Furtak.Net - Family News Blog

Furtak.net - The Ghost of Christmas Past

2008-12-24T11:30:00.000-08:00

Over the years I have thought about digging up some of my old website designs and displaying them on Furtak.net as a way to showcase the way the site has evolved over the years. Today I ran into this page which fits the theme of the Christmas season. I hope you enjoy a look back to the front page of Furtak.Net as seen from the Christmas season in 2003.

http://www.furtak.net/default5.html

(this is always worth updating every year -12-24-2009)

Model Train Tour - Piedmont Pilgrimage

2008-10-25T22:18:00.000-07:00

The Piedmont Division of the South Eastern Region of the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA) is hosting home tours through the month of November.

http://www.piedmont-div.org/pilgrimage/tour_date.html

This past weekend we went to the first set of houses on the tour and had a blast. The following is a quick summary of our visits. Keep posted on the latest photos on the Furtak website at:

http://www.furtak.net/photos/2008/

October 25th -

The Diamond River Valley Railroad is fictitiously based in the western US. The Railroad uses ATSF and UP for it's primary motive power and has live interchanges with SP and SP&S The railroad features a large yard, coal mine and snow covered mountains that trains run through above eye level.

C&O New River and Central City Division - This was a nice HO scale layout

more pictures of these railroads at:
http://www.furtak.net/photos/2008/PiedmontPilgrimage-10-25-08/

Alexis a teenager?

2008-10-20T21:00:00.000-07:00

October 16, 2008 - Happy Birthday Alexis!
Well, we finally made it. The eventful day where parents becomes old and wierd. The day where your little girl becomes your little lady and dolls are traded for iPods. Alexis turned 13 today and we celebrated by taking her out to do fun activities of her choosing.

Nice Story: Jeanne DuPrau and the City of Ember
I wanted to share a nice story with you that relates to Alexis' birthday. Alexis wrote the author of the City of Ember, Jeanne DuPrau. Alexis wanted to extend a fans congratulations on the release of the City of Ember to the movies to Jeanne. Alexis had been a fan of the book for a few years and she became excited when the movie was announced. Alexis was thrilled when Jeanne wrote her a personal letter back.

I asked Alexis to forward the email to me and without Alexis knowing it, I reach out to Jeanne to thank her for taking the time out of what must be a busy schedule with the release of the movie, to write Alexis back.

Jeanne wrote me back and I was thrilled when she agreed to send Alexis a bookplate. I took the bookplate and affixed to the inside cover of the newest Ember book which just released and gave it to Alexis as a birthday surprise.

Alexis takes her friends to see the City of Ember Movie
Alexis decided that she wanted to have some friends from church join her for a viewing of the City of Ember movie. We took Alexis and 3 of Alexis friends to see the movie on Saturday morning. We loved the movie and gave it two thumbs up. After the movie we walked the plaza and Alexis took her friends to lunch at Chick-fil-a and shopping at Clairs. She had a great time and she was thankful to her friends for helping celebrate her birthday.

New Furtak Family Newsletter Posted for October 2008

2008-09-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

Here's where you can get a copy:
http://www.furtak.net/news/October2008-v2-85X11.pdf

Also check out the updates made to http://furtak.net/

Cheers,

~Jason~

Re-start

2008-09-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

I regret that I haven't kept up with posting on this Furtak Family news blog but renewed interest in keeping my family and friends up to date has given me the inspiration to get this going again.

This will serve as a marker indicating a restart of the Furtak Family News Blog on September 30, 2008

Day 5: Mt. Rushmore and Calvary Chapel

2007-09-02T20:05:00.000-07:00

Post on September 30, 2008:
I wanted everyone to get the benefit of reading this old post. I never finished our family cross country move postings unfortunately since this was the last day I posted.

Anyway here it is...

=====================
Friends,

Today we decided to take a day of rest and stay in Rapid City, South Dakota.

We got up early this morning and visited Calvary Chapel of the Black Hills for Sunday worship. The kids had a great time and Debra, Alexis and me, also enjoyed the service and teaching from the Gospel of John.

After service we ran up the hill and visited the dinosaurs at Dinosaur Park here in Rapid City.

After visiting Dinosaur Park, we decided to go out to the Mount Rushmore Memorial. As you can see from the picture and the pictures from Furtak.net, it was simply a beatiful day and the photos came out fantastically. We learned a lot about the monument and how it all came to be. We also met a man who was one of the original drillers on the monument from 19..., ..., ...

Here's a video of our visit to Mt. Rushmore:

After visiting the Mt. Rushmore Memorial we decided to go to a South Dakota State Park by the name of Custer. This park was a very large wild life preserve. We saw free roaming buffulo, deer, turkey, coyote's and rams. It was better than any visit I've made to Lion Country Saffari.

Here's a video of our visit to Custer

[no video]

Day 4: Rapid City, South Dakota

2007-09-01T12:59:00.000-07:00

Friends,

Another day of driving and not much more. We left Billings, Montana and forged ahead through the north east section of Wyoming and then on to Rapid City, South Dakota. Rapid City is about 25 miles from Mount Rushmore . We've decided that tomorrow we will stay in Rapid City and get a day of rest and see Mt. Rushmore National Memorial.

~Jason~

Day 3: Billings, Montana

2007-08-31T12:31:00.000-07:00

Friends,

We left the Yogi Bear campground and moved up the road to Billings, Montana. Not much to report since we spent most of the day driving. Driving so far has been pretty good going. The weather has been great and I've gotten used to driving the car with the trailer.

There have been big forest fires in Idaho so the western region of Montana that we've stayed at for the past couple of days has an ashy haze in the air. Our cars started to get the build up and 5 minutes outside and you can taste it in the mouth.

While riding in the car, Joshua was noticing the trees which are burnt and him and I were having a discussion of how that happens. Around this time we passed some black cows grazing on the side of the road and in a serious tone Joshua said, "Daddy, someone burnt the cows two!" You gotta love it!

Write you tomorrow,

~Jason~

Day 2: Jellystone Campground Missoula, Montana

2007-08-30T12:55:00.000-07:00

Friends,

On day 2, we decided to take a short trip from where we stopped the first night, somewhere in Montana, to the town of Missoula, Montana. We decided to stay at a Yogi Bear Campground (officially called Jellystone Campground) in Missoula. Jellystone's have a high standard for managing campgrounds but this was the nicest campground we have stayed at to date. The following is a little video tour of our cabin. Please see our photo album on Furtak.net to see more pictures of our camping in Missoula.

In addition to enjoying the cabin we swam in the pool, attended an ice cream social, played on the playground and enjoyed the wireless internet access. Equally as entertaining, was the fact that I brought our TV into the cabin and hooked up our DVR which had our previously recorded TV programs. As a result, we were able to enjoy our TV programming as if we still had the Dish setup.

Click to Visit the Furtak.Net Photo Gallery

See you tomorrow,

~Jason~

Day 1: Furtak's Leave Washington

2007-08-29T12:58:00.000-07:00

Friends,

We decided to get on the road and leave Washington for Georgia two days early. This is the start of our cross country blog. I'm going to do my best to leave you a daily blog of our progress.

What amazed me most about going from west Washington in the Seattle area to east Washington in the Spokane area was how drastically the landscape changed once we cross the Cascades. The landscape went from lush evergreens mountains to dry trees less mountains. In a lot of ways, east Washington reminded me of California.

We spent the last month getting rid of 98% of what we own. In this trailer and the two cars is what we have left. There's something liberating about having our possessions down to this size. This is the first time that we've made a move without loading the largest size moving truck.

The U-Haul company were the ones that advised loading all the heavy stuff towards the hitch. What do you think?

Come back tomorrow for the next update.

~Jason~

Furtak's Fish Video @ Mill Pond - Auburn, WA

2007-08-05T01:04:00.000-07:00

Today we decided to fish at Mill Pond in Auburn, Washington. Each of the kids caught fish which included Crappie and Cat Fish. Here's a little video of our fishing trip. Enjoy!

Jason & Alexis in Anchorage Alaska on Monday

2007-07-18T23:10:00.001-07:00

"Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send? And who will go for us?' And I said, 'Here am I. Send me!'"
- Isaiah 6:8

Hey all,

Tomorrow Alexis and I fly to Anchorage Alaska for a week long missions trip (returning Sunday). Two members of our church here in Washington went to Alaska about a year ago to plant a Calvary Chapel in Anchorage and our church continues to support them (Jeff and Sarah). Primarily, this mission is driven from a desire to continue to support the ministry efforts of Jeff and Sarah but it also stems from our shared vision to reach the people of Anchorage with the Good News of Jesus Christ!

A few of you have asked about the details of the Alaska trip and what types of missions work we're going to perform there.

Here's a quick list of the missions we're performing:

Vacation Bible School (VBS) – VBS will meet at Jeff and Sarah’s church location. Alexis will be primarily involved with this effort and joining the other ladies in running VBS.

Covenant House teen runaway shelter – Painting, deep cleaning, and yard maintenance.

Anchorage Rescue Mission (men’s shelter) – kitchen cleaning, deep cleaning and yard maintenance.

Downtown Soup Kitchen – Cooking and serving and playing a small acoustic concert for the lunch room.

AWAIC (women’s shelter) – Maintenance, yard maintenance at shelter homes.

Abbott Loop Church – Work project, TBA. This is the church who is sponsoring our sleeping quarters from Monday to Wednesday. We're swapping maintence work for boarding.

Concert at downtown park/strip – We hired a band and will be flying them up to Anchorage on Friday and they will perform their first concert at 5:30 to 10:30. During the concert, our teams will be performing street evangelism.

Anchorage Market & Festival – We will have a booth from 10-6 for witnessing, evangelism and a concert spot from 3-5:30 on the festival stage for our band.

Street witnessing/evangelsim – Our Anchorage Alaska missions team was trained in street evangelism using the Way of the Master training. This training will supplement the members of the team who already perform this service Friday nights at Kent Station,WA. Each night teams will go out to the streets of Anchorage for street evanglism and open air witnessing. These teams will have a nice mix of experienced and new members.

Other Details

Birchwood Camp - Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night we'll be camping at Birchwood Camp. It is an hour out of Anchorage and a beautiful camp with cabins and beds.

Van Driving - I guess they thought since I cart around a regular caravan with my family, I would be a good fit to drive one of the vans during this trip (wrong assumption, huh Rob?).

Prayer - During today's Sunday service we handed out wrist bands to members of the congregation to remind them to pray for each person by name. I ask that you keep Alexis and I in your prayers for traveling mercies, safety during our activities and most of all fruitful soil for seed sowing.

Theme - Anchor of Hope "18God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. 19We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, 20where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek."

- Hebrews 6:18-20

Thank you for your continued prayers.

See you in a week,

~Jason Furtak~

Gabrielle's First T-Ball Game Video

2007-07-12T20:35:00.000-07:00

Gabrielle belongs to a T-Ball team and they played their first T-Ball game on July 12th. Here's a video of her game. Enjoy!

Mother's Day Weekend: Olympic Mountains Video

2007-05-12T23:30:00.000-07:00

This weekend we took Debra camping at the base of the Olympic Mountains in a town called Seqium just outside of Port Angeles. We decided to go to the Olympic Mountains National Park to visit. We went up a visitors center at approximately 5000 feet called Hurrican Ridge. During our adventures we ran into wild life including dear and bears (both in the video). There's still snow at this level which isn't a surprise since they received as much as 400 inches this season.

Enjoy,

Debra's Sister Deliver's Her Baby

2007-02-22T19:59:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I wanted to share some good news. My younger sister Amanda delivered her baby today. Her name is Emily Lynne Potter.

Emily was born at 5:09 pm and her weight is 4 pounds and she is 19 inches long.

Amanda and Emily are doing fine.

See first day photos at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/JenniferKnowlton

Furtak's @ Sonics

2007-02-20T22:15:00.000-08:00

My friend from my team at work and season ticket holder of seats at the Key Arena where the Seattle Sonics play basketball, scored us some tickets for tonight's game against the Memphis Grizzlies. Interestingly enough, these two teams are the worst teams in the conference, so it made for a good game. Sonics have slightly better stats, so it wasn't a surprise that they won the game 121-105 .

This was the first professional basketball game that the kids had attended. I think what surprised me most was that they were all enjoying the game and sat through the entire game without getting restless. Throughout the game I was testing Joshua's understanding and I was surprised at how much he understood. Enough so, that he knew what team he was rooting for and whether or not the other team scored or the Sonics scored. I think Joshua also related because he got a "door" based basketball hoop and basketball for his birthday and he enjoys playing at home. The older girls got to sit by themselves in the row below ours and I could see that they enjoyed the parental-less freedom. It also delights a father to see his older girls getting along like best friends.

I wouldn't go out on a limb and say that I hate basketball, but I know it's not something I yearn to watch. I would, however, go to a thousand games to experience the same enjoyment that we had tonight being together and having fun as family.

Here's a few photos from tonights game:

New Movie Posted - Joshua's Big Wheel Snow Ride

2007-02-08T23:23:00.000-08:00

I have updated Furtak.net with a home movie of Joshua riding his Big Wheel in the Snow this past January.

See the video at: http://www.furtak.net/movies/

I have plans of updating Furtak.net with the various home movies we have collected over the past couple of years. I wanted to edit the movies and add sound and such so that I wasn't just uploading boring long videos but rather providing entertaining short films.

Please come back later to Furtak.net for more home movies.

~Jason Furtak~

Jason@Sonics - Squatch Spotted

2007-02-02T23:56:00.000-08:00

A friend at work has season tickets for Seattle Supersonics NBA basketball. He's been looking to take me for a couple of months now, so I agreed to go tonight. I'm not a basketball fan, but I enjoy watching live sporting events in general. This event was fun but it also confirmed my assumption that basketball isn't really my full court press.

The Sonics game was against the Chicago Bulls which seemed fitting on the weekend where Chicago Bears are playing in the Super Bowl. As Basketball games go, it was a good close game, but unfortunately the Sonics lost 101 to 107.

At the risk of insulting the fans, I would have to say that I enjoyed the spectacle surrounding the game more than the game itself. One of my favorite treats was watching the various shenanigans of the Sonics mascot, Squatch. Squatch agrees to come out of hiding from the Cascade Mountains for each Sonics home game and does a great job getting the crowds all fired up. (Squatch is not to be mistaken for his brother Sasquatch who lives in Mount St. Helens or mistaken for his cousin, Yeti, who lives in the Himalayas). Squatch did a half time performance which included a trampoline routine where he made a basket after catching the ball mid-air and pulling a front flip. I'm going to make sure to seek his autograph the next time I attend a Sonics game.

~Jason Furtak~

Joshua turns 4 yrs

2007-02-01T23:32:00.000-08:00

My big boy turned 4 years old today. At 4 years of age, Joshua enjoys playing with cars and action figures and loves to pull things apart with a screw driver. Joshua is mild mannered but he did, however, love the attention that he got during his birthday. In a family with three other older sisters, it's difficult to get this type of attention. As tradition would have it, we let Joshua pick out where he wanted to have his birthday dinner and, like his sister on her birthday, he picked the Rainforest Cafe. We ordered him a "Volcano" for dessert which came with a happy birthday song from the the wait staff.

Another tradition we enjoy, is when our friends the Moody's call to sing happy birthday. Joshua loved the birthday song and, while on the phone, he put up four fingers to show how old he is.

Jason's Visit to Napa for Sales Kick Off

2007-01-28T15:10:00.000-08:00

Last week Jason went to Napa Valley, California for a Sales kick-off event sponsored by the West Coast Sales division of his company. The event was held at the Silverado Resort in Napa. It was a great time to meet not only the sales people but also all the members of his own team. These sales events are great pep-rallies providing useful information on the direction of the company and strategic sales efforts in the west coast. This two day event included a stay at the Silverado Resort with each of the attendees getting his or her own cottage suite.

On the night of the first day, the teams were treated to a winery tour and banquet. The winery tour was at Francis Ford Coppola's Rubicon Estate. The tour included a visit of the winery grounds, the winery for wine tasting and a visit of Copolla's museum at the Chateau which had many of his Academy Awards and other museum pieces. After the winery tour they were taken to a banquet at the Culinary Institute of America at Greystone. The banquet included a four course meal and a different wine for each course.

On the second day, there were several technical presentations and an awards ceremony. Jason received the Tenacity Award from the Sales team. Unfortunately, Jason's team left before the awards ceremony and Jason's award had to be sent in the mail.

That evening Jason visited with the Moody family. Dinner and time with the Moody family was great as usual and Jason looks forward to visiting with them the next time he is in the Bay area.

More Snow and Game Night with Some Friends

2007-01-14T02:17:00.000-08:00

Furtak's Get a Case of Cabin Fever

We have had three days of snow here in Renton. On the first day we had close to 10 inches of snow. The snow has litterally left us stranded in our house since the streets are nothing but ice. When one is not battling the ice one is battling the stranded cars which have been left behind after three days. Jason went to Redmond on Friday for work and braved the dangerous streets through Renton and Issaquah. Redmond apparently has the resources to clear the roads since when Jason arrived in Redmond both the main streets as well as secondaries were clear. Jason's friend at work also stated that this weather system was worse further down south in our area of Renton. Debra and Jason are amazed how ill preparred these towns are for these storms. We asked our friends on Friday night, who have lived here for over 15 years, if it's gotten this bad before and they stated that it just hasn't snowed in this area like this since they've lived here (until of course the Furtak's arrive. Jason probably should have taken pictures since this is history in the making). Debra and Jason asked about salt for our drive-way at several stores and we got odd stares and laughs. Between not having plows to clear the roads or basic treatment for the roads, this area just isn't preparred. We lived in Maryland and had snow twice as bad as here and within a few hours the roads were safe to drive. When Jason drove home from Redmond he almost didn't make it through our neighborhood because of the ice on the hills leading to our home. We regret that we're also going to miss church because of the ice conditions as well. It hasn't gotten above freezing so the ice and snow aren't melting yet and until it does we'll be home bound.

Snow Related Article from the Local News:

Game Night at our Friends House

Debra has made some good friends in the neighborhood so they offered for us to visit them to get us out of the house. We enjoyed a night with dinner and games. Debra and Jason introduced them to Sharp Shooters which was well received by everyone and we played a round of Scene It: Movie Edition. These friends also have kids that are the same age of our kids, so they kept themselves entertained upstairs while we enjoyed our game night. We had a great time and we're pleased to find friends with so much in common. It's also great to find friends in our neighborhood who share our same faith as well. We look forward to our next get together.

Gabrielle Looses Her First Tooth...

2007-01-09T12:50:00.000-08:00

There's many first times we remember over the years and loosing your first tooth is one of those milestones. Gabrielle was the last of the Furtak kids to loose her first tooth last night (for those that don't know Joshua lost his first two teeth simultaneously with a hot wheels car). Gabrielle, knowing that her tooth was very loose and having the prompting from her older sister Madisynne, spent nearly one hour and a half pulling on her tooth until it eventually came out. As Furtak tradition would have it, Gabrielle's tooth is safely stored by the tooth fairy who left behind a generous gift of 5 dollars (I guess she has had to keep up with inflation).

[image by Deviant Art]

Furtak's visit XXX Root Beer and Boehms Candies

2007-01-06T23:28:00.000-08:00

Jason has a friend at Boeing that has turned into a local tour guide for the Furtak family. Each week he tells Jason about another location that is a must see in our area of Seattle (he was the one that suggested the Salmon Days Festival). Jason's Friend was surprised to hear that we hadn't seen XXX Root Beer or the Boehms Candy factory in Issaquah. As it turns out it's in a area of town that we have driven by but it's situated in such a way that we have always passed it.

On his advice, today we went and had burgers and a root beer at XXX Drive In and afterwords checked out the decadent chocolates and other confections at Boehms Candies.

The XXX Drive-In in Issaquah is one of a only a few XXX Family Restaurants left in the U.S. This restaurant is the only one that has the full size root beer keg left on the roof. The inside of the restaurant is full of old fashion car pictures and pop-culture memorabilia on the walls. The kids enjoyed the pictures of Elvis and the Monkees the best. Jason liked the old fashion car cam shafts and the old full size shell sign. Jason doesn't think he has been in a restaurant with so many fascinating things on the wall since the Bubble Room in Sanibel Island. On the advise of his friend at Boeing, Jason and Debra had a 32oz glass of XXX Root Beer and he was right, it's the best root beer they have ever tasted and worthy of the world class status. Sometime around the spring time XXX Drive-In has a classic car show where hundreds of old fashion cars come from miles around.

XXX Drive-In Links

Boehms is just down the street from the XXX Drive-In and according to the Boehms website, "From the most exquisite, rich, European-style , hand-dipped chocolate truffles to our classic chewy caramels and nut clusters, perfection is found in every bit that bears the Boehms label. "

This is the type of Chocolate Factory one instantly smells once one opens the door in the parking lot. Their location in Issaquah against the mountains really gives this architecture a feel as if we're in the Swiss alps. We did the window tour and watch some workers making various candies and we had the hardest time walking away without buying the entire store filled with chocolate.

Boehms Candy Link
http://www.boehmscandies.com/

Gabrielle turns double hands age today...

2007-01-02T09:20:00.000-08:00

Happy Birthday Gabrielle!

This morning when I asked Gabrielle how old she was, I noticed that she had to wedge her brush in her arm to put up two hands with 6 fingers. I know that I'm not the first father to think that time goes by to quick, but as I see my youngest daughter flip the double hands age, I have had the epiphany that time really does escape the unsuspecting father and I'm yet again caught in this twilight zone without a chance to regain the time back. I think I have many of the same regrets that father's have about time and the balance between professional, personal and family time but overall I believe I've been good about finding time for my children and I thank the Lord daily for the blessings that he has bestowed on me as a father in this regard. I look forward to the future rewarding challenges that Gabrielle's life brings to me and Debra and our family and I look forward to seeing her turn double hands and a foot age.

Charlotte's Web

As a family tradition, we typically celebrate birthdays with a fun activity and a lunch or dinner to a special restaurant. For Gabrielle's fun activity, we took her to see Charlotte's Web at the movies. It was great seeing Gabrielle enjoy the movie through both the sad and happy moments. During one particular sequence in the movie, Gabrielle started to get the type of laugh that she gets when she anticipates something about happen and then to see the follow-up explosion of laughter when it finally occurs was such a joy. Gabrielle was also quick to point out, to my embarsement in the crowded theater, that daddy was crying but at the same time I was filled with joy when she offered me her hand for comfort. I don't think I have to mention it but Charlotte's Web is one of those jewels of a movie that comes by every now and again and reminds us that Hollywood can produce something that a family can be proud to see. I gave this movie two thumbs up and would recommended it anyone.

Dinner at the Rainforest

Gabrielle has been looking to go to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner for quite sometime so when we asked her where she wanted to go the answer came quickly with little thought. I later found out that she was anxious to go because she had never been before and heard her older sisters speaking of it from their visit in Downton Disney, Orlando. We had a great dinner and we ordered up a "Volcano" for Gabrielle's desert and the waitresses sang happy birthday to her. What was funny was that there were a lot of birthdays tonight and each time someone would get something Gabrielle thought for sure it was for her so when her's finally came it was truly a surprise. We didn't fool her though; she just knew she was going to get one.

Gabrielle's Cheeseburger Birthday Cake

The other night we were at Fred Meyer (a local mega grocery/retail store) and asked Gabrielle to pick out a birthday cake. Showing her personality, she chose a birthday cake that looked like a giant hamburger. Not a typical birthday cake but at the same time the perfect birthday cake for Gabrielle.

Please join me in celebration of Gabrielle turning the big double hands!

Furtak Kids Sing in Church's Christmas Musical

2006-12-23T21:28:00.000-08:00

In our on-going promise to get involved quickly here in Washington, we got the kids involved with the children's Christmas musical at our church. They performed the Miracle on Main Street by the Dove award winning composer/writers Clydesdale and Clydesdale.

Madisynne was even blessed by playing the Mother Mary.

December 9th - Performance at Kent Station

On December 9th the kids performed two sets at Kent Station a newly renovated part of the City of Kent. Prior to the event the pastor asked us to pray for good weather. I'll leave it up to you to make inferences but when the kids started at 2:00 p.m. the skies parted and the sun came out and when the last note was sung and the kids stepped off the stage the clouds closed up and it began to rain. Interestingly enough, a Baptist choir group was up next and the music leader said, and try not to laugh, "we prefer it this way". That would explain the two performance tents they had setup prior to the engagement.

On Saturday, December 16th, the kids performed for the Seniors from the various retirement homes in our area. I'm not sure if the kids or the seniors got more out of this engagement but either way they were both blessed.

On Sunday, December 17th, the kids performed at both Sunday services for our church. They did a great job and the congregation was moved enough by the performance to give the children a standing ovation. The Furtak kids made a lot of friends during this engagement and we look forward to future activities at the church.

In addition to the older girls performing this Sunday, Joshua's age group also performed two songs while dressed like lambs. The emotions ran the gamut from joyful cries to laughter over their cute performance.

See the pictures of the performances at:

Updates on Furtak.Net: Random Musings

2006-12-20T13:37:00.000-08:00

This is a reminder that Furtak.Net has three different blogs and many of the blog updates have occured on Furtak.Net: Random Musings this month.

We also have book reviews at Furtak.Net: Book Reviews .

Instead of book marking these blogs directly, please consider only book marking the Home Page of Furtak.net since this is the location that all new updates will be made either via the blogs, photo albums or other updates as seen from the front page of Furtak.net .

Gabrielle's School Christmas Recital

2006-12-07T10:03:00.000-08:00

Gabriel had a Christmas recital the other night for her school. I was both pleased and impressed with the fact that they sang Christian based Christmas songs. I was curious to see what songs they were going to sing since this is a public school. It comforts my heart to know that they did not compromise on the message and sang songs fitting of the Christian Christmas tradition.

Photos of Gabrielle's Recital can be see at: http://www.furtak.net/PhotoGallery2006/folderview.asp?folder=Christmas+Recital

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

2006-12-04T13:22:00.000-08:00

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.

Snow, Jason's Trip to San Jose and The Nativity Story

2006-12-02T22:03:00.000-08:00

Let it Snow!

When arriving in Seattle we thought asking how much it snows seemed like a natural question. We were told by various people that it rarely snows and when it does you can count the snow flakes on one hand. Jokingly we said, "Well the snow seems to follow us. They said the same thing when we lived in Frederick, Maryland and the first year and each year there after we had unpresidented snow fall." Here we are again, a new northern region, a new light snow predication and last week we had unprecendented snow fall for this region. We got between 4 to 6 inches and the Seattle Seahawks game looked like a Green Bay game in the middle of winter. The kids were out of school for 4 days during the week and my flight to San Jose was delay.

Jason Visit's San Jose

Last week I was sent by my company to San Jose to join Boeing for a presales event to show case our newest device technologies. The presentations were well done and I enjoyed visiting and working with my colleagues in San Jose. While there I got to visit with my best friend and his family, the Moody's. Rob's wife prepared a great dinner and dessert, I was entertained with an after dinner magic performance by Rachel, and of course my spirits were lift by the sweet and playful Savannah. It's always great to see my friends and I look forward to our next visit. The Furtak kids say thank you to Savannah and Rachel for the gifts they sent.

The Nativity Story at the Movies

Our church rented a local movie theater and we went as a family to see a show of the new movie The Nativity Story. The movie was well done and a great way to get us on the right frame of mind for this Christmas season. The movie did a great job addressing many of the background issues of the culture and what it must have been like for Mary and Joseph going through this divine appointment. The had a few scenes of comic relief and we even found out the age old question, "who was the wisest of three wise men."

Furtak's Find Nutcrackers in Seattle

2006-11-27T10:03:00.000-08:00

This weekend we went to Seattle in search of Nutcrackers. The Nutcracker March is hosted by the Pacific Northwest Ballet and features 60 life size nutcrackers which have been declorated by local area artists and organizations.
We have also uploaded photos of the nutcrackers we found at: http://www.furtak.net/PhotoGallery2006 . We hope you enjoy viewing these photos as much as we enjoyed finding the nutcrackers.

Furtak.Net - Blog - Begins

2006-11-25T19:53:00.001-08:00

Well, I thought I would try to build a blog as a way to update family and friends on a regular basis rather than building the blog from the front page of our website. I'll link to this blog from the Furtak.net website and it will be much easier to update on a regular basis. As a result, I think I'm going to redesign Furtak.net to remove the blog type feature on the front page in-leu of linking here. Only time will tell whether this will work out or not.

Regards,

~Jason Furtak~