The Traveling Lilleys

Jan - April: Austin, Texas!

2008-04-04T10:08:00.000-07:00

Austin, we love you! This town is querky, fun, weird, mellow, a little country, a little city, outdoorsy, friendly, and so many other things.

We live in an apartment on Bee Caves Rd. just across Mopac from Zilker Park. Not much to love about this apartment, but there are two big pluses: 1. Trees abound. I have never been to an apartment that prioritizes trees over parking. 2. Location. We are downtown, but in the country. We are on Mopac, so everything is ten minutes away. We are walking distance from awesome parks, and being on the south-west side of Austin, we can also access the Awesome Greenbelt.

Here are my FAVORITE THINGS about Austin:

1. The outdoors. Sorry Dallas, but you just can't compete with the endless rolling hills of Austin, with countryside five minutes west of anywhere.

I LOVE the greenbelt, a sweet little escape into trails and creeks, swimming holes, and NATURE. In fifteen minutes I can feel as remote as hiking in Colorado. So awesome. Just yesterday I was swimming at Sculpture Falls with my dog and met some awesome locals. I took there pics doing flips off of a cliff and emailed it to them. They told me of some great dog parks in the area. Most dear to my heart was the element of EXPLORATION that came from hiking the greenbelt.

Zilker Park has become the go-to place for Sami and me. Almost daily we are walking the trail around Town Lake or throwing Praia's toy in the fields. For Sami's bday we flew a kite here. The Kite festival with thousands of people was fun. We spent some good time with the Blackwells here as well. Never got a chance to swim Barton Springs Public Pool nor kayak in Town Lake, but its just more reason to come back! Cant' forget to Mention Mt. Bonnell.

2. The Blackwells. What can I say? They are an amazing family, and we cherished every moment with them. I gleaned every word of wisdom I could from Matt. Sami reconnected with her good friend Shannon. We both got to babysit and get to know their two awesome boys. It was a blessing to have such good friends in a strange place.

3. The People. We met and were encouraged by some awesome people through Matt's college ministry. I even got to play guitar for one girl at a music festival!

4. The Food. So many cool independent restaurants, a complete spectrum of foods and atmospheres. Mozart's cafe, Hula Hut, Kerby Lane, Magnolia, Galaxy CafeMangia Pizza, Home Slice, Guero's, Amy's Ice Cream, P. Terry's, Austin Java, Bountiful Bakery, ThunderCloud Subs, just to name a few.

5. Hosting Friends. We were able to host a friends over weekends. Lindsay dropped in while on a layover! Laynie, Maggie, and Hillary came down and had a girlie-filled weekend with Sami. There was much vintage shopping. Whitney, Chase and Julie visited and we went up to Mt Bonnell. Denise Rushing came down for Spring break with Sami. Jeremy Horton made it down for a day.

6. The Unexpected. The first week we were here we won tickets to the Austin Symphony orchestra! The concert was AWESOME. When the Russells came down we ate at a gourmet restaurant on sixth st becuase Julie was related to the chef/owner!

Another great thing about Austin that I am placing ABOVE this list is the quality time spent with Sami. We have had a blast growing up with each other. So much time alone to enjoy together. Thank you Lord for this season in life. We will never forget it!

Dallas, here we come.

Weeks 16-18 Home for the Holidays

2008-01-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

We made it back to Dallas! OK ,well, the chevy truck made it to Abilene and then died. But hey, it was a monumental milestone for both the truck and the explorer, both traversing some of this country's harshest climates to take us there and back again!

It's Christmas Time and we are home with our friends! So Much fun. The Christmas eve service at church, the holiday parties, the laughter and presents and sweaters and fires and trimmings and trees. We are so very blessed. I miss the ocean a bit, and my friends in SoCal as well.

The week before we headed to Austin, we jumped in the vans with the youth group and headed to Winter Park Colorado! Snowboarding galore, and great times with our youth friends we hadn't seen in months. We squeezed every bit of fun out of this years winter break. Man, I'm getting tired just writing about it.

Ok, a new year and a new place....Austin or BUST!

Weeks 14-15 Goodbye SoCal

2007-12-26T22:22:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I'm a tad late in this update. But, hey, it just goes to show how awesome Christmas was!

Weeks 14 and 15 - This was our time to savor the flavor of San Diego, and enjoy our final days with our dear friends. Michelle and Aaron

Uher, The Martinelli family, Mom, Lauren, TJ.

One night we went to the botanical gardens for a Christmas lights festival: with songs, hot mulled wine, marshmallows, fire, and of course, Santa. Matt Hunt came into town and joined us for some surf and sun. We had our final bible study at the Martinelli's, our final Sunday service at The Fields, our final walk on the beach, our final stroll down Neptune.

It was wonderful. It was perfect. You all have been so wonderful to us. Thank you for welcoming us into

your little paradise.

Austin, here we come! (after two weeks in Dallas of course)

P.S. A MAJOR PRAISE is due to God for working a miracle of bureaucratic proportions! THE DAY BEFORE, yes that's right, THE DAY BEFORE we left the state of California opted to grant us temporary registration of the Prius and promised us the title and license will come to us in the mail when the trial is over! Three months we have waited with a car in the garage, and the day before we leave we get a call for the investigator. Amazing.

Weeks 9-13 - A Month on the Coast

2007-12-06T15:45:00.000-08:00

Well, four weeks later I realize our blog is well overdue!

It's been fun, and we have PLENTY of pictures! I want to first introduce you to some people we have come to know and love -

The Martinellis - This is a family that we met from our church who lead our bible study. They are awesome, have 4 kids (one just born!). Think the italian american version of the Winns. Dave has been a solid leader, and Diane has been so funny and inviting. The kids are so much fun. They have really made us feel wlelcome and loved.

Michelle and Aaron Uher - These two are newly married, very fun-loving, and a blast to get fish tacos with. we carpool together to bible study because we are awesome like that. Just as Sami predicted, we met some AWESOME people and are really gonna miss them. One of the toughest things about this trip is saying goodbye to our new friends.

I will give you the cliff notes and make it easy on all of us:

Week 9 - Scripps Birch Aquarium

This week we enjoyed the neat, but inexpensive alternative to Sea World - The Aquarium! Many incredible marine life there, including starfish, jellyfish, sharks, giant sea bass, sea horses, and sea dragons (my stinkin camera died before we got a shot of these amazing little guys.)

click here to see more photos of this week

Week 10 - Life is a Beach

Imagine a week of walks on the beach, beautiful sunsets, and a chill starting to come at night. Simple. Awesome. Ooh and we saw several dolphins this week! One night the sunset sky was so clear we could see the large channel islands off the west coast. I can't leave out that we went sea kayaking in La Jolla Cove with the seals all around us! Wow, they are cool, large animals and so graceful in the water. On our way in we surfed the small waves in the kayak...so fun, much flipping.

click here to see more photos of this week

Week 11 - Mmmmmmm....Thanksgiving

Not one, but TWO thanksgiving dinners. It was awesome. Round 1 was with Ham. Three days later Round 2 featured the Turkey. Yummy in my tummy. Thank you Lord for food and family and friends and love.
click here to see more photos of this week

Week 12 - USS Midway Aircraft Carrier

Sami and I toured the newly retired USS Midway aircraft carrier. Some adjectives to describe the day: big, HUGE, amazing, powerful, fast, old, historic, humbling, scary, intense, cool, intimidating, grey, water, boat, jets, propellers, copters, runway, deck, admiral, corporal, private, navy, awesome.
click here to see more photos of this week

Week 13 - Christmas Parade

Encinitas held a Christmas Parade down the 101 main street. It was the classic small town parade (think little leagues, hardware stores, and family fun holiday goodness).

Click here to see more photos of this week

Ok there you have it! one more week and we are on our way home! We love you all very much and look forward to spending the Holidays with you!

Jon and Sami

Bonus Video!

Week 8 - Lilley Invasion!

2007-11-08T21:51:00.000-08:00

Hey Friends!

This week my family (Dad, Linda, Amber, Steve, Brittany, Melissa, Brian, and Vianca) came in town to see my brother David graduate from Marine Boot Camp! Congratulations brother, we are really proud of you.

Everyone came in Wednesday and we met up at a little mexican restaurant on the ocean. After dinner we ran across the street to the beach to take a few pics before sundown. It was a little sad that the sun decided to hide out pretty much the whole weekend.

Thursday was David's day to show us around the Marine Recruiting depot. The depot was amazingly self-sufficient, with a gas station, church, shopping area, home furnishing store, and restaurants and everything lse you might see on civilian streets.

Friday was David's official graduation, with a full Marine graduation parade. Side note: New marines are incredible marchers. After graduating, David was ready to get off the base and into a steakhouse.

That night we went to La Jolla Cove and saw a family of seals chillin on the rocks, then we fiddled around in some tide pools. We then headed to Moonlight Beach in Encinitas for a beachside bonfire. Very good times with the fam. In fact we got our first photo of the whole family together!

Saturday we all met up at Dog Beach for the only sunshine of the weekend. We took our last bit of photos, then my dad and crew headed off to the airport. Britanny, Brian, and Vianca stayed behind for one more night and we took advantage of the time to go surfing down at Grandview Beach. Brittany was a great first-timer, and Vianca was brave enough to try out surfing a couple times. (the water was pretty darn cold too!)

Brittany took off early the next morning. One more great breakfast with my brother and Vianca, and they were off back to El Paso. It was an excellent time with all my family. What a blessing to see everyone while Sami and I are on our little adventure.

We miss you all very much. Todays definitely a "withdrawal" from our friends back home. Please let us know how you are doing!

Jon and Sami

bonus video!

Week 7 - Is Smokey the Bear OK?

2007-10-28T22:01:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-12T11:48:00.000-07:00

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?

2007-10-04T22:10:00.000-07:00

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:

Week 3 - Fun Will Be Had!

2007-09-27T11:39:00.000-07:00

Greetings from SoCal!

This week was all about taking advantage of our time here in Cali. The car thing may be a disaster, but we're not going to waste our time here by being angry and sad. I mean, come one, this is San Diego! The weather, the beaches, the palm trees!

Thursday afternoon we hopped on the trolley (basically a dart rail) to see the Padres take on the Pirates at PetCo Park. Just outside the park we stopped at the most amazing fish and seafood joint called Tin Fish. HUGE fish tacos, good live music, and lots of fun padres fans hanging around before the game. MMMMMMM....fish tacos (sorry Dallas, but SD has you beat on these.)

The Padres tore up the Pirates to extend to a 7-game winning streak in their battle for a playoff birth. Near the end of the game we scored some sweet seats down by the dugout. Awesome view!

Friday and Saturday we moved OUT of the new apartment and INTO my mom's beach house in Encinitas. Sweet little place, AMAZING location, quiet, on the beach, couldn't ask for more. Don't miss the apartment at all. Goes to show, location beats the heck out of quality.

Saturday night Sami and I went to the pier in Oceanside and ate at Ruby's old fashioned diner. It was so sweet to hang out ON THE OCEAN and eat excellent hamburgers, watching the sunset. So Great.

Sunday we went to a new church - The Fields - in Carlsbad. the service is held in a middle school gym/auditorium and about 100 people attended. AWESOME people. What struck me the most was how friendly and welcoming everyone was from the moment we showed up. It was a fantastic first impression. We plan on attending a community group with this church and possibly getting involved with the Sunday morning music! Praise God for a network of Christian Brothers and Sisters around the world who we can connect with! It was really breath of fresh air.

Sunday night we went to a coffee shop - the E Street Cafe - with my mom and sister, Lauren. We had a blast eating delectable desserts and playing trivial pursuit. Good times.

Yesterday we headed downtown for a fun-filled touristy day. We started by going to the Cabrillo National Monument tide pools. There we tiptoed around several tiny sea creatures, like thousands of hermit crabs! We then ate lunch up at the lighthouse that overlooks San Diego and the great big blue.

From Cabrillo NM we went aboard several old ships. One, the Star of India, is the oldest active sailboat in the world! From the Star we hopped onto the Surprise, which is a replica old sailboat that was used to shoot Master and Commander! Then we dove into an old Russian nuclear submarine! WHOA. Crazy, I know. Last we danced inside an old immigrant steamboat. So cool.

We left the boats and drove down to Imperial Beach, which is right on the border of Mexico, for some more Fish Tacos at the original Tin Fish! The restaurant was on the end of Imperial Beach Pier. While eating those wonderful tacos, and watching all the Pier fishermen, we hear someone yell out, "SEAL!" We look down into the water and see two seals swimming around! They are so graceful and big. Within the next thirty minutes we probably saw eight or nine seals swimming around the pier. WOW.

So there you have it. A fun-filled week in San Diego! Thanks for keeping up with us...

I'm coming home tomorrow for a couple days, so maybe I will see you! Sami sends her love and misses you all very, very much.

Please send us anything we might pray for, and continue to pray for our church seeking and people meeting!

Love,

Jon and Sami

SPECIAL BONUS FOOTAGE for those who read this whole thing!

Week 2 - He Makes All Things Good

2007-09-19T09:45:00.000-07:00

Greetings from SoCal!

This week has been CRAZY: trying to get the car scam stuff organized, trying to find a lawyer, talking to a million people, etc. It looks like we will be moving forward with a lawsuit (YUCK), but God was good to bless us with an attorney that was willing to take our case for a minimal fee. Please pray that we go about this the right way and everything is done for the Glory of God, and not because we are mad that we have been wronged.

On to more FUN things: Sami started delivering babies this week! I have some pics of her setting off to work. Go Sami. She likes the facility, her job, and the people she has worked with. Praise God!

Sunday we went to "Kaleo" community church. They meet in the AMC theater! It was a pretty sweet service, around 100 people, very quaint and personal. The speaker was extremely intelligent, spoke on remembering God is our Father. This church seems to be very outreach oriented. I am planning on joining them fridays, hanging out homeless kids after school downtown. (monarchschools.org)

I spent one afternoon exploring one of the harbors downtown. There is a National Monument Park on the tip of san diego that overlooks the ocean and city. It's BEAUTIFUL! Next week I plan to return at low tide, because apparently there are thousands of little sea creatures that get stuck in the tide pools!

TWO MAJOR UPDATES

1) We are moving in with my mom in encinitas (20 miles north of SD) on SATURDAY. WOOHOO for moving again! We are going to save a little money and live on the beach at the same time!

2) I AM COMING HOME! Friday Sept 28th I am flying home to get Sami's old truck so she can drive to work. BitterSweet I know, but at least God gave us a way. : )

That's all for now. We love you all. Thanks for joining with us here in prayer and spirit.

Jon and Sami

Week 1 - San Diego and/or BUST

2007-09-12T15:55:00.000-07:00

We made it! The Old Ford Exploder performed wonderfully to bring us 1300 miles to SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA! (Albeit without a/c) But the Lord blessed us with good weather and a great layover in El Paso with Brian and Vianka.

Brian and Vianka - thanks again for showing us a good time, the steaks, and the hotel room!

We arrived in San Diego at 3 am Wednesday morning. A quick nap and we were up to see Mom and Lauren for some breakfast at the Encinitas House. Thank you mom and Uncle Rusty for letting us stay there!

Thursday - we flew to Sacramento to get Sami's Nursing License registered in California. We rented a car from hertz, which they only had a red mustang (DARN!). We liked the mustang : )
We were thankful to have a car, because It was insanely difficult to complete the registration. "Go to this building, no this buuidling..I'm sorry they told you wrong...We do not accept out of state checks or credit cards...etc etc." But the registration eventually went through and on the plus side we saw about 99% of Sacramento.We also enjoyed some time with Scott Branch, who drove up fro San Fran to say hello. Thanks Scotty.

Friday - Now back in San Diego we closed out the deal for Sami's NEW(used) CAR! Something seemed fishy, but we were in the car, out of the DMV and on the road. I mean hey, if the DMV allowed all the paperwork to clear there shouldn't be a problem right? WRONG. More on this later...

That afternoon we surfed. Well, I'm not sure thats what you would call it, but we did stand on a board in the ocean! Later we headed back to the house for a barbecue with Mom, TJ, Lauren, Lindsay, and David Dixon. GOOD TIMES.

Saturday - We were enjoying our fun new toyota prius and saving gobs of gas. We moved into our apartment, which is a little too nice for us. The gym is unbelieveable, like having a Lifetime fitness downstairs. Moving in was hard, Sami was getting homesick.

Sunday - Church Day! A little more moving in and then we headed to an evening curch service at Shadow Mountain Community Church. It was a cool service because they had a Messianic Jew musician come play. He was great, funny, talented, and had an awesome testimony.

Monday - The call... Criminal Investigator informed us that our car was illegally sold, the seller posed as a private seller, but was actually a dealer in MEXICO! Also, he lied about the condition and history of the car. hmmm, not so good. So now we are in the process of a possible civil lawsuit (uggh) to try and get a refund and return the car. Much crying and frustration. Our fun little San Diego bubble kind of bursts...

Tuesday - Ok, God is good, and we know things will be ok. We trust Him and lean on Him. With this faith we move forward with joy. Sami goes to work! Her first day was a simple orientation, but she did meet a friend, which is awesome. That afternoon we went to Encinitas, spent some time on the beach, and had an excellent taco dinner with Mom.

Today - Please pray for us as we continue to settle in here and meet new people (good and not so good). Pray that we have a loving and truthful spirit towards the car seller. Pray that we might get our money back and that the seller might choose to do what is right. Pray that we meet more people. Pray that we might have an impact here in a different world.

The video chats have been amazing, and extremely helpful.

God Bless, we love you all

Jon and Sami

Prayer Box

2007-09-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

Please send us any prayer requests you may have as we continue to lift up all our friends at home to the Lord Jesus.