We can finally say with certainty that we are on our way to Washington!! Ryan will be the new Associate Pastor of Student and Children’s Ministries at Eastridge Baptist Church in Kent, Washington. I have been avoiding talking too much at all about our move because we just didn’t know if this was a sure thing. Now we do, and I can post the pics I have, and tell you about our visit several weeks ago.
I’ll start at the beginning in case you don’t know too much about the situation. The senior pastor (John) of Eastridge and Ryan have been friends for 5 years now. They met the first day of seminary and were buds all the way through. They had talked casually during school and after graduation about ministering together, and now the Lord has brought that to fruition.
So, the 5 of us flew up 3 1/2 weeks ago for a visit for the purpose of the church getting to know us, as well as for us to look for a home. The day we flew was Aubrey’s 1st birthday (June 4th) and John and his wife Trish had a little party for her! My sister and family came as well as 
John’s daughter and family. Trish made 2 cakes, one for Aubrey to eat/destroy, and the other for the rest of the guests. The cakes were so cute, and Aubrey had a blast digging in. She systematically picked off all the little frosting balls all the way around the cake and ate every single one! She then proceeded to destroy the rest and get cake everywhere. Pretty awesome.
The next day (Friday) we spent with John and Trish looking for a place to live. We left the boys with my sis and tortured Aubrey with a day of in and out of the car, which ultimately paid off because we found an awesome house. I can not emphasize enough the awesomeness of this house. It sits on 2.5 acres of beautiful open land with horses and cows surrounding the entire property! I was ready to sign the lease papers before we even stepped foot in the house, but my more reserved half wisely made us look around inside too. Which was also great. Here it is:
Front
Out behi
nd the house.
It’s a dream come true for 2 little rambunctious boys and their mom who needs them out of the house sometimes. Ok, so it’s more than sometimes. But I digress… The property management company held the house for us and now we’re moving this coming Monday.
Saturday of our visit Ryan played in the church annual golf tournament in the morning while the kids and I spent the morning with my sister and her kids. We crammed her two car seats in our rental van, and combined with our three, it was quite squished. I think the kids all had fun together though.
That evening, Ryan headed over to church to speak to the youth group. The kids got a chance to get to know him a little bit. The little people and I spent the afternoon and evening at our hotel for some down time before a long Sunday ahead.
Sunday, Ryan preached in the church service and again for the youth group. After church there was a barbecue where we got to meet and talk with quite a few of the people. Looking back on the weekend, we were very struck by how friendly people were. It was a great day!
We spent a good deal of Monday just hanging out at the hotel. We were all very tired from a long and busy weekend. We packed up most of our stuff and for dinner met our good friends the Thompson’s at a nearby mall. They are serving at a church in Seattle, and we are so excited to be living close to them too! (The picture is Aubrey and her betrothed, Micah Thompson at dinner.)
Oh, Monday, we also went by the church to take a few pictures.
This was Warren’s Sunday school class. He loved the Noah’s Ark mural.
We flew home Tuesday exhausted, but so pleased at how the weekend went. We were more excited than ever to be up in Washington at Eastridge.
A couple of weeks later, Ryan flew up to the church for a very short visit for a Q & A Friday night, and then a men’s breakfast Saturday. It was just another opportunity for the congregation to get to know him. The church voted that Sunday and called him to come on staff. Amazing!
Sorry for all the boring details; I wrote them down mostly for my benefit later when I’ve long forgotten what we did that weekend.
Now the plans are: pack up what little we’ve unpacked while here at my parent’s house this weekend, pack up the moving truck Sunday, and take off Monday! My parents are driving our truck up to help us out, as well as see their other grandkids for a couple of days. We will be staying with some friends Monday night in Grant’s Pass, OR, having lunch Tuesday with Ryan’s sister in Portland, and hopefully arriving at our new house sometime Tuesday afternoon.
I’ll keep you posted on our trip after we’ve arrived!
