And so the journey begins...Fort Peck, MT

We had an awesome time camping on our way out to Seattle. We made our first stop at the Downstream Campground in Fort Peck, Montana. Very nice!

I LOVE SEATTLE!

We are in Seattle right now and its fabulous! The weather has been perfect. We drove here from Fergus over 3 days and stopped in Glacier National Park to camp. It was wonderful! Then we made it to Seattle on Saturday. We've seen some friends from Hillcrest and we went to church in Marysville which was awesome. Today we've been spending the day downtown Seattle and we hit Pike Place Market and Pioneer Square and other things. We went for a sailboat ride on Puget Sound and it was absolutely PERFECT!! I'll have to post pics soon. Now we've met up with Jill ( a great friend from Hillcrest that Wayne went to school with) She's so awesome and she's been showing us around. We're going to have a bbq with some of her friends. It seriously is awesome here....the weather, the mountains, the cool atmosphere, the cute shops, all the different peeps...its so cool. I could definately see us living here some day. The only downfall is everything is so EXPENSIVE. The cost of living is so high and to buy a house out here would cost us an arm and a leg and more. Yikes...its crazy. Anyways, I've gotta go... peace out for now!

My beautiful sisters!

These are my beautiful sisters, Heather and Susanne. Heather and family have been here for a wonderful visit and it's just been so fun to be able to spend some time together. This doesn't happen all that often because Heather and fam live so far away from Sue and me. But we just enjoy so much the time we get together.

To my sisters: I love you so much and you mean so much to me. Thank you for the examples you are to me. I've looked up to you both for so long and still do. You are strong women who love the Lord and desire to raise your children to love Jesus! Thank you for your friendship to me and for supporting and praying for us while we enter this new world of parenthood! You're the best sisters ever!

Fun barbeque with the cousins!

All the kids!

Uncle Larry and Aunty Irene

Nancy and Wayne

Kirsten and Jeff

Eric at the barbeque while Duane relaxes!

Heather and Kirsten

Aunty Irene scolding Eric!

Jeff and Uncle Larry enjoying the sunshine

Family

It's so fun to have all the kids together. They are a hoot. I love hearing little Nate's voice. He talks so much. They are all growing up so fast. I can't even believe it. Pretty soon there'll be one more cousin in the group! Fun times. We're having a great time all together. It's a little crazy at times, but so fun! (Mom and Dad, we wish you were here with us.)

They come TODAY!!

My sister Heather and her family come today! Whoo hooo! I'm so pumped. They live far away and we don't get to see them very often. The last time I saw the whole family was at my wedding. Heather and Kalle came to visit in March and that was so fun! We're going to have a great week.
We also have our first guests staying with us this weekend. Two good friends Janet and Linda from Calgary are here for a few days. It's been so fun having them around! I love having people over and I'm so glad we are able to do that now. It's just the best. I'll be sure to post pictures of this weekend and this week!

Ahhh...

There is so much to do in the whole moving process. I'm overwhelmed. I thought we didn't have that much stuff but in fact we do. We accumulated so much over the last year. Ahhhh. Little by little it will get done. I guess everything seems so tiring being preggers. I just sometimes don't have any energy to do anything. Yikes. But I'm thankful that I haven't felt sicky at all...no ralphing for me. Whoo hoo! Well..better get back at it.

Some big changes!

We're moving into a house! And we're so excited. It's very close to the school so we can walk to work. A good friend of ours bought this house and gutted it and redid everything. It looks amazing all over. It's very 'Ikea' inside. We love it and we're feeling very blessed to be able to live here in the community that we love, with great neighbors on each side. It has 2 bedrooms, one bathroom, living room, kitchen with nook, basement that is partially done but we are going to finish it, add a bathroom and make that our master suite and add a little nursery down there for the baby! (Which by the way my friends, is true this time and we are expecting the end of January!) Good news and good timing and God just has everything in control doesn't he? He is so awesome. I can't be more thankful for the opportunities that He has given me to work at a fabulous school doing what I love to do. And if I thought that was enough, I get to work with my totally terrific, hottie of a husband. So blessed!

some more pictures...

a few words about the trip

Well, Mexico was awesome. God showed himself to our students and to us chaperones too. But more importantly he showed himself to the people that we met. There were many who accepted Him! Our students showed Christ's love to the kids. It's amazing how loving and caring the kids are... when they have nothing. No father or mother, not much food or toys. They just longed to be held and hugged. We spent a lot of time playing with them, doing their hair, playing soccer or american football. Trying to communicate with the language barrier. That was tough but God allowed us to communicate through our actions and our love more than anything. I just think that's so cool! He knows what He's doing. We just trust and listen to Him and he uses us. The Hillcrest students came back changed and a lot of them realized that this world is not about them but it's about serving God and reaching out to other people. Some have even decided that they would like to do mission work for the rest of their lives. As a leader, it is so great to watch the students work together as the body of Christ and to see their eyes opened to Him and how He longs to work in and through them. It was great! (Minus the sickness, which is a whole other day!!)

Me-hee-ko Mission trip 2006

The husband and I

I heart NY

Today was the day of New York City! We spent the whole day in NY. It was awesome. Saw lots, walked lots, rode the subway lots and there were lots of people. Wow. Great times! Started in Central Park, then went to the district of Chelsea where we went to this cool market. Took the subway to Park Ave to meet up with one of Em's friends from college. From there we went and walked down 5th Ave and did some shopping. Saw Rockefeller Center! After we hit up H & M, we went to Time Square and then we were homeward bound. It was a packed day but wow, was the day perfect. The sun was shining and it was so warm out. FANTASTIC!! We leave for Fergus tomorrow. We've had such a great time here at the Benson's! Rock on NJ.

New thoughts on Jersey.

We've been having such a great time here on the east coast. I must say that my opinion on New Jersey is changing. It's not an ugly, dirty state full of loud, obnoxious east coasters.... its a very pretty and clean state. And the people are wonderful! We've met some super nice friends of Em's from college. We're beginning to realize why it's called 'the garden state.' We went on a hike around Succasunna on Sunday and yesterday we went to a place called Hacklebarney State Park where we walked around, hiked a little and explored. It was such a beautiful day and we packed a little picnic lunch! It reminded me a bit of the Kananaskis, minus the mountains. We loved it! Today we're going to go shopping with Em's great Aunt Alice. She's such a neat woman. She has a strong east coast accent and she just says it as it is. I love it. She has a twinkle in her eye and she and Em are really close.

Tea time with the ladies.

Me, Niki and Em with our crazy hats on!

The whole group of us. Em's mom Ruth, sis Ali and I in the front and Em, her sis Carrie and best friend Niki in the back.

Having a spot of tea!

We had a blast yesterday in Pennsylvania. We went to Messiah college where Em went to school for 4 years. We saw her sisters Carrie and Ali, who also go there. We met up with Niki, Em's best friend, and all of us ladies went to Carlisle, PA to a cute little tea house called 'Camellia's Sin' which stands for camellia sinensis which is the name of a tea plant. It was wonderful. It was very quaint and they had a bunch of old English hats which you could wear while you enjoyed the tea time. We were served the 'Camellia's blend' tea to start. Along with a fresh fruit cup with a lemon sauce drizzled on top. Then some wonderful freshly made apricot scones with a devonshire cream and lemon curt to go with. We could also choose from a menu of different teas and we chose a white tea called Spring breeze. It had aromas of vanilla and cinnamon and lemon. But I still loved the Camellia's blend which has caramel in it. Mmm. Delish. Enjoy some great pics! Oh, I almost forgot to mention what Wayne and Em's dad did all day... they went and visited Gettysburg. He loved it because he loves history and to see the place where it all happened was fantastic. We all met up again in the evening at Pizza Town near Messiah college for some sweet New Jersey pizza. What a day!

Jersey...here we come

We are now in Succasunna, New Jersey visiting our dear friend Emily Benson and her family. We arrived today at about 6:00 pm and had a wonderful home-cooked meal and we sat around the table for hours chatting with her aunt and her great-aunt and her grampa and some of her great-aunt's friends. It was just so fun. Tomorrow we're off to Pennsylvania to visit Em's two sisters at Messiah College. I'm so pumped. I'll keep you updated on the trip and I'll post pictures because now I can! Woohoo!