Rough start - Fun finish

Well this past week went as stated in the title. On Monday I received a call from the organic farm in Alaska and they said my job history was too risky for them. The manager a the design firm that I was interested in showed a marked reduction in interest in me, telling me to "call back sometime" ! And the Planner position in Moses Lake never did call back even though he said he would call me within a few days. (14 days ago) Now 2 of these jobs I didn't want, but it is disappointing to be rejected from them anyhow. Monday thru Wednesday were spent being depressed but still trying to find stuff. Wed afternoon I noticed that Henry had been very moody all week and I realized that he was mirroring my stress. So we decided to take Thursday and use one of our coupons to go to the Seattle Aquarium.
We took the 545 bus to downtown and then walked down to the Aquarium which is on the waterfront. It is a smaller aquarium, but is well appointed and has several unique features. The had a birds section, where we got to see birds swimming under water. One bird spent well over a minute underwater. They had exhibits of Sea and River Otters and different Seals. We had the luck of being there during feeding time and got to watch the Sea Otters breaking open clams and eating them up. There was also neat domed underwater room where you could just sit and watch the fish swim by. (see pics) They also had some well thought out tide pool areas in which you could pet the Starfish and Anemones. that night Henry had a bad dram about Starfish trying to get him, I'm not quite sure how that dram played out, I mean Starfish aren't exactly agile...!?
After the aquarium Ferny was in her backpack carrier asleep, so we decided to just walk around the city. We saw some neat things, and before we knew it we found ourselves at he entrance to the underground bus tunnel, so we hopped on an made our way to Chinatown. There is a really interesting oriental store called Uwajimaya. We had a coupon for buy 1/get 1 free. at the noodle bar, so that is where we had dinner. It was so fun. We spent over and hour eating. then we went shopping and purchased some weird and fun Asian groceries, including my favorite Banana Sauce. We then went to the bus tunnel only to find that it closes at 7pm. It was now 7:30pm so we had to hike all the way back into town. It was a bit chilly (40) but Seattle is such a scenic city that we didn't mind at all. We all went to bed happy that night.
Since then we have all been much happier. Henry and Fern have been my best little friends.
Saturday we had a lot of errands to do, so we decided to do them all together as a family. We went shopping for groceries, and went to the pet store to find a light for the kids fish tank. It wasn't anything special, but it was just fun to be together.
Well that's about it for now. We are all doing well. Fern is doing well at learning how to go to sleep on her own. (instead of having to be held every single second) I am finding new job postings and trust that it won't be too much longer till I find something. Well, till next time something cool happens... Adios!
{edit} About the pics: Tuesday Lyn went to a lot of trouble to make phad thai and right before dinner discovered that he mix she used had gone bad. Dinner was late as it was so we took advantage of the local pizza places "half price Tuesday. Henry loves pizza and it is one of the only was to get him to eat veggies. In the pic you can see just how much he loves it.
Wednesday Lyn had to go grocery shopping so I watched fern. We played some games and read some books. Then I decided to give her a Horsey-back ride. I went down the hall and back and around the ottoman, then as I passed in front of the Hutch I noticed hat she had fallen asleep. Since I was on all fours and she was on my back, there was nothing that I cold do except lay down and read the National Geographic and wait for Lyn to get back. When She walked in I'm sure it was quite the funny sight. {/edit}

Finally a tidbit

I really don't know what to write about my trip to Guatemala. I had a fantastic time. I logged 40 +/- hours on Chicken Buses. I got to hike to a active volcano and throw rocks in the lava. I got to go body surfing at sunset in El Salvador. I spent 2 weeks with my best friend and got to see many old friends from the mission. --- Whoa a bird just flew into our window, so I went out to see him and he (or she) allowed me to pick him up and hold him. My mom-in-law (the bird professional) said he was probably just in shock so we left him outside but I did get to allow Henry as close up view of a bird (mom: probably a Warbler) I hope he recovers. Henry says "Maybe he'll come back and visit us." --- I don't exactly know what to write about. I could write a travel log, but that is not why I went down there, it was just a nice side-effect. I had many spiritual experiences, but those are kinda for me. I guess what everyone probably want to know is "Is Caleb feeling better?" The answer is definitely YES! Many things have changed: my ability to see Gods hand in my life, my perspective on work and on what exactly one needs to live. (when you see how people live in Central America you cant help but realize that you don't NEED most of what you think.) My outlook on Designing has improved. I have worked so hard for it I cannot give up so easily. Friday I went to turn in an application and some of my design work and after looking at it they brought me in for an interview immediately. They want me to return on Monday for a follow up. I also have a possibility to work in organic farming in Skagway Alaska but I think that the pay is a bit too low. And there is a positive response from the city of Moses Lake to be a city planner, but if you have ever seen Moses Lake it is flat dry and about as dull as watching Supreme Court sessions on CNN. (i.e. Very Dull) but at any rate there are starting to become available several good jobs now that the new year is under way.
Things are going much better and the future looks brighter every day. If you would like to know more of the travel side of my trip let me know and I'll share it with you. But don't forget to scroll down on this page and you can see many pics of my adventure.
Till Feb. Love Caleb

Christmas quikie

I am leaving tomorrow for Guatemala. I just thought that I would post up some Christmas pics. (this site is STILL uploading them small. ..stupid thing!) We had a fabulous Christmas. It is sooo much fun being a parent during this time. I loved watching my twerps open up their gifts and I especially loved seeing Henry believe in Santa. Santa wrote Henry a letter and told him that he should eat more variety of food (read: fruits & veggies) and sure enough! He did! For Henry he got 12 die-cast cars characters from the self-same titled movie. Fern got some aprons and bracelets and dresses which has made her very happy. She is a clothes girl for sure. She saw a new purple dress and took it to Lyn and was all ugghh uggghhh. [put this on me!] We opened our presents in 3 different waves due to hunger or tiredness. We have had so much fun playing with all the toys to. One of the best things about Christmas was that we had a white Christmas just like the ones I used to know, where the tree tops glisten, and children lis... What? wait! oh, yeah it was snowing really good it just never stuck. But if you just looked just at the sky it was fantastic. We have received so many blessings and surprise gifts that we truly feel that God is watching out for us. We have had 2 different Doorbell Ditches done on us only to find generous gifts waiting for us on the step. whomever you are...thank you.

Well a happy New Year to all of you. I will be thinking about you when I am in the 90 degree tropical weather sipping a coconut milk under the shade of a palm tree and... I 'm just rubbin it in.... Sorry.
I love you all.

Edit: To all my friends near and far, in my self-pity I stated that I had only 1 friend, when in fact I have many. I was trying to point out that my very best friend lives in Guatemala.
Postforoosh: I'll still take you up on the mtn. trip though. :)

Henry's Birthday

Well here is a little update about our life in the last few days. Dec 16th was Henry's 4th birthday. We celebrated it on Dec 17th when Mom and Dad Nelson, Kaynie, Riley, and Micah came over from the other side of the state. It was a nice time, and we got to do some good catching up. Especially with Aunt Kaynie whom we haven't seen in 7 months. Henry wanted a "Blue Angel" cake. The Blue Angels are the Navy's elite acrobatic flying group. They fly in F/A 18's I believe. (for anyone who cares...) Any how if you go down to the pics you can see how the cake turned out. Henry was so excited to be 4, He kept saying "this day is my birthday". He was very cute. I have always enjoyed the excitement Henry has for the world as he opened gifts he would almost jump with excitement. Then to my extreme pleasure he would say thank you to everyone. He was also overwhelmed by attention during the Birthday Song, and he put his hands over his eyes. He is a sweet, quiet little guy. Thank you to everyone who gave him something and/or were thinking about him. I was a great day.

Lyn and I got to go Christmas shopping the other day and had so much fun. We discovered that it could be very easy to spoil a child with too many gifts. It seemed as if around every corner we found something that Henry would like. Fern is not quite to the age where things would be very interesting for her. I think next year dolls and the like will hold much more interest for her. We spent way more than we wanted to on Henry ($60 yikes [Thanks to a certain family that has been very generous to us and shown us much love]) But we found some things that will be memorable to him. We also got him mostly educational / artistic things. I am so excited for Christmas. I remember last year I could hardly sleep on Christmas eve. I think that it will be the same this year. I LOVE being a dad, so sweet.

As you know times have been hard for us lately. I have been going thru some difficult times personally. So that you can understand, I feel like my whole life is a mystery to me right now. For the past eight years I have been working toward being a Landscape designer. It was (is?) what I thought God wanted me to do. But the last 1.5 years has been miserable and after getting to my goal of being a designer, I failed after 2 months. You might be saying "what a loser!, only 2 months! He's been fired twice in a single year?!" That's what I'm thinking about myself at any rate. My employer said as she fired me that it seemed to her that I was "trying to be something that I'm not." So now after such a dismal professional failure, I wonder, "what am I supposed to be?" "Who am I?" "Why did I ever feel God wanted me to do this?"
I feel completely lost. I don't now what to do with my career wreckage, I'm afraid that it is not salvageable. I wonder where God lies in the planning and furthering of ones career. Does he even care, or is that something that is up to you?
Anyhow I have alot to think about. I have no real friends, just some acquaintances. Beside my wife, my only true friend is Hector who lives in Guatemala. Despite not having seen him for 8 years we are still tight.
Thursday Dec. 27th I will be taking my backpack and flying (buddyPass) to Guatemala. There I will be able to spend 14 days with my best friend. We will be taking a chicken bus to El Salvador, and we will be visiting our old mission area where we served together for 6 months. I hope to reconnect with people from my mission. I will have lots of time to talk with my friend. The time in my life when things made the most sense was when I was on my mission. Perhaps returning will spark some sense back into my life. Since I have a BuddyPass and don't have to ask for time off, I feel that this would be a good thing for me. (Beats sitting around at home watching the rain and getting depressed.) I also talked to my Bishop, He thinks this would be good for me too. He said "Don't just make this a trip, make it a spiritual journey" So that's what I am going to do.
I am not asking for anyones permission (except Lyn's) I just would like to, at least avoid any bitterness/Ill thoughts, and at most receive some support from the ones I love.

Merry Christmas to all.

More catch up, Dec 17

Well I haven't been really fastidious about updating my blog lately for a couple of reasons: 1) my shoulder hurts immensely. Thats where I store all my stress. My chiropractor said my back is so tight he almost couldn't adjust me! 2) This website has been uploading my pics fuzzily, I check back every 2 days and it is still fuzzy until today. My shoulder doesn't feel too bad so I'm going to give it a try.
So first off in everyones mind I'm sure is : "Has Caleb found a job"? NO! no one is looking at this time of year. I don;t just mean outdoor stuff but everyone. Nobody wants to do complicated things during the Christmas season. So Ill just wait till Jan. and try some more. I did put in my resume for a city planning job in Redmond, which is right next door to us, but they won't start reviewing till Jan 7th.
Next, "What have the Nelsons been up to"? Well we spent a lovely Thanks giving between mom & da nelsons and my friend and mentor Terrie and her husband. They have a very nice ranch on 35 acres out in Okanogan near the Canadian border. Henry and I helped them with some of their farm chores and had a wonderful time. Pat and Terrie are some really awesome friends. We meant to be gone for 4 days but ended up being gone for14! It's not like I had to get back for work. So after Pat and Terries it was back to my parents house for several more days. One of those day Me, Riley, Henry, and Cedar went up into the mountains above Leavenworth for our traditional Christmas tree hunt. Riley and I found a new place to go and found ourselves (me) a nice little tree. (8 ft) We had a very fun time. Except for Henry who got a little too cold. After the Tree hunt we went out to dinner at my favorite restaurant, for my favorite food. Reuben Sandwich. This restaurant has the best and biggest Reubens. Yes they do contain meat, but for THAT sandwich ONCE a year I can put being a vegetarian aside. (although my stomach felt lousy the next day)
"What else have you been doing" Well we have been enjoying a festive Christmas season. We decorated out tree, we put up the Christmas Village. And Lyn and Henry have been baking like mad. We had our annual Christmas Open House. We had 38 people come by to visit with us. many people told us how nice it was to simply have a party where all you did was have treats and visit. I don't think anybody visits anymore. One person told us that parties like this were a dying art. I never thought of them as an art before, but I think that there is a lot of truth to that. It takes some skill and knowledge of people to create an atmosphere where they feel comfortable enough to simply chatter away.
I don't like posting "catch ups" because they are entirely too stripped of details. They simply function as an overview. There have been some beautiful moments and some terrible moments in our lives but It is simply to difficult to recall them and write about them effectively so long after their occurrence.
There is more that I would like to tell you but I will do so on another occasion, as mom & dad Nelson (and Kaynie, and Riley, and Micah) are coming over today. Yesterday the 16th was Henry's Birthday. He turned 4. We are going to have his party today. I can't believe that I have 4 year old. He, as I have said before is the joy of my life. To me there is no little boy who is more fun nor more sweet than my Henry.

Talk to ya later.

Craaazy weather

Hey did you hear what is going on up here in WA? Well we just experienced the second wettest day EVER!! The Gov just declared a state of emergency. Pretty exciting, luckily we live towards the top of a hill.
We had 3.56 inches by 3 pm yesterday. Here is a newscast from our town of Woodinville.
Aerial video: Floodwaters flow through Woodinville*

I don't have time at the moment but I suspect that tomorrow I will have time to update the blog for December.