Week 7 - Is Smokey the Bear OK?

Last week at a glance:

Denise visits, Jonny O from Denver visits, "surfing", me choking at night, fires, smoke, too much fire and smoke, retreat to LA, watch news 24-7, Hollywood is gross but cool, come back to ashes and house still standing, regroup and see who and what needs help.


For those with time, a little closer look:

Denise visits - The highlight of this week was definitely having Denise, Sami's mom, here from Dallas for 5 days. Sami was able to get off the entire time her mom was here, so we all had fun going to the beach, talking, and running from the fire!




Me Choking - So the night before the fires I was sleeping alone in the day room when I pulled out my inhaler and took a big "swig." What I knew is that the vapors from the inhaler would open up my lungs and help me breathe better. What I Didn't know is that there was a wadded up wrapper from a dove dark chocolate inside the inhaler. I found out very quickly. The wrapper lodged itself deep in my wind pipe...and I was running to the door of our bedroom to try and wake up sami. She didn't hear me because I could barley make a sound. I fortunately coughed (puked) up the little bugger and was able to breathe again. It was freaky and not fun. I will be inspecting the ol' inhaler before each puff from now on. Thank God for life, for every breath.




Fires and Smoke - The fires began Sunday and haven't stopped. It's been a week now. The fire that was heading towards our house was the biggest of over 12 fires. It had already burned 150,000 acres and the westerly winds did not look good. Smoke and ash blanketed a firey sky Monday, and we decided to get out of Dodge. We packed our valuables and jumped ship to L.A. Little did we knw there were as many fires up there! Fortunately we found a nice little nook in Huntington Beach that was out of treacherous smoke wall.

While in L.A. we decided to make the most of our time by visiting Hollywood and Denise's old houses where she grew up. It was a great to forget about the fires for a moment and enjoy being in a cool place. Hollywood - cool but stinky and dirty. For Sami and me it is a one-time deal. The Walk of Fame was pretty cool, I have to admit.



Back in Encinitas - We headed back Wednesday to a house that was still standing, thank the Lord. The Santa Ana winds had died down, turning the fires east again after coming within about 6-8 miles from our house. The latest numbers I have heard: over 2000 homes gone, over 300,000 acres burned, and the fires are still going.

So now that we are back into the swing of these we are finding ways to help out.

Also, this week my fam will be in town to see my little brother David graduate from Marine Boot Camp. Hoorah bro!

We love you all. Thanks for praying with us during this crazy, tragic time in SD.

Jon and Sami





Bonus Video! -

Week 6 - Scott Branch and San Fran

Greetings from SoCal!

This weekend Scott Branch invited me up to San Fran to watch Cal take on Oregon State and play for the number 1 ranking in the country. Although they lost, it was an exciting game on a beautiful campus. Cal Berkeley is amazing, with a history that goes all the way back to Berkeley castle in England, which Sami and I visited!

While in San Francisco, we played many games of Halo 3 ( I am now hooked), drove across the Golden Gate bridge, spent some time downtown, and watched the Cowboy - Patriots game at a local pub.

It was a great, unexpected weekend with my buddy Scott!

The last few days have been filled with biking, work, and chillin'. Sami had a few days off, so we had some quality time together We really enjoyed our bible study night with our new community group.





That's it for this week! Have a good one.

Jon and Sami




Bonus Video:

Week 5 - Pure San Diego

Greetings from SoCal!

What a fun week. Let's just jump right in:

Last Friday we went with my mom and her freind Barbara to see T.J. play in the band "Jukebox" at Oktoberfest in La Mesa. It was a sweet german festival with brats, laughs, dancing, music, polka, and funnel cakes! A great way to celebrate the weekend.

Sunday was our second week at The Fields Church. It was another affirmation that there are fellow believers here that understand us and are willing to encourage us.

We spent sunday night out on the beach with a bonfire, dogs, and smores! T.J. and I pulled out our guitars for some music while we watched an incredible sunset.

Tuesday night we went to a community group at the house of one of the pastors of the Fields. It was so refreshing to be with so many other Christians, to eat and pray together.

The last couple days Sami was off from work, so we sported our wetsuits and took to the surf with a couple boards! The waves destroyed us, but we did get some surfing in. Three words: Surfing is hard. But Sami was tough enough to withstand a nasty Stingray sting and keep on surfing.

Okay, that's it! I'm heading to San Fran to hang with Scott Branch for the weekend. Go Cal! Go Cowboys! Go Ags!

We love you all.

Sami and Jon

Bonus Video:

Week 4 - Hunter?

Hey friends! Wow, it was good to see so many of you last weekend. I flew down to Dallas to get Sami's car and drive it right back to SD.





While I was there I got some quality time in with family and friends. The Berkner Homecoming football game was friday night, and I joined the Sr High leaders in cheering on our alma mater (and Cory Sockwell from Wylie). It was great to see several of the senior high students enjoying the weekend festivities together.



During my stay I convinced Hunter C (and his parents) to accompany me back to SD on the 2 day drive. SO, without further ado... I give to you, Hunter Christensen:







"ok here it goes.... it all started monday at 12:00 in Arlington TX. Jon and I proceeded to travel to El Paso where we stayed at Jon's brother's apartment. Early in the morning on tuesday we set off to San Diego but not before stopping at McDonalds to play the monopoly game. After 200 miles of driving we again stopped at McDonalds to collect more pieces for our monopoly board. We finished off our journey around 5:00 tuesday evening.


We wasted no time getting to the beach after checking the waters we headed back to the house where we ate dinner and talked around the table. We woke up very late exausted from our travels and started our day with a picnic lunch at 1:00. We had our lunch at a park overlooking the ocean . After we finished our sandwiches we made our way to the edge of the ocean where the waves were crashing into the rocks.

We made our way back to the house for nap time, the next thing on our agenda was to go to the pier and get shakes and watched the sun set. After a long brisk walk to the car we made our way to Juanitas where the fish tacos and burritos are like the other side of the pillow, we then watched a movie and went to bed.

We woke up thursday to go surfing...Jon and I who are both professional surfers were ready to hit the waves. We got out there and saw the roughest waters we have ever faced however we were unfazed and showed the ocean who was boss. After many hours of dominating we were tired and came to the house and showered and prepared for dinner.

We drove into town to pick up sami and go to the tin fish for some more excellent fish tacos. We then strolled around downtown San Diego with the cool air in our faces, it was then our time to return and call it a night and ultimately a wonderful week."

Thanks, Hunter, for helping me get back here and making it such good time. We WILL win McD's Monopoly! Never give up. Never surrender.

We love all of you.

Jon and Sami Lilley (and Hunter, too)




Bonus video for those devoted readers: