Josh told me we were going out, so I got all ready. He blindfolded me and put me in the Trooper and we went down through the woods. I waited a bit before he took the blindfold off and when I opened my eyes I saw this.

The meadow

Oh it was so pretty.

The beautiful dinner table...complete with Olive Garden dinner

Josh and I trying to get pictures by the evening lights…kind of difficult.

I just love him

Well I must add that friday night he booked a hotel and the next day we went to Hershey Park with some of our dearest friends, so he did um…AMAZING for our first anniversary.

Shelter from the storm

It started Friday at 9:45am, February 5th. It finished February 6th at 4:00pm. That is over a day and a half of constant snowfall. It was around 3 feet in places, because of drifting and winds. We are thankful to have power and be able to go out and enjoy the snow. Our road hasn’t been plowed as of yet, it still has 2ft of snow on it.

Our Mailbox

Today I went out and explored with my camera and tried to capture the depth of this record-setting storm. I am very sure most Northern Virginia residents will remember this storm for a very long time.

Hunting Ridge Rd., still not plowed

Hunting Ridge Retreat

We will be getting more snow Tuesday so I hope we can get out before then. Thank you Jesus for this beautiful snow.

All the rain and snow have made Hunting Ridge a mud hole. Hog Creek is higher than normal, although still lower than a few days ago. Josh and I took a few pictures while checking out the water level.

Hog Creek

I love him so much.

Our first venue was Winchester’s SPCA, a thrift store that supports the animal SPCA shelter in town. Now I’ve been here before and found a few items, but today, Jamie showed me how to really see. You could call my thrift shopping style “browsing”, but Jamie could be described as “hunter” and she fulfills every bit of that word.

While I browsed and glanced past the linen section, house wares, clothing, and books, Jamie dug into the piles of fabrics and linens, made comments and observations on numerous dishes and came out of the SPCA with amazing finds. I’ll let her tell you about what she found at her blog (http://juliaspoppies.com/blog/2010/02/02/thrifting-doggies/). I will mention I came out with Billy’s Boot Camp “8 Minute Supercharge Cardio” DVD and a sweet silver ring.

Billy Blanks DvD...$3

Other stops on our adventure included the local Salvation Army Thrift Store and the Hospice Thrift Store where Jamie continued to search and did find linens and craft supplies galore. Personally, I searched in the furniture section the most. I am looking for a small table/chief’s block accent for my kitchen. It needs to have little and have character, preferably an older look. Well I didn’t find my accent table, but I did find a blue trunk in great shape for $10. Josh might build a platform and make it into a coffee table. I’ll put up pictures if that happens.

Old & New Apron $2

the fabric

A pair of summer shoes completed my purchases at the Salvation Army, and yellow flower printed apron for $2 was found at the Hospice thrift shop.

Lesson of the day: Dig, don’t just glance. If I’m looking for fabric, physically move stuff around, there just might be a treasure buried under that old bedspread!

Thanks Jamie for a spontaneous afternoon and great company!

My $10 trunk

Our first Christmas as a couple was absolutely wonderful! We started out by traveling to Ohio to have pre-Christmas there with my family and cousins. Its always crazy and now that we are older, even more wild, but fun.

Lust living room all ready for Christmas morning

Christmas eve we left and traveled to Josh’s home in Greenville, MI. Their Christmas eve tradition was to exchange gifts to the siblings and open Christmas pajamas from his parents. Josh and I both got Ralph Lauren pjs which were so cute.

Then we ate a huge meal and watched a movie. Come to think of it, I don’t know if we did watch a movie. Christmas morning started off early with stockings and then continued around 12pm with gifts and then a brunch around 3pm. A drawn out Christmas was nice because we enjoyed the day was making it last longer.

First Christmas together

Thought I’d include a pic of creativity, although I don’t consider myself very creative, Josh and I put this together for Sue’s gift.  He cut down the tree, bored out the holes and I finished the rest. I think she liked it! (Well if anything, it made the table while we were there).

Mom's Christmas gift

A few pics in here from our huge snow fall (over 2 ft in 12 hrs….almost a record here).

the pond

open field

Our first thanksgiving...married that is

There was both Josh and my families at our house, huge amounts of food and desserts, an incredibly intense game of football, a game of spoons, talking to Jamie over skype, and a game of signs. Seriously I couldn’t ask for more. We ate at the pavilion so needless to say we were a little chilled but you know, bundle up and suck it up was understood. Here’s a couple pics to explain

Thanksgiving outside by the fire

The football game was Wyckoff’s vs. Lusts and despite being neck and neck the unexpected Lusts showed up and took the victory. Unfortunately, according to Dad Lust, bragging rights weren’t allowed this year because the Wyckoff’s were down one due to Sam’s knee. But just cause he said that doesn’t mean I’m not going to brag. WE WERE AWESOME!! Ok, got that off my chest.

Spending time with all my sisters (I now have 7) was sweet, especially when the twins were cracking us up…”And we Laughed!” Inside joke.

shooting skeet

Shooting skeet, more football, the book game, catch phrase and movies filled in the rest of the time everyone was here. I loved it and hope everyone comes again. Seriously.

Hunting Ridge

It’s been six months since Josh started living in Winchester, Virginia and working at Hunting Ridge Retreat, and only 5 for me.  Many of our family and friends have asked questions of where we lived and worked so here are a few details & pictures.

Pretend with me that you were coming to visit (which we would love because we live out in the boondocks).
You are finally arriving and starting the drive down our mile driveway.

half way down the driveway

At first you would drive through woods, but after a hundred yards,
the retreat property opens up to vast fields, complete with two fishing ponds
and the main buildings.

As you continue to drive, on the right you’ll see the pavilion complete with a fireplace inside. Basketball and sand volleyball courts are next in line before our wonderful pool. During the summer neighbors, church members, and Winchester residents use our pool in addition to our camp guests. Surprisingly, the pool stays rather calm, nothing compared to the city pools, which makes it a nice getaway.

Church groups and company picnics occupy this during warm weather

complete with a snack shack!

The next part includes a very nice outdoor gazebo, screened in so no bees attack. Finally you part in one of our twenty parking spaces, get out of your car and walk towards the best part: the lodge. The lodge is where I work, most of the time. The kitchen, break room, restrooms, lodge dining area and fireplace make up the lodge. During the summer, I usually serve seventy people a day and during the off season I serve smaller groups on the weekends. I’ve learned a ton about food safety, prep and service which I really enjoy now.

Where all the food is served, and other stuff too!

Next on the list would be the cabins. Each cabin holds up to 10 people, bunk bed style.  Josh and I clean them during the off season, so we love the summer when other help cleans.  There are 8 of these cabins, so feel free to call us up to book your next family

8 cabins that hold ten people each. Do the math, thats how many can stay.

vacation, ha, just kidding, but you could…

Our house sits to the side of the lodge. We have three bedrooms, a kitchen, and living room. Its way more than enough space for us and have taken some time to paint it this   fall.

This is to the right of the house, everything is in a big circle.

The chapel building sits adjacent to our house and includes an organ and piano. Groups sometimes use this building during their stay.

the living quarters

Now that you’ve scene all these wonderful buildings, you must be wondering who takes care of the maintenance, lawn care, and countless other unexpected projects. Answer: Josh, and he’s awesome at it. He works almost everyday on retreat stuff, not to mention his tech work on the website. He’s awesome, what can I say.

Alright, lastly, we have an awesome amount of woods area behind the cabins which we use all the time for hunting, off-roading and trail hiking.

On a hike ...down by the river

Well, there it is, our life in a nutshell. Besides the retreat we are currently serving as Young Life leaders in the area, are apart of a community group at our church, and starting to make friends. Jesus has greatly blessed our lives!

One more pic..

We are so blessed to be here



It all started with two Craig list ads and a couple days off. We’d been looking for 2 cheap dirt bikes so when we saw the ads, we packed up the truck with our camping gear (we had already been planning to camp) and headed south. The bikes were old, (and when I say old, I mean ancient) but Josh has the drive for things like fix-up jobs, so we bought them both and headed to the George Washington National Forest. It was dark by the time we reached our campsite at Elizabeth’s Furnace. To our dismay, the surrounding woods had literally been picked over leaving hardly any wood. Josh started a fire- small, yet enough to cook our smoked sausage. The flames went out soon after dinner and we went to bed.

You should probably know that for years growing up I told my parents that they always over packed for camping trips and that it wasn’t really camping. Well my dear parents, I wish I was a little more like you this trip because we froze the whole night!

After breakfast we headed up to a hiking spot called The Signal Knob Trail. We hiked upward for 3 miles witnessing beautiful scenes of the valley and other mountain ridges.
Upon arriving back at our campsite, as Josh started the fire, I couldn’t help but feel chilly already. I thought and then spoke the words, “Are you sure you want to stay tonight?” Josh agreed that home sounded amazing compared to suffering another night just for toughin it out’s sake.

Warm sleeping bags, firewood and cooking utensils will all be coming with us next trip

Not all wildlife is torturous around us though. Josh caught this lizard taking a sun bath in our waterless baby pool. Full of lush orange color, he’s truly an impressive creature to look at.  Now for the fawn. He is one of two little fawns that visit us everyday, sometimes night, in our backyard. They are like our own little Bambie’s watching out for our grass. Personal lawnmowers. Of course they mowed our garden for us to, free of charge (unfortunately).

Witnessing all the creative flying, creeping, running creatures we have here, how could anyone say there is not a God? Something can’t just be created there has to be a designer. Our designer rocks!