The Clock is Ticking....

God Bless America...Land that I love...

This is our final full day in America for some time. We'll have fun. We'll check bags and lists a final time. We'll have a BBQ with my cousins. We'll stave off emotions...but they'll be right under the surface.

Prayers are greatly appreciated as you go through your celebrations today. I will be saying special prayers for all those I know whose spouses are currently deployed. Y'all rock!

Stacia is sure that EVERYONE is going to Japan as we are all here. She has also become quite the whiner as she wants things that are not here and she wants to "go home". Soon.....we'll be settling in to a new home.

I CAN do all things through CHRIST who gives me STRENGTH.....and that means I can hug the necks of four young adults who I love more than I ever dreamed possible, and trust that God loves them even more and will keep them safely in His loving care....even if *I* am not on the same continent. ::snort:: After all, He IS God...I believe He has our good in mind and that His timing is perfect (though *I* think Japan before AK would have been a great idea). ::snort:: I'll rest.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

We began the day by sightseeing in downtown Seattle.

Nine "children" climbing to Pikes Market.


Throwing Fish....





Josiah stands next to a cut out of the world's tallest man...and learns what it is like to feel short. ::snort::




Imagine photos of Space Needle. Frankly, I don't have time for the 4 extra steps it takes on PB to get vertical photos ready for viewing...oh and imagine a lot of ferry and boat photos too. ::snort::

Ah HA - here's a photo of the 5 older children and Nolan in front of WATER and just over Josiah's head in the far distance is the Space Needle....we WERE in Seattle 3 July...but had nothing to do with the data center of geocaching going down.


The GPS said we had 15 extra minutes to make it out to Tim and Kathy's. We headed out. WOW...the traffic leaving Seattle for fun on the 4th. ::snort:: We did note LEE driving the same direction. ::snort::

Tim and Kathy are long time Internet friends. It was a joy to finally meet their family. Beth and Lee are also long time Internet friends. Thanks so much for opening your home to all of us E family. It was fun to have a spot for families to relax and meet each other. Kathy prepared a great sandwich buffet, Tim ran the smoothie station, Joshua {?} had prepared a cooler of water balloons, Rachel and Sarah graciously loaned their toys to Stacia for the afternoon, Dan has the sweetest smile I've enjoyed in a long time.

My photos aren't great...I'd left the Nikon at the hotel and suffered from Nikon envy all afternoon. I'll post more photos that I lift from Beth and Kathy as they post.... ::snort:: My poor little Cannon Powershot simply wasn't flashing well...and the delay is getting really long the more times it's dropped. ::snort:: You KNOW bloggers take lots of photos....

Group Photo - Mike/I left, compilation of kids, Tim/Kathy to Josiah's shoulder, Aaron/Beth far right - Lee took this photo.


Alas, this photo shows me sporting a wet t-shirt look...but it's the best I have....Beth, myself, Lee and Kathy (NEVER say I don't post unflattering photos of moi).


Wet t-shirt? Yeah. The kids were having a giant waterfight. Stacia needed help getting a balloon. I went to help. One enterprising young man got me. I decided to stay and enjoy the fun.....At a later point I believe two of my sons dumped a cooler of water on the young man....all in great fun. I have no photos as I was busy enjoying the day. ::snort::

Mike shares his vast interest in geocaching with Tim.


Mike, Tim and Aaron - Homeschooling Heroes (Seriously, men, what a great thing you do by sacrificing to allow your wives to be at home schooling their children....and all the daily support.....true manly men if y'all want my opinion).


Beth and Lee had to leave early. We stayed longer. The kids all played Mafia. I told them it looked like a giant prayer meeting.


Kathy, Tim, Mike and I had couple sharing time. It was at least as beneficial for us as I hope it was for them....and I pray I set Tim straight on the glories of unrefined flour. ::snort::

We met my parents at the hotel and had dinner. We spent more time in the pool. Krista keeps trying to transfer CD's to mp3 files...and I tried to download some stuff....I did....but we can't get it on to the mp3 player...hmmm.

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

More Than Enough

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Blessings and Such

Early this a.m. we said goodbye to Mikhail and my brother, Nate. We also said goodbye to my parents but we'll see them again tomorrow.

We went to pick up the girls and the kids that had slept at their apartment.....and we blessed the girls and their apartment. We'd been waiting for a minute when we'd ALL be together at the apartment...thank God we REMEMBERED when the moment arrived.





Then we headed up I 5. Julie, we missed you due to the camping trip. The kids really liked the welcoming cookie at Doubletree - OK - we ALL liked them. LOL We are glad that McChord was unable to put us up, we stopped for the certificate of non-availability....two of our three nights should be covered by the Air Force.



We decided to swim....



















Hey, we met a young family in the pool who had flown in from Japan this a.m. Fun to talk with them. They have been in Okinawa and know some old friends of ours who retired and are now there as contractors.

Eat...Stacia's too tired for even Olive Garden. We used up several gift cards.



Relax...we talked about how we're all dealing with the upcoming changes. The girls gave Arielle and Stacia a Sister necklace to match theirs....and a mother one for me....just in case anyone mistakes me for one of the sisters. ::snort:: Very sweet.



Now....


...because Mike has declared we meet at 0700 for breakfast in the lobby and then off to explore Seattle before we meet up with friends on the other side of town at noon....

Oh, our counter offer on the sale of our house was rejected. I had the numbers wrong...they really asked $14,000.00 less than our asking price...and the house is FAIRLY PRICED TO SELL. . . and they'd get the Realtor fee back. We were all sad not to have sold, but we'd rather sell to someone who will love the house if we are going to lose money on the deal....and not someone who it appears would turn around and resell it. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Road Trip

We've not had a road trip with all 9 children in 4 years....and today was THE DAY. The kids orchestrated it so that all our adult children were in OR and drove up to Seattle with us.

I'm sure we'll all be together again....but in the past few years it's been a matter of converging at one location rather than traveling as a family. It's been fun....though I do think that some folks out here think we are part of a reality show. ::snort:: One piece of fun has been setting the GPS to various languages....we are quite sure we've figured out how to say, "one mile", "recalculating," and, "turn left/right" in Japanese. ::snort:: Join us for some of the fun...

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

It's done....

What a busy day!

Mom, Sherri, Heather, the girls and I met for breakfast. YUM and organic food too. ::snort::

Heather and Krista grabbed $ and headed out in two directions to run errands for us.

Many of us worked to get the trailer cleared and cleaned.

Mike and the boys took the majority of the rest of the day dealing with dumping, winterizing and storing the trailer.

Heather and Krista took all the younger ones to the lake. What fun. This was WONDERFUL as it allowed me to FOCUS without guilt on "the list" and it gave the kids the chance to make a fun memory and not focus on the trauma that it evidently is to pack. Stacia unpacked as fast as I packed. My goal was to finish shopping and have everything packed before they arrived. I didn't quite make it...but close.

Krista worked on loading A in O and Hank the Cowdog etc on to MP3 players....we'll work on THAT some more in Seattle. I purchased them today.

Sherri, Will, Nate and Heather joined us at Mom's for dinner. Mom made some yummy brisket. We talked with the Realtor for a bit and then enjoyed unwinding and laughing with the kids and family.

Then we weighed suitcases..... (Renee in Misawa....this should give you some idea....13 suitcases...and quite a few carry ons, 7 people...)



The Girls went to their apartment with Arielle and Nolan in tow. The rest of us will bed down here. We packed suitcases into the van. The last load of laundry is in the dryer.....

We're really doing this. ::snort::

Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...

Praise & Prayer Request

Praise - I found most of our favorite organics at Fred Myers and loaded another suitcase with a few things...I had just found REAL salt (and was excited) when Mike called on the cell.....

Prayer - We have an offer on our home. It's from a realtor in another town....and they low balled....offered $12K below asking. We LOVE our Realtors...such sound and godly advice...praying with us every step of the way....we rejected the offer, lowered our price $2K from asking and invited them to resubmit an offer. Being Realtors, such they DO get a commission back on the sale and all....I think they were trying to see if we'd be intimidated....but we shall see. Homes in the price range our home is in, are averaging 9 months on the market.....Matt and Leslie said that if we agree on an offer after 3 weeks, it will be a miracle and an answer to prayer.

We'd love to leave America knowing that the home was going to close by the end of July. Please pray with us that if it is God's will for this buyer to buy....it goes through. If not, we'll wait. LOL

Here's the virtual tour of our home.
Choosing Joy!
©2009 D.R.G.

~ Coram Deo ~
Living all of life before the face of God...