Said Good bye to the Oregon coast and headed north...

We reluctantly said good bye to the Oregon Coast and headed toward Portland.

We have a trusty little GPS that we fondly call...Maggie....so, we put in my nephew's address and were confident that we would end up at their house...

Little Maggie took us SOUTH...and we were headed (because we finally got out the map that is always in the car) to McCoy, Oregon....

Perfect Photo op...unfortunately, McCoy isn't big enough to have a "Welcome to McCoy, OR" sign outside its town limits, we had to settle for a picture of McCoy standing pointing to McCoy road...

Maggie, you added at least 2 hours to our trip...not so much fastest, Maggie!

We had a great time and hated to see it end as we dropped Jane off and headed North ...we loved the coast! God's hand is so evident everywhere we looked. His creative genius continues to amaze me.

Highlights from Oregon....

We went to Oregon to celebrate Steve's 62nd birthday...

We had dinner on the beach at Lincoln City...

This was the view from our table...I left the glasses in the picture just to show you what we were looking at during supper of AMAZING fresh fish!
We went to the Sea Hag, Depoe Bay, for lunch

Watched Seals beg for fish...and sadly, they were ignored....

Took a picture of the Pirate's Cove for Simon...

Watched them cleaning crabs...yes that is a BUCKET full of Dungenous crabs and fresh from the ocean is the best!!!!

Watched the waves crash on the shore...

loved the little seaside villages...

Childhood desires ... obsessions...realized.

Glass blowing has ALWAYS fascinated me. We would have to stop in the mall in Bismarck when they would have their demonstrations. You know the booth...it is filled with glass cats, whales, dogs, and my favorite...Cinderella's pumpkin carriage (guess which one I was really fascinated with?)
So, when we were driving to Depoe Bay the first morning that we were on the Oregon coast, there was a shop that boasted "BLOW YOUR OWN GLASS"

We stopped and made an appointment.

We did it ALL...first we had to load the glass and add the color

We had to turn it and fire it and turn it...

then we had to blow the glass....Jane blew....

I blew...

We both had fun as evidenced by Jane's laugh...

After it was shaped the way we wanted it...it was tapped and a bottom was added and then it went into the cooling oven for overnight....
the next day we came back and picked them up...

Here is Jane's bowl....

And here is mine...


As for the bucket list...Check that off the list! We both loved it and Steve enjoyed watching us....

Oregon Coast...Oh, that's a good one

Tillamook....Lincoln City....Depoe Bay....What amazing Creations

It was so fun traveling with these two...I love them both. I asked Steve to go over and sit with Jane...I thought that they would be looking at me...but...no...they decided that the "oh we are so enjoying the scenery we can't even look your way and pose. Let's look natural" pose. Steve was explaining the whole thing and his audience, Jane, was trying not to laugh..

I love them so much!!!

Timer shots are Jane's favorite. She would hold the camera and even before she would look at the picture she would say..."Oh, that's a good one"
Sometimes we had to pose with the locals and Yes this is another timer shot set up by the master of timer shots...Jane
This was in Depoe Bay

We were getting our shoes off to walk in the sand on the beach...Lincoln City...when we got to our motel...the beach was just a ways off and we spent some time there after supper

This was the birthday boy and he even loved the sand and the sound of the waves crashing on the shores....

In my life, God has given me many treasures. 36 years ago, He showed me the love of His Son and continues to fill my life with His presence and His treasures. He has placed His bow in the sky after a rain and that is a treasure. He has calmed me and filled me with His peace and that was a treasure. 35 years ago, He gave me this man and this week Steve celebrated His 62 birthday.

How I praise Him that His gifts have not stopped....for many treasures have followed:

Betsy

Jane

Jon

Simon

Mazie

Andy*

Family

Friends

Family that are friends

I could go on and on....

What an amazing God we serve

Oh, that's a good One!!!!

*In order of coming into to our family...Okay, so technically, Andy was really there before Simon...

Explosive!!!!

That's how I feel...so excited that I could explode!! tomorrow...hours from now, we are picking up Jane at Seatac Airport...then off to Lincoln City, OR....to sand, sun, and relaxing...

And this is how I feel when I am going to the beach...what will it be like when we get to heaven...

okay...absolutely NO comparison but...that's how I feel right now....

Where is Waldo???

Well, not really Waldo...But a puzzle none the less!

We went to Lynden tonight because it was the NW WA Fair....

And we go every year...

But this year...there was something missing...

Wonder if you can figure out what it was? I

'll give you LOTS of hints!

Yep! There was the Fabulous Fair Food like...

The Poffertjes...mmmmmmmm
The curly fries....way to much grease...was that it?

Friends...it's always fun to see friends...that couldn't be it? Could it?

The Cheesecake on a stick...no thank you....so THAT wasn't it!

New cutouts...and I had to pose with the tiger...and the panda...hmmmm?
Cute little bunnies...a whole barn full of them...just like always...
Chickens and ducks...yep...and a noisy barn of banty roosters crowing...well, THAT is the same too...
A lamb with striped pajamas...that was so funny...at least it usually would have been but tonight...well, it just lacked something....
But I don't think that was it...
Oh....
BEN...BIG BEN
was there...He gets bigger EVERY year...This year...6 feet tall and how much does he weigh? More than last year.
And there were cows with very cute faces...that is what Steve said...He loves these cows because they have such cute faces!


Donkeys, sheep, goats in dishes, llamas looking royal,
horses pulling wagons, and ponies looking shy.
We even saw a llama with a hairstyle that reminded us of one of our daughters...
no...you'll have to guess...
But, STILL, that wasn't it.
Seemed like EVERYTHING was there that is usually there...

Then...well, it really wasn't hard to figure out what was different.
For the first time in 5 years...
Monkey one and Monkey two
Family one and family two
daughter one and daughter two
sons-in-law...they were missing too...

And then...again...I realized just how much I miss these people!
Oh, we'll see them soon...
Jane comes this weekend...but not Andy...
And over Labor Day...we'll see Betsy, Jon, Simon, and Mazie...
But for today...I miss them like crazy...
and the WA Fair????
It just wasn't the same...

it is blueberry season in WA...

There is NOTHING like the Washington blueberries ...

picked fresh from the bushes.

The day was warm...

Georgean and I left for our favorite blueberry farm.

And I was disappointed but not in the almost 30 pounds of blueberries that we picked...

I was disappointed because...

my very serious blueberry picker wasn't with me.

Simon rarely put a blueberry in his mouth while he picked the berries. He was always intent on getting his bucket filled. Which, considering that he LOVES blueberries, always shocked me.

This is Simon a couple of years ago in the blueberry patch.

Here he was last year.

This will be the first August that he won't be here for the fair and the blueberries....

Simon must have read...it was u-pick not u-eat....but...

Mazie has always felt that blueberries were to be eaten, no matter where they were found!

this year...Mazie would have been thrilled
picking blueberries. The blueberries weighed
down the branches and many of them touched the ground. SHE would not have had any problem eating the blueberries...because SHE had NO desire to fill a bucket but chose to fill her tummy first.

Last year, Mazie did carry a bucket...while Simon picked....

Until she and Poppa found that eating the berries were so much sweeter...

They will get some blueberries because I sent a care package to them. They should arrive today.

but this year...the fair...and the blueberry picking lacked something very special because we won't be together with this family....or

or this one...Jane and Andy loved the fair, but the blueberry picking came a little too early in the morning!!!!

God has gifted us with a wonderful family that we love sharing memories together.

In Washington...

Blueberries and the fair...just a couple of those memories...
He has given us...starfish and crabs, puffy pancakes and pictures, sand and spitting clams,ferries and fishing, sharks and whales, and just being together....He is so good

As a PS...the blueberries arrived and they were not disappointed. Mazie thought they were better than M&M's and Simon...he thought they were the best blueberries in the world.

And that....is priceless!

hummingbirds...

I love watching these little birds and they LOVE these flowers so I sat outside the other day and finally caught several pictures of one of the. And I love it when they sit...

I can now check off...catch a hummingbird in a picture from my list! I know, it is a pathetic list but sky diving doesn't even resemble something that I want to do...you know, I set my goals low so I can accomplish them.

Camp meeting...

Last night we went to an old fashioned camp meeting. Who knew that we had these in Ferndale? It was a camp that is reminiscent of the 50's. The slatted board walls, bare bulbs hanging from the ceiling, the cross with the message Holiness unto the Lord painted on it, hymns, a section of teens, and then the wide variety of all ages dispersed on a variety of pews abandoned from churches updating their sanctuary--and all of them donated to the camp. The colorful array of red, green, blue, and wooden benches were not the only variety of the night.

As I looked around the camp chapel, I realized that some people are mentors without even knowing it. I looked at a lady's arthritic hands as she raised them in praise to God...and I prayed that I would still praise God when pain is a constant companion. I saw a gentleman whom I have grown to love sing every song and hymn. His dementia evaporated as he sang familiar tunes. The same man put his arm around his wife and then held her hand during the preaching and I saw the love that he has for her. I listened to his wife as she praised him for building a cabin and adding a bathroom. Pride was reflected not only in her voice but in his face. And I want to be that much in love with Steve when things may not be as they are now.

I listened as the evangelist told of a woman, now 94, who was involved in Evangelism Explosion, who loved and prayed for a couple 23 years ago. The couple were living together when the EE team came to their house and after the team shared the Gospel to the woman, she made a commitment to Jesus. Later, the man made a similar commitment because of the love and acceptance that he felt from the church. The couple celebrated their 23 wedding anniversary and they were at the camp meeting. Ann would have been 71 years old at that time. She has not lost the love for the lost, even now at 94. 71 and actively seeking to share the good news of Jesus Christ to the lost...hmmm....will I have that commitment?

Another one of the saints that is a mentor is 96. She told me a couple of weeks ago that she realized that when she knelt in prayer...she could concentrate better. She felt like she had to be in that posture to keep her thoughts focused on God. 96 and on her knees before His Throne....amazing!

There are so many mentors that I see around me. Many of them do not realize that I am even watching them. Some I know their names, others, I only see. I watch as these saints give up the things that they find comfortable, like hymns replaced by rockin' music, and drums and electric guitars replaced the organ, because they are investing in the lives of those generations who are to come to Christ. One of the ladies that I see as a mentor said, we have given up a lot, and the changes that we see now is just one more thing... but if it brings people to the cross, it's okay. Their goal is the same...to see people receive the grace of the Creator and Redeemer God, through Jesus, His son.

And for that reason, I realized, camp meetings like the one last night is necessary for these wonderful believers who get a glimpse of a past that is familiar. To each of them I thank them for their commitment and their witness, not only to the lost, but especially to me.