Updates from WA!

Well...I reckon it's about time to post an update.


We left Kauai almost two weeks ago now. It seems like a long time ago...I suppose that is the effect the island has on you after you leave.
We got our car sold and finalized on the day that we actually left...we even arranged with the new owner to be able to use it to take ourselves and our luggage to the airport. He then picked it up from the airport parking lot later on...it was a perfect setup and totally God-engineered. The guy who bought it was Eems (for those of you that know him), and he and his fiancee, Alyssa, were able to visit with us before we left. We also were extremely blessed to have Uncle Merv, Auntie Ulu, Auntie Maybelle, Auntie Rae, Pastor Bruce and Janet, intern Wes Shane, and a few others including my riding buddy Tim come and visit us at the airport. We were able to talk story one last time before we were prayed for by this group of incredible friends. And really, they weren't really friends, they were family. At long last we realized the time, and we had to tear ourselves away from the affectionate embraces of the group. It's a very difficult thing to do, when you realize, this is it, and you have to walk away from the people you care about and the place that has become home. I still get bummed just thinking about it. Kauai is a unique place, and the people there are incredible. The friends we had there will always be close to our hearts and we will hopefully be able to visit them again next year at some point.
Walking away from the security checkpoint and giving the final wave was probably one of the hardest things I think I've done. It wasn't that I couldn't do it, it was that I did not want to, but I knew I had to. We definitely left part of our heart in Kauai.
Interestingly enough our last day wasn't so depressing for the most part. Our good friend Charity Nelson came out for a visit, but the day before we left she went on a river hiking trip with a tour group to Kipu falls. Now if you look through my older posts you know that Kipu is a killer place to go jump in the water. Kipu can be a dangerous place too though. Charity attempted to do the rope swing and at some point of her impact on the water her ankle was severely broken. I'm still not sure if they know if it was a rock or something else in the water. Either way she was taken to Wilcox Hospital in Lihue and all trussed up in a splint of sorts in the Emergency Room when we got there. We were able to get her car for her from the parking area near the falls, and we took her some of her personal effects during her time in the Hospital. On the last day we were getting some things for her and running around getting the last details of the car finalized, so it worked out well. We actually had all of our packing done early and I suppose that made life a lot easier for what the events of the day were. Charity had surgery the day after we left and he mom flew out to be with her and help her in her final days on the island. She was due to leave the following Monday and actually kept that itinerary in spite of the surgery and busted ankle. Please pray for her as she recovers...they have not been able to get a proper cast on her as her ankle is still too swollen. It may be another 6 weeks or so before she can even walk again. Not exactly something she had planned on.

We arrived in Washington after our all nighter flight. The flight went well, and we were fortunate that our luggage had gotten taken care of so well. Our booking agent actually reserved the third seat for us so that we got all the seats in that right-side aisle to ourselves. This was a huge blessing and we were able to sleep a little better because of it. Whoever thought that an airline seat was a good place to sleep was definitely someone who had problems with substance abuse, and had probably fried most of their gray matter on an illegal drug of some sort. I slept fairly well (for an airplane) and Su slept like crap. We were slightly out of it when we arrived in Seattle, but fortunately our bags came through quickly and we were whisked away by Su's oldest brother, Aaron. We got to see our new nephew (who thinks we're pretty cool) and enjoy Aaron's birthday with him and his wife. Seattle had been in the hundreds and high nineties the week before we arrived, but in honor of our arrival the temperature dropped to a frigid 55-60 degrees, and the sky went overcast to that textureless gray that Seattle is known for 13 months out of the year.
Needless to say, our attitudes were slightly less than appreciative.
We hung out with Aaron all day and enjoyed watching a few episodes of his complete (and very epic) M*A*S*H collection. The next day we headed over to Leavenworth with Jason, Su's other older brother. He was able to stay through the weekend and over the week we enjoyed more than a few good movies, cribbage games, and drives around the area. We did manage to score some temp work for a friend and also visited the church of the pastor who married us nigh on to 4 years ago. So it's been good to see the in-laws and our old stomping grounds. Leavenworth is just as pretty as ever...in my humble opinion it's the nicest place this side of the Cascades.
And there ain't much that nice on the other side of the Cascades, so yeah. Leavenworth is THE place to see if you ever go to WA.
Our time here is nearly done though. We will be renting a car, and picking it up on Wednesday night. We'll load the car up, and drive to Seattle the next morning where we will catch our flight to Denver. There is a layover in Denver, (boo!) , and then on to GJ! We will arrive late in GJ on Thursday night. Friday morning we will pickup our Honda Civic from it's Secret Location, and go get it tabbed/plated/registered. Oh joy. I may look at bikes in GJ since we probably will have some left over space in our U-Haul truck. And there's a few deals in GJ that are worth looking at.
We'll see tho.
So yes! That's the news.
Please pray for:
Charity - that she heals quickly.
Su's folks and mine as they are both facing some significant challenges in the days and weeks ahead.
Us - that we are able to get our transportation need squared away quickly in Colorado.
Safe travel - for all the McIntires, who are a travelin' clan.
Jobs - we recently found out that Su's transfer did NOT go through--this in spite of a stellar recommendation from her district manager in Hawaii. We're hoping this gets worked out quickly.

So that's it. No pix sorry. My computer is now my wife's borrowed laptop, at least until I get a few things sqaured away.
If you live in Western CO, come see us this weekend!! We want to see as many of you as we can and talk story with you.
Blessings on you all...

Andrew and Su