Life as a Washitonian so far

It seems surreal that we have been in Washington for just over two months now. They have gone by in a blur and have been filled with so many new adventures, experiences and family time.
Here is a review of the past two months of us being Washitonians. I am hoping to update this more often and share our lives with you all.......

• Maddy is in Kindergarten at the same school that Jason and his sibling went to which I think is so fun! She is loving it and I am really loving her teacher and her time there.
• Jason has been working with Greenstone Homes and he is loving it. We feel so blessed that he was able to find a job so quickly especially one that he is enjoying.
• We still have not found a church to call home yet. Now that the holidays are over we are going to be checking out some more churches this coming weekend. We are both very anxious to find a church to call home and get plugged in. Neither one of us do well idling for to long without being involved in something.
• Zeke is turning into quite the entertainer. I cant believe that he will be two in just over two months. He loves having so many people to give him attention.
• It is cold here and I feel like we live in the forest. I LOVE IT!!!! The pine trees are beautiful and everywhere. We are growing accustomed to the cold, Maddy has a hard time with unfashionable winter clothes but luckily my sister got her a bedazzler for her birthday so we can start bedazzling her boring winter clothes :).
• I just learned how to make a snowman.......this cali girl was snow deprived...... obviously.
• Spokane is feeling more and more like home. I am finding my way around without my GPS and I love the pace of life here. It is hard to explain but things just move slower here.
• There is so much more to Spokane than I first thought when we moved here. A lot of history, a very cool downtown, nature all around and an over all very cool place to call home.
• I am learning to sew and I love it! My Mother in law and sister in law are pros and are patiently teaching me
• Maddy rides the bus to school in the morning (and loves it), I was so nervous at first but my niece rides it with her and we walk them down and wait with them.
• Zeke LOVES the movies Brave and Rio
• The whole family (sans Jason and Zeke) went to The Nutcracker and Maddy and my niece Jaiden LOVED it. They got all dressed up and were the bells of the ball
• We have done some exploring around Coure De Alene, ID (which is only approx. 20 minutes from us) and it is oh so pretty.
• We went on a Journey to the North Pole boat cruise on Lake Coure De Alene with all of Jasons family up here and it was so much fun
• We got a HUGE blessing when our really good friends came up from Cali and we got to spend some time with them and make great memories with them here in the Pacific Northwest.
• We got to see a ton of Bald Eagles on the Coure De Alene lake. They come once a year for about a week when the salmon are spawning and they estimated that over 150 were at the lake.
• We had a Moose in our front yard last week! We weren't home but Jasons dad and brothers were and got some pictures
• There are more drive up coffee bars than starbucks around here which is weird considering how many Starbucks there were in our old neighborhood alone.
• We got to celebrate one of J's best friends (since high school) birthday for the first time I think since J moved to California 10 years ago so that was pretty cool.
• We went Ice skating and I got knocked on my FACE by some random out of control skater
• We have Fiesta Friday every Friday with the whole fam!
• We joined the YMCA today, they have an indoor pool which will be wonderful to let the kids get some energy out
• Maddy asks about her friends and family all of the time which can get pretty sad sometimes
• We are looking forward to this year and what God has in store.
• Jason is in the process of getting his photography business up and going which he will do on the side. I am so excited for him because this is something he really loves.
• We miss our family and friends so much!

So there it is, a little glimpse into our life since we have been in Washington. Looking forward to sharing more experiences with you guys!

T-minus 9 DAYS!!!!

Holy Cow how has this day approached so quickly????
We have been packing, planning, prepping and praying constantly over the last month and a half or so non-stop and the time is very quickly approaching where we will say "Goodbye" to California and "Hello" to Washington.
These last weeks have been filled with every emotion I could think of but at the end of every day when I sift through where we are at I go to sleep feeling peaceful and I am so thankful for that!
So many people have no clue what Eastern Washington is like , what Spokane is like and they assume that we will be moving to rain, rain and more rain.
Eastern Washington is the dry side of the state and from what J has told me the best way to descibe the weather is that we will be getting every season very distinctly.
It does NOT rain all of the time but it does snow in the winter (which I have to admit I am pretty nervous about driving in it)
I am so excited for the chance of a white christmas.
Here is a glimps of what our new home is like:

This is a picture of Downtown Spokane with the Spokane River running through it

 This is another picture of Downtown Spokane

 This is Manito Park RoseGarden which is on the South Hill. It is beyond beautiful there

 This is Riverfront Park (downtown) and again it is beautiful.

 This is the HUGE wagon slide at River front park

And this is what my winter will look like :)

 

So there it is a little glimpse of what Spokane, Washington is like. There is so much more to this beautiful place and I will make sure to capture those moments when we get up there.

839 miles

839 miles is the approximate amount of space that will be in between my home now and my new home to be in Washington.
It is so crazy to look back and see where God has been putting things in place for this new adventure to start.
That is currently something I am sitting on and processing as we speak. How God has worked out the details and put things into motion way before I knew what was going on and has orchestrated our hearts to follow after what He has laid before us.
We have always had the desire to move to eastern Washington (for those of you that don't know that is where my husband is from and where the majority of his whole family is) but we never thought that it would happen anytime soon. We were established where we were at, comfortable, had good jobs and never really had peace about picking up and moving our family of four.
That was until a recent trip to visit my husbands family. We left the trip both feeling out of the blue that it was time. Some key factors played into this that I won't get into but it became very clear that God was telling us it was time to go. Making this decision did not come lightly. Jason has a job he loves, we have a church home, friends and family here that all would be sooo hard to leave But after much prayer and contemplation I had peace. Peace that my new home would be in Washington and peace that God would work out the rest.
We took a big gamble and gave ourselves a moving date without a job for Jason to go to. We felt that if we handed it over to God like He was asking He would provide and now as our move date approaches we see where He is showing up just as we knew He would.
I can look back now on the last 6 or so months and see how God has been moving pieces around to make this move happen. I am humbled, thankful and I sit in awe at a God that loves me so much that He would so carefully orchestrate the path He has for us.  Thankful for the new life that we will build centered around Him in Washington. Excited for the chances Jason and I will have to invest in, love on and minister to the people He puts in our path in Eastern Washington.

Ready for a new adventure as bittersweet as it will be to say "see you later" to the people who have helped to shape Jason and I in our walks, marriage, family, friendships and ministry

Homeschoolin

I have decided to take the plunge and homeschool my 5 1/2 year old that is going into Kindergarten. I am super excited and nervous all at the same time. This decision came after very careful and prayerful thinking for my husband and I.
We have always thrown around the idea but never really took the plunge. Up until recently our plan was to send Maddison to Adventure Christian School where she went to preschool and a place that she loved. When I decided to step down from working and be a full time stay at home mom, with that took away the income to send her there. After tossing around numbers and budgets we decided while we could make it work I have the opportunity now (being that I am not working) to homeschool her.
Luckily I have some great friends who have already walked the path ahead of me to help me navigate around the different Charter schools to go through, curriculum, funding and all of the other ins and outs of homeschooling.
So here we are about a month before school will start and I am excitedly and anxiously planning out the school year. Most of the curriculum has been ordered, supply lists have been made and I am really looking forward to being able to plan out her Bible curriculum on my own!

So as one chapter closes (working in Ministry at our church) and another opens.
Here goes another Adventure as I let God lead the way.

Real Life Pinterest- On the Go paper dolls

I seem to find about a billion things on pinterest everytime I log on that I want to create, make, indulge in etc but I feel like I never actually do anything that I pin but I am vowing to stop just pinning and take action on all of the glorious things out there.

Here is my first Pinteresty thing I will be sharing- On the Go Paper/Fabric Dolls
Here is the original Picture from Pinterest

Cute right?
Well I decided with an upcoming 16 hour roadtrip ahead of us this would be perfect for my 5 1/2 year old
So I set out to Walmart for some supplies
I got this 87 cent pencil box that was perfect

a Pair of fun scissors and some glue sticks and some cardstock

and thanks to a friend I got some awesome fabric scraps she had left over

So I headed home and was determined to actually execute this project since I had all of the supplies

The original Pin on Pinterest took me to a website
www.thismamamakesstuff.com
where I found the Paper Doll template (she had several different dolls and animals to choose from)
On her website the images came in full size (8.5X11) which was far to big for my little box so I did some editing and rotating of the image so I could fit 2 on one sheet of carstock and viola

So here it is my completed compact project for Maddy to enjoy on our long car ride

Real Life Pinterest- Baked Oatmeal Casserole

I found this oh so yummy looking recipe on Pinterest and thought it would be a great alerternative to cereal for my hubby and daughter for breakfast

So I headed off for the ingredients (and almost a week later I got around to making it)

My rulings:
 Very yummy but I would make a few adjustments. I would use blueberries and raspberries, that way it would boost the amount of fruit and come on who doesn't love blueberries????
Also next time I wouldn't put the bananas on top. For me they just turned brown and mushy and ruined the texture.
The jury is still out wether or not it will hold up for the week as the Pin claims. I am hoping it does because it was pretty YUMMY!!!

Grace......isnt that always the question

Grace.....
Do we have enough?
Do we give enough?
Are we worthy enough?
Are We given enough?
Are we given Too much?

Grace has always been something that I try my darndest (though not always suuccesful) to dish out more than enough. I have (shamefully) prided myself at extending grace.
To the angry woman at the checkout counter.....who is to say what her day has been like
To the volunteer that Never shows up on time or even at all...........who knows what trials they may be going through at home
To the friend who never has time.......I can be that same friend at times
and so on and so on.

Do I think there is anything wrong with this? Not at all
Do I ever wonder if His Grace is enough? Guilty!

I am currently going through a Max Lucado study (Experiencing the Heart of Jesus) with a couple girlfriends and we just finished up a lesson on Grace.
As I read through the lesson there wasnt much that stood out to me and had me really pondering
I knew we needed grace, I know how and why we recieve grace ......
As I was sailing through this lesson I came across Day 5.... Sufficiant Grace
Well that is a concept. Grace is sufficiant!
I started going back and forth in my head about a few key pointers that Max Lucado touched on.
Being content in Christ and knowing that His grace is enough. How many times have I relied on myself and worldly things to get me through situations? How many times have you?
I think it is very easy for Christians to say " I will just put all of my trust in God and trust that things will work out and rely on Him"
I say it, we all say it. But I am going to get real right now
How often do we actually, fully, completely and willingly put our trust in HIM????
It is very easy to say but to actually do is very difficult (at least for me anyways and if I am the only one then just go ahead and ignore this)

Maybe it is beacuse I became a beliver much later in life so I am used to relying on myself and not Him?????

I read over and over a passage in this chapter that one of close friends in this study pointed out to me (thanks Rachel)
     " You wonder why God doesnt remove temptaion from your life? If he did, you might lean on your own strength instead of His grace. A few stumbles might be what you need to convince you: His grace is sufficiant for your sin.
     "You wonder why God doesnt remove enimies form your life? Perhaps because he wants you to love like He loves. Anyone can love a friend, but only a few can love an enemy. So what if you arent everyones hero? His grace is sufficiant for your self image.
     " You wonder why God doesnt alter your personality? You, like Paul are a bit rough around the edges? Say things you later regret or do things you later question? Why doesnt God make you more like him? He is. He just isnt finished yet. Until He is, His grace is sufficient to overcome your falws"

WOW!!!!! I dont know about you but that puts a whole new spin on Grace for me. It isnt just about giving people grace because it has been extended to me it is so much more. It is relying on His grace because it IS sufficient. It isnt somehting that comes as an add on it is something we NEED.

Challenging myself to Trust more, to trust in God and put more of my life in His hands. Confident that His Grace is what I need.