Just over a month ago, Dad and Mom Gons made the long trip from OH out to WA to spend a couple of weeks with us. They arrived on Wed. June 18th, and were able to stay with us until Tuesday, July 1. Phil and I still had to work most of the time, but we spent the bulk of our non-work hours exploring the area with them.

There are so many beautiful places to see near our home. With work and Phil’s dissertation, we have not taken much time to explore the area. Having visitors gave us the perfect opportunity to get out and enjoy God’s beautiful creation that is all around us!

The first Saturday we drove down to Deception Pass, near Antacortes, WA, which is about 45 minutes south of Bellingham. Although the skies were grey, it was still very beautiful. We enjoyed walking along the shore, and Dad Gons found many beautiful rocks!

After church on Sunday, we drove up Mt. Baker Highway. (Mt. Baker is the beautiful snow-capped mountain that we are blessed to see outside our home everyday—at least the day’s it’s clear.) The drive was very beautiful, and there were many spots to pull off and take pictures. After we a couple of hours, we finally made it to the top. As we made our last stop before heading back down, we got back in the car—and the car wouldn’t start. The engine wouldn’t even turn over. We hadn’t seen too many other vehicles on the trip, so we knew we were in quite a predicament. It was early evening, starting to get dark and cool on the top of this mountain. The couple of cars that we did see, tried to jump us, but they didn’t have enough power.

Dad and Mom have AAA, so we gave them a jingle. They would be at least a couple of hours, but our options were pretty limited. Not too much longer after we placed our distressed call, a couple from Canada pulled up in their minivan and offered their assistance. This man “happened” to be a part-time mechanic and had tools in his car. After a few moments, we were on our way back down.

God was taking care of us. Not only did he send a well-qualified helper our way, the location that our car died was a blessing. We were stranded in a big parking lot of a chalet, but the previous stop we made, just a minute earlier, was right on the edge of the mountain. It was a massive drop-off with no guard rails, and the pull-off was only big enough for 1 vehicle!! We were so thankful for God’s kindness and protection.

During the week, we visited different parks around Bellingham (Sehome Hill Arboretum, Whatcom Falls Park, Boulevard Park, Maritime Heritage Park). We had such a fun, relaxing time of fellowship together.

We spent the next weekend in British Columbia. On Friday we went up to Grouse Mountain (right outside Vancouver). We had planned to spent some time in Vancouver afterward, but we ran out of time. That night we stayed at Uncle Mike and Aunt Kathy’s in Ladner. On Saturday we took a ferry to Victoria on Vancouver Island. This was the first time Phil and I had taken a ferry. The view on the way there and back was gorgeous. We enjoyed our time in the city and at the Butchart Gardens—a world renowned flower garden. It was beautiful!

Our time together went by so quickly, but we were thankful that they took time out of their busy schedules to visit us at our new home. We look forward to seeing the rest of the Gons family at Christmas.

See more pictures at our Picasa album.

Are you ready? Here’s the severe weather that they are calling for in Bellingham today and tomorrow:

SAN JUAN COUNTY-WESTERN WHATCOM COUNTY- SOUTHWEST INTERIOR- EAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS-WESTERN SKAGIT COUNTY-EVERETT AND VICINITY- SEATTLE/BREMERTON AREA- TACOMA AREA-ADMIRALTY INLET AREA- HOOD CANAL AREA-LOWER CHEHALIS VALLEY AREA- OLYMPICS- EASTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA-WESTERN STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA- NORTH COAST-CENTRAL COAST-WEST SLOPES NORTHERN CASCADES AND PASSES- WEST SLOPES CENTRAL CASCADES AND PASSES- 527 AM PDT FRI MAY 16 2008

…RECORD OR NEAR RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED ACROSS MUCH OF WESTERN WASHINGTON THROUGH SATURDAY…

STRONG…HIGH PRESSURE ALOFT COMBINED WITH LOW LEVEL OFFSHORE FLOW WILL RESULT IN MUCH ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES ACROSS WESTERN WASHINGTON THROUGH SATURDAY. HIGHS TODAY WILL GENERALLY BE IN THE UPPER 70S TO UPPER 80S…WITH SOME INLAND VALLEYS LIKELY CLIMBING INTO THE LOW 90S. THE FORECAST TEMPERATURE FOR QUILLAYUTE TODAY WAS 89 DEGREES. THIS WOULD BREAK THE OLD RECORD OF 86 DEGREES SET BACK IN 1985.

THE HOTTEST DAY ON THE PACIFIC COAST WILL BE TODAY…WHEREAS THE INTERIOR WILL WARM SEVERAL MORE DEGREES ON SATURDAY. EXPECT HIGHS ON THE COAST TO BE IN THE 70S ON SATURDAY WHILE THE INTERIOR WILL BE MAINLY IN THE LOWER 80S TO LOWER 90S. SOME LOCALES HOWEVER IN THE EAST PUGET SOUND LOWLANDS AND CASCADE VALLEYS WILL HAVE TEMPERATURES IN THE MID TO UPPER 90S. THE PREDICTED HIGHS FOR SEA-TAC TODAY AND SATURDAY WERE 85 AND 88 DEGREES…RESPECTIVELY. THE RECORDS FOR TODAY AND SATURDAY ARE 84 AND 85 DEGREES… RESPECTIVELY.

ALTHOUGH IT WILL BE VERY TEMPTING TO JUMP INTO AREA LAKES AND RIVERS TO COOL OFF…IT WOULD NOT BE A WISE IDEA. WATER TEMPERATURES WERE STILL QUITE COLD OR IN THE 30S AND 40S. ALSO… RIVERS WERE RUNNING HIGH AND SWIFT DUE TO SPRING SNOW MELT. THUS JUMPING INTO AN AREA LAKE OR RIVER COULD LEAD TO DEATH BY HYPOTHERMIA OR DROWNING AS MUSCLES CRAMP UP FROM THE COLD.

DURING HOT SPELLS…DRINK PLENTY OF WATER…AVOID OVEREXERTION… LIMIT TIME SPENT IN DIRECT SUNLIGHT…AND CHECK UP ON ELDERLY RELATIVES OR NEIGHBORS. ALSO…PROTECT PETS FROM THE DANGERS OF HOT WEATHER. NEVER LEAVE THEM IN A PARKED CAR ON A HOT DAY.

FOR THOSE PLANNING ON TAKING ADVANTAGE OF THE WEATHER BY HIKING IN THE MOUNTAINS…PLEASE BE AWARE THAT THERE IS AN AVALANCHE WARNING IN EFFECT FOR THE OLYMPICS AND CASCADES THROUGH SATURDAY. FOR MORE DETAILS…VISIT THE NORTHWEST WEATHER AND AVALANCHE CENTER WEB SITE AT WWW.NWAC.US.

EXPECT MUCH COOLER WEATHER ACROSS THE AREA ON SUNDAY DUE TO INCREASED ONSHORE FLOW.

Wow! Sounds severe, doesn’t it? It probably is worse than it sounds since most homes don’t have AC out here, and that includes us. We chose the condo that gets the most sunlight so we could survive the gloomy winters, but that means we get a lot of sun exposure in the summers. Yesterday it hit low 70s outside, but our condo really got warm—probably closer to 80. It made for an uncomfortable evening until the cool air from outside came in.

Anyway, I don’t do particularly well when I’m hot, so please pray for my wife.

Moving to a new place—especially on the other side of the country—involves adjusting to a lot of changes. After five months, we’re still adjusting to life in Bellingham, WA.

As you’ve probably heard, it “rains” a good bit here. It’s not really rain though. It’s more like mist. It’s so light that you almost never need to use your windshield wipers or an umbrella. In fact, I don’t know that I’ve ever seen anyone using an umbrella in the “rain.” I have seen people using umbrellas, but just on days like today when the sky is clear and blue and there’s no “rain” in sight—yes, we do have days like that, occasionally.