39 Weeks!

Photo taken July 11, 2013

Leif Andersen Photography

Wow! Another 2 years have passed...

If there is anyone that still bothers checking this blog, I'd like to apologize for an absence of posts over the last 24 months!!! I totally forget that it exists, at times. But from now on, this may be the best way to keep everyone in touch and up-to-date with what is going on in our little world. To start, we just celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary, and we couldn't be happier! We're expecting our first child... tomorrow, actually.  :)  So my next post will probably have something to do with a sweet little newborn girl, and how in love with her we are. :)

Career wise, I will continue to teach at Kirkland SDA School, but will take a little time off to spend some time with our daughter. The big change is Leif's career change. He has some amazing opportunities that will allow him to spend most of the week with our little girl, but still bring in some money, AND avoid sending her off to daycare every day! Between substitute teaching a couple days per week, officiating volleyball & basketball games some evenings, and using his amazing talents as a photographer, Leif will stay busy and active, and yet he'll still have the flexibility to be a major part of our daughter's life... (This would not have been the case if he had continued his position at KSDA & PSAA. Though it was not an easy decision, we feel it was the right one... the one God was guiding us toward.)

So if you're needing someone to do portraits: senior, family, child, maternity, engagement, etc... shoot Leif an email! :)  If you'd like to see some of his work, just go to Leif's photography website. ---->

Thanks for reading. Stay posted for baby girl Andersen's birth announcement! :)

-Heather

One year later...

Well, it's been one year since our last blog post. I guess Facebook has taken over and blogging doesn't have quite as much of a pull on me as it used to. But just to bring everyone up to speed, here goes:

Leif and I just finished our FIFTH year of teaching. Leif has been the Athletic Director & PE Teacher of KSDA and PSAA for two years now. I have been doing 3rd & 4th for three years... and LOVE my kiddos. :)

As soon as school was over Leif and I went on an amazing cruise through the Baltic Sea. Our companions were: Dane & Kelli Andersen, David Sky & Shannon Greenlaw, Tyler & Haley Pritchard, and Andrew & Jessica Lee. This cruise was a celebration of all our anniversaries, some finishing medical/dental school, and finishing our 5th year of teaching. To put it plainly, we all needed a vacation! We started in Denmark and got to see Germany, Finland, Russia, Estonia, and Sweden. So many countries in so little time. But it gave us just a taste of each one. One of my favorite places was Tallinn, Estonia. It was quaint, we had a very fun, laid-back day, and it had so much character. St. Petersburg, Russia was astounding. That was the place that took my breath away the most with the amazing sites, rich history, and detailed architecture & ornamentation. I could type for days about all the things we got to see: the Berlin Wall, Checkpoint Charlie, the Hermitage, the Vasa, the Peterhof, the Catherine Palace, Church on Spilled Blood, and national museums... but maybe you can make it there someday and see for yourself how amazing Europe is. We got home on June 16 and had 9 days before we would be taking off again.

On June 25, at 10:45pm, we took off on a plane for Port au Prince. Leif and I celebrated our fourth anniversary in Haiti. We enjoyed an amazing mission trip in Montrouis at an orphanage: building, running medical clinics, VBS, etc... While Europe was amazing, Haiti touched our hearts in a way that makes it an even more memorable and wonderful trip. We are hoping to go back next June for yet another trip. The pain and the needs in Haiti are so great, there will never be a shortage of things to do to help the people. While the earthquake in January of 2010 set them back in a major way, Haiti was already suffering, long before that. More than 80% of the country is unemployed, and there is a desperate need for access to clean drinking water. Please remember these beautiful children of God in your prayers.

We now have a few short weeks before we are back on contract again, starting August 8. School starts for us on August 22. We look forward to being involved once again in all the activities of the school, including Leif coaching women's varsity basketball, I'll be coaching junior high volleyball, plus yearbook, and much more!

We'll try to keep in touch and put up some more pics soon.

Blessings,

Heather Andersen

Back In Washington...

3,000 miles... 12 days.... 

What a fun time we had on our road trip!  We took in the beautiful sights at Yosemite, walked along the Nor Cal coast, strolled through giant Redwood paths, and enjoyed each others' company.  Though we were ready to come home to our own bed, shower, home-cooked meals, etc....  we never got tired of the road, the nature, the sights,  and just being together. 

Traveling from town to town, especially on the coast, we saw many people much less fortunate than us. So many homeless people roamed the streets, asking for money or food, or were digging through the trash hoping to find a few morsels. 

Giving them a little food was enough to get them through that night, but what about the next day? 

We had a bed in the back of our pick-up, but were looking forward to our own bed... some of them were wondering where they were going to sleep that night. My heart and prayers go out to those people!

A highlight of our trip was visiting some lovely family and friends along the way. God also blessed us richly with many friendly and kind people on our journey... people who were happy to point out the best scenic routes to take, the coolest touristy places, restaurants, etc. We had such a blast roaming from here to there!

We are happy to be back, and now we only have 3 weeks before we are on contract again. Time flies, but it's always fun to see what God has in store for us next.

If you want to see pictures of our trip, you can go to either of our Facebook pages to check out the many wonderful things we saw and did on our road trip.

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=692492324

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=676672971&ref=ts

More updates coming soon. :)

~Heather

Sabbath ~ Heather's reflection upon it...

Fast approaching... greatly appreciated... it's hard not to stop and contemplate the Sabbath. The LORD definitely knew what he was doing when he created it for us. It's funny how "scientific research" shows that a day off from work approximately every 7 days is beneficial and necessary for the human body. Wow! I feel bad for the scientists who spent years and energy discovering something that originated at creation! (...well, and their viewpoint of creation vs. evolution is beside the point)

Rather than it being a day of "can't do's" I like to think of it as "don't have to do's." Kids often think about Saturday as a day you can't do this, you can't do that... unfortunately many kids are never exposed to the wonderful and abundant things you "can do." They've been spoon-fed legalism at an early age. Sabbath has always been my favorite day of the week, with Friday as a very close second. What I look forward to the most is being able to put aside everything and bask in God's mercy. A day He created just for us to relax, reflect, praise, worship, and enjoy what he has blessed us with. 

Friends in college, being stressed about an upcoming final, would be studying profusely on Saturday afternoon. Rather than thinking, awwww man! I can't study on the Sabbath... the Bible tells me I can't!  I happily thought to myself Praise the Lord for the beauty of the Sabbath! One whole day... 24 hours in which I don't have to study! My body, soul, and spirit need a break from the cares and chaos of the week!

Each week, every Saturday, God gives us a gift. Some people throw it away, some wait to open on some other day. Some shake the box, listen, and try to figure it out. They analyze, prod and poke until they think they've got it figured out... yet they've never even opened the gift. What is my point? Simply this... God has given us the Sabbath because He loves us. What does the Sabbath mean to you?

~Heather Andersen :) 

Update from Leif & Heather!

It has been nearly two years since we have updated our blog!. Facebook has become the most dominant social network. And though it still doesn't compare with real, human interaction/communication... it sure is a handy thing! You can practically find out everything about someone and know what's going on in their lives without ever speaking a word to each other. Sometimes it's very convenient, sometimes it depersonalizes us a bit.

What's new in our lives? We just finished our 4th year of teaching. After teaching 8th grade for 3 years, Leif was finally able to move into the PE teacher/Athletic Director position for both the elementary and the academy. Heather has moved around to different classrooms and taught 1st, 3rd, and now 3rd & 4th for 2 years.

Many things kept us busy this year. Leif had a fun, yet demanding learning curve in the athletic department. He coached the ladies varsity basketball team and also got his CDL (commercial driver's license)  which enables him to drive the school's airporter style bus. Heather coached junior high volleyball for the first time last fall. She also took on the elementary yearbook, with a little help from Leif. In May we both completed a 2-year program to obtain our Washington State professional teaching certificate. Sometime in the next six months we will have our certificates in hand. 

Leif just returned home from a 10 day trip to Belize with the senior class on their mission/class trip. Aside from the heat/humidity and the bites from ants and mosquitos, they had an amazing time at the orphanage. Leif can post pictures and descriptions once he has time to sort through nearly 2,000 pictures.  

This summer we are looking forward to playing lots of tennis, enjoying some down time with no deadlines or obligations. And maybe we'll enjoy a road-trip, as well. 

More updates will follow. Until then, happy summer. Thanks for reading!

Autumn...

What a beautiful season!

Leaves falling, 

sipping cider,

the wind blowing, 

bundling up in cozy clothes and blankets, 

Enjoying splashes of color speckling the landscape...

It has been far too long since we posted any new pictures or updates. Life has kept us incredibly busy. We finished our first quarter of the school year last week. It's so hard to believe this is our third year! Between teaching, planning, grading, coaching, yearbook and other extracurricular activities, our lives will be consumed. 

But away from school we have taken up other hobbies and responsibilities. Leif has been expanding his photography opportunities by shooting senior portraits for 12 of he 30 seniors at PSAA. He has also done a few other portraits, which has given him extra experience and enjoyment (plus a little money). We are both helping run a youth program for the Edmonds Church. We have a rotation set up so we teach Sabbath School about every three weeks. I have have joined a praise band at Edmonds Church. I love singing, and enjoy music so much, so this has been a real blessing to be a part of a group that leads others in worship. 

This weekend we have our annual Fall Festival, which will be a lot of fun and hopefully raise some money for our classes. 

Before long, Thanksgiving break will be here and we will be spending time with our family and friends, enjoying some great home-cooked food and some down time! Until then, our lives will be filled with math equations, Bible lessons, school assemblies, lesson plans, busy days and meetings. And through it all, God has blessed us with more than we could have asked for.

Happy Harvest!