I left Seattle on the Friday before Christmas, driving over Snoqualmie Pass, not quite breaking land speed records thru Central Washington. Driving by myself is something I kind of look forward to, it's nice to be able to think or pray as the landscape goes by. I think I remember a nice sunset in my rearview mirror that day. It's kind of fun to tune into different radio stations along the way, usually there are more country and hispanic stations as I travel East. Not long after Ritzville, I take a left, and head North up to my home town. My folks live about 3 miles outside of this small rural Northeast Washington town.
My home town has maybe 100 people living in it, but there are several more folks who live in the area. The town boasts a school - preschool, grade school, junior and senior high all combined in one campus, a post office, a senior's home, a feed store (that's feed for animals - the store building used to be a church), a convenience store, a bar and one or two other random stores. It's small, very small. It doesn't seem like a whole lot changes, but there are changes I see when I come back. People change, sometimes there are new buildings, or different stores.
I was able to leave work earlier that day, so I arrived home around 7pm, all total about a 5-6 hour drive. It was cold outside, and there was snow. I was greeted by my family, including my little nephew, Isaiah. It was great to finally reach my destination. We were able to enjoy a meal of grilled chicken together.
That evening, I got to talk with my Dad for a while sitting in the living room near the wood fireplace. They have a fireplace where you can watch the flames. It was nice to sit in a comfy chair and converse.
Saturday came and we got up for breakfast - my dad's sourdough pancakes. He has made those everyday, except for Sundays, I think for most of my growing up at home, and then after I've left, too. I think my younger siblings (I'm the oldest) both grew tired of them growing up - probably me too, but I think I'm old enough I've forgotten how I felt about Dad's perpetual pancakes back then. I enjoy them now - they're a good hearty breakfast - whole wheat (my Dad even grinds the grain in the hand grinder at home).
My brother, Luke, my brother-in-law, Adam, my Dad, and my uncle Tom bundled up to go outside and help my Dad run his cows and calves thru a chute for their regular vaccination, inventory and miscellaneous stuff. Adjacent to my folks' house are several buildings and pens used previously when my Grandpa and my Dad's family used to run a fairly large ranch. The cows (female cattle) were separated from the calves. We ran the calves thru the chute first. The calves went thru the chute (a long skinny passageway with fence on either side) into a chute 
house, where there is a metal chute contraption that the calves or cows can be held in while they are being worked on. My Dad had to vaccinate the calves, brand them, and some of the little bulls (male cattle) were castrated. Needless to say, those little guys wouldn't be having such a good day. I was designated note-taker, so I was with Dad while the calves were being worked on. I think my country upbringing has faded somewhat because I was a bit squirmy watching some of that stuff. Uh, hopefully no one is eating while they read this! Anyways, after the calves were finished, the cows were run thru the chute. Sometimes the cows are stubborn, not wanting to walk thru the chute, so we have to encourage them to move along. This time, the cows decided to push their way into the chute and literally stack themselves on one another. Cattle can be pretty stubborn at times, and sometimes aggressive (dangerously so). One of the cows got stuck at the bottom, and somehow upside down. Cows can die if they are upside down for too long. I'm not sure the whole anatomical explanation on that, but it was serious for a while, as we worked to get the cow unstuck, right side up and standing. Drama in the cow chute! Finally, the cow was able to stand up on its own, which was a relief!
Meanwhile, snow was falling - varying sized flakes. Beautiful.
I headed up fixing dinner that evening for the whole family - my grandparents, who live less than a half mile from my folks, my folks, my uncle, and my sister, brother-in-law and Isaiah. Thanks to Trader Joe's, we had some Indian food.
Church was Sunday. My folks still attend the small community church that I grew up in. The 'town', (if you can call a store & a church a town, ok, maybe a couple of houses too) is even smaller than my home-town . There may have been about 100 people at church that day. I still know quite a few folks that go there. My folks and my uncle are very musically talented. My Dad plays the piano at church, and my Mom leads worship (sings & plays her guitar). My uncle is a very good trombonist, so he played 'O Holy Night' as a 'special' during the service.
Sunday evening we watched 'Amazing Grace', a movie about William Wilberforce. He played a key role in the abolition of the slave trade in England many years ago. I recommend it - the movie was inspiring, and had a sweet love story. It made me want to be like him - someone who's life made a difference for justice, for God.
Monday was Christmas Eve. Adam, my uncle Tom, my Dad (Lee), and my brother, Luke headed out in the morning after my Dad snowplowed the gravel driveways to go snowshoeing. We drove up to a highway pass (at a higher elevation which meant more snow) maybe 20 minutes from the house. We parked the car alongside the road, geared up, and then snowshoed up a logging road. We went for probably a couple of miles along the road, alternating who broke trail. The snow was around a couple feet deep up there, so it was definitely harder to break trail 
than follow after a few people who had packed the snow down a bit. We came to a point along the road where it opened up for a larger view. I snowshoed up to it, and the view opened before me. I love it when it does that! Photo opportunity. It was fun to be out with my family in the outdoors. At one point my Dad fell in the snow. As some of you know who have snowshoed before, it is sometimes rather difficult to get up in snowshoes. It was kind of funny to see my Dad struggle a little bit - don't worry, my brother was already trying to help him.
It's tradition on Christmas Eve to go to my grandparents house, have dinner together, then spend some time together opening presents and such. We congregate in the living room, where the Christmas tree is. My Grandpa reads the Christmas story. Each member of the family present, from youngest to oldest, gets up and lights a candle and says a little something about their year, maybe what they're thankful for, or something along those lines. It's a neat time to share with my family. My Grandparents, uncle, folks and siblings are all Christians, so I feel pretty blessed. We open presents after. Usually, at some point in the evening, someones starts wadding up wrapping paper and throwing it at some one else. Sometimes it's been a full on barrage of paper balls going back and forth. Fun stuff. Isaiah was constant entertainment throughout the evening, but he did get pretty tired towards the end. Still cute as a button tho. (Buttons are cute?)
Christmas day arrived. Indeed, it was a white Christmas - yes! Since my Grandma hasn't been feeling as good, my Mom has took over most of the Christmas dinner duties, so the morning involved quite a bit of preparation for that. We also had a nice breakfast.
Then it was time to gather again for more presents. But first, my Dad read a portion of scripture, I believe this time from Psalms. We had a time of prayer together.
Stocking time. Tradition is that stockings are hung from the staircase railing, and someone puts stuff in them Christmas Eve... hmm - I wonder who that is!?! Each one of us got a stocking with little knic-knacs.
And then presents. I was excited to give my 
sister and brother-in-law a baby backpack carrier. Adam tried it on with little Isaiah in tow. I had found it at REI for about half-price. It's fun to give gifts that you know people will use and enjoy. For my Mom, a framed picture of Isaiah, for my Dad, a framed picture from our backpacking trip, for Adam, books, for my sister, Hannah, my old SLR camera, and for my brother, a book (with a check). Isaiah was still the main attraction - quite a good distraction. He was able to rip some of the paper off his presents, and I remember him smiling when he saw one of the presents. It was a bit of a rush to get the rest of Christmas dinner ready and shuttled down to my grandparents place. It was a huge meal - there were twelve of us. One of the neighbors joined us with her son.
Then it was food coma time, well, not really, but after turkey and a full stomach, it was a great time for a nap. We at least took a break between dinner and dessert. We also watched 'Ratatoille' - the newest Pixar film. It was fun.
Adam, Hannah and Isaiah headed out the next day. Hannah had to return to work on Thursday. Mom and Dad drove them back into Spokane to catch their flight back to Chicago. It was sad to say good-bye to them, to little Isaiah. He smiles so easily at you, and it was alot of fun to play with him. He laughs too. Mom was video taping quite a bit, trying to catch the fun moments. Adam and Hannah had brought Isaiah's little Johnny Jump-Up. Isaiah would sit in it and have a merry time bouncing up and down, up and down. He had it down. It was fun to watch him swivel when he heard a noise. Amazing what the addition of a little one does in a family. Isaiah was constant entertainment.
While Mom & Dad were taking Adam, Hannah & Isaiah to catch their plane, Luke, Uncle Tom and I went snowshoeing one more time. We went back to the same highway summit, but from there, 
took a different logging road. I think we made it to a higher elevation this time, because the snow appeared to be sticking to the trees much better where we stopped to turn around. It was very pretty. Later that evening, my Dad alerted us to an amazing sunset. The sky had brilliant pink clouds, and some of the snowy mountains viewable from the house were glowing pink. Awesome.
The next day, Thursday, was time for me to head back home. I decided to head back then so that I would have a day between getting home and my next Search and Rescue training weekend. I wished that I could have stayed longer - it was a good trip. I felt a little lump in my throat as I said good-bye to my family. Back to Seattle I went.
The trip was full and busy. Usually when I head back home I have more down-time. But it was nice to do more things at home and with my family. There is much to be thankful for.
This is a little movie of my nephew showing off his Johnny Jump Up skills:
ESAR - Explorer's Search and Rescue, that's King County Search and Rescue. One of 9 branches of the search and rescue family in the county, Explorer's is the most active, involved in urban searches on up to bigger scale searches in the mountains and searches at local hiking trails in between. Due to the vast amount of outdoor recreation activities available in the county, I guess it makes sense that there are more people getting lost or hurt out in the great outdoors. 
Late May and into early June, I was able to travel with my Uncle Carter & Aunt Ellyn to China with a humanitarian relief organization called Heart to Heart International. Although the trip was composed of primarily medical professionals, us non-medical types worked on a couple of service projects. We helped construct a garden area at a senior's home, and then also did some construction at a school for deaf kids. I met some amazing people and tried some interesting food - chicken feet was probably the standout (I don't recommend it). Very interesting to visit the country - it would be nice to go back and see the countryside. We only visited cities while we were there: Beijing, Chengdu (Sichuan Province), and then Hong Kong. 
