Our Time in Oregon

Isabella with her Uncle Tim showing off and dividing their loot after the harvest festival. Doesn't Isabella look good in her ladybug suit?

Our friends Matt and Jalna. We have know this couple since before they were Christians and way before they were married. They are one of our closest friends in Oregon.

And their two children. Two little rough and tumble boys. So cute and so different then a girl!

Isabella with her little cousin Kacee. It was Kacee's second birthday and it was good to get all the family together for a little while.

Grand Ma Patty's 50th birthday. She had it back in the summer but we weren't there to celebrate it with her...so we did it now!

Well we are on our way to Idaho now. We should be there tomorrow. We will be there for a month and Lord willing our plans for the next couple years will be cleared up by then!
Please keep us in your prayers!

Time Sure Flies...

...when your life is on the road.
Sometimes it feels like we are living in some sort of time warp. Time doesn't seem to exist for the most part. Maybe we will use a clock if we need to meet someone somewhere, but otherwise...
Our time here in Southern Oregon is about over. We were actually planning to be on the road today, but the first people that we were planning ton seeing are going through a rough time and asked if we would skip them on this leg of the journey. Hopefully we will be able to see them on the way back down in a month!
We have had a really good time with family and our church friends. Since both our parents live here in this part of Oregon it is somewhat easy to spend time with both of them and let them hang out with their grand-daughter.
I've gotten to go surfing and paint-balling with Jen's brother as well as hang out plenty with my five brothers that live here.
Here are a few pictures of our time here and I'll update when we get on the road!

Here is Isabella with her cousin Kacee Raye picking pumpkins.

We went to Jen's old high-school for the Homecoming football game. We sat directly in front of the cheer-leaders and Isabella informed me that she was going to be one when she grew up...that is still under negotiations. Jen broke out her old letter-man jacket and had a blast yelling with everyone else. She got to see some people that she knew and went to school with, so that was fun for her. I just sat there and laughed at my family and froze...

When Bryan, Brianna and I went surfing we found this huge sea-lion and we tried to get it in the picture with us. He is in a weird position so you can't see from this picture how ginormous he really was. I only found out later that here in Oregon sea-lion attacks are more common then mountain lion attacks...ooops.


Isabella and her first "alone" ride. Putting up her hands to show us she isn't afraid!


Here we are in California during the almond harvest. Isabella is on the tractor with her great-grandfather. That is the same tractor and lap that Jen used to ride on when she was Isabella's age! Pretty cool!

More Arizona Pics

Some more pictures of our time with our family in Arizona.

Here we are at Aly's volley ball game. As you can tell, everyone is watching the game intently, but half the fun of going to a game is just hanging out with family.



Aly and Dori, her Laberdoodle...(a mix between a lab and a poodle.) Dory is an excellent hunting/retrieving dog, but sheds less then most dogs and Aly like her father is an excellent hunter. You should see their trophies hanging in their house. It is amazing.

We went to a little town called, Oatman, where there are "wild" burros all over the place. They were brought in for mining years ago, and after the gold ran out they were let loose. As you can tell they don't look too wild to me. Especially if you have carrots to give them!

Jen trying to find some shade on a sunny day!

Behind me on the rocks are ancient Indian drawing. I love this kind of stuff and would go miles out of my way to see them. Sadly no one knows what the drawings mean anymore.

Me just hanging out with my Aunt. Unlike Jenny I try to find the sunniest spot to sit in. I've been in school too long and it is time to get out and lose some of my pallor!

Isabella learning how to steer a boat by Uncle Ward. It gave me a little glimpse into the future when she is going to be wanting to drive the car...Pretty scary!

We have so many more pictures of our trip and so many that I want to share, but this will probably be the last post of Arizona pictures for now. We have been in California for over a week now, and it is time to get some of those pictures on here as well! We really enjoyed our month in Arizona and are looking forward to visiting there again.

Our Time In Topock

Our time in Topock with my family went by really fast. Part of that was because we were only there for a week and the other part was because we stayed so busy! They live right next to the Colorado river and so we went out on their boat several times. So fun and relaxing...and you are amazingly tired when you get home! With that went fishing, swimming and wake-boarding. Isabella made sand castles and tried to reel in a carp that weighed almost half of what she does! We have so many pictures from there, but I guess that the limit is six pictures on at a time, so I will put some more on in a day or so.

My cousin Aly, the dog Dory, my Aunt Eve and my Uncle Ward. (And of course Bella!)

Uncle Fred and Isabella making their sand castles.

The finished product. Pretty good, with a bridge and all!

The Three of us soaking up the sun!

This is me trying to wake-board. This is about as far as I made it out of the water...

Jen got pretty close to getting out of the water, but not quite. You can tell by her face that she is enjoying it!!!

Good-Bye Arizona

( I just found out that the "Enter" key doesn't work on this computer here...so this post will look a bit funny...) Our time in Arizona was...well great. Four different cities...all vastly different. It was amazing that we were in the same state for all that time! And the experiences were as varied as well. When I was looking for pictures to post on this I realized that I had soooo many! I will never get all the ones that I want on here! Another wrinkle is that the computer that I am on now is dial up...So I don't even know if it can handle posting pics, so after I get this on the blog I will work on pictures. My class in Phoeinx went really well. They call it an intensive...and boy is it ever! About eight hours a day for five days. I told them that it felt like I was trying to drink from a fire hose. But really good stuff. It is a Biblical discipleship course and gives some real practical, biblical ways to work through issues in life. I am excited to bring it home and share what I have learned. Already two of my brothers have said that they will sit down with me and go through it. I think it would be really beneficial for all of us. After we finally left Phoenix we headed west to the border to visit the first "real" family member on our trip. My Aunt Eve, her husband, Uncle Ward and daughter Aly. I think this was the fourth time in my life that I have been down to their house. (How sad is that?) Last time we went (and Jen's first time) they were hosting the family reunion so we weren't able to really hang out with just them. I have to admit I was a bit apprehensive walking up to the house, but those feeling disappeared quickly. Family is always going to be family and we fell in love with this family all over again. The only other time I had ever spent one-on-one time with them I was a kid, so it was awesome to get to hang out as an adult...with a family of my own. Isabella had a wonderful time as well. She got to go to the river, swim in the pool, feed the dog...do what all three-year-olds love to do! Also there was another uncle that just moved there...Uncle Fred. One can't help but love Uncle Fred. Everyone loves him. Isabella even named her new stuffed animal after him. :-) I can't wait to get some pictures up about this trip. Well, we are now in California. Finally made it to the West coast! Yeah! Our Oregon plates on our car don't attract so much attention anymore! We will be here for a couple weeks hanging out with Jen's grand-parents and then up to Oregon. I'll update as often as I can and I will try to get pictures on right......NOW.

Reaching Overwhelmed...

...or did we past that point some time ago?
Family is making their appearance now. Jen's mom and dad came yesterday, her brother is on his way today, three of my family will come tomorrow. While it will be good to see everyone, it is different since we aren't at our own house, and they are all staying at different places, and our schedual gets moved around alot...Good but stressful. We miss just coming in and sitting with our Anarazell and just talking to her. Now the room is always full, pictures are being taken like crazy. Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that I wish they all weren't here, it is just different.
Next week is coming up quick. All kinds of issues are running through my head. When can the family sit down with the doctors and ask their questions? When should we have our "going away" party? When should Jen and I come in and let our baby go home? Who do we ask to drive us to the hospital...wait for us...and take us home after she is gone? How do you ask someone to do that?
And then the big question...what then?
Jen asked when were we going home, and I asked, "Where is home"?
Our family and alot of church family is in S.Oregon, but we haven't lived there for over 5 years now. We loved our time in Eastern Oregon, but what is there for us now? We have a church family just over the border in Idaho...but we have never lived there...We have only been in Missouri for a few monthes now, so even though most of our stuff is there, we don't consider it home.
I guess it is too early yet...It is hard to make plans for dinner, let alone for that far in advanced.
So all we have settled on so far is staying at the house we are at through Christmas break...and see what happens from there.
Lord willing in the next month or so we will get some direction on what future plans hold...
I am assuming that life continues to go on...I just don't know how.
Just something else for everyone to pray for...