birthday happenings. More than you need to know, most likely.

I have had a wonderful birthday week.

On Thursday, Jeremy and I got a chance to go out on an early birthday date, since his parents were leaving on Saturday for Disneyland.  We went out for Mexican (the new Puerto Vallarta in Kingston has enough vegetarian options, so its one of our favorite places to go now) and each got a drink (I probably order two cocktails a year - one on my birthday, and one on our anniversary).  Then we went out to Poulsbo to share a coffee and run a few quick errands without the kids.  You can tell you are a parent when you include errands in your date night!

Friday we spent getting ready for the weekend.  I cleaned the house from top to bottom, caught up on all the laundry, had the kids take good naps, and got them in bed by 6:40 (almost an hour early) since we had to be up so early.  Jeremy and I spent our evening relaxing.  He worked on his sermon.  I listened to it while crocheting a baby blanket for a friend.  Then I practiced some of the worship set I am doing for church this Sunday.  We drank some tea, read a chapter of our book together, and headed to bed around 9:30.  We had to be up at 5am.  Neither of us really slept that well.  I don't know if it was the coffee in the late afternoon, the anticipation for the next day (we were so excited to see people and for our interview), or the strange dream of a dinosaur chasing me around Indianola (that went on FOREVER), but I was happy when my alarm went off and I could get the day started.

The kids were total champs all day.  Even though it was dark and rainy and cold out, they got snuggled up into the car and we were on our way by 6.  We stopped in Gig Harbor at Panera for a little breakfast (dear me, I had so much dairy and wheat this weekend, but I enjoyed every bit of it, even if I felt a little sick afterward) and got to Angela's by 8:15ish.  And you already know how that went.

snuggled up and ready to go!  Kids are snacking on some breakfast bars I made.

chowing down at Panera in pajamas

The interview went really well, I think.  The panel was made up of the district supervisor of Church of God Anderson, the pastor from the church in Yakima that the new plant will be closely linked with and working with for training/support, and another younger pastor we had met years before from a church up in Marysville.  His church is also shifting to a missional approach and I am really interested to hear more of their story and where they are at. Anyway.

It lasted about an hour and a half.  It was very fluid and laid back.  I don't know why it is always so hard to answer the "greatest strength and weakness" question, though? I don't like to talk about my strengths and then I have trouble identifying which of my many weaknesses is the greatest and then I'm afraid I look like I don't think I have any areas to work on, which of course is not true of anyone.
 
We felt a great weight off of our shoulders when we were done.
We are still convinced they aren't going to pick us and now we can get on with our lives.
Sorta.
Of course they could choose us.
We were the only interview that day, so obviously they thought we were important enough to interview to validate a drive all the way from Yakima and Marysville to meet with us on a Saturday morning.  That alone is very humbling and an honor to us.

Lloyd (the main guy) said we will know by the end of the month at the latest.  I think it will be sooner, because he was talking about having the person potentially relocate by December or November!  That seems really soon to us, and we voiced that...Matt, the Pastor of the church, piped in and said that he wouldn't recommend moving a family in December, and then Lloyd seemed to kind of change his tune about how soon it might really happen.  Matt came up to me at the end and handed me a business card with his wife's name on it.  He encouraged me to contact her and talk to her about what its like to have a family in this kind of a ministry position.  Both Jeremy and I  really liked him and thought we would work together with him really well.  I'm hoping to contact her and chat with her, because whether we get this job or not, I feel like it would be valuable information to hear from her experience.  It also made us feel like in some ways, they may feel like they have to "convince" us to take the position, which kind of scares us (because that might mean we would actually have to be the ones to make a decision).  But we will see!  Please pray for us to know if this is really the best direction for us to go.  It's easy if they don't choose us.  The hard part is if they DO and we have to make up our minds to go for it or not.

After the interview, we headed up to my sister and her husband's place.  She decided to make brunch food and my brother Josh joined us as well.  After our fill of pumpkin pancakes, coffee, and other goodies we don't normally have, the kids played and we chatted for a bit.  It was fun to seem them and to see their place again since they have been married.  The last time we were there, David was living there with two other guys, so it definitely has changed a lot.

Hailey was getting tired. ha ha.

Then we drove up to Redmond to see my other brother, Kit.  This was a nice, relaxing visit!  He made chili and the kids played soooo nicely.  Shea was up in a bedroom playing with his cousins the entire time.  No fighting or anything.  And Hailey just ran around the house playing.  I didn't have to worry about her one bit, so the adults just got to sit and chat and share some wine.

On our way home, we stopped in Port Orchard at my parent's house.  My mom made some cupcakes and my dad gave me a $25 giftcard to target (which I went out and bought an immersion soup blender thing.  I borrowed one from my MIL and used it every day and after I cracked our blender last week, I have been desperately missing having one of these around for soups and bean dips!).  We were so glad to finally get home at 8:30, pop the kids in bed, drink some tea, and then head to bed ourselves.

On Sunday, Jeremy had to go open up the church and he was in charge of the service and preaching.  It was a fun day at church!  Afterward, we put the kids down at his parent's apartment and snacked while watching the first episode of the final season of Breaking Bad on Netflix.  We have been waiting for over a year to watch it, I think!

from a walk last week.  If we move, I will miss our walks out on the dock desperately.  It is all peace and beauty and wild at once.

These pictures of Shea just crack me up.  He was trying so hard not to smile, but he just can't help it!

How can I have my house perfectly clean on Friday night, be gone all day Saturday and most of Sunday, and wake up to THIS on Monday morning?  I don't even know what happened.  I did finally get up the energy to clean this all up.  But phhheeew.  I needed coffee to get motivated.

Bonus of my in-laws being gone: we got to pick the rest of their tomatoes!  HELLO salsa!