WISHING FRIENDS FAR AND NEAR A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS

Blogging is new to me and not really my cup of tea. I would rather be baking, sewing , knitting or even shoveling the 3-feet of snow that's arrived in the past 5 days. But I'll give it a try.

2008 has been a year of change for the Andrews.

As many of you know Ike has been working in Spokane for just about a year now. I decided to be a nice mom and wait for Emily to graduate from high school before joining him. It all seems to have worked out.

Last winter was a brutal one for Spokane, more snow then they have seen in years. At times the commute was hard on Ike. He did find himself in the ditch one time, so he broke down and bought studded snow tires which are coming in handy again this year. After one week of winter my Scottish neighbor has informed me that this winter is already worse then last. I personally think it is beautiful but not all share my enthusiasm (Ike has just booked a 10-day Hawaii vacation in February). By the end of the day my excitement may dwindle too. We have ten inches on our road with another storm brewing and the plowman's truck broke down yesterday. Today was suppose to be grocery shopping day. I may just break out the chains on my Highlander and venture out, hoping for the best.

At a brief moment this year I was feeling a little sorry for myself being that I was jobless, homeless, childless and friendless. I am trying to enjoy my new life and look at it as a blessing from God--a time of Peace. Not that I don't have plenty to do!

Then there was a two-month period that all I seemed to be doing was moving people and things.

Zachary graduated from WSU in May and started his new life in Bremerton, Wa. He is working as a civilian engineer for the Navy. So in June I accompanied him in finding a place to live. He quickly found out that the government runs on a much slower pace when it comes to moving his personal goods (think 6 - 8 weeks), so he was thrilled to hear that mom was more then willing to drive an U-Haul with his belongings to Bremerton. Then in August we officially moved our belongings to Spokane, just weeks before Emily needed to report to UW. So by mid-September we finally had her settled in at the Chi Omega house. And then the unpacking began. Things fell into place quickly when Ike came home and announced that Potlatch was spinning off a new company called Clearwater Paper and he was asked to take a job as their IT Director. I was quick to ask were we would be located, thinking in the back of my mind we were going to have to move back to the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley. But the good news was he would be moving his office just one block away from the Wells Fargo building into the Bank of America building. That didn't sound too disruptive to me. Last week was the official spinoff week where they had to separate every single computer system in the company and get it working by the next day, and things went rather smooth. I know it was a lot of work for Ike and his crew but all the planning seemed to pay off for them.

Alicia and Owen are in the DC area but from time-to-time they adventure out to do whatever strikes them as fun to do. Owen is in the process of completing his PhD, which has taken him to Purdue, while Alicia opted to stay employed in DC. I am looking forward to having them here for a week after Christmas.

May you all enjoy this Christmas season whereever it make take you. Enjoy the families and friends that are brought into your lives. I wish you God's blessings for you and your families in the coming New Year.

And a BIG MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL