Update on the Past Week

I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry....yes I've slacked big time!!!!!!! I'm very sorry that I have not updated the blog for a week! We have been super busy!

Before I begin updating everyone on our past week, I should post the pictures from the last blog post that I wasn't able to post...if that makes any sense. To make it simple, these pictures are from the 21st and 22nd of March.

March 21- These pictures were taken at Puget Sound before church:


March 22- Mom's Birthday!

#1: This is the lovely birthday decorating that the Harper family did to the motorhome while we were gone.

#2: This picture was taken at the DeBusscheres. The beautiful birthday cake was also thanks to the Harpers! Thank you!

Alright, onto the update for this past week...

Well, the majority of the week was spent unpacking our moving truck, moving everything into our new house, painting, and finding a place for everything....yep, it was a pretty busy week! On top of that, my mom and I got sick...but the Lord is good! Since He never makes mistakes, there was obviously a reason why we were sick, even though we don't know what that was. So, I shouldn't complain. :) Thankfully, we are all better now, except that I have a minor head cold. Here are pictures from this week.

#1: We were all working so hard on unpacking our moving truck...well, maybe not all of us. :)

#2 & 3: Ari and I painting our bedroom. No, we're not painting our bedroom white...we put on a coat of Kilz first, so we could paint over it with color. When we're finished with our bedroom, I'll post some pictures!

#4: This is the picture from our (Ari and I) bedroom window...do you see the rainbow?!

Well, that's about it. In an upcoming blog post, I'll post pictures of our new house! Have a wonderful week!

Our Journey to Washington: Day 6

Ok, I know I've been slacking this weekend with blogging...I'm sorry! So, here's the weekend update!

Our journey, in one sense, has ended...we are no longer driving. Yet in another sense, the journey has just begun...we are beginning a new life in Washington.

Saturday was our last day of driving. We drove from Spokane, WA to North Bend, WA. During the day, we stopped off at a scenic overlook. The scenery was breathtaking! Then, as we continued our drive to North Bend, we took some pictures of the mountains. Here are some pictures of the day.

Scenic Overlook:

Both this picture and the picture before it are pictures from the view of the scenic overlook.

There were so many gecko/lizard things (I don't exactly know what they were) running around....they blended in really well though.

My dad and sister, Ariana had some fun with the rocks. While they stood on the cliff below, they held onto the rocks above, pretending like they were dangling in the air about to fall.

We all had some individual shots taken as well. Ari and I had them taken with my dog, Boo....he's so photogenic. :)

Ari took many lovely shots of flowers while we were at the scenic overlook! I am always amazed at her photographic eye!

Pictures of the Mountains (I hope you guys aren't getting sick of mountain pictures) :)







We arrived on Saturday, but unlike what we thought, we were not able to move into our new house right away. The former renters had not moved out yet, so we decided to stay at a hotel that night to relax after our 6 day journey. (Why we were so tired after sitting in a motorhome for six days beats me...)

The next day was Sunday...wow, I'm so profound! ;) The beginning of the day was spent getting ready for church and taking our belongings out of the hotel room. After leaving the hotel, we went to Puget Sound. My dad had talked with a guy that said he had seen whales there yesterday. Even though we didn't see any whales, it was so nice to walk on the beach and enjoy the sunshine!

After the beach, we went to church. What an amazing experience! The love, genuine kindness, and excitement that the families had for us was incredible! They already feel like family. The worship, sermon, shared meal, and fellowship time made yesterday an extraordinary day! Thank you to everyone at HOFCC who embraced us into their church family and made it feel like home!

Moving on to today...March 22.

First of all, it's my mom's birthday today! Happy Birthday Mom!!! Thank you for the godly example that you are to me every single day! May you continue to grow even closer to our Savior in this upcoming year!

Last night, the Harpers invited us to park our motorhome at their house. We had a great time getting to know them a little more and are so thankful for their amazing generosity! They served us a wonderful breakfast, decorated the outside of our motorhome with balloons for my mom's birthday, gave us an excellent dinner, and bought a birthday cake for my mom as well! They are so sweet! Thank you so much!

We also got some news today concerning the new house we're renting. The landowner called us and let us know that the former renters have moved out and we can start moving our stuff in tomorrow. She is also allowing us to paint whatever we want, so that is what we will be doing tomorrow. Hopefully, we will start moving our belongings in on Wednesday. We'll see how things unfold...

Answers to Prayer:

• Safety on our trip out West
• God's faithfulness in providing an extraordinary church family
• The ability to move into our house tomorrow

Pictures for Our Journey to Washington: Day 5

Here are the pictures I promised last night...sorry I'm getting them on so late!






Here is a picture we took at a rest stop in Idaho. The scenery was gorgeous here: mountains in the background, with a river, and a beautiful overhanging tree. The only problem with the tree is that some of the branches cast shadows onto my face...oh well. :)

Our Journey to Washington: Day 5 (Part 2)

Well, we have finally made it...to Washington at least. Tomorrow Lord-willing, we will arrive in North Bend.

We crossed the border into Washington about 40 minutes ago and as I look around me, it is so strange to think that this is my new home. What a weird feeling!

Anyway, we drove through Montana and Idaho today....amazing! The beauty was just breathtaking! As we drove on I-90 W there were mountains, some snow-capped and some full of trees all around us. I have never seen such beautiful scenery in my life! And it all attests to the greatness and glory of our Creator!

"O Lord, our Lord how majestic is Your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which You have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?" (Psalm 8:1,3)

Now that I've excited you all by describing the incredible scenery we saw today, unfortunately you're going to have to wait until tomorrow to see the pictures we took....sorry, but we are all exhausted after a long day of driving. :)

Well then...goodnight!

The Answer to the Mount Rushmore Question is....

Thank you to everyone who answered the Mount Rushmore poll! I just thought it might be kind of fun to have some interaction with the people who are reading my blog!

For those of you who did not get to vote, the question was "How many people were killed in the making of Mount Rushmore?" The possible answers were a) 5 b) 156 c) none d) 38.

Well, the two people who guessed "None" were correct. No one was killed in the making of Mount Rushmore!

I thought this fact was pretty amazing...and so did my dad. Actually, it was funny because as we were taking pictures of Mount Rushmore, my dad was commenting about how sad it was that so many lives were lost in the carving of Mount Rushmore. I asked him how many he thought were killed and he answered, "Well, I think it was a couple hundred." When we went into the Gift Shop, my dad asked the cashier how many people were killed and she answered none. The only injuries produced as a result of Mount Rushmore were broken body parts. So, that was kind of funny! :)

Hope you all have a wonderful rest of the day!

By the way, thank you all for your prayers this morning about safety while driving in the snow! We are now in Butte, Montana and the weather is beautiful...compared to what it was earlier. It is still pretty chilly, but the sun is shining and there is no snow to be seen...except on top of the mountains surrounding us!

Our Journey to Washington: Day 5

Quick Morning Update:

This morning we woke to the sound of sirens on the highway, which is right next to the Walmart parking lot we're staying at. We didn't really think anything of it, because there are always occasional accidents.

When we opened up the shades, we understood why we heard all those sirens....snow!!! Last night, we received a couple inches of snow... and it is still snowing.

Here are some pictures I took this morning:



We checked the weather in Yellowstone as well, but it was 8 degrees. The largest snowfall they were expecting was 9-14 inches.

So, since Yellowstone is out of the question, we are now planning on driving to Spokane, Washington today. Then on Saturday, we will arrive in North Bend, Washington...our new home!

I'll post more later on in the day.

Prayer Requests:

• Safety on the roads, as it is still snowing here
  

Our Journey to Washington: Day 4

It is 10:15 pm as I write this post, sitting in the parking lot of the Bozeman, Montana Walmart Supercenter. My dad and mom are in bed with Charity and Ari is getting ready for bed. I thought I would write a quick update on our fourth day's adventures before I go to bed.

For the most part, all we did was drive. We were planning on visiting Yellowstone National Park today, but didn't go because of the weather. (The weather forecast said it was supposed to snow, with temperatures of around 33 degrees.) If the weather is better tomorrow, we will visit Yellowstone. Anyway, we drove through Wyoming and into Montana today....we are almost to Washington!

The fun thing about driving through Montana was that we saw our first real snow-capped mountains....beautiful!!! Here are some pictures of them...just like the pictures of the Badlands though, they do not do justice!

#1: This was our first view of some "real" mountains! The clouds were partly covering them, which gave the mountains an awe-inspiring look.

#2: Another look at the beautiful mountains that God has created!

#3: This picture was taken with a house and some cows in the foreground...it seemed like a picture of the Montana life.

#4: I loved how the river was in front of the mountains in this picture!


#5: This picture was taken from the Walmart parking lot. The mountains were all around us...a spectacular sight!!!

Sorry I didn't have much of an interesting update today. Tomorrow, I'll post some more pictures of the family, instead of just mountains. :)

Prayer Requests:

• Nice weather so we could visit Yellowstone, if that's the Lord's will
• Continued help with motion sickness
  

Answer to Prayer:

• Ari and I are doing much better with motion sickness
  

Our Journey to Washington: Day 3

I'm sorry that I was not able to update everyone yesterday, but I was not able to get internet connection while we were driving. Since you all are probably wondering how I can even get internet connection while driving, let me explain. My dad's cellphone hooks up to the computer and acts as the modem, so we can use the internet. Anyway, yesterday it didn't work because the phone was in roaming mode.

So, we now have connection sitting in the parking lot of the Gillette, Wyoming Walmart Supercenter.

Well, I have quite a few pictures to share of our travels yesterday. We spent the majority of the day driving through South Dakota, stopping along the way to visit the Badlands, Wall Drug, and Mount Rushmore. Arriving in Gillette, Wyoming around 12 am Wyoming time, 2 am Michigan time, we stopped at the local Walmart and fell into our beds exhausted.

Our first stop yesterday: The Badlands

Wow, what an amazing and breathtaking place!

"For the LORD is the great God, the great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth, and the mountain peaks belong to him. The sea is his, for he made it, and his hands formed the dry land." (Psalm 95:3-5)
The pictures don't do justice.

#1: I took this picture standing on top of the Badlands. The view was just spectacular!

#2: I took this picture of Ari and my dad, while they were standing on one of the peaks. I thought it was cool how small they looked in comparison to the peaks all around us.

#3: I began to walk off the path when I saw this sign! Yikes! I never knew there were rattlesnakes in South Dakota! Thankfully, we didn't see any.

#4: Other than the possibility of seeing a rattlesnake, the other problem with walking off the path was the mud. It was very muddy there and as you can see in the picture, my shoe got stuck...very stuck. That was not a fun thing to clean up. :)

#5: I took a picture of the family on top of the Badlands.

#6: Dad "falling" off the peaks of the Badlands.

#7: After we stood on top of the Badlands, we drove through the Badlands scenic loop. As we were driving, Ari took a picture of this sign, "Watch for Falling Rock."

#8: As we were driving through the scenic loop, we saw a bunch of prairie dogs scurrying around. They were so cute! They all made these little chirping noises to alert the other prairie dogs that we were watching them.

Our second stop: Wall Drug Store

Wall Drug is located in the city of Wall, South Dakota. Back in the 1930's, Wall Drug was a small drugstore that has expanded to a famous store with a bunch of small shops inside. There were many fun things for sale, but I didn't buy anything. Ari bought a pocketknife...what else? ;)

#1: This is a picture of the main entrance to Wall Drug Store.

#2: Ari and I had some fun taking pictures at Wall Drug. :)

#3: Since we've been learning about the Civil War this year in History, Ari and I had a picture of us wearing Civil War hats.

Our third and last stop: Mount Rushmore

This was a beautiful place! As my dad said, "There are some places that every American should visit; Mount Rushmore is one of them."

Here are some pictures of it:Even Charity got her picture taken with Mount Rushmore. ;)

Well, that's about all! Here is a random picture of us three girls (Charity was sleeping) when we were at a rest stop.
Prayer Requests:

• Same as the past two days

Answers to Prayer:

• We had beautiful weather yesterday!
  
• The Lord has kept us safe this far!

Praise the Lord for His goodness! Thank you for your prayers!