Nate and Brad (Yes, they are wearing aprons...)

Behold Bountiful Blessings Below

-God's everlasting love and patience
-Nate (of course)
-Our new house!
-books
-our cats
-a guest room (come one come all!)
-a family room with a tv
-a living room without a tv
-a fire place
-candles
-the ocean
-friendships
-Blogs
-snow up north (and not here!)
-coffee (and creamer to make the coffee good.)
-good movies and music
-letting myself listen to Christmas music before Thanksgiving
-my pillow
-forgiveness
-colors
-wind chimes
-cat paws and purrs
-this list instilling a thankful heart in me
-my wedding ring
-my family
-inside jokes
-clocks, but not always having to live by them
-pictures and memories
-the Bible
-the Truth
-God's grace
-roses (my favorite flower!)
-the hard times that come along to make us stronger
-answered prayers

A Peek Into Our Windows

As far as settling in goes, sometimes I feel like I am swimming in a sea of boxes and junk with my head barely above water. There are items that I have even unpacked and wondered why I bothered packing it and where in the world I am going to put it! Every once in a while Nate will holler out in frustration, "Let's throw away all of our stuff!"

Grandpa has been a happy resident of our basement for almost two weeks now. He's incredibly easy to please for meals. Partly because he puts either vinegar or BBQ sauce on just about everything and then compliments me on my cooking ability. He has done some raking for us and he loves being outside in this GA weather. Being a lover of children, he's been walking the street introducing himself to some of the local urchins, carefully writing their names down on a pad of paper he keeps in his pocket. He's getting a little deaf though, so when we are reading Friday emails together WE HAVE TO YELL! YES, WE HAVE VERY PEACEFUL SABBATH MEETINGS!

It has been so very fun having my family less than two hours away. Mom and I went shopping together this week, as did Claire and I. Claire even popped over to borrow some flour! What I love is that after we are all done being together there isn't a long drive at the end for someone. Hooray!

Have any of you seen the new nickels? There is one that I love. On the back, with a view of the ocean it says, "Ocean in view! O! The joy!" Hmm. Now that's a cheap Christmas idea for me...!

We're Home!

Let's see if I can remember how to Blog. It's been a while!

We are safely moved into our new home. I love it more and more every day. The cat's love having two stories to race around in, too! I love having my own laundry room. I love having four bathrooms. (I might not, though once I've had to clean them all over and over.) I love having a master bathroom and a walk-in closet in our room. I love our garage door opener, too!

We still have boxes piled up everywhere, but I'm taking my time opening them. I should be hard at work now, but this is the first time in more than a week that we've had internet access, so here I am, being lazy.

So, yes, we are still in the land of the living and loving the Georgia sunshine and warmth. It's still short sleeve weather down here! Yeehaw!

All I Can Say is, "Wow!"

After a busy week of driving south with Brad and Claire and going house shopping, we seem to have found a winner! After a little negotiating, we've come to an agreement with the owners on a reasonable price. The next step is the inspection report this week and then closing in a couple of weeks. We are so excited and overwhelmed by God's leading. His timing and guidance are perfect as always.
The icing on the cake is that we are in the same neighborhood as Brad and Claire and less than a mile away from them and 15 minutes from church! Woohoo!
We have lots of room for guests! Come on down!

God is good. Yesterday. Today. Forever. 

Nate captured this shot when we went to the ocean last weekend to watch Ophelia's impact on the waves. 

Life

I'm taking a break from scrubbing the kitchen floor on my hands and knees. This job is one among many that need to be done in the next two weeks. Sometimes when I'm cleaning here in the apartment, I feel like I take two steps forward and one step back. There is always something to be done! It never ends! We are not the types to sit on the couch with our hands folded. We LIVE here and therefore it gets messy. Sigh. At least the busier I am the faster time will go until we get to go to Georgia and look for a HOUSE! Hooray! I know, I know, I'll have more to clean. That's okay, though. I consider that a pleasant problem!

Yesterday Nate and I went to Providence with Paul and Laura. We walked around for a bit trying to find a place to have brunch. We failed, but ended up at a nice place for sandwiches. We even jaywalked right in front of three cops in our quest for good food. Woohoo. Life on the edge!

This morning in my Bible reading I read in 2 Chronicles about King Amaziah who, "did right in the sight of Jehovah, yet not with a whole heart." My prayer is that in all that I do for God whether just being a housewife or when Grandpa moves in with us in GA, or whatever else comes my way, I will serve God with all of my heart and with a good attitude.

That said, the laundry and the kitchen floor are calling me! Hooray!

This beautiful rose is from my Aunt Glady's yard in California. 

Sigh.

We made it home in one piece!

Daddy dropped the four of us off at the airport last week, full of energy and ready for the job ahead. Yesterday, he picked us up at the airport, mere shadows of our former selves dragging our luggage wearily behind us.

I slept for a solid 14 hours and could have slept longer, but figured I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight. I love our bed. It is the most comfortable bed in the whole world and I'm glad to be home to it.

So, now we recover and rest up from the job of cleaning out Grandpa's house and start thinking ahead to our trip to Georgia to find a home. Please pray about this next step. It looks big, but we know that God has something just right set aside for us. Thank you also, those of you who prayed for us while we were in California. Those prayers made a difference, we could tell and we appreciate them and you.

Time to Say Goodbye

Wow.

We have been SO busy, as I'm sure most of you have read from Claire's blog. I have so many memories of this place. I was baptized in the pool out back, I've watched Grandpa make Charlie-dolls, I've played by the creek, I've worked in the garden, I've swung down the pole into the family room countless times, I've lain on the couch next to the organ listening to Grandpa play by the hour, I've had Christmas and Thanksgiving dinners here on Grandma's china, I've roasted hot dogs and marshmallows over the fire while watching the "cool" people play volleyball, and sometimes they even let me play, I helped Grandpa clean the house and care for Grandma when her memory and her ability to walk failed her. The list goes on...

I'm thankful for all of the pictures we have of these memories and I'm thankful for the week of hilarity that we've had, and, yes, even my cold, because it helps take my mind off of leaving. So, now, this is my last night here at Grandpa and Grandma's house. We have a busy day tomorrow, finishing packing up the boxes to be shipped and cleaning up last minute trash. Thank you for letting me take this time to remember.

Imagine my surprise when I opened a cupboard to sort through pictures and found this one on top! He's been perched on the mantle ever since! 

Home Again! (for now)

After almost two weeks in NH staying with my Grandpa while Dad and Mom were away, I'm once again sitting in my own chair, with my own husband right here, and with my own cats running around. Even after leaving Nate for this long to his own devices he still loves me! Roses and baloons were waiting for me on the table and he brought chinese food home for dinner! This bliss will be short-lived though, because we leave on Saturday with Brad and Claire to go work our heads off in Gpa's house. My fortune cookie said, "You are given the chance to take part in an exciting adventure." How true.

On the spam front, I've been mildly annoyed at the stupid comments and finally changed the settings to only allow bloggers to comment. However, I have also received one mildly profane comment and decided, especially since I know some children who read my blog, to change the settings again so that you have to identify a word to comment. I appreciate your patience and continue to welcome and even wait with bated breath for comments from those I know and love!

"Oh, Atlanta, I hear you calling..."

Well, I think most of you know that Nate and I have been praying for a long time about moving to Georgia! We feel God leading us there and we are very excited! We will be buying a home, because the market is good down there right now and we plan on Grandpa Pass living with us for a while.

So, as Claire mentioned in her blog, there are a few things that we have to do first. Fly to CA with them and clean out Grandpa's house. Around 50 years of belongings to go through, so you can pray for speedy work and easy decisions on what to keep and what to throw away and what to give away. Anybody want to come lend a hand?

We are also planning a trip to GA in October to scope out houses. You can pray that will go smoothly as well. I keep saying, "When I grow up and own a house, I want..." I guess that time is quickly coming!

Overall, even with the busy schedule ahead of us, we are excited and God's hand has been in all of the events up until now leading the way to the south! We will miss our friends up north, but not the snow. Y'all are welcome to come down for a visit!

Evan and Jill invited Grandpa and me over to supper a couple of nights ago and I had fun taking pictures of their children and animals! 

Grampa-sitting!

I'm at Fairwood this week, until next Wednesday staying with my Grandfather (on my Dad's side) while Daddy and Mom are exploring the southern regions of our fair nation. Things have been going well so far. He has been incredibley grateful at the end of each meal for the work I have put into preparing them. He's easy to cook for because he's happy with whatever you put in front of him, which is good for me!

He has a huge collection of videos and it has become our habit for him to bring one out from his sitting room for us to watch together after dinner. So far, we've watched old Touched By An Angel episodes and last night we watched an old Cary Grant movie called Father Goose.

One evening we were sitting at the table in Mom and Dad's kitchen quietly eating dinner when I looked out the window and spotted Megan on the roof of the main house! She apparently climbed up to fetch a frisbee that has been there for months! Grandpa and I scurried to the window peering out eagerly to make sure that she came back down safely. She did, no worries, as nimbly as can be. It's been two days and G-pa is still talking about it. He even ventured out to claim the frisbee as a souveneir! I need to figure out a good way of suggesting that he return it!

After church today, I took him with me to visit my Grandma (on my mom's side). I was a little nervous about the visit, but they hit it off, leaning toward each other and bellowing about their infirmities as old people and coming to the conclusion together that it's best to Count Your Blessings no matter what stage of life you are in. Growing old is not for sissies.

I dashed outside in my pj's this morning to get this picture! 

With a name like this...

During the Red Sox's rain delay on Sunday afternoon, I had the tv turned down low until the game came back on. My ears perked up, though, when I heard the name of one of the Dodger's pitchers, Brad Penny!

Closet Nerd

Nate and I were both sick yesterday with food poisoning. Yuck. And yes, we had Subway after church at the same time that Andrea did. Hmm...something's rotten in the state of Rhode Island.

I think I had a fever last night and you know how dreams can get when you are sick! Let me back up first, though, so you know why my dreaming was weird. I've been watching NASA TV every day while the shuttle Discovery has been in space. It's been fascinating watching the space walks and other activities that they have been up to. I've also been impressed with how courteous and friendly the astronauts and the people on the ground have been with each other. They don't let little things bug them and don't express frustration when things go wrong. Oh, to be more like an astronaut! I even got up early yesterday to watch the shuttle land and when it didn't, I got up early again this morning. Brad says that I'm a nerd. Oh well. So, all of this to say that the shuttle has been very much on my mind.

I've also been playing a lot of backgammon on the computer. That's the game where you have to move your tokens around the board and if you don't have them in stacks of two or more the other guy can swoop in and land on you. Every time I close my eyes, I see these little tokens on the board. Yes, I know this is a sign of having played it too much. When I get over this food poisoning I'll stop...really.

So, last evening I went to bed early, partly because I was still feeling awful and partly because I knew I was getting up super early. In my confused feverish dream, I was on the shuttle, which was also our apartment. I was sick, in my sleepwear and trying to make sure that the tokens were all stacked so that we would land safely. I also knew that there were cameras set up so that the world could watch us in space and I was concerned that the next time I got up to rush to the bathroom to toss my cookies, that the whole world would see me in my pj's. So, I partially woke up and called to Nate to come in to the bedroom and told him calmly and courteously, like the astronauts, that if he could please get me some clothes to wear for when the shuttle lands I would really appreciate it. He informed me that I was not making any sense and that I had just used space shuttle and clothes in the same sentence! That's when I really woke up and realized that I had been dreaming. Poor Nate.

Walking My Cats

I have always believed that cats should be able to come in and out as they want. You don't have to have a litterbox for one thing, and when they start bouncing off the walls inside you can shoo them out to work off their extra energy. The coyotes that lurk in our local woods have changed my mind. Nate and I have had five cats in the four years that we've been married. We have two now, Stuart and Melvin. One cat, Cappy, we gave away. The other two, Sadie and Sophie, each went out to play and never came home. So, the decision was made for us that Stuart and Melvin would be inside cats. Poor fellows. A new idea came to me, however, that this didn't always have to be the case. They have cat harnesses now which you can attach a leash to so that you can take your cats out to play without any danger!

The first time I put the harnesses on the cats, they were not happy. One part wraps gently around the neck and the other wraps around the chest and the whole thing connects at the top of the shoulder blades. Our silly cats tried everything they could think of to get the things off. Crawling with their bellies on the floor, rolling onto their backs and even walking backwards! The next step was the leash and then convincing them to go outside with this whole getup. Once we got them outside, we quickly discovered as we followed our exploring cats around the yard that a four foot leash wasn't long enough. So, now we have those fancy leashes that extend as they move around the yard.

Cats are not dogs. They go under, into and around things chasing bugs and leaves. So, sometimes we have untangling to do! A lot of the time, they just lie down enjoying their pseudo freedom. One of the Brown's cats likes to come and lie down a few feet away, almost as if he's flaunting his true freedom. Cats, as you all know, are very independent and they don't come when you call them unless they happen to feel like it. So when it's time to go in, you have to plead and cajole and tug on the leash (gently, of course) until you finally have to just give up and pick them up and bring them in.

When the Brown's dogs first came down I was scared to death. All I could picture, as they carefully approached the cats, was a cartoon-like whirling dust-cloud at the end of the leash with fur flying everywhere! Thankfully, this was not the case. There was tentative sniffing, some eager tail-wagging from the canines and some fearful back-stepping from the felines and then some sort of agreement to peacefully co-exist. I was even more nervous when the Brown's cat came down, but that was an even more peaceful greeting. Maybe they just all feel sorry for these poor pitiful tethered creatures. I certainly feel silly sometimes babying my cats this way. I don't want to lose them, though.