Hello

Hello.

I really need to get back to blogging. I feel as if I have a very boring life and nothing to blog about, but that simply isn't true. For instance, we finally sold our Volvo last week. I could have blogged about that.

We hadn't gotten a call on it for quite a while when, out of the blue, some lady called while we were both home at lunch on Tuesday. She and her husband wanted to look at it, they have 4 kids and needed something for her husband to drive that could fit everybody. So we met them at Safeway that evening, and when the guy and Andy took it out for a test drive, the check engine light came on *again.* When they offered us $3,500 for it, we couldn't refuse. Every time the check engine light comes on it costs about $1,000 to fix it, and we had it listed at $4,500 for about 3 months and it wasn't selling. So we figured it was time to just let the money sucker go. We talk about it with fond memories and we'll definitely miss it when we have any kind of snow, but it's nice to finally be free of it at the same time.

We also found a house to rent for when we get done house-sitting here. It's owned by the same people we're house-sitting for, and they said they'd hold it for us. We already have the keys, so we're in the process of painting the interior. It's very ugly right now, with dirty, cream colored walls in the main areas. The 2 bedrooms have baby blue paint in one and light purple paint with an ugly flower border and yellow stars around the ceiling. We definitely have to paint those. So today the plan is to work on the house for most of the day, once Andy wakes up, of course. He's had a cold all week and now I'm starting to get it. I can't help waking up at 6:00 am even on Saturdays. I hate it.

Tomorrow we're meeting my family in Roseburg to celebrate my brother and my birthdays (he's up from LA to see my Grandma who's not doing so well). I'm very excited about that.

Updates

Hi all, sorry I haven't posted in a while. So much has been going on! First of all, I have about 9 pregnant friends right now. It seems like it's pregnant season. We are not expecting right now, and we don't plan to be any time soon. I really wish we could, but we don't have enough money to live off Andy's income. Hopefully it will raise a little in the next year or two so that we can. I feel very passionate about staying at home when we have kids and not having daycare raise them, so we're waiting for the time being.

Andy and I had an awesome weekend. Some of our wonderful friends decided to bless us with 2 nights at The Nines in downtown Portland. We had tons of fun running around, finding cheap things to do and to eat, and having a wonderful time. It was such a nice little break. But then I came down with a cold on the last day, so now I'm suffering through work (I don't have any sick days until the end of March).

On the 20th, Andy and I and our friends Cassie and Jake are heading up to Centralia to stay the night at the McMenamins, then on to Olympia on the 21st for our friend Jackie's wedding! I can't wait, it will be tons of fun. Then the weekend after that is our Jr. High winter camp from Friday to Sunday. It will be fun but exhausting!

If you all wouldn't mind, please pray for my Grandma Ruth. The doctor's just told her that there's nothing more they can do for her kidney/bladder cancer. So now it's just a matter of time before we have to say goodbye to her. I'm going to try to make it down to visit as soon as I can. The doctors also said that it might be up to a year before we lose her, which would be great.

Some awesome news is that Andy just got affirmed to be a Pastor in our church. We didn't think that would happen for at least another year, so we're super excited. He's been doing such a fantastic job, and the people see it, and God is blessing him for it. We feel so privileged to be involved in His ministry here in Stayton.

Non-eco friendly

In the past few years I've been trying harder and harder to be conscious of our environment. I clean with non-toxic, biodegradable cleaning supplies, shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc. I try to make most of my food from scratch instead of buying processed food. I try to drive as little as possible, etc. I have, however, been working for a very non-eco friendly company.

Norpac is a fruit and vegetable processing company, which sounds great. We are a co-op owned by the growers, which is great. However, there are so many non-green things going on. For example, the vegetables and fruits are not organic in the least. I'm sure they're covered with pesticides and washed with chemicals. We ship to locations all over the country, and even sometimes to other countries outside of North America (such as Japan). The most eco-friendly way to buy produce is to buy local. Our processing plant spews smoke every once-in-a-while (not thick dark smoke like a lot of places, thankfully). For our entire ordering/shipping/invoicing process, we use TONS of paper. I'm sure I have my hands on at least 500-1,000 pieces of paper a day. Thankfully we recycle all of the paper that we don't need. I know that there are much greener ways of growing, packaging, and selling frozen and canned fruits and vegetables. I feel a little guilty for working for a company that is harming our environment, but unfortunately that's the job I have, and we can't afford for me to not work right now.

I still do buy Norpac vegetables (flav-r-pac brand) because they're the cheapest, and sometimes my thriftiness beats my eco-consciousness (actually a lot). I like to support our local economy in that way. But it would be nice if they would try a little harder. Maybe I can have some impact on my company.

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!