Sarah was our first of what became five Big’s – “quasi adopted adult children.” She lived with us for 18 months in one of the darkest seasons of our family’s history, but she didn’t judge us. She loved us, stepped in to help and became part of the family. Curt gives everyone nicknames so she promptly became “Sarai Stilmot.” Sarah is […]
I met Yvonne and Jeff through our sons. Their oldest son Gavin was a high level swimmer for Newberg High School when my son Grant started high school. His freshman year, Gavin was a junior and the captain of the swim team. A friendship was formed between our boys. I had never been to a swim meet before and found […]
This spring/summer we had the privilege of hosting our niece Alexa for eight weeks. Alexa is thick into her second year of Physician Assistant (PA) school at a university in Minnesota. Since my husband Curt is a PA and works in PA education, he was able to secure two clinical rotations for her out here in the Pacific Northwest. It […]
We met Jeremy and Christy years ago when they were newly married and were instantly drawn to them. They are gregarious, fun, generous, and just easy to be around. We took them a meal when their first baby was born and have become more intertwined as our families have grown. When they owned a Christmas tree farm, we bought our […]
Our daughter Katie celebrated her sweet sixteen birthday this month. I’d been asking her for weeks what she wanted to do to celebrate, but she never formulated any specific or concrete plan. On the Saturday before her birthday, my husband and I looked at each other and asked, “Do you think we could pull off a surprise party in two […]
We moved to Newberg, Oregon, from the greater Chicago area the summer before my son Grant entered second grade. I signed our kids up for swimming lessons, hoping they would learn to swim and make some new friends. The local pool was old, but adequate, with giant record boards touting one water polo state championship after another. I had never […]
We met the Waldal’s a few years ago when their son Nathan switched from baseball to our water polo family. It has been fun to get to know them over the years. When you work together at the scoring table, organize food for tournaments, and cheer each other’s kids on, you can’t help but become friends. It was my privilege […]
