What a great day!

*It started the moment I woke up. Cameron, who has been sick, popped out of his room with his usual energy - he's well again. Yay!

*Katie thought I needed breakfast in bed, since "Daddy's out of town and you have to take care of us all by yourself." She fixed me oatmeal and yummy coffee with cream and almond flavored syrup in it. What a treat!

*After that, I picked my mom up from the local hotel and drove her to their property up the street from my house. Always fun to have a little time with my Ma. Got to hang out and listen in on some of their decision making for the house.

*The kids had some friends over for lunch and playtime. It's always fun to watch them interact with guests.

*Went shopping in McMinnville....bought Cam his football cletes, some stuff at WalMart and supplies to teach Katie how to embroider (will need Nana's input on that!).

*When we got home I played monopoly with Cameron while the girls played Barbies up in their room. Mom called and asked if we wanted to meet them for dinner before they headed back to Crescent Lake. Well, YEAH! So we drove to Wilsonville's Red Robin and had yummy dinner.

* On the way, Rosalie and Natalie played barbies. I love listening in on their play! I have to try real hard not to laugh. :) Tonight they were planning a wedding...make that a few weddings. Natalie says "Well, weddings always happen in the night so let's get married tonight." Rosalie puts on her best low man voice and says "OK. But I want to marry someone else." So Natalie says "Why don't you just email her and tell her you decided to marry a different girl." :)

* On the way home Rosalie makes up songs to sing to herself - the whole way. One of them starts off in a nice country twang (which I don't know where she got since we don't listen to much country. It must be her Texas roots!) Oh, I used to be pretty. But now I'm not pretty anymore. I wish I was pretty. (I think she was referring to her barbie, not herself. We could have some real issues here if not!)

*At swimming lessons Natalie swam several feet without help for the first time ever! Yay Natalie!

*And to finish it off, I played Wordtwist and Scrabulous with my out of town husband and also with a long ago friend on facebook.

*Now I think I'll go hop in bed with my book and stay up late reading. A perfect ending to a wonderful day! :)

Here's a tasty treat for hot summer days! It tastes like a julius. Mmmmm........

6 oz. (1/2 a can) frozen juice concentrate - orange is best, but it's fun to try other flavors
1 cup milk
1 cup water
1/4 cup sugar (You really don't even need that much)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
10 large ice cubes

Put all ingredients in a blender and blend away until the consistency is like a julius. SO yummy! I just had an orange/peach/mango one.

I'd love to hear from anyone who tries it!

I've come to a realization over the last week or so. It wasn't a sudden light bulb sort of realization, but more of a slow, warm, growing knowledge of something.

After years of missing my "home", only living in a house away from home, I am finally HOME. Over the last week I've come to realize that I feel settled, comfortable, happy in this somewhat new place we call home. We are in a community that feels like home, a church that feels like home, the kids are in a school that feels like home. I feel like I know my place in this community, who my friends are, who I am. It's amazing that now that I know this, I feel so much more able to serve the One who is truly my home. And the opportunities seem to be falling from the sky right into my lap.

On the way from Klamath Falls back to Dundee/Newberg after spending Thanksgiving with his family, I commented to Reid that Klamath Falls is finally no longer home, but home is here, in Dundee, in our house at the end of Ione St., next to the vineyard. Oh, KFalls will always be special to me...the place of my childhood, where I grew into a young woman, where I met and dated and married my wonderful husband, and where we take our children to spend time with our families. This sort of makes me sad, but at the same time, so at peace, to know that I know who I am apart from that place, and that I have a new home here, and that home is more about who I am than where I am, though I can't say that I would feel the same if I still lived in that far off land of Texas! I guess I was born and raised an Oregonian, and just as people who were born and raised in Texas can never imagine leaving because it's so much a part of them, so it is with me and my Oregon, no matter which part of it I live in. It's part of me, and I am finally part of it again. I am....home. Ahhhhh.

Wash on Monday.....

Remember the old saying/poem? Wash on Monday, iron on Tuesday. something on Wednesday and so on? Well I have my own. It goes like this. At least last week.

Take Rosalie to tutoring on Monday.

Bible study and college class for company on Tuesday.

Fieldtrip to the library with Natalie on Wednesday.

Volunteer in Katie's class and take Rosalie to tutoring on Thursday.

Cheer for kids in the fund raiser run on Friday.

Soccer on Saturday (four games this week - only two kids).

Church on Sunday.

Groceries on Monday.

Bible study on Tuesday.

Picture day on Wednesday.

Volunteer in Cam's class on Thursday.

And so it continues. I must admit. I love it. But maybe I need a little wash on Monday, clean on Tuesday mentality. :)

Chicken Feathers and Serving God....

Our pastor preached a great sermon yesterday. He challenged us to look at life "missionally", to ask ourselves how we can bring Jesus to the people we interact with on a day to day basis. To seek to serve our neighbor. I decided to take his message to heart, so this morning I asked the Lord to show me how I might serve him in the lives of those I would see today. Little did I know.....

I have this friend.
She lives on a farm.
She tutors Rosalie.
Her husband is out of town.
She is 8 and 1/2 months pregnant.
She has a dog.
A bad dog.
She has chickens.
Dumb chickens.
Bad dog killed 4 dumb chickens.
While I was at their house today.
Today, serving Jesus meant this...
I picked up two dead chickens.
I also hit one wounded chicken in the head.
With a fence post.
So it wouldn't have to suffer anymore.
(Sounds noble, but I didn't hit it hard enough, so Chris,
my friend had to hit it two more times to kill it.)
While I watched.
She was sad.
I was glad I was there for her,
but I hope God doesn't ask me to do dead chickens anymore.

OK, so it's the middle of the second week of school, but here are the 1st day pictures.

The first weekend of August, we went to our church family camp out. It was at this campground near Mt. Hood. On Saturday, our family took a picnic lunch, and went up the mountain on the ski lift. The view was spectacular! And there was snow up there! We even had a snowball fight....in August. It ws FUN! :)