09/18/2026
We moved to Idaho in the early summer of 1982, settling in Stanley for the summer before heading down to Boise before the snow started to fly. By the summer of 1983, we were back in Stanley with our two-year-old daughter and newborn son, living in a 20-foot travel trailer. Our son’s first “bed”? The bottom drawer of a dresser. Those were the days!
Eight years ago, we made another big move, this time to live just a block and a half from our three grandsons. Is family important to all of us at Alpha 3? Absolutely. Why else would we leave beautiful Idaho and move to the exact opposite side of the country?
We recently returned from bringing the boys to Idaho for 2½ weeks. The heck with their parents…we just wanted the boys!
We sat on the fence outside the chapel in Stanley with the Sawtooths as our backdrop. We hit the state fair, visited the “Smurf Turf” at BSU, and packed in as much Idaho as we could.
And then there was the whitewater rafting trip on the Payette. Not five minutes after our youngest grandson asked, “PawPaw, have you ever fallen out of the raft?”, over the side I went in a Class III rapid.
I found myself bumping my head, on the bottom of the raft, while my wife wondered if I was ever going to pop back up. No, that’s not the picture, but it could have been! So what’s the point of all this?
Family.
The love of family and the desire to care for and provide for them is one of the greatest motivations in our lives. And at Alpha 3, we know that’s true for so many of the families we have the privilege of serving as well. At the end of the day, family is the “why” behind so much of what we do.
Peter Wierenga
