Twenty-four Years Ago Today~

St. Patrick's Day 2014

It doesn't seem possible that it's been twenty-four years!  As with all movement through time, the speed of the days, weeks, months & years seem to change as we progress through life.  Some memories - seemingly in our minds as "yesterday" - others that could be from another lifetime they seem so distant.

Our first photo - we've Arrived!

If you look closely, you can see the doberman & cat - both were left by the previous owners.  The doberman we found a home for, the cat "Tequila" was with us for many, many years.   (We'd had the keys for a few days & been driving up after work to start scrubbing things out...)  After years of managing apartments, mostly new properties & owning a rental in Marysville - this was an entirely new challenge!  Pulling up to our door though - was a little disheartening!

Jentry on the far left - scrubbing the moss off the siding~

It was the Acreage we fell in love with!   Our oldest daughter Courtney, had been living on her own for a while, had a job in Lynnwood & was engaged.  Jentry had started Jr. High School.  I would be commuting to the apartment property in Mukilteo - where I'd been managing & we'd been living.  Butch had already moved over to Construction - always on the road.  Little did we realize in those days the scope of the changes we'd made & how that one decision would change the path of our lives.

The view from the front porch~

As Butch & our friend Guy took the U-Haul truck back to town, I was alone for the first time - on the Homestead...  Almost in tears... thinking that it was probably the stupidest mistake we'd ever made - tieing up all our assets in one property that we now loved...  the rain let up & a rainbow appeared to the southeast.   As I watched the glow of the amazing colors & remembered the story of the rainbow...  I thought it was a very auspicious beginning!

Early April - Abby on the far left & the edge of the woods~

 We were lucky to have made the move just before Spring!  Because with every day - we fell in love more & more with our country home.  Tequila would wait for Jentry each day down by the big stump when she heard the sound of the school bus, Abby had plenty of room to run & forced us into making fencing one of our first projects!

March 16, 2013 with Nika~

Each morning when I walk out the door & look over at the woods, I realize - just by that view - how much time has passed.  We've been here long enough to see the trees grow!  They've grown a LOT!  So - though I don't feel any different, it does make me contemplate how much time has passed - how things have changed & how our life melded with this place that has been our home & our haven.

The Homestead continues to shelter us from storms & gives us a place to hang our hats at the end of each day~   We're getting older, there's still on-going projects.  Still with a long to-do list - but we're as happy to be here today - as we were then.  The place on planet earth we call Home~