Jeff & Lori Jones
PO Box 39306
Lakewood, WA 98496
Dear Friends and family,
Hope this letter sees all of you doing well. We would have send out letters last year except that we forgot to pack the Christmas list with all of its addresses to bring with us to California. Consequently they ended up in storage in Marshall. This year we are trying to join the virtual age and will be posting this letter on Lori's blog site.
As most of you know, we are currently working for AAFES again but out in French Camp, California. If you don't know where that is (French Camp not California), if you drove north 55 miles you would be in Sacramento or west about the same you would be in Oakland. We took the job after the oil drilling business went down to almost nothing and then the truck broke and then we lost the houses. We put everything in storage (again), packed what we could into our pickup and headed west. That was in August of 2009. While we were waiting in Marshall for confirmation on the job, our friends John and Ruth let us stay in their 5th wheel trailer. What a blessing. Then we stayed with Lori's mom and step dad in Queen Creek, AZ for about three weeks waiting for the final okay from AAFES to come out and start working. That was precious time well spent. We stayed in a motel for our one day off a week until we purchased our own 5th wheel trailer in July of 2010. We have a space in a beautiful RV Park in French Camp and call this home for right now.
In April of this year, we were able to go to Branson, Missouri with our friends Jess and Lois. It was a wonderful time of relaxation and enjoying being with people we love. We drove out from Cali so we could go through Marshall to get some of our things from storage (i.e. clothes and stuff like that) and see our friends from church. In August we were able to meet family in Twin Falls, Idaho for a joint birthday party and family reunion. It was a wonderful time of fellowship and fun, eating and hiking. We were anticipating spending Thanksgiving this year on the road just stopping at a truck stop for dinner. But thanks to an unexpected change in our load, we were able to spend Thanksgiving this year with family in Roy, Utah. God is good. We look forward to seeing what He has in store for us for Christmas.
We currently bid on our runs out of Califonia every six months. This last six months we have been going up to Ft. Lewis in Washington State twice a week. The new bids should be coming out shortly so we will see if we can continue to go up there. If so, we will probably start looking for a house up in the Tacoma area. We have already transferred our licenses and have a PO Box. All we need now is a place to put all our furniture so we can get our things out of storage. Since our run puts us in French Camp every other day, we were able to get a couple of cats. We run home real quick between runs to check on them. It is wonderful to have animals again.
Jeff is very excited about a business opportunity that came our way. He will be building 3/4 scale '32 roadster kits. A gentleman out of Portland, Oregon developed and has been selling the kits for the last several years. He is trying to retire and decided to sell the business. Jeff will be spending several days just before Christmas learning about the business from Mr Chupp. We should be up and running sometime in the spring of 2011. One nice thing about this business is Jeff will be able to work it on his off time from driving. His Nephew Chad is looking forward to working with us also.
Because of the schedule we are able to maintain, Lori has been able to get back into her needlework and sewing. She bought a five thread serger and a sewing machine and has been having a blast sewing things again. She made a halloween costumn for Briar (Jasmine's adopted son) but over shot the size. They are going to put it on him as soon as it fits and then take pictures. Lori has been spending a lot of time reading (also listening to audio books) on quite a variety of subjects, including our Country's founding and the sciences.
Heather is still living in Texas with her significant other Trey. They reside in Karnack on some land that Trey has been buying. They seem to be doing well. Trey works as a mechanic and Heather is able to spend quite a bit of time with Trey's mom.
Jasmine currently resides in Washington State. She and Gaby found a place to share in Gig Harbor after the baby was born. Briar was born the end of June of this year and is growing like a weed. He is a very happy baby and is a joy to have around. We are able to see them every couple of weeks. Jasmine is currently working at a massage therapy place, gaining in responsibility and looking forward to starting her own business in the near future.
Aidan and Taylor seem to be coming along really well. Aidan is in 4th grade this year and doing very well. Taylor is in 9th grade (her first year of high school) and seems to be a fairly typical teenager. She is growing into a very lovely young woman and we look forward to seeing what choices she will be making for her future. They both are experiencing the joys of braces this year and are both taking it pretty well.
Well that is another year of God's grace and blessing on our lives and we look forward to the coming months to see what adventures He has in store for us. God Bless.
Sincerely, Jeff & Lori
