Livin' the life...

Check out our new blog!!!

2006-01-15T20:51:00.000-08:00

So it's official... the time has come for Doug and I to join together in the blogging world. Check out our new blog to see pictures from our wedding and our honeymoon. We plan to move all of our old posts over to the new site and will update you all from there. Watch out online world... here comes the newest branch of the Easterly family! Change your links to www.douglasandcarol.com

We're married!

2006-01-12T07:48:00.000-08:00

Doug and Carol got married!, originally uploaded by Chris and Jenni.

Okay, I am just writing a tiny little entry here to say that we're married an the wedding was so perfect! Thanks to Jenni for posting these pictures. Doug and I will be updating our blog at some point and will include more pics for you to view as well. It just takes some time to get back into work and get the house all settled. We got some great gifts - but now we have to find places to put them! :) We are really enjoying being married though.. It is so nice to be able wake up beside my husband! Our honeymoon was fantastic too. Fun in the sun!!! More details to come... and look for a new blog from the Easterly family coming soon! Thanks to those of you who helped make our wedding so special by sharing the day with us!!!

Walkin' in a winter wonderland...

2005-11-28T16:05:00.000-08:00

So the fun, full, Thanksgiving weekend is over now and I’m really starting to get into the Christmas mood! Thanksgiving was good this year. I did miss my family on the east coast (and the yummy southern style Thanksgiving...) but it was somewhat easier to be away this year, since I was with my new family rather than just invading someone else's family Thanksgiving like I've done the last 3 years! The main difference between the Rolley’s and the Easterly’s… the number of people present and the speed at which they do things! It was rather entertaining because I think we had 23 people there for the main meal, with more people stopping in throughout the day. And even with all those people the entire meal portion of the day was over in less than a half hour! I was only finished with about a third of my plate by then! :) One of the tables was already taken down and put away before I even had a chance to finish my first plate! Being from the south, my pace is set a little slower… But we had a good time. That just left more time for games and fun!

So the rest of the weekend kept us quite busy as well. I got all moved on Saturday and it’s nice to be in Doug’s house. Although I really can’t wait until we both get to be there! :) Sunday was full of wedding shopping, picking up our rings, and ordering our cake. Three weeks was plenty of time! :) But the highlight of the weekend was spending Saturday in the mountains hunting for a Christmas tree.

Although it wasn’t snowing on us this year, there was definitely more snow on the ground than last year! And a much better selection of trees! :) We had a fantastic time. I love the snow… it’s so peaceful and beautiful. Of course I didn’t like the fact that cars were coming both ways on a road covered in snow and only wide enough for one car to drive at a time! Thankfully I wasn’t driving – I don’t think I could have done it. But Doug’s truck did wonderfully. There were some cars ahead of us that got stuck in the snow, and as a result we ended up parking further down the mountain and walking a ways to find a tree. We didn't just stop on the side of the road for this one... we walked down a path in the woods that no one had been on that day and then climbed up the side of the mountain a ways to get to the perfect 12 foot tree! (Thanks to Doug's nephew Eric for climbing around and shaking snow off a dozen or so trees until we found the perfect one!) It was a fun adventure! I was wishing I had snow shoes… but we made it through successfully (although quite wet and rather frozen)!! You’ll get to see the tree if you come to the wedding reception! :) It’s a little more sparse than I’m used to with putting up a fake tree… but that's because it's a mountain grown noble... and the adventure of finding it makes it that much more fun to have at our wedding! I'll leave you with a few pictures of the day... I have to upload some more but this will do for now... Enjoy!

We found it!

Dragging the tree away...

Just for fun...

2005-11-21T23:52:00.000-08:00

I created this fun quiz for you all to take to see how well you know me! It's on Bebo, so i'm not sure if you have to be a member, but you should try it and see if it works. Let me know! And have fun...
How well do you know Carol?

26 days and counting...

2005-11-21T23:36:00.000-08:00

So here I am, less than one month away from my wedding day! I can't believe it! Things have been so busy lately. This weekend I'm moving into Doug's house... we got our marriage license tonight so we decided to go ahead and get married on Thanksgiving... enough of this planning and waiting stuff. Okay, well I guess we won't really do that - my family might have to kill me if that happened! (right mom and dad???). But I am moving next weekend and will kick Doug out of his house for a few weeks until the wedding. It'll make things easier on us in not having to move later... not to mention we'll enjoy saving a little rent money! :) This will be my 6th move in the last 4 years. So I'm very glad that this one will last a while!!! This time I didn't even start packing until Sunday - less than a week before the move. I can't say I'm the most organized person, so my room was rather a disaster area and I was starting to stress that I would run out of time with everything going on. But, Doug came to my rescue again and calmed me down and helped me organize so we can pack everything up on Wednesday. Fortunately I have a half day at work that day! Have I mentioned lately that Doug is the best thing that's ever happened to me? It was fun for both of us to start the process of packing things to move me into his house... or I should say OUR home. :) I never really unpacked everything from when I moved in here last May, so it shouldn't be nearly as big of a move this time. And the whole family has offered to help move me, so I'm sure we'll make it just fine. We have to leave time to go up into the mountains and play in the snow next weekend too! It's a tradition since I've known the Easterlys. :) Well I know that this is just the second Thanksgiving weekend I've known them, but I like this tradition! So on with the fun...

Thoughts of Autumn

2005-10-17T00:32:00.000-07:00

Ah, the fall... I love the fall... well at least many parts of the season. It has been my favorite season for quite a while. I love the way leaves change colors to beautiful oranges and reds, and how when they fall off the trees they crunch under your feet as you walk. The beauty of the leaves in this area is not nearly as breathtaking as the autumn in Virginia... but I can still take pleasure in it. More things I love about the fall... apple cider, pumpkin spice lattes, hay rides, pumpkin patches, the sound of the heavy rain that we usually only get this time of year. The rest of the year it just drizzles. But the autumn brings with it rain like we had back East. Of course I do find myself being rather surprised that I'm enjoying rain so much these days. I must be getting used to being a Pacific Northwest dweller. :) On the other hand, the shorter days are very hard to adjust to. This getting dark by 6 thing is really an adjustment. And we haven't even changed our clocks back yet! Whoever scheduled Thanksgiving and Christmas knew what they were doing... putting those holidays towards the shortest days of the year to give you something to look forward to. But this year this busy holiday season means even more to me!!! I can't believe I'll be married two months from tomorrow!!!

I sometimes wonder what life was like before I was engaged. This wedding planning stuff is taking over all my free time and thinking!!! But given that my engagement is only 5 months, that is a rather short time to be consumed with weddings. :) Doug and I had an invitation making party about a week ago. With the help of about 13 friends we were able to complete the invitations... so those should be coming out shortly! Lots of details remain in the planning... but the biggest things are out of the way... I have my dress, bridesmaid’s dresses, venues, etc. Now we'll just have to get those guys set up with some tuxes and I guess we'll have to think about how the ceremony will actually go and what music to include and all. But it's all fun stuff, right? Okay back to reality... I have to work tomorrow so I better get off of here and into bed...

Just an update...

2005-09-23T00:30:00.000-07:00

It has been a while since I've posted. What can I say - I've been busy! I'm really doing well though. I'm not stressed about wedding planning or the new job at this point. :) It'll all get done... I did get some good news today... the school officially approved my time off before Christmas break so I'm clear to go on the honeymoon. Of course we'd booked it along with our plane tickets before today, so it's a very good thing that they approved my request for extra time off! ;) Speaking of wedding... for those of you who haven't seen it yet, check out our wedding website http://douglasandcarol.com. It's still a work in progress, but it's there for your viewing pleasure.

Tonight Doug and I had the pleasure of attending a Third Day concert at the Puyallup Fair. I used to work in Puyallup and this was the first time I'd been there since I stopped working at my last job a month and a half ago. This fair just happens once a year, and being that I worked close enough to walk before, I went several times last year. Being back there reminded me of where I was a year ago. It was fun to think - one year ago at this time I had no idea what was ahead. I was enjoying my life as a single girl with a busy social life, but always wondering - at least in the back of my mind - when will the perfect man come to share these times with me? Little did I know at that time that I had to wait less than two months before Douglas would enter my life. I never expected to be at the fair one year later sitting with my fiancee and his family. :) Fun times!
I'll leave you with a fun picture of us from when my parents were in town and we did the Ride the Ducks tour in Seattle... We are enjoying our time together... and we can even be totally goofy together :)

________________
__Doug and I________My mom and Dad
______at Ride the Ducks Seattle

2005-09-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

The craziness has begun! So my new job has started... The kids start coming next Tuesday. So far my time has been spent in billions of orientation meetings, attempting to organize caseloads, attempting to organize my treatment space, attempting to locate appropriate furniture for my treatment space, unpacking boxes, repacking boxes when the school officials decided they needed my cabinets to be moved to another room, and waiting for the painting to be done so that I can reorganize my treatment space followed by then once again attempting to locate necessary furniture for storing my therapy materials since my original cabinet was taken. Gee this school stuff runs so smoothly. All I can say is that I am quite glad that I won't be expected to start treating kids next week. Instead I'll hopefully be able to get into my office and get organized as well as attempting to create a therapy schedule to see kids sometime when they are not in P.E., music, art, library, computer lab, recess, lunch, math, or reading. I'm not exactly sure what's left after all those times are taken. I guess teachers don't mind their kids missing science lessons or something... But enough about that. It has been rather overwhelming, but all in all I think it will be a good job. I'll let you know in October when things start becoming normal I hope!

The wedding planning is coming along as well. We think we found a church today! So yeay! It looks like we can get married after all! We've been busy getting our mailing lists together too... that is quite the job! But now that we have our venues pretty much secured I can breathe a little easier. Of course our to do next list is growing and growing... but most of that is fun stuff. I'm take a little break this weekend to go have some fun white water rafting! I'll have to tell you about it in the next week or two. :) I hope each of you has a wonderful Labor Day weekend!

Time flies when you're having fun...

2005-08-22T22:48:00.000-07:00

Carol, Jamie, and Danielle at Deception Pass

So I really don't know what happened to all of my time off... I got some things accomplished and had some fun as well. But the time just flew by. I start my new job tomorrow with a few days full of orientation... It will be a nice easy start before the kids start coming. A few days to kinda learn the ropes, right? :) My favorite part of my time off was probably taking a trip up to Deception Pass with Doug's sister Maralee, her husband Ben, and their three fun kids. Well they were camping there for a week and I joined them for a couple days. We had a great time hiking around, swimming in the lake, climbing on rocks in the ocean, playing games, and learning to skip rocks. Danielle (she's 12) was the best rock skipper around! She taught me to stand in the water a little bit to make it easier. Of course my high number of skips was about 4 or 5, with most only skipping twice, if at all. But that was great for me!!! I also liked Cole's version of rock skipping - throwing two rocks at the same time so as they hit in succession and look like multiple skips of one rock to the squinted eye in your peripheral vision. :) Fun times!

As for wedding planning - it's coming along... we're still looking for a church where we can have the wedding. But we have a couple possibilities for reception sites. Everything else is coming along too... I just know that I'm going to be pretty busy here in the next few months. My new job will be a good change - I'm looking forward to it. But I also know that the first several weeks after the kids start coming will be quite challenging and I'll likely be working late those weeks... But God has orchestrated all of this plan, and I know that having several things on my plate is completely doable when I seek God first and allow Him to help me through rather than trying to do it all on my own. I do find myself much more likely to become overly stressed when I don't take time to pray or read the word of God. But when I do, minor stresses just roll off my back... and for the more intense stresses, I do great with all the additional support of my wonderful friends. I'm just feeling very grateful tonight. God is very good. Every good and perfect gift comes from Him, and He is pouring out blessings on my life right now. I think back to one year ago at this time... tired of my job, having fun with my friends, but longing for something more... trusting God to provide in his timing... I had no idea what was just around the corner...but He is so faithful. :)
Well if you've made it this far you know I'm kind of rambling here... So perhaps I'll end this post here. Have a blessed day! Oh, and here's a fun thought - 4 months from now I'll be on my honeymoon!!! :) Yippie!!!

Running around like crazy...

2005-08-08T23:45:00.000-07:00

So i'll have to apologize to my avid readers who have been checking for updates frequently... I've been rather busy these last several weeks. My parents were in town a couple weeks ago, and we had a wonderful time with them. Hopefully I'll get to put up some pictures and tell some stories soon... but we did keep plenty busy! Then this past weekend we were able to go camping and enjoy some relaxation time... And now I feel like a chicken with my head cut off... with everything going on, but that will end soon. Well maybe not, but at least i'll have one major stressor out of the way after tomorrow. My last day at my current job is tomorrow, and I have a billion things left to do before that... but it will be here soon. I'm excited to start a new adventure, but sad to leave my wonderful coworkers and some wonderful kids... So it's a hard couple of days. Not to mention that I'm fighting off being sick - it's like a never ending cycle - stress weakens your body and makes you sick and being sick makes me more stressed! But it's not too bad - i'll certainly make it. I just keep thinking of Wednesday... when I can at least take a few hours to sleep in and relax. Then the major planning will begin...

So for the exciting news... Doug and I have picked a date for our wedding... We will get married on December 17th, 2005. I know that's a busy time of year, but we just can't wait until next summer!!! :) And a Christmas wedding will be beautiful!!! It's coming so quickly!Planning wise, I think i'll feel much more secure when we have found a place for the wedding and the reception. I do have my dress already though, so it's quite nice to know that's taken care of! :) Hopefully everything will run as smoothly as getting the dress! This whole wedding planning thing is very exciting but a bit stressful for me as well. I'm just not much of an event planner, so it takes all these skills that I don't really ever use. I do know that I have lots of people around who have said they are willing to help... it's just the whole 'um, i need help knowing what i need help with' part that i'll have to get through first! It's a very fun and exiting time though! And Doug has been amazing at supporting me and reminding me that this IS fun. How often will we spend so much time and money on a big party to celebrate us??? It will be fun. So that's my very quick update. Thank you to all of you for your well wishes and sharing in our excitement.

View our photos...

2005-07-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

Doug and Carol

Yes I know - it's really BIG NEWS.... but it was more fun to write the other way :) Check our pictures on Doug's flickr site by clicking on the above photo - they have more descriptions and whatnot... So enjoy these... And more to come...

A little news...

2005-07-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

So now the news you've been waiting for... I finally became an e-bay member. :) Oh - that's not what you were expecting me to say? Well some of you are just checking out my webpage to look for pictures, but others of you may not know the actual real news... Doug bought a new kite! Well he did. And he had a wonderful time flying it a week ago at Ocean Shores. Although he told me his favorite part of flying the kite was watching his fiance fall over while trying to fly it! :) Yep, that's right - that kite knocked me right over a few times by the big pull it had. Oh, was that not the most exciting part? Okay, yes, it's true, Doug proposed to me and I gladly accepted. It was a perfect weekend. Doug and I were in Ocean Shores for Generational Hope's (Doug's church's) family camp a week and a half ago. He talked me into skipping out on the services on Friday night to go have dinner. So we went to the Waves restaurant at the Best Western and split a delicious meal of clam chowder, steak, and crab legs. We finished at the perfect time to make it down to the beach by sunsest. Doug built a fire and we sat by it and enjoyed the beautiful and romantic sunset on out own little stretch of beach. Then we were just sitting there talking about how fun our relationship has been and how greatful we are that God brought us together. I said something about not having any questions about us being together, which gave Doug the perfect opportunity to say "Well I have a question for you..." At that point my heart jumped because i realized what he was going to do. He then pulled a ring out of his pocket and asked me to be his wife. Doug tells me I said 'really? Is this for real?' Yes - It is for real - my dreams are coming true! I get to marry my best friend whom i love with all my heart. Doug and I match so well in so many ways and I see God's fingerprints all over our lives. Just in the many little ways that we compliment each other, fit together so well, and have fun together no matter what we're doing. I'm so excited to know that I get to spend a lifetime with Doug. This is what I've dreamed of for my life - to fall in love and marry an amazing man of God with whom I can raise a family... and this is the beginning of that chapter of our lives. We had a fun time telling friends and family about our engagement - both those who were there at family camp and those across the country and across the world. We'll keep you updated on wedding plans as they come along... Right now we're still leaning towards a winter wedding - December or February most likely, but haven't set a definate date yet. Things have been so busy! Many of you who i've talked to but haven't seen have wanted to see a picture of the beautiful ring Doug bought for me. I've put some pictures on flickr - you can get to them by clicking on the picture on this blog - and I will be adding a few more soon. My parents are visiting from Virginia this week - so we're having lots of fun and keeping plenty busy. We went up to Victoria last weekend and took lots of pictures. We made sure to get a picture of my ring in front of some flowers at the Butchart Gardens... I'll post some of those when i can get to it! So until then...

Wonders never cease!!!

2005-07-07T23:56:00.000-07:00

Who would have thought that you CAN actually have a sunny July 4th in the Seattle area?!?!?!?! :) Well this year proved that anything is possible as we enjoyed a beautiful summer day with sunshine and 80 degree weather on July 4th this year. It was the perfect day for the activities I had planned. I was able to go to a friend's house for a BBQ and lake party - filled with boating, jet skiing, and swimming, as well as friends, food, and fun. :) I never realized how many muscles you can use to stay on those Seadoos until Tuesday when i could barely move without having to say 'ooofta' because of my sore muscles! It was a lot of fun though. Of course the lake I was on is a smaller lake and it has restricted hours when you can go over 5 miles per hour on any water craft... so on the 4th of July you can only go fast between 11 and 3. On a beautiful holiday that makes for a LOT of people out on the lake at that time. So there were quite some waves to ride over on that jet ski. I only threw myself off one time though! After that i was afraid i'd be run over by a boat if i flew off again... so I tried to stay on. Perhaps i'll leave my next water adventures for a less busy day!

Anyway, during the day Doug was at his friend Bill's house setting up for the fireworks show that night. Fortunately he was finished early enough to come by the lake and take a quick swim. We had an adenture with the paddleboat... Those things always seem to look more fun than they actually are though. Doug was gracious enough to get in the paddle boat with me even though he didn't really want to... We had to scoop a few buckets of water out of the boat after we were both in it... but it floated for us :) I think those things are built for smaller people who have shorter legs... Next time i'll just swim out to the floating dock and back rather than trying to paddle... much easier i'm sure! :)

So for our evening we both went over to Bill's house and enjoyed another BBQ. We had some time to test fly the small model airplane I'd given Doug for his birthday. Of course we crashed it a few times... or i should say Doug flew the plane and i crashed it... but it was fun. The battery only runs the motor for about 3 minutes, so they were all rather short flights! It was fun to try it out! Neither of us have flown those before, so it was a learning curve. It'll be fun to play with some this summer. Then of course our evening concluded with a fireworks show put on by Doug and Ryan. They did a great job with it! We thoroughly enjoyed the bonus bangs that Eric provided for Doug to include in the show! Thanks Eric!!! All in all it was a great holiday and a fun celebration of our country. Of course during the day i didn't even hear one patriotic song... so on my way home that night i had to think of all the patriotic songs i knew and sang them to myself in the car... just to make the holiday feel complete. :) Oh beautiful for spacious skies.....

Celebration...

2005-07-06T09:50:00.000-07:00

This past weekend Doug and I went out for dinner with family and friends at a cute little place called B&O Espresso in Seattle. We all got together to celebrate Doug's birthday, which was a week beforehand. Doug and I had spent a wonderful day together on his actual birthday... but his sisters wanted to take him out too... and niether of us were going to argue! It's always fun to spend time with his sisters and their husbands. And this time we were joined by his cousin Suzanne, her husband Skyler, and our friend Taracina. We enjoyed a delicious meal and a lot of good company. It was great to spend an evening with wonderful friends, and enjoying the atmosphere of the city. It is nice to take the journey downtown every-so-often :) The city really does have a lot to offer! Thanks to those of you who helped to make Doug feel as special as he is for his birthday. :)

Changes...

2005-06-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

Thanks to those of you who were praying for me and encouraging me last week... If you haven't read my comment from the other day, the interview with the school district went very well. I was basically offered the job immediately following the interview, although i wasn't called with the official offer until the following day. My interview was on Wednesday and I went with an open mind, not at all sure if the job would be a good match or if it would be a possibility that would open up for me. But as the interview went on I found out that there were many positive features. The job would be in one school (unlike many speech therapists in the schools who split their time at two or even three or more schools), and it is the school that houses the preschool program. One of my favorite parts of my current job is working with the little ones who have not yet reached school age, so i was hesitant to switch if i would have to give that up. It just seemed to be set up perfectly - they were looking for someone who would be excited to work in the preschool. The other bonus of this school is that I would not be the only speech pathologist there. Due to the large size of the elementary school (770 students) , and the special education programs housed there, there are a combination of 4 speech pathologists who will be at the school either part time or full time. The district was also willing to go the extra mile to find a way to give me experience credit for my 3 years that i've been working outside of public education and were able to offer me a slightly higher pay rate than they initially stated (still a pay cut from my current job... but i'll have a lot more time off!!!). So all in all, it seemed to be an excellent fit. The people were great and I've heard nothing but good things about the district. So i decided to take a leap and accept the new job!

Since deciding to accept the job i've been kind of a mix of emotions! I've never quit a job before that i hadn't planned in advance would be for a specified amount of time. It is hard to leave my current job. Well at least to leave the people. I'm thinking of lots of the positive things right now and know i'll miss a lot... but sometimes change can be good. And this one brings with it many postive things as well... Oh, and one more thing i though of that kind of sealed the deal..... snow days!!! Yeah yeah, there won't be that many in this area, but i'm sure we'll at least get a few delayed starts... :)

Exploring possiblities...

2005-06-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

Well, I've been working as a speech pathologist for 3 years now... and have been at one job for that whole time- at the Children's Therapy Unit at a hospital in Puyallup. It's a good job overall, but it definately has its ups and downs, as most jobs do.... Lately i've been thinking a lot about the potential of changing jobs... but hadn't really followed through with anything until a week or so ago. I got an e-mail from the director of special services in the Tahoma school district (in Maple Valley). She was asking me if i would be interested in interviewing for a job in an elementary school. This time i decided to take the plunge. I have an interview this afternoon at 4:00. Part of me still thinks i'm crazy for considering this - interviewing for another job when i like my current job overall, and where i'd even be taking a pay cut! But then there's part of me that would love to be closer to home and able to work shorter days with a new job. Not to mention the appealling school schedule with about 12 weeks off per year :) I think that in itself is worth the difference in pay. We'll see!!! It's been three years since i last interviewed, which I know isn't that long but feels like ages to me right now! I'm trying to remind myself that there's no need to be nervous - i'm just exploring possibilities to see what else is out there. Of course i spent an hour and a half last night trying on all the clothes in my closet and then ironing half of them because nothing seemed to be just right and i couldn't decide what i'd feel most comfortable in today! Girls can be so funny... But i managed to find something to wear this morning... so i think i'll make it! Well, if nothing else, this will be a good opportunitiy to brush up on my interviewing skills. I just pray that I will have clear direction in the decisions to make during and following the interview! A new job would be challenging, a bit scary, but also a bit fun... It's always good to push on the door to see if it's going to open for you, right? :)

The beginning of the story...

2005-06-14T12:03:00.000-07:00

Doug & Carol at Mt Erie

So i just finished reading Doug's blog and he had a great entry about swing dancing. I just have to vouch for him and say that he has picked up dancing very quickly! For those who haven't read his blog yet, we are taking east coast swing lessons for the next five weeks, and our first lesson was last night. As Doug stated, we first went swing dancing last November, just a week after we started 'hanging out'... and i was excited but surprised that he wanted to go with me at that time. Of course if you'd heard previous conversations wtih my friend Meredith, you'd realize how much i wanted to meet a guy who would be willing to try new things with me and most importantly, who would be willing to at least attempt dancing. So imagine my surprise when Doug not only volunteered to go so soon after meeting, but he picked up the basic steps quickly and was happy to go a second time. And seven months later, he's even willing to take lessons with me - and is enjoying it! See guys - it really is a good way to win a girl's heart! :) Well okay, i guess there were a few other factors involved there too!

Since i'm talking about Doug, I can tell you about how we met... Leah asked for it, so here it is! Well last November I was leaving church where i had been working with the kids on a wednesday night, and going to my friend (and new roommate) Sarah's house to practice playing guitar when i checked my phone messages. To my surprise i had a voicemail from my old roommate Mindy's cousin Doug (did you follow that?!?!?) Mindy and I were roommates for just under a year before she was married last summer. I had met Doug a few times through Mindy - he had come over to our place once and I had gone with Mindy to a couple family things which Doug had been at. However, we never really talked much any of those times. I'm pretty sure that the first time he came over, I was feeling incredibly unsociable (which is highly unusual for me by the way!) and so i said hello to Mindy's cousins and then spent the rest of the evening in my room. Apparently that was the right thing to do, although i didn't know it at the time! Doug has told me since then that I intruiged him from that first meeting. Over a year later Doug saw me when he was looking through some wedding pictures from Mindy's wedding, and was reminded that he hadn't had a chance to get to know me. So he decided to remedy that! I admire Doug for calling up his cousins to get my phone number and then calling me out of the blue! I'll admit that i was a bit skeptical at first - i mean we hadn't even talked when we had met before... but I was totally willing to go out for coffee with him - as friends of course! Well from there the rest is history... he treated me like a princess from the very begining and was willing to go swing dancing with me a week later :) We have had lots of adventures to this point and i'm sure we'll have many more to tell you about in the future...

Praying for Miracles from our capable God...

2005-06-11T23:50:00.000-07:00

Timmy, originally uploaded by Carebear26.

Well tonight i have a request for prayer for a wonderful family... I met the Rixmann's at Westgate Chapel in Edmonds a few years ago. They were serving in the college/20s ministry at that church and were very involved in worship and missions with the group. Leah and Robert now have four beautiful boys (the youngest is less than a month old!). Their eldest - Timmy - is five years old and had been battling a rare form of cancer on his brainstem for the last year and a half. This family is so amazing - they have the best outlook on life and are able, with peaceful hearts, to withstand situations that we all pray we'll never have to face. I have been amazed at their ability to trust God and leave everything at his feet, knowing with complete faith that He will work everything out according to His plan. Timmy has beaten the odds to this point, and we are all praying that he will continue to do so. Timmy has been undergoing times of intensive chemotherapy over the last several months, attempting to shrink the tumor as much as possible before undergoing his second surgery to remove the tumor. This surgery is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday. He was admitted to the hospital Friday to begin preparations for the surgery. I'm asking any of you who read this post before or on Tuesday (June 14th) that you would pray for Timmy, his family, and the doctors and nurses who are working with him. This little boy is so precious and is truely a treasure who i know will do amazing things in his life. To read more about his story, click here and if asked to enter a password type in... Patient ID:Rixmann password:5drumsplease

Friends reunited...

2005-06-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

Carol and Hannah at Alki, originally uploaded by Carebear26.

Yeay! My bestest friend Hannah is back in Washington!!! I got a phone call from her a couple days ago and finally was able to see her today!!! I'm so excited to have her back!!! Hannah and I became great friends a couple years ago - we were both fairly new to Washington and neither of us had much family out here. So we met at a church in Edmonds although we were both living on the southside at that time. And we ended up having lots of adventures together that bonded us quite closely. However, she decided to move back to the Chicago area to be close to her family about a year and a half ago... so needless to say i was rather bummed, but knew she had to go. Well, obviously things worked out good for me because she moved back! Hannah will be the Children's pastor at the church we attend - Renton Christian Center - a smaller Foursquare church in Fairwood. She'll be living close by and i'll actually get to see her more than twice a year again!!! A lot more than twice a year!!! So we can have even more adventures together - the adventures of Hannah Banana and Carebear! I'm sure we'll go and frolic somewhere soon - as that's one of our favorite activities :)

It's also fun that she'll be at the church that we both attended while she lived here and i've been attending since that time. I've been working with the precious kids for the past school year and am excited for them to meet Hannah and her to meet them. Actually Wednesday was our last night of Faith Weaver Friends (for grades K - 3) and we had a carnival type night. The kids went through several realy-style games and then at the end they were each able to throw a pie in the face of one of the adult friends... Hmmm... that was quite a mess! Actually the 'pie' ended up being mostly melted whipped cream so it was like throwing a plate of sweet milk at us! I came home with pie in my hair and all over my clothes and smelling quite milky-sweet... But it was worth it! The kids had a great time. It's sad to say bye to them though - some of the ones who showed the most growth in their understanding of Christ are those who don't attend the church on Sundays. So i may not get to see them again until the fall. I was just glad to be a part of it this year!!!

Going public...

2005-06-08T23:58:00.000-07:00

So I guess my blog is going public today. I hadn't shared this with anyone yet, as i wasn't quite sure if i really wanted to keep this up... but i let Doug read my blog tonight and he insisted on sharing it with all of his friends. After looking at the network you guys have i know it's all over for me now - i have no choice but to keep it up!!! But really it's going to be fun... i think i like to write more than i admit to myself. It's just hard to come up with starter topics at times :) I do get some great ideas by looking through other people's blogs... that's not against nettiquite is it???? :) I really am looking forward to using this as a tool to keep people updated on my life. And if i'm really lucky i can get some of my east coast friends to join the trend! They aren't quite as techy back there though... so we'll see! One thing you have to know about me... i love to punctuate with exclamation points!!! So hopefully that won't make you too crazy!!! And one is never enough!!! If you just use one you may as well just use a period. :) Smileys are fun too... i guess that's fitting seeing as i do smile a lot!! Now that you know all the important stuff (or i should say the random not so important stuff) i guess i can sign off. I look forward to sharing my story with you all...

Summertime... and the living is easy

2005-05-31T10:46:00.000-07:00

Well, it's not quite summertime yet, but i've made it to the end of my super busy months. After the mission trip to Jamaica in April and the trip to Virginia, Doug's cousin Suzanne's wedding, and my move in May, I'm ready for a little bit of down time. Of course even as i'm thinking how nice it is to have some time to relax i'm looking at the calendar that just seemed empty and seeing that it is filling up quite quickly. But the good thing about summer is that the calander becomes filled with things I love... like camping trips, play time at the ocean or lake, and other outdoor activities. So perhaps as i'm unpacking and beginning the season of fun activities that won't take up quite as much time as my last two trips, i'll get around to posting some pictures from Jamacia and telling you a little more about my trip. Of course my best friend Hannah is also moving back into the great state of Washington in under two weeks... so i'm sure she'll be keeping me busy as well!

As for my move, it went wonderfully. Thank you thank you thank you to the helpers i had! I couldn't have done it nearly as easily if it weren't for Doug and his friend Bill - who was quite the task master and showed up with a giant truck that he has for transporting llamas (fortunately it was llama-free that day!). With those two guys and the help of my new roomie Sarah and friends Pam, Erin, and Valerie, we finished the actual moving in just about 2 1/2 hours! Amazing! Anyway, it feels good to have the big things out of the way and smaller exciting things to look forward to, allowing some time for resting :) At least for a few weeks anyway!

Trying out the world of blogs...

2005-05-24T01:13:00.000-07:00

Well, i had never even heard of blogs before last November... but i've always been into trying out new things on the computer... and well i like the idea of having a journal of sorts online. So here i go. I was really inspiried to try this out after reading a few of Doug's friends blogs. Since i've been in his life he hasn't been much of a blogger - i guess i take up too much of his time :) But perhaps if i get involved his friends will stop giving him a hard time about not keeping his blog up to date. ;) I'm also more motivated because i just got my first laptop. And i have to tell you, it's sure nice to be able to lay in bed and type rather than sitting at the desk. Can't say that that will be so good for my wrists or my sleep in the long run but it seems much more convenient at the moment. Well except for the fact that i keep pressing the caps lock key instead of shift and then having to go back and retype... no fears... i'm confident i'll eventually get used to it!

So thoughts for tonight... i came home from BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) tonight to a bare apartment. Doug and I spent the weekend packing up my place and beginning to move things to my new home. I'll be moving into my friend Sarah's house in the Fairwood area of Renton next Monday. Although i'll miss living right by Lake Washington, it will be nice to have a roommate again, and i think i'll enjoy house living again (for the first extended time since i was 18). Since moving to Washington 3 1/2 years ago this will be my 5th home - so i'm rather used to moving. But somehow it never gets much easier. With the walls bare it seems to be such an empty place... but it has been a great apartment. I do often become nostalgic when i'm moving - thinking back over all that has happened while i've lived here. I must say that God has been totally faithful to me here. When i first moved in i left my apartment with my dear friend Mindy, as she was preparing for her wedding. That move was with mixed feelings - i loved living with Mindy and i didn't really want my own place, but didn't have many options at that time. However i enjoyed living on my own more than i expected to. I've had a few good friends move away, and have grown to know new friends in this time. I have grown closer to God and gained a new understanding of trust and comfort in the Lord over the last 15 months. There was a time of struggling with my singleness, especially after a short time of dating that seemed amazing but ended quickly, and then growing to truly accept and embrace my circumstances. Several months after that God brought Douglas into my life and i am still amazed with our relationship and how it is constantly growing and how i'm falling more in love with him all the time. God is good... and he has proven that to me many times this last year, within these walls. Although i'm not moving far, i will still take many memories with me. I suppose all of this moving i'm doing kind of segments my life and allows me to take time to process things a year or so at a time, and i thought i'd be done with that after graduating from college. :)

Gee i'm rambling quite a bit here... And as it's 1:30 in the morning i better stop my new hobby for now. This could be a fun adventure...