leaned into the old car unafraid of the dirt and rust that she was now touching.
As I said in an email to my Belize Trip Prayer Team.. “ I am thankful. Actually, I am dumbfounded, humbled and in awe.”
C O N T A C T
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