Almost April

Thank you, Joy, for encouraging me to make a blog post. It has been on my mind since the first of March when Trish reminded me it had been a month since I made an update.


Needless to say, we have been busy! School, art, campaigning, Civil Air Patrol, Highland dance, music, dog obedience school, groceries and laundry fill my days. We have celebrated two birthdays so far this year: James, 3 and Sarah, 21! James' was a fun family time as we spent a few days at Long Beach with my parents. It was probably the coldest time ever at the beach for us and we all determined James' birthday should have been in August instead of March. We really did have a great time, though. We can't decide which was our highlight of the trip--the "congested area" sign as we approached Long Beach on a deserted highway or the visit to the Columbia Heritage Museum. A Pollock vacation is not complete without a trip through history!

More Pollock history was made when Sarah spent her 21st birthday in the beer garden at a Celtic Faire in Puyallup. Now before you start passing judgement on my firstborn, let me explain. Esther has a friend who Irish dances and we thought she would be dancing on a stage in Pioneer Park. When we arrived, we only found a dog show (Irish Wolfhounds and the like). We were unable to locate the dancers stage so we decided to wander through town to see what other Celtic things the merchants were displaying. As we approached the beer garden tent, I, jokingly, said to Sarah, "Go on in and I'll wait out here with the kids." Much to our surprise, this is where we found the dancers. We all went in and had the opportunity to see a very good demonstration of Irish dancing which we thought we had missed. The rain on the way back to the car didn't even dampen our spirits. That evening, our family went out for gluten-free hamburgers and fries! The owner of Friesenburgers was surprised we would choose his restaurant as a place of 21 st celebration, but joined in the fun by serving Sarah's burger with a candle. A special day, indeed. I only wish Bryan could have been with us to give his traditional birthday prayer.

Sarah is involved in campaigning this year to bring about change in Washington State and Washington, DC! Her passion for politics is very contagious. Her friends often roll their eyes at how every conversation she is able to turn into a political discussion. Pray for her as she decides whether or not to pursue a degree or just take some classes for more political enrichment.

Jonathan begins Pierce College Monday, March 29 as he starts the process of whittling away the prerequisites for entering into a nursing program. Besides his classes, he also has the opportunity to play with the community orchestra. It will be wonderful to hear our house filled with his violin again. Pray for diligence as he steps into the arena of college education.

David continues to pipe and played this week at the Harp and Shamrock, an Irish store in the Proctor District here in Tacoma. He has played for them for St. Patty's Day for 3 or 4 years now. They have also requested for him to come play in May for a cancer benefit among the merchants in that community. One of these days, I would like to see him pipe for his dancing siblings. His music, his dog and his school fill the hours of his days. The most exciting thing for him recently, though, was the opportunity to fly to Mt. St. Helens and back, at the controls. It was the third time in his life in a plane and he operated the machine! He and Josiah are currently enrolled in ground school. Hopefully, a pilot license or two will be the result! My prayer is one of them may possibly become Missionary Aviation Fellowship pilots--or some type of involvement with missionary pilots.

The others continue to move forward in their education. I still haven't obtained the new normal which I thought I would by now. It may never come, but we continue to persevere with God's grace and mercy day to day. I still haven't finished all the thank you notes. I hope I haven't offended anyone, but I'm continuing to push through them and find myself still blessed by each card of condolence. Yours is coming if you haven't received it yet! On that note, I need to blog a bit more often, too. Those who I see day to day know what's happening in our life, but many of you, some who only know me through the blog, would like to be kept abreast on how to pray for us as we carry on.

By God's grace, we have been relatively healthy through the winter and now it is spring! Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous! Today returned to a typical Pacific Northwest spring day--sun, hail, downpour, sun, rain--the weather was unable to make up it's mind! As a native Northwesterner, I love it!

Loving each of you for your support for our family. Thank you for your encouragement. May God use us to glorify Him in our circumstance!

Susan