More to Say

When we lived in Washington, I was on and led the council of our church.  My time and effort were deeply entrenched in the leadership and operations.  I was a decision maker, teacher, arbitrator, mentor, occasional preacher, and full-time referee.  All of these things were good.  There are no negative things to say about that church.  I love the congregation and they love Jesus.

Ten months ago, my job moved my family to South Texas.  Our family found a great church in our neighborhood that loves Jesus and is growing.  We attend... mostly.  I volunteer... kinda.  We're committed to the community of believers... unless something comes up.  Personally, I've just become more of a back-seat participator our new church - enjoying my view from the cheap seats.

During these last 10 months, I've struggled with my relationship with Jesus and my opinions on the local church. Since leaving WA and getting to TX, I've suffered through the following:

1. Burn Out: Critical emails. Angry phone calls.  Passive/aggressive gossip. Back-handed compliments. Hollow praise. Leaving leadership in many ways felt like a great relief.  No one was sizing up my every move and trying to tackle me in the aisles of the grocery store.  The burden of leadership is heavy and being released from it felt like a relief.

2. Apathy: As the old saying goes, "No one wants to see how the sausage is made."  Once you know all the gory details, you can lose your appetite.   This is very true in church leadership.  You have all the makings of a firestorm if you want one - social cliques, employee relations, financial complexity, and facility maintenance (just the tip of the iceberg).  It was easy to forget the "why" when focusing on the "how".  I lost my appetite for community once I saw everything that could (and did) go wrong.

3. Laziness: Nothing complicated here.  I just didn't want to put out any effort.  My brain likes to disguise and justify this one as "freedom".  I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it.

4. Selfishness: The clergiosity words here would be pride and/or conceit.  The more I stay out of community, the more I am right all the time.  And my time belongs to me.  I am accountable to no one.  I can do whatever I want and no one calls me out on it.  Acting like I know best is one of the things I am best at doing.  I probably need to repent just for writing that last sentence.

I recently read an article that convicted me greatly about my relationship with the church. If you've never been in church leadership, it may be a bit foreign to you.  If you HAVE been in church leadership, it will nail you right in the heart.

The book of Hebrews speaks to group of people to reaffirm and clarify many things they already believe.  It ties together the Old Testament scriptures to a modern faith and establishes Jesus as the one and only true God.  In the 13th and final chapter of Hebrews, the author sums up the many points of the book and it speaks volumes to me in this season of my life.

Hebrews 13
v.1 "Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters." - It doesn't matter how I feel about community or the church.  The term "loving" here is a call to action, not a feeling.  Get off the couch, clear the schedule, re-prioritize the priorities, and move out!

v.4-5 "Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, 'Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.'" - Speaking of re-prioritizing! I will focus on my most important personal relationships and be content in my blessings. Being discontent is root of nearly every sin I have ever committed.

v.7 "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith." - I cannot count the number of leaders that have spoken Godly truth into my life and provided righteous examples for me to follow.  This speaks to me as an unspoken accountability.  I am accountable to all those that know I can do better - and have told and shown me how to do it.

v.9 "Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings." - The cow that eats onions will have milk that tastes like onions.  My eyes and my ears consume all day long.  My life will be a reflection of what I consume.

v.13 "For here we do not have an enduring city, but we are looking for the city that is to come." - My pastor and mentor in WA used to tell me (and everyone) all the time: "Keep the main thing the main thing." In the big picture of community and the church and leadership, it is all fleeting.  We are here to worship Jesus, introduce others to Jesus, and grow closer in our relationship with Jesus. The focus is eternal.  It's bigger than the latest catastrophe or situation.

Doug 

 

Overdue Update!

I keep meaning to hop on here and write and update and always think....tomorrow....I will do it tomorrow....Well, 4 months worth of tomorrows have gone by and here I am:-) I am anxiously awaiting the start of the Seahawks Super Bowl game and could think of nothing better to do than write about whats been going on around here. Let's start with the kids. Bekah is doing very well. She is getting straight A's in 3rd grade and is a part of her yearbook club at school. She has made a couple of friends at school that she likes to hang out with, but definitely no one who compares with her BFF's back in Yelm. Those friends still hold her heart. She has been playing basketball and is excited about fastpitch season starting soon. JD is becoming a young man right before my very eyes. He has adjusted to the craziness of intermediate school and is making A's & B's. No clubs at school for him, but he is on a fantastic league basketball team that is currently undefeated. They have invited him to be a part of their AAU tournament team, The Hill Country Hawks, and he is excited to start that soon. Bethany is doing so well academically and socially. I've said it before and I'll say it again, this move has been fantastic for her. The schools offer so many more things that are up her alley and she has found people that she has things in common with. It's been very fun to watch her grow into a teenager. She is all registered for high school and she is hoping to be in the International Baccalaureate program. Doug's job, which is of course the reason we came down here, is going very well. He has come to be a leader in his group. He has to wear a tie everyday, which is very different, but he looks so nice:-) Right now his job has taken him to Korea for 2 weeks. We knew travel would be part of this position and I am so excited for the experiences it will offer him! As a lot of you know, I began a new adventure of working full time in the office of an elementary school in January. I haven't worked a full time job since Bethany was born, 13 years ago, and it has been quite an adjustment. I really do enjoy it and I'm loving the independence I'm already seeing in the kids. They are packing their lunches at night, getting themselves up in the mornings and making their own breakfasts. The best part of being at a school is that I'll have all their same vacations, so I really feel like I get the best of both worlds! I am not at Bekah's current elementary school, but she has said that she would like to come to my school next year, so that will be fun. The house is definitely coming along. I continue to feel so blessed to have such a beautiful home. It isn't quite what we imagined as far as having more space outside, but it's more than we could have imagined on the inside. So far we've been able to host Doug's dad and my mom and are looking forward to having Doug's mom and stepdad come in a couple weeks. We have lots of space for visitors, so just remember that our door is always open! As with any move, some things have been hard. The biggest thing for me is my nutrition and fitness. As a lot of you know, last year I made a huge leap in my personal nutrition and fitness and by July was in the best shape of my life. I had decided that I wanted to become a personal trainer and that is still a life goal that I have. Moving here, I still have yet to find my routine for working out. It might seem crazy, but it is a big point of sadness for me . I am absolutely determined to get back on track!!! I will have to keep you updated:-) We continue to miss our friends and family back in Washington tremendously!!! We love you all!!!

Chugging along

It's been quite an amazing three weeks for the Enfield family. I continue to drive around in shock that we are here. I keep thinking that at any minute I'm going to pull into my driveway in Yelm, go up to Fort Stevens or Crossroads or Bootcamp and go into Walmart or Safeway and see about 50 people that I know. I am getting used to the walmart here and the grocery store. The H.E.B. is quite different from my Winco, but it's not bad. Driving around is also improving. I'm able to get to the grocery store, the kids' schools, the main shopping area and the YMCA without needing my GPS. Oh, and the Starbucks! Although the Starbucks here is INSANE! It is always super crowded. It's probably because it's the only one within several miles, so people come in droves. It's definitely different to drive around and not have a little coffee stand on every corner, but that's probably better for my wallet and my waist line. We closed on the house a week ago today. We are so happy that we were able to close a week earlier than expected so we could get into the house, have lots of space, and be in our neighborhood. Speaking of space, we have lots! The house is twice the size of our Yelm house, and right now we have almost no furniture. The delivery for our stuff is scheduled for Sept. 30th, so we are making due until then. We have been on Craigslist and have purchased guest room furniture, a couch set for the bonus room and we have also purchased Bethany her own queen bed. So, those areas have some furniture:-) As you can imagine, JD is loving all the space to run around in the house and Bekah is doing lots of cart wheels and we keep reminding them that at some point we will have furniture, so don't get used to it. As far as activities, we are jumping right in. JD's baseball team, The Cibolo Curve, has their first fall tournament this weekend. We are looking forward to that. Bekah is also enjoying the Volleyball team. Bethany is thriving with all of the activities at her school. She is getting super involved, which makes us so proud. She just jumped right in. She has joined student council and is working with them at the home football game concessions. She is also auditioning for the first (of 4) school theater production. She is adjusting well to the larger work load and is loving having her own room to go to for her homework time. I finally get to start work on Monday!! I am really in need of some routine and this will definitely help. I am not in a good workout routine right now, haven't figured out a house cleaning routine or chores for the kids, and I'm finding myself just wandering around the house wondering what to do. So, I think starting Monday I will be able to put myself into a routine knowing that I have a time that I have to be at work. I am going to be a lunchroom monitor at one of the elementary schools here. The hours are so perfect! I was so concerned that I wasn't going to be able to find something like ABC academy and the fact that I was able to come and get my foot right in the door at the school district is such a huge blessing. I will be working from 10:45 to 2:30 everyday, so that gives me plenty of time to get my workouts done in the morning and any errands done in the afternoons. Bekah is set up to start riding the bus starting on Monday and , once we have our things, Bethany and JD will start riding their bikes. I also can't wait to start decorating the house. We really need our stuff here for that so we can see exactly where the furniture will go and where the pictures and other wall art we have will go. After that I can start figuring out if I want to paint and what we still need to get. With the items that we've purchased off craigslist I feel like we are off to a good start. Like I said, we already have guest room furniture, so feel free to come and visit:-) I think that's about it for now. We are all doing well, but we definitely are missing everyone a lot! We went to Bekah's open house at her school last night and it definitely made me a bit sad because I didn't know anyone! We do have our tickets purchased for Christmas, so we look forward to seeing as many of you as we can!

Week One Done

Well, we've been in Texas for a whole week now as a whole family. Doug and I continue to look around in shock that we are actually here. The scenery down here is so different than that of the PNW. The trees are different, the ground is different, the sunsets look different, and the bugs and creatures are definitely different. Both Texas and Washington are beautiful, but definitely in different ways. So, here is a recap of our first week here. Monday was of course Labor Day and Tuesday was a busy day. We came out to the lake to set up the trailer, did some driving around and took the kids to the new house. The realtor met us at the new house so the kids were able to see inside. They of course ran straight upstairs to claim which room they wanted. There was no arguing, which was nice, and they all decided pretty quickly. Bethany claimed the largest of the 3 bedrooms, although all the rooms are fairly nice in size. The girls both ended up with small walk-in closets, which will suit them nicely. JD ended up with the middle room with the regular closet, but there is plenty of room for him to run around and play his nerf basketball in there. Tuesday was a fairly busy day for me. I started the day by registering Bekah at her new school. It was so weird working with any school other than Fort Stevens or YMS, but they were very nice. After an hours worth of paperwork she was all set and ready to go for Wednesday to be her first day. I then went to the district office for my interview for a part time position with the school district, which I did get. Yay! Hoping to start next week. After that I went and repeated the same lengthy paperwork process at JD's school and then tried to get Bethany registered, but they have a deadline of 10am, so she would start on Wednesday morning after we dropped the other 2 off. After that, Doug and I took the kids to buy school supplies. I will definitely advise anyone needing school supplies to not wait until 2 weeks after school starts. It was nearly impossible to find everything they needed. Wednesday was definitely bitter-sweet. It was so exciting for the kids to start their new schools, but it also made us miss the familiarity of our Yelm routine. The kids handled the first day at a different school fantastically. We were so proud of them! They all came home that afternoon full of excitement about what this year will bring. There are many differences about the schools here. First of all, the Elementary school has a very smooth, safe and coordinated pick-up and drop off. When you go to drop off in the morning you get in the car line and the line keeps moving. As you move to the sidewalk area, there is someone standing there to open your car door and let your child out. They then close the door and you are expected to keep moving! Long gone are the days of the crazy Fort Stevens drop off where cars are parked, parents sit there and watch their kids walk in and other cars are cutting in line. Then, in the afternoon, you have a bright orange card with your childs name on it, as you pull through the line someone with a walkie-talkie calls your childs name to someone in the building and then as you get to the sidewalk someone is walking your child out of the school, opens your door, lets your child in, closes the door and then, again, you keep moving! So weird, but it works! JD is in an intermediate school for 5th and 6th graders. He is changing classes just like middle school, which is so strange. Thinking of him having 6 different teachers is very overwhelming for me, but so far he is handling it ok. We will be having a 504 meeting sometime soon so we can discuss any modifications he may need, but I am excited to see how this schedule will allow him to grow. Bethany's school is HUGE! It is only 7th and 8th graders but has 1100 students! She is very excited about all of the club opportunities and all the different classes they offer. She is in a theater arts class that will have 4 productions over the year and she will get high school credit. So exciting! The biggest struggle for her is how intense it is. So much more is expected of the students out here to include things like actual grading of homework. If you miss questions on your homework it will affect your grade. Once she has all of that figured out, she will do great! Well, that's all I will bore you with today. We are adjusting well, we just can't wait to get into our house! I will write more next week:-)

Big Changes

I’ve been trying to find time over the last couple of weeks to sit and write a blog post, but time has flown by. I can’t even believe the whirlwind of events that have taken place since mid-July. On July 18th Doug and I flew down for our trip to Vegas not knowing that we would be returning to Yelm with big news and big changes. That Monday we received the call that we had been expecting for over a year, that Doug was being offered the position at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio. We’ve been anticipating him getting this position for quite some time, but had honestly gotten to the point where we were moving on with our lives in Yelm. I know to some, this move came as a big surprise. People have been shocked and have said that it all happened too fast. For us, this move has been on our minds for 3 years. It all started when we spent the summer down in San Antonio 3 years ago. It was then that we even began to consider living anywhere other than Washington. We felt at home in Texas. We loved the people, the culture, and the activities and yes, even the weather. Well, maybe Doug didn’t love the weather, but the rest of us really enjoyed lots of pool time and lots of sunshine. Doug also loved being at headquarters. He loved the challenge that came with being there and loved thinking about all he could accomplish there if given the opportunity. To go back to getting back from our trip to Vegas….we immediately jumped right into the moving process. First on the list was telling the kids. Then we started telling friends and family. We also started tying up loose ends with all of our commitments. Most of you as our friends and family know that we are so involved in so many areas of our lives and ending all of those commitments has been difficult. We said goodbye to the Enfield clan, which was very hard. We have also been getting our house ready for new people to live there and went on a house hunting trip to find our new home. This last week we had packers and movers in and out of our home and we have said more goodbyes than we can even count. There is so much we are going to miss about our lives in Washington. We are going to miss our family. Having our kids grow up with so many aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents has been such a blessing. They are better people because of all of you! We are going to miss our friends, who we also consider family. You have all loved us and supported us and have helped our children to have such wonderful lives. We are going to miss having cows in our backyard and living in a town with only 5 stop lights. We are going to miss going into Walmart or Safeway and always seeing someone we know. We are going to miss our baseball, fastpitch and basketball teams. We are going to miss Crossroads and all of our church family there. We will miss seeing Mt. Rainier all the time and we will probably even miss the rain. We are going to miss our house. That house has been an amazing home for us over the last 10 years. We have made so many memories there. The children have grown up there, we hosted small group there, numerous parties and get togethers and of course had the annual 3rd of July party. Saying goodbye to the house was hard, but as I reminded the kids, the house is only sticks and wood and paint, what matters most is the memories we made there and those we take with us. As long as we are together as a family, that is what counts. With all of that said my favorite thing to say this last week was I’m so ready to stop saying goodbye and start saying hello! We are getting ready to say hello to so many new wonderful people and things. We are looking forward to a new neighborhood with new neighbors and a pool! We are looking forward to learning more about our new church and making friends there. We are looking forward to exploring a new area and learning what it’s like to live in a city. We are looking forward to what living in a city will offer the kids as far as sports and theater and swimming and other fun extracurricular activities. We are looking forward to LOTS of sun. We are looking forward to finding fun new hang out places and finding our new favorite shopping areas. We are looking forward to making so many new memories in a fabulous new place. In closing I want to say that our home is always open! I know that this move has been hard on us and I know that it’s also been hard on those we love. There is an open invitation to anyone who wants to come and visit. Our lives would never have been the same without all of you and we would love to see you again!

On the road again...

Time to dust off this Blog again.  I think everyone knows by now that we are leaving the Pacific Northwest and heading out for Texas!  I got a job opportunity and we decided that this was the right move for our family.  Over the last month we have cleaned and gutted (furniture) to our Yelm home.  We have renters moving in shortly.  We flew down to San Antonio and bought a house in Cibolo, TX.  The packers are at our house right now shoving all our wordly possesions into boxes as I write this.  My wife and kids will be flying down there and staying with friends until I get there.  I will be driving the truck and travel trailer down there with the dog.  LONG trip, but this is really the best way to do it.  More to come through our adventures!

Adventures on the mountain

Well, I wanted to be able to get in all the details, so figured I would hop on here instead of doing just a regular facebook post. Most good stories start with "it was a dark and stormy night....". This story doesn't start this way, but pretty much ended up that way. We have been planning and waiting for our first trip out in our new trailer since the day we bought it. The whole family has been so excited. We planned our first trip out to go to Leavenworth,WA. For those of you not from here, it's a small Bavarian village located in the mountains. It's beautiful! Every weekend during December they have a tree lighting festival where the whole village lights up with Christmas lights. We've never been for it and were really excited to go. We found a cute little RV park right in town, made our reservations and made our plans. The first part of this adventure is that Bekah started not feeling well on Wednesday night. All of a sudden she was complaining of her head hurting and throat hurting. Thursday morning wasn't much better, so we both stayed home from school and pre-school. Since we were heading out of town the next day I decided to take her to the doctor. So glad I did because she was diagnosed with strep throat. She continued to get worse throughout the day but we started her on the antibiotics and alternating Tylenol and Advil. By Friday morning she was feeling quite a bit better. Thank goodness! So Doug and I continued to pack everything into the trailer and make our preparations. Bethany got home from school at 2 and we picked up JD early and left Yelm around 3:30. We headed north on I-5, hit highway 18 and headed towards I-90 to go over Snoqualmie pass. Snoqualmie pass was no problem, clear and dry! Doug and I had been checking the pass reports most of the week so we figured we would have no problems! After Snoqualmie we headed towards 97 north to Blewett pass. As we start heading up Blewett the snow really started coming down. This was very unexpected. I called Jeff and Angela to see how the pass was a couple hours earlier when they had gone over it and they said it was fine! Definitely not the experience we were having. We were skidding, losing traction, seeing cars spun out everywhere. We pulled over to the scene of an accident where there were a few firetrucks and police cars. Doug got out to ask what they thought about us making it up. The policeman told us to keep going up, just go carefully and slowly. So we did. We made it up a couple more miles.All of a sudden our truck wouldn't go forward anymore. We were completely losing traction. Doug again pulled over and we realized that we were stuck. Doug hopped out into the 2 degree snowy windy weather, turned the heat on in the trailer and told the kids and I to get in there. We were just in there and trying to start coming up with a plan when there was a knock on the door. A very nice man named Bill had stopped to see if we needed help. Bill and Doug had found that we blew a tire on the trailer and that was probably why we lost traction. For the next hour Doug and Bill tried to change the tire, but had no luck. Apparently the tire jack used on a trailer is a different size than a car, which we know now:-) Bill said good luck and was on his way. While they were trying to fix the tire I was in the trailer trying to call 911 with spotty cell coverage. They transferred me to state patrol and the guy I spoke with on the phone didn't seem like there was anything they were going to be able to do. So, we decided to unhook the trailer, leave it, and head over the pass with just the truck. The plan at this point was to get the kids and I somewhere safe, Doug was going to get what he needed to fix the tire and chains for the truck tires and go back and get it. We got about 3 miles up the road and our phone rang. It was state patrol. They were at the trailer and said they could help change the tire, so we turned back around and went back to the trailer. The kids and I stayed in the truck while Doug and the very nice state patrol officer changed the tire. After the tire was changed,and the trailer was hooked back to the truck we tried to get moving. At this point it had probably snowed more than 6 inches in an hour and no matter how hard Doug pushed on the gas the truck/trailer combo wasn't moving. It wasn't looking very good. It was by the total Grace of God that at that exact moment a guy named Chris was driving over the pass. He immediately pulled over and offered to tow us to the top of the summit. He had straps and strapped our rig up to his truck and pulled us out of the snow and up to the top of Blewett pass. When we reached the top of the summit we disconnected the straps and offered to follow us all the way down the mountain to Leavenworth. We rolled into the RV park around 11pm, about 4 hours later than we had anticipated, tired, hungry and cold. This story has taught us many lessons. Our first lesson is that if we are going to do winter camping it will be on our own side of the mountains! The biggest lesson is how we can serve and sacrifice for those around us. Bill and Chris didn't need to stop and help us, but they did. They didn't need to spend time out in the snowy stormy weather, but they did.They didn't do this for reward, but they did it to help a family in need. Such an amazing example. Overall, we are very happy with how the kids handled this whole ordeal. They behaved and didn't get whiny. We ended up having a great time in Leavenworth and took the LONG way home. We went south east to completely avoid Blewett pass. We can't wait for our next camping adventure as long as it's a warm fun one:-)

It's time for some pie.

So our last post was all about picking strawberries.  Well those berries turned into A LOT of jam, lots of snacks, strawberry cinnamon rolls, strawberry shortcake, and (my favorite) strawberry topping for some banana pancakes. But at church on Sunday, somebody left this on counter in the kitchen!

Rhubarb! I asked to whom it belonged and the kitchen manager said it was just left by somebody so if I wanted it - go for it!

My grandma passed away 15 months ago.  We all miss her dearly and it was the joy of her life to make and bake food for people. It was always the joy of my life to eat that food.  Her strawberry rhubarb pie was my favorite - it wasn't even close. She used to make these large flat pies that were the size of a large pizza and cooked on a pizza pan.  Very thin, but there was plenty of the best part - the crust!

Here's where we started:

Pie Crust

2 1/3 cups whole wheat flour

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1/2 teaspoon of salt

Cold water as needed to make doughy (used about 1/3 cup)

Mix everything but the water til it's crumbly.  Add water till it was like play dough.

Wrap dough in plastic and stash in the fridge for an hour until its solid enough to work with.

After chilling, cut dough in half and roll out for the pie pan.

Okay, so my wife made the filling.  It's 2 cups of strawberries, 2 cups of rhubarb, 2 cups of sugars, and some flour/cinnamon/nutmeg/love/deliciousness.

Now a little lattice work, egg wash, and sprinkle sugar.  Ready for the oven at 400 for 50 mintes.

Looks good.  I'll give you the verdict tomorrow.

Doug



Berry Picking!

Our Summer is off to a great start. The kids have only been out of school for 2 weeks and we've already completed our first trip of the season. We went out to New Jersey to visit my family and celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday. It was awesome! As we enter a week with not much going on, we decided to do some strawberry picking. We are so lucky to have Spooner Berry Farms so close to us. They have the most delicious strawberries! Having a lot of local, fresh produce is crucial to living a real-food lifestyle, so we are excited to stock up on frozen berries, homemade jam and even some treats like pie filling. The girls were very excited to go berry picking. JD wasn't too sure. If we do anything that doesn't involve some sort of game or competition, he usually doesn't want to do it. So...the whole morning he's begging me to go bowling. Once we got to the farm and started picking he exclaimed..."This is the best place ever" :-) It was a great morning getting out of the house and picking some yummy berries. Next on the list is blueberries. Doug found a great place that we hope to hit up this week. Talk to you all soon!

Where Does The Time Go?

Wow! I really can't believe it's June and I really can't believe the kids are almost out of school. Time sure does fly when you're having fun, or just super busy like us! Here are some updates on what's going on in the Enfield household and some things we are looking forward to this summer. The kids have all done really well in school this year. Bethany of course continues to be at the top of her class. She has been an Eagle leader (student leader) at school this year as well as the only girl in the highly capable program this year. Rebekah has had an amazing year of kindergarten. It's so awesome to listen to her read and to watch her do addition and subtraction. The end of her kindergarten year is so bittersweet. We are excited that she is moving on, but yet again it's hard to watch the youngest become so independent. We are also sad that this is our last year with Ms. McDaniel! She has been the best kindergarten teacher for all 3 of our kids. We have been so blessed to have her involved with each of our kids lives. JD had a wonderful year this year in 3rd grade. He was definitely blessed with his fabulous teacher, Mrs. Walters. It takes a special personality to deal with JD sometimes and she definitely gets "him". Sports of course has continued to be a huge part of our everyday life, as we try to find lots of ways to keep the kiddos active and healthy. Bethany and JD both did basketball this winter. JD is now in baseball and he is doing a fabulous job pitching. He is still working on hitting in the kid pitch league, but continues to improve. Rebekah loves soccer and we are doing that right now. One of the biggest changes around here is that we are trying to follow a whole foods/real food lifestyle here at home. We cleaned out the pantry, fridge and freezer of all processed foods, including anything with white flours and white sugars. I wish I had taken a picture to show you what we ended up donating to the food bank. It was a lot! It has been a very exciting change and now that we are over a month into it I think it will be a permanant way of life around here. Of course there will be the occasional treats here at home and outside of home, but overall this is a change for the better for all of us! I'm still working on how this will work with my couponing and freezer cooking, but I'm just trying to take it one step at a time:-) Lots of big things going on for the summer that I will be sure to write about. First off, we are headed to New Jersey in 2 weeks to celebrate my grandmother's 90th birthday. So excited to see my family that we haven't seen in several years. After that the kids will all go to camp, JD has baseball camp and then we head back out to North Carolina to visit with my mom and then the big trip to Disney World. 18 months in planning and saving and we are going! So excited! I hope to get back on here more often as so many great things happen every day! Love to you all!

Night out with Bekah

Anybody reading that knows me in real life would probably be pretty assured that I was firmly planted on my couch watching my Seahawks on Monday Night football. If you didn’t think I was watching the game, you probably assumed I was there at the game. Not tonight though.

So I try to do daddy-daughter dates with my girls for Christmas time for the last couple of years. This is the week we decided to do it. I want to say this is the week we had time to do it, but really I don’t. Sometimes you just have to forfeit the things you want to do or even those things you’re obligated to do for those rare, special times that you have the privilege of being dad. Daddy-daughter dates are a privilege and I will take them out on dates for as long as they’ll let me.

Tonight was Rebekah. I learned so much about my six-year-old kindergartner and how she sees the world. She told me that the third president was Thomas Jefferson and he lived in a house named Monticello and our president now named his house “The White House”. Bekah told me, “Presidents’ get to name houses. I want to be president so I can name a house.”

Then she asked if I was driving the speed limit. I told her we were going less than the speed limit because I was behind someone going slow. A second later, I sped up a bit.

“Are we going the speed limit now?”

“Yes,” I said, “Right on the speed limit.”

Bekah sighed, “Ahhh, the speed limit is sooo comfortable.”

We went to place in Lacey called Charlie’s Safari. It is a huge indoor play land with a dozen inflatables, a three-story jungle gym with slides, and an enormous arcade. Basically, it is heaven on earth for a six-year-old. We jumped and slid and climbed and did it again and again. I chased that girl all over the place as she constantly beckoned me, “C’mon!”, “Watch me!”, “Follow me!”. It was awesome. I nearly couldn’t stand by the end of it all.

As we were there, I noticed another couple that was chasing around their 2-year old daughter. Her dad was still in his Army uniform. That soldier was being very cuddly with his wife as well, not inappropriately, but noticeably. I asked him if he was going to be taking some leave for the holidays. He told me he just started his leave. He just got home. Literally just got home – they had just come from the airport and he was here until Dec 26, then back to Afganistan. He never stopped holding his wife’s hand the hold time. It was amazing. I did something I don’t normally do to people in tpublic; I asked if I could pray for their family. Sgt & Mrs Royal looked at each and said they would love that. There was not a dry eye in the place.

Bekah and I left and got dessert and chatted more about the important matters of the day like how much she loves kindergarten and how her school is the best school because they have a play toy, monkey bars, AND a music teacher.

Everything about tonight reminded me how blessed I am to be in the family that God gave me. I would miss 100 Seahawks games for another night like tonight.

Bekah and I before we left in front of the tree.

Climbing to the slide.

The Slide!

She loved this long orange slide from the top of the structure.

I can't believe she's nearly 4 feet tall

Bekah and Daddy at the top!

Zipline

Dad is pretty tuckered out.

What kinda date would it be without dessert?

Big Cooking Day Again

So, as I continue to do this once a month cooking thing I promise not to write a blog every single time, but I was so excited to complete another big cooking day today! I really can't wait to try out all the yummy recipes I made today. What's on the menu this month? Lots of good stuff. Gingerbread Waffles, Lemon Poppyseed Pancakes and Pumpkin Cinnamon rolls for breakfast; sweet potato chili, french dips, and turkey burgers for lunch; And stuffed pork roast, apple-cranberry pork chops, mandarin chicken, turkey stroganoff, spicy honey chicken, turkey shephards pie, chicken broccoli casserole and chicken with cumin and lime for dinners. I think I spent more time on this cooking day with the more detailed recipes, but I also think I spent LESS money, which definitely makes me happy. So, in the pictures you will see that I set out everything I needed out of my pantry the night before. It was definitely a huge help! You will also see the sweet potato chili cooking, the lemon poppyseed pancakes and the full freezer:-)

It was so nice to go throughout the month not having to wonder and worry about what to cook. We didn't love every recipe, but it was all good stuff and definitely worth the long day of work. Check out www.onceamonthmom.com. I am so glad I found it!

Another Enfield Outing

So last week as Doug and I were talking, we were discussing one of our favorite parts about the trip to Texas. While we were down there, we were able to go and explore so many different local treasures. This is such a great way to spend some family time while not spending a lot of money and learning more about the area around you. Well, since we have been back, life has gotten just as busy, if not busier than it was when we left. So, we haven't gotten very much family time, let alone time to explore. Well, this past Saturday we actually had a day off. *GASP* We hardly knew what to do with ourselves! So we decided to find something in Western Washington that was not too expensive yet fun at the same time. Doug found information on the Ballard Locks and fish ladder. So, we called up Aunt Angela, had her meet us in Seattle and we all went to explore this amazing engineering marvel. I don't know if I've seen locks since I was a kid in Germany. Our school would take us on a field trip down the Rhine river and the boat would have to go through locks. It is so interesting how they thought up a way to transfer boats from one body of water into another. The kids really enjoyed seeing the boat "locked" up and then released. The fish ladder was a little disappointing as there were no fish in there, but still interesting for Bethany who is studying the life cycle of Salmon right now in school. After that we headed out for a walk in the botanical gardens and then walked around Pike place market. All in all, it was a great family outing. I can't wait for another day off and another adventure!

Once a month cooking

So the last few weeks I've really been wanting to figure out how to meal plan a little bit better for our family. My search for good meal planning websites led me to onceamonthmom.com. This website was very intriguing to me and I have been looking forward to trying it. Well, today was the day. The BIG cooking day. The premise is that you cook a ton of meals in one day that should last you about a month. I went shopping on Thursday and got all the essentials (the website provides the list) and set aside the whole day today to cook. So, $191 and 10 hours of work later I have a freezer full of food. The recipes were ones that I have definitely not tried before. We have pumpkin chocolate muffins, coconut chocolate granola bars and harvest pancakes for breakfast; ham quesidillas, broccoli cheddar cups, taco soup and chicken wild rice soup for lunches; And chicken enchilada lasagna, chicken stuffing bake, stroganoff, turkey meat loaf, meatballs with gravy and salsa chicken for dinners. The only thing I think we don't have a months worth of is breakfast, but the lunches and dinners should last us. I can't wait to get into the month to see if this really saves me time and money! I will keep you updated. In the mean time, here are some pics from our day of cooking!

First and Last

Last May, I was asked to preach at my church. I just noticed that the audio is online. So... here it is. Matthew 20 - Thankfully Being Treated Unfairly.

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Wow It Sure Is Quiet!!!

So....here we go. Another school year has begun, but this one is definitley different. For almost the last 10 years I have had a child at home or 2 or 3. My days were filled with playdates, trips to the park and childrens museums, driving to and from pre-schools and dealing with nap schedules. This year marks a new era in my life as my youngest has ventured off into the fun world of kindergarten. Since Doug and I were out of town the whole last week, I missed out on her first full week and this is really my first day with absolutely nothing I have to do. I got up, got the kids ready for school, walked them to school, did my morning run, got dinner in the crock pot, loaded dishes and started laundry.....now what? I think this is where I start redefining my days, start re-thinking my purpose and how to accomplish all I know that God has planned for me. It's interesting that our pastor spoke on purpose yesterday and made us think about being the salt and the light of the Earth. Definitely something for this mom of all school age children needs to be thinking about:-) As for the rest of today, I think I might sit back, read a book, take a nap and take on the world tomorrow. Enjoy your day everyone!

I loved Texas. It was awesome. 2 days till open house. 5TH GRADE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got off of the plane a long time ago. I will never drink bought hot chocolate again.I loved how many pics we took on our trip. Good back to school to all of you!!!*mwaa*

Adventures in Texas.....Heading Home

I still can't believe that 6 weeks have flown by so fast. We have experienced so much this summer and are so thankful for this opportunity. This last week has been full of "lasts". Our last tours of the area, last time out to eat down here (we tried to go once a week as a family date night), last time to the church we have been going to and after I write this we will have our last time at the pool.

Monday the kids and I headed out to tour the San Antonio Missions National Historical Park. This was an amazing adventure back in time. The missions were built in the early 1700's by Spanish missionaries. They took in the local natives to convert them to Catholicism. We were able to see their churches, which are still active parishes, get a sense of their living quarters and imagine what it would have been like living in these little self sustaining communities. I was very impressed by how the kids took in and were interested in all the history "stuff".

The middle of the week was actually a lazy week for us. Lots of time by the pool and getting ready to start packing. I did decide to go ahead and do school clothes shopping down here to alleviate some of the stress that will come next week with trying to get settled back in before school starts. So the kids and I went shopping.....ALL DAY on Friday. It was quite an adventure, but I feel good about the clothes we got.

Saturday morning we got up and went to the Natural Bridge Caverns. These are caverns about 15 minutes from where we have been staying. They were found in the 1960's and are the largest caverns in Texas. They were absolutely amazing. The pictures don't even do them justice. Saturday night we headed to the rodeo. Rebekah had been talking for the last 2 weeks about doing Mutton Bustin, so we got ready, went out there, signed her up, watched her walk into the arena and then watched her freak out. She was so upset that she didn't do it. I'm glad she tried, though.

As I write this, I am less than 15 hours away from boarding a plane with the kiddos. We have made some wonderful memories down here. I am hoping to take back with us the wonderful relationship the kids have formed together and the ideas for such great family adventures and outings. We don't need to be on vacation to explore together, we can do that right in our own area in Washington. Thank you so much to everyone who has helped us. We could not have done this without you.

TLC - The (Un)Learning Channel

Sitting around watching “Outrageous Kid Parties” on TLC.


What in the world happened to TLC?


It used to be “Wedding” and “Baby” story shows and slice-of-life documentary type television. Now it completely horrible television that for some terrible reason we can’t seem to stop watching. Like a train wreck or a knocked over ant hill, you can’t look away.


Toddlers and Tiaras. Stage Moms and Dads. Kate Plus 8.


It is just outrageous people doing bad things. My patience is wearing thin and my decision to cancel cable at home is affirmed every moment that a screaming child is on my screen.


Gotta go - It's time for a three year old pageant queen to have her photo shoot.

Wrapping Up the Assignment

It’s been a little while since my last note – 11 days. This is good, because I am busy and things are getting done.

A little over a week ago I was finally given access to the web server to make content updates. Up to this point I am been working to gather information and create a process that will help HQ update their website on a regular basis. Now I can start making those updates. The technology is not the easiest to work with but it is rewarding to see the labor of the last six weeks come to fruition. The customers that are getting their pages updated are pretty happy well, which makes it that much better.

The web owners have decided to hold off on the content management system migration for few months. Right now there is a workload and manpower issue that would not help the success of the migration. I successfully created a migration package for the current website to the new server, but it came across static. The template couldn’t be edited dynamically. I am working to create a migration process that will migrate current content onto a custom template in the new CMS. It was already suggested to me that they “may” need some help in November when it comes time to actually do the migration. I quickly changed the subject.

My fun side project has been working with a separate team on a possible mobile solution for our larger enterprise. There is a company that claims to be able to do secure smart card authentication via web browser and/with third party software to a iPhone/iPad or Android. I will be participating in a conference call with the company tomorrow.

Finally, I have about one week left and I am completing my assigned tasks. Lots to do!

It has been a good trip both professionally and personally. My family and I have had a great time doing all kinds of Texas stuff – rodeo, barbeque, riverwalk, swimming in lakes and rivers. Last weekend we went to the beach or as my 5 year old called it, “The Mexican Golf Course” (instead of the Gulf of Mexico).