New chapters

Have you met Heather yet? You may know her from her cheerful, encouraging comments here at TDGB as the mysterious ESPANA. WELL... if you haven't met her, do stop by her blog and then visit her new online treasury of handmade crafts and functional art. You might even recognize a certain mommy-to-be in her photographs...

She is a local, emerging artist who desires to make very functional art at a very agreeable price. My favorites? Her monster hats! All of her art is produced from recycled materials. You gotta love that! Visit her today and tell her "Katie" (ACK! my alias--it's revealed!!) sent you.

As I alluded to in my previous post, the apartment that I looked at on Monday is officially our new future home. Job and I signed the lease on Friday. The first time I drove to the complex, I was coming from my doctor's appointment, so my mapquest directions were southbound. Well, Job printed up some new directions for us to follow, since we would be travelling from our home in Newberg this time around.

Well, as he looked at the directions he said to me, "These apartments are really, really close to the ones we just looked at" (meaning: the duplex in the shabby neighborhood that I was so adament against). "Hmm... no, I don't think so." I said, "This area is really nice."

But it was true! The directions we had took us through the exact same neighborhood. I was QUITE surprised, but I figured the new complex would be a good 5 or 6 blocks away. Nope. One left turn later, we were out of the neighborhood and right at the entryway of the newer, nicer complex. The same complex that I had been raving about to Job.

Wow. I felt sheepish, to say the least.

So, our new home is very clean, very convenient (location-wise) and from what I could sense, very safe (despite it's proximity to the shady-looking area). It isn't the cheapest option, but there's gotta be a trade-off somewhere, right? The apartment managers live on site and go to the LDS church (translation: they are very friendly, organized, family-oriented and they keep the complex and grounds in immaculate condition) which is, oddly enough, a bit of a relief. Should provide for some interesting observations/ interactions, at the very least :) Oh well, we are thankful to have found a place. We are literally, LITERALLY bursting at the seams here at "ye olde shoeboxx manor."

The baby shower was wonderful today! So much fun. Susan, I missed you! Of course, I wish you and Christina could have been there. You missed some great cheesecake, but there'll be PLENTY of leftovers available at church tomorrow (I think there were 3 entire costco cheesecakes that didn't even get touched).

Gosh... Lent begins tomorrow. Tomorrow is also our last Liturgy at our current site, down in the basement of a shopping mall. I'm sad to leave it. It's where I was chrismated (and most of my family, too, as my oldest sister was chrismated at a different parish), and where I began to mature as an Orthodox Christian. Here's to a new beginning, though. A new chapter as a parish.

I'll probably continue blogging during Lent... but if you are taking a leave of absence for this holy season, then a VERY blessed Lent to you (I'll miss ya lots)! It's weird to think that by the time you come back to the blogosphere, Job and I might be parents :) So check in after Pascha, I'll keep you updated. Please forgive me if I've offended you, my brothers and sisters, in any way. Forgive me for my sinfulness.