Outtakes

From little Luke's perspective, the first day we met him . . . "Who are these people? Are they going to drop me?"

From Shane . . . "Slow down for a picture? Are you crazy? I am on the roof and I can run, run, run!"

Two cameras! Which one do we look at . . .the one on the left or the one on the right? How about two of us look at one camera and two of us look at the other camera?

What's up with the small helmet? Can't we afford one that's my size? Shane is not going to grow into this one for many years!

Enough already of the family pictures! I want down!

The Best Toys

Some of the best toys are made from cardboard boxes.

12 days of snow

Twelve days of snow and below freezing temperatures have created beautiful icicles hanging all around our home. These, four deep icicles, are what I see out my kitchen window.

Twelve days of snow create many opportunities, daily, for shoveling snow. Bob has pathways to the hot tub, the bird feeder and out to the road. Our neighbor has been snow blowing our driveway.

Each day Bob has been knocking down the icicles on our front porch. And 24 hours later they are back again!

Our neighbor sent over this picture of our home. The view from their front porch.

Here's a view from our front porch.

Grandpa's helper

When we were in India, Bob had a list of chores to complete and one was pruning this guava tree in the front of Ben and Libby's home.
The ever present helper, held the ladder.

Shane really wanted to be part of the action and when he wasn't allowed to climb the ladder, well, he hung out on the bottom rung

with his stick.

Lukas and his parents

My mom and I, we hang out together all day long.

Here I am in my Thanksgiving outfit!

Dad hangs out with me too.

Lukas and his Grandpa Spotts

Grandpa had some nice long conversations with me.

He sure knows how to make me laugh.

And sometimes he just puts me to sleep.

Car Washing with Shane, Dad and Grandpa

First we need to fill up the buckets.

How do we get water from my bucket into your bucket? I seem to be wearing a lot of water.

Just checking to make sure there is enough suds.

Keep working guys. I am just checking out things.

All done? Can I use the stick now?

Grandson Shane in India

We loved getting to know our two grandsons when we visited Ben and Libby over Thanksgiving. Shane loves playing his instruments!

He is great help working on those house projects.

As long as he has his ball in hand, he is one happy go lucky little/big boy

Five Wonderful Years

We traded cards today . . . mine made from an envelope (yup there's a story there) and his searched for at the store. The first year we were married, we were out of the country on Valentine's Day and I had remembered to buy some chocolates and tuck into my suitcase for my husband, but I did not remember a card. He had purchased a beautiful card and so after I received the card, I nabbed the red envelope to make a card for him. Now I almost always use his envelope to "make" the card he will get for special occasions.

We enjoyed a dinner out at one of our favorite restaurants. We read our marriage vows to each other and we are ever so thankful to God for bringing us together.

Cross stitch for baby

I was waiting to finish this post till we met our now, 3 month old, youngest grandson. The oh, so cute boy that was prayed for the many hours that it took to finish this piece! Thought I might try to post from India, but that didn't work out. It's December and we have returned safely to Oregon and miss the cute smiles of our grandchildren! Here's the youngest having a great conversation with me. Not sure I quite understood much of it, but it was quite entertaining!

Am I getting old?

Today, a big announcement was made at our church. Our new senior pastor was introduced. He is younger than me. I am thrilled that he will be our new pastor. He has been our associate pastor and his wife is a good friend of mine. He will lead our church well, but I have never had a senior pastor that is younger than me. I think this marks a new crossing over point in my life . . . crossing over to the older group.

I must be careful not to become the old lady at church who frowns and criticizes those younguns in funny clothes or crazy piercings or tatoos. The tats don't seem to bother me, although I have no interest in getting one. Most of the piercings don't bother me either. I almost got a nose stud at a few years ago. A couple of friends at work had them, but about that time I met the man who is now my husband and he didn't really like the idea. I just have to say, the nasal septum piercing, bull ring, is another story! The young girl I know with one has what looks like long thick staple ends hanging out of her nose. I just don't see the beauty in it and maybe that's the point. Maybe this particular bull ring is part of her expression of how she sees herself.

But the bigger point is what I need to learn from this. Am I critical of what is different than me? Have I become more critical of exteriors as I age? God, help me look at the heart as you do!

We Voted . . .

We voted today and we know no matter the outcome, the Lord reigns.

"Say among the nations, 'The Lord reigns.' The world is firmly established, it cannot be moved; he will judge the peoples with equity. Let the heavens rejoice, let the earth be glad; let the sea resound, and all that is in it; let the fields be jubilant, and everything in them. Then all the trees of the forest will sing for joy; they will sing before the Lord, for he comes . . . "
Ps. 96:10-13a

Rejoice, be glad, resound, be jubilant, sing for joy . . . the trees of the forest will sing for joy . . . what a great picture that brings to mind.

The Lord does reign!

Rough Seas

It was a tough launch. The ship was ready to go out across the sea, but was being held back and rough seas were pounding on her hull. The crash of the disease on her shell took its toll. With her eyes facing toward the heavenly shore, my aunt finished her fight with ALS and yesterday peacefully set sail. Although we on this shore are sad to see her go, we are also confident that she was greeted with great joy and the open arms of Jesus and family and friends on heaven’s shore.

Steelhead

"It's a hatchery fish."
"It is fin clipped."
"It's good to get it out of the gene pool, so say the guides."
"I guess it doesn't hurt to keep one once in a while."

These are all comments that my husband muttered as he cleaned this gorgeous catch. He doesn't like to eat fish, but this steelhead made a fabulous dinner tonight!

Beautiful Gig Harbor

One week ago today we were looking out over this view! I grew up spending a week or two each summer visiting my grandparents and my aunt and uncle who lived in this area. Thirty-five years ago there were not as many boats floating on the water and not as many marinas. The mountain looks about the same!

Here is a sunset on Mt. Rainer, as we viewed from my aunt's front deck on Saturday evening.

My Aunt Wilma hosted us for our weekend trip to Washington and we sure enjoyed our time with her!

Joel and Melinda

We celebrated this weekend with Melinda and Joel as they married in Sequim, Washington.

This young lady and I had many fun, growing days as she spent her ninth grade and part of her junior year living at my home.

What do four young boys talk about in the middle of a wedding ceremony?

Four of these five young ladies were teenagers, struggling with life issues, about ten years ago in my middle school classroom.

Let the fun begin!

Lukas Todd joins the family

Hey who's the new guy? Big Brother Shane has welcomed his little brother Lukas Todd into the family. Lukas was born in India on Sunday, August 31, 2008! 8 lbs, 4 oz., 20 and ¼ inches long.

Visit

Bob's son came to Oregon for a two week visit and his girlfriend joined him for the second week. We went to the coast for a few days. They helped pick up the food bank donations from the Farmer's Market, they visited with friends, they hiked and they cooked for us. We think Nate may have hiked close to 80 miles during this visit to Oregon. Yes, he did have some blisters, but he didn't seem to complain.

After I had a tough day at my new job and a difficult time juggling my schedule (somehow I had to be in two places at the same time, or was it three?), they came home with a beautiful bouquet of flowers to cheer me up. Thanks guys!

August

means peaches, cobblers and canning.
The best part is the pop when the jars seal! Ten for 10 on these two batches!