APRIL FOOL... Who's Mine?

Sue here...   I almost had a heart attack this morning when the calendar alarm on my phone went off and woke me from a dead sleep!  Interesting choice of ringtone by my April Fool... "Are You Ready?" which is a loud club dance song sung by what sounds like a little alien  Martian in an old time cartoon.  Needless to say I wasn't ready - I'm still alive and wondering who my fool is...             was it YOU?

"REPEAT AFTER ME:  AT LEAST WE DON'T GET HURRICANES... AT LEAST WE DON'T GET HURRICANES..."


Sue here...       

I finally got around to changing my residence on facebook to Rugby, North Dakota and decided it's also about time to update the blog.

I couldn't help but post this cartoon from the blog  "Yes, North Dakota Is A State" to my brother's facebook wall. 

How many times did my family and I think of friends and relatives in Florida and say this to ourselves while we were stuck in Buffalo?  Ray and I now find ourselves saying this to ourselves as we think of our siblings in Florida. 

Note: This cartoon really does look like our current 2 plus feet of snow on the ground! This could actually be us walking down our street a few days ago!  Ray almost got his Maxima stuck 3 or 4 times while driving home from work only a few miles away. The funny thing is that ...here ..they only plow the streets once in awhile!  Needless to say Ray will be looking for an SUV or pick up this summer...

There is a different view of winter here completely than the rest of the world.  But then again I guess it is all a matter of perspective... 

I had to laugh when visiting Amber, Lucas and the kids a few weeks ago as Northern Virginia newscasters shared apps for residents to check the location of the 4,000 (!) snowplows on the roads during a snow storm that only left a few inches!  They were all panicky, closed schools, all government offices, etc! 

 

This next picture I am proud to have taken myself.  It is what I truly appreciate about winter in this area.  The snow covers the trees in a beautiful white blanket and the daily sunshine makes it glisten like diamonds... Beautiful!
 

 

 

It gets warm in  summer... but... let's get real...it is cold, cold here in winter!  It went into the 90's this past summer but it has been as cold as minus 22 degrees here this winter... not counting wind chill.  You won't believe me but we have been very surprised at how little the cold has affected us. Seriously!  It hasn't been bad!  Here is a picture of our thermometer from Jan. 31st:

 

 

 

The recent warmer temps have started the creation of interesting icicles off the back deck.  This is an actual blanket of snow that formed over the roof with space underneath it!

 

 

 

Of course Minnie loves playing in the snow and eating icicles.  We have had to resort to a very light ball to throw for her.  The heavier one gets buried in the snow when you throw it and she will actually dig down into the grass trying to find it.  She has grown up to be such a good dog!  I'll post more about her later.

 

Maybe you can see she has an icicle propped in her paws here:

 

 

 

I thought I should include a few pictures of our house.  We have been truly blessed to have found this place.  It is huge for just the two of us but it is surprisingly well insulated and not expensive to heat or cool!  It has 5 bedrooms, a formal dining room, huge family room, huge kitchen, huge storage room, two additional small storage rooms, laundry room and 3 full bathrooms.  It has an oversized two car attached garage, large tree lined and fully fenced backyard with a storage shed and a large double deck.  

 

  

 We look forward to getting back to this beautiful lush green landscaping and planting our own vegetable garden this year.  You can see we have a nice swing set.. Just need some kids to visit!

 

Now that I'm back... watch for new posts about our time in Boise and visits to our kids.

Christmas Wishes

I can't believe that it has been almost 4 months since our last post. We are very much alive and well in the heartland of our nation, Rugby, North Dakota. While we most certainly miss all of our family and friends, we have settled in to our new home and new life. It has taken us just a bit to get used to the laid back way of life up here, and of course the cold and snow. We actually like it up here, the pace is slow, but the people are genuine and good "salt-of-the-earth", hard-working people who we are coming to know and love. We have everythng we need within an hour of home and don't want for anything.

Sue and I have talked about keeping our blog up to date on a more regular basis this year. We really did try last year, but oh my heck, what a year.

We want everyone to know how much we love this season. We love Christmas, and yes we love buying gifts and stuff for our family, but we really love this time of year becasue we celebrate the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. Because He was willing to come to Earth and gain His own body, we reap the benefits of the Atonement. Without His birth, there would be no Atonement. He KNEW what was going to happen. He knew that he would be scourged, mocked, beaten, nailed to the cross, and suffered unspeakable punishment...and for what? He did it for US...and only for US. So Merry Chrismas everyone, never forget what this holiday is really about.

So as we celbrate Christmas temporally, let us not forget the true "Reason for the Season".  We know that all of our familiy members are well taken care of and are continuing to grow each and every day, They are making their own memories. We won't be away for long, and this time away from everyone is just preparing us for our Misson in a few years.

We hope this post finds everyone well, We will do a better job of checking in on your blogs and posting on ours...just be patient with us, and we won't let you down.

Until then...Merry Christmas to all, and to all, a good night

We Made it To Rugby

After two long days trekking across America's heartland we have safely arrived in North Dakota.

We will update you on a more formal post in the days to come. Right now we have to get our house in order as everything was delivered today....now uncpaking and outting away...yikes!

Stay tuned...

The Trek Begins

Well...we completely cleaned out our old house yesterday in preparation for our move to North Dakota. We got done around 1:30 then chilled for the rest of the day. Enjoyed jimmy Johns in the park with Minnie.

We visited Camel's Back Park and had some of the best ice cream ever at Goody's...homemade...yumbo. then capped the night off at Ling and Louies...a kind of Asian/American fusion kinds place...it has been a real favorite for us.

As we enjoyed each others company we reflected on how blessed we have been and are. While North Dakota certainly is not our "Shangra-La" we are looking forward to our new adventure together. It has been so clear to both of us that the Lord has had His hand in our lives continuously...I think in part because we have invited Him into our marriage and lives, and partly because we have remained faithful and obedient.

We could have easily backed out of our lease in meridian, but we decided early on that we wouldn't do that and that we would honor our lease agreement as well as leave the house in the same shape that we received it in.

Sue has been taking care of the house while I have been away..."what a woman I have ". I joined her at the house on Wednesday to help with the final packing of the house and the cleaning (Argh). But we both wanted to the right thing. it cost us $3750 to buy out the lease plus we forfeited our $1000 security deposit...but this was the right thing to do. We decided that we were going to do this before we started looking for a new job. My new company is so awesome and they offered a tremendous relocation package and told us that they would pay these expenses for us...blessed? ya think!

The day before we moved the rental agency told us that we would have to continue paying the utilities and have the lawn cut until the end of the lease (December) or until the house was rented. While we were bummed, we also realized that this was the right thing to do if that is what the contract said. We scrubbed and we cleaned so that we could hold our head up high when we left, knowing that we did the right thing. The moving van driver said he owned a lot of rental properties and he never had one of his renters clean his houses the way we cleaned that house. We told him that we couldn't do it any other way as this was who we were. We also asked him what kind of people he rented to.

We went and turned n our keys and garage door openers at the rental agency and they were sad to see us go. We left on our way and it wasn't 5 minutes later that the rental agency called and told us that they had made a mistake and that we didn't have to pay any more of the utilities or have the grass cut. Do you think the Lord has His hand in things....we sure do.

While we were eating dinner we realized that we hadn't picked up three piles of dog poop, so we decided we would go back to the house to make sure that that was picked up...we didn't want to leave anything un-kept in the house. it truly was in move in condition.

We're on to Billings Montana today...we'll keep you posted