We Have a Date!

We have a date! We leave Blaine on Sunday, March 21st to start our new adventure. Our actual start date for work is Tuesday, March 23rd. We begin in Kelso/Longview WA at the Three Rivers Mall. We will be there for a week and then go to Lacey, WA for two weeks and then the Puyallup Spring Fair in Puyallup, WA. We are so excited to actually have a start date ~ it just seems so much more real to us (not a good phrase of words but you know what I mean). Our plan for that Sunday is to take the Suburban to Marquez and Nicole's on the way to church, attend Northwood's service and say good-bye to our Northwood family and then after the service and last minute farewells get on the road to Chehalis. We will stay at the Chehalis Thousand Trails Sunday and maybe Monday night (depending when on Tuesday we have to be at Three Rivers Mall.

Now to back up a little bit on what we have been doing. On the 27th of February we celebrated with Opal, Jamie, Suzanne and Suzanne's family Opal's 2nd birthday! We shared lots of laughs and stories and enjoyed watching some race on TV along with eating great pizza and a colorful birthday cake that Suzanne and Oliver made for Opal. It is just so fun to be with them. Opal is such a delight and has the cutest laugh ~ we will definitely miss seeing her while we are gone.

The small storage unit has been totally eliminated ~ thanks Gerald for your help in accomplishing that great feat! The large storage unit is now organized and we can actually find things in it. One of our projects next Fall/Winter will be to go through all the boxes of stuff that we have tucked away and see what we can now eliminate after 3+ years of full-timing it in the motor home.

Ron has worked a few days for which we are thankful. Now to get paid for those jobs. He is finishing up a bathroom today for a friend and then will finish up what he can at The C Shop for Patrick and Patricia. We are hoping for a few more jobs to come in this week and next. Ron's shoulder is feeling better every day. For some of you that don't know he pulled his bicep muscle in his right shoulder in mid December and has been nursing it along since. Dr. Moore said it just takes time to heal.

I have been working on cleaning, sorting, tossing and reorganizing the cupboards in the motor home. It was a good thing that I did as I found a shirt and a sweatshirt for Christopher and Max tucked away. I quickly sent them off to them and thankfully they both still fit the boys. I guess I just need to take better care of when and where I tuck things away.

This week has started off in a nice way. Saturday morning there was a small get together with friends from a loal Yahoo group that I belong to, then we had dinner with Tim & Cindy and then spent time visiting with Jim & Mei. We went to church yesterday, helped serve communion and then went to Kathy's (Ron's sister) for dinner with the brothers and sisters. It was good to all be together and laugh and share stories before we head out for six months. In the afternoon we went to Fred Meyer's to pick up some of my prescriptions ~ I have to go back later this week to get the final two. We then stopped and spent a few hours with Gerald and Sandra. It is so fun to sit and visit and share our life stories with each other. We will definitely miss being able to drop in on them.

Today, like I said Ron is finishing up a bathroom project and I am just putzing around the motor home and doing some writing. Tonight we are going to Kevin's for dinner with him and Brenda. It has been awhile since we have all seen each other and we wanted to get one more visit in before we leave. That seems to be the theme of things - do this or that one more time before we leave and it all equals fun for us. The rest of the week I will work at the church a couple of days, take care of a few appointments, see a few more friends ~ Stacey on Tuesday, Dee on Wednesday, Glenn & Marla on Saturday are so far on the list. If you are local and want to get in one more visit give me a call (305-2969) or drop me a note via email (ali1257@gmail.com). We would love to connect with as many friends as possible before the 21st. This coming Friday the ladies of Northwood are going to have a sleepover at the Sandcastle ~ we are going to have a potluck supper, a time of sharing and fellowshipiing and just hanging out together followed by a Saturday morning potluck breakfast. I am looking forward to that special time and thanks Margaret for setting it all up.

To close I would like to share some of our prayer requests with you. As you think about us and our upcoming new adventure we still have some things that need to be taken care of here:

1. We are still somewhat short of cash to pay for the last of my prescriptions. We know and trust that God will provide but it never hurts to bring the petitions before the Lord.

2. Along those same lines for a few more jobs to come in for Ron.

3. For me, that as I finish up things at Northwood stuff that needs to be done will get accomplished.

4. For continued healing for Ron's shoulder muscle.

5. We praise God for the good health that I have had this winter and continue to look forward to more good health as we travel.

Guess that's all from here for now. My goal for the blog is to update once a week to let everyone know how we are doing and where we will be. So for now, I say see you all later.

Alice and Ron