Year: 2019

Can you believe we are halfway through December?

Arriving early in the office is very often beautiful in the views. One particular morning with the sunrise yet to come and the sky looking peach/orange color, you could clearly see Mt. Hood standing out (see the horizon on the left side). Also, I found a screenshot I took earlier in the month about this article from Christianity Today. Give it a read, it’s worthwhile. I also like to see Christians standing up as well as against what Trump is standing for. Christian Nationalism is running rampant and unchecked, not sure if it was always this way – or if I can only see now it since Trump has been in office.

Politics aside, we took the kids to the Dentist and the eye doctor. Our offer on the home was submitted and accepted! They want to have a closing before the end of the month which will be pushing it, but I’m fine with it. I’m not so sure that buying a home is the best idea in the world because I don’t feel great about the situation at BPA. There seems to be a lack of work.. and this is after waiting for work for the last 4 months. There was a new hire this month (Laci) who was with us on our trip to SFO. She told me she is going to be putting her notice in after the first of the year because she doesn’t see much work-wise and instead will take her old role back.

All that being said, it makes me incredibly nervous to do this. I mostly feel sick to my stomach just thinking about it.. so let’s move on.

The first In-N-Out has opened in Keiser (Salem area) and we had to make a visit. Lines were long and it was cold outside, but inside was some delicious food that we were used to. I think we will need to come back and brave the lines in the future. Our annual trip to the Aspen Meadow Christmas Lights came and we met up with Louis, Angel, and the girls — I’m glad they are getting along better now.

It’s a pretty display. I’m glad we have made this something we do each year.

Next up before Christmas is a Blazers game! This time it is a special event because we are treating our boy to a game all by himself! It brings us joy to see the happiness that the kids get from doing things like this. As a hardcore fan, it also makes me proud.

We went to a Christmas eve service at the Church and then celebrated Christmas with my parents. Afterward, we went to a bunch of Christmas light displays (including Peacock lane).

The next day we took a trip up on the Mountain (Mt. Hood) to brave the elements and see some snow.

Ended the day on a note when we went to “Ducktales Kitchen” in Vancouver, WA for my mom who loves all things ducks.

END OF THE YEAR! What else could happen?

Below is a photo of Michelle and Sky, along with my jeans… waiting for the office to take us to sign our papers. We did it! We are 100% done. As of December 2019 we now own a home in Oregon.

Never did I ever think I would be saying those words – at least not given how things have been going as of late. Here is a picture of the keys and the dark house that we locked up.

Happy New Year! Here is to a great 2020!

just Pray

note: this post was published on 08/30/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of December 2019 to keep chronological order.

December and down to the wire.

At this point, we are getting to the point where if we don’t get this home business shored up, we will be losing money, and then staying in the area won’t make any sense. We opened the area that we were looking in to include the whole east side of Portland. There was a yellow house in a not-so-great area that was pretty nice.. but decided against it. We came across an Opendoor house. This house didn’t require a realtor to visit which made the experience a little more laid back. All you needed to have was an account with Opendoor (who had your driver’s license on file in case you damaged one of the properties) and then you could remotely view the home by yourself. We tried it on this home (pictured below). Even opened up the garage to see if our car would fit. It did (even though the perspective of the picture makes it questionable).

Anyway, we mentioned this house to Michelle as well. The mornings were getting super cold outside (as seen from the ice on the window). As we were nearing Christmas we stopped and got a new Ornament. The Enterprise! Arabella was excited and to be honest I was just as excited. We went to church and were a part of the annual tree lighting that they have. It was a little funny because this year they were doing the countdown and at the count of 7 someone lit it and realized they were too early.

Arabella was super excited about the Star Trek Ornament. Why? It’s simple, she loves Spock. She thinks he is just the best thing, funny AND super smart. She finally got the “Live Long and Prosper (LLAP)” hand sign down (see above). We also made a point of going to Christmas light displays along the way.

We stopped at the house again… it seems like this one is a pretty good fit. Nice neighborhood, good condition house. The open layout was nice, so yeah- let’s make an offer and do this thing.

During this whole process, I had to leave town for a work event. There was an annual hub meeting down in San Francisco to which I was required to go. Okay twist my arm- I suppose I’ll go. I hate traveling! If you know me at all, you know I have no issue with travel. It was a bit sad leaving the family for a while and it made it a little harder as this was the first time in Elijah’s life that I would be away overnight. Here are some pictures of the event (and check out the plane wing photo, where the shadow of the plane is circled in a rainbow) – kinda cool.

We met at Golden Gate University Center for our day-long meeting. In the photo are Jack and Arlene working on some of the items of the day and our views from the corporate office. I had to order in for meals while we were traveling and it afforded me the opportunity to try a new steakhouse (even if it was to go). It was really good! The other photo is of my “Happy Holidays cup” from Alaska Airlines on the way back. I was surprised to find out they serve Starbucks on the plane as the regular coffee.

My first day returning to work was a really pretty day (see below) of the office building, downtown in the distance, and the sun bursting through the clouds. There was a meeting where we all went to a lecture hall for some updates. On my way in I have to say I was embarrassed by the photos above the entryway. Trump and Pence, who would have ever thought our country would get to this point? Not me. Yet it seems like a nightmare that won’t end.

There is all this talk about a virus coming soon, but nobody really seems to care. The rest of the world is panicking but the US? Nah, we are good.

We wanted to take more trips to see the art that was around us. It led us to places we drove by all the time but never stopped to appreciate. Then we stopped at a Providence Health office park where they had these HUGE metal umbrellas. The kids wanted to get out and stand under them and use them.

Can you really blame them? It seems kind of fun in a Marry Poppins kind of way.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 08/30/22 but moved the publish date back to the middle of December 2019 to keep chronological order.

Started out in November with a work meeting on emotional intelligence. With Bill and myself being the newcomers to the group (he started 2 weeks before me) we both needed to take this required class. I snapped a photo of the office we worked out of that day.

More photos of leaves and rain, and more leaves with rain. We took the kids on the weekend to Columbia park and walked around to take in the beauty and why not?! They are some of my favorite photos that we have taken recently of them.

See the green moss? It is yet another thing that I really like about this time of year. This is at the beginning of the street no more than 10 feet from the house. Also, you can’t really have all of these photos and NOT have a picture of at least one of the kids jumping in a puddle.

Church on Thursday is great! It is also something new for us to be in constant contact with Michelle. Occasionally, Jeremy even comes to the showings of the homes we go see. I never thought I’d see the day where we would really be fitting in and setting down roots WHILE having a church home IN in the northwest.

A not-so-fun thing happened where we live… we came outside one morning and saw that our car had been shot at. We don’t speak with anyone in the area so we have no idea how it happened or why. BIRTHDAY!! So the wife has a birthday in November and since it was just going to be us this year, we made a trip out of it. Going to get Fish and Chips in Astoria, and go on a waterfall hike while just taking things easy. That morning that we left to go to the coast, the St. Johns bridge was half-covered with Fog and created a cool shot.

The OSHU Emergency photo was a bit of a scare for us. We brought Jeannie some food as she hadn’t eaten in quite some time. Why? Maryia’s aunt and uncle were driving home after Gramps’ birthday party. They ended up hitting some ice and flipped their car which rolled a couple of times. They were in the ICU and her uncle had to eventually have back surgery. Arabella ended up playing cards with Debbie (who is Jeannie’s aunt) while we were in the waiting room. Jeannie was crying a lot (understandably so as it was her parents) and in response, Elijah went over and just hugged her for a while.

The last photo above is of two little bugs that I occasionally get who hang on to my feet. If they are up (rare as I get up between 4 and 5 am) in the morning they do the same thing telling me they don’t want me to go. I happened to capture them while they were both giggling about being dragged across the floor.

My parents came out for Thanksgiving and we took them to one of the local farms that the kids wanted them to see. Grammy even was convinced to get in the bouncy house.

We again went downtown to see the tree lit up. It’s a nice tradition we have been doing since being in Portland. We took the MAX downtown and got off at the Clackamas Town Center. Went to the mall and I ended up buying this bigfoot stuffed animal that I was going to give Ara for Christmas. She was running up to catch up to her Grammy and Grampy when she fell and took a hard fall (see above). The poor girl was crying and I felt so terrible for her. Her leg got torn up and her face took the brunt of the action too. I got the stuffed bigfoot and gave it to her and she just clung to it. The next morning she was still attached to him. We ended the month with a trip to the forest center and a small hike. Elijah was looking as cute as ever (as seen above). Sometimes I just can’t with these kids.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 08/30/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of November 2019 to keep chronological order.

Boo!

Guess what that means? Yeah, I suppose you already read the title. Its October!

I think we found a home. There is this beautiful home in Cedar Hills (Southwest Portland). A charming house and a great neighborhood. It really couldn’t come at a better time. Plus the backyard is AMAZING. It even has a small boat (in an otherwise empty house) in the garage which Michelle noted she would ask about keeping with the house. As we are very interested, we are going to offer a full price (initially) and potentially go above that depending on how things play out. We are excited!

The next day we went to a Blazers fan event. 50 years and so they had this new logo for the season that the kids took a picture next to. They also played the fan game in the Memorial Coliseum (which is where the Blazers originally played many years ago) so it was cool to see a game in the old stomping grounds.

Back at work, we had news that one of our teammates (Trish) would be leaving for another company. She would still be working at BPA, but no longer with our company. Anyway this was dropped semi-suddenly on Jack (the manager) and so he did an impromptu lunch/goodbye for her. Everyone pays for themselves (except Trish) but we can all eat together. Here is a photo of the group (Bill, Jack, Trish, and Arlene). Don was working from home on this day, so he wasn’t present.

We got bad news on the home search and our realtor informed us that before she could submit our offer they had taken another. Very disheartening.

Looking on the bright side, it’s getting prettier outside each day. Here is a photo of some early morning Fog and the leaves changing. We also looked at another house on the west side (a little smaller than what we were looking for) but the search continues. Check out that purple car. It has a bunch of stuff that the owner glued to it, crazy to look at. Still trying to see the ways we can get involved in Church. Going on Thursday makes things a little easier, but we are still a good 90 minutes away from Church even though we are further east than we were before. Also, Oregon doesn’t allow for very dark tint – so to avoid a fine we removed ours (see photo below). It came off super easy with the steamer.

I love this time of year. Fall is when the leaves start to change and even occasionally are crispy under your feet when you crunch them. The pumpkin patch opens and things seem a little nicer with the fall storms rolling in washing away the summer heat. Check out the photos below of us at one of the Pumpkin patches that Michelle and the mortgage company we work with got us into (for free).

I snuck a photo of Arabella in the mix of the trees. She had a hot fudge sundae and had some chocolate left on her face afterward. I always would have this happen too, so I wanted to capture it. Then you will see trees, and more trees..and even more. I could have had this month be 30 parts. I LOVE the trees that change color. I love seeing raindrops form on leaves. How the streets, sidewalks, and even yards start to get covered with them. I digress.

Finally ended the month going to Abundant Life Church (wait, isn’t that your current church?). Yes, it is, but it isn’t. This is a small church located within walking distance from where we rent and wanted to check them out for Halloween. Super adorable and welcoming. Here is a photo we took of the kids inside when they weren’t eating the goodies.

But seriously, don’t you love those colors?! Yeah? No? Wait… tell me how exactly you could not?!?

just Pray

note: this post was published on 08/30/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of October 2019 to keep chronological order.

Oh, September. Oh, Canada!

We finally got around to taking photos of the Bears that the office gave to the kids. Finnegan and Gus. We also drove around the area and visited where Bates Motel was filmed (the TV show) but unfortunately, they had recently torn down the house and buildings that were used. Instead, we get a picture of land through a chain link fence. Visited a lighthouse and some waterfalls (below).

The Tantalus outlook was also where we took the photo (that is in black and white). Pretty stunning images of clouds and the terrain. The pictures simply don’t do it justice. The kids were excited to go hiking as this is their jam (see family photo at the entrance to Brandywine Falls) and the kids posing at another spot. Then took a trip downtown and walked the streets a little. Look at the statue they have of the Orca!

Before we knew it, our time was over and it was time to return to the States.

Below you will see a neighborhood.. it was a nice view we had in our Tacoma-area Hotel where we stayed overnight before the final stretch back to Portland. Then it was back to work for another week of work! I do like the view from the patio at work. You have a nice view of the Convention center (see green towers below) and downtown.

We still kept meeting up with Gramps and Ellie as much as we could. They were surprised that we were back so soon, but I think it’s a good thing. We took random weekly trips to look at random things in the area like the Portland Meadows building. However we spend them, the weekends always feel short— speaking of short: we have been house hunting. See the photo of the shower? It also is short and not a good fit for someone who is 6’4. Wait, how’d you sneak that in? How are you house hunting?!

Well, so the story is: we didn’t go house hunting last time we were in the area as we knew things would probably be more temporary. We however were getting tired of planning for no future. We specifically set up the rental we had to be month to month AND out of our price range that we were comfortable with. We got a furnished place with none of our stuff with us. Why? To push us to make a move. At the current rate, we would need to be out of the rental by January or February – otherwise, we would be hemorrhaging money. The best way to do something is to push yourself to do it. We signed up with a couple of different realtors and were on the go. We were open to Portland or Salem. We would prefer to be on the West side of Portland, but if not, then probably south and closer to Keiser/Salem. Potentially on the east side if we could be close to our home church.

Moving forward the mornings have been really pretty lately. Imagine foggy mornings giving way to sunlight bursting through the air. Can’t see it? Okay, I caught a photo of it one morning while driving to work. Arabella is also getting too big – she lost her first tooth!

You can see a cheesy photo of her (above) showing off her missing tooth. We came across an art project near where we lived that had a big chalkboard and said “Before I die I want to ____” Arabella answered that with “be a dancer.”

I thought I’d share a candid photo of some of my co-workers. We are in this downtown office for a few days doing training and I took a photo on the DL. Bill is on his phone (lower left side), Don is talking to Arlene who is not pictured, and Trish is on her phone on the far side.

Coming close to the end of September you can start to see some color on the leaves (pictured on the Cascade Campus). We also took a few trips down to Keiser to look at some new homes that were being built in our price range. We have gotten tired of working with multiple realtors and reached out to Michelle (our Pastor’s wife) who is a realtor and she said she wanted to work with us. Not sure if we want to go for this house or not. It is an interesting thought because it’s new. I just don’t like a few things about it – including the quality of the build and the one-car garage. How can we have so little room for storage?

BIG SHOES. Yeah, those are a touristy thing that they have at the Adidas World Headquarters (which is not far from where we live). I drive past it every day and finally said we were going to do it! The kids got a kick out of how big they were. The end of September also means that the Oregon Heritage Farms have McIntosh apples! Why does that matter? It’s the golden apple for my mom’s apple pies. We may have gotten a few pounds of apples.

just Pray

note: this post was published on 08/29/22 but moved the publish date back to the end of September 2019 to keep chronological order.