What Christmas is all about....

Wishing you a truly joyous Christmas!

Interesting day....

Yesterday was one of those days that just didn't turn out as planned....

Every Monday morning I head out to the local public elementary school to read with students. What can possibly be more fun than sharing something I love--books--with kids who are just starting out on the lifelong reading journey! As fall/winter in the Seattle area can get a bit chilly and as public schools aren't generally heated over the weekend, I normally dress pretty warmly on Monday mornings. I don't know if it was the anti-inflammatory/pain pills from the knee surgery or just getting older, but for some reason I forgot the extra layer of warmth when I left the house yesterday morning. And wouldn't you know it... the Reading Room's heater wasn't working (just blowing cold air, no heat)! Nothing like shivering through Fourth Grade Rats!

After shivering for an hour, I then made my weekly trip to Trader Joe's for Uncle Sam cereal (cheaper at TJs than at my regular grocery store). Hypothermia must have set in at school, or maybe again it was the anti-inflammatory drugs, because I suddenly felt the need to stock my pantry and came home with $98 of very cool groceries. That's a whole lot of cool groceries for two empty-nesters to eat!

No sooner had I gotten home and filled my pantry... I received back-to-back calls from realtors who wanted to stop by and preview our house. (Haven't posted an update on the house sale recently, but we are still listed as "Contingent"--waiting for our buyers to sell their house, but still marketing ours at the same time. Tell your friends we'll make them a great deal on a great house!) No big deal because I'm used to hobbling around sprucing up the house on short notice and then leaving for an hour or so. However, I'm not used to MULTIPLE realtors "stopping by" on the same day. Interesting.... Then just as I'm about to grill swordfish for dinner, I get call from another realtor who wants to bring a potential buyer for a showing.

Anybody who has ever had a house on the market knows that you can't cook fish right before someone comes to view your home, so the swordfish quickly swam back to the refrigerator. I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to go out for dinner AND get some much needed Christmas shopping done, so we headed out to the local mall. Since one of our favorite restaurants just opened at the mall, we thought it would be a good time to try it out... Monday night, no wait, in and out quickly... right? Wrong! Upon entering, we were told there was a 35-50 minute wait. Since we couldn't go home and all of the other mall-vicinity restaurants were probably packed as well, we decided to wait. Great dinner and we hurried out without having any cheesecake--big victory!



(My precious son Erik, if you are reading this post right now, please STOP HERE!) For his birthday in October, our son Erik received a new iPod Nano from his lovely wife Krista. So for Christmas we planned on giving him an iPod case, AV cables and an FM transmitter--required iPod "accessories," I'm told. I swear that everyone else in the entire Seattle area was also out purchasing iPod/Mac gear because the Apple Store at the mall was packed! And believe me, two middle age adults don't get a lot of attention from staff at this store. We finally caught the eye of a young employee, made our purchases, walked back to the car, and escaped out of the mall parking lot. When we arrived home, all of the lights were still on in the house just as we had left it (well-lit houses sell more quickly, our realtor tells me) and it looked wonderful. Made me want to buy it all over again. I love this house... our home for the past 16 years... where we raised Erik and Kara... where I learned to survive cancer... where we shared rousing pinochle games with special friends... where we first got to know Krista and Dusty whom we now love like daughter and son....

Yet, I can't wait to downsize to our new condo-without-a-pantry. (I'll have to learn to stay away from Trader Joe's.) Anyone looking for a wonderful family home in a terrific neighborhood?

Bad Blogger!

I feel like I'm a bad blogger because I just can't think of anything to post right now! I have so much for which I should be grateful to God, but I'm having a hard time getting beyond the pain in my... KNEE! Arthroscopic surgery on my knee last week has led to a very longggggg week of pain. Here's hoping and praying for a better weekend....

Screen Saver Reminder

Instead of flying windows or some other freaky screen saver, I like to use a Marquee screen saver with important thoughts traveling across my sleeping computer screen. This month's thought is from John Piper:

"If you live gladly to make others glad in God, your life will be hard, your risks will be high, and your joy will be full.”

Food for thought....

Thanksgiving

As you and your family gather and give thanks today, please remember to thank Almighty God for blessing our nation.

"Whereas it is the duty of all Nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for his benefits, and humbly to implore his protection and favor--and whereas both Houses of Congress have by their joint Committee requested me `to recommend to the People of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness.'

Now therefore I do recommend and assign Thursday the 26th day of November next to be devoted by the People of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being, who is the beneficent Author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be -- That we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks -- for His kind care and protection of the People of this Country previous to their becoming a Nation--for the signal and manifold mercies, and the favorable interpositions of his Providence which we experienced in the tranquility, union, and plenty, which we have since enjoyed--for the peaceable and rational manner, in which we have been enabled to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national One now lately instituted -- for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed; and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and in general for all the great and various favors which he hath been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech him to pardon our national and other transgressions--to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually -- to render our national government a blessing to all the people, by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed--to protect and guide all Sovereigns and Nations (especially such as have shewn [sic] kindness onto us) and to bless them with good government, peace, and concord -- To promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the encrease [sic] of science among them and us -- and generally to grant unto all Mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as he alone knows to be best."

Given under my hand at the City of New-York the third day of October in the year of our Lord 1789.

George Washington

Happy Birthday Mom!

Today is Mom's ____th birthday! (In deference to her desire to remember herself as "younger," I won't fill in the number.)

My mom is truly a godly woman who taught me everything I know about being a wife, mother and servant of Christ. Thanks, Mom!

A Colorful Perspective

Aren't you glad that God created the world in color? Even though Dave and I are basically boring people who see too many things in black and white, we can appreciate the color around us....

Autumn leaves...

Babies' pink cheeks...

Cool aqua streams...

Our new condo is just a few steps away from the Museum of Glass, a site that I know will become one of my new favorite places. Have you ever seen anything quite as colorful as these pieces of glass?

Lost and Found

I'm sitting here writing this post with a splitting headache. You know the kind; the headache that comes AFTER a stressful situation has worked itself out.

Earlier today we received a call that an older loved one was lost in downtown Seattle. We were told that the police had been notified and would we please come help look. Of course we dropped everything to join the search. To make a long story much shorter, this person eventually "found" himself, walking back to the location from which he had left. While everyone was relieved, there still remained a sense of unease in that it could very well happen again.

Many of us have been there before... a lost child in the mall, the elderly aunt who still loves to roam.... The feeling is never a good one, whether you are the searching one or the lost one.

Jesus had a lot to say about being lost and found....

And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house.... For the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost." Luke 19:9-10

Now all the tax collectors and the irreligious Jews were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, "This man receives sinners and eats with them." So He told them this parable, saying, "What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? "When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. "And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' "I tell you that in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. "Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? "When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!' "In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Luke 15:1-10

I am so glad that when I was lost Jesus found me!

Happy 80th Birthday to my DAD!

Please comment or email birthday wishes/greetings to my dad; I know he'd appreciate them! I love you, Dad!

Hair... can't live with it... can't live without it!

For most of my life I've struggled with my hair. I was born with curly, unruly hair; my younger sister was born with straight but full-of-body hair.

Becoming teenagers in the late sixties, we both agreed that she was the fortunate one. When everyone wanted to have long, straight hair with long, straight bangs, I was the one who had short, curly hair with bangs that seemed to shrink up to my hairline.

No product produced would make my bangs straight.

(I didn't even try with the rest of my hair.)

Not Dippity-Do.

Not pink hair tape.

Not jumbo hot rollers.

Not big pink foam rollers.

Nothing!

So, why am I telling you about this? Because I went to my sister's surprise 50th birthday party this past weekend. Her friends and family had put together a photo collage for sis and because we are only 11 1/2 months apart in age, I was in many of the earlier shots. The hair horror all came back to me as I saw photos of the two of us side-by-side. There she was looking cute with her soft, long, flowing head of hair. There I was with my short, kinky, unruly blob of hair. Yikes!

(That's my sis on the left and me on the right. The guy just to the right of my sister is now married to famous fashion designer Trina Turk!)

Then I remembered my months of chemotherapy and the totally bald head I sported throughout that process. It certainly put things in much better perspective....

"Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered...." Luke 12:7

"...for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." I Samuel 16:7

Happy Birthday, Erik!

One score and seven years ago today,

Erik was born into this world.

Today, Erik is healthy, successful, married to the love of his life and following our Lord Jesus Christ. What more could a mother want?

Happy Birthday, Erik!

Living the Cross-Centered Life

I just finished reading a great book by C.J. Mahaney, Living the Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing. Mahaney did a wonderful job of removing all of the distractions of life and focusing straight on what matters most--Christ crucified. Just as Paul said in I Corinthians 15:3-4, "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures...." I highly recommend this book to all who are serious about living for God.

Hiking 2007

Now that the weather has turned chilly and drippy, I'm reminded of some of the terrific hikes I was able to take this year in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon and Washington. Ahhhh....

Anybody want to buy a GREAT house?

We've got our house for sale and are hoping that a nice family will buy it! Do you know of any nice families (or nice young couples) looking for a terrific house in a terrific neighborhood?

Cool Slideshows

Weekend

Typical October weekend... with a few extras!

We "dogsat" for Kara and Dusty while they had a weekend away. Gunner is a terrific dog who is polite, quiet and clean--my kind of dog! K&D came to pick him up on Sunday and stayed to watch the first three quarters of the Seahawks-Steelers game. (No comment about this lame game.)

Since we're trying to sell the house ourselves, we sat around most of the weekend waiting for people to call. VERY few calls.... We'll give it a couple of more weeks before listing the house with a real estate agent.

Went to church Sunday. Jeff had a good sermon, but attendance seemed a bit down (due to Seahawks 10:00 a.m. start??).

Isn't this cute?

Loved this picture of our son Erik and his lovely wife Krista! Wait... you say... When did Erik and Krista have a baby?

The darling little Seahawks fan is actually Kellen, the son of their good friends, Jeff and Heather.

But coming from these bloodlines....

... there's always the possibility that we will have a little grandseahawk... I mean, seahawkgrandbaby... a grandbaby Seahawks fan at some point in the future!

Our future home... The Esplanade

Unit 910 on the top floor will be our new home in about five months or so.

Anyone know of a nice family who would like to buy our house (see post from 7/26/07)?

Sunset Dinner at Anthony's Homeport

Dave completed an important presentation for work today, so we decided to go out and celebrate at Anthony's Homeport in Des Moines. Sitting in their upstairs bar deck area, we enjoyed a four-course sunset dinner (translation: early & cheap). Dave had a gorgeous silver salmon and I had the Beef & Prawn Kabob. Yummmm! The only thing better than the food was the view over the Des Moines Marina.

Gunner... the Granddog!

Gunner belongs to Dusty and Kara. I guess that makes him our GRANDDOG. And a grand dog he is! While Dusty and Kara were in Boise this weekend, Gunner stayed with us. He likes coming to our house because he's got an entire backyard to roam and because we spoil him. Gunner's favorite toy is a little gray stuffed kitty. He drags it around in his mouth and likes to lie next to it when he sleeps. That's all well and good, but I think Gunner thinks all cats are his toys. We have a cat in our neighborhood that thinks she "owns" a piece of the sidewalk. Unfortunately, when Gunner gets to that piece of the sidewalk, he goes right up to the cat and tries to make friends. Although Gunner is a quick learner, he hasn't learned yet about this cat. You see, we have walked him by this cat twice a day for the past three days and he still tries to make friends with the cat each time... and each time the cat hisses and takes a swipe with her paw right at Gunner's nose.

Kara has her own blog... FINALLY!

Our lovely daughter, Kara, finally has her own blog. All of her friends blog.... Even her mother blogs.... Now Kara can share her OWN view of life!

Anniversary

Dave & I celebrated our 28th aniversary yesterday!

Selling our house

After living in our house for 16 years, we've decided to put it on the market.

Our two kids were only in grade school when we first moved here. I had just finished cancer surgery and chemotherapy. This house was to be both "moving up" and a "new start" for us. It doesn't seem that long ago....

Now that the kids are gone, I'm retired and Dave's working downtown, we actually have the opportunity to move to another location in the greater Puget Sound area. Our preference is Issaquah--close to mountain hiking, close to Lake Sammamish, not too difficult a commute to Seattle. We also have an opportunity to downsize a bit--less living space, though not less in terms of mortgage.

There are two VERY difficult aspects to moving:

1) Sorting through MANY accumulated possessions, and

2) Leaving the church we love!

Yuk!

So... if anyone is interested in a terrific house in a terrific neighborhood....

Afternoons at Mirror Lake Elementary School

My son-in-law is the best 4th grade teacher I know! Because I'm recently retired and generally have too much time on my hands, I volunteer in Dusty's fourth grade classroom at Mirror Lake Elementary School.

The kids of Room 122 have been doing science experiments the last couple of times I've been in class. Can you imagine 23 students exploring the scientific properties of water? The kids are hilarious, but I think they are really learning about surface tension, absorption rates and other valuable pieces of earth science knowledge.

Dusty is a very skilled communicator who has the obvious respect of his students. The kids are quite the communicators also. (That's my way of saying that they sure talk a lot!) Although many of the students speak English as their second language, they all have MANY things to tell me when I show up in their class. Unfortunately, none of what they want to say has anything to do with what they have learned in class. Many of these students are behind grade level in reading and math, and seem to be falling farther behind each week. I wish there was more that I could do for these boys and girls....

Ladies who love the Psalms

For those of you who don't already know, I lead a Women's Bible Study group at my church on Wednesday evenings. This year we are studying the Books of Psalms. Yup... all 150 of them... From Psalm 1 all of the way to Psalm 150. What a challenge!

What a treasure of wisdom God has instilled in these women. They come in all shapes, sizes and ages. We have women born in the 1920s, 1940s, 1950s, 1960s and 1970s. Though all different, the one thing they have in common is their love for God and His Word.

Last night these precious ladies discussed what they had learned from studying Psalms 64-68. As we ended the evening, we prayed together agreeing "O God, You are awesome from Your sanctuary. You, the God of Israel Himself, give strength and power to the people. Blessed be God!" (Psalm 68:35) I praise God for these wonderful women!

Christmas in the Desert

Yes, I do realize that Christmas was a whole month ago. But I have some catching up to do!

Dave and I thought we'd try something different this year. Because both of the kids are married, we usually celebrate holidays with them every-other-year. Christmas 2006 was "our" year. Wanting to make this year special, we all put our heads together and decided to go away on vacation instead of celebrating Christmas together at home. And to make it REALLY special, we decided to invite both sets of grandparents! (And it probably goes without saying that the record rains in November made a December trip to the desert sound even better!)

To make a long story short, we rented two houses in sunny Palm Desert, California and proceeded to plan activities that all three generations could enjoy. Here are a few pictures from our Christmas in the Desert vacation!

Grandma T. and Erik reading by the pool on Christmas morning:
Because we ALL have way too much "stuff," we decided not to exchange Christmas gifts among ourselves this year. However, we did decide to do a fun "book exchange" utilizing the rules from your typical white elephant gift exchange. What a hoot!! We each ended up with a book to read by the pool that had previously been a favorite of one of our special loved ones.





Two of my favorites from the Living Desert Museum: We visited Palm Desert's Living Desert Museum the day after Christmas. I would HIGHLY recommend it to anyone visiting the Palm Springs area. Great, natural wildlife and plant exhibits; a terrific model train display; a fantastic stage show!










Palm Springs Air Museum: Because the museum was full of World War II era aircraft and memorabilia, the four grandparents truly enjoyed this outing.


Joshua Tree National Park: This is a photo of Kara & Dusty and Krista & Erik at Keys Overview at Joshua Tree National Park. While in the park, we also took a short hike to Barker Dam. Weather was terrific and the scenery beautiful!



Palm Springs Aerial Tramway:
It had snowed up on the mountain the day before we went up on the tram. We had a blast looking down at the desert thousands of feet below while treading carefully on snow and ice up above.

She's back....

Ok, so I haven't written anything in a year and a half. Where have I been? Certainly NOT blogging! My goal in 2007 is to turn this into more of a family news blog... so that family and friends can keep up with what we are doing... and so I don't have to send out the annual Christmas letter next year. (Got that great idea from friends... Thanks, Larry & Linda!!)