We are still (not) unpacking in our fun new apartment. Several guests will attest to the cheerful disorder that is our lives. Jim & Jeanie Heethuis, one of my bosses at the Bible League and his wife, visited us in April, actually just before our stuff was finally delivered out of storage. (Long story, that! Our moving company went out of business!) We took a ferry to the Olympic Peninsula to hike to the northwesternmost point in the contiguous states, and did a Seattle day. Steve's brother, Greg Lansingh, came for a week and a half in May -- we saw Star Wars: Episode II on opening day like the geeks we are and did a whole City Pass of Seattle fun. Most recently, Rob & Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma, friends from Indiana, visited us for a weekend. We had time to talk and hang out at a coffeeshop with them and also once again do Seattle! We're getting to know all the good spots, so we'll be in shape for our next visitors: My friend Kelly Whittier, is flying in from Georgia next month for a grownup Camp Whatanut hosted by Christie Lynk. And my family is coming in August. My parents, Ethan, and cousin Russell arrive first, and then Erik & Kim will bring little Alexandra along (due June 14!), and my uncle Karl will come up to meet us, too.

Despite refusing to set up our furniture and continuing to sleep on an air mattress and living surrounded by boxes, we are settling into our lives in Seattle, which we love more each day. The weather here is gorgeous, no matter what they tell you -- it changes every day, so there's always a gentle new surprise. The mountains catch our eye regularly, and we've found a park across the street with forest trails hidden in its heart. It's hard to believe a city lies around such an oasis.

Here's Ravenna Park well before our time! The picture is from a Post-Intelligencer article -- if you read it, enjoy this passage: "When the Society of Creative Anachronism began trashing the steep hillsides and trampling vegetations during their Sunday fantasy frolics ... ."

We equally enjoy moving from nature into downtown, exploring the zoo, aquarium, waterfront, Space Needle, Pacific Science Center, Pike Place Market, and other areas, and figuring out the bus system. For our four-year anniversary on June 6, we took in a play at Taproot, a Christian theater company near us, and ate across from the theater at Gordito's, a super fun, super cheap Mexican place (this British review perfectly sums it up!). We've become near-daily patrons of the two library systems available to us (here are "our" branches in Seattle & King County), checking out stacks and stacks of books. At Gordito's, we both read -- reminiscent of our honeymoon! Really!

We've gotten a taste of the beauty and the activities available to us. Now we want to start growing in community, finding friends and a church or starting our own group. That's our goal for the future, but regardless of what happens, we're very happy now. We'd love to share our new home with you if you want to join the list of visitors!

Amanda & Steve

P.S. Thank you for your help with our baby-name poll. It's giving us lots of good ideas. In a startling burst of insight from the future, brought to us by the same technology that powers Late Night with Conan O'Brien, we have brought you the FIRST PICTURE of our as-yet-unborn kidlet. Go see!