Did you say Seattle? (Furtak's move to Renton, Washington)

What is that I hear that you are in Seattle?

Some of you maybe surprised to hear that the Furtak Family now lives in the Seattle, Washington area (Renton, Washington to be more exact). Jason accepted a promotion to work as an onsite technical engineer for the contract that his company has with The Boeing Company. As a result of this, the Furtak Family moved to Renton, Washington (20 minutes outside of Seattle) from their home in Sacramento, California. We live in Renton right on the border of Renton and Issaquah. We're actually more on the Issaquah side then Renton but our address says Renton. The kids go to school in the Issaquah School District. We live in an area called the Highlands.

Off to a Running Start in Seattle

We have had a great time since being in Seattle. One of the first things we discovered was a local salmon hachery in Issaquah. Salmon are big here in Washington and various locations have hatcheries. The one here in Issaquah has a nice park and once year becomes the central location for a large festival called Salmon Days. We attended Salmon Days which had hundreds artisans and entertainment.

We were so determined to get a running start we have spent every weekend exploring the local Seattle area and have even made it out to the city a few times. We got a yearly membership to the Pacific Science Center , which is next to the iconic Seattle symbol, The Space Needle . The church we attend (more below) reserved a private showing of the Dead Sea Scrolls out at the PSC, which was both inspiring and faith building. This Christmas season we got out to downtown Seattle for the nutcraker march , which allowed us to explore the city and take in the fascinating sites. Read more about our nutcracker adventures at blog entry: Furtak's Find Nutcrackers in Seattle .

The kids got free tickets from their school to attend a football game at the University of Washington (15 minutes from our house). We had a blast at the Husky's game and look forward to our next trip out to the campus. We're also hoping to get out to see some professional sports which Seattle has a ton ( Go Seahawks! )

Finally, I wanted to mention our new church family but before doing so I wanted to give a shout out to those church families that have welcomed us as their own over the last few years. The Lord has blessed us with finding great church families as we move from place to place. Oddly enough, we feel at home in each location and look forward to regular fellowship. In Maryland, we were truly blessed by the friends we made at Cornerstone Chapel who supported us when we were having difficulties and welcomed us with open arms in every area of the church. In California, we found a warm and inviting Baptist church called, First Baptist Church of Elk Grove, with people and leadership with a heart after God.

Upon arriving in the Seattle area we quickly found a church family in a town called Kent where we attend Calvary Chapel South. Since we seem to move alot and regret not getting involved at our previous church in California, we jumped right in and began participating in various activities in church. The kids attend Calvary Kids Club on Wednesdays, Debra and I attend fellowship and worship on Wednesday and Sunday's and coming up the kids have a Christmas Musical they are performing in with engagements in Kent and two services on Sunday. I'll post future blogs on the outcome of our musical performances.

We've been in the Seattle area for only three months and so far the city and our town have done a great job welcoming us here. Oddly enough, it feels like home and we look forward to the coming year(s) as we continue to take in all that Washington has to offer.

As always, keep up to date with the latest activities of the Furtak family at: http://www.furtak.net .

Please come back and visit us regularly.