Road Trippin'

We are safely in Colorado and mostly unpacked at our new place in Denver.  Here are a few photos from our road trip (although it appears I didn't take any pictures after the first day!).  Although Brian and I used to make this trip in just two days, we decided that with two kids it would be wise to take four days for the drive.  We are glad we did!

 Just before starting out on our second attempt on the drive (see previous post)

 Greg is all ready to go!

 First stop along the way: Multnomah Falls (OR)

We spent the first night in Pasco, WA with our friends Rion and Ashley.  Rion works as a news director/camera man at an NBC affiliate station.  He gave us a tour of the offices.  (An interesting fact: the building used to be a mortuary, and the staff break room used to be the embalming room!)

I don't have any good photos of the new house yet.  We have been very blessed by some folks from Family in Christ Community Church, who have provided us with a beautiful place to stay for the next few months.

Caleb gets reacquainted with some of the toys that were packed away while mom and dad do some unpacking.

The new house has a very large, fenced back yard, which will be awesome for Greg.  Behind our house is a huge water tank, and workers were doing some repairs.  Brian and Greg each found holes in the fence at just the right height so that they could spy on the proceedings.

A little delay

We started out on our road trip this morning, but didn't make it more than about 50 miles, when I heard a loud "crack!"  At first I couldn't figure out what had happened.  It sounded like a rock hitting the car, but my windshield was intact.  Then I looked in the rear view mirror, and realized that the rear window was shattered, and half of it was missing!

We're still not sure exactly what happened.   We know it wasn't anything inside the van that caused it, because the load hadn't shifted at all and nothing was touching the back window.  Maybe something somehow hit the rear window, or perhaps it was caused by the cold?  In any case, we headed back to Brian's parents' house after we learned it would take a few days to get it replaced.  Hopefully we can try again on Wednesday!

Caleb: 4 months

On the eve of moving day, I did remember to snap a few photos of Caleb, seeing as he is 4 months old today.  I also included a few shots of the brothers together.  Enjoy!

 He is just barely starting to sit up a little.  I don't think Greg was doing this yet at 4 months.

 

Caleb is finally old enough to "play" with Greg.

 

Similar expressions:

 

 

Greg likes to sleep with as many stuffed animals as he can get his arms around.  Here Caleb is just one of the usual crowd:

On the move

We are now at the halfway point of our furlough year, and the time has come to move once again.  This time we are leaving Oregon and traveling to Colorado, which will be our home base for the next 6 months.  Our time in Oregon has just flown by.  While we are very sad to say goodbye to family and friends here on the west coast, we are also looking forward to spending time with family and friends in Colorado.

Now if only we didn't have all that pesky packing and moving in-between!  Brian and I have commented more than once how amazing it is that we arrived from PNG with only 3 suitcases for our family, and now we have enough to fill two vehicles!  (Much of that was given to us or loaned to us by some of you.  Thank you for making it easier for us to set up house in America!)

Here we are having one last meal at our Oregon home, after most of the  furniture had already been returned to its rightful owners.

Brian's old pickup has come in handy!  (And to think that his wife keeps trying to get him to sell it!)

We would appreciate your prayers as we take the next few days to travel, stopping to see some friends along the way.  Colorado, here we come!