Yes, this is where we live now.

Well, across the river anyway.  I've started teaching a three week class at Portland State.  It's a group of students from Japan and really fun.  I take the commuter bus in because traffic in Portland plus the price of gas and parking...no thank you!

The bus cracks me up because it is super quiet, no one makes eye contact unless they have to and people do their best not to sit next to someone. People read or have head phones on.  The is no interaction whatever. In China, buses are loud and crowded and people might sit next to you even if there are other empty rows of seats.  I used to wonder why that was...but now I wonder why we as Americans are so quiet and space conscious.  Maybe tomorrow I'll sit next to someone even though there is an empty row...it might freak them  out

Paul and I went out exploring in Washington.  We wanted to go up around Mt. St. Helen's and look for some camping places.  Again, we found amazing beauty.

Mt. St. Helen's- on the East (left) side, you an still see the massive mud slides.  It would have taken us over an hour to get closer so that is a trip for another day.

We checked out several places to camp-these are within a hour and a half of our home.  

We took some pictures of ourselves.  We tried the camera trick of holding our camera to take one of us together..clearly our skills need improvement.

We drove down to the Columbia Gorge where we saw para-sailers and windsurfers.  The wind was up and the river was choppy. Lewis and Clark found this part of the river really difficult and lost a canoe around here.

We stopped at a vista point for this breathtaking view.

I just can not get enough of this moss!  

We are starting to feel acclimated here.  We have had amazing and sunny weather but that should change soon.  We are trying to get to know people in the church and find out their hearts and minds.  This weekend we are heading up to the mountains for a church vision casting retreat.  Paul is speaking on the marriage feast of the lamb.  We are hoping for a time of growth, learning and relationship building.

I've had several interviews but am still waiting to hear about jobs.  Universities start later here so I won't know until September.  For now, my three week job is fun and it's great to be back doing ESL work again.

Elisabeth starts college in about a month.  She is excited to get started and we are excited for her...and sad!