We have arrived

We've been in Oregon for about two weeks now! Our church positions are going really well so far with both of us meeting lots of great new people and excited about possibilities. The church folks at Cornelius (one of the two congregations Eric is serving) had obviously been thoughtfully preparing for our arrival for a long time and have extended generous hospitality.

We love our new little home and are slowly unpacking and getting settled. I will try to get some pictures up here soon!

One really exciting thing about being here again is reconnecting with folks we got to know during our previous time in Oregon. Just a few miles down the road are Leah and Mat, who are both teachers in the area. We did lots of hiking and a bit of camping with them and are excited to be so close!


Eliser, who has visited us in the Chicago the past two Christmases, came up from Tualatin, just about half an hour away, to visit. We checked out Maggie's Buns in Forest Grove (the town where Mat and Leah live) and shared THE most amazing (and biggest!) cinnamon roll I have ever seen! We will definitely be back to visit this funky little place.


We stopped by the Goodwill to check out their furniture selection. And their sombrero selection.
It's a good collection.

We headed in to the downtown Portland one evening to meet Jared (a college friend of Eric's), Christina and little Hailey for dinner.

Just a bit south, past beautiful wineries and a buffalo farm, lies McMinnville, home of friends Paul and Michelle. Paul and I worked at the church in Woodburn together in the olden days. It was great to see them--and we experienced rolling our own sushi for the very first time!

And one of my very favorite things about summers in Oregon--berries! Here is the half-flat we got at the farmers' market just a few hours after it was purchased. Now, three days later, only a few little berries remain!

Today we attended an event that included lunch and one woman had brought dessert--angel food cake, cool whip, and fresh berried picked from her yard yesterday!!! I cannot tell you how delicious this dessert was.

Here is Eric, just a little bit ago, finishing up his sermon for tomorrow in his church office.

Just over the fence you see behind him is our back yard. Yes, we live quite close to the church.

The trip

It took about 7 hours to get from the cabin to our new place in Cornelius, Oregon and our new car, Silvie, carried us faithfully there! I even drove a good deal of the trip, which was an accomplishment given that I had just learned to drive a manual two days before.

I'm happy because I'm not trying to get into first gear on an incline:


Coming down through eastern Washington from Spokane is pretty but seems ho-hum compared to the drive along the Columbia River Gorge. I love this part of the trip!


We both got so excited when Mt. Hood came into view. This is one gorgeous mountain.


As we got closer to Portland, a tad bit of rain fell, just to remind us that we were in Oregon again.

Coming into downtown Portland.

This picture may not look remarkable (for Oregon), but it is taken only 3 minutes after the previous one--this is right next to downtown!

From the interstate to Cornelius. The mountains in the background are a coastal range. Just on the other side--the Pacific Ocean!

Here is the Gooseman in our temporary home (we couldn't move into the parsonage for a couple of days), playing with Waddle, our new GPS--thanks Annie and Brody! Waddle and Silvie (our car) are named for some sports talk show guys Eric sometimes listens to.

We celebrated by enjoying some Oregon raspberries and strawberries with a lovely Willamette Valley Pinot Noir. We have arrived!

Mo' WA pics

We spent our last weekend in Washington at the Conklin Cabin on one of the Twin Lakes (Upper or Lower? I can never remember which!) with Mike, Tanya and Em.


Enjoying Papa Murphy's take-n-bake on the deck. Mike was really enjoying it.

Emmy, Tanya and Guthrie making faces at each other.

We had a such a lovely weekend relaxing, eating, playing games and just visiting. Hopefully Mike, Tanya and Emerson will be down to visit us soon!

The obligatory new car shot:

!!

We are in Oregon and have been in our new place for about a week now. Things are going well! I plan to post pictures and more about what we've been up to very soon!

Washington

Just a few highlights from the past week in the greater Chewelah metropolitan area.

Hanging out with Emmy, the best baby in the world and our only niece:


Boys with flowers and baby on the way to meet grandma for lunch--real macho men.



BlongoBall:



Hanging out on the deck:



Family golf outings:


Smoked gouda?


My first birdie putt ever:



Driving the convertible to do some car shopping on a day with perfect weather:


Buying our car--yay! It's a 2002 KIA Spectra.


Our first drive (coming into Chewelah) after the purchase.


Just after this, Brody gave me a lesson in driving a manual so I can actually drive our car now!

Tomorrow morning, we're off to the cabin on Twin Lakes (about 2 miles away in north Idaho) for our last day of vacation. On Sunday, we drive down to Cornelius, OR, the movers come Monday morning and we start work on Tuesday!!! It has been a lovely lovely week.

On the way

We spent time with and received help from so many lovely friends during our last week in Chicago.

After a wonderful sending-forth at the end of our last service Sunday, some folks joined us for Mexican food on the sidewalk at Papacitos. Scott, Tony, Kristin, Carrie, Andrew, me, the Goose, Kim, Amber.


Joseph stayed at our place Monday night and helped a ton with moving some of our larger furniture on Tuesday morning.


I had a great meal with folks from Holy Cov and Humboldt Park UMCs--a gathering I have been excited about for months! The Guatemalan food at El Tinajon was excellent, but it was the energy and lively conversation that made it a great evening. I'm so excited for the possibilities in that new relationship. Delia, Daniel, Kristin, me, Ronna, Claudia.


Megan and Barrett, some of our first *new* friends in Chicago, took us out for Italian food at Ignotz, just a few blocks from our house. Since we were all in the midst of moving, we were especially glad to find time to get together.


Megan and Jon treated us to ice cream at Pop's Malt Shoppe, which we enjoyed in their backyard.


Trent and Jeanne prepared an amazing fondue feast for us on Wednesday night and also took us to the airport on Friday. Thanks, friends.


Lots of folks came to help us move our stuff on Thursday. The truck arrived and we had exactly two hours to load everything into our 8 designated feet--and we did it! Thanks to Dave, Megan, Megan, Mark, and Kate. I wish we had a picture of our tetris-like packing job.

Dave, Megan and Jon joined us for lunch at Los Alamos, a taqueria just up Damen from us. Wow did that food taste good after that morning! Dave and Goose enjoyed the biggest cups of horchata I had ever seen!


We didn't get much sleep those last few days, but we got the house clean and emptied and were on our way Friday morning! Since then, we've been in Chewelah, Washington, just hanging out with Eric's family. It is so nice to be here!

Oh, dear friends, we miss you already.

Framily picnic

Mom and Jim hosted a really nice gathering for us on Saturday. The weather was perfect and it was--of course--so great to see everyone!

Mom, Rose and Bill eye the food--it was fantastic!



Bill and Jim:


Robert and Rose:


Mom and Curt:


Oh, the look:


With Karen and Corey, who used to live across the street. They seem to be doing really great--I can't believe it had been a year since we'd talked!


Mom looking happy (I think she really was):


Jim, relaxed:


Cessie and her new car:

Yeah.