Zucchini Festival

Hopefully, I'll remember to take the camera to the festival and get some pictures of all the zucchini potluck dishes that are coming! Jonathan and I will be performing some Johnny Cash, Elvis, and Patsy Cline today. It's a 20 minute set, but most of the golden oldie songs are so short, we can get in at least 8-10! Jim will hopefully join us on a couple of songs; but he likes to do our acapella songs (ok, the computer won't let me spell that any way, so sorry if it's misspelled:)
The boys are LOVING school! Their teachers are exquisite and everyone is so friendly. I'll probably be helping out with the PTO. In fact, I might actually be the President or Vice-President :) I'm pretty good at delegating.

I'm praying for all of my Texas friends and family who are under flood watches and evacuations. JW (James) didn't have classes on Friday at Texas Tech because of all of the water. (He said 2 1/2 feet on campus!)

It's been so incredibly sunny here for DAYS, I even forgot what rain feels like. Strange, isn't it?!

Blessings on your day!

Here's a picture of Jim and his friend Liege on a hike when they went on the Men's Retreat from our church. AWESOME!
The Retreat I just went on was at Cedar Springs and it was wonderful and refreshing.
Somewhere in my earlier posts are pictures of Cedar Springs, I think :) Well, off to Coffee and Conversation!

September Already!

Wow. Has it really been 5 months since my last post? We had lots of visitors over the summer. It was a wonderful, busy time! I guess the latest news is that Jim went to start the riding lawnmower and it exploded and caught on fire. The image of him trying to douse the flames with the cat's water has kept me in stitches for almost a week. We went out that day and got a fabulous Husqvarna since it was a John Deere that blew up. Actually, Husqvarna has quite a good reputation, even amongst the Lowe's employees.
Come see our lawn; it looks great!

Hello Again

OK. So I've realized that I don't like to post unless I have a picture to go along with my words. I think I'll just have to get over that. There will be no illustrations today. Only updates.

I'm completely enjoying working at Kid's Place at our satellite campus in Nooksack. (It might be Everson, but it definitely isn't Sumas). Anyway, we meet at the Nooksack Valley High School. We have between 17-20 kindergardeners through 5th graders, and usually two to three different high schoolers who help out each Sunday. They are all so fabulous. I'm hoping when JW comes in the summer, he can help out too. I get the high schoolers to lead small groups when it comes time for that, and some have even acted in the skits, etc. I hear through the grapevine that they think it is "awesome." Well, I think THEY are awesome. Jonathan leads worship. He is getting so good on the guitar. He really amazes us with his talent. Joseph and Joshy help out too, getting the place set up and cleaning up afterwards. Joshy wants to be called "Mr. Joshy" on his nametag, and that is fine with me.

I've been singing a lot lately at different venues. I got to actually play the guitar and sing "How Great Thou Art" at Coffee and Conversation last week. Yes. I actually accompanied myself on guitar. Thank God the hymn writers of old only knew three chords. I'll be singing at a gal's birthday party in a couple of weeks. I think she will be 90. (My personal belief is that you aren't getting "old" until you are 110. Even 109 is spry; but you get up to 110, and you can start getting your senior discount for sure).
She wants me to sing "I left my Heart in San Francisco," "Over the Rainbow" (my new signature song), "You are My Sunshine," and "On the Wings of a Dove."

Jim will be flying to Texas the first weekend in June for JW's graduation. The boys will still be in school, so we won't be going. (Besides the fact that flying us all down there would be monetarily prohibitive, especially because I would need to take the train or bus since I'm not a good flyer)

Well, that's enough for today. Make it a great one!

God's Fabulous Creation

Yesterday, a bald eagle swooped down and landed in our pond. He sat there majestically, taking a drink every once in a while, but mostly just eyeing the surroundings... not in fear, mind you, but with absolute confidence that he was at the top of the food chain. After about 20 minutes of having me completely mesmerized, he took to the skies and flew to one of the huge trees that line the road of the properties here.
Today I happened upon a blogger's site who had posted this video. Apparently someone from her church had set Brian Doerkson's song to clips from the BBC production of Planet Earth or something like that. Click on the rectangle above (or whatever is showing above the text here :) ENJOY!

More Pictures

This is a picture looking towards the pasture from the other acreage. We have access to it right now so we can walk the owner's dogs. Does anyone have any wisdom/experience about what an animal we should get to be a mammalian lawn mower?

Here's a picture of the entrance into the property. If you go on the gravel road to the left, you come to our house. If you go to the right upon entering, you can take a look at the other 10 acres the owner has for sale. (assuming you are here and actually driving on this road:)

It's a beautiful, sunny, clear day here today. We wake up every morning and still have to pinch ourselves!

We are in!

We are the proud owners of "a little peace of Heaven" in Sumas, Washington. 10 pristine acres, and a 2070 square foot home with 3 bedrooms, a small office, and another office/library in the master suite! The owners, who we've become friends with, did a fabulous job with this property. This is a picture of the picnic area complete with charcoal grill and fire pit. There is a pasture, where we are actually entertaining the idea of getting a beef cow or two. We moved in February 16th, and I couldn't really post until now.

This is a view from the back of the house. Yes, that is a hot tub on the the massive porch. The house is backed up by a foothill which is part of the 10 acres. Only twice have bears been seen on the mountain, so we've been told. There is a fellow who lives at the top, on the other side side of the mountain, so he'll be the first to deflect any wildlife, I'm sure:) There are 3 apple trees that draw lots of deer in the summer, although we are keeping the owners' dogs until they get settled in Idaho, so we might not see them as often as we would like. I know there are coyotes that come around, and we have inherited a nice barn cat who has already left us a mouse on our walks.

This here's the wood stove that is practically standard issue in Washington. There is a separate little gated building which holds several hundred logs... enough to last a couple of winters, I'm sure, although Jim has actually used the CHAINSAW to make some logs and an axe to make some kindlin'. He's in heaven for sure. He loves to make the fire every morning, although he did buy a small blowtorch, which he feels is "cheating." :) We learned from the best, though: Some friends from church let us stay at their house for three weeks while we were waiting for the house to close and the sellers to move out. He is the one that showed us how to really make a fire in a woodstove.

There is another 10 acre lot next door which they are trying to sell also. It has the water well already dug, electricity, and the septic is ready to install, if any of you would like to move out to the gorgeous northwest and join us!

One of the bedroom's is completely set up as a guest room, with built in queen bunkbeds! Come see us! I'll post more pictures as soon as we take them.

What do you think?!!!!

Our House

We've made an offer on this home and land. If you want to know more details, YOU ARE GOING TO HAVE TO LEAVE A COMMENT!
Thank you and Goodnight.

Happy New Year!

My only resolution this year is to allow God to shine His Light through me. Whatever that entails....May He do the same in you.
Here's some pictures from the last few days. It was so incredibly wonderful having JW here in Washington with us for Christmas and the New Year. He's leaving on a jet plane... tomorrow morning. I'm NOT looking forward to that. Over the holidays I've realized what awesome children we have. Sure, they accidentally break windows in our 100 year old rental home... Yes, they "miss" when they are in the restroom... Of course they generate messes like it was a full-time job... But, they are talented and sweet and sharp as tacks, loving and full of life and confidence... And, they LOVE God! Who could ask for anything more.
Here they are all lined up for their Baptisms on December 23rd.

Christmas Eve Eve getting to open one present

JW came into our room at 3:11 a.m. and announced that it was Christmas. (to his credit, it WAS 5:11 a.m. in Texas-time, which he was still acclimated to). Suffice it to say, we told him to go back to bed, but since we couldn't sleep after that, we DID get up an hour later!

Some wonderful new friends not only invited us over for dinner after the Christmas Eve service, but they gave us access to their cabin in Glacier on the road to Mount Baker. Jim took the boys overnight and they did lots of sledding down the steep incline at the cabin. In the morning, I came to get them and we took a walk at the Nooksack River; resplendent with snow on the trail and trees and rocks.

Family Portrait at Bob's Burgers in Sumas. (Yes, that's a stuffed turkey behind us. It was that, or the moose head over the fireplace...)

WE ARE BLESSED!