What the Erf?

April 18, 2013

The Bradley Girls

Sofia, Anava, and Nili! Our Swedish/Israeli family… Sofia has 4 kids, 2 of whom have finished serving in the Israeli Army and are living in Israel and 2 who are here in Sweden with her. We had a blast staying with her and the 2 girls at their place in Eskilstuna. Being with family is always so refreshing, relaxing, and easy. Thank you, Sofia, for picking us up at the airport, making us very welcome, the good laughs, the talks, the delicious food (especially the Swedish meatballs), and for being so incredibly sweet! We love you! Huaa?

Written by Sarah in Friends!, Mom, Sweden 0 Comments

April 13, 2013

Therese

Therese and Jeb go way back. Therese was an exchange student from Sweden when Jeb was a High School senior in Oregon. They spent all their free time that winter skiing together at Mt. Bachelor. Therese also spent most days before and after school with Jeb and his sister. They ate a lot of cereal and watched Yogi Bear re-runs. We have stayed in touch all these years and the day finally arrived that Jeb “made it to Sweden”. Therese and Tobias have 3 super cute boys. Filipe 9, Jakob 7, and Oskar 4. What fun to see them here in Sweden in their home. Tak, Therese and family, for a very fun week!

Here they are from right – Therese, Jeb, Jennifer, Scott, and Carol –

Written by Sarah in Friends!, Mom 1 Comment

March 27, 2013

Sakakinis

Gilly is English. Steve is American. They met while studying French during their year of Study-Abroad in France. They now live in Old Basing, just south of London. We know them through the Grunwald Guild in Plain and their son, Aidan, is friends with Levi and Rebekah from the summers he’s spent there. Their gorgeous home and generous hospitality have been such a blessing to us! Our time here came as a much needed break in our travels. We’ve been able to push the PAUSE button on our “wandering” and go-go-go schedule. They don’t seem to care that we have been sleeping in until ungodly hours and showing utter laziness ALL day. They keep feeding us delicious food and letting us walk their sweet chocolate lab, Whistler. (Oh yeah, did I mention that they speak English in this country and that the Sakakinis shop at Costco? This is as close to home as we’ll get for the next 6 weeks.) Thank you, Steve and Gilly, for your warm welcome and letting us crash at your amazing place. It has been so wonderful. You are the best and we look forward to seeing you this summer in Plain.

Written by Sarah in England, Friends!, Mom 1 Comment

March 26, 2013

Who wants a prize from somewhere cool? Where exactly are we?

And what the heck are these 3 doing?

Basically, who can Google the fastest?

Written by Sarah in Contest!, What the Erf? 9 Comments

February 13, 2013

The Garaways

I can’t believe it has taken me so long to post this!

My awesome brother, Isaac, and his family hosted us in Israel for a bunch of weeks and then let us raid their fridge and pop in for the occasional dinner and late nights of visiting thereafter. Isaac works as head engineer at a high tech start-up so secret that we’d have to kill you if we told you what he does exactly. Frosien, his AMAZING wife runs a tight ship. She multi-tasks and accomplishes more than anyone I’ve ever met – no kidding – and is raising 4 kids at the same time. Noam, Rinah, Asjer, and Shalev are so stinking fun and cute. They speak 3 languages fluently and keep them straight to boot. We wish they lived closer!

Written by Sarah in Friends!, Mom, What the Erf? 2 Comments

January 10, 2013

The Stockers

I am pleased to introduce you to long-time friends of my mom’s, The Stockers! We finally got to meet them. You know you are going to get along great with someone if during one of your first conversations the husband quotes a line from one of your favorite movies – “Forrrr freeeeeeee?” – and then the wife offers to take you after dinner to her favorite place – a large outdoor market where everything from Goodwill and European clearance racks ends up and it all costs from 1-5 JD. Sweeeeet! Thomas, Frederica, Andreas, Lucas, and Miriam. They are Swiss-German, but have lived and worked all over the world. Awesome family! To give you an idea about them – They are the European version of the Butlers. Ha! Did I just say we were awesome?! So, as you can imagine, we talked business, life, money, children, faith, movies… Thanks, Stockers, for letting us join your family. It was FUN!

Written by Sarah in Friends!, Jordan, Mom, What the Erf? 0 Comments

January 6, 2013

Where in the World are the Butlers?

Ok, folks! We lost traction on the last erfing. We were in Malaysia, but no one was able to guess why we were there. So, here is a new one for you all. Where are we? See if you can be the winner of our 4th What the Erf?

Written by Jeb in Contest!, Jordan, The Big Dad, What the Erf? 6 Comments

December 21, 2012

The Harkins Family

12 years ago a boy named Kevin Harkins lived with us at Alpine Boys Ranch. When his parents (who work at the International Community School in Bangkok) and siblings came to visit way back then they said, “If you ever end up in Thailand, look us up.” So we did. What a HUGE blessing they were to our family. They picked us up at the airport, gave us a room of our own to use the entire time (We left our winter clothes there and a few valuables for the 5 weeks we traveled around), fed us, and made us feel completely at home. We are so glad that we had the opportunity to get to know them and their own community a bit. THANK YOU, Philip, Sheila, and Isaac! It’s your turn next to come visit us again in Plain!!!

Written by Sarah in Friends!, Mom, Thailand, What the Erf? 0 Comments

December 18, 2012

Sammy

One of Rebekah’s climbing instructors deserves some recognition. Sammy is a super outgoing, friendly Thai from way down

in the southeast of the country. He and some of his family (Sammy’s cousin Zack was also Rebekah’s instructor) came to Tonsai for the seasonal work of guiding climbing tourists. They got hooked on the climbing and never leave now, climbing for their own pleasure and skill refinement during low season. It seems Sammy’s practice is paying off. Quark is a 5.12b route on the 1-2-3 Wall in Railay. If that is Egyptian to you, here is the technical definition of 5.12b: The monkeys and spiders can’t find handholds on this route. If any of you have connections in the climbing industry, Sammy works at Basecamp Tonsai, is a great ambassador for the sport of climbing, and he would love the opportunity to climb elsewhere in the world.