Breast Cancer 3-Day

Over 19 years ago I was diagnosed with breast cancer. At that time, I was a young mom with kids who were in kindergarten and second grade. Scary times.... To make a long story short, through the grace of God and through the marvels of modern medicine, I am still here and asking you to support breast cancer research, education, screening and treatment. Over the years Dave and I have chosen to donate to the American Cancer Society and the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, two excellent charities with long-term excellent track records.

Next weekend, Seattle has the privilege of hosting the annual Breast Cancer 3-Day benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure. Each walker is asked to raise $2,200 and then walk the 60-mile course during the designated three days. My daughter's friend Anne is taking these three days out of her very busy public school teacher's schedule to walk 60 miles for breast cancer. Would you please consider supporting Anne and making a donation to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation?

Political Conventions... do we really need them?

Anybody else tired of the VERY EXPENSIVE political conventions that are been held this summer? When I think of all the money that has been spent for these made-for-TV displays, it just makes me angry. Why not use that money to do just one of the things the candidates are promising?

Your thoughts?

What I Did On My Summer Vacation....

Remember the "What I Did On My Summer Vacation" writing assignment that was given during the first few days of school each year? This is my attempt to catch you up with my summer and to provide my lame excuses for not blogging in the past three and a half months.

Let's start with my lame excuses for not blogging:

1. Summer is a great time to spend more time outdoors and less time at the computer.

2. It's always more fun to read other people's posts than to try to compose one myself.

3. My life is boring, so therefore I have nothing to write about.

4. Major life changes are staring me in the face and I'm trying really hard to ignore them. If I'm blogging, I might feel the need to write about the changes and then they will seem more real.

5. Blogger "ate" my last attempt, so I just gave up.

6. I have been too lazy to keep up with my blog. (This is probably closest to the truth about why I took a long break from my blog.)

Here's what I have been doing during the past four months:

1. Finished my volunteer work at Mirror Lake Elementary School and Silver Lake Elementary School.

2. Celebrated my step-grandmother's 90th birthday and my in-laws' 60th anniversary.

3. Enjoyed getting to know my new community... on bike and on foot.

4. Took full advantage of the Saturday farmers market which is just across the street from our condo.

5. Celebrated 4th of July watching Tacoma, Vashon and Des Moines Fireworks from our deck.

6. Vacationed at Eagle Crest with Kara, Dusty, Krista and Erik.

7. Participated in a Women's Bible Study.

8. Said goodbye to Dusty and Gunner; faced the fact that Kara will follow them to Boise in just a few weeks.

9. Enjoyed visits from my parents during May, June and August.

10. Hiked in the Cascades and Mt. Rainier.

11. Adjusted to using a knee brace for less pain and swelling during walking, biking and hiking.

12. Helped in-laws pack and move from their home of 45+ years to a very nice retirement community within walking distance from our condo.

13. Mourned sad news with good friends.

14. Celebrated good news with good friends.

15. Read several books, some good, none great.

16. Contemplated ending retirement and going back to work.

17. Learned to be content with trusting God and not understanding circumstances.

Happy Mothers' Day to Two Terrific Moms!

I have been blessed to have two terrific moms..... My mother-in-law, June, raised four kids including my wonderful husband, Dave. She brings joy and laughter to every conversation; she bakes the best dinner rolls in the world; she spreads God's love through her gift of hospitality. My mother, Helen, is such a kind woman; she taught me everything I know about hard work; she displays God's grace to the young, old, healthy, and infirm alike.

Happy Mothers' Day!

Random thoughts....

Today is just one of those days where I have much to accomplish, but the tasks are TOTALLY unrelated. As I do laundry, clean house, sort mail, pay bills, respond to email, plan projects, search craigslist for bar stools, read blogs, etc., etc., etc., my mind has a tendency to jump from thought to thought quite randomly and quite quickly. So here is what I've been thinking about this morning:

• The WASL is a waste of time, energy and money.
• My son-in-law would have been a terrific 80's rocker; too bad he wasn't born a couple of decades earlier.
• Dave and I are fortunate to attend a church where our pastor believes the Bible, preaches the Bible and, most importantly, lives the Bible.
• I'm sure glad that we aren't selling a house right now.
• Why does my furniture get so dusty?
• The human brain is amazing, but when it doesn't work right it is truly perplexing.
• Maybe if I go back to work then I can justify hiring someone to clean my house again.
• This weekend is going to be really busy. My parents will be here; we will be visiting their old church in Seattle and going to Erik & Krista's on Sunday. We will also be going to see "Generations," a musical theater production at Cedar Park Church in Bothell. Dave and Kara will be doing a family video project in Mount Vernon all day Saturday.
• When is the weather going to improve?
• Why can't Google make Blogger easier to use?

Enough for the random thoughts.... It's time to fold laundry again.

Greece and Israel Trip... A Few Photos

I still haven't finished going through all of my photos from our recent trip to Greece and Israel, but I thought I would post a few from my favorite places we visited:

Top Left - The Parthenon, Athens, Greece

Top Center - Masada, Israel

Top Right - Western (Wailing) Wall, Jerusalem, Israel

Mid Left - Beit She'an, Israel

Mid Center - Sea of Galilee, Israel

Mid Right - Jordan River, Israel

Bottom Left - Sea of Galilee, Israel

Bottom Center - Mt. Carmel, Israel

Bottom Right - Garden Tomb, Jerusalem, Israel

This truly was a trip of a lifetime that I would highly recommend to others who have studied the Bible, but who desire to actually see many of the places listed over and over in the Scriptures.

Our New Condo

We love our new condo at the marina!! I literally have to pinch myself every morning because it is just too beautiful. We have three bedrooms and two baths... plenty of room for you all to stop by and visit. And the view? All we can say is WOW!

Thanks to Kim, Dave, Dani, Bob, Krista, Erik, Kara, Dusty, Heather, Jeff and Kellen for helping us move. These friends and family actually made Moving Day FUN!

Do we miss our little one bedroom apartment? Only when it takes me longer than 15 minutes to clean! (But we do miss living close to Dusty, Kara and Gunner.)

Happy 25th Birthday Kara!

Kara has always added joy to our lives with her contagious smile, that mischievous twinkle in her eyes and her zest for living. Tomorrow, March 31st, we celebrate Kara's birthday and continue to marvel at her still contagious smile, mischievous twinkle and constant zest for life!


Happy Birthday, Kara!!

The Fast Life....

Life has been moving so swiftly for us these past few months that I truly have not had time to blog on a regular basis.


What have we been doing?

• September: got house ready to sell
• October: put house on market
• November: had knee surgery
• December: vacationed in Central Oregon
• December: sold house
• January: packed & moved to one-bedroom apartment
• January - March: 2-3 times/week physical therapy for knee & shoulder
• February: Co-directed annual Women's Conference at church
• February: purchased condo
• March: two week trip to Israel & Greece
• March: moved to condo
• Today? Unpacking MORE boxes!

This weekend I'll try to put together a few photos from our trip to Israel/Greece and of our new condo for all of my readers to view. (Yes, I do think I have readers plural. There are still two of you out there, I hope....)

Torseth Look-alike Meter

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebs - Collage - Morph

Another Torseth Look-Alike Meter

Now if only we knew who she acts like....

MyHeritage: Family trees - Genealogy - Celebrities - Collage - Morph

Six looooong weeks....

Anybody notice that I haven't blogged in six weeks? So, why not? (Not "Why haven't you noticed?", but the questions is "Why haven't I posted?")

In the past six weeks, I have...
... completed physical therapy following my knee surgery
... celebrated Christmas in Central Oregon
... sold our house in Cambridge East
... started physical therapy on my sore shoulder
... gave away or sold one third of all of our belongings
... moved half of the remaining belongings into a storage unit
... moved the other half of our remaining belongings (including Dave and me) into a one-bedroom, 730 square foot apartment in Fife
... decided against purchasing the gorgeous new penthouse condo in Tacoma
... co-directed a women's conference at church
... began to search for another condo to purchase
and... caught a nasty cold!

Sorry about the lack of photos or witty writing to go with any of the above subjects. I'm still spinning from all of the changes/activity. But it is comforting to know that even though life seems a bit out-of-control these days, God is in complete control AND that He is working everything for my good and for His glory.

"And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose." Romans 8:28

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!