Fence Mail

The neighbor who lives directly behind us recently lost his wife. She was a sweet lady, though I don't think she knew the Lord. He is in his early 70s and is pretty lost without her. My heart breaks as I see him sitting out on their back porch alone where he used to be with her. He does have most of his children in the local area, which is good, but day to day I know he's struggling.


So the kids and I have been trying to share Jesus' love with him regularly in the form of passing things over the fence to him. Every week (just about) we give him some cookies or homemade jam or pie or a picture the kids drew for him, etc. He has been very appreciative. I often have trouble catching him at just the right time though since we're not always in the back yard at the same time he is. So I bought a hook and have been hanging things from it for him to find. Then last week I looked out the window and saw he had sent something our way! He returned the box I had last used and put four yummy Lindt dark chocolate candies in it for us. Then this morning there was a cucumber from his garden.


It's been a fun way to let him know we care about him and are thinking about him, and I pray the Lord will give me the courage to more directly tell him the gospel. By the way, he "caught" me taking these pictures, and he's probably wondering what in the world I'm doing that for!

Birthday Getaway-Part 2

The view from the living room window of the cabin.
My hubby won tickets to a concert in Lincoln City on Saturday night, but it ended up being cancelled so we took the scenic route down to Tillamook. The weather was rainy and by the time we got to the coast, it was fairly tempestuous. We stopped briefly to watch the waves and riptides from a viewpoint, and it was incredible to see God's creation all stirred up by wind and rain. I've never seen the white caps out so far into the ocean.


View from the upstairs bedroom window where we slept.
We stopped for dinner in Cannon Beach at my favorite place to get clam chowder. Unfortunately, we found out they don't make other things as well as they do clam chowder, but it was still nice to have a quiet dinner with my husband. After making one more stop to pick up a few things to eat at the cabin, we drove the winding road and made it to our destination. It is dated (late 60s), but fully furnished with just about anything you could want or need. We never turned on the satelite television or even the stereo. We played a couple games, finished the jigsaw puzzle that had been started and left, talked uninterrupted, wrote out our goals (something we haven't done for about five years), drank in the gorgeous scenery and even walked the property a bit when the rain wasn't too heavy.


One interesting thing we found saw was this wasp nest. It is huge. We took turns jumping up and down on the floor above so we could watch them get angry and come swarming out onto the outside of the nest trying to figure out what was going on. Juvenile, I know, but entertaining, nonetheless!


Yup, there was even a moose head!
Sunday afternoon, we reluctantly packed up, picked up after ourselves, locked up the cabin and started for home. We stopped for a very late lunch/early dinner at the Macaroni Grill before coming home to our children. It was a very relaxing day, and I am thankful my hubby planned it all! On the way home we were thinking up ways we might be able to come back, even with the kids. Hopefully, they need more computer work or something done soon!

The Judging Is In

This is what 15 pounds of blueberries looks like.

At the beginning of this month a sweet friend met me at the blueberry fields where we picked 15 pounds of blueberries, then brought them to my house where she showed me how to make her pie crust and shared her yummy pie recipe from Mom Lundy.

Picture perfect pie!

I don't think I have ever cooked with someone other than my hubby, kids and mom before, and it was really fun doing it with someone else! We made six pies, four of which were mine. I gave one to a dear neighbor who's wife has just died, took one to the 4th of July barbecue, shared one at Saturday barbecue at our house, and our family ate the fourth. Two people asked me for the recipe, and everyone who ate the pie just raved about it! Now I remember why I asked her to teach me...her blueberry pie is fabulous!

Not so picture perfect, but yummy nonetheless.
Oh, wondering what in the world you'd do with four pies? Well, guess what? They freeze beautifully! You can't even tell the difference between the fresh and frozen pie.

Gas and Proverbs

Okay, this picture is a month old because that's how far behind I am on my personal blog. Most of what I was going to post the last month is just gone, and this morning as I was reading Proverbs I decided it was probably for the best.

Proverbs 10:19-When there are many words, transgression is unavoidable, but he who restrains his lips is wise.

But back to the picture...isn't it great to be paying less than $3.00 a gallon for gas!!! Who knew I'd ever rejoice at paying $2.79 (today's price) per gallon. Ryan and I were looking through his baby book recently, and it has a list of what things cost when he was born. Gasoline was $1.69! It made me search my past blog posts looking for the other time I posted about the price of fuel. I was thrilled then because the price had come down under $2.00, and that was just 19 months ago. I had to post this picture (despite it being a month old) because I figure that in another year or so I'll be posting about how happy I am to only be paying $4.00 per gallon and I'll want to look back and remember the good old days of $2.79!

Birthday Getaway-Part 1

My hubby surprised me (though he gave me heads up, wisely and thankfully!) with an overnight getaway for my birthday. I told him not to get me a present because he spent too much on Mother's Day and I don't need anything anyway, but I was wrong...I did need some peace and quiet!

He arranged for a long-time friend to come and watch the kids overnight. This family were our friends when we lived in Tennessee, and they have moved to Oregon this year. We spent the 4th of July with them and had such a wonderful time visiting with them. Though we haven't seen them for eight years, it felt just like old times again. They are a wonderful family, and we're so happy to have them living nearby (relatively) again.

Their children were young (in fact, I watched them a time or two and was a camp counselor for the oldest daughter!), but now they are all grown. The youngest daughter is living at home and looking for a permanent nursing job, but in the meantime she is a nanny. She came and spent the night with the kids, and they had a great time with her!

We've never left Ryan and Abby overnight with anyone except Gramie and then it's only been twice, but I have great confidence in Candace and didn't worry a bit. She did a great job and the kids can't wait to have her come again. She even balked at taking the money we wanted to give her, though we were able to get her to at least take some for gas. What a blessing!

The best part is that the kids were well-behaved enough that she's willing to do it again sometime...woo-hoo!

Two Years

It's my two-year anniversary in the world of blogging. I have been contemplating some changes, but in the end I just can't make up my mind! Do I combine my blogs into one so I can better keep them up to date or should I just combine the kids's blogs or should I just quit blogging altogether?

For now I will just continue what I have been doing, though if by some miracle more "free" time becomes available, I may make some changes. In the meantime, if you read my blog or blogs and you haven't yet signed my guestbook, would you please do so. It's so nice to know who's reading!

Checking Up On Hubby

So this is what my hubby does when he goes fishing with the guys?! Actually, it's my hubby who's awake and taking the picture of the napping fishing friends. He tells me that fishing is relaxing, and I guess this proves it!

Are You Broken?

The Broken Beloved