At 6:24 this morning the world’s population increased by one little boy as Alexander took his first breath.  Welcome to the world!  I wish you well and may your life be one of peace and joy!  You are certainly loved by many!

Our daughter and her husband moved in with us around Christmas time.  They moved to this area to be closer to family mostly. We all thought it was only for a few weeks or maybe a month or so.  Well, some of our plans work out differently than we think so they are still here.  We have spent this morning putting some finishing touches on our spare bedroom/nursery.  And now we wait

The due date was March 6th so it could be any day now.  My older
granddaughters, ages 12 and 8, will be here for the week too.  Wouldn’t
it be wonderful if this little one came while they were here?  We’ll
see how it works out.  The doctors don’t want to wait too long after
the due date so we are cheering it on. 

Twenty-nine years ago on a very cold snowy night, I got a phone call at two in the morning from a friend in the nearby town.  “Ruth’s in labor and it’s time to come,” Terry informed me.

My half-asleep response was, “Are you crazy?”  By the time I made it back to bed, the freezing cold floor had waken me enough to realize what had just been said.   Oh, my gosh, it’s time!!  We had been waiting months for this baby.  Her mother and I became friends in the fall when she moved in with our friend Terry. All during the winter Nick and I hauled firewood down frozen mountain roads and up the dangerous Norwood Hill where the road clung to the canyon wall to make sure these two single mothers would be warm for the next week.  So now the long awaited baby was coming.

I quickly dressed in long johns, double socks, and a warm sweater. I topped it off with a thick down jacket, gloves, and a hat.  In my haste to get the car started, I managed to kill the battery.  So Nick had to wake up also, get dressed and start his work truck to give me a jump. I made the shivering half-hour drive on an empty road with a million crystal stars shining from the clear black sky.  I drove up to the old farmhouse and flew through the door.  Inside, everyone was quiet and tired, resting between contractions, but I was adrenaline-wired. It took a while for me to settle.  Slowly the night crept on.  We walked back and forth across the long kitchen/dining room.  We stoked the fire and drank tea, and we waited and waited.

“What if it’s a boy and not a girl?”  I asked.
“Then he’ll be named Rachel,” she responded.
“Oh, come on!”
“No, really.  This is Rachel!”

The sun rose grey, then golden. Activity moved to the bedroom as the labor intensified.  I sat on her left and Terry on her right. The doctor waited quietly.  Like a drill sargeant, I commanded her to breathe slowly and keep her eyes open.  Terry stroked her hand and cooed gentle words. When it became apparent the baby was actually coming, I felt a prompting from God. “Go, wash up quickly.  You will be the first to hold this baby, and she will be very special to you.”  I scrambled off the bed and raced to the bathroom.  I returned and grabbed the sterilized blanket.  Only moments later Rachel arrived admidst cheering, dancing, and crying.  The doctor tied and cut the cord, picked her up and handed her to me.  Immediately, I took her to her mom, but I remembered that promise. 

Now all these years later, she is still very special to me.  She is a daughter of my heart, and her mother is a sister to me.  We’ve been through many experiences together and not all were pleasant or easy, but we have remained faithful to the friendship that God began and has protected, sometimes even from us.

We have a new addition to our wayward flock of chickens.  He joined them several weeks ago and Nick has decided to tame him.  So I call him Cluck since he thinks he is a chicken. It is very strange.  He purrs and rubs against them.  They pecked him at first, but now he is an accepted member. 

There seemed to be a bit more to add.  I loved these pictures so I wanted to share them.  The lighting in northwest Washington is incredible.  I think if I lived there I would become a painter!

 

 

After having such a great time in Washington, I wondered if I would be sorry to come home.  On the flight home, I thought about how I would feel.  I’ll tell you: Texas is beautiful!  I was thrilled to see the pure blue skies and bright sun.  The country music at the airport was heavenly. Here’s Austin from the air. 

It is hard to believe that three weeks have passed since we returned from Washington. The first week I spent catching up with work at school.  The second week I was sick most of the time as was many of our students. This past week I dealt with hormone-crazy junior high kids overdosed on sugar and Valentine’s Day. This evening I look forward to a quiet weekend.

So here is the how our journey worked out. On Sunday, there was little we could do about finding a house so we went sightseeing to Bellingham.  Everything is GREEN!  Seriously!  I was amazed

We spent three days looking for a place to live before we found the
perfect spot. We didn’t know if we would get it for another day though.  In
the meantime, Nick scoured the car ads.  The second morning he announced,
“I’ve found Celina’s car,” and called the number on the ad.  It did
turn out to be the perfect car, but, as often happens, we ran into
trouble getting the loan paperwork together.  With no access to a
private computer, we spent hours in the public library trying to download the
forms.  In the end, the title was mailed to Texas instead of given to
us.  We are still trying to get the papers back up there.  The car is
hers though.

All was finished in time for one day of fun before heading back.  Breakfast in a delightful cafe on the main street of  picturesque La Conner.  Afterwards we walked along the dock and got pictures of the “rainbow bridge” that La Conner is famous for.

During the week we were in Washington on Friday afternoon before rush hour began, we headed north on IH 5 to our destination.  We later learned that the traffic in Seattle is really bad so we were glad for that decision.  Evening falls around 5:00 or 5:30, and many places close early (by our Texas standards).

Celina’s new boss had arranged for us to stay in an adorable little town on Swinomish Channel.  La Conner has a population of 750.  No new building are allowed so it won’t be growing.  It is full of old picturesque homes and shops.  We rented the “boat house” overlooking the channel. We arrived just as the sun was going down

The story goes that, in the late ’60s, some hippies lived in this place.  At that time it was a one-room garage.  Late one night after a few puffs, they began to speculate how to remodel their living space.  From that came the idea of a two story cottage with a boat bow front.  Within a few month the boat house emerged docked on the hill above town. It had a hot tub sunken in the lower deck and on Friday evenings clothes were left at the door for hot tub nights. The old tub has been replaced and the upstairs balcony has a plexiglass front for a better view.  Inside the french doors in the upstairs bedroom is a ship’s steering wheel too.

Notice the walkway down the hill beside the house.  This picture is a side view from that path.  Later in the week, we walked down it and went to breakfast in a cafe on Main Street.

Our lives fell into a routine of basking by the gas fireplace in the evenings after a homecooked meal, waking up early and searching for a place for Celina. I often sat in the backseat while she navigated Nick to the next location.  We also searched car lots and classified ads for an efficient, reliable and, of course, beautiful little car.

Our trip into town included a drive through beautiful farm land where houses are guarded by a citadel of poplars against a backdrop of mountains.

 

We landed in Seattle in the morning.  It was a typical January day we were told, grey and cloudy. 

After some discussion with the rental car person about how much better
it would be to pay more and finally convincing him we would be
satisfied with a compact car, we packed up and left the airport.  We
nick-named the car Tweety for its gaudy color.  One car dealer we
visited looking for a car for Celina wondered about the “bold color” of
our car. Dark, muted colors seem to be the style there.

We knew there was little we could do in Mt Vernon (an hour north) so we
decided to explore downtown.  We found Pike’s Market.  What a
delightful place!  We parked the car by the sound and climbed probably
the equivalent of three flights of stairs to reach the main market.  We
found fish markets, restaurants, bakeries and other booth selling an
incredible variety of things.  Lunch was on the third floor of
Lowell’s.  We later learned it was considered one of the best. Seattle calls itself the most caffeinated city in America.  Truly there are more coffee shops  than I have ever seen!

We then drove around the downtown area before heading up to Mt Vernon.  I lived in Seattle in 1969, but I honestly didn’t recognize a thing!

We flew out of the Austin airport at 6 in the morning.  We were all so sleepy from staying up most of the night.  I think we got on a couple of hours of sleep.  How beautiful it was when we neared the mountains near Denver.  We landed at their airport on a clear day.  With less than an hour’s layover, we had little time to do much more than get to the next gate.  Our next leg of the journey was over the mountains.  I loved seeing the mountains again even if it was from the air.  We lived many years in those mountains.

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