Adopt a Family

For the last few years, instead of drawing names and swapping gifts or gift cards, etc our extended families have adopted a family from our church, Hope Lutheran. This has been a great experience to help a family that is having some kind of difficulty..maybe a lost job, or suffering from illness, or even have recently lost a loved one. We have been able to provide for these families when they likely would have had NOTHING.

So, this year we are at it again. We received our family from the Church and we are super excited to make their Christmas something special. This year we adopted a family with 3 young kids and their Mom, who sadly just recently lost their Dad/Husband. The mom was a stay at home mom that is now struggling to find a way to provide for the family. The thing that strikes me the most when we get the "wish list" is that it is all clothes, blankets, socks, even underwear....all the "staples" that any of us probably take for granted...there are no iPods, or action figures, or toys in general.

This is a great time of year and we are so happy that we started this tradition. Not only do we love it, but the kids get it too and it helps shape who they are and we hope makes them feel more grateful for all that we do have. I encourage everyone to think about doing something similar.

Merry Christmas!

Giving Thanks

This week is Thanksgiving...In case you didnt know that already. Besides consuming mass quantities of turkey, stuffing, potatoes, vegetables, rolls, etc. we take time to really think about the reason for season. Now, we could get all historical and think about that first meal with Pilgrims and Indians, but we would rather focus on the things that we are truly thankful for in our lives. We thought we would list just a few...and this is definitely just a few as we could go on forever with all the things that we are truly thankful for.

Friends - We have been fortunate to built some amazing friendships. Friendships that have led to so many great memories...of which will be Thanksgiving this year where we will be celebrating with our great friend the Doerrs...and playing in the annual Turkey bowl with the Landskovs.

Family - We are blessed to have our families so close to us and have them active in both our lives, but also our kids lives. This year, our extended family grew by 1 more with Felton's arrival. Steph and I have both been fortunate to meet baby Felton and the girls are excited to meet him this Christmas.

Faith - Since Steph and I were little, we grew up in the Church, specifically Hope, and we are thankful to continue to be involved there in a variety of ways as we raise our girls. Hope has, and will always, have a special place in our hearts.

Fortune - For us this goes beyond making money at a job...which don't get me wrong is a true blessing...and extends to things like Health, Laughter, Giving, Learning, Improving, Changing, Hobbies, etc. There are so many treasures in our life that make us feel amazingly fortunate.

Ironically, we cleverly summarized all these to start with the letter F. Which by the way is the COMPLETE OPPOSITE of Maddie's report card today...she earned straight A's for the 1st Quarter at School! Well done Maddie.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

San Jose Trip

This past week I had the chance to fly down to San Jose for work; a conference as well as customer visits. Mixed in there, I also had the chance to visit with The Perry Family (Ryan, Stacey, Haas and Felton). They just moved into a great new house, and it was great to be able to stay with them and hang out.

Leaving town is always tough because I know that makes Steph's job even harder..layer into the mix a crazy amount of rain and strange weather and it can be really tough. Luckily we are surrounded by family and friends that make things a little easier (I hope).

The big finale was my flight back to Seattle on Friday night...for those of you in Seattle, it was day 2 of the thunder/lightning show..and guess what, I was right in the middle of it (at 20k feet!) the last 30min or so was crazy bumpy. We had come through the clouds and were over north Seattle when there was a bright flash, a loud pop, and big jerk of the plane..yes, lightning hit the plane. Probably the single most scary in-air thing I have experienced (that and an US Marshall tackling a dude and sitting on him in the aisle). There was this odd 5 sec quiet as we all determine if "this was it!" When all was well, there was some laughter and chatter to keep us occupied for final decent. Anyway, all safe now, and glad to be back home.

Thought I would share some pics I took while visiting...and a little video of Felton saying Hi to everyone :-) and Haas on his scooter!



Felton saying Hi


Haas on his Scooter