And the rain came down...
Holy buckets. And I mean that quite literally. Last week, we experienced snow then hail then rain and more rain, rain, rain. Welcome to the Pacific Northwest! The snow was fun, because it was brief and shallow and didn't really impact our lives beyond a couple classes of mine being cancelled. The rain, however, was a completely different story.
At first, we just thought we were being wussy San Diegans. I thought that maybe it was normal here for the rain to just keep coming down like that, and I was just being a baby about it. Not the case. I am not exaggerating when I say that we experienced a steady rainfall (never sprinkling, never pouring, but just constant, steady rain) from noon on Tuesday until noon on Thursday. And this was on top of the snow melt. The Willamette River doubled in depth from 12.5 feet to 25 feet in just 72 hours.
We have a small creek near our house next to a run/walking path that I often use. For those of you who are visual people, here's what Periwinkle Creek looks like on a normal day:
And here's what Periwinkle Creek looked like last week:
Sadly, a young mother and baby died in that creek just a few blocks from our house after their car was pulled into the rushing water via a grocery store parking lot. The forecast said we were in for more rain and flooding this week, but mercifully, it only rained through Tuesday. I'm learning to accept that rainy days will be the rule and sunny days will be the exception, but that doesn't mean I like it. Vitamin D supplements have been added to my daily cocktail, I've [regrettably] figured out the best way to clean mold, and I've had to accept that no matter how much I run my heater and bathroom fan, our towels will still smell faintly of mildew. All of that being said, Oregon feels more and more like home everyday.
On that note--WE MADE FRIENDS LAST WEEK! After church shopping all throughout the fall, we found a church we really liked in Corvallis in December and finally made it to their young marrieds group last Wednesday night. I cannot say enough good things about the couples that make up that group. The large majority of couples are around our age and nearly all of them are recent Corvallis transplants (as in, relocated within the last 6-9 months). So many of them, like us, took a huge step out in faith to be here, and meeting and spending time with them has been such an encouragement to us.
Lastly, we met a little friend on our walk today. Given that we live in the beaver state, we thought we'd share a little pic of him (or her, I suppose) with you...
At first, we just thought we were being wussy San Diegans. I thought that maybe it was normal here for the rain to just keep coming down like that, and I was just being a baby about it. Not the case. I am not exaggerating when I say that we experienced a steady rainfall (never sprinkling, never pouring, but just constant, steady rain) from noon on Tuesday until noon on Thursday. And this was on top of the snow melt. The Willamette River doubled in depth from 12.5 feet to 25 feet in just 72 hours.
We have a small creek near our house next to a run/walking path that I often use. For those of you who are visual people, here's what Periwinkle Creek looks like on a normal day:
And here's what Periwinkle Creek looked like last week:
Sadly, a young mother and baby died in that creek just a few blocks from our house after their car was pulled into the rushing water via a grocery store parking lot. The forecast said we were in for more rain and flooding this week, but mercifully, it only rained through Tuesday. I'm learning to accept that rainy days will be the rule and sunny days will be the exception, but that doesn't mean I like it. Vitamin D supplements have been added to my daily cocktail, I've [regrettably] figured out the best way to clean mold, and I've had to accept that no matter how much I run my heater and bathroom fan, our towels will still smell faintly of mildew. All of that being said, Oregon feels more and more like home everyday.
On that note--WE MADE FRIENDS LAST WEEK! After church shopping all throughout the fall, we found a church we really liked in Corvallis in December and finally made it to their young marrieds group last Wednesday night. I cannot say enough good things about the couples that make up that group. The large majority of couples are around our age and nearly all of them are recent Corvallis transplants (as in, relocated within the last 6-9 months). So many of them, like us, took a huge step out in faith to be here, and meeting and spending time with them has been such an encouragement to us.
Lastly, we met a little friend on our walk today. Given that we live in the beaver state, we thought we'd share a little pic of him (or her, I suppose) with you...
Go Beavs!
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