Christmas 2012

Mike retired last August, and we decided to move from Missouri to be near our daughter Caitlin, in Edmonds, Washington—where our two grandchildren live, too!

We have enjoyed many events with them, including going to the Pumpkin Patch. Lucy is now three and a half, and Freddie is 14 months. When we came in July, the sun rose before 6 a.m., and set after 9 p.m. The weather was glorious.

Our house, built by our son-in-law Layne Beller, is built to maximize the view of Discovery Bay. We ate lunch on the deck until the end of October, and were treated to a view of whales several times.

Chris, our son, and his wife LaChanda, were on furlough from the mission in Laos, and we spent most of the summer together as a family.

The first snowfall came last week. Mike and I were coming home from returning our grandchildren to their parents via the ferry. Mike drove 20 miles an hour on a slippery road, and we passed almost a dozen cars that had slid off the pavement. It was the breathtaking experience of wondering if we would make it home safely, while seeing all around us a winter wonderland of snow-covered evergreens. By the next day, the snow had melted.

Mike and I have become members of Sequim Bible Church, and are beginning to make friends. The church met Chris and LaChanda, and our Sunday School sent a package to them in Laos. Chris and LaChanda lost their first baby this fall, very early in the pregnancy, and we all felt such an outpouring of concern from people we had just met.

Because of Chanda’s health problems, they are moving to Chiang Mai, Thailand, where Chris will continue to teach English in a similar ministry to the one in Laos, and where Chanda can receive better health care.

I was having problems with my knees before we moved, and the problem got continually worse, until my daughter talked me into going to a doctor. With a muscle relaxant and physical therapy, I’m getting back to normal.

We built a guest cabin. Layne and Caitlin will make use of it often, Layne especially, since he and Mike are in business together, and Layne will be building houses on properties that Mike has already bought on this side of the sound—property being so much cheaper over here. But we already have “reservations” for friends and relatives this summer!

Mike has also opened a booth in an antique store in Port Townsend. He always said that when he retired he would start to sell the antiques he had collected.

I put out a bird feeder, and the first week we were visited by a whole flock of goldfinches. They were attracted to the thistles on the hill, and soon decided they liked my sunflower seeds even better. Near us is a tourist store which sells bird items, and the lady told me I should be feeding the birds thistle seeds in the summer for the protein, and sunflowers only in the winter, for the fat. But like us humans, I guess they like the fattening stuff. There are no cardinals in the west, but I am learning to appreciate a whole new group of colorful birds—the varied thrush, the spotted towhee, Stellar’s jay, and the Oregon junco, much more colorful than the eastern variety, and, at least at our feeder, much more tame.

We are about to have our first Christmas here. We put up a real tree, for the first time in our married life—because we were always gone to family on Christmas. Now family is coming to us. We bought the tree at Home Depot, but Mike cut branches of fir from our own property to decorate our windows.

We wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Mike and Ginny Roark