Holiday greetings, a new year is coming!

12-28-10

Well, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas with their family and friends! I sure had a great weekend with my family! I arrived at my parent's house the 23rd to find my Dad had already arrived with my Grandma and they were nicely settled in. On my way through Portland I'd run several errands for my parents and had three pies :-D Friday morning we all slept in and had a fun day of baking, running errands in town, and opening a few gifts. My parents got me an OSU blanket and a cute holiday mug, a framed picture of the family taken on Thanksgiving Day, a picture album for scrapbooking, a calendar, and a winterized emergency kit for my car! My sister got me a really cool "sister" mug that has a slot in the handle to but a sweet little spoon that came with it...so handy!

My brother came over mid-day to say "hi" and get some help wrapping his "secret sant" gift. Saturday we got up and finished the baking and cooking and setting things up for the games we wanted to play later. My sister finished stuffing the stockings and I picked out some games from a game show I'd seen on tv, Minute To Win It. Late afternoon my eldest brother and his family arrived and we spent some time talking with them while we finished up a couple last minute things. My other brother showed up and before long everything was ready and waiting for my Sister-in-law and nephews to come and get the party started :-P We had lots of fun talking and exchanging gifts, seeing people reactions to their gifts and the joy in the kiddos faces as they saw all the gifts they got and the cool games and books that Grandma had gotten them this year...I think the best part of it all though was just being with family.

Sunday we went to church and I got to play the piano and hear two wonderful messages from Pastor Whittles that were just what I needed to hear. The one that hit me the hardest was on trusting God and what that really means. It is a lesson we all learn and are tested on continually. Something I feel the Lord taking me through once again. I do trust Him, but right now I'm having some difficulty trying to figure out where God is heading my life...what does He want me to do next? where does He want me? I don't want to make a decision based on what I want and make all the excuses to make it LOOK like what I THINK God wants me to do. I want to do what He wants me to do regardless of whether it is what I'd prefer or not.

"It's Beginning To Look Alot Like Christmas..."

12-6-10
  Hello all! Hope all is well with you and that you are enjoying this joyous time of year! We had a couple inches of snow just before Thanksgiving! It was gorgeous. I love snow! It is all gone now, but with such early signs of winter, I'm hoping for a White Christmas :-D.
  Well, things have been fairly normal around here. The latest "news" is that my wonderful client's knee has gotten worse so we are back to the level of care she was at when I first came to work here over 8 months ago. Last night was about the hardest night so far...I got up about every hour so help her...needless to say we will BOTH be taking naps this afternoon :-P
  She is such a trooper, but I know that all of this is especially hard on her. She doesn't like being an "inconvenience" to anyone....even when I tell her that it isn't any, and remind her that this is what she pays me to do. I love being here and being able to help as much as I can. I feel rather useless when I'm just sitting around doing nothing, so I like being useful!    My Annual Christmas letter is almost done! I'm just waiting on one little detail before I mail them off. I'm hoping to finish off my Christmas wrapping today and then I just have one last present to buy. I'm having a bit of a hard time finding it, but I know I'm bound to find it somewhere :-D  This coming weekend is Tillamook's Nutcracker and I'm hoping to be able to make it to that. I have several friends in it and hope to be able to go with my family. Maybe I'll get a group of people together and we can do something before the showing! That would be lots of fun!

  Well, I hope everyone has a very Merry Christmas celebrating our Savior's birth with your loved ones and friends! God Bless!

A Time of Thanks Giving

Such a time God has given to us and wonderful blessings he has bestowed upon us! Sometimes we may not see even the little things, we are so blinded, but sometimes we see Him shinning in our lives, it is immistakable.

This past weekend I was able to "spead myself thin" and visit two places :D I had such a grand time! I played games with friends in Tilly on Friday night until almost 2am on Saturday morning and then we went shooting at 11am. Then my sister and I headed to Salem to meet some more friends and did a little shopping before going out to dinner and then dancing. We had such a lovely day together! After dancing we drove to Sweet Home and stayed at their house and I finally got to meet my dear little niece, Suzy, in person! She will be 2months old in a week or so! Such a cutie she is, so happy too!
This weekend, which will start today and stretch all the way until Sunday next, I don't have many plans...I hope to go finish up some college registration stuff tomorrow or Monday and have my last dental appointment on Monday. Then I'll head over to Tilly for the rest of my time off and Thanksgiving dinner with the family...oh, and I guess some Black Friday shopping and Christmas tree cutting on Saturday :D....I guess I do have a few plans :P
Happy Thanks Giving everyone!!! God Bless!

Ripe for Harvest

Sitting around the campfire last weekend, I had a delighful conversation with a friend of mine. He is someone I've always looked up to as a brother and enjoy hanging out with when I happen to be in the area. We were talking about my current job, as a live-in caregiver, and one of the his questions caught me a bit off guard and began to nag at me. He asked me what my commitment was to the family I work for and if I could see myself at that job 5 years down the road. This stunned me at first because, although I'm commited to the family here as long as they have need of me, I had not quite thought of it in that light. Before our conversation I had been focused more on the day to day happenings and trying to figure out what I would do when my job did end, as it inevitably will at some point. This fresh perspective has given me such a better attitude about my life as it stands and has encouraged me to see, once again, how much I need to trust God and rely on Him.
This is a lesson I am continually learning and have heard I am not alone in this struggle. It is amazing how comforting it is to know that I am not the only one that has such frustrating struggles and seems to be reminded of them all the time. During my same visit last weekend I had two VERY lovely chats with my friend I was staying with. We stayed up rather late both nights I was there. She was such a blessing to me, encouraging me, praying with me, and just listening to me. It is amazing the blessings God gives us and I am so very thankful for the brothers and sisters in Christ He has given to me. I pray that I might be just as encouraging and helpful to my fellow believers in Christ.

Fun and the Love of Christ!

10-25-10
This past weekend was a thoroughly enjoyable weekend spent in Yakima, WA with my wonderful Brothers and Sisters in Christ. The current ACTS session was having a Harvest Festival fundraiser for their trip to Kenya, Africa next month. We all had such a blast hanging out and talking about where God has us, meeting new people and hearing each other's testimonies. And ending the evening with a Swing Dance...so much fun and wonderful memories.

 

 

 

I was blessed with such a fun and relaxing weekend. I was able to spend time with and catch up with so many of my friends and see another friend of mine that got back from a year long mission in Africa. Fellowship with believers can be such an encouragement and uplifting thing. So thankful for the time that I had with them!

Happy Fall to all you Pumpkins!

' HAPPY FALL TO YOU'

From one pumpkin to another!!!!!!!

A woman was asked by a coworker, 'What is it like to be a Christian?'
The coworker replied, 'It is like being a pumpkin.' God picks you from the patch, brings you in, and washes all the dirt off of you. Then He cuts off the top and scoops out all the yucky stuff.
He removes the seeds of doubt, hate, and greed. Then He carves you a new smiling face and puts His light inside of you to shine for all the world to see.'

(This was sent to my by my grandmother and I just had to share)

10-7-10

I'm rather unsure of what to post about...
  Things have been rather crazy for me the last couple weeks and yet very enjoyable. I was granted almost a complete week off last week, that enabled me to visit my parents for more than a day and also help my best friends parents and sisters move to their new house. We had so much fun just being together and waiting for my best friend to have her baby. We had one false alarm, but our new niece graced us with her presence on September 30th @ 7:23pm! She is such a cute little lady and looks very much like her beautiful mother. Sadly I have yet to get to see her in person, but I hope to relatively soon :)

We are all so very glad to finally have her here with us and love her very dearly already. 
  Fall truly feels like it is here with the cool, crisp sunny mornings and chilly evenings...I love having the fire going and reading a good book. I've done a pot or two of Spice Hot Apple Cider...another thing that gives fall that extra kick...I'm thinking I'll need to start digging out my sweaters here real soon as my regular T-shirts and hoodies don't work so well when I'm out and about... :-P Two of my close friends have recently been engaged! It is so exciting to see each of my friends and family's lives progress and the happiness in their eyes as another chapter in their life unfolds. What a joy to see so many happy things. 
  My parents recently took my Grandma to see her son up in Seattle area and on their way back to the coast took a slight detour through Yakima, Leavenworth, and surrounding areas. They had such a lovely time and I had fun hearing about it from my mother. Such blessings God gives us to be able to take these little trips once in a while. I'm hoping to make it up to Yakima by the end of the month, but I'm not sure if I'll make it. 
  Lately I've started exercising regularly, which is quite a foreign thing for me, and am trying to be more healthy in my daily choices. So far it has been very good for me and because of that I am determined to keep it up! Well, that is all for now...I shall try to write again before long :P