Christmas Gift Exchange

The day after Christmas we hosted the "second generation gift exchange." Back in Indo it was longstanding tradition to have a gift exchange with the Pusts, Dukes, and Wileys (among others). This year it was time for the kids to carry on this tradition. This is not just any gift exchange. There are no rules about how many times a gift can be stolen, only a time limit on the frantic stealing. While sometimes it can get pretty intense, there were too many good gifts this year and most everyone was content with their final gift. Jared was unfortunate enough to end up with the "box cheese" from Indonesia. He had actually fought to keep this gift, stating that box cheese never goes bad. Well he was wrong... half of the cheese was actually missing and the rest was a very foul smelling gray powder. At least he still got an Indonesian picture frame out of the deal.

Cassie and Pedro the Christmas Pinata

Jared Sporting Josh's Winnings

Christmas Day

About one week before Christmas, Jared was given the opportunity to take a last minute trip to Indonesia, which of course he jumped on. Being gone for six days allowed him to spend two days in Sentani with mom and dad. He was able to squeeze in two fishing trips, one dive trip, two soccer games, Christmas with mom & dad, and quick visits with lots of friends. I'm not sure if it filled his craving for spending time back home in Indo, or if it made his craving stronger, but either way it was a wonderful time that he can't stop talking about.

When I got off work the morning of Christmas eve, I picked Jared up from the airport. He headed out to do all his Christmas shopping and I slept as I had work again that night. The next morning (Christmas) Jared picked me up from work... after an absolutely crazy night... and took me out to breakfast at the only place open, Denny's. I happen to love Denny's, so it was a perfect surprise. After that we headed home for a very lazy Christmas day. We opened presents and went to bed. It was great that he was jet-lagged, because it meant we were actually on a similar sleep pattern. That afternoon we got up planning to bake cookies and make candy for the Christmas party the next day. Jared made the family traditional peanut butter bars and then we both ended up taking another nap... oops.

The next morning we went over to the Pust's to have a luncheon with Indo people in honor of the Duke's coming through town. We gave Aunt Barb a present that Joan had sent back from Indo... a small plastic cow labeled "toothpick and tampon holder." By scrutinizing the picture on the front of the wrapper, we determined that tampon was a mis-translation for Q-tip. If that helps... we still aren't sure why you would store your toothpicks with your Q-tips, but it is quite a bit better than storing them with your tampons! Needless to say, we had a good time catching up and sharing funny stories from Indo.

Jared's Birthday

Jared's birthday was also his first day of Christmas break; what a b-day gift! To celebrate we had a low-key gathering with friends stopping in throughout the evening. It was a good time with yummy food, a movie, and a partial game of settlers. The Beck's even stopped by with their beautiful 2 day old baby girl. Once again, I am sad to say I did not take photos... I will be better about that... starting in 2008. =)

Thanksgiving

This Thanksgiving my family came down to Vancouver to check out our new home for the first time. Mom, Dad, Melissa, Becca, and both the dogs all made the trip in one car. While I did work that weekend, I was able to have Wednesday and Thursday off to spend some time with family. Grandma and Grandpa also came up from Beaverton on Thursday for the afternoon and evening. Grandma brought a wonderful stuffing dish, mashed potatoes, and rolls. Mom made her yummy cran-apple crisp and pecan bars. Jared and I tried our hand at turkey for the first time and it was a success! I think we owe it to the turkey roaster the Prentice's lent us... it kept all the juices nice and close to the turkey, plus it freed up the oven for other baking and heating needs. What a wonderful invention. It was great to have so many family members together at one table in our new home. Sadly, I somehow forgot to pull out the camera... I will post pictures if I can track down copies of the ones grandpa took.

Hiking and Houseguests

Last week Jared's mentor teacher, Karen, invited us to go on our first hike of Southwest Washington. The plan was to summit Beacon Rock, the second largest free-standing rock in the world. Unfortunately when we reached the trailhead, we were greeted with a barrier stating that a rock slide had temporarily closed the trail. Beacon rock is situated partway out into the Columbia river and, as you can imagine, has breathtaking views. Disappointed that we wouldn't be able to make it to the top, we still started up the trail in the hopes of seeing the water before our way was blocked. About five minutes later we were stopped not by a rockslide, but by a locked metal gate with no way around. Since we had not yet had our hiking fix, we moved just down the road to another trailhead. This one headed uphill to several waterfalls. The last one had what was called the Pool of Winds. The waterfall had created a sort of cylindrical cave about eight feet in diameter with a pool at the bottom before the water ran out into the next waterfall. Because of the shape of the rock, the wind whipped through the cave in a whirlwind fasion. If you leanded in front of the opening you would get a face full of fast moving mist. It was pretty cool. After the hike Karen and Dave had us over for dinner. Karen made an amazing Sheppard's Pie (another first for me, but not the last).

Another exciting event of the past week was the arrival of a second houseguest. Jared's childhood friend, Josh, just moved to town to go to Culinary school. He is spending a few weeks with us while he job/apartment hunts. Jonathan and Josh have re-connected a bit and it looks like they will share an apartment. While we are excited for them and know it is a blessing for them to have roommates, we are going to miss the extra people. It is sad to think that we may be alone in our house in another week. So this is empty nest syndrome...?

Jared's First Pumpkin Carving

What a month!

Last week at a party by one of Jared's coworkers, I was told by multiple people how amazing Jared is with the kids at school. The other teachers could not give him enough praise. While I already knew he was great, it was fun to hear (and to watch Jared turn red). Jared has also been coaching the girls volleyball C-team. This Thursday will be the last game of the season. While their record isn't so good, the C-team did win more games than the JV or Varsity did. Jared did very well coaching, especially considering he was dealing with freshman girls. Quite often he would come home in awe (or maybe terror?) at the drama of highschool. What I love most about watching Jared coach, or listening to him talk about teaching, is his huge commitment to character development.

I am finally on my own at work and just last week made the true switch to night shift. So far the transition has been pretty good. I definitely like the nightshift staff's attitude towards teamwork. I always feel like someone will have my back should I get into a tight spot. It is very reassuring since I still feel pretty new. On my days off I am still trying to stay partially on a nightshift schedule. That definitely has some drawbacks, so we will see if I stick to it. This week I am taking a class for Pediatric Advanced Life Support (PALS). It is one of the more intense certifications that I take, so you can definitely be praying that it all goes smoothly. It has been years since I spent any significant amount of time working with kids, so I am pretty nervous.

As for non-work stuff, there hasn't been much of it. Jared has been co-leading the junior-high group on Sundays at the north satelite campus for church. It is a way for us to be involved with the church that we did not forsee, but that has already been rewarding.

This weekend Jared and I had some time off together (FINALLY!) and decided to carve some pumpkins. Only one the way to the store to pick out our pumpkins did I find out that Jared had never carved one before! It was fun to teach him the beginning steps. He is definitely a natural at it.

Well, that's all for now. Hopefully I will post again sooner than a month from now!

Dad and the Dukes in Town

Just last week Jared's dad spent several days with us. It was wonderful to spend time with him and for him to see what our lives are like here in Vancouver. As always, he was a super handy-man, hanging hooks and making storage shelves for the garage. Really it was a multi-dad effort, with the design for the shelves coming from my dad, and the labor from Jared's. They were a great team! I was able to go on a dinner outing with dad to thirty floor high Portland City Grill. It was quite breathtaking.

On Labor Day, Wally and I went with Jared down to school and helped him prepare for the first day of classes the next day. Neither of us had seen where he was going to be working, so it was a great experience for both of us. The work room at the school was an awesome little craft center... I was able to play with all sorts of fun tools while making hall passes and bulletin boards with the guys.

While Wally was here, the Dukes overlapped a few days on their move from Indo to Idaho. It was great to have so many people connected to Indo in the same place. If we had just had Joan here too it would have been perfect. Jared had a couple mega-gatherings in the house, one at which we played an interactive, lights out game of mafia. He can't wait to play again. Hopefully by then we will have some curtains up to block out the street lights.

Thursday Wally flew out to New York to meet up with Cinda and Matt before conferences in Idaho. As always, the goodbyes were hard, but it is reassuring to know we will see him again this spring.

Kat & Caleb

Kat & Caleb are married!!! We had the pleasure of hosting the newlyweds for a day before they were able to move into their new Portland apartment. Jared and I both had the day off, so were able to help with the move. The trusty Hazel Dell moving truck hit the road again and was once again stuffed full. When we arrived at the new apartment, the most exciting part was that it was Kat & Caleb's first time seeing where they would live! They'd had a friend check it out for them while they were preparing for the wedding in Colorado. Thankfully it is a great place and they are not disappointed in the least. We are super excited for them and have already loved getting to see them more than once a year.

The newlyweds amongst a maze of furniture

A Few Days in Seattle

There is a bit of catching up to do here. It has been almost three weeks now since Jared and I made a short trek up to Seattle. The WRX's need for its 60,000 mile maintenance was a great excuse to go back home. We spent most of the time at my mom & dad's place. We had decided to bring Awas & Samba along to see how they liked travelling (and my parents dogs). On the way up we were starting to wonder if we'd made a mistake... there was over an hour of meowing when we first headed out from Vancouver. Thankfully they finally fell asleep and all was well. On the trip back home they rough housed in the little cage for a while, then slept for almost 5 hours (we made quite a few stops on the way home). They can now definitely be considered car cats.

The first morning at my parents we introduced them to Sadie, my parents cat. Our cats didn't mind the meeting, but Sadie threw a "hissy fit". Samba and Awas responded to that attitude in kind. We had never seen cat tails so puffy. Awas and Samba were very scared of the dogs at first, but slowly became more curious. If we had stayed longer we are certain that they would have started to have some fun.

While the guys did most of the work on the car, my mom took me to a few local nurseries and walks around her garden. Becca came with and helped me pick out a few plants to take back home.

On the last day there, we were able to connect up with a couple of friends. Jannelle had just interviewed for a new job and was offered the position in the interview, so we were especially blessed to be able to celebrate that success with her. After that we headed down to Pike's Place to meet up with Robb for a few minutes at the yummy french bakery. Our last stop was at the Meeuwse's place in Kent. We caught the end of Cris & Amy's soccer game and met some of the Meeuwse relatives from Holland. All in all it was a busy few days, but the rushing around was well worth it to spend time with so many people we care about.

New Heights Summer Festival

With New Heights' Summer Festival going on, Jared has been home for the past two weeks. It is so nice to have my husband actually living in the same house! We have hosted little gatherings with old and new friends most evenings, or gone out to Summer Festival events. We have played Settlers more times than I can count, introducing quite a few people to the game. Jared has played it about 95% of the nights that I am at work. It is amazing that he isn't sick of it yet.

Summer Festival is one of the most intense conglomerations of church events I have ever seen. The highlight so far was the dodgeball tournament. There were some teams that dressed to impress on that occasion! My team made it to the semifinals, where having a husband for a referee did not advance us on any further. =)

For the indoor soccer tournament, we were going to be on a killer team with quite a few other MK's from Indo and beyond. Unfortunately we looked a little too intimidating so the teams were set up at random. Somehow Jonathan, Anthony, Kevin Pust, and Alex Lee all ended up on one team. I don't remember the final scores, but they were definitely one of the top teams. After playing the last game with his own team (which dominated), Jared stepped onto my team and played goalie. He was a drastic improvement to any of us that had played goalie prior, yet he let one goal in, thus we lost without scoring a point all tournament! Sad day. After the tournament ended all the MK's and a few other avid soccer players stuck around and we played a "real" game of indoor.

As a break between the nights of the tournaments, we decided to take it easy by going rock climbing. Wow, that is a work out. Jared made it up the two hardest climbs that were set up. I only tried the second to hardest one, but probably an hour after starting, I did eventually conquer the rock. What an amazing sport. Going down stairs was a little tricky and I could barely grip anything at work for the next three days.

Last night Jared was part of the evening show for Summer Festival. Rather than bobbing for apples, he and a few other brave souls bobbed for hot dogs in a trough of watered down baked beans and who knows what else. On of the guys dislike baked beans so much that he didn't actually open his mouth when he bobbed, but instead just plunged his head into the sludge as show of being a very good sport.

Summer Festival is drawing to a close, which means Jared is off on one last trip of the summer. When he comes back he will jump right into the schoolyear with a likely coaching position for Middle School volleyball starting the 23rd and his first orientation day for teaching the 27th. He is super excited, but a little nervous too. There are still a lot of things to figure out before the kids arrive. At this point he doesn't even know all the equipment that will be available. Thankfully Jared is resourceful enough to make due with however much or little equipment there is.

We will keep you posted on Jared's job and coaching news as we find out more.

More Than Just Dirt

There is finally more green than brown in our yard! The grass seed has started to pop up and the trees have been planted. Jared was home for a few days this weekend, so we took some time to rearrange the landscaped plants to make them feel like ours. I've also had the last two days off and have made some major progress on the backyard. I am wanting a lush flowerful garden, but have come to realize that to make a bare yard into one overnight would cost a fortune. In an attempt to save some money for house payments =), I have been bargain hunting for plants. It's not such an easy thing to do. Lowe's sells some plants for $1-2 when they look like they are on their last leg and I found some very health plants there, the only problem with them was that all the flowers were old... I cut them off and the plants look great! I have also been able to find quite a few plants that will attract butterflies and hummingbirds. Here are some photos of a couple plants:

One of the neighbors trees hangs over the fence into our yard and is conveniently perfect for the birdfeeder. I am yet to see any birds use it (but I did only put it up today).

Signing

Jared came home early from the High School trip to Idaho so that we could SIGN ON THE HOUSE!!! It has definitely been a long time coming with quite a few bumps along the way. In just the first month, we have managed to warrent the gas getting shut off for four days, had the "appliance hospital" come by three times (and will come once more on Thursday, after which we sincerely hope that this time our dryer will finally work!), and ordered not one, but two appraisals on the house. Thankfully, God has been faithful through it all... we are alive and well, and come Wednesday the house should be ours! Amazingly enough we are both thrilled that we are about to be several hundred thousand dollars in debt... yikes!

At work I am apparently going to move into the more acute area this week. I am a little nervous as I wasn't expecting to move till next week at the earliest, but I am feeling very comfortable with the area I am in, soI guess that means it is time to move!

Jared is off on another week of fun, this time with the Middle School group on the Oregon Coast. He gets back on Firday and then should stay back for at least a couple weeks!

Hope everyone is doing well. We miss you all! You can be praying for the closing on Wednesday and for my work with the more critically ill patients. Thanks!

Our First House Guest!

Jonathan Dukes moved down from Seattle a few weeks after we did. He will be living with us for his first couple of months here in Vancouver. We are super excited to have him in town and even more thrilled that he is in our house!

The First Few Weeks

Well, we have made the move to Vancouver! We are mostly settled into our new home, which is amazing. It is such a blessing to be living in this beautiful house. Hopefully we will be hosting some missionaries and other people needing short term lodging very soon.

The House... yard coming any day now.

Jared has been busy participating in summer events at New Heights Church since day one. White water rafting, camping, rock climbing... he has quite a nice tan going. This week and next he is working with Middle school kids at a day camp, then it is off to Idaho for a week long camp for high schoolers.

While Jared is off on all these adventures I needed some company, so before he left we payed a visit to the local Humane Society. Planning on only bringing home one kitten, we stuck to that... only one kitten... but we did bring home an adult cat as well. Ooops! Actually it has been great. Samba (the one year old) has been able to show Awas (the kitten) a thing or two. It is fun to watch them play and keep each other company when we don't have time to show them as much attention as we would like.

I started work almost two weeks ago at Southwest Washington Medical Center. Just this last week I finally had my first day on the unit where I will be working, the Emergency Department! I am starting out in the lower acuity area, so I have seen a lot of people with migraines and abdominal pain, but nothing too gory. My hours are all over the place right now as I fit my schedule to a couple of different preceptors. When I finally am off orientation and on my own (probably about three months from now), I will be working 7pm to 7:30am. yikes! Thankfully that will be after the worst of the summer heat is through.

We miss everyone up in Seattle and hope that you will all stop in for a few days whenever you can. Our house is always open!

The Move South

With huge thanks to the guys that helped us load and unload the truck, we were able to move all of our belongings into our new home. Jonathan was refered to as "pilot maf" by the end of the day due to his extraordinary packing skills. I don't think it was possible to fit things into that truck anymore tightly. Robb, Joel, and Anthony decided to make the drive from Seattle to Vancouver with us to help us at both ends and to check out the house. After everything was unloaded into the garage, we moved the essentials into the living room: the couches, the table, and Settlers of Catan.

The next day we all went to church, then all the guys took off, including Jared, who had one week left of teaching back in Seattle. Thankfully I was only alone in the house for one day. Monday Jannelle came into town and helped me paint the bedroom. She stayed for a few days, then I headed back to Seattle on Wednesday to help Jared finish the deep clean of the apartment and make the final move down South.