Christmas Update 2012

Christmas Card Photo

Aloha from sunny San Diego!

Merry Christmas to all those we love and cherish so much! We hope this greeting finds you all well this holiday season and pray that God continues to bless you all with his unending love.

We wanted to write and give everyone a little update on the crazy and exciting events that have taken place in our lives this year!

As most of you know either from facebook pictures or word of mouth we were fortunate to buy a new boat at the beginning of the year, Coconutz! She is a 1991 Falmouth Cutter designed by the late Lyle Hess, a brilliant craftsman and world renowned boat designer. We had walked past her daily stopping to admiring her beautiful seaworthy lines and adventurous attributes. We fell in love and on April 17th she became a permanent part of our life and our new home at 22 feet on deck!

As you can imagine she was not ready to sail right away, but with new head sails, repair to the bowsprit, new bottom paint and running rigging hand spliced by Eric she was ready to go! October we embarked on our first ‘shake down’ cruise to Santa Catalina Island. We were excited to finally be out in the open water after months of preparation. It was surreal sailing away from land into total darkness the night we left, but we were soon greeted by a pod of energetic dolphins playing in the biol-luminescent algae on the bow of Coconutz! We loved everything about Catalina and the other cruising folks we me there! We had a blast hiking, snorkeling and exploring the island!

We can’t wait to plan our next trip and adventure. We are hoping to leave long term in the next two years if it’s in God’s will. Eric can’t wait to use photography to capture thought provoking images from abroad and use them to stir other heart’s to action for a cause greater than themselves. I am hoping to use the skills I have been learning as a RN to bring first aid and health education to impoverished people in need. At this time our plans are to first travel south to Mexico and continue on from there where we feel the need is most great. We would love to one day see fleets of sailboats bringing aid and assistance to coastal cities devastated by disasters.

As for right now we are having a great time living hear in San Diego, and learning more and more about sailing, cruising and living simply! We love visitors so anytime come out and see us and we’ll go beaching it and sailing! We love you all so very much and so happy God has blessed us with the family and friends we have! Thank you all for being so supportive and for the showing of prayers I know we receive daily!

Grace and Peace,

Eric, Jaime, JazzMan, and Coconutz