Week #3
Annapolis...still
Chris-
Getting a job!
Happy Friday everyone. This has been an… interesting week. I started working here in Annapolis this week. I know, I could have just stayed in Colorado if I wanted to punch a time-clock! I already had a good job! Ellis and I are working here for the Annapolis Boat Shows. There are two major boat shows in Annapolis in the Fall; one is the Power Boat Show that starts on October 3rd, and the other is the Sailboat Show that starts on October 10th (we are partial to the Sailboat show). Working for the boat show not only offsets a bit of our living expenses while we hang out in the area, but it also gets us free tickets to the boat show… and we make a whole bunch of relationships with fellow boat show employees, who also happen to love boats! This has been the plan for a little while here because we feel like connections made at the boat show could be a huge benefit to us as we begin sailing full-time. There is one problem though. We can’t seem to find anywhere to live here in Annapolis. We have been asking all our new contacts, and scouring the internets, but we can not seem to find an affordable place for us to stay while we work at the boat show. We are still looking, and maybe something will come up before we are forced to move out of the place where we are staying now, or maybe that will be our sign that we need to move on to the next place that God is taking us. When we left Montrose (Colorado) in August, I definitely had hopes that we would make it to the coast and find our boat within the first month; then, we could get started moving onto the boat and fixing it up before it was time to hit the high-seas after hurricane season… this has NOT been how things are going right now. Sometimes, I feel like we just moved to Maryland. I don’t need my phone to navigate many of the areas around us now. We have (new)friends over for dinner occasionally. I’m working… sounds like normal life; just in a different location. But this is just a short phase, and before long, one way or another, we will be moving on from this location and starting over again with “new.” Maryland has been a surprising blessing in many ways, and I am grateful for it. At least, I am grateful for it right now. There have been moments where I have thrown some little fits at God for not giving us a boat right away, and there have been many moments where Crystal and I have had long talks about what the heck we must be doing wrong for God to leave us stuck here with no direction on our next step. But, when God led Isreal out of Egypt, there were times that they just camped in the desert for a while. We are just waiting for the pillar of fire to start moving again, so that we can follow it. (That’s a story from Exodus, in the Bible. Worth the read if you are not familiar with it!)
So, we are digging in, and trying to find all that God has for us in this place, at this time. Ellis and I are working for the crew that is setting up all the electrical for the boat show, which has been interesting. Remember, most of the boat show is FLOATING, so the electrical systems are different. I am hoping to be on the crew that gets to lay all the submarine cable around the show! Crystal will also be working the boat show as soon as the events actually start. She will be helping with the gate staff and such… This means we are pulling in 3 incomes! But not really. We are pulling minimum wage-ish, and not a ton of hours, but every little bit helps.
I think that is it for this week. I have had less time to write since I have been working. This Next week is sure to bring change; either we have to move from here, or we will be moving to a new location and continuing our work at the Boat Shows. Our current housing runs out on October 2nd. We are praying that God will provide an option to stay in the area, if that is His plan for us.
Keep in touch! We would love to hear from you!
~Chris
Crystal-
“Don’t worry about anything; instead pray about everything.
Tell God what you need and thank him for all he has done.”
Philippians 4:6
God has been so wildly faithful. There have been days of confusion and quiet and sometimes frustration. We feel like we are going through money and not making progress toward the goal of owning a boat. Chris and Ellis started work which felt like a blessing in that we had a trickle income but also a step back in that separateness is not what we’re here for.
Anyway, this scripture inspired me to write out my heart’s cries and to recall what He’s already done. One of the many facets of that was was in reference to our future boat.
One night after going to see another boat that wouldn’t fit us, we looked up our (my) dreamboat online- it’s a 57’ luxury catamaran 6+ cabins, a huge flybridge, living space abounding, lovely kitchen, abundant refrigeration, it even has a scuba tank filler! The thing is 😍and also $1.5 million! Insuring it would cost more than our entire budget. Maintaining it for a year would cost more than our entire budget. It would give us space to charter other families- which is a big part of the dream and would help offset the expense, but we need a whole lot more experience before that can happen. So….God showed me a whole bunch of verses one morning all about death and mourning. Never really a fun message but I knew He was talking about the dream of that particular boat at this moment. Since last October, I have had my heart set on the boat we saw at the show that matched this description. So he had me write out the things I specifically loved about it. It wasn’t the sparkle and glam. This was my quick list-
-kitchen equipped to serve
-outdoor grill space
-open deck for underway lounging
-shady spaces
-bright and clean
-simple and trustworthy systems
-REFRIGERATION
-5+ cabins- 7 berths for us with at least 5 more inside for guests
The next day Chris found a boat on facebook that was being anchored near the birthplace of our sailing dreams. It checked my boxes! It’s a 50’ Beneteau monohull. A drastically smaller but more manageable boat for this family who’s still learning all the things. The current owner is great! Gary and Chris chatted about power tools for a good 5 minutes on their first 30 minute phone call.
I don’t know if it’s “the” boat since it’s still a little more than we have to throw at it but God’s working. I’m loving watching him- it’s itchy sometimes, feeling like I’m not pulling my weight.
He actually never asked us to. He’s got us.
not to scale- the top boat is a layout of the 50’ monohull, the bottom is the 57’ catamaran. it’d be a little more cozy but there’d still be room for you all to visit!
Ellis-
”Blurryface”
Packing up, saying goodbyes, and getting out of the house back in Montrose was crazy. We were going full steam every day and it stressed me out. I wanted to make sure we left well but it always seems like there was too much going on and not enough time. Then, we finally got on the road and I was basically 0% productive for about four weeks straight. Driving across the country we mostly just spent our days moving out of last night's place, driving, and trying to find the next place to stay. When we got to Maryland we stopped moving around as much but there still wasn't much I could be doing and it stressed me out. I have a really hard time not being productive. Then, this past week, me and Dad started work and I got scheduled to play piano at the church we've been going to. Now all of the sudden, I'm working every day and trying to practice for church and it's definitely a manageable work load but I'm stressing out again. I'm starting to realize that I need to work on just being content, because every time I get busy I wish I wasn't and every time I've got nothing going on, I try to fill it up.
Conrad-
Forest Trek
One Tuesday September 17th we decided to go for a walk in the woods. After school we all got into the car and drove out to a trail that was close to our house. When we got there, it was raining lightly but once we were on the path the trees shielded us. The forest was very unlike Colorado forests. In the Maryland forest path when a tree falls across the path they just cut a path through the log. The trees were massive with no branches until near the top. And it was so humid! It was like walking through a warm cloud. There were surprisingly few bugs though, in fact I don't think I got bit at all.
There were very few animals at all. The biggest living animals I saw were squirrels. There was also a dead fox, we found its skeleton off the path a little ways at a bend in the path. The skeleton was mostly bare but the tail remained mostly intact. We ended up taking a few teeth and leaving the rest but we didn’t find anything else as interesting as that during the rest of the walk. There was a stream running alongside the path for a bit and when we got close to it we found it was surrounded by toads and frogs. The path was mostly packed dirt with tree roots and rocks keeping it together and making the occasional tripping hazard.
At the end of the path we found that we had not come to our part of the road so we decided to backtrack. The rain never really made it to the path; it was all caught by the trees. It became a game to shake a shower of water off the little trees onto the people below. Not everybody enjoyed this game so we eventually stopped. Once we got back to where we started, we found a sign that said to avoid hiking when the trail was wet. It was too late, we were done and had had no problems so we got back in the car and headed home.
Oliver-
Crabbing?...Sort Of
We wanted to go crabbing while we were in Maryland and this was basically our last chance. So we decided to make it happen.We got up, ate breakfast and got going. We went to Dick’s Sporting Goods first, and spent $30 on a net which, online, was posted as $8.99. After that we went to Jonas and Anne Green Park.
As soon as we arrived, we walked down to the water and threw our chicken legs out on a line. Once they were all in, almost immediately Mom yelled, “I got one! I got one!” We rushed over to catch it and succeeded! Unfortunately it was too small… But it gave us hope! We went at it excitedly trying everything. Our energy soon faded and we weren’t very happy with our catch. We didn’t get any more crabs that day.
Eventually we started walking back to the car. While we were still walking, Conrad saw a turtle! The little Mud Turtle was flipped on its back, we thought it was dead. Conrad picked it up and it poked its legs out. It was alive, and its shy little face wouldn’t come out. That turtle made going fully worth it. Sadly we had a schedule and needed to leave.
Jasper -
Making Marvelous Morning Muffins With My Mom.
Every week on Sunday one of the five kids gets up at about 6:30 to hang out with our marvelous mom and cook breakfast together. It was my turn this week and just like usual she woke me up at about 6:30. Then we sat on a couch and talked for about ten minutes. When we felt ready we went up to the kitchen. We were making muffins, chocolate chip muffins(Recipe at the end)!
While the muffins were cooking we played some tiny corn hole and a little pool. Other people started to wake up during our second game of miniature corn hole. By the time the muffins were done cooking the only one still sleeping was my little sister. But by the time we had cooked eggs she had woken up and started snuggling with our dad. Then we got our food and we started the Super Mario Bros Movie. At least part of it, we paused it for church.
Recipe Alert!
Recipe for Chocolate Chip Muffins.
-3 ½ c. Flour
-¾ c. Sugar
-2 tsp. Baking Powder.
-½ tsp. Salt
-½ tsp. Xanthan Gum(if using flour)
***mix dry ingredients
-3/4 c. Milk
-3/4 c. water
-½ c. Sour Cream
-¾ c. oil
-1 tsp. Vanilla
***mix wet ingredients, combine wet and dry and then fold in
-Heaps of chocolate chips!
Bake 400* for about half an hour in jumbo muffin cups
picture borrowed because i forgot to take one….but they were chef’s kiss beautiful and gone quickly!
Three Inches AWAY!!!
Posy-
I was inside doing school. I had just finished when Conrad said, “squirrel”. I stepped outside into the moist air and walked very slowly to a baby squirrel. I named it Pretzel. I got about three inches away from the baby squirrel and I could not keep a straight face. It was about to climb on to me. But I jumped back! I heard my dad say that they could bite and that could make you really sick. The squirrel walked towards the trailer and hid under it for about five seconds and it ran over to the fence and went into the neighbors yard! I hope Pretzal comes back for a visit!
If you have made it this far, thanks for reading! We are happy you’re here! Love y’all,
Crystal
CHOOSE AWESOME.