A really good Mother's Day

The day started off with me being able to teach Hannah's Sunday school class and then on to church where I got to watch her spin all through worship. After church Ryan and the kids took me to Outback Steakhouse so that I didn't have to cook. After lunch Ryan had me go rest in our bedroom and said he would take care of the kids. He surprised me by cleaning, sweeping, and vacuuming our entire house, including the upstairs rooms. Then he took over folding and hanging the 3 to 4 loads of laundry that I had been putting off for quite some time. It was so nice to wake up to find that our house was clean and the laundry was put away so that I didn't have to do it. What a great family I have!

Ryan,
Thank you for your willingness to serve me on this Mother's Day and for showing our children what a godly father looks like. I am so blessed to have you as my husband and I hope to never take your servants heart for granted. Thank you for making me feel special and loved. I love you.

So Much Fun!

The beauty of living here in Bend is that we have a bunch of snow parks within 10 minutes of our home. Last Friday we decided to take the kids to one of them and we had a blast. Here are a few pictures of our fun day.

We even took the dog! I thought Chloe would have a difficult time since she doesn't like the water but she actually laid down on the snow for a few minutes. Apparently frozen water doesn't bother her as much.














The last time we took Riley to the snow he was only 3 months old so he didn't really get to experience it. This time he really enjoyed eating the snow. I bet you couldn't tell by the red face though huh?















He also liked to ride on the sled.














Overall it was a great family experience and we hope to do it again in the next couple of weeks. Come and visit us and we'll take you too!

The Grand Tour

Everyone has been asking for more pictures of the house. Here they are. Some of them are a little blurry.

And here we go...

Here's the view from the front door. You can see the kitchen in the back. The downstairs bathroom is directly to the right.


This is the living room. The staircase is right by the front door.


This is the top of the stairs and the computer niche. Hannah's room is on the right, and the hallway to the other rooms is on the left.


Here are Hannah and Riley's rooms. The walls haven't been decorated yet.



Here is the spare room and the upstairs bathroom.


Here is the laundry room equipped with space-age washer and dryer that we barely know how to use.


Two views of the master bedroom.


Two views of the master bath. His and Hers sinks!

We'll keep everyone posted as we settle in more. See ya!

Oh, and email us at rhemerick@bendbroadband.com for our new address.

We've Landed!

Well, we made it. The fact that this post is appearing four days after the move should be an indicater of how crazy our week has been. It started off when I got sick at 2:30 am Sunday morning. That was tough enough. Then, the sickness lasted through the whole move. The trip up was pretty smooth. Other than my rising fever, we didn't have any issues. We made great time. We left Gridley at about 5:45 am and rolled into Bend at 1:45 pm. 7 hours ain't bad! There was a crew of people that showed up to help us.

There were only a few mishaps! Luckily, my dad and I were able to patch the wall.

And, it turns out that one of the gentlemen who helped us is a cabinet maker, so the door should be an easy fix!

The fun didn't stop there though! I got to visit St. Charles Medical Center's ER in the middle of the night with a 102 degree fever and what felt like shards of glass in my throat (illustration of course!). It was a nice place, for an ER. A couple days later and I am feeling quite a bit better. Well, I'm off to chisel the ice off my new walkway!

This has been a memorable adventure. One that I am sure I will be talllking about on the front porch when I am 80.

We'll keep you guys updated, and post more pictures of the house. Thanks for all the prayers and support!

Update

Our previous trip to Bend, Oregon was more than just a family vacation. We were invited to guest lead services for Bend Church of the Nazarene. We also interviewed for the Worship Pastor position. Ryan got a call last Thursday from the pastor, and they offered us the position. We have been in prayer about this for some time now, and after being offered, we accepted. We know that God has great things in store for us through this ministry. It's a real "step out of the boat" experience. Everything is happening so fast. A few days after we accepted the position, we found a house that is right within our budget. It is a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath. It is such a blessing because it is only $150.00 more a month than we are paying for our current 2 bedroom, 1 bath here in California. The extra room will allow our family to continue to grow. We feel so blessed. We thought we would share the pictures so that you could all see our new home.

This is obviously the front of the house.

This is the living room and kitchen. We are so excited to have a fireplace. It snows quite a bit in Bend so I'm sure that the gas fireplace will get used a lot.

These are the plans for the house. We were excited to find out that it also has a small computer niche and the washing machine and dryer are upstairs so I don't have to cart laundry up and down all the time. The garage will also be a nice change from our small carport. We don't have any storage so all our stuff is crammed into our house or into the shed and it gets very dirty. Also, Riley and Hannah will not be waking each other up at night anymore since they will each have their own room. Yay!!!!! More sleep for Ryan and I.

Overall, we feel that God has been in this from the moment that Ryan was contacted by the Bend Church of the Nazarene, and we are excited to see what God can do in and through us.

Pantry Challenge Anyone?

If you don't know what a pantry challenge is I will explain it.

A pantry challenge is using your existing food stores and resources, like your pantry and refrigerator, to make all of your meals. It is a challenge to not buy anything new from the grocery store to complete dinner. A pantry challenge can be anything you want it to be. You can do the challenge by yourself or as part of a group. A group challenge can be a lot of fun. You can keep each other motivated, inspire each other and share tips and ideas. Why should you have a pantry challenge? There are a few good reasons. A pantry challenge can come in handy when the budget is running low, and it is better to make do with what you have for as long as you can. A pantry challenge can also help you use up older items in your pantry that you tend not to grab when it comes to dinner time or the left overs from a few nights ago that might otherwise spoil. Now is when it's time to get creative with the stuff in your pantry and fridge and to save the money that you would have spent on food for other things like paying off debt. The only things you can buy at the store are milk, eggs, and small amounts of fresh fruit. The goal is to not shop so that you can use that money for paying down debts and to use the stores of food that might otherwise get thrown away. I think I have enough food in my pantry and fridge for about 12 meals or so. I am up to the challenge of seeing how long I can go without shopping. Obviously, you don't want your family to starve, but you do want to use up as much food as you can from your current stores. By the way, you're also not allowed to eat out if you don't have anything in the house or it's not a REAL pantry challenge. Anyone up for this?

Day #6

It snowed all night last night. When we woke up this morning there was about 2 inches of snow covering the ground and the cars.

After a morning rehearsal, we got a chance to eat an early lunch at the Westside Bakery.

Ryan chose to eat breakfast, of course, and ordered one of the biggest cinnamon rolls known to man.

The whole parking lot was covered in snow and looked very beautiful. There were even icicles hanging from the awning.


We also got a chance to visit with our old friends, Ed and Laura Moulton, who live in Hines, Oregon. We didn't get a chance to take any pictures with them though. Here are some other random pictures from today.


We won't be able to post anything tomorrow because we fly home tomorrow after church. So for those of you in Yuba City and Gridley, we'll see you all soon.