It's Been a Year

I can hardly believe that today a whole year has passed since I first began blogging. This is my 101st post which means I have posted an average of almost two posts per week, far more than I thought I had done. I often have thoughts rolling around in my mind that never make it to this blog since the kids' blogs are my first priority. Though I'm sure the Lord has a plan in keeping some of those things from ever being said! Many thanks to those of you who faithfully read my humble blogs and even comment occasionally. When I get a comment or someone signs my guestbook, I am always amazed that anyone took the time to read my meager offerings.

Elizabeth T. King

The way may at times seem dark, but light will arise, if thou trust in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him. That light may sometimes show hard things to be required, but do not be distressed if thy heart should rebel; bring thy unwillingness and disobedience to Him, in the faith that He will give thee power to overcome, for He cannot fail. "Greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world," so keep close to Him, and the victory will be won. But do not, I beseech thee, neglect anything that is required, for disobedience brings darkness; and do not reason or delay, but simply follow the leadings of the Holy Spirit, and He will guide thee into all peace. --Elizabeth T King.

God's Promise

As Abby and I were leaving urgent care Wednesday evening, we saw this pretty rainbow. We get to see a lot of them where we are living now, and I am always excited to be reminded once again of God's promise (one of His many promises). Of course the picture doesn't do it justice.

Relationship with God in the Midst of (Crazy) Family LIfe

Thanks, Ann. Your posts are often exactly what I need, exactly when I need it.

New Website, New Blog

I have been working on a family website for almost nine months. I have had trouble getting it to look like I wanted in all the major browsers. It is still a work in progress, but at last I think I've finished tweaking how it looks and am concentrating more on content. So if you're interested, click on over to my home page and check it out.

I also created a new blog several months ago (yikes, not another one!) to track our homeschooling progress. It's called Teaching Mommy. I don't update it very often since our homeschool is a modest venture currently, but please feel free to browse it as well.

How to Do the Job You Don't Really Want To Do

Here is yet another wonderful devotion from Elisabeth Elliot.

Certain aspects of the job the Lord has given me to do are very easy to postpone. I make excuses, find other things that take precedence, and, when I finally get down to business to do it, it is not always with much grace. A new perspective has helped me recently:

The job has been given to me to do.

Therefore it is a gift.

Therefore it is a privilege.

Therefore it is an offering I may make to God.

Therefore it is to be done gladly, if it is done for Him.

Therefore it is the route to sanctity.

Here, not somewhere else, I may learn God's way. In this job, not in some other, God looks for faithfulness. The discipline of this job is, in fact, the chisel God has chosen to shape me with--into the image of Christ.

Thank you, Lord, for the work You have assigned me. I take it as your gift; I offer it back to you. With your help I will do it gladly, faithfully, and I will trust You to make me holy.

Feature Blog

Update: Not long after I featured her blog here, she moved her blog. The links are to her new blog, but the specific posts I mentioned, link back to her old blog.

When we lived in Memphis we were privileged to become friends with a woman named DebbieLynne. She has her own blog now, and I wanted to feature it here. It's called Joyful Christian Lady's Museum, and it often features artwork she has done. Though it's not her defining characteristic, I do want to point out that she has cerebral palsy and does all her artwork and typing from a wheelchair using a headstick. I've watched her type with her headstick, and it is a tedious, time-consuming process. I can't even imagine how she is able to draw with it!

She recently wrote a post that I thought was very thought-provoking. I pray The Church will indeed step up to the plate, not just when the government can no longer fill the need, but now...today. I have not been good at meeting the needs of disabled people myself, and I am currently praying and asking the Lord what He would have me do. If you're also wondering how you can serve, perhaps you can read her latest post, as she was gracious enough to post some ideas.

Lord bless you, DebbieLynne!

Proud and Relieved

After 13 years of talking and praying about it, three years of actually doing it, and one day of celebrating it (we will momentarily forget the years ahead of paying for it), Ed has his bachelor's degree! Several weeks ago he got his last six credits by passing a CLEP exam, and we were so relieved that we were fairly giddy for hours because it was all over and done with.

Don't you just love those people who are more important
than the rest of us, who just ignore requests to remain
seated in order that everyone can see their graduate walk?

Sunday we had the joy of watching him walk and finish this chapter of our lives. I am especially proud of him. He balanced an incredibly hectic schedule of work, school, and family with only a mere nine weeks off from school in 2 1/2 years and unbelievably still managed to graduate With Honors...all A's!

It was a rare sweltering day in Portland, over 100 degrees. But the kids were incredibly well-behaved, and we had some precious friends join us which really made it special. We stood in the heat (thankfully in the shade) for 20 minutes to get into the auditorium, then sat for an hour before the ceremony began, then the ceremony itself was two hours long. Afterwards, we went to Ed's work to give our friends a tour, only to find Ed had to resolve a crisis, of course. After another 30 minutes, we went to dinner at the Macaroni Grill. During most of this, both Abby and Ryan were on their best behavior!

Though they weren't the only ones who helped, Joel and Cathy graciously watched our children numerous times so we could have some time alone together. More than once Cathy came to our house and allowed us a late night out together, and we are so grateful for that! Not only that, but they have been models for us in their roles as spouses, parents and Christians.

Cathy, Eddie, and Joel

Congratulations, Eddie! I'm so proud of you...and I'm so relieved it's over.

Up and Running Again

I have been falling behind on the things I've wanted to post on this blog and my kids' blogs too. Last month I got a computer virus which put me out of commission for a while. Even though it was removed it seemed to bog down my already slow system, so hubby rebuilt my laptop this weekend. I am hoping to be able to post more regularly now that I have an optimized machine!

More Blooms

I just couldn't resist posting another picture of my African Violet (actually, hubby suggested it too!). It is just beautiful and blooming like crazy! I think it must be really happy in this little nook in our dining room.

June in Oregon

I just love living in Oregon. It is so green and beautiful, and now that we're living out "in the country," life is quiet and pretty slow-paced for the kids and me. I stepped outside this evening to look at our hillside, and it was shrouded in these low-lying clouds. It reminded me of the time Ed and I spent in The Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. It was a cool 68 degrees, and the low clouds gave our little neighborhood a cozy and peaceful feeling.

Camping with a View

After an almost four-year break from camping, we decided to give it a try this year. We went when Ryan was six months old, but we haven't been brave enough to try it again until this year. It was a success in the end, though we had a few rough times, especially getting the kids to sleep. We enjoyed it enough that we're planning another trip at the end of the summer, so the good outweighed the bad.

Some of the good was seeing so much of God's incredible creation! Before we even got to the campground, we saw a couple of deer. They were just about 15 feet away! It was exciting to see them so close. Then our campground was on Timothy Lake, which is gorgeous and has breathtaking views of Mt. Hood. We hiked part way around the lake, and the view just kept getting better. I think if we go back to Lake Timothy to camp again, we'll stay at one of the other campgrounds.

We stopped hiking so we could eat lunch and let the kids play in the lake for a while. We watched large osprey fishing in the lake and Daddy found a frog for the kids to see. The osprey weren't having much luck catching fish, and that made Ed feel a little bit better since he didn't have much success fishing.

Though it's hard to see, there is a fish on the end of that line!

Back at our camp we had a visiting duck who had a perfect sense of timing, showing up at 6:30 every evening just in time for dinner. We saw dozens of adorable, though pesky, ground squirrels. They were everywhere and were so brave that I actually had trouble shooing one of them off the table. He didn't seem the least bit afraid of me!

As we were packing to leave, we were visted by a skittish Stellar Jay. He moved so quickly, I had trouble getting a picture of him that wasn't blurry. He was pretty afraid of me, but he had no fear of the ground squirrels. He chased them away more than once from the bread we had thrown on the ground. I just couldn't believe how incredibly blue he was!

Blooms at Last

I do not have much of a green thumb, and I usually end up killing any plants I buy or am given. However, I have managed to keep alive an African Violet that someone gave me after one of my miscarriages. It was blooming when I received it, and it bloomed once before Ryan was born, but it hasn't bloomed in the four years since. I was about to give up on it when lo and behold, I was watering it last week and saw blooms pushing their way to the sun! I don't know why exactly, but I almost cried. It now has more than a dozen fully opened and more on the way. I guess maybe the window I put it in when we moved is its happy place.

Date Night

Since we have moved, Ed and I no longer have any friends nearby on whom we can call to watch our kids so we can have a "date night" or some time alone together. So a couple times a month we take the kids to McDonald's. They play on the play structure, and we talk or play a game while they're having fun. It's not very romantic, but it's better than nothing!

Gone

Even though we had to content ourselves with viewing it on television, it was pretty spectacular to watch the Trojan Nuclear Power Plant cooling tower implosion this morning. We had hoped to watch it in person, especially since we only live 10 miles from the site, but they had access pretty well blocked off to everyone except those who live within view of the tower. We were at Trojan Park a couple weeks ago, and it was neat to watch them drilling holes for the explosives from a large crane. I've included several links to footage in this post (some of which take a while to load), but Fox News 12 probably has the best montage of footage I've seen so far.

We drove by the site several hours after the implosion on our way to Mt. St. Helens, and it was strange to see vacant sky where the tower once stood. It sure does improve the appearance of the lake and park though! I can't wait to go back and get some pictures of the new landscape.

On a side note for my family, the implosion was done by Controlled Demolition, Inc., owned and operated by the Loizeaux Family. I've been thinking about Miss Loizeaux recently, mostly wracking my brain to remember her first name...Linda? My most lasting memory is of her leaning on the podium in front of the class, twisting her engagement ring while she stared out the window daydreaming about her fiance (Ken, was it?) and their upcoming wedding. I also distinctly remember her making a point the first day to teach me the Spanish word for twins, gemelos. I wonder what she's up to these days?

For my other readers who are wondering what in the world I'm talking about, Miss Loizeaux was my high school Spanish teacher and she also had my twin brothers in her seventh grade class that year.

Mother's Day Prayer

As I was enjoying a rare and blissful pleasure this morning, an uninterrupted shower, I was praying and thinking about Mother's Day. I find it peculiar that now that I am a mother, I don't have the unreserved joy on Mother's Day that I had once thought I would enjoy once I attained the illusive title, "Mommy."

Maybe the joy is muted by the memory of the many babies I never held or the lingering scar of years of infertility and childlessness. Maybe it's the knowledge that this day holds pain for some that are precious to my heart. I think of those who fear they may never know the joy of raising a child, those whose arms are empty because they loved a child selflessly enough to trust another mom to give what she cannot give, those who are separated from their mothers by death or estrangement or many miles, those who find it hard to celebrate a mother who seems unworthy of praise, those who don't have food or shelter for their children, those who are suffering the pain of watching a grown child make devastating choices, or those who fail to be the kind of mother they know God is calling them to be.

Still, as I enjoyed a pancake breakfast prepared by my husband this morning, I was overflowing with joy. It is a breathtaking privilege to look around the table and see the beautiful faces of two children I have been given the honor of raising. I am joyous this morning because of sticky hands and obnoxious noises that come from my two charges, and I thank God with all that is in me, again, for making me a mommy.

For those who are on the painful side of this day, I want you to know that you are not forgotten, you are loved and needed by many. And I prayed for you today.

Calling All Imperfect Mothers

I have featured the blog Holy Experience before, but I had share today's post, A Shepherd's Mother, as well.

Thanks, Ann, for sharing your life with the rest of us "pilgrims."

Yard Sale

Ever since we knew we were going to be moving, we have been planning to have a yard sale. The one snag was that we moved in the dead of winter. It had been raining for months, and it continued to rain for months after our move. At last it seems that spring might be here to stay, though it isn't consistently very warm yet. So we opened up the boxes of things that we had packed up especially to sell, drug out tables and sorted, marked, and piled things for days before our two-day sale.

It turned out to be a gorgeous day on Friday, and we sold $455 worth of stuff that day alone. We awoke Saturday to rain, so we rearranged our tables and turned our yard sale into a garage sale. We ended up making $300 on Saturday, and the bonus was that someone hauled away our very ugly old couch that we had stuck out on the curb with a "Free" sign on it!

We made enough money to pay Abby's last medical bill (we paid off Ryan's entire surgery bills last month!) and to hire someone to grade our yard in preparation for topsoil and grass. You'd think I'd learn by now and quit worrying about getting bills paid. God is so faithful to provide!

Movie Recommendation

We watch practically no television, largely because we can't find a show that's worth watching. We do watch quite a few DVDs, most of which are ones we own. Once in a while we will brave the video rental store and see if we can find a movie to watch. This past weekend I waded through an astonishing amount of vile films until I stumbled upon a movie that looked safe and intriguing enough to rent. Turned out to be fantastic! It's called I Am David, and it's about a little boy who escapes from a communist forced labor camp after World War II and travels across Europe on his way to Denmark. If you're wanting a clean, interesting, and different movie to watch this weekend, I would highly recommend it.

Week 11

It was another week of lackluster effort as far as losing weight goes. I didn't lose or gain again this week. Hubby and I are taking this week off from even trying. His mom fell and broke six ribs, we've had car problems, and it's just been too hectic trying to coordinate all our schedules, help his mom, and still stay on program. Sigh. We hope to be back at it again next week.