1. Rainy, windy and cool here. And the leaves, they are a turnin'. It's most definitely fall out there.
2. Three more cross country events before the end of the season. Guess that means we get to stand out in the rain, wind and cold... The coach of the high school team was at Kyler's last meet - and approached him about running with them next year. Kyler was pretty pleased to have caught his eye...
3. Reached my Lifetime membership at Weight Watchers last week. Which means as long as I stay within 2 pounds of my goal weight, I never have to pay again. This is why I joined - so I have built in accountability to stay at this weight...
4. Speaking of weight, I figured out my starting and ending BMI the other day. I went from 25 (the bottom of the unhealthy standard) to 21.9, which is smack dab in the middle of the healthy weight range. Proud of me.
5. Ethan got his retainer yesterday... his mouth is a little sore this morning, but the biggest challenge is getting him to just leave it alone. He keeps taking it out and putting it in... driving me crazy. I tried to help him realize his teacher isn't going to appreciate it if he's playing with it all day. We'll see how it goes today. He's got a little lisp as he figures out how to talk with it... already this morning I see huge improvements in his speech from last night.
6. Asia's on the road again this week. Week three in a row. Tired of that.
7. Reading Finding Our Way Again: The Return of the Ancient Practices by Brian McClaren right now. Good stuff. This is the first in a series of books about the ancient practices of Christianity... hoping to read them all. Looks like this one will be be next...
8. We had a nice quiet visit with my parents here over the weekend... didn't do anything spectacular, but we enjoyed having them here, just joining in with our crazy daily lives... I sure love them. Love watching the kids with them... sweet.
9. We made caramel apples Sunday. Wow, they're good. My favorite? Dipped in caramel, then rolled in chopped walnuts and mini chocolate chips. Oh my grief - SO delicious. I was a bad photographer and didn't take any pictures at all... but I promise, they were really pretty too (before we bit into them at least...)
10. Happy Tuesday, friends! Enjoy the colors outside your window today...

Our photographer has the sneak peek of our family photo shoot up:

Check them out and tell me what you think!
(If you click on them, they'll go to a larger version so you can see them better.)

First of all, what is wrong with us? Look at our pants! Notice the girl second from the left (whose name I miraculously remember almost 30 years later was Bonnie) and her cool little 'Jesus with children on his lap' viewfinder hanging proudly from her belt loop... It's a good thing her pants are almost up to her armpits or she'd never be able to view Jesus without taking the viewfinder off the beltloop. That Bonnie was a smart one.

This is roughly 1979... summer before 5th grade. I'm the bombshell on the right of the counselor, third from the right. Please do notice the awesome green see-through vinyl visor in my left hand.

What I remember most about this year at summer camp is that I was worried about how I was going to take care of my hair all by myself so I asked my mom to put it into pigtails before we went. Each morning, I would get up and take out one side of those piggy pig-pig tails and brush it out, then put the ponytail holder right back in, lickety split, before I took the other side of the pigtails out to brush and then re-restrain it. That way, my part would never get messed up or crooked. (I still have crooked part issues today, if you must know. I love to wear my hair in two braids but hardly ever do because it takes me so ding-dang long to get my part straight.)

But here's the real neat-o part of the story... because I was so worried about messing up my part, I went the whole week without showering. Because that would have required taking out BOTH pigtails at once. And then I'd have been doomed. Because apparently it was VERY important to me to wear pigtails the whole blessed week. This picture was taken the very last day of camp, by our parents who had driven four hours to pick us up and bring our stinky selves home. Obviously, I felt the freedom to let my pigtails out because I was headed home to the comfort of my own bed and my mommy who could help me get my part straight.

Of course, now, as I was typing, I just realized that I could very easily have taken out one side of the pigtails in the shower and washed it, then put the ponytail holder back in before I took out the other side to wash it. Much like my styling routine, I could have safely maintained the sanctity of my perfect part and had clean hair. There's a certain amount of wisdom that comes with being 39 that makes life so much easier, wouldn't you agree? From now on, whenever I'm determined to wear pigtails for a whole week, I'm going to employ the 'only wash half your head at a time whilst leaving the other half safely secured in it's perfectly straight-parted ponytail' technique.

But I was only ten. So of course, I couldn't have thought of that genius plan then... I was too busy coordinating my fashion wardrobe and pretending I didn't still play with Barbies.

Now, before we all go on to our Fridays, let's take a moment to wave to cutie-pie little Corey there on the other side of the counselor, third from the left. Isn't she just the skinniest miniest little sweetie? I'm so blessed to still be able to count her my best friend after all these years. She's been by my side both literally and figuratively for almost 35 years. Amazing. Even when I don't shower for a week.

Happy Friday, friends!

Been thinking lots lately about life. And where I sit in it.

I come from a long line of stability. Good people who were content to live simple lives and who settled in for the long haul. People who basically did the same thing year in and year out.

I grew up watching them. And assuming that my life would look similar to that. Get married - have kids - watch them grow - love on your grandbabies - cook lots of Thanksgiving meals and celebrate lots of Christmases surrounded by loved ones.

And here I am on the precipice of my 40's and I have no idea what I'm doing.

I'm leaving for Africa in six weeks, and I know I cannot come back and settle in for the long haul.

The long haul isn't going to be in my future, I don't think.

I think my heart has been awakened to other possibilities.

Does that mean my family is going to up and move to Africa? I don't think so. But I know this: I know that for the rest of my life I'm going to be torn between two places. And I hope that I can establish that kind of un-settledness in my kids as well... because that's really what life as a believer is all about, isn't it?

It all makes my heart long all the more for Christ to return.

Because heaven will be the place I am finally settled.

I just never imagined I would be sitting here at this stage of my life wondering what in the world God has for us next... and being open to all sorts of possibilities... As a child, I always assumed at this age I'd have my heels dug in deeply with the knowledge that options had passed me by years before - and that I'd be okay with that.

But instead, I'm in this weird place of acknowledging the normalcy of my present reality while I long for the new, unknown places God might be taking me.

I'm about to embark on something extraordinary. And then I get to come back and try to integrate extraordinary into ordinary. Not quite sure how I'm going to manage that...

It's a strange and wonderful place to be.

And that's what I'm pondering.

All my life, I thought the Neil Diamond song was "Reverend in Blue Jeans."

I always liked the thought of a nice pastor-y type who always wore his 501's.

How relate-able he must be... that's the kind of pastor I want...

Until last year during American Idol when Jason Castro sang it "Forever in Blue Jeans."

I asked Asia "Why do you think he changed the lyrics?"

Turns out he didn't. No reverend to be seen in the correct lyrics.

But my pastor does wear blue jeans almost every week, so I'm feeling okay about the whole thing.

(edited to add that I'm quite dismayed to find the moment at which the video had to end... have you ever seen such an unflattering pose, on anyone? Honestly? But I'm leaving it alone. It's just one short little frozen, ugly moment in my life - saved here for all eternity.)

Books I've Read Recently

• Pope Benedict XVI: Jesus of Nazareth

  I've just started this book. Written by none other than the pope himself, so far I find myself agreeing with most of what he says regarding our savior.

• David McCullough: John Adams

  I checked this out from the library and am enjoying it throughly. I love the relationship of John and Abigail Adams.

• John N. Oswalt: The Book of Isaiah, Chapters 1-39 (New Intl Commentary on the Old Testament)

  A wonderful commentary on Isaiah. It has been very helpful as I've been teaching a class on this OT prophet this fall.

• David O. Stewart: The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution (Simon & Schuster America Collection)

  Read this while backpacking recently. Fascinating story of the making of the US constitution. The style of the book wasn't great, but I learned a lot.

• Mark Driscoll: Vintage Jesus: Timeless Answers to Timely Questions (Relit Theology)

  Driscoll's style is irreverant and humerous, but his message is doctrinally sound and right in line with orthodox Christianity. A great look at the nature of Jesus told in a fresh new way.

• Garry Wills: What Paul Meant

  A compelling defense of the apostle Paul, demonstrating that Paul's message was consistent with Jesus' message. However, the author gets off track on his dating of the book of Acts and needlessly blames Acts for Paul's bad reputation.

This little guy came to the birdbath one am and thought to himself "WOW! a private bath. BUT
little did he know it would not last long... Soon Mo and Jo joined him just for company and THEN
Lo and Behold - the whole family came for a community bath !
The picture is too small to really see the flutter of the wings in the water in the third picture.
I enjoy my birdies bath in the mornings.
They often go rub in the dust of the driveway and then come to the birdbath to clean off.
What a blast they can be when they all hit the tub at the same time !

I'm the tall ant with the pink shirt. My church put on a musical called "Antsylvania." It was actually the most fun I've had in a theater production, I think. It was a tiny church - but we had a lot of tal-ant.

Two of my three children have now thrown up in a car in the last five weeks.

You know how they say bad things come in threes?

I'm keeping a big plastic bag in the car from now on.

Aub Goes to College

Aub makes her bed in her new room at Trinity House

Aub's new room at Trinity House

Trinity House 2008-09-21 004

Aub rides her new scooter, Vera.

Aub takes Vera for a ride.

We dropped Aub off at college today.  We moved her into her new room at Trinity House. Just watching her as she gets ready to start this new adventure in life reminded me so much of 23 years ago when my then girl friend, La Chel, and I drove to Eugene to begin our adventure at UO. I moved into the Alpha Omega House, which is the male equivalent of Trinity House. What an exciting time of life. Living at AO house was such a formative time for me, living away from home for the first time, building new relationships, becoming who I would be as an adult. I only hope that Aub experiences that same excitement and maturity as she gets started on her adventure.   The second major milestone this week for my daughter is that she bought her first transportation. A honda scooter which she has affectionately named Vera. She is so excited about Vera, and it is very practical transportation. As "safety dad," however, I'm still struggling with the realization that my daughter owns a motorcycle!   Here are some pictures of her moving in and riding her new scooter.    

The kids and I grew sunflowers this year. We've grown them before, but it's been years... they're blooming in all their glory right now.

I love them.

I have no idea what to do after my senior year. I don’t feel like going to college and incurring debt. I don’t feel like going to college and doing “the norm”. I don’t feel like going to college and “learning” stuff I don’t care about. I just want to get on with my life… Whatever that means. Since I don’t know what I want to do with my life, I will ponder it all through the year until I hit graduation. Hopefully by then I will have come to a conclusion, but, if not, I plan on living all the same.

5th grade.

I played the clarinet.

And apparently I was good.

Because I got to stand in the back of the band and play a duet with my friend Lana, who played the flute.

I also had some screamin' socks, which looked particularly good with my white cork heeled sandals.

And that A-line ruffled skirt? Wowza.

Fashion aside, what I really want to tell my fifth grade self is to stand up straight. Why am I hunched over so? I look like an old man...

(Watch for Flashback Friday on a more regular basis, because I just found time to go through old photo albums this week... and I scanned a bunch of winners like this one... Hooray for Flashback Friday!!!)

Drink it in.
The sunshine,
laughter,
family.

Embrace the people in your path
so that they leave your presence
with a smile.

Find the beauty in each moment
whether it's crazy busy
or quiet and serene.

Enjoy the youth
all around you.
Revel in their possibility.

Take a moment to relish
the blessings God has bestowed.

Cherish each day.
Sun up to sundown.

This is the day the Lord has made.

I will rejoice, and be glad in it.

I really couldn't ask for a more lovely day.

Between the gorgeous weather, a nice long walk with the dog, the three loads of laundry I've managed to get washed, on the line, and folded, and a delicious pasta salad on the patio for lunch, I'm just about as happy as a girl can get.

We had a lovely weekend as well. We got free passes to the Spokane Interstate Fair, which we used after I got off work Friday night. We had so much fun seeing all the animals, and letting the kids use the included ride passes on those lovely non-safety-regulated rides that always show up at the fair. I indulged in a caramel apple, which really only whetted my apetite for homemade ones. We simply must put that little activity on our fall schedule.

Saturday was sunny and warm - and we managed to fit in a full day of playdates, the farmer's market, a Costco run, and dinner out for Asia and I.

Yesterday we went to church and had our second week of small group. It went so well. I think it's going to be a great group... they're all so real - open and honest about their struggles and victories - and hopefully Asia and I can be an encouragement to them as they wade through their first years of marriage together. I love them all.

Two months from today I will be in Casablanca on my way to Sierra Leone. The trip doesn't seem very real to me yet, but I've begun the mental checklist of things I want to take along, people I need to contact to get letters to take to T., and which skirts and blouses will work well for the African bush...

Asia spent some time last week talking with Chris Clark, the founder and president of Children of the Nations about my trip, and our dream to go as a family... Chris' desire for the family trip is a little more than I was expecting - he would really like to see our family go in the summer and stay in Sierra Leone for at least two months. Which overwhelms and terrifies me all at once. While I see the value in that kind of longer term investment, the logistics of a trip like that just about push me over the edge. And of course, at the top of my list of concerns is the silly dog. Who would take care of Gracie if we were gone for two months?

Oh, it's overwhelming, all right. But exciting too, you know?

So while I sit here and let my heart drink in God's goodness, I also have to sit in the knowledge of His provision and His love and know that through Him, all things are possible.

Because frankly, two months in Africa, while it sounds impossible to me, also sounds over the moon beyond my wildest dreams. I wouldn't have even thought to ask for two months... but now that it's out there, I'm humbled and amazed at where God might be taking us as a family.

So while I hang the laundry and walk the dog and plan the dinner and fold the clothes, I'm also thinking "We can have the hugest yard sale of all time to raise money and I can sell stuff on ebay and we can pray for supporters who are willing to give over an extended period of time and my kids can see how God provides not only the finances, but the also courage and the community support we will need."

So my brain is working overtime and my heart is full and I am excited.

Who knew that I would be at this stage of my life and be on the edge of so many possibilities?

I never would have expected it.

But I'm thankful for it.

It's a good place to be.

I hope you're all having the loveliest of Mondays.

Smooch you all.

This is one of my favorite pictures of all time.It was taken when Bob was on Attu in the Coast Guard.We had only been married a year and two months when he left for a year of isolated duty in Alaska.This was taken in his room. Don't know who took it but I told him he had to have at least one picture of himself with every set of pictures he sent home. IT WAS A LONG YEAR !I was in Aberdeen for the year. We had been living in Seattle where he was stationed when he got his orders. Rather than stay in "the big city" Mom and Dad asked if I wanted to come back to Aberdeen and stay with them while he was gone so we took them up on it. I went back to work at the D & R with our former boss finding me extra work thru the week for more hours. I also worked at a florist shop that was right near the theatre. It was just a little one man shop and he needed some help on days he had big orders sohe trained me as an apprentice. I loved working there... especially the days we got new orders of flowers in. I used to smell the roses when they first came in and he said I would soon get over that but I never did. They were just so pretty I couldn't resist a sniff each time!We got thru the year but seem like forever. Before we got married we had been separated for three months while he was in boot camp, then for six months while he was in ET school in Groton, Conn. so we were used to separation but that didn't make it any easier.One reason he didn't re-enlist is we knew as an Electronic Technician it would mean another year of isolated duty if he stayed in. We weren't ready for that again. So what happened, he got stationed on the Coast Guard Cutter Winona when he got home with only four more months to go. And guess what in November they went to sea for a month. Oh well, that is history and we got thru it ok... Even tho at the time it seemed like the end of the world every time he had to leave.

This is the fifth opening sentence with which I have attempted to prime the pump of words. As I have nothing better with which to begin, I will allow it to stand.

Work is fine. I finished reading an excellent book (Language in Thought and Action by S.I. Hayakawa, in case any of you want to look it up). My room is unbearably disorderly. My new students, all 15 of them, promise to be a great group. I went out and bought an exfoliater for my face skin the other day. I move in to Trinity House in roughly a week. I don't have any idea what I'm going to do for my recital piece. Office Max finally got me two girl-sized polos so I don't have to wear that mens' medium one pinned in at the back anymore. Mom took me shopping for my new room and spent an absurd amount of money on me. I seem to have snuffed my closest friendship into embers. I lost Jim's pen somewhere in my room. I have to clean the whole house tomorrow. I have three social emails to which I have yet to respond. I worked for ten hours today. Some people apparantly consider me to be a good writer, but then I put out a post like this every so often just to prove them wrong. I want cake. I am going to listen to Chopin and eat some chocolate stare at the ceiling until I fall asleep now.