We have been in Montana about a month now. We were very cautious about this move. Once, we even thought about staying and riding it out in Oregon. That would have been a HUGE mistake. We are so happy here. Loving all that Montana has to offer. Fresh air, cooler temps, LOTS of SNOW!!!, beautiful surroundings, Rocky Mountains out our front door, cold water of the Clearwater River out our backdoor. NO more lawnmowers, weedwackers!! The saying silence is golden, is an understatement! When we lived in Rainier, almost everyday you would hear SOMEONE perfecting their lawn. We don't have a lawn. We live in the wilderness, with the forest floor as our lawn. Deer are our "lawnmowers", they eat the grass, that nature has provided. Our front porch is wooden, beyond that is beautiful colored pebble rock, of differing sizes, colors and shapes. We have many many trees surrounding our cabin, lodgepole pine, and fir, are the most that we have, although Montana is known for there Tamaracks(they are very obvious trees, as they are very tall, straight up and have very strange looking branches that are very short and golden in color, almost looks like a "stick" tree in a stick drawing..Very easy to spot, but very beautiful amongst the greenery of the other trees on the mountain.

We started to look for places to live, when we had the interview here in September. We came to the interview, with the thought, "its another interview" and by this time, poor Marty had been through interview after interview, and some even went as far as showing him around a place, talking money and benefits. He would think he had the job, only to find out, they had decided to cut back,and business was down, or they just didn't call back at all. He had a couple of jobs that he really thought he wanted. One was in Bend, OR. We went there for an interview,and Marty made the decision that that was not the job for him, so before we left Bend, we looked up some friends from San Diego,that had moved there a couple years ago. We really enjoyed the company of Mark and Lisa Burginger and their kids, but we had to head back home. So, without a job, we almost thought of just packing up and moving to Bend, continue unemployment, and see what was in store for us there. That was in June, and we decided that the move would be too costly, so we stayed in Rainier. Time keeps ticking away, and it seem that we would never find work, or a new life...But we know that God is in charge and he can make things happen any way he wants...We had been asking him for change, a new place to be, away from the bad memories of Rainier and Oregon in general. Away from where God put us 4 1/2 years ago, when we got married. But...we needed a job for sustenance more than our unemployment. Marty kept looking and looking, and one day he told me, "I got an email from a head hunter and the company that hired them is looking for a lumber grader, in Montana". I'm thinking, IN MONTANA?? They scheduled an interview, and about $300.00 later, of travelling costs, we were in a little town called Seeley Lake. It has about 2500 people year round, but during the summer it is a resort to about 4000. There is much to do here year round, and it is on a lake, absolutely beautiful surroundings, right on the Continental Divide/Rocky Mountains, in western Montana. So, Marty goes to the interview and they tell him that they will take a couple weeks to decide. We go home to Rainier and wait....Within 24 hours we had an offer of employment, with benefits, and we had found a little cabin in the woods, that used to be a "summer place", but the landlady was looking for renters. It just happened to be about 3 min from work for Marty, in a lovely location with space for the doggies to run (2 acre), and all the modern appliances that you need , in a one story, cute clean, modern style cabin with the old forest feel to it. And it was in our price range if we got the job. Once we had the job, then came the question on our measly unemployment check, and I am not working, how will we move there? It was 300.00 just to go there once roundtrip with one car. How will it be with two rigs, and a uhaul???? We had to downsize quickly, garage sales, and trips to the Goodwill. We had to be in Montana in 30 days or no job. The new place is only less than 1/2 the size of the old one, so downsizing was what we HAD to do. It was amazing how cathartic that was! We felt like a load had been lifted. God enabled us not only to get everything out that needed to be, (we did have to leave some things behind, but they went to Good will later, so they will get some use), but we got the money to come here and start fresh, I was praying for strength to be able to drive my car all the way without issues, I had to take a short nap at a rest stop, but 15 hour drives do that to me....We had the dogs and cat with us(dogs with Marty in the truck and the cat with me in the car. Also, wondering how Marty's truck, which had been giving him starter problems, would go all the way to Montana, some 700 miles, but it did, with flying colors, we were concerned about the weather, because I can't drive in heavy downpour of rain, or snow, because I didn't have chains, (truck was 4x4). But again, God is amazing, he allowed the weather to be CLEAR, once we left the Longview area. All the way to Montana. God took care of everything, for us, even letting Marty see a cougar jump out in front of his truck just before we arrived in Seeley. He was so jazzed!!!! We arrived about midnight, and our landlady was staying here for the night, so she greeted us, and had a little snack for us, wasnt that nice? She stayed the night too, and then left in the morning, and the place was now ours. We are enjoying this wonderful change of life for being 50 now, is a change too. We are blessed...