Two big answers to prayer

First, our friends the Mellsen's have arrived safely back home after two years in Pakistan. We are thankful for their safe journey and for the time they'll have this summer with family and friends. Praise the Lord!!!

Second, our prayers regarding what to do when our lease here is up have been answered as well. We found a place we liked, made an offer and it got accepted. So, come August we'll be moving again. We are excited and a little overwhelmed. These are some of the listing pictures and some pictures that Ralph took during the inspection phase. It's still filled with the current owners stuff, so you'll have to imagine it with our stuff for now. Hope to have a housewarming once we are settled in.

Exterior, double car garage, corner lot, in a 55 plus community!



The big window wall is on the left from the front door.



The wall opposite the front door:



To the right of the front door, the little windows and door are to the breakfast nook.



The breakfast nook, from the living room side looking to the kitchen. They are using it as an office, not sure what we'll do with it.



The dining room.



The kitchen, taken from the dining room, it wraps around to the right and goes to the breakfast nook.



The master bedroom.



Master bath.



Plus there's a second bedroom and bath down the hall. There's a tiny little patio and yard hidden away in the back, you'd never know it was even there. And the patio is covered, so we'll be able to use it even when the weather isn't so nice.






The garage has two workbenches too, this one being the nicest of the two.



We are THANKFUL for answered prayer!! Praise the Lord.

Ahhhhh, Juneuary!

Yep, Juneuary. A local news person coined that phrase it describes our crummy spring weather, which is persisting. We still have lots and lots of cloudy, cool and yes RAINY days. We struggle to get into the 50s each day and dip into the low 40s at night.

Still have the flannel sheets on the bed, latest ever that's ever happened. Still wearing the winter outfits much of the time, but I did finally shed my winter coat in attempt to try to get acclimated to the weather. Still clinging to jackets and sweaters on top of my long sleeved shirts. Mostly I'm just cold all the time.

Had 15 inches of snow at Paradise on Mt. Rainier over the weekend. 15 inches. In June. Come on!

When there is a sunny and semi-warm day we all practically swoon from the shock of it all and wander around in a daze wondering what that big bright ball in the sky is. Seriously.

So ready to be done with this and move on to warm. Even somewhat warmer. Right now I'd settle for being in the normal temperature range for this time of year, rather than consistently 10-15 degrees colder than normal.

I'm through griping for the moment. Summer, the official season, is just a couple of weeks away, maybe the sun and warmth will arrive with it. Let's all hope and pray!

BBQ with the Pena family

Tommy was home on leave from the Coast Guard, reason enough to have a party! The Pena family used to help Ralph with the youth group years ago in Graham, and all four of their kids were part of the group. They are all grown up now of course!

Tom, Kathy and grandbaby Ethan:



Tom with Ethan:



Ethan's big sister Abigale:



Melissa, Tommy, Kyle and Jeremy:



Ralph and me and Tommy. So good to get to visit a bit. Hoping he gets transferred back to the NW soon. He and his wife Jane were in Astoria for a while, but he's now in Louisiana and Jane is in Pennsylvania! They are both in the Coast Guard.

Evan's First Birthday Party

Evan is one...man did that year go by or what? Billie and TJ threw a big family party, complete with BBQ dinner to celebrate the occasion. We had a great time.

His birthday cakes, the little one was just for him! The bigger one was to share.





The presents:



Grandpa Ron and Great Uncle Ralph playing with Evan.



Billie Jo getting the cousins ready to play pin the tail on the donkey.



Grandpa had just got caught sneaking a bit of frosting to Evan...the blue evidence was on his tongue, lips and chin.

Mother's Day

We had a nice day at Greg & Darane's for Mother's Day this year...though the weather was kind of off and on. Greg grilled some chicken, Darane' steamed some king crab legs and we all contributed part of the meal. Everything from baked beans, to corn bread, to salads, to cake. Plus we had a good visit together.





Cousin Mike spent the night before and he and Savannah barely made an appearance though, it was tough to get them out of her room and the video games!!



Nick was in fine goofy form, wearing two hats



And standing on ice cubes on the deck in his bare feet pretending to be a penguin!



And my presents in pots the kids painted themselves! How nice is that?

Looking for a house...maybe

We have been looking around a bit for alternatives to staying in this house for another year. It's really too big for us, hasn't been maintained all that well in the past, has a big yard to maintain, and it cost a fortune to heat it this past winter. That last item was probably a combination of a really crummy and long winter and us trying to reacclimate after two years in sunny warm Mexico. So, options are staying where we are for another year, finding someplace smaller to rent that will be more energy efficient and have less yard to take care of or to maybe buy a place somewhere.

As far as the possibility of buying goes we have been seriously looking at over 55 manufactured home communities around here. No laughing here!! Greg thought it was a great idea because it just means less he'll have to do when we are old and decrepit!! (Kidding) But our reasoning is we don't want to go deeply in debt because I would like to retire in 5 years or so and Ralph is already retired so this makes sense on a lot of levels. We also want to be able to lock it up for a couple of months a year and head to a warmer climate to thaw out during those colder months. So, security is also an issue, having other folks around to keep an eye out, etc.

We've been poking around for a few weeks now and have pretty much discovered 3-4 parks that would be nice and even a few homes in those parks that we are interested in and could afford, but we have to wait until we are closer to our lease being up...it will be a nifty ballet of making an offer and getting it accepted, then getting accepted by the park, then taking care of the financing (already got that pre-approved and waiting in the wings), closing and moving (YUK!). All that will need to take place within about a six week period if all goes smoothly!! No stress involved there.

Please keep all this in prayer if you would! Thanks.

Family resemblances

Most of you know I love researching our family histories and that I've done it off and on for over 30 years. It's been loads of fun and it's been really, really frustrating at times too. But along the way we've connected with loads of family that we didn't know and that has been a blast.

One of my grandmas was raised by another family and claimed she never really knew her real family...she shared what little bits and pieces she could remember but she was very little when she was separated from them and didn't remember much. Always drove me crazy because even with a very unique first name I could NEVER find out anything about her past no matter how hard I searched. Then I got an e-mail back in 2001 in answer to a plea I put on a message board and that message contained the text of an obituary from 1918 listing my grandmother as one of five children surviving her father!!! I was flat astonished to find that she did know her real family and was in contact with them at least at this time. She was already married and had three children by then!

So, the hunt began in earnest. I tracked things down and found that she had a total of five brothers and sisters. Brothers William, Major, Jr and Joseph and sisters Sarah and Hattie. WOW! I even tracked down some relatives of her two aunties that lived near Bellingham (so close and yet she never saw them that we knew of) but they were unconvinced of the family connection, so I finally gave up on them.

Recently, though, two of my cousins that I knew of but had no idea how to contact caught up with me and we have been having a blast since then. They have given me some very cool pictures and have cleared up one of the mysteries that I suspected but could not confirm...who my great-grandmother was!! You see, great grandpa was married at least three times that we are sure of and I wasn't quite sure where grandma fit into the family scene. Still don't know what happened to great-grandma or why grandma and her sister Sarah were not raised in the family home, so still lots of work to do but what a great blessing it has been to have at least part of the mystery solved.

Here are some great family pictures they've sent:

Great Grandma Emma Rose and Great Grandpa Major on their wedding day in 1879:



My Great Aunt Sarah and my Grandma Vernie in a composite I made plus their mom Emma Rose:



My Aunt Louise, Grandpa Alfred and Aunt Alta:



And the note that was on the back of this photo written by Grandma Vernie to Great Aunt Sarah:



My Uncle Peter, Aunt Alta and Aunt Louise, they are my grandparent's older children:



And many years later, my Uncle Major in his carriage:



Thanks Mike and Pam for sharing all of this and much more!!