Settling In

It's been quite some time since our last update. Our apologies to those few faithful who check in regularly.

Just wanted to show a bit of the fun the family has been having. We joined the YMCA here near us. It's right across the street from where John works (EDS, now) and we like to go over and meet him there. He gets off at 3pm, so it's generally not very busy there yet. David and Zach took a cardio training class and are now allowed to use the cardio equipment in the work out areas. John, David and myself have taken a belay class and are getting certified to belay for the rock climbing wall that is also there. Of all this, the boys still favorite thing to do is...SWIM! They love the slide most of all.
Of course this means Mom also has to get into a bthing suit and join them. Not that I don't need the exercise, but the swimsuit I'm not too thrilled over...

Here's David!

And Zach!


Alex was the only one to do the diving board!


At home, we have been having fun with Midnight, our pet rabbit. He is a good lop-earred bunny and rarely poos on our floor and NEVER on a person. We let him run around on the floor while we play and pet him. The evening in the photos was 3 nights ago. The boys made a gymnasium "house" for him to play in and on. Mostly, he just liked it on the floor!

Here is one of the builders on ground level.

And here is the king of the hill...

And then us playing...


David and Midnight, and Midnight and Midnight....


Other than these things, we have been active with church stuff. We took over leading our small group when our leader needed a break. Also, we are active in the children's ministry on Wednesday nights, greeting occasionally, working in the food pantry as team leaders and generally enjoying our new church. John is working closely with the men's ministry leader to help there (without leading anything himself!), and I am taking David to a Painting Extravaganza on Saturday morning. The church has a fine arts ministry, and this Saturday they are instructing different painting venues and we will get to paint using 2 of them!

John's knee has been bugging him a lot lately. He has an appointment with an orthopedic doctor on Wednesday at 2pm. Keep him in your prayers, as we really don't want surgery to be necessary. Right now, it looks probable.

Hope all is well with you!

TTYL,
Steph

A New Year

So - when life gets a little busier I get worse at this updating thing. Come on now - is that really a surprise to anyone??

OK - let's get caught up on things. Christmas was good! A nice relaxing day at home just being a family and playing games together!



Then I got a job. Just a temporary one until the permanent one comes along! But a fun one nonetheless! I work the day shift at Bogus Basin Mountain Resort running the Coach lift (the bunny hill!) It's a decent job that pays a few dollars but also includes some killer benefits - like a season's pass for the whole family as well as lessons for all of us! When we lived in Virginia, we used to drive 4 hours to get to a mountain like this!! Now it's less than an hour away. Truth be told this is exactly what I wanted to be doing this winter!





Yes - this is me on a trail called Widowmaker!



I can even take the boys to work with me through the week if they want to go. This last Tuesday, Zach went along with me and I remembered to take the camera with me! If you look closely in this next picture you can almost see our jeep parked behind the white concrete block building that houses the timeclock I use.




They also have something here called an inversion which is when a weather system parks over the valley and kind of stays here. The mountaintops are warmer then the valley then - and it's cloudy and kind of crummy here when it happens. But then you drive up the mountain and can't see the city down below :




So then we come to the other recent issues (all without pictures!) - REAL employment and one other 'little thing'. On the job front, I have the opportunity to work for EDS doing helpdesk support for the Marine Corp. It doesn't pay as much as I'd like but it has great benefits from day one as well as provides a gov't security clearance. The job I really want (I think!) is at Boise State University doing mac support and I interview for that on Thursday the 19th. It pays better and I think I would enjoy it a lot more. We'll see what happens. I would appreciate your prayers on these positions!

The other 'little thing' is that I messed up my knee on Wednesday. It was supposed to be an incredible powder morning so I went up the mountain on my day off to play and get a lesson myself! The good stuff wasn't quite there as the weathermen had promised - but it was still better than what I'd ridden east coast! On one particular long intermediate run there were several large snow drifts. In a row. They caused me to go airborne. By the third drift, I wasn't exactly in great control anymore. I was heading towards some rocks on my left - and managed to hit them in such a way that it was just a glancing blow on the bottom of my board. I fell into the drift - unurt!! I felt the bottom of my board and it had some scrapes in it that would need some repair - but otherwise seemed ok. Shortly later though - while riding between some trees in a gully - I caught an edge - flipped up in the air and came down hard on the inside of my right knee. Exquisite pain gripped me - and wouldn't let go!! I sat there for at least 10 minutes and praised God that it wasn't worse. I had several inches of soft snow under me - and no bones poking out of my skin!!! I was able to shakily ride down the rest of the trail (how - I'm not sure) and make it to the Jeep. There I noticed a significant divet out of the toeside edge of my board. Apparently it had gotten crunched a little worse than I thought on those rocks. It caused the board to grab on a turn rather than glide and that caused my wipeout. At this point I believe it to be more of a sprain than a soft tissue tear - but I'm going to see a doctor in the morning. We'll just have to see what he says! I have some mobility - It's actually been improving today - I can get around without crutches at the moment. Everbody enjoys making fun of my limping - but it's all ok!

Anyway - everybody here is in good health (really) and things are well. There's always more to tell - but it will have to wait until next time!!

John

David is 12!

Just a few photos to share of David's most recent accompliment. He has lived to become twelve! (And we thank God for that daily!) It seems not that long ago he was toddling around sucking on his pacifier and trying to talk everyone's ears off even with it in his mouth. The only thing really changed is the pacifier is gone-- he still loves to chatter!

He decided to have a joint birthday party with Alec, a new friend of his from church who's birthday is the 12th. Alec spent the night Friday night, then Saturday they had some friends here to watch Star Wars in our theatre and have a ball. Below are a few pictures of the fun!

David received his gift from us on Thursday evening. Daddy just couldn't wait a day longer...


Before the cake, they had a blast playing Star Wars in the house.


David was a fearless leader...




The cake and the party boys.



Then came gift time!






Here are a couple of group shots. The only girl besides the moms is Alec's sister. Alec is the one next to David on his right (orange shirt).



Hope you enjoyed a little bit of the fun you can tell they were having! I am sure we will update again in the not too distant future, so stay tuned...

A few recent pics

The job hunt is still going. But God is good and we are not starving! Here are some pics of a trip we took into the mountains while John's parents and grandmother were visiting. All the way north to McCall we followed a river. We stopped to throw snowballs and take a few pictures. In McCall, there was a lot more snow and a gorgeous mountain view over the lake. Enjoy!

OK - I've been neglectful (Long Post)

It's been a while since I posted. I know that. I mean to do better. Honestly!

Let's go backwards in time to fill in some blanks here. The last post was from Steph posting pics of our new place. I was in Virginia to get our stuff from storage. Let's pick up the narrative from there. Alex and I flew out of Boise Monday night to San Francisco as a 3 hour layover for our red-eye flight to DC. He loved his first ever trip in an airplane and was excited to go to California. Unfortunately it was dark when we arrived in the city by the bay. We were able to look out over the ocean during our approach and see som fading sunset colors - but most of the view was the lights in the city. I had been told to not leave the airport - that a 3 hour layover wasn't enough time to go anywhere and get back for a flight so we stayed put and sat down at a pub for dinner. We watched the MNF game and tried to relax. Alex started feeling sick and was missing mommy. He didn't want to get on the plane and actually sat down and cried at the gate. The gate attendant was wonderful and offerred to let us take a flight the next morning - but we had someone scheduled to pick us up in the morning at BWI and he was going out of town that afternoon. So I prodded and got him on the plane. 15 minutes later he was feeling better and told me thanks for pushing him on. Whew!! Big relief on my part!!

We got in to Fredericksburg and checked in with a few people and then waited on the truck to arrive. Carolyn, Ariel, and Elizabeth arrived to help get things loaded and they were an incredible help. We got boxes loaded in the front of the truck and had it packed from floor to ceiling! Michael and Darryl came after work to help get big stuff loaded. We got most of the furniture loaded and then called it a night. I picked Alex up at Timmy's house (wow - were they excited to get a play day together!) and then headed to Michaels house to spend the night. Thanks again to Michael and Alicia for putting us up for two nights! The next day, Carolyn brought her kids back again - this time including Solomon who is an incredible worker. Mark came to help out after a funeral he had to attend and together we got everything loaded by 6:15 PM. Almost everything fit - and Carolyn was happy to have our leftovers. We prioritized what got loaded and it worked well. I took them to dinner to say thanks and we enjoyed hot wings at BW3.

Thursday we left for Dayton - to have a birthday party for Alex with family and get some rest before the LONG drive on to Boise! The van started acting funny as I got off the highway to go to my inlaws - I figured to check on it in the morning before I left. We had a good time with grandparents, uncles and a friend. The next mornign, I asked my father-in-law to test drive the van and see what he thought was wrong. It wouldn't go into reverse!! Finally it did - and then showed it's true colors - only having 2nd gear available. I took it into a Dodge dealer to get the transmission checked and sure enough - it needed replaced. Fortunately it was under warranty - 18 months ago we had put a new transmission in. So I was stuck in Dayton. Well not really stuck - all our family and several friends are still there so I made good use of the downtime. When the van got fixed and I was preparing to leave, my parents said that if I would wait two more days that they would go with. Cool - that meant 3 drivers for 2 vehicles on a long haul. So on Thursday morning we all headed out (mom, dad, grandma, Alex and myself) We arrived in Boise Saturday evening about 2 hours after the friends that helped Stephanie unload the truck had left. Everything was in the house and garage - now the long task of setup could begin.That night we set up a few beds and then crashed for the night. It had been a long few days - but it was good to be home!!

We spent the next week setting up the house - by Wednesday we were able to pull both vehicles into the garage! Things have been progressing more slowly now - but it's getting done! My dad has been off of work for the last year due to surgeries on his knees - he's had both of them replaced. A day before the first surgery he received notice that he was being laid-off from his 16 year job at Panasonic - but it wouldn't take effect until he returned from short term disability of the surgery. Anyway - he has decided that he really likes it here in the west and is looking for work here now. Dayton's economy is going down the tubes now because of companies like Delphi and Panansonic and others. So it makes sense to look for work someplace where the economy is growing! We're excited about the prospects too. Could be a good thing. So they are still here (they're staying in the RV) for a few more days at least while dad sends out resumes and tries to get interviews.

I have sent out nearly 100 resumes and have specifically applied for a few positions - nothing has come of it yet. God will take care of us - I know that! It's just a matter of how! Anyway that kind of brings you up to date on what's going on in our lives! I'll get Steph to post some more pictures in the next few days!

John

As promised: A Virtual Tour

I won't be overly wordy here. This is simply to show you a few pics of our rental home. It is still quite empty, so bear with me-- and use a little imagination!

First, we'll begin out front. Here is a picture straight on from the cul-de-sac.


This one is from our neighbor's driveway so you can clearly see how to get to the door.


Here is a picture of what it will look like when you walk up to ring our doorbell!


Inside, this is the entryway and front living room. I love the bay windows!


Straight back from the entry, you look directly through the house to the back door and dining room!


From there, if you walk past the partial wall that divides the living room and kitchen, you can clearly see we got a lot more cupboard and counter space than we had! The boys SO enjoy having to do their schoolwork here...



If you notice, you can see the pantry door open on the far left side of this picture. It is incredibly nice to have the pantry. I hardly know what to do with all my cupboard space! BTW- Zach is now hiding behind the counter!


Going through the door off the dining room, you enter what we affectionately call our theatre room. Notice the aforementioned 30 thousand dollar screen and the wonderful makeshift media center...




Going into the room and turning right, you first come across the fourth bedroom, which of course we aren't using as a bedroom. It is going to be our office/school room. Notice how the clutter has already begun?


On your left down the hall a few paces further is the door to our downstairs bathroom.


Through a door at the end of the hall, you then enter the laundry room. In it now resides a brand new washer and dryer compliments of my darling husband.


Lest I forget, I will also show you the great "back-doors." (Yes, I know I am not really funny, but if not for poor attempts like this one, this post would be WAY dull!)




As an afterthought, I figured you might want to see the view from my back door. See how easy shopping is for us. Oh and banking is just a stone's throw away...




I did not take photos of the upstairs rooms, as they are empty shells of what they will be. It really is hard to gain perspective from 4 empty white walls. When furniture arrives next week, I'll be happy to show it off. Till then...

Ta-Ta!

PS- Hi honey, I miss you!