The Family - Summer, 2023

The Family - Summer, 2023
Love these people!

Sunday, August 30, 2009

Back from our adventure!

Well we've returned from our big trip up north! We left Friday around 9ish and had major rain part of the way up to Erie. Our motel (The Pines at Lake Erie) was in Ripley, NY. It was funny because it's literally 1/2 mile from the NY/PA line, so we were going back and forth between states a lot.
Friday afternoon we drove over to Erie where we found our way to Presque Isle State Park. It's a beautiful peninsula that juts out into the water. There are numerous beaches and hiking/biking trails as well as various monuments and plaques that tell the history of the area. Very interesting and very beautiful. Wish we would've left the dog and taken the bikes. We took some beautiful walks and drives though.
That evening we ate dinner across the street from the motel at a great little restaurant/bar with live music.
Saturday we left for Buffalo and Niagara Falls. We decided to take a scenic route instead of the interstate, and we're glad we did. We followed Hwy 5 along the shore of Lake Erie all the way to Buffalo. There are numerous vineyards in the area as well as other agriculture. It seems that every home has a huge yard with what seems like acres of groomed lawn, and the one's that backed up to Lake Erie were particularly gorgeous! It was a nice leisurely drive.
When we got to Niagara Falls the weather was overcast but fairly warm (70's). It misted here and there and it was hard to tell if it was rain or mist from the Falls blowing onto us.
The whole park area around the falls is beautiful - let alone the falls. The power and energy behind the water is amazing and mezmerizing to watch. We had Charlie with us so we were limited on what we could do (no inside stuff like the big informational movie, and no Maid of the Mist or going down into the caves). It was still amazing.
We were driving back by early afternoon. We made it back and grabbed lunch and went to some wine tasting rooms to check out PA and NY wines compared to our awesome CO wine! Apparently the vineyards in the North East and NY areas are the oldest in the country. We took Charlie to some Lake Erie beaches and walked a bit and then went back to our room to rest.
Saturday evening we went to a really nice restaurant next to the Lake. If it wasn't so windy and cool we would've sat outside, but we did get a short view inside of the sun peaking thru the clouds a little before it went below the horizon. It was bright pink and beautiful.
We drove home this morning, again taking a smaller highway instead of I-79. The rolling hills, forests, fields of corn or potatoes, and lakes and rivers were just gorgeous. We both realized we kept waiting to come over a hill and see something that wasn't that pretty or interesting, but it never happened. It's all so green and beautiful.
Kim's busy starting on his resume so he can turn it in at the seminary. The only opening they had when he went in last Wed. was a preschool aide....huh! He talked with the human resources director and she was so surprised to hear that he would be very interested in the position! Ha! It's around five hours/day, so that'll be a good start for Kim and maybe he'll be able to add hours later (in that dept. or another).
This Wednesday I meet with other students for a student service day in the community. Then Thursday and Friday are filled with orientation and registration activities, and both evenings are BBQs for families. We're excited to be able to meet other seminarians - especially those living close by.
So that's basically the last week. The downstairs is all put together, and there are only a few boxes left upstairs - nothing pressing, thankfully. We have to go get new license plates tomorrow (booohoooo!!) and we'll get new drivers' licenses as well. Waaaaa...all evidence of Colorado is going away!!! I suppose it was inevitable.
Missing family and friends...but doing ok. Seems like it'll be easier when things are busier. Hope so.
~Sal

Saturday, August 22, 2009

Still Settling..

Well we almost have all of our furniture put together! We only have one more dining room chair to go. The hutch was a big project, but it's turned out beautiful and holds a lot of kitchen stuff that we didn't have space for. We're so impressed with Ikea furniture! It's time-consuming but fairly simple to assemble things.
I feel like we've been on this huge spending spree, but it was the plan and we're about done - just a few more things to get totally settled.
The produce we bought the other day wasn't too bad. Actually the corn was delicious, but the tomatoes and cukes left a bit to be desired. We'll have to check out some other sources. We did go to Whole Foods today for the first time. It was impressive as well!
I'm typing this on my new MacBook that we bought for me for school. I'm not used to using just the pad without a mouse...grrrrr.. Kim got an IPod with rebate $, so he's busy figuring that out.
I've been fighting a headache the last couple of days and not feeling really hot. I can feel the knot in my neck that it's emanating from. Ugh. It's getting really old.
I think I'm kind of depressed, too. The newness is wearing off and there's just small junk to unpack and I don't have a lot of ambition to do it. I'm kinda cranky or ambivalent with Kim, and I just want to go have coffee with a girlfriend... Anybody interested???
Our landlord invited us to a Greek Food Festival this weekend that his church is hosting so we went last night. I wasn't very adventurous food-wise, but Kim had some spinach/cheese stuff in philo (filo?) pastry, some pasta stuff, and a seasoned rice mixture wrapped in grape leaves that was really tasty.
We watched Greek dancers - they were really cool - and then had a baklava sundae. Highly recommended! Unfortunately we missed seeing our landlord's kids dance.
What I liked best was the "intergenerational-ness" of the evening. Old and young alike were helping with the serving and table clearing. The live Greek band had older and middle-aged men playing and singing. The dance group were all twenty-somethings which I thought was amazing, and then when they opened up the dancing to everyone a bunch of elementary-aged kids went out and started dancing (boys and girls!) and they were joined by some older and some middle-aged folks. It was neat to be in the midst of their community.
We plan on going to Doug & Tanya Marshall's church tomorrow, Beulah Presbyterian.
We've made reservations at "The Pines" for next weekend in New York state. We'll drive north 90 miles to Erie, PA, and then drive east another 30 minutes to The Pines. We'll check out an island that's a nature park in Erie, some vineyards around North East, PA (yep, that's the name of the town), and THEN we're going 60 miles east to Niagara Falls! Woohoo! I'm really excited about that! I went right after I graduated from high school, but Kim's never been there. It's breath-taking. Can't wait.
Oh, our first real mail we received on Thursday was from PC(USA) advising me that I've been awarded a $4000 Presbyterian Study Grant! Yeah, God!! How He's been providing is so amazing...
Well, that's it for now. Praying that God heals my head, and fills my heart that it won't ache so much for the people I miss and love..
~Sally

Wednesday, August 19, 2009

Starting to get settled...

The last two days have been filled with trips to the Ikea store where we bought numerous pieces of furniture - which some have currently been assembled! (I'm convinced doing building projects with your spouse is good for your marriage!)
We have "built" our bed and bedframe, a tv stand, and a very small kitchen table with stools. We have three more building projects to go!
We found a small veggie/plant market nearby so we were able to pick-up some corn and tomatoes - the test will be tonight at dinner to see how they compare to the wonderful Colorado produce that we're used to! The peaches were too sad looking to even consider. Will definitely need to have Ellen ship us a couple boxes before the season's done. (Oh, and she just told us that they finished picking our orchard for the most part - just the few Elberta's that will come on at the end of the month. Yeah, El!!)
This morning Kim and walked with Charlie a few blocks down the street to a little cafe where we sat outside and had coffee and a danish. The "regulars" were all very nice and welcomed us to Pgh telling us all that it has to offer. It was very fun.
We also bought a small BBQ so we can get back to grilling! I'm so excited since Kim gave our grill to Sean about 6 weeks ago. I've been having withdrawals ever since!
The MOST exciting thing, though, is that I bought some perennials that I'm going to plant in an area that borders our patio - and they were even marked down since August is already half over! Woohoo!
Our landlord Nicholas is such a great guy. His wife died a couple of years ago and he's got two kids at home. I'm hoping we'll be able to have them over for a BBQ soon. He's been so gracious to us.
We're slowly but surely getting the house together. We hope to get it done this week so next week we can play and check out the surrounding areas - maybe even go up north to Lake Erie and check things out.
On that note I'd better get back to work.

Saturday, August 15, 2009

Chicagoland...Two days down, one to go!

We made it to Lincoln last night and went out for an awesome steak dinner. We were dead after that!
This morning we got an early start leaving Lincoln and in Omaha hit the worst rain storm I've ever driven through. It rained HARD for half an hour at least all thru the city and rained on and off throughout the morning. We finally drove out of it somewhere in Iowa. Whew!
I love eastern Iowa's rolling green hills, lots and LOTS of cornfields, barns/silos, and trees. Very green.
Went over the Mississippi River and made our way thru Illinois to Tinley Park, south of Chicago.
As I was waiting in the hotel lobby to check in the tv was on and behind the reporter I could see Mt. Garfield!! Obama's in Grand Junction at Central High School doing a town hall meeting. In our room we turned on Fox News and there was our church friend Daniel Russell on the stage and the Prez was shaking his hand as he left the stage!! Crazy!
We'll make it to Pittsburgh tomorrow. Another eight hour day driving. We've reserved a hotel room since we'll get there later and won't have our keys to the house. Monday is move-in day!! (Then as soon as we get things together - off to the IKEA Store!!! Woohoo!!! How exciting!)
Well, time to rest the ole' bod. Eight and a half hours of driving today, my butt's killing me.
Sad I missed the Leadership Summit rebroadcast at the church yesterday and today. I was getting text updates from Janet and DeAnna though!
Janet sent me the best quotes though... (from Bill Hybels, pastor Willow Creek Church) "Not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers."
And the best one, "Rough patches force courage and creativity." Isn't THAT the truth!
That's it for now. Today was a good today, tomorrow even better! One more day!!!

Thursday, August 13, 2009

On the move...

Well much has transpired since my last blog entry! I think we set the record for goodbye parties! There was the last staff meeting & lunch last Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights were parties at Ellen's with old high school friends, Sunday was the last day at church and my "Bibble Babble" women's Bible study party in the evening. Monday evening we went to the Palisade Brewery with friends + Sean and Megan, and Tuesday evening we were with Sean & Megan again + Mark at Inari's in Palisade.
About 10-12 people showed up Tuesday morning to help us pack the truck. We packed all that could be packed in less than an hour! Thanks be to God! Then we finished up packing stuff in the house, Wednesday morning we go the rest of the truck loaded (right to the edge...it was perfect), and closed on the house at 1pm. We were on the road by 3:30!
The drive went great and Sarah and Rilo met us at our hotel! Then things got sticky...
Jill, our lab, has had aggression trouble before with our other lab Charlie. She'll just lay into her for no reason. Well, out of the car at our hotel was the first attack, then two more in the hotel room. We have tried to deal with this through training and we thought she was doing pretty well. We toiled and toiled. Poor Charlie has cowered in the corner for months and it was getting worse and worse. Jill was the worst on the leash and we knew she was going to have to be on the leash a lot in Pittsburgh because we don't have a fenced yard. We made the excruciating decision to take Jill to the Dumb Friend's League (shelter/adoption). We cried and cried, but we were having to shuttle dogs between the bathroom, the main hotel room, and outside so they wouldn't get in a tangle. We feel we failed Jill miserably.
So we're in the hotel room now, recovering, and trying to actually spend some time with the kids and Rilo instead of stopping dog fights. Ugh, I feel awful.
This is not what I envisioned for our last day with them..
So we'll be leaving tomorrow for the first leg (to Lincoln, NE) with one less dog, and very heavy hearts as we leave our family, friends, and sweet Jilly.
Tomorrow is a new day...I pray God gives us peace in our decision..in some ways I feel we just took the easy way out - a cop out.. The stress just overcame us.
Dear Lord, give us strength...
~Sally

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

One Week and Counting...

We had a wonderful "goodbye party" at church on Sunday. So many people from church and the community came to wish us well and bless us. I said it Sunday too, everyone should have a party or get-together at least once in their life where people will share what you have been to them in their lives. We don't tell people enough how much we love them and what a difference they have made. It's life-giving!
Our friends and family were very generous and gave us cards of love and encouragement as well as small gifts (we now have a Steelers "terrible towel" - thanks Jensens!)as well as financial gifts. The body of Christ is literally paying for our move. What a gift!
The house looks horrible! We've been without a dining room table for about three weeks now. We also sold the china hutch so the china was on the floor but I finally packed it yesterday. Most of the big and easy stuff is packed, now it's all the yucky stuff - medicine/linen closet, kitchen stuff, office stuff (ugh), and basement leftovers (stuff you have to sort through before you pack).
I started making a list of things we needed to do...it was a page and a half! Ahhhhh!!!!
Today is my sweet Sarah's birthday, she's twenty-seven years old! We were remembering how that was how old Kim's brother was when he passed away from brain cancer. I can't imagine losing a child at that age (at any age). It's been so nice spending more time with Sean too, as he's made a big effort to come over often. I will miss his big bear hugs... Amazing how much we love our kids...and how it can grow even more with grandchildren.
We've been BBQ'g at Ellen's a lot since Kim gave our grill to Sean (prematurely, in my humble opinion!). It's been great to get together so much. She's having a BBQ again this Friday and it sounds like some high school friends that we've reconnected with may drive over from Arvada to join us. Too bad we're only doing it now and not a few years back! Ah well, better late than never.
Well, it's almost 10:30pm and I think I'd better hit the hay. These days seem to be whizzing by with not nearly enough getting done!
I still don't think I've faced it head-on that we're leaving so many people we love. I know I'll be crying my way to Pittsburgh next week - and probably next Sunday evening at our Bibble Babble get-together.
God's been so good to us that we have so many people to love and who love us. Mind-boggling...