The Highlights of 42 Days of Travel: Washington, Part I

Pretty quickly after first hearing from Jake last year in January, I discovered he was from Washington. (Actually via my mother, who just "happened" to desperately need his address to send a book for me before his trip!)

Not only had I never been to Washington State, I'd never been anywhere near! So it was pretty neat when finally, after 7 months of marriage, I got to see Jake's "neck of the woods"!

Lake Diablo, North Cascades Highway

We were in Washington for two whole weeks, longer than we were anywhere else, so we had rather naively thought this would be the restful part of our travels. HA, not exactly! We made tracks, spending around 24 hours total on road trips while there and staying very busy visiting with friends and Beatys. Still, it was great for me to get to see so much of Washington since we don't know when we'll be back.

Jake’s parents picked us up from the airport in Seattle and we headed to their beautiful home a couple hours south. They had spent all year planning a beautiful wedding reception for us for July 13.

Jake's parents and two cousins

Jake and his dad worked hard to get the awning hung correctly to provide shade on this beautiful deck. 

Even Jake met relatives he didn't know before. I think we visited with people non-stop from noon until midnight. It was quite the day!!

Jim & Thea Beaty, Jake & Jennifer Beaty

With the three nephews

(Thanks to Morgan Wieland for these last two pictures! She served with us in Bolivia in 2011 and created a beautiful DVD about Casa de Amor. It was great to see her again at the reception.)

Another favorite day in Chehalis was the girl's day out I had with Jake's mom, doing what else but clothes shopping and eating! Jake's mom was sooo excited to have the chance to take me baby and maternity clothes shopping. I'm gratefully using every piece of maternity clothing that we found! And our baby is set up for at least the first year of life. ;-)


As we planned our trip, I started to realize how many former Casa de Amor volunteers and friends I had in Washington state! It was great to get to meet up with them while visiting. (We also met up with lots of Jake's friends but there are no good group pictures.)

Pictures of a couple of Casa de Amor friend reunions:

Jake & Jennifer with Andrew & Jennifer, volunteers with Casa de Amor for over 4 months in 2008! 

When they lived in Chelan years ago they went to the same church Jake did before moving to Bolivia.

Enjoying a beautiful day on Lake Washington with Jonathan & Karin Schoenhals! They lived in Bolivia for six years and still support Casa de Amor and also our church (Cochabamba International Church) in various ways.

Jake and Jennifer on Lake Washington with Seattle in the background (Jake is wearing his Venetian gondolier shirt)

 NEXT we headed over the mountains to Jake's favorite place on earth, the cabin!!