We left the desert of central Washington in January of ’97. A call from a tiny group in Seattle that appeared as a viable church plant, came in answer to our prayers. At this point in our lives, it also seemed timely and wise to buy our own home. The two elders, unsure of the church’s survival, did not recommend this investment. However, my dad agreed with us and gave us $3,000 down payment on an 1200 sq. ft. repossessed house in Wilderness Rim. We nearly panicked when unforeseen closing costs exceeded our resources. However, God answered our prayer for wisdom. By selling our little Festiva to Charissa, who borrowed from Jonathan, we amazingly became home owners for the first time.

With change, also comes loss. Charissa, a senior in high school, went to live with Dr. Riley, his wife, and five children in Grandview until she graduated in spring. Joel moved with us in the middle of his junior year and enrolled at Mt. Si High and Seattle Community College in the Running Start program. As church secretary, I accompanied Conrad the twenty-five miles into Sammamish every day, which left Joel to come home from school to an empty house. Becoming an only child was painful enough, now loneliness and depression pressed into his heart. The first day, he got off at the wrong street in our forested area of winding roads and wandered through the cold, drenching January rain for a couple hours before finally finding “home”.

In the meantime, down in Texas, Jami fell in love with a beautiful, tall, farm girl from Illinois. In March, by the good graces and air-miles from our church people, we flew to Mt. Morris, Illinois to attend Jami and Kristy’s wedding. That fall Charissa entered Seattle Pacific University. We did not have the finances to help our children with college tuition, but encouraged them to “choose the best and let God do the rest.” God again proved faithful. He gave them motivation to work for good grades, scholarships, jobs, and choose financially profitable careers to pay back school loans.

When Jonathan graduated in spring of ’98 with his AA degree in Airframe and Powerplant, he and Becky moved to Anchorage, Alaska. A few weeks later, with an engineering degree, Jami and Kristy also moved to Anchorage. Both boys gained employment at Aero Twin on Merrill Field where Jonathan became lead mechanic and Jami did engineering. Their childhood years in the near frigid zone of Saskatchewan somehow left a positive imprint in their minds. Alaska was the last frontier and they were young and full of adventure. At one point the CBA director told us of a church we could interim in North Pole, Alaska. That suggestion felt like they wanted to send us to Siberia!

Sammamish Church seemed a much better option. However, we met in a double-wide, leaky trailer in the middle of Microsoft mansions. This remnant of a split had left a small group of tired loyalists. We sadly realized we could not build a new work on a split foundation. In January, a year after our arrival, we drove up to a camp near Lynden to seek God’s will. As we knelt before Him, we became aware of the words and music coming from our CD player:

God will make a way where there seems to be no way. He works in ways we cannot see. God will make a way for me. He will be my guide, hold me closely to His side. With love and strength for each new day, God will make a way. By a roadway through the wilderness He leads me. Water in the desert I will see. Heaven and earth will fade, but His word will still remain. God will do something new today…. (by Don Moen)

That spring, Conrad’s mother passed away of Alzheimer’s in Portland and we drove to Fresno for her funeral. In August, we flew to Alaska for vacation and attended the large, growing Grace Community Church in Anchorage where we saw people respond to His call to become transformed followers of Jesus Christ. Conrad also met Pastor Keith Lauwers who reached out to him at a pastors’ luncheon.

Back in Seattle, God gave Conrad wisdom to take our church through the process of seeing for themselves that God had better things in mind for them. He endeavored to facilitate reconciliation between the original factions and encouraged the people to relocate into healthy churches. Sammamish church closed that fall.

Several ministry opportunities presented themselves to us, but Conrad’s motivation had met its end. He decided to work with Olan Mills Portrait sales again, but income fell short of expenses. By April of ’99, God miraculously sold our home with good equity so we did’t lose it. We stayed with my sister Karen and her family in Salem, Oregon, and stored our belongings.

Still in high school, Joel moved in with a family from our church. After graduation in May, he flew up to Anchorage to join his brothers working at Aero Twin for the summer and lived with Jami and Kristy in Jonathan’s duplex. In August he flew back to Portland, loaded his ’66 pick-up, and drove to Letourneau University. On the way he saw smoke in his rear-view mirrors! The overheated muffler ignited the wooden floor boards in his truck box! He, and another LeTourneau traveler, used a fire extinguisher, purchased the night before, and ice from his cooler to put the fire out before he lost everything. No one ever stole his burnt bicycle. Amazing!

When not at my sister’s, I lived in motels with Conrad as he continued with Olan Mills in the Seattle/Tacoma area. Homeless, without children, a church, or a ministry, darkness closed in upon us. Except, Psalm 18:28 says, “You, LORD, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.” God graciously gave me this gift of time to seek Him, to write, and to prayer journal. . . .