Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas everyone. It has been such an eventful couple of weeks. First lots of Christmas gatherings and things. Then the huge snow/ice storm. I have had the hardest time getting to work every morning because of our insanely steep shaded driveway that will not thaw! I've had to park my car at the end of it, and Andy shuttles me down to it in the Volvo which we thankfully have not sold yet. Hopefully the snow will recede and we'll be able to sell it.

Super good news... I started my PERMANENT job at Norpac on Tuesday. My friend Sheri got another job at Corban, so I was just hired to take her spot permanently! I am so grateful to the Lord for this because come January 19th I would have been out of a job. And we all know that the job market is not really booming at this point. So now I'm covering 2 desks at work until January 19th, so I am super busy and very behind in my work at this point. I will not complain though, and I'll just enlist some help from my other co-workers.

I cooked a huge Christmas dinner on Saturday for our Jr. High staff. It took me all of Friday night and all day Saturday, but I finished right on time and all of the food was still hot. We had the works: Turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, green beans, sweet potatoes, salad, carrots, apple pie, and chocolate cake. And I made everything but the chocolate cake from scratch. I absolutely love to cook, but that day really wore me out. Thankfully for normal Christmas/Thanksgiving gatherings, the whole family pitches in so one person is not in charge of cooking the entire dinner.

Speaking of family, the Pullen's are all here to celebrate Christmas. I'd better get up and shower. So Merry Christmas everyone! I hope that you all remember Christ who humbled himself enough to come to earth and die on the cross. What a wonderful Christmas gift!

Our crazy weekend

This weekend was crazy. It started on Friday when I got home from work and made 2 apple pies from scratch, which took me much longer than usual. Probably because I was dancing, singing, and having a grand 'ol time. Saturday morning we woke up early and drove to Roseburg through the snow where we met my parents and Grandma for lunch (I haven't seen her in 2 years or so). Then we drove back through the snow, stopped at Fred Meyer in Albany for some ugly Christmas sweaters, and took our pies to a Christmas party at our Pastor's house for all of the Foothills staff and elders. Sunday we got up and drove through the snow to church (we spun out once and landed in the ditch a little bit, it was kind of fun). After church we painted a room upstairs with our small group. Then we went home and cut our hair for our Jr. High 80's party that night. I cut Andy a mullet and he shaved a handle bar mustache and sideburns. Then I impulsively cut some bangs for myself so I could make them huge. Then we went to decorate for the party and partied the night away. It was a blast. Then I woke up today, had to figure out what to do with my new bangs, and went to work. I have barely had a second to relax, and next weekend won't be any better. Why is Christmas time always so busy??

Anniversary surprise

Our anniversary was on Tuesday, and since we both had to work, we decided that we'd celebrate it on Saturday (today) by spending the day up in Portland. Originally we had planned on spending Friday night at Edgefield McMenamins (which is very cheap, by the way), but they were all booked up. And we didn't want to spring for a hotel, so we decided for just the day in Portland. So Friday night, Andy picked me up from work to "take me out to dinner." We started driving East on hwy 22, which is the opposite way from Salem and there's nothing out there. He said there was a new restaurant he wanted to take me to in Detroit (about 30 miles away, it has a nice lake). So we finally got to Detroit and he made a few turns. We were definitely not in restaurant area, but more like residential area in the forest. He finally stopped in front of a nice house and said, "Surprise! We're staying the night here!" It was the new vacation home of a family in our church and they let us stay there for free. It was super nice, and Andy had actually brought pizza for us to eat. And he had packed all of my things for me. It was a fantastic treat and a nice little anniversary vacation. I love finding fun things to do for free. And then today we went up to Portland and walked around a bunch downtown and stuff. It was a wonderful weekend.

Now for some fantastic, answer to prayer news!

My wonderful parents decided to pass on a blessing to us. They recently were given a nice truck, so they decided to give us their older car!!! So now we can sell our volvo to pay for getting it fixed and finish paying it off, and then we won't owe anything on our new Oldsmobile!!! It's a 1997 Cutless Supreme, and it's a rather nice car for us. Andy's been driving it around and we both like it. Not as much as our beloved Volvo, of course, but it's a great car. The Lord provides for us right when we need it. Always. Someday we'd like to get another Volvo, but just to let you all know, don't ever get a turbo!! It costs a bunch more to fix and is not worth it.

It's also our anniversary today. 2 years! It's been such a wonderful 2 years. On our anniversary every year, we read the letters that we wrote for each other on our wedding day. It always makes us cry, they are beautiful letters. I will treasure them always. I think we've come to a very special place in our marriage. At first it was the honeymoon phase, then it was getting used to living with each other, and now we're so happy to spend time with each other and we appreciate our differences. I'm not saying it's perfect, but we're falling into a lovely rhythm of life and happiness together. And our dog and cat provide much enjoyment to round out our little family. So here's to anniversaries!