In Kennewick

Hi friends! It's been so long that I don't even know where to begin! To sum up, we're pretty well settled in Kennewick now. We finally have a washer and dryer and Internet service and everything! The kids all love their church classes- even Lauren who is now in nursery! Griffin is dying to have friends over for 'play dates', and if these spring colds would give us a moments rest, I could get some of those arranged for him!

Things are going very well for James at his new job. It's been a lot of change for him, but he feels really good about where he's at. He's really looking forward to getting his beloved cop car fixed later this month. On our trip to Kennewick, after spending a few weeks with my parents at Christmas, we were rear-ended, and the back of James' car sustained some pretty heavy damage. It was still drivable, but the trunk no longer closes properly, and quite a bit of body work will need to be done. So that made for a bit of a rocky start to our new life!

We were so blessed to be able to stay with James' brother and his family when we first arrived. They were so kind and welcoming, but that bit of our journey wasn't with out it's own bumps! Since it was just after Christmas, and Kelsie wasn't in school yet, there was no sort of routine to return to, and the kids were still kind of in party mode. And we were not the only guests in their home! My sister in law's brother and his wife were already living with them, and there were other holiday guests from time to time as well! With a house so full, it was difficult to keep the kids from bothering people, especially those who didn't have kids of their own- and when the stomach flu hit!... Well, it was a rocky start to our new life!

Fortunately, lots of love and patience was truly shown by everyone and even with all the craziness, and I think we all look back on it with a degree of fondness already! But we knew we needed to find our own place as soon as we could- not only to make sure we didn't put inhuman strains our families' hospitality, but also because of the issue of getting my dear Kelsie into school! The elementary school near where we were staying was unwilling to let Kelsie stay in their school if we ended up finding a home outside of their boundaries, and I just couldn't stomach the idea of making her switch schools again after we had just pulled her away from a school she just loved in Montana.

I had seen some apartments online that seemed nice and roomy and were very affordable, and I'd pretty well decided that we would just move into one of those apartments and be done with it, but when James' brother, who is a police officer, heard what I was planning, he absolutely outlawed our moving into that area! He compared it to living in 'felony flats' is Spokane and pretty well said that if we moved there he would never come to visit us, because he would be worried about his personal safety! It didn't look like that scary of an area to me, but because I respect his experience I knew I'd have to find new options!

So I drove to all the far corners of the Tri-Cities area, and finally found I place I thought would be great. A duplex, with three bedrooms, and it was only a few miles from our family. It had a huge back yard, new carpet, and nice paint on the walls. There is vinyl on the floor in the dining room (a big deal when you've been dealing with carpet for two years!) and it was on this funny little side road that put it away from traffic and next to horse property! I didn't even notice till the next day that it was directly across the street from an elementary school! We signed the contract as soon as credit checks would allow and finally got Kelsie started in school!

She just loves it there, and we're trying to be involved with lots of school activities. In fact, we just finished helping with the school carnival! We donated cookies and a cake, and helped with set up, and manned booths! The kids had a great time! I really should have taken pictures, but I'm afraid I'm out of the habit!

Griffin's favorite part was: "the prizes I earned like the squishy guy with the squishy feet and the squishy hands!"
His favorite games were: " The one where you get to throw the rings and the cake walk, but I loved the bouncy house more! With the things you get to punch!" (in the obstacle course, he's not talking about the other kids!)

Kelsie's favorite part was: "Getting to see my friends."
Her favorite games were: "The hockey game, cuz it was in my classroom, the potato sack race, and the fishing game, the cake walk, and- this is the last one- the cookie walk!"


So we're having a good time, we're settling in, and we're really happy we're here! And I hope to be a more regular poster in the future!

Wait... Did I mention we're having a baby?