A West Coast New Year

Usually the thought of meeting a group of people I don't know and staying at a stranger's house makes me anxious. As I prepared for my trip to Washington state to spend New Year's with Stephen and his family I didn't feel nervous at all. I hadn't been to Washington before so I was excited about being able to cross that state off my list. When I arrived I was so warmly welcomed it was as if I had always just been around (sorta).

Spectacularly, in a city known for it's cloudy, rainy weather I seemed to have brought the sunshine with me. Other than the day I arrived, we had no rain and beautiful sunshine.

I didn't take many photos except when we spent the day in Seattle. Stephen had bought City Passes as a surprise. After he, his mom and dad cooked up an elaborate, stick to your bones breakfast we headed out. Our day started at the Space Needle and the Experience Music Project Museum.

If I ever get lost in Seattle - I decided I will simply find this car wash and stay there until someone finds me

From there we drove down to the waterfront for a picnic lunch in the car (it was decent weather for December, but still chilly). After lunch we took a harbor cruise. Now I don't want to brag (but I am) but I stayed outside on the deck for the whole hour cruise while Stephen stepped inside twice to get warm. Ok... in his defense I did have on more layers than him and a warmer coat. We finished up the evening at the aquarium.



Mt. Rainier





The aquarium was really nice. We watched them feed the octopus, which was a whopping 50 lbs! And the feeding of the sea otters which was fun. The last piece they even shared. I've been to many aquariums and it amazes me that I can still find things I've never seen before. God's creativity is never exhausted.

On New Year's day, we played games. Stephen's brother and his family came over for some Bananagrams and Apples to Apples fun. I'm not sure whether the fruit theme had any significance...

It was during the intensely competitive game of Apples to Apples that just how much I had assimilated right in. Questioning a choice that was about to be made - as it wasn't my card that was about to be picked, Stephen's mom looked over at me and said, "Would you just shut up!" Stephen's 10 yr old niece was mortified that her grandma would tell me to shut up. She replied, "Oh she knows me." And we all had a really good laugh about it. We continued to laugh and enjoy many more moments through the rest of the game.

Stephen and his parents

All too soon it was time to fly home. As I reflected on the weekend and how well it went, I was encouraged by how far I have come in just being able to enjoy people and let them get to know me. That was a great way to end one year and begin another.