January (or are you going to Home Depot again?)

Ryan James, Nate and Josh Hamon relaxing during a visit last weekend.

January seems to have sped by. We have been slowly unpacking, planning, fixing the most pressing problems with the house, and for Mary, going back to work. I am working at Kingston Tax Service for the season- a major change after being home, even though I was doing bookkeeping at home, and will continue to do so. We have had enough nice days to replant some veggies we rescued from the rental. (Note to you Californians: kale and spinach can survive 18" of snow.)
Not much rain so far, but this weekend it turned cold again. High of 39 today. We also discovered that we live close enough to the water, that if we drive only a few yards up the hill toward town, there can be snow when we have none at home. This morning driving to church, right above our house, we were surrounded by snow from the storm last night!
We have found a very solid Bible- teaching church, PRAISE GOD! Jim attends the Wed AM men's study, and we just started attending the Fri night small group. So things are falling into place and we are thankful.
We have taken the chance for a few excursions exploring the area, but I think we may save the serious beach-combing for warmer weather. Jim has checked out all sorts of building supply places, from here to Bremerton. He calls it "getting the lay of the land" :) Good thing we are only 8 minutes from Home Depot- I think it will become his 2nd home!

Sunset from the Hood Canal Bridge- 10 min, away!













A Sunday afternoon at the beach

















Some members of the family DO NOT like the Washington cold. Others buy quilt-lined overalls to crawl around under the house. For the Henry fans- he spends hours up in the trees thinking he will catch birds. Cold doesn't seem to permeate that thick coat!

Moving In

Moonset over Hood Canal from our porch.
We are finally into our new house. Yes, there are boxes all over, and we have Cat5 cable running between rooms for the computers and printers (but we are networked and online!). But we praise God for a late, and uneventful move. The house closed on the 19th, but due to massive amounts of snow, we couldn't move until the 28-30th. Yes- it took 3 days, and enough ferry rides to last me awhile. Thanks to all 4 of the kids (sorry, Hazel- maybe next time you will be more help).
We attended a friendly, Bible-believing church yesterday- which happens to meet in the Poulsbo movie theater. Memories of the start-up at Creekside when we had Sunday School in the open courtyard. The kids here have Sunday School in the lobby, redolent with the aroma of popcorn!
Our neighbors are friendly- Henry has met more than we have, I think- he was at the top of a peach tree our next door neighbor was pruning- as Dick was whacking away at it! A new collar and name tags are on order for both the kitties.
It is "interesting" going from 3200 square feet (Moncure Rd), to 2900 sq. ft with a 4 car garage (Brier) to a 1979 sq ft house with a barely 2 car garage. A storage/garden shed is probably on the drawing board soon! And the most often asked question is: "did we leave_______in Ripon?"
We know we left so many of you dear friends in Ripon, but now that we are settled and have a guest room, a gorgeous view of Hood Canal and the Olympic Mountains, are only 45 minutes to Seattle, we EXPECT any and all of you to come visit! You might wait until spring- but we especially appreciated Duane and Sue's visit from the 30th to the 2nd. Any friends willing to come to the northwest in January (COLD!), plus arrive the day we move in and slave away helping us get settled, are real troopers. We love you guys!

Merry Christmas

A very white Christmas, with more snow this morning! Liz, Jason and Hazel made it over the pass yesterday, and we all had roast beef at Anne & Nate's apartment. So fun to be together again! This morning Hazel helped cook breakfast :)Praise God for family, abundance in our lives, and yes, even snow.

A Great Weekend to Move

This is the forecast for the weekend from NOAA. "

A MAJOR WINTER STORM IS ON TAP THIS WEEKEND.
 HEAVY SNOW IS EXPECTED TO DEVELOP ALONG
THE COAST ON SATURDAY AFTERNOON AND THEN
SPREAD INTO THE INTERIOR OF WESTERN
 WASHINGTON EARLY SATURDAY EVENING.
HEAVIEST SNOW WILL OCCUR ON THE KITSAP
 PENINSULA...ALONG HOOD CANAL...
AND FROM OLYMPIA AND CHEHALIS WEST TO THE CENTRAL
COAST NEAR OCEAN SHORES. 10 TO 18 INCHES OF SNOW
 IS EXPECTED CLOSE TO HOOD CANAL. OTHER LOCATIONS
WITHIN THIS AREA SHOULD GET 5 TO 12
INCHES OF SNOW.

FYI-- our new house is on the Kitsap Peninsula along Hood Canal.  This should be interesting.

The Weather Outside is Frightful

This was last night, after some of the snow from last weekend had melted, and then it started to snow again.This was this morning about 9AM. 3 inches.This was a bit later- the driveway is under there somewhere.













Henry decided to brave it.
Finally! He is camouflaged and could stalk a bird without being seen!

It is now almost noon, it is snowing steadily, and we are up to about 4 inches. I can see the kids next door sledding- our back yard as well as theirs are perfect sledding hills! But this is not a good weekend to be moving since it isn't going to get above freezing until Christmas Eve! So despite the house sale recording today, we have to wait until the 26th to move. Unless someone wants to drive a truck up and down steep hills in snow and ice? Any volunteers?

House Church

We are being reminded often these days that we should be prepared as a church to worship together in homes. Jim and I had to do just that this morning, after an overnight snowfall and freeze- we couldn't get up the Poplar Rd hill- and we were in the 4-wheel drive subaru! After watching one car slide back down through the intersection, and then a truck slide across, we tried the hill, but found ourselves going nowhere fast. Jim managed to get pointed crossways on the road and hill, and then turn around, slide back down to the corner, and S-L-O-W-L-Y drive home, praying we would get back up the hill to our house, and down our driveway without slipping into the garage and wiping out boxes, a washing machine and few other things. So Mark Driscoll's vodcast was our service today.The cats were taken aback by this new experience! Henry tried to play with the snow (it moves!), and Daniel found the quickest route under the deck, shaking each paw as he went. Poor California kitties!

My bok choy and fennel are trying to grow somewhere under here! Even paving stones on the patio take on a wintery look.

To Poulsbo we go!

Yes! It looks like the sale is going through! We hopefully will be able to move before Christmas (so Hazel doesn't have to carry any boxes) We are looking forward to the challenges of redoing another house, but not as extensively as Moncure. Seems like a great neighborhood- we have already met some of the neighbors- including the one next door who raises pheasants (Henry should love that!).
Room for a greenhouse, garden, and nice and sunny! 4 bedrooms, 2 bath-- so plenty of room for guests! We are about 8 minutes from the center of Poulsbo, and about 20 minutes from the ferry to Seattle. Pray for quick close, easy move, and fast settling in!