Winter Weekend Top 5:

1.  Stopping just in the nick of time!

2.  Making new friends (we got stuck in an unknown couple’s driveway – they turned out to be really nice…we’re making dinner plans)

3.  Getting rescued by dear friends

4.  Getting to use our dear friend’s awesome car

5.  Having a great weekend despite our adventure on Saturday

photo taken by Chris L

Ok, I’m back…I think.  I seriously debated whether I should continue this blog.  After a while, I began to question its usefulness or relevance.  There is a part of me that feels weird writing about myself – it feels too self-indulgent.

I love other people’s blogs – I enjoy reading about their adorable and genius children, I am in awe of people’s talents at crafting and art and I appreciate really smart people’s thoughts and ideas.  And then there are are blogs that incorporate all of these things!  Wow!

Meanwhile, who wants to read about my silly snacks?

But maybe I’ll just keep writing about life and see what happens.  At the very least I can practice my writing – less flowery, more concise.

And maybe, years from now I will forget what that favorite snack was called and I can check back and find it here.  Ok, this blog can be useful. Sort of.

Chillaxing at the hotel

Meet my traveling companion.  As I mentioned, I discovered Facebook, so I’ve been mostly dwelling there.  But, in the real world (sometimes it’s hard to tell), I’ve been traveling around Oregon and Washington for work.  This is spring workshop season, which means I have been working weekends, which means I have been staying at hotels lately.  So, where have I been?  Well – Spokane, Salem, Everett and Central Point/Medford.  I would have been in Boise too, but we were in the Bay Area for my cousin’s wedding.   

Because he knew I would be a little lonely staying at one Holiday Inn Express after the other, Fran brought home this cute/ugly doll oddly named Babo’s Bird (to read his fascinating/weird story, click here).   He made my travels a little bit easier, but I wish he could drive!

Fran really knows how to take care of this girl!

He surprises me with treats.  These flowers were waiting for me today!

He’s a great cook and makes dishes that I crave!

Some recent home-cooked meals:

Perfectly prepared salmon with lots of garlic

Tender, juicy steak with black beans and plantains

I dig his cool hats and scruffy beard!

He’s thoughtful, a good cook and handsome…what more can a girl ask for?

I can’t believe how fast this year is going.  We definitely hit the ground running!  There’s been so much going on and I’ve been wanting to post an update, but I never seem to get around to it.  Besides being busy, it may also possibly have to do with the fact that I have been obsessed with Facebook lately.  It’s so fun to find childhood friends…and students that are now in high-school and college!

For those interested (all three of you!) here are our January highlights:

We started the new year celebrating a new union.  Not to mention food that was to die for!  I would have taken pictures of the dessert buffet, but I was too busy sampling it all!  It was fun being with Portland friends in the Bay Area…Half Moon Bay to be exact.

Ministry Team Retreat at Breakaway Lodge in Gearhart, a quaint beach town.  I tagged along with Fran.  It was a great time of connecting with people from church – hearing their burdens, dreams and what God is doing in  their lives.  There was no planning, no “strategizing” – just a great time of fellowship, encouraging one another and getting away for a little bit.  A highlight was walking on the beach and scaring the birds away.  Sara took some “cute” pictures, but alas, I didn’t bring my camera.

Mission Connexion 2009.  This was a missions conference that we went to.  The highlights were attending a workshop on the International Justice Mission (I won a DVD!) and reuniting with Richard Twiss at his awesome workshop.  Again, no pictures – but you should check out the links.  While you’re at it, check out Richard’s book – “One Church, Many Tribes.”  Read it – I’d love to discuss it with you!   

LA Fitness – yes, we joined a gym!  And we’re actually going!  Chalk it up to my Type 2 diabetes…and the fervent desire to fit into my old clothes instead of buying new ones.  Definitely no pictures here!

Weekends – wonderful time together with Fran (the whole day!) and meals/coffee with good friends.

At Rimsky’s with Mandi and Brian (and my finger almost blocking the view).  

So, we’re in the thick of it again in this month of February, and I’m sure you’ll hear about it soon…unless I get lured by Facebook again!

“If God had told me some time ago that He was about to make me as happy as I could be in this world, and then had told me that He should begin by crippling me in all my limbs, and removing me from all my usual sources of enjoyment, I should have thought it a very strange mode of accomplishing His purpose.  And yet, how is His wisdom manifest even in this!  For if you should see a man shut up in a closed room, idolizing a set of lamps and rejoicing in their light, and you wished to make him truly happy, you would begin by blowing out all his lamps; and then throw open the shutters to let in the light of heaven.”

~Samuel Rutherford

You’ve gotta love it!!!

Do you like learning new vocabulary and helping those in need at the same time?  Click here.

…let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire.

Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York.

Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania.

Let freedom ring from the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado.

Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California.

But not only that:

Let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia.

Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee.

Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi.

From every mountainside, let freedom ring.

 Image taken from www.nba.com

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