Happy New Year

I can't believe the whole month of December went by without a post... wow.

The Hawaii vacation was fabulous. I only got a little sunburned, and no peeling. I'll find the cord for the camera soon. Speaking of finding things, our move to Illinois has happened too.

We left Salem on Dec. 26th and headed south to Vacaville to stay the night with my brother's family. Buddy tried to drown himself in the pool (he's mostly blind and blundered into it in the dark), but we found him in time. The water was so cold, and he doesn't swim well. He was very happy to be held and dried, and then snuggle on the bed with us. No lasting effects.. except he is more cautious about stepping where the ground changes.. like from grass to cement, or tile to carpet.

Saturday, Dec. 27, we left Vacaville at 7am and drove south toward Bakersfield. We had one small adventure in that following the GPS unit (Rhoda) took us off I-5, across the freeway, down a local road for 2-3 miles, back across the freeway, down another road for 4-5 miles, and then back on the freeway. There was no construction, nothing to avoid... we just followed instructions. We could see I-5 all the time and kept thinking there was a point to the detour... but there wasn't.

At Bakersfield we finally turned east and went across the Mojave desert. There was quite a bit of traffic, but even more was headed the opposite way. Very uneventful... and quite chilly. I've only been through the Mojave a couple of times that I remember and this was the first time in the winter. We had one stop for gas where I had to wait in line for 30 minutes for the ladies room. No one in line was happy about that. We arrived in Kingman, Arizona at about 7:30pm... a long day.

Sunday, Dec. 28th, we slept in later and reaaranged the van contents quite a bit. It helped a lot to be able to see where things were and reach what we wanted. We drove due east and crossed Arizona and New Mexico that day. The weather was cold and sunny. We crossed the Continental Divide at 7,330 feet. We stopped in Tucumcari, NM for the night. Sunday's drive was only about 10 hours.

Monday, Dec. 29th, we left early and thought we would grab a quick bite of breakfast on our way out of town, or maybe at the next exit. However, we kept driving and driving and there was nothing! We crossed the New Mexico/Texas border and it was more desolate than the Mojave. The best thing about this part of the drive is that we were seeing amazing high-desert landscape. Several places reminded us of the cliff scenes in the movie Cars... the bluffs really did look like the fronts of old cars. We stopped briefly at the Petrified Forest National Park because Mike had never seen it. By the time we stopped in Amarillo, Texas, it was long past breakfast. After Texas was Oklahoma, and on to Oklahoma City, finally turning northeast toward Tulsa and then Missouri. We stayed in Springfield, MO on Monday night. Kudos to La Quinta hotel because they don't charge up-front for small pets.

Tuesday, Dec. 30th, was the final stretch. Our goal was to get to Bloomington by afternoon so we could pick up the keys to our new apartment. We made it by 3:00, and were at our apartment by 4:00pm. It's nice, fairly large and very beige. Everything is a neutral color. We went to Walmart for a few necessities, like a shower curtain and something to sit on, and some groceries. The only glitches we found were that the toilet leaks in one bathroom, and the tub drain doesn't work in the other bathroom. The tub drain shouldn't be too hard to fix... back to Walmart for some Drano.

New Year's Eve was very quiet and uneventful. We stayed up until midnight watching movies on the computer... and then I couldn't sleep. I stayed up until 2:37 this morning... reading by the fire in the living room. Life is good... our household goods get delivered tomorrow (Friday) so we'll have the weekend to get organized.

I'll post more soon with more thoughts and less facts.

Adoption Announcement

Join us in prayers of praise and thanksgiving!!

Our petition for the stepparent adoption of Brandon Michael has been granted by the State of Oregon. Dawn is now his legal mother, just as if he was physically born to us.

Not knowing his biological mother, at age 5 Brandon gave me his trust and love. We explained that when people are added to a family, God doesn’t let us lessen the love for people already in our lives, but instead gives us a new piece to add to our heart as the new person is integrated into our life.

Vital Statistics:
Age: 12 years, 7 months
Height: 5 ft. 2 in.
Weight: 93 lbs.

Our family is complete!

Time Warp

Countdown Status:

- 48 days until I start work in Bloomington

- 37 days until Christmas

- 25 days until we leave for Hawaii

- 9 days until Thanksgiving

It's getting closer and closer! I am not entirely past the anxiety, but I am now able to adjust my focus away from the negative things, and think about packing for Hawaii. Looking around the house, it doesn't feel like we're getting ready to move. Very few things are in boxes in the garage. Closets & drawers are still loaded. We are eating up some stuff out of the freezers and I haven't done a big fall stock-up of non-perishables for the winter. I think this weekend will be the time to get the rest of the summer clothes sorted, some packed for Hawaii, and some just packed away.

My brother and I have both decided that we don't care about activities and sight-seeing in Hawaii. We will both be content just sitting on a beach, staring at the ocean.

Just a quick one

Countdown Status:
- 60 days until I start work in Bloomington
- 49 days until Christmas
- 38 days until we leave for Hawaii
- 22 days until Thanksgiving

Whew! Our fact-finding trip to Illinois was fruitful. It is a very stereo-typical Midwest college town. There is very little change in the landscape. Can't wait to see the seasons change there. Met some of Mike's extended family, that he hasn't seen for almost 25 years.

I have found myself mentally divorcing (?), detaching myself from Salem. I supposed its a coping mechanism for all the change. We'll definitely have a place for our belongings.

Please pray for the sale of our house. I find myself repeating to God, "Lord I believe, help my unbelief." I want to trust God's timing, but now that we have less than 8 weeks to be there, it's becoming apparent that only he can work a miracle to sell our house and have it be an appropriate amount of money that we need.

I'll be back soon!

Lame Duck

I'm rapidly becoming a lame duck at work. There just isn't as much to do here.

The countdown is as follows:

- 74 days to Jan. 5 to begin the new position in Illinois

- 63 days until Christmas

- 51 days until we leave for Hawaii

- 7 days until Mike & I had for Illinois on an apartment-finding mission

Seth asked me this morning "When do you have another school week?" - meaning a really busy week at work with lots of trainees, etc. I've had about 10 per year for the last 6 years... and the last one was in September... and it was the last one here in Oregon.

I will have a couple of 2-day and 3-day groups in November. Probably will have jury duty in the last half of November, then two weeks to pack up the office (will probably only take a couple of days). Ho hum... what to do.... I guess it's time for some hot chocolate this morning. Toodles.

Fall Equinox

I am breathing cool autumn air this morning... what a relief from the heat of summer. Doesn't this picture just invite you to wander down the road?

I'm watching the boys do yardwork; sprucing up the lawn & edges for an open house tomorrow. My family is in the midst of what could be turmoil with a job transfer coming at Christmas, moving 2100 miles away from home, house for sale and the chore of keeping it "perfect" every day. But as I read each Caring Bridge update for Darian, Chance, and others am reminded that we are so blessed with physical health.

The Lord gave me this job 7 years ago and has continued to amaze us through it. I had a very stressful week at work with a training school and survivied it with mental health intact. I'm looking forward to a quiet weekend with my boys. Mike has Sunday off work so the four of us will have a wonderful family day.

For Sale

Whew! The anticipation is over... the house is officially "on the market." Sign went into the front yard on Tuesday. I like some of the pictures the realtor took, but I think I could do better. I'm going to take more pictures tonight and will try to upload them from Seth's laptop (which of course doesn't have the camera software).

It's just Mike and I this week. Brando is at the coast with a friend's family and Seth is with his dad. We'll have to find something fun to do in the evenings... besides washing windows, painting baseboards, etc. Now the true wait begins... trusting God's timing for the sale, praying for the potential buyers, keeping the house perfect every day, etc. With the house this clean I find myself wanting to drag out projects to work on... which would make large messes, so my goal for the week is to play the piano at least 30 minutes each day and read for at least 1 hour uninterrupted. Such luxury!