Living full time in the pop-up, lounging on beaches, wandering through forests has ended for the time being. We are in Portland with lots of family around us. We stayed in Cornelius a few nights with our daughter Julie and son-in-law Jake and organized our “stuff”. Then we moved into our temporary home in Hillsboro at our nephew Josh’s home. Spending time with him and his wife Jenn and their 8 week old Trekker has been a joy. We have also gotten involved in church life at Orenco Presbyterian Church. Our niece Rachel is a pastor there; Jake is the Worship Leader and Youth Director and Julie is the Children’s Ministry Director. Doug and I are participating in Alpha, which is an adult session of reflection and discussion. To add more family into this mix – Doug’s sister Bev is the leader of our group and her husband Barry is part of that group. Yes, everywhere we turn in the church we see family faces. It is a warm and friendly church and we’ve been happy seeing our family in their roles there.
We have visited with Doug’s dad Creighton a few times and Doug enjoys watching football with him. We went to Tillamook to eat cheese and see how cheese is made and also visited the Blue Heron nearby for more taste testing. We are getting ready for Julie and Jake’s baby shower this Sunday so we mostly have been going shopping for food and decorations. Yesterday, Jake’s mom Jodi came into town for the shower. We are disappointed that Amy is sick with the flu and can’t come in tonight to be part of the festivities. We’re hoping she gets here for the holidays.
After the shower we head out (by plane) to South Dakota – to establish our residency there. It’s all part of our journey – the beaches are behind us for a while. We’ll enjoy this immersion into family life here in the Portland area. A week-long trip around Sioux Falls, South Dakota will give us some insight into our new state. And all the while, we eagerly plan for our future RV living.
We love having you both!
You’re having too much fun!