White Christmas!!

Some snow scenes from our apartment. The scenery may not be as pretty as other places, but there's something about snow that makes even the most ordinary things seem magical.

And some things are.... fun!

Today Jim took the ice and snow off the van, put chains on the tires, and we finally got out for a drive. We were feeling closed in at our little apartment. So it was nice to go to Kim's for awhile.






Kim and Andy's cars were buried in snow.

Here's a house that I think is pretty. Maybe next year I'll have pictures of our own house to put here, but in the meantime, I'll enjoy seeing others.

Everyone have a wonderful Christmas, and if you have snow, enjoy the beauty. If you don't have snow where you are, I hope you enjoyed these pictures.

We don't have to dream of a white Christmas this year. 'Looks like we'll have one! (Of course this means that some of our Christmas plans have had to be cancelled, which is sad, but I still love the snow!)

Apartmentalized Christmas

I really thought I'd be okay with no Christmas decor this year. But I was wrong!! No. I do need at least a little Christmas here. So today I went and bought not one, but THREE Christmas trees. Now, doesn't this look nice?

Oh, and since I didn't have any of my Christmas clothes here, when we were down in Eugene yesterday, we went to our house in JC and dug through some things and got some of them. I knew where they were. We just had to move some things to get to them.

I feel better. Christmas can come now!!

Beniah!!

Meet the newest member of the Whittaker family! Beniah Mark was born at 5:20 AM on Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008.
He was 9 lb, 6 oz, and very cute!!


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As you can see, his daddy, Timmy is very proud! We can tell already that he's going to be a good dad.















Their first family picture! Tim, Heather and Beniah Whittaker

See? I TOLD you he was cute!!

Heather and Beniah getting to know each other.

Their initial response to each other....


...soon became a good thing. They both looked amazed in this pic!

Smiling at Grandma....

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checking Grandpa out....

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Grandma and Grandpa are both very happy with the new little bundle! What a precious gift a baby is!

Fort Vancouver

A couple of weeks ago the weather was good (probably the last really good day for doing anything outside for awhile), and we went to visit Fort Vancouver. Since we live here now, we thought it would be a good thing to see. I thought it was fascinating, and hope to go back when they're giving tours and all the buildings are open to go inside. The original fort was burned down, so what is there now is reconstructed. But it sits on the same site and the buildings that have been built are accurate as to what was there before. a lot of the articles in the buildings were actually recovered by archeologists who excavated the original site.

After touring as much as we could inside the fort, we went to "Old Apple Tree Park" (nearby) and saw what is reported to be the oldest apple tree in the territory. I expected something bigger than this.

We walked under the railroad tracks to get to the tree. I thought it was quite picturesque....

... as was the river just before sunset.

Grandma's new home

We got home last night after spending a week in Eugene helping get Grandma moved into a nice apartment at Solvang Retirement Living. She seemed to be adjusting to the change remarkably well, and I think she will truly be happy there, and may even wonder after awhile why she didn't move there a lot sooner. Here are some pics for you to see what it's like:

The dining hall is set up like a restaurant, and she can go down to eat anytime of the day from 7 AM to 6 PM. Good food. We ate there 3 times. They take people shopping two days of the week, and two days are set aside for doctor visits. If they have an appt on one of those days, they will take them there and then pick them up when they're through. They go on trips to different places of interest at least once a month, have entertainment come in, have Bible studies and church services, etc. They encourage the residents to keep active by awarding them "Solvang Dollars" every time they attend an excercise session (chair excercises) or walk around the building. When they have accumulated 7 solvang dollars, they can trade it in for a guest meal ticket so they can treat their guests to lunch or dinner with them in the dining room when they come.

While we were there, several people came to meet Grandma, and one lady in particular was very helpful and had her go to two or three meals with her. I think she will continue to be a friend for Grandma. She attends the church where Grandma goes, but they didn't know each other before.

Of course Grandma is hoping for frequent visits from her kids and grandkids. There is a guest apartment there (I didn't see it) where people can stay for $50 a night, which includes all meals.

At this point, I'm glad we made the decision and moved her there. I'm praying for good times and good friends for her there to fill her days and help her begin to live again with joy.

Be It Ever So Humble...

Well, we’re in our apartment! We moved in on Tuesday (with help from Andy, Kim and little Donny, who had to be confined to a playpen since he was determined to be outside).

We still have a lot to do, but keep working on it and are finding places for the things we brought here, knowing it’s a much smaller place than we’ve been in (and also knowing that as soon as Jim has a job and our house sale in JC is finalized, we'll be looking for a house and moving again!) I’m having to be creative to find slots for everything – especially in the kitchen.

But the place that some of the things are going to is back to the storage unit we have here in Vancouver! So now we have ‘stuff’ in 3 places: The shop back in our Junction City house is still half full of furniture, etc;

The storage unit, which is quite full (some of the ‘stuff’ there belongs to Joann and to Timmy, though);

The apartment.

But we have two bedrooms, and are almost ready for company! If you come, I promise to have the guest room ready for you.

I’ll post some more pics as soon as we get better settled.

No job yet for Jim. I’ve kept him pretty busy this week moving and setting things up, helping to unpack, and settling in, etc.

Thanks for checking in with us, and for your continued prayers for direction to the right job.