There are so many great things within walking/bike ride distance or a 3-5 minute drive from our house it's CRAZY! I've never lived by so much 'stuff' and shopping in my entire life. It's sort of fun, but you know me...always longing for an acreage. Someday. Until then, I'll enjoy living close to lots of city stuff and getting to ride my bike (with kids in the Burley trailer) to run errands! Here is just a sample of the errands that I can ride my bike: Trader Joes, bank, Rite Aid, Albertsons, Safeway, Orowheat bread outlet, Walgreens, McDonalds, three Starbucks, (I'm not kidding) and a yarn store!!! I love it!

A couple days ago we checked out Waluga Park which is about a 10 minute walk away from our house. It's mainly a natural park but also has some fun playground and walking trails.

We are so excited and thankful for this time to explore our new city and figure it out. What a blessing for this time as a family!

Bob sighting at Bob's Red Mill

Today, we took a family field trip to Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Store just around the bend from our house (aprox 20 mins). I've been a pretty big fan of their products and am now an even bigger fan since my precious daughter has been diagnosed with Celiac Disease. They have a great selection of products and grains to make life taste good even without wheat! Yipee! Among several other purchases, we bought 25 lbs of "gluten free rolled oats"...gotta love it! We eat a lot of oatmeal at our house but have been experiencing a ban since Evie cannot eat normal old fashioned oats like we've done for years. Also, while we were shopping our kids needed a snack and what did they at their deli...FRESH wheat and gluten free chocolate chip cookies. What a blessing!

I don't want to go overboard here, but Praise God for Bob's Red Mill, I have to tell you, I was so encouraged today! I know that Celiac will and is effecting my daughter, but right now the number one person in our house that it effects is me: THE COOK & GROCERY GIRL.

Also, ladies and gentlemen, we had a Bob sighting (not digitally recorded, but you'll have to take my word on this). It was so cool, as we were walking out and I was singing the praises of Bob's Red Mill products and my face was glowing with relief for my daughter and myself...who do we see...BOB myself. He was in the parking lot making his way to the store. I promise, I wanted to take a picture with him so badly, but he was in a lengthy conversation with a family so my photo dreams were dashed, but my gluten free high carried me to the car just fine!!

New Home

I thought I'd post a picture of our soon-to-be home in Lake Oswego. This house is a first time rental and it's super clean compared to all the other rental houses we walked through, so we are very thankful and excited about it. Praise God for his provision in a house that we are going to be comfortable in! We are moving our stuff down on April 1st so we can get settled and unpacked before Jared starts his new job later this month. Hopefully we can get set up in our house and have some time to explore Portland as a family before life gets busy also.

Other perks for the coupon crazy lady that I am...2 minutes to Albertsons, Rite Aid, Walgreens (and not so coupon friendly places but still exciting) Whole Foods and Trader Joes (praise God these are close with Evie's new diet).

Glory to God for His continued provision and timing for our family!

On The Road Again...Again.

Here I am in Nampa, ID after quite a crazy last 13 days. Here is the run down of events in our family.

March 12-14 - Went to Portland to interview at a church (Lake Grove Presbyterian Church) and fell in love with it! Kids stayed at our dear friends, The Fries's house...THANK YOU TIM AND TYFFANY! After our weekend at the church we were so excited to hear back, but knew it would be about 2 weeks to hear about the position. This was the first church in nearly 12 months of looking that we were both totally excited about the job, church, location and people!

March 15-20 - Finished packing our house. Praise God for selling our house!

March 19 - Heard Evie needed to go to Seattle Children's on Monday (March 22) for a endoscope to confirm Celiac Disease (gluten allergy). Also, heard JARED GOT THE JOB IN PORTLAND EARLY!!! Praise God for His amazing timing...selling our house, lining up a job, preparing both of our hearts for a move and MANY, MANY more things that I cannot possibly list right now.

March 21 - Said goodbye to our house in Yakima. It's been a great house and such a joy to be in Yakima for the past 2.5 years. We genuinely thought and hoped that we would spend the next 30 years of our lives in Yakima, but apparently God had other plans for our family. It's been a hard past 12 months, but I'm thankful for the place Jared and I are both in....excited and anxious for our the new ministry ahead of us. Then, drove to Seattle and spent the night in a FUNKY hotel by U of W. The coolest hotel I've ever stayed at, not real kid friendly, but we all made it. :-)

March 22- Spent most of the day at Seattle Children's Hospital for Evie's procedure. Got a confirmation of Celiac and Evie did great. She was scared, but was so brave! Also, saw Dave Matthews in the waiting room of Seattle Children's with his wife and little boy....I guess we all end up places we don't really want to be no matter who you are. Drove down to Portland.

March 23 - Spent the day looking for rental houses in Lake Oswego (Portland). Found a great house for our family. We are so excited to get there and get settled. The house is 1 mile away from the church and about a 3 minute drive/10 minute walk. What a blessing! Thank you God!

March 24 - Jared went to a meeting for his new job in the morning and then we drove to Idaho.

Whew. That's it for now. We are tired and glad to be in one place for a few days! We are planning on heading to Yakima early next week and emptying our storage unit and moving into our new house. Pray for all of us in this transition...we are all ready for stability and a regular schedule again.