Last Day

Our last days in town and they are crazy! Packing the car is insain, and we ended up sending a few boxes which was good, glad thats done and I can see out the back window.

While the movers were packing everything Juno made her plan very clear.

We said goodbye to her yesterday and she is safe and sound with Uncle Stephen for now, to be shipped over to join us later. 

We had a great last evening with the Hurley's who were kind enough to put us up, as we are homeless now! :-( We had a great night with shortcake and scrabble. 

And to mark my last morning in Seattle, it started to poor, we had a very nice sunny day yesterday but this our last day its pouring, and I took Pam Hurley for a walk. 

It was a great morning! Off to meet my brother for lunch and then leave Seattle proper and head to my Mum's new house in Gig Harbor for the night. 

I keep thinking how blessed I have been here in Seattle, with great friends and family, and I know God will bless us too in this new place. I am so looking forward to seeing how He will do so. And our road trip. We have one new Nephew to see, born just yesterday, and I am hoping another new baby boy if he is born today! And the Grand Canyon, and some friends along the way! I will update as often as I can so stay tuned!

A place to live!

I am so excited! We have found a place to rent, and month to month while we look at homes to buy at that, which is perfect! I am so relived to know I have somewhere to go when we arrive, and in the area we wanted, so we can get to know it and see if its somewhere we might like to buy. Anyway I know some of you are interested, so here are some pictures, and if you could care less, feel free to skip this post!

This is the interior of the house I posted and showed the exterior of a few posts ago.

Front room

Screened in back porch

(I hear they are all the range on "the other coast", so I think I will be very "local" with this)

Kitchen clearly!

Kitchen looking into the front room

And the best part, and what I hope they will leave there just for Brian!

The Shower Curtain! Its like they knew I was coming! I might take pity on Brian and change it before having new friends over! :-)

Bedroom, small and doesn't look like much, but there is one!

And the owners kids had a party this Summer so this is the backyard, looks really great!

There you are, now you know as much as I do, the beach is 2 blocks away, and the only coffee shop in town is 12 blocks away (expresso station, Colonial Beach) and the library is 12 blocks too. We won't have much but there is an extra "room" (no window or closet so you can't call it a room officially) but its there and I brought an extra blanket, so bring your pillow and come on down, we have beach!

Things

Going through your stuff is always interesting. I have been sorting stuff, and getting some very basics together to drive with me to make due until we get all our goods delivered. I love my things, much to much I am sure at times. But each thing I pick up makes me smile. I know people preach to unclutter only keep the things you truly love! Well thats an issue because I truly love each and every thing in my possession,. I don't keep things because someone gave them to me and I feel like I have to, nope just the stuff I love. The salt pot I bought with my new husband at a potters shop on our honeymoon, my carefully selected dish soap glass container that makes me smile which is why I bought it and why it made the "basics" list, and its of course very practical! But in all of this I wonder, after having just the basics, still more than most of the world has, but nothing extra, will I miss the rest? Will I kinda like have 1 pot and 1 frying pan and just making things where this will be enough? It will be interesting to see. A good friend posted this on her blog today and I was so blessed by her sharing it and it got me thinking on this, so I will share it with you also. Food for thought.

* Luke 10:38-41 

 As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.” But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details!There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Ohh the details, its been nothing but details and its been driving me nuts these last days. I must remind myself of this every min. to keep trusting and stop worrying over the details. He has always sorted the details out perfectly, why can I never trust Him to do this same the next time and the next. Please pray with me these next few days with strange moving men in my house handling all my things ( packing my underwear :-/ and my china!!) and making sure I don't pack something vital I might need over these next months.  ( Wait you need ID to get a mortgage?? Thats packed with the household goods!) 

"Lord help me be a Mary, not this week but in all the phases of this life, let me always come to your feet, and not ignore you with the business of serving you"

Blessed always

I am blessed always, blessed  again and again, why is it so easy to forget it. But it is, we forget, the blessing of yesterday in the wondering where todays blessings are. He provided before, 100 times before, why do I worry this will be the time He will not. But of course He will, and will again tomorrow and the day after that.
Thank you for all those of you who have prayed with me, been with me, let me vent my frustrations of Gods slowness with me. Thank you, you are irreplaceable, each of you.

We have some details finally sorted out, later of course than I expected but thats God for you. We got a hold of the navy and went to the base to sort out the movers coming, they will be here a week after we had planned and while Brian is gone, so I will finish work a week sooner than planned as one of us has to be there. But they are coming, and will pack up all my things and thats what matters. We also might have found a perfect rental. And I almost settled for something less than even OK so many time in my impatience, and now it looks like we might get this almost perfect place. What makes it so perfect you might ask? Well they want a month to month lease which was important if we are to buy a house and don't know when we might want to move. Its in a community we wanted to check and and see if we liked it enough to possibly buy there. Its 2 blocks from the beach, and its not to big and empty for us without all our household goods which will be in storage while we house hunt. And best of all it house a washer dryer and dishwasher which Brian wanted. So now we are awaiting the lease but hope all will be perfect and we will sign on the dotted line and I will not be Homeless! Which is the best part! And just in time, I need to pack what things we will drive across country with us in the next two days and I needed to know where we would be living so I knew what to pack!
Praise the Lord the provider of all!

Long Over due Thanks

I have been so crazed with a million things, but all good things. Getting to see people, sweet times enjoying this city and State that we love and the people we love in it. We are looking forward to a trip to the beach this Saturday with some great family and friends both! I am so blessed, but also stressed, and have so many details still. I know it will all work out. Its a very bitter sweet time, with goodbyes and "lasts" but also new exciting adventures to look forward to! I expect many tearful moments over the next few weeks, but I know we have great things waiting for us. I am so glad I have seen time and time again how Gods plan always works so much better for my good than my own plan, I can fall back on that these week of goodbyes and unknowns. 


260. Great blessings of provision. 
261. His promises
262. My rock of a husband who is aways there
263. Beautiful days to enjoy in the Northwest
264. Ice cream and sparkling water on a warm day
265. Wonderful old friends who stick with you through it all
266. Adventures and the unknown
267. Work you love
268. The hope of unpacking to come!
269. Simplifying in the meantime, life without "stuff" for a few months

I waiting to meet some friends last night and was reading The Quotidian Mysteries by Kathleen Norris while I waited. I was so blessed in those few min of waiting and found myself underlining half the book of quotes I loved. Here are some of my favorites that I hope to meditate on over the next few days. 


"The rhythm of sunrise and sunset marks the passage of time that makes each day rich with the possibility of salvation, a concept that is beautifully summed up in an ancient saying from monastic tradition: Abba Poeman said that every day he made a new beginning" 


Dorothy Day said " My strength returns to me with my cup of coffee and the reading of the psalms" 


" I know from bitter experience that when I allow the busy little doings to fill the precious time of early morning, when contemplation might flourish, I open the doors to the demon of acedia." (acedia: spiritual sloth; apathy; indifference)


" I have come to believe that when we despair of praise, when the wonder of creation and our place in it are lost to us, it's often because we've lost sight of our true role as creatures- we have tried to do to much, pretending to be in such control of things that we are indispensable. ..The danger is that we will come to feel too useful, so full of purpose and the necessity of fulfilling obligations that we lose sight of God's play with creation, and with ourself s" 

Route Change / Soon to be homless

We changed out route slightly. I am so excited we are not heading a little North after Oklahoma City, rather than after Nashville, that way we will go through Louisville KY and I can see my cousin! And then we are 11 hr from "home".

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Speaking of, home is going to be the car very soon! We are hoping to have all our HHG (thats Household goods for those of you not in military world) and that will include our bed, so from then on we will be roaming. We also have not had much luck finding an apartment to rent short term yet. I would love to know I have four walls and a roof to go to when we pack up here so please pray with me that we find a place to rent soon!