Christmas Weekend

Tim and I had a wonderful Christmas weekend together. Friday night, Tim surprised me, as he was offered two free tickets to a Dinner Theatre in downtown Portland from one of his bosses, at the radio station. So, we scurried around Friday night, and got ready for an evening out. We enjoyed a 4 course meal (spaghetti/meatballs/french bread/ceasar salad/spumoni tiramisu style cake) and were entertained by a great bunch of actors. The Theatre presented "Who Stole My Dead Husband". The actors were based out of Brooklyn, and Italy...as you can imagine, it was hilarious.
On Saturday, we picked out our Corian bathroom countertop, with our friends, Kristi and McKenzie. He has graciously offered his time to us, and is installing it for free this week! Not to mention, his boss gave us the slab of Corian for free as well...wow! We bought a sink at Lowes, and found a new faucet at The Rebuilding Center for $20 bucks. We also painted our kitchen and main wall in the dining room, and Tim put my kitchen cabinet doors back on, now we just need to paint the faces of the doors, and all will be done in that room. Well, done for now...we are planning on replacing the countertops with granite tiles, and putting in stone tile in the kitchen down the road.Tim and I had a nice relaxing day yesterday; we spent some time with my side of the family, and shared gifts, and food together. Tim and I carried our own tradition out by seeing a movie on the big screen too. This year, it was The Pursuit of HappYness.It was great. We are looking forward to another 3 day weekend coming up, and plan on going snowshoeing Saturday.

Pituitary Adenoma

As promised, here's a brief update since my Dr.'s appt. on Tuesday. I have what's called a Pituitary Adenoma, more commonly called a brain tumor in the Pituitary Gland. Sounds scary, I know, but really, it sounds like everything will be allright. Allright? For some reason or another (studies have yet to conclude where these things come from!) I have this little tumor growing on the Pituitary Gland, that is secreting Prolactin into my body, essentially tricking my body into believing I'm pregnant, even though I've never been, nor am right now. So, maybe that's why I feel a little crazy sometimes! :) All joking aside though, the high level of prolactin in my body has confused and shut down some of my hormones, throwing everything out of balance. So, my Dr.'s solution (that I am having a hard with) is to put me on Bromocriptine, a low dose at first, to encapsulate the tumor, or just "turn it off", making my prolactin level return to "normal", which in turn should make my other hormones in balance once again. It sounds rather easy, if you think of it this way, though finding the right dose of this medicine is delicate, and every 8 weeks, I will be having labs done, to check my levels again. A few questions I walked in with, that I have been asked by many of you reading this include:
Is it cancerous? No, this is not cancerous, it's very rare for adenomas to become cancerous.
Will I be able to have children? Yep (at least we hope so!), according to my Dr. "everything" should return to normal within 6 months to 1 year.
Will I need to be on Bromocriptine forever? Yep, even through future pregnancies. Even when my body is working right internally again, I will still need to be taking medicine, to continue to keep the tumor isolated.

So, I think that sums it up. As homeopathic as I try to be, even my Dr. has nearly demanded I get on this medicine, simply because she doesn't want this to continue to grow, and require brain surgery down the road. So, I will fill my RX like the good girl that I am, and in the meanwhile, research like crazy, consult with naturopathic professionals, take my Shaklee supplements, and pray for God's healing hand. Tim and I thank you, blog readers, and friends alike, for your prayers and encouragement during this challenging time. We love you guys.

As far as everything else goes...things are chaotic. Moving, unpacking/remodeling/painting/working full time/etc. has been so time consuming, it's hard to believe Christmas is on Monday. Tim and I played "catch-up" last night, and realized we still need to finish our Christmas letter, that has now turned into our New Years letter, bake cookies together, and finish our Christmas shopping for each other. We plan on continuing the one tradition we've done for the past 3 years now, and see a movie on Christmas day. We are hoping to hit the mountain and do some snowshoeing as well. We are really looking forward to our 3 day weekend together. Last night, Tim and I went to Shireen's (my sweet 3 year old girl whom I've nanny'd for 2 years) Montessori School Christmas Pageant last night. It was absolutely adorable, I'll post pictures of the event one of these days. Well, Adios, Feliz Navidad and Merry Christmas!

Trees and kitties and lights, Oh My!

Well, it has been a while since I have posted a piece on here. Lately my days have been comprised of working one of my 3 jobs while looking for one of 3 more places. Part time at one place, random hours at another and whenever needed and yet one more.
But, we got a break this weekend to hunt for the perfect tree!



We originally were planning to get a permit from the National Forest Service to "go out in the wilderness and find that perfect tree", but when Heidi was sick and the recent news of James Kim, we decided not to risk the backcountry. Instead we opted for a local cut-your-own-tree farm to continue the tradition of cutting our own live tree. We headed out to Sandy near Mt. Hood (with the intent of getting a tree AND stopping by Joe's donuts). We found a place where the trees were "$5-$8" If that was cost per foot, it would be expensive. Most trees around here are between $3-$4 a foot. Anyway, we stopped in and sure enough, they were clearing out their field to have more room for the horses.

We found an 8 ft tree for $8 and a smaller Charlie Brown looking tree for our upstairs movie room for $5. But as we set out for 1 tree, and changed our minds for a second, we left with 3 trees! We remembered Grandma and thought, they would love a tree, but can't get out to get one, let's surprise them. So, for another $8, we snagged them a perfect little fir for their living room. We delivered it, set it up, shared our donuts and Heidi even came back later that evening to help decorate their new treasure. It was a great Saturday and we are now enjoying the smell of Christmas in our new little home!

Enjoy some photos from our adventure!







Snickers enjoys the lights and Emma found a cozy spot in the garland (not Judy Garland though)

More to come , so stay tuned!....


-T

Yikes!

The highlights of our week: (the good, bad and the ugly!)

1. Heidi got the stomach flu last week. Not so great of a highlight--but, thought you'd be interested anyway :) I guess I'm doomed (until my Shaklee vitamins arrive in the mail!!) when I care for 4 girls 3 and under, 2 of which are exposed to icky germs in preschool.
2. We are almost done painting our hallway and upstairs. We will finish that tonight, hopefully.
3. Heidi had her Brain MRI last week. For those of you who aren't aware, my blood test results came back recently showing my prolactin levels were elevated, and since I'm not pregnant, my Dr. suggested we do an MRI to check for a Pituitary tumor in the brain. Sounds scary, it was...it is...but things are looking good. I do have a small tumor on the Pituitary gland, and will chat more with my Dr. on the 19th about some options. Sounds like I can take medicine to shrink it, and keep it away. Though, I am researching more natural ways, as the thought of medicine isn't so intriguing.
4. Our first born, Freckles, is missing. She's been gone for over 2 weeks now, and though the Missing Cat posters are up everywhere...we've had no luck in finding her. After balling my eyes out with Tim last night, we are ready to make a memorial for her I think. Of course, we've not given up hope of her returning to us either. But, as the days pass, the more unsettled we feel. Just pray for us right now, it's a rough time without our fiesty one.
5. Tim has some new work possibilities opening up for him...another thing to pray about. I'll let him share if he'd like.

As for the future:

1. We're going snowshoeing Saturday to find our Christmas tree...you know, the real kind that you have to cut down yourself. Yeah, we live in Oregon. Enough said. :)
We'll post pictures of our crazy endeavor.

-H

A busy weekend (you can say that again....& again, & again...)

We are a little behind on posting on our blog and we have plenty of fun stories to share. First, let us share our last weekend with you.
Heidi and I want to be a blessing to others in their marriages, but since we haven't the years of experience to teach conferences or anything, we watch kids so the parents can get a way for awhile. This is one of those such experiences...





We watched Bryce, Jayden, Kynden, Adelynn, & Ellyanna. The McKenney's took a trip to the beach and we had an adventure.



The 3 girls are 11 week old triplets! (and they are very cute)



Bryce is the oldest boy and was a big help to us. (he is even a great photographer this is a shot from him...)

A Woman of few words....lately.

My title sums it up. I've been extremely busy with work (last week was a 6:45am-5pm) moving in to our new home, hosting guests for the weekend, selling tons of stuff on craigslist, and the normal more mundane things of life. It's about time you hear from the lady of the house! Okay, seriously though...life is treating Tim and I very well. Actually, it's truly all from God; His blessings are innumerable! Tim and I are all moved in, and unpacked as of a couple days ago. We just have lots of re-arranging, and organizing to do. I found two matching loveseats on craigslist yesterday that Tim and I are picking up tomorrow for our living room. My kitchen is completely unpacked, and I have successfully made a few dinners in it already. I am loving all of the cabinet space! Miraculously, Tim and I have consolidated our office stuff from one entire bedroom down to one tiny closet in our hallway. We are both excited to have our 2nd bedroom be a movie-family room.On a funny note, (and somewhat irritating at times) Freckles found herself up on our roof outside in the pouring rain, and windy conditions last night. After Tim fretted about what to do, and yes, he did fret...he climbed outside our bedroom window, hanging on for dear life, and was able to grab Freckles by her neck and yank her in our bedroom. She growled, hissed, etc. but is thankfully safe, dry, and as fiesty as ever once again. Our sweet Snickers has been vomitting up his food lately, so I took him to the Dr. today, only to find out that he's eating too fast, too much, and needs to take life a bit slower these days. So, we have to feed him on a schedule, four small feedings a day. Can you believe it? I think the funniest thing about all of this is that the moment I let Snickies out of his carrier, he ran for his food bowl. What a fatty! (that's Tim and I's new nickname for him). He weighed in at 12.5lbs. today. Time for him to jump on the treadmill and run a few laps.
Tim and I are doing great. We are looking forward to taking care of triplet girls (11 weeks old) and their two brothers, 3 and 6 years. Their parents need a break, so Tim and I are watching them all Saturday morning until Sunday evening. We are really excited. Time to get our baby fix that will carry us through another 5 years hopefully! :) Anyway, we'll post pics of our exciting weekend next week when we catch up on our rest. For now, here are a few pics I thought you'd enjoy.
-H

Too Long!

Man it has been too long since we have updated our blog. We wanted to keep everyone up to date with the home buying and move, but the lack of internet and the increase of boxes cluttering the house, we haven't blogged. We are officially moved in, we have unpacked most all of our boxes and have the house sort of set up. We were hoping to have more unpacked at this time, but we needed to clean up some things before we could actually unpack.

Here are a few photos to share. We decided to paint the kitchen cabinets since they were gross and somewhat UGLY!
Here is the kitchen when we first moved in:



Here is the kitchen after I put some Kilz primer on it:



Here is the final product (without the cabinet doors put back on yet) and Heidi showing her muscles!



I hope all is well with you, we will post more photos and tell more stories later, so come back again!

-T

Welcome Home!

We have our Keys!



Our Realtor Tim Sellers (just incase you're looking for someone to help you find a place)



Our first visitors! Aaron & Christine Penuel and little Daylynn came to climb our stairs.

Tomorrow 8am we will load up truck and haul our goods over! We'll hopefully be done by 1pm. Then the unpacking will begin.
Also, Praise God for his soverign plan. We were really not wanting to leave our duplex because we have such great landlords, but there is nothing like owning our own home too. We will miss them terribly, but are looking forward to painting and re-styling our new place.

More later when we get a break!

-T

Happy Halloween!

Just wanted to say Happy Halloween a day late to all of you trick-or-treaters...adults and kids alike! Unfortunately, Tim and I didn't have the opportunity or the time to snag some free candy last night, due to acquiring the keys to our new home! We spent last evening prepping, cleaning, eating pizza, and looking at paint color samples in our new home. We are excited to be first time home buyers! :) Okay, on a sad note, our computer adaptor cord nearly blew up last night on our laptop, so we ordered a new one, and have no idea when it will arrive. So, we can't post any pictures, since our computer has no battery life left...so, until then, it's just plain old text for now. We will post pics as soon as we can of our new place, etc. Tim and I are continuing to clean today and prep the walls for them to be painted tomorrow. Our air ducts and furnace are getting serviced tomorrow as well. Friday I have the day off, and will wrap up any loose ends at our duplex, and Sat. morning we move in! We'll keep this posted as often as we can. Adios!

-H

Homeowners Tonight!

Well, the day has come. After a time of apartments and a duplex, Heidi and I have jumped into the realm of realty. We sign papers tonight at 4pm (we'll post pictures). It has been a busy week, but it is exciting to know we will be putting our money in a place where it will work for us.
In other news, I have recently got a new part-time job. I am Office Assistant in our Church office and helping to setup our website and possibly getting our sermons online as a podcast to download. Heidi and I are also helping another couple start a College/Career group. We will also be managing a Coffee Cafe ministry to our community. Grace Community Church (our home church) is adding on the 2nd floor that was never finished when the building was first built and they are going to build in a Coffee/Espresso cafe. We really want to build new relationships and help get people connected in the church.
So, a lot has been happening with us!
Thank you all for your prayers, we feel a real peace in this whole process. Everytime before when we were considering the home option, it seemd as if there were obsticals, but God has not only opened a clear path, but gave us clear judgement in purchasing our first "home" and we have been wise in not allowing our emations to over-run our decesion making.
Stay tuned! photos are coming up!

-T

Now...Where did I put my toothbrush?

Well, As you can see, we had success in our Pizza Packing Party Saturday! We only have a few things that are not boxed, mostly because they are too large to fit in a box. We are just a weekend away from signing papers to make it official and a few days away from keys and hand. not to mention a little over a week away from moving day! We have been in a new place for Christmas EVERY year since we have been married and here we are again! This time it will be easier though. Heidi has gotten this great idea that in order to "make room for new decorations" we need to sell everything. I think at this point, the Bed is the only original thing we will be left with by the time moving day comes! ( I think we are also keeping a few night stands, dressers, and I don't think she is going to sell me yet either :) Although some days she may think she'd like to.

Here is our outlook from here:

Monday - Sign papers to make it official
Tuesday - Get keys in hand
Wednesday - prep the house to get the ceilings sealed and painted primer white
Thursday - Proficient Painting sprays the primer
Friday - Clean the Furnace duct work
Saturday - MOVING DAY (and clean out our old place)
Sunday - church and a NAP!



Thanks for praying for our sanity! We'll keep you up-to-date as we can.

_-T

Our little "snuggle bunnies" (aka: Heidi's babies) were enjoying a cool rainy day together yesterday....cute, huh? We are doing great here...We are hosting a Pizza Packing Party here at our place on Saturday. We are getting excited to move again, hard to believe it's our 4th move in 3 years! Once again, we won't have Christmas in the same place twice! Work is going well, on both ends. Tim got a job at our church, Grace, as an office assistant. They were looking for someone to work 8 hours a week, Tim applied and was hired. This will be a nice job for his school schedule. I have been enjoying cooking in my spare time, and freezing tons of meals for Tim and I to enjoy in the next few months. Split pea soup, minestrone, chicken pot pies, stuffed red peppers, enchiladas, lasagna, pesto, marinara, apple sauce...to name a few.

We are moving on November 4th, however we actually get the keys and close on the 31st. We are having Proficient Painting (whom we both work for) come in the Thursday before and spray all of the ceilings and walls with a primer white. Then the air ducts and furnace are going to be cleaned, and we'll move our stuff in. Tim and I picked out some paint colors for the interior too. Well, ER's on in 15 min, so I gotta get ready! Enjoy this beautiful fall season!

-H

Moving Day... on the way!

Well, no photos to post of our actual choice in home, but exterior photos won't do it justice. We will be closing on our first "home' at the end of the month. Yes, that is quick, but by moving at the end of the month, the seller will pay ALL of our closing costs! So, for the locals, we are having a "Pizza Packing Party" This saturday we have invited some friends to come over and help us pack some boxes and eat some pizza.
Please pray for our sanity. Prior to our find, we volunteered to house-sit for another friend. from the 17th-31st. It is good because we can take what we need to their house snd pack up EVERYTHING in our house, but that also means on top of packing and moving, we are not staying the night at our own house, feeding and walking their dogs.
As for our new home, it is a condo that is similar style and size of our current duplex. The main floor has a kitchen, dining room, living room, front patio and back deck. The upstairs has 2 bedrooms, bathroom, and laundry. We have more storage in this house and we love that idea! it is much cuter (did I just say "cuter"? ) Anyway, the outside doesn't have the charm as it is 1 building that shares 3 condos, but "it's what's inside that counts" right? We are excited not only because it has bigger space, but is what we pay now for rent and once we add in the HOA fees, it is still less than $200 more for water/sewer/garbace etc...

We are sad to leave such great landlords, but we are also glad to own our own place. Keep checking, we'll update as we can!

from the quiet one.

Um, I really don't have much to say usually. I'm pretty docile and quiet, but lately a lot has happened to be talking about. Dad Tim has considered going back to school to be a teacher, Mom Heidi is working full time again, taking care of 4 girls, the weather has changes from warm and sunny to cooler and rainy. Most recently, we have heard about moving. They had a nice Condo inspected today and it sounds like it is much roomier and cuter inside than the last place. It doesn't have as much "curb appeal", but it is affordable and great to start out with, and has lots of potential. The main concerns they have after the inspection are replacing the older original furnace and sealing the asbestos ceiling. It also has a smoke smell, but they are ready to clean the walls and paint to remove that. Mom and Dad are so saavy!
Snickers and I are excited to see the new place and the possible Movie room they plan to create, but neither of us are looking forward to moving in a cramped kennel. Snickers is trying to crowd in my blanket, I'll have Dad write more later.

-Endearing Emma

A word from the Master of the house.

So there I am just sitting in my new found treasure, a box Ivan left for me, when I hear Mom Heidi and Dad Tim telling him about moving. How come nobody asked me? What if they don't bring my box? What if I don't even like the house? But oh well, I don't like being inside anyway. I just hope it has a big yard and a good supply of squirrels and moles!

I heard they are still thinking of moving, but not to the original place they were looking at in Gresham. I guess the old owner is more of a grump than I am. He won't fix anything on the house and is just plain being a, well, crabby man. God has always taken care of them before so I don't know why He won't be watchin' out for them in this next option.

It's a townhome in Fairview that has a Rec. Facility (that I doubt they'll let me in), a pool (that I will NEVER use), and day care (that I will stay as far away from as possible!) Snickers and Emma may adore kids, but I can't stand 'em. From what Mom and Dad were saying, it sounds like it has 2 bedrooms upstairs and a nice living room, dining room and kitchen downstairs. It also has a deck out back and a patio in front both with sliding glass doors. If I get daring, I may run the gauntlet through the house, in one sliding door out the next, but then again, why torture myself! I have plenty of resting to catch up on.
Speaking of which, I need to get back to my cat-nap.

-Fiesty Freckles

Inspection

Well, we had our home inspection yesterday. Tim and I, our realtor (also named Tim) and our home inspector, Susan examined every square inch of this home, inside and out. We were prepared for the worst, but actually walked away surprised at how few concerns there were. Okay, so there were a few major concerns, but the big problems we were praying against, weren't issues at all. No mold, no foundational issues, structure is sound. The big things we are going to be negotiating with the seller on, so you can keep us in your prayers as from what we understand, the seller wishes to do NO repairs. He has had 5 sale-fails on this home though, and is ready to just sell fast, from what we understand. We aren't too concerned at this point though, as our realtor has some good ideas, and ways of saving $$ whether we do some repairs, or what not. So, here are the biggies: The utility room floor and sub floor need replacing. There is dry rot. The bathroom dry rot was "fixed" but done in a shoddy way, covering up some problems, so that needs to be fixed by a licensed contractor, only. The kitchen counter top needs replaced, some noticeable rotting. The house needs gutters~we already knew this! :) There are some powder beetles and damp wood eating termites in an area under the crawl space, but it's not wide spread. So, an exterminator needs to come out and take care of that. Those are the big things we are needing the seller to take care of. As far as the rest, there are small issues we can tackle on our own, and with the help of friends. It's definitely going to take time and manual labor, but we're ready. Looking forward to the challenge of home ownership! Our inspector was phenomenal, and so knowledgeable. Tim, Tim (the realtor), and I are meeting tomorrow night to send out counteroffers, etc. to the seller and his agent regarding the repairs. We'll keep you posted. Thanks for your prayers, we need them. On a fun note, Tim (realtor) suggested a great place to check out for inexpensive vintage home stuff in North Portland. It's called The Rebuilding Center. Tim and I checked it out yesterday; we can't wait to find great finds in the future! For all of you Portlanders reading, check it out sometime, especially if you're building from the ground up, or just restoring your old home. Oh yeah, on a fun note, the attic is a usable space, and quite large too! So, that solves some of our storage dilemmas. Tim spotted an old, old metal bed frame in the far corner, and a box. Who knows what else we'll find....kinda exciting though!

-H

Patience

Tim and I are learning the art of patience these days. Our home inspection is this Saturday morning, so we feel as if everything is weighing on this one particular person....to buy or not to buy....based on one person's perception and articulation of our lovely, soon to be (we hope!) home. With a home that was built in 1904, having the home inspected thoroughly is an obvious. We will have a much clearer picture after the inspection, as to if this is a wise investment for us or not. Our offer has been accepted, financing has come through, but our offer is contingent on the home inspection. So, in the meantime we are trusting God, and asking for his guidance and wisdom in all of this. It is an exciting time for us; we have enjoyed visiting stores like "the container store" seeking creative storage ideas for a charming home that has absolutely no storage! Potential storage, but nothing defined as "storage" you know? Think, one closet in the entire house, and a small utility room with shelving. An attic, but who knows if it's a useable space or not. We have already made some good $$ selling things on craigslist, and downsizing some. I guess that's the "price" you pay for charm! We'll post after the inspection on Saturday. For now, I'm off to make dinner, and get ready for another intense ER! Tim and I have ditched The Apprentice for now, as ER is so much better this season!

The announcement is here!

Well, the guessing game is over. Congrats to our one guesser, thanks Angel! Yes the blue one does look like us, but the white one in Gresham is our choice. It is within our budget and will be in our old "hood" we are only 10 blocks from our favorite coffee shop and Boccelli's where our Wedding rehersal dinner was.
A lot has changed in the past few months for us. I thought at the begining of the summer I was going to go back and get my Bachelors in Communications. Then this summer, I decided to take a career test to see what I could do with my Communications Degree and the test said I would actually make a better teacher than anything else. Mom is a teacher, Karen is a teacher, Angel did pre-school, It seems that teaching is in the blood. So, while I am considering the teaching option, I decided to drop school this term. I could pay almost $900 out-of-pocket for school or we could use that as money for a home. So after praying, looking, and setting a budget, We found 2 homes. One in Vancouver WA and another in our favorite place, Gresham. The one in Gresham is a little bit of a fixer and yet in a growing neighborhood with $200k-$300k townhomes going in across the street to raise the prices in our neighborhood. We are getting in a good little 102 yr old home with tons of charm. So pray for us as we wait for inspections to confirm our choice in home, our sanity as we pack and storage once we move in our 783 sq ft home!

The Price is Right!

Well, the process of getting into a home is surprisingly quick! We have not only seriously considered one of these places, but actually put in an offer for one. Any guesses as to which it might be? Go ahead, take a guess the winner gets a prize! (only one guess per person, void where prohibited not available in all states, partially hydrogenated, may contain nuts).

Washington or Oregon...

So... As you can tell, we haven't updated our blog for a while. I was planning to tell a little more about our trip, maybe even that I started school again for my Bachelors Monday, but instead, I will tell you about Saturday and how it has progressed to Washington or Oregon.

Heidi and I have been reading "This Present Darkness" by Frank Peretti and we were going to walk to the park to read. Well, as we walked, we talked (and like usual) it became a great conversation so we kept walking. After 2 hours of walking, we had come to the conclusion, that while I was in school, we should seriously consider buying a home before prices get much more and all that. So, we have been looking at several potentials, and these are the top 2. Now let me add, that we are in no way wanting to rush anything, but allow God's full direction. But something I thought might be fun on this episode of the Tim and Heidi show, would be to gather your opinions on which we should choose.

The one in Vancouver is slightly smaller than the one in Gresham, but full of charm and not only has a great yard on a corner lot, but also has a garage/shed. The Gresham one has potential charm, and needs some cosmetic fixing (painting etc.) but is in our ideal location.

So, now you know why we haven't posted for a while. Check back in a few days, and we'll let you know what the majority vote is! As for now, we need to go to bed!

-T

Blogging: silly name, but a great idea!

Well, now that we have been into blogging for almost a week now, I can see how addicting it is. First of all, the era of writing letters seems like a lost art, and it seems that SOMEone has to start the e-mails to get comunication going. However with blogging, each individual just updates their blog, and all their friends and family can read it, gain information and do it in a short amount of time. not to mention, the links for e-mail or comments posted is an easy way to communicate as well. I think blogging is a great way for us to stay connected across the miles. We will keep our blog as up-to-date as we can. In the mean time, you can enjoy a few more photos from our anniversary trip. Here is one of us at a winery in Clear Lake, CA.

Rainy Days

Here's a cute picture of my husby in front of "Bella Vista" coffee shop--we were under the assumption it was a Mexican bar, not Irish! ;) Actually, we knew it was Irish, we just turned the Buena to Bella by mistake. Anyway, today was a loooong day. The girls I care for all have colds, coughs, and sore throats. Naturally, I woke up this morning feeling crummy. It's good to be home now. Tim just made a fire in our fireplace for the first time since last winter (yes, it's that cold around here!!) We're both lounging around in sweats, anticipating an evening of relaxing, movie watching, and eating a warm dinner. Oh yeah, to top it off, Snickers just crawled onto my lap and is sound asleep. Looks like it's going to be a good night. Loving these rainy days...

-H

Lombard St.

San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge

Another vacation story

Heidi and I were in San Francisco for our Anniversary day. We spoke with an older couple who's son lived in San Fran, so we got the low-down on where to go. They suggestd the most crooked road; Lombard Street, The Golden Gate Bridge, which we saw in the Fog, Alcatraz Island, and this little "Coffee Shop" calles Buena Vista. We left early on Wednesday to beat traffic and found that the town doesn't really wake up til 9. So we were there at 7:30 and went looking for the coffee shop. "it's a wonderful place that serves great coffee. It is where Irish Coffee got it's start in the US" Cool we thought, let's get some coffee. They didn't open until 9 so we passed it up and decided to get our coffee before we take our 54 mile trip back to Windsor. When we finally got back to Buena Vista it was 10:30 pm. We went in and didn't fully realize it was a bar. So we sit at the bar and "it's ok, we're only going to get coffee and then we'll leave" They heat up the glasses with hot water, pour it out, drop in 2 sugar cubes, pour in some hot coffee and then added a nice swig from this green bottle and topped it with foamy cream. We tasted our "recommended" drinks and found that whatever they put in it was not flavored syrup. It was the hardest liquor both of us had ever tasted and then we wanted to leave. We didn't even know how much the drinks cost and couldn't leave without paying so all in all, our coffee experience was not what we expected. We left our cash and drove an hour home never having coffee the whole day!

Here are some photos from our foggy drive in. this is looking at the towering posts that hold up the Golden Gate Bridge. (by the way, did you know it costs $5 to cross the bridge?)

T

Mt Shasta

Mt. Shasta

On our way down we saw Mt. Shasta and almost hit an Elk! We were driving down I-5 after dark and wanted to make it as far down as we could. We wanted to leave early Saturday to get a lot of road behind us, but had a leisurely morning and by the time we pulled out of the driveway, it was 3pm. We made it to Shasta Natl Park before it got dark and as we came around a corner, we saw a huge multi-point buck standing right in our path. He was in our lane and Heidi was driving @65mph. She didn't see him and I knew we didn't have time. I grabbed the wheel and gave a slight correction as he barely brushed his tail on our side mirror. If we had hit him, most likely he would have come through the windshield (as it has a small crack-Jon if you were here we'd have you fix it!) and with his antlers, it could have been a wrap-around coming through the drivers side door/window. We are thankful and grateful for God's provision and were in shock for the next 10 miles. We stayed our first night in the car in Yreka CA. We thought it would be safe to stay near a hospital so ironically enough, we slept in the car outside of the "Sleep Diagnostic Center" Anyway, We will be sharing more photos and stories of our trip hopefully on a daily basis with new pictures appearing daily.

More photos on our San Fran trip are to follow, but I just wanted everyone to know how thankful we are for all of you.

Tim & Heidi before leaving for San Francisco

Monday's...

This is a pretty cool idea, blogging...I feel so out of touch sometimes, as this is my first time EVER 'blogging'! Tim and I are excited to share bits and pieces of our lives on here, with you all, dear friends and family!

So, today was my first full time day Nannying for my current family, and their neighbor girls. All went well, though I am exhausted. I care for 4 girls total, though not all at the same time, thankfully! Shireen is 3.5, Sara 2, and Emily 3.5, and Sofia, 10 months. I care for Sofia, Sara, and Shireen (only for an hour) in the mornings M-F from 7:30-12noon. At 12:15, I take Sofia with me as I pick up Emily from pre-school. Sofia, Emily and I go home, have snacks, and they nap for a couple hours. Shireen and Sara are with their Mom and Dad from 12noon till I arrive the next morning. Sofia and Emily's Dad is home by 4:30, and I'm off to regain my sanity. Actually, it's a great job, and I love these sweet girls. We do lots of creative play, painting, play dough, dancing, reading, dress up, etc. I started out nannying just Shireen and Sara, going on 2 years now.

Tim's out with a friend tonight, checking out a new guys Bible study. I spent the past 3 hours sorting through all of our pictures on the computer, renaming everything, and organizing. I keep telling myself I'll print everything and start scrapbooking again...though, I've been kidding myself for nearly 3 years now! The one album I did finish was our wedding book, yay! Actually, I am going to print all of our 3rd anniversary pictures off at snapfish--BTW, check them out if you want cheap quality digital prints printed!...so, I can scrapbook our trip. I figure I need to start somewhere, and going back three years is harder than starting with the most recent. Once I receive our prints from snapfish, I will add a link so you can check our San Francisco pics out. We had such a great time vacationing in Windsor, California! God really used the time to reveal new things, encourage us, and reconnect us as we start a new chapter. Well, Tim just called and said he's on his way home...we are going to jump right into our Frank Peretti book we've been reading aloud together...we left off last night on chapter 22 or something; it's becoming intense, and suspensful now! I forget the name of it, but it's the second book after This Present Darkness...

Grace and Peace,

-H

Welcome to our spot

Well, I suppose since everyone else is doing it...
Just kidding. Heidi and I have wanted to join the bloggers to keep you all updated with our life, but were considering a larger website with room for more photos, videos and such. We may eventually switch, but there is no reason why we can't start now.
We will both be writing and updating our blog, and as we just returned from our 3rd Anniversary trip yesterday, we have a lot of fun stories to share. So, for now welcome to our page and keep checking in for all the latest from the West Coast!

Tim