settled at last!

Ah.  It feels so nice to have rejoined the online world.  We had internet installed today, and J and I are such happy campers.  The net junkies inside us have been starving to death.

We moved up to Bellingham this past Sunday, and I am happy to be settling into our new home.  Introducing: The Little Grey House (LGH).  I seem to have an affinity for so-small-they’re=cute-in-a-doll-house-sort=of-way homes.  It really is so very cozy and comfortable though. 

So – recap of the past month, details to be filled in as needed:

November 11: our wedding day, followed by our weeklong honeymoon in Whistler.

The following week: Thanksgiving, with gads of my family up from California and Nevada.

The following Monday: Justin had hernia surgery.  This was oodles of fun.  I was able to experience the unique intimacy that is cleaning up your husband’s puke for the first time.  Nothing says “I love you” quite like it.

The following weekend: we ventured up to Bellingham to search for a place to live.  I fell in love with this little place online as we were searching Craigslist, and when we saw it in person, we knew this was the place.  God really provided for us.

This past Sunday: we moved!

Phew.

So — the wedding.  Well, I’ll start with the pre-event events.

The few days leading up to it were more interesting than I needed or wished, but that’s the way things go.  When I got a flat tire at 1 a.m. two nights before the wedding day (picking up Justin and Co. from the big Bachelor Party at Gameworks, an arcade in Seattle), I thought that we’d checked off the “weird inconvenient event” requirement that seems to need to be satisfied before any major event.  Unfortunately, I was wrong. 

Got a call at 5 a.m. Friday morning (wedding: Saturday) telling us that someone had set fire to the house my brother shares with five roommates in the University District.  Some asshole thought it would be a real hoot to set the couch on their porch on fire, in addition to setting three or four more fires in the neighborhood.  Everyone got out okay, but things could have been much worse had someone not been sleeping in the front room.  My brother lives with twins, Josh and Jeremy, who lived in the same neighborhood as us ever since we were small kids.  Their older sister Chelsie crashed out front and woke up because of the smoke and alerted everyone.  The house was a total loss — see more pics (and my brother’s fifteen seconds of fame on the news) at www.ourroofisonfire.blogspot.com.

Yeah, no kidding.  We are so glad everyone was okay.  My brother arrived in plenty of time to make the wedding, and even though his tux was smokey, I only teased him once or twice.  The boys are all moved in to a new house together and are trying to adjust to everything they lost.  (The day after the fire, people broke into the house and stole what hadn’t burned in the fire.  Yeah.  No kidding).  Others have been extremely generous with their donations though, and the boys have seen a lot of kindness and blessings out of this horrible mess.

Okay, this post is long enough and we are in danger of losing power because of this crazy windstorm we’re supposed to be getting in the next few hours.  I hope to share a few stories from the wedding soon.  Be well and blessed, all. 

–sl

Oh, and Jennie — the laughing picture from the wedding is right after Dan, our dear friend and pastor, shushed Justin.  Dan was speaking about something (it could have been my attempt to embrace football and the Seahawks) and J piped in with a quick comment.  Dan said something to the effect of “Excuse me, young man, but it’s my turn to talk right now.”  Thus the pout lip and my laughter.  It was a brilliant moment, one among many favorites.