Jim & Jan's Journey

We're still alive and kicking

2011-06-14T12:01:00.001-07:00

Wow....How time flies! I can't believe it has been three years since my last posting. Since our Europe trip we have been sicking pretty close to home. At least Jan has :-) I have formed a ministry partnership with my best friend and evangelist, Ken Ramey along with his wife Diane. I am the Executive Director. We are committed to coaching individuals and churches to become expanding churches through conversion growth (ie. to excel in evangelism). This has involved a lot of travel to the states of Oregon and Washington. It has been exciting to see the Lord's hand of blessing. Check us out at www.evangecoach.com.

Jan and I have also gotten more involved in the church Jeff & Faye are members of. They have been very involved and in leadership there for many years. Jan & I now lead a Wednesday night small
group and I just returned from a tri p to Haiti with a team from the church. There is sooo much need in Haiti. But, we saw the Lord's blessing and hand at work there also!

The grandkid's continue to grow like blessed little flowers around us. Keilani just had her 5th birthday last weekend. We are absolutely loving living next door to them. We are so very blessed! The Lord also continues to bless us with good health. Praise God for his great love and mercy.

What a Summer!

2008-10-24T20:27:00.000-07:00

Jan and I were away for more than seven weeks this summer. Jan FINALLY retired in June and we also celebrated our 40th wedding anniversary in August. Soooo, we decided it was time to take a trip to Europe. Neither one of us had been there before, and I have a brother who lives in Germany that I hadn't seen in about 18 years. We spent a week and a half in Greece, then flew to Rome where we joined a tour group and spent the next 11 days traveling throughout Italy, Switzerland, France, and England. We then flew to Germany where we spent our last two weeks with my brother. As you might guess, it was a trip of a lifetime. We saw and did things that we never ever thought we would do. The following are just a few pictures of some of our highlights:

Grandchild #3

2008-03-30T15:02:00.000-07:00

Hi all! Just wanted to introduce you to the newest member of the Quayle family. Jeff and Faye had Meigan Elaine Quayle on Thursday March 27th. She weighed 7lb 3oz and was 21 inches long. Grandma and Grandpa watched Jacob and Keilani while mommy & daddy were at the hospital. On Friday morning we took the kids to the hospital to meet their new sister. It was a fun but hectic time! Everything went well and they came home Friday afternoon. We are just praising the Lord for his grace and goodness. As you can see Meigan is a beautiful baby. Enjoy the pics!

Happy Holidays!

2007-12-05T14:16:00.000-08:00

We are so thankful for all God's wonderful blessings this year! We hope the Lord has blessed you as richly as he has us. It has been an incredible year.

Jim got back from Egypt on the 9th of november. But, has spent much of the time since then recovering from exhaustion, jet-lag, and being sick. It was a trip of a lifetime though. Some of the highlights were:

- Seeing the great pyramids of Giza. They are even larger

than they appear in photos.

- Putting on programs, handing out candy and clothes, and

praying for people in two different garbage villages
(Yes, they live amid the garbage).

- Putting on a program and giving gifts to girls in an orphanage. They are isolated in a fifth floor apartment with no place to play.

- Staying in a resort city and snorkeling in the Red Sea.

- Seeing Mt. Sinai and the Monastery (St. Katherines) at it's base.

- Camping overnight in a bedouin camp in the middle of the Sinai wilderness.

- Visiting a ministry and school for Sudanese refugees.

- Attending services at a huge cave church

with beautiful carvings everywhere.

- And, taking a felucca ride

(an Egyptian sailboat) on the Nile.

October Update

2007-10-22T13:51:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! It has been a long time since we updated this site. Sorry it has taken so long.

First, Jan's ankle surgery went well this summer. She spent a whole lot of time on the couch. But, the Lord was gracious and the time went fast. She is back to work and walking fine. She is just experiencing some pain from swelling. The doctor said she will probably have this for about a year.

Second, we are expecting grandchild number 3! Yes, Jeff and Faye are pregnant again. Faye is doing fine, and the due date will be in March. Jacob and Keilani are growing like weeds and as active as can be. They are sooooo precious.

Third, I am leaving for a two week trip to Egypt this Saturday, October 27th. I will be going with 5 others to visit the son of two of the people going. Their son is living in Cairo. It should be a great trip. Because of Jan's ankle she will not be able to go. I'll let you know more about it and post some photos when I get back.

Kids & Grandkids

2007-01-01T20:05:00.000-08:00

Now for the really fun stuff.... as alluded to in the previous sections we now have two grandchildren. Jacob, who will be three on February 20th, and Keilani, who is almost seven months old now. Having them live in the same house, although we are in completely separate living units, is such a tremendous joy. We thought we were lucky just having them live in the same town, but having them this close is much more precious than we could have imagined. Jacob just knocks on our door and asks if he can come in. Of course it is very seldom we say no. He loves to hang out with us. He even had breakfast with us this morning. He is such a people person, and wants us to do everything with him. Even if he is just sitting and coloring in a book, he wants us to do it with him. But, grandpa's favorite thing is when Jacob says "You want to munch me?" Keilani isn't quite this active yet, but she is rapidly developing a STRONG personality too. She will definitely be able to hold her own with Jacob as she grows.

Jeff, our son, just turned thirty years old in December. He has also quit teaching full time. He and Faye both work part time for a home school organization. He also tutors kids part time, and since he has always wanted to be his own boss he recently bought a hot-dog cart. He is actually making more from just selling hot-dogs than he was teaching full time. He is much happier now too. Don't know quite what the future holds, but we are praying for him.

Janna graduated from Moltnomah Bible College in Portland and is still living there. After Moltnomah she spent a year studying to be an esthetician. She just passed her state license examination and will soon begin this career. She also works in a brew pub and does freelance modelling on the side. She recently did a photo shoot for Keen Shoes and she ended up on both the front and back cover as well as several places throughout their new catalogue. She has been dating the same guy for about seven years, but no marriage plans yet. We are praying for her too!

Expansion of the Quayle Estate

2006-12-30T10:06:00.000-08:00

Well, this is a long and sorted story so pull up a seat and try to understand this insanity. About two years ago we were living what we thought was a semi-normal life. Jim had retired and was watching our grandson every day while our son and his wife, Faye, were both teaching full time. They were living in a nice new home they had built about two years earlier. But, semi-normal life was about to see a little twist (Ha!).

Jan (Bless her dear sweet soul) happened to mention to the kids that it sure would save a lot of time and money if they were to move in with us. We had this huge property that was becoming too much for us to handle by ourselves. They, having such a wonderful new home, were not the least bit interested. So, we were thinking of selling and moving up to the Sierras when Jan retired. While we were looking at mountain real estate Jeff and Faye were thinking about the future. They were wanting to enlarge their family and Faye didn't want to work full time any longer. A few quick calculations showed that this scenario would make finances pretty tight, so guess what??? The next thing we new they had sold their home and moved in with us. Thus began the expansion of the Quayle Estate.

We started by remodeling the existing house. It was in dire need of some help anyway. We totally gutted our master bedroom and bath, reworked electrical, installed additional insulation, added an indoor laundry and closet, removed an old "cottage cheese" ceiling and paneling from the walls, repaired some dry rot, installed all new drywall and texture, installed all new fixtures, new flooring and carpet... and this was just the start! This new master bedroom and bath were to serve as our little apartment for the next fifteen months while we remodeled the rest of the house, tore down the garage, and constructed an 1115 square foot addition.

The new addition was to be finished by the time the new baby arrived. Yep, you heard me right. Jeff and Faye were now expecting baby number two. This gave Jim new motivation and "pressure" because the baby was due in June. Needless to say Jim has yet to experience what real retirement is like. June came and went and we had a precious new baby girl in the house with all kinds of construction going on. It also seemed like every time we turned around there were construction delays. The roof framer decided he didn't want to do it. So, we had to find another one in the peak of the construction season. The doors and windows were delivered too soon and were stacked wrong, so they were ruined and had to be reordered, the electrician decided he was too busy and this was too small a job to waste his time on so he bombed out. Jim ended up doing the entire elecrical job himself. On and on it went. Guess when we finally moved in? Halloween! And we still had things to finish (we still do). But, at least we were settled in by the holidays, and it has been wonderful to finally get back to a "semi-normal" life. What a joke!

The Scoop on Jan

2006-12-18T09:01:00.000-08:00

Jan works as a teaching assistant at a middle school, and deals primarily with troubled students... not an easy job! She has been doing it since our kids went to middle school... about fifteen years. Some days are more rewarding than others. When she is not busy with kids she helps the office staff with various projects.

At home she is the "administrative officer" of our family. She is as efficient and organized as they come. It is awesome! But her real passion is giving. If you give the smallest hint you like, want, or need something she is on it like bees on a honeycomb. She is amazing!! If we were to ever win the lottery she would go crazy doing things for others. But, for fun and relaxation she enjoys reading, and going to movies. She also loves munching on grand kids (and her husband) of course:)

This next year is going to be an interesting one for Jan. She is going to have two surgeries. In January she is going to have surgery to remove a cataract from one of her eyes. She will also get a new lens implanted so that she will not need glasses any more. Any kind of surgery is no fun, but she is excited about the prospects of not wearing glasses. Her second surgery will hopefully occur in May or early June, and will not be nearly as much "fun". While we were dating, many years ago, she broke her ankle pretty bad and had to have a metal pin put in. Over the years this has caused arthritis and the deterioration of the cartilage in the primary joint in her ankle. So, they are going to go in and remove the pin, and fuse her ankle together. Needless to say, we are not planning any long trips this summer! I (Jim) am studying up on some nursing skills. I will be serving her a lot for a change... She is looking forward to that part too. Keep us in your prayers for all this stuff. Maybe we can get out and have more fun in 2008.

Our Current Situation

2006-12-15T22:53:00.000-08:00

The photo below was taken on a cruise to Alaska in August 2004. We have always wanted to visit this awesome state, and it was in celebration of my (Jim's) retirement. I served as a Senior Landscape Architect and Project Manager with the California State Park System for over 28 years. I am now spending my days munching on grandchildren (My favorite pastime), working with a para-church missions group, remodeling our old house, constructing an 1115 sq/ft addition to the house, working part time as a handyman/electrician, working part time as a customer service representative for a flooring company, doing general maintenance and clean-up around the property, sitting in the spa, and of course making regular trips to the Chiropractor......just to name a few. Jan hasn't retired yet. She keeps saying "next year"....I'm not holding my breath. She loves her job anyway, praise the Lord.

Our Starting Point

2006-12-14T22:13:00.000-08:00

Our Journey started about 42 years ago in a gorgeous place called Yosemite National Park. Jan and I were both attending a church week-end retreat. Little did either of us know that event would alter the course of our lives. We fell in love at first sight and have never looked back. There is just something about the glow of a campfire, if you know what I mean. That week-end we were able to witness the last historic fire-fall performed in the valley. But, the fire actually fell into our hearts that beautiful starry night as we sat in the middle of a meadow to watch, and it has been burning ever since. Of course there has been "hotter" times than others, but the fire just wouldn't be as interesting if it stayed at the same intensity all the time. It has definitely been an interesting journey, and this is the place we can share a little bit of it with you. We hope to add more pictures to this site for your enjoyment. Let us hear from you too! This isn't intended to be a one-way street.