Getting Settled

Sorry there are no pictures with this post. We really haven't taken many since we've been here.

We have now been in the Seattle area for 3 weeks and it goes by fast. Our move went so smoothly thanks to friends and family who gave time out of their schedules to help us. Both the loading and unloading went much faster than I anticipated. My sister and brother drove up with us and helped us get settled and then Tim's brother and sister-in-law along with a neighbor helped us move in. We were pleasantly surprised when our 2nd level apartment was actually on the ground level and the first door from the sidewalk. Even when our neighbor found the piano bench and said, "You have a piano?" (I could hear the horror in his voice) we were able to reassure him that it was electronic and only weighed about 70 pounds.

We really had fun having my siblings, Rachel and Brian here with us for a week and the most "home sick" I have been was when I had to drop them off at the airport. Tim and I love it when our siblings come to visit and knowing they wouldn't be over as much was sad. Thankfully we live in the day of cell phones, email, facebook and blogs so it is easy to stay in touch. Tim and I have both really enjoyed being 15 minutes away from Daniel, Jill and James (Tim's brother and family). They are lots of fun and we've been able to do a lot with them.

We go to church in a building right in back of the Seattle Temple. There are other wards closer to where we live, but they already have three wards in them. It's so neat to know that this area has so many members. I don't mind being the ones to drive a few extra minutes to church. What a blessing. There are so many great people in the ward and we had the opportunity to have dinner with five couples last Sunday and really enjoyed getting to know them.

Seattle has a reputation for being rainy all of the time. We have had our rainy days, cloudy days and a few beautiful sunny days, but our apartment has windows and blinds, so it lets the light in very nicely. I was nervous about not seeing the sun, but I have adjusted much easier than I thought. We will see how I feel in February.

Tim started at KPMG this week and so far likes it. He went to San Francisco for a day for some training and then was busy working on projects the rest of the week. We live right by the park & ride which is nice so we can use one car for right now and he doesn't have to park down town.

Last Saturday I went to the General Relief Society broadcast at our stake center. There was a dinner before and I was excited to meet some new people. I walked in the gym and saw about 500 women. Talk about organized chaos! Not knowing any of them, I was a little nervous so I said a quick prayer asking for some comfort and kept going. There were so many ladies that the food line went the length of the gym and there were not very many chairs without purses reserving them. My goal after getting food was to find a chair that wasn't reserved. I found one and went to sit down and ended up sitting with some girls about my age.

The sister closest to me said hello and we began to introduce ourselves. I mentioned that I knew no one and that I had just moved to the area. She asked where I was from and I said Salt Lake City. She asked me "What high school did you go to?" I said, "Skyline". She then asked, "What year did you graduate?" I told her and to my surprise she went to Olympus and her brother graduated in 1999 from Skyline. We kept talking and I found out she was living in Puyallup where she is a high school counselor. I mentioned I had been there and I have an uncle who lives in Spanaway which is near Puyallup. She asked, "What is your uncle's name?" I told her and she said, "Does he have a son?" Yes, my cousin who I haven't seen in a few years is in high school and sure enough he is one of her students. As if there weren't enough connections, the conversation led to missions and she asked where my husband went on a mission. I told her New York and she said, "Upstate New York?" By this time I was thinking "Don't tell me you have a connection with this too!" Sure enough she remembered that there was an Elder Bartholomew who was really tall. She was in the Palmyra pageant the very year that Tim was on his mission assigned to the pageant.

Out of all 500 ladies in that gym I felt so blessed to meet this sister and the other great sisters at the table. My prayers were answered in a way that I never would have imagined. I am grateful for this experience that once again shows me who is watching over me. It's exciting to see what will happen as we continue to adjust to our area.