Just a heads up, I changed my phone number. My new number is (541) 905-0907

So we're back in Oregon and life is picking up again. Anna began work on Monday, and has had to significantly change her sleep schedule because she sometimes starts at 6:30 or 7:00 am. You could pray for her because she is still getting over a bug, which she either could have picked up in Mexico or it could possibly be E.coli from some Spinach before we left. Either way, she hasn't been feeling too good for a week or two. Anna's sister and family are moving in while they remodel their new home, so there's going to be ten of us all living together. Everyone was joking that they just need to get her brother back and we could have a communal family house here of 15 people, or maybe 16 if we could get Uncle Charles.

I'm still looking for more work. I am going to be teaching digital photography and Spanish, but that will only be very part time work (mostly I'm doing it to have official college teaching experience). Other than that, I've been keeping busy setting up our apartment and taking care of things like updating the IRS and DMV about Anna's recent name change. Last night we had another couple over for dinner. They are some of Anna's friends from high school. Since I had the most time, I was in charge of cooking dinner. I made German Apple Pancakes, but I had to base it partially off of one of my Mom's recipes and one from a cookbook because neither one really was what I needed. After our guests arrived, I couldn't find the flour, which makes it a little harder to make pancakes. So after we borrowed a cup and a half of flour, things went well until I discovered our little oven didn't work right. Its one of those little freestanding ovens that leak heat like a sieve. I set the oven to a little over 400 degrees and let it warm up a while. Well it doesn't have a thermometer, but luckily we had received an oven thermometer. After a while it got up to 265 and then to 269 and 272. Its hottest temp was about 285, far short of the requisite 400 degrees. So I figured that other pancakes are cooked on a griddle, why not these? Tradidtional German Apple Pancakes are fluffy and bubbly. Fried German Apple Pancakes are closer to thick crepes. They still tasted good, so that was ok. I cooked one batch of apple and one of blackberry and mandarin oranges. Then when I had given up on the oven (still at 285), I went to switch it off and found that it didn't turn off. In fact, the dial was set wrong, so the whole time we had it set at 'slow cook'. After a little experimenting, the temperature was shooting up towards 400 degrees. The third batch came out nice and poofy and slightly browned. Everyone said they tasted good, so I guess the Variations in German Apple Pancakes was a success.

We're married. The wedding was great. We're back from Mexico. Oregon is nice. I'll write more tomorrow.