Christmas Past

Another Christmas past. We are so thankful to Derald Dieterich. He is a long time friend of Greg’s family, the realtor that sold our house in 2006, and he came by the apartment a couple weeks ago and gave us a check to help us buy Christmas presents for the kids. It was great! Our kids ask for little and know we often struggle financially so they decide to be content. They are wonderful. It was incredible to be able to buy each of them some of the things they had mentioned over the last few weeks. We rarely buy them toys, none this year, and still Otto said he got everything he wanted. Can you beat that?

Last Summer I told Greg I would like to learn the guitar. I asked for one for my birthday, but there was no way we could pull it off. Well, he took all the money for gifts that we were spending on each other (he said he didn’t want a present) and more he came across and bought a guitar for me for Christmas. He took the older 3 kids when he got it and they could hardly wait until we opened presents this year. I am so blessed with a wonderful loving husband and amazing children.

I was also blessed to have seen both of my brothers, and most of their families. Two of my nephews are serving in the military; one has just finished a tour of duty in Iraq for the last 15 months. It was good to see them both after such a long time. I enjoy good times with my family and often wish we did not live so far apart (California, Sacramento area). It is only a day’s travel, but with gas prices what they are and a day in each direction it prohibits frequent visits. I often look forward to heaven when thinking of my family and desiring to see them more. Another blessing to know they are believers.

Christmas day we spent with Greg’s family at his dad’s home. They are friendly and kind and even though they all live relatively close we see most of them rarely. It was a good time and the kids especially loved the food and fun.

Tonight I am at the coffee shop early to post this while waiting for my friends. It will be the first time we have gotten together in months. In fact, I have not visited with any friends uninterrupted by children since our move into this apartment. I have always had to hurry when on the phone because we are always out of minutes and although Charissa and I have seen each other and talked some there are always others around and time is short. I am looking forward to a relaxing evening and thankful that Greg is supportive of my being out and staying home with the kids.

The rest of this week will be spent cleaning and reviewing schedules and planning/preparing for school to get started in full force again. How wonderful that will be! I’m afraid my kids are not in agreement, but a test of discipline is not a bad thing.

Sorry there are no pictures; we forgot our camera at Greg's dad's house and haven't uploaded since my last update. Extra pictures next time.

Happy Holidays!

I’m sorry it has been so long since I have updated our blog. It was mostly from a lack of opportunity and planning. I am slowly getting everything put in a place in our apartment and scheduling time on the computer will develop into a regular thing soon. The Christmas season also causes things to be sporadic.

We moved to an apartment in Beaverton in the middle of October. It is a three bedroom laid out like a townhouse in that the bedrooms are upstairs with a full bath and the living, dining, kitchen and laundry rooms are downstairs with a half bath. They were willing to take us with all five children which was the most difficult obstacle to overcome. The apartments are old and run down, but the manager is nice and a hard worker trying make improvements. We love the area when we are on our bikes. The library is less than a mile away (we go weekly), as well as Trader Joe’s (our favorite store) and New Seasons (sells Miso and Non Homogenized Milk- We look forward to buying our milk from a farm again, but that will require a little more time.). In the same areas are Powells, Borders, Winco, Fred Meyer, a great 24/7 coffee shop with free Internet, and so much more. Interestingly, this is an area we said we never wanted to live in because the traffic is horrid. Again, we like it on our bikes.

Here are a few pictures of us in the apartment, getting ready for Christmas, and me with my bike in front of New Seasons. The last was taken a couple of months ago; it seems like a long time since we’ve had a warmish sunny day. We celebrated Olivia’s fourth birthday on Friday and took her to our 24/7 coffee shop for some hot chocolate.

I hope you have not given up on my ever updating this site again. I am so desiring routine, but I think I have always desired it and never achieved it. Apparently I should learn to be happy with a “whatever happens today will be good” attitude. I will write again.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!