Update

Okay, so some are wondering what's going on with the Abram moving saga (while others know more), so I'll try to fill everyone in on the latest! 4 weeks ago today, we moved from point A to point B. The new house, which my talented dad built, wasn't quite done, and until final inspection we weren't supposed to live in it (but we did put our possessions in). My dad optimistically said that it should be ready for final in a few days, and in the meantime we would stay in the studio apartment of some church friends.

Well, he was very optimistic, and two whole weeks passed before the inspector came out. The house didn't pass, but with a nod and wink, he indirectly said we could move in, which caused no little rejoicing. We quickly settled in and made ourselves at home, though there was still endless tile work going on. A week and a half passed.

Last Monday, while my dad and I were both at work, a woman from the county came to the door, and with very little attempt at sweetness, informed my mom that we needed to be out of here until the final inspection. Now, the inspector was scheduled to come that day, or so my dad thought. After further investigation, he discovered there were some glitches in communication between various departments. Back we moved, bag and baggage and cat, to the studio apartment 20 minutes away. It was quite a blow to us, especially in our already stressed out condition.

Yesterday, the inspector came. This was a different inspector than the one that first came. Although we had completed everything that the other one had called for, this guy found a few other things that needed to be fixed. Grrr. Night number 3 at the apartment passed. My dad made the necessary changes this morning, the inspector came again, and...it passed!This means we can really move in (though our stuff was here all along). Cheeky won't have to be trucked back and forth any more. In case you didn't know, cats do not like being packed into a little box and driven anywhere. I thought he was going to kill himself on the way here today! Now he's calm and happy like nothing happened. BTW, I did hear that our neighborhood has raccoons, coyotes, and bobcats, so I'm afraid my little tiger will have to become a strictly indoor fella! Bummer for him. I'm glad he survived the other night when he was apparently lost!

Sunshine and Roses

The Ideal Saturday Morning

It is 11:45 and I'm still in pj's because I've been enjoying a delightfully restful morning. :-) I'm loving my new room, which finally has pictures hung and is looking pretty settled and tidy. I made some Irish Breakfast tea, which I put in my little tea pot and sipped from the matching tea cup. Along with the tea I enjoyed a leftover piece of bumbleberry pie from last night. This was all consumed while sitting up in bed, listening to relaxing classical music and birds in the nearby trees, and reading my Bible and journaling. A little sunlight even spilled into the room. As I spent some time thanking the Lord for His manifold blessings, my mom came in and told me that she was making waffles topped with peaches and cream. Yes, ma'am! I have no further agenda today but to eventually get showered and dressed and maybe read a book and take a little walk (unless it rains).

Cheeky has been adjusting quite well to the house. He's gone out a few times and loves being out in the wild, the little tiger. Night before last he went out and then came back in at 5 in the morning. But last night he went out and he hasn't come back yet, so I'm a little worried. This is a big neighborhood with a number of wooded areas plus the rambling golf course right behind us, so please pray he makes it safely home. I know the One Whose eye is on the sparrow can watch out for the cat, too! He has a Humane Society tag, but it's for our former county and is outdated.

Wicked!

You know you've been around New Englanders too long when you start using "wicked" in your vocabulary. Yes, I shocked myself! I haven't actually said it out loud, but I've thought it, like today when I told myself, "This counter is wicked dirty," or something to that effect. Ha ha! I should try the word on some local friends and see how they respond. ;-D

The Latest

On Thursday morning, the inspector came to look at the house. My dad had been working feverishly to get ready, but we knew that there were some clearly unfinished details. I wasn't there, but my mom called after he'd left and said that the house hadn't passed final inspection, but the kind inspector indirectly gave us permission to live here anyway! Yes, sir! My mom and I had been feeling the effects of the stressful arrangement of two residences and we'd prayed that we could get in by Father's Day. So with joy, we packed up our stuff from our temporary quarters, and moved into our permanent quarters. Despite exhaustion, we've been busy ever since setting it up as home. The bathrooms aren't all done, but we're just glad to be in our own little beds.

Lori's fam came over yesterday to celebrate Father's Day. That was the first time most of them had seen the place, so it was fun to see their reaction. Fortunately, it passed Lori's inspection. :-) We enjoyed a marvelous barbecued steak dinner followed by fresh strawberry pie and laid back family time. Here are a few pictures of both the house and the family time. The neighborhood is full of deer, and we spied these bucks feeding in the empty lot next to us.

Pictures of Our Present Abode

The log cabin above is the home of the couple who is letting us use their garage "carriage house." As you can see, it could easily grace the cover of a home magazine. For a couple mornings, the gracious hostess treated us to a sumptuous breakfast, and on the second morning it was on the back patio overlooking the waterway. We felt like we were on some vacation at a bed and breakfast! I don't have pictures yet of the inside of our abode, but you can see the outside of the carriage house. To get here, we take a long winding road along the waterfront, and frequently see sights like the ferry and sailboat pictured above. It's so lovely!

Some pictures finally! (Moving Day)

Here are some pictures of the moving day! Notice the lovely circular staircase the movers had to take the piano up. Rachel and I are taking a break on "headless" chairs. I was "kind of" busy that day, so I didn't take a lot of pictures!

DMV = Weirdness Land

My mom and I headed to the neighboring town of Bremerton yesterday to get our driver's licenses changed with our new address. We encountered a whole new area, and not one we would care to visit often. Bremerton is a navy base and is therefore a hub of...everything and everybody.

The DMV was located in a run-down strip of stores. The first weird thing I enountered before opening the door was music playing outside. I thought maybe it was coming from some other place, but no, it was their speakers outside. Not inside. And it wasn't the rock or jazz you might expect, but rather very nice classical or easy listening type music. Hm. We walked in to the white-tiled, white-walled sterile room. On each side were rows of chairs with a number of people sitting there doing nothing but waiting. So each person who came in became an object of idle interest. Of course we had to walk clear to the other side of the room to get our number, so I could just feel 100 eyes boring into us as we walked. My mom and I had, unplanned and unbeknownst (until too late), both worn jean skirts and yellow sweaters. Matchy matchy! That made us even more of an object of curiosity in that room.

As soon as we got our numbers, we found a seat and proceeded to watch everyone else. :-) It didn't take us long to feel like strangers in a strange land. Being the afternoon, there were a number of teens waiting for their test or picture or something. Boy, that brought back memories of my first test -- the nervousness, the excitement, the relief. There were a few military looking guys. A family in front of us, comprised of a white dad, black mom, son and his girlfriend, kept discussing how the numbering system worked. It appeared to be a mystery to them. A tall blonde walked in with fitted jeans, t-shirt, and cowboy boots. I didn't check, but I might place her at 6 feet tall. Two youngish guys walked in. I'm not sure if they were related, but they both had bushy goatees. My mom made a comment about wanting to yank them, so I bleated, "baaaaa." Giggles followed.

The most colorful characters that came in were a father and daughter. We hope they were father and daughter anyway. He was the image of a French artist -- bald with a cocky blue beret on his head, a white tee or undershirt layered over with a slightly wrinkled blue oxford with rolled up sleeves. He had a couple necklaces around his neck. He was most probably a smoker because he had fairly wrinkled dry skin. But he strutted with a confidence and flair that indeed made him appear to be something straight from 1920 Paris. His daughter also appeared European because of her clothing style. They spoke normal English though. Her clothing is not something I can describe to a mixed audience, but I would question her moral history because of it. Probably in her early 20s, she was lively, jittery, and probably a smoker and drug user. The Lord gave me such compassion for her, and for some of the time I just prayed for her.

I realized as I sat there with all these colorful characters that I wouldn't necessarily care to associate with, that these were the people Jesus associated with. He looked on such people with wondrous compassion and reached to them in their deepest need. The Lord convicted me on the spot of a Pharasaical attitude and showed me that this was an opportunity for prayer, that maybe we'd been brought there at that particular time for the very purpose of prayer. It's a little overwhelming to know how to pray for these needy people, but most of all, I just prayed that God would deliver them from the clutches of sin and Satan. I wonder how my attitude toward all people would change if I automatically prayed for each one I encountered? Maybe love would become more natural.

Oops, sorry this is so long!

Adventures in a New Land

It feels like a month since I last wrote, but come to think of it, it is different month! What a week this has been. The days up to our move were very full, with early mornings and late nights. Since my dad has been working so hard to complete the new house, my mom and I were responsible for packing up the old house. After looking at all my stuff, my mom said I need my own place! It's true -- I could fill up at least an apartment pretty nicely with my stuff.

Thursday was the official moving day. We were so blessed with amazing weather all week. It was so warm and sunny. We hired movers this time, something we've never done. I had expected three or four guys, but it was only two medium sized Mexicans. (Sounds like a Taco Time order.) They had the whole house packed into the truck by 4:00. A couple local friends came over and helped us clean as the house was emptied. I had made a trip in the morning to the new house with a load of fragile or open stuff that we didn't want to go in the truck. Amazing how much stuff you can fit in a minivan. After the movers left, I said good bye to our little house (trying not to be too sentimental), and with harps, pictures, and unhappy kitty in the van, took off for the new house again.

Since I was heading across the Narrows Bridge in the afternoon, I hit the infamous bridge traffic, something the new bridge is supposed to "cure" when it's opened. So during that time of slowness, I decided to let Cheeky out of his uncomfortable little carrier. He prowled around a little bit, but was mostly content to sit in my lap and be comforted in his affliction. Probably looked funny to other drivers to see this little furry face peering through the driver's window!

Kind church friends came over that evening to help us get settled in. Most of the living area in our house is upstairs, and the only connection is a curved staircase, which the movers were probably cursing by the end of the evening! They were really huffing getting our upright piano up the stairs. At least we don't have a grand. :-)

We did all we could and then headed off to our new living abode. An older couple in our church live in this very nice log cabin overlooking the Sound. Over their detached garage is a studio apartment, a charming little place complete with several beds, a bathroom, kitchenette, wood stove, and sitting area. It's all one big room actually. We've been staying nights there since Thursday, and the lady of the house has been so hospitable. She's fed us several lovely meals, while we sat on our back patio and watched the boats go by. They're rather wealthy due to several inheritances, and this house is something straight out of a magazine. Betty is a one of a kind person with an outgoing and generous personality. We feel so blessed to have this restful haven to stay in while we wait for our house to be completed. That probably won't happen for another week or so, but we trust that God is allowing this little time of rest and waiting for a purpose. I'm glad I took off this week from teaching.

The log house is set back in the woods, so there are plenty of wild creatures around, like deer, raccoons, coyotes, and all manner of birds. On Friday night, I'd left my van windows open because it was warm and it seemed like a safe enough area. The only thing I didn't count on was four-footed bandits! When I came out on Saturday morning, I instantly noticed something amiss. The cup from Jamba Juice that had been in my cup holder was now on its side in the passenger seat, as well as a Starbucks bag of crumbs, and a few other pieces of trash. The leftover liquid from my peachy drink were spilled all over the cloth seat. It didn't take long to figure out that a greedy little raccoon had helped himself to whatever goodies he could find. Little paw prints on my front hood proved its guilt. So of course, I keep my windows closed now!

Well, I think that's all I'll write for now. Once I get some new batteries for my camera, I'll post some pictures. But at least I wanted to report that the move went well, we're doing well, and Cheeky has adjusted well. We love our new area and are looking forward to living in our new house. Thanks for your prayers!