Thankful for...

Today I am thankful for God's creation!  I woke to beautiful sunshine this morning!  Here are some pictures of God's creation looking out the window of our condo here in Birch Bay.

This is looking out the left window of the living room towards the bay.

This is looking out the window straight ahead.  They are building a new house across the street.  I sure hope the view does not get blocked too much.

Another view trying to see out onto the water.

This is one of my favorites ~ seeing the mountains in the distance and the houses in Birch Bay Village and the clear blue water.

This is from this morning with the sun shining brightly.  I could stare at this view every day, all day long.

 We are so blessed to live in such a beautiful place.  As I drove home from the church earlier today I could see Mt. Baker to my right and then when I turned the corner there was the bay with the water lapping on the shore.  Such peaceful settings.

Tired Tuesday

Good evening!

Today I am tired.  Didn't start out that way but sure has ended up that way.  Decided I needed to run some errands in Bellingham today so called a friend to see if she wanted to go.  She did and so we went and went and went.  We did stop long enough to eat lunch at a great little pizza place in downtown Bellingham.  And then we went some more!  We both realized we were exhausted so headed home about 3:30.

Since then I have paid bills, checked emails, ate dinner, tossed some moldy bread (found while making dinner) and just vegged on the couch.  That is what I am thankful for today ~ a wonderful place to lay my head and just veg and not have to worry about anything.  Thank you Lord for a warm, dry, comfy place to rest my weary body.


Update on the motor home ~~ Ron spoke to John at Jerry Chamber's this morning and we should have it back either late Thursday or Friday of this week.  We love this little (much bigger than the motor home:) condo and are thankful that our friends own it and it was available yet at the same time I am looking forward to getting back into our home.  We have lots to do before we head out to start our job of selling Christmas trees.


Update on job search for 2011 ~~ we sent off the paperwork for a workkamping job in Northern California today.  Please pray with us that if this is the job the Lord has for us that he will continue to open the doors for us.


That's all for tonight folks.  This tired lady is going to bed.  Talk to you all again tomorrow.

Monday Meandering's

Monday Meaderings ~~~

A day to be thankful for the little things ~


~ the insurance adjuster called.  Gave the go ahead to fix the motor home.  Hoping it will be ready for us by Friday this week.  There are a few things we would like to do inside the motor home before we head off to sell Christmas.  


~ went to the credit union to make a deposit.  Found out we had an account that had not been used for five years.  Had $155 in it.  Thank you Lord for found money!


~ had another play date with a friend today.  We ran a couple of errands, went out for a great lunch with even better conversation.  Looking forward to doing it at least one more time before we head out on the 22nd.


~ had a couple hour of quiet time this afternoon.  Watched a beautiful sunset waiting for Ron to get home.  Thank you Lord for the beautiful weather you have blessed us with while home here in Blaine.

~  instant messaged with Danalyn for a few minutes.  She had had a good weekend of classes in Boise, Max had a blast at the Boise State football game with his PopPop, Christopher had fun playing with cousins.  But all are glad that their little family of four is all under one roof again.


~ went to Writer's Group tonight.  First time since last March.  We laughed, we cried, we talked, we read, we listened, we ate some sweet goodies.  Another reminder of how special it is to be with other believers sharing in each others lives.


Thank you Lord for the little things you bless me with ~ friends, honest people, loving family members and your wonderful creation.

Sunday ~ A pretty lazy day for us

Hello on this chilly Sunday night.  We had a busy morning but truly a lazy afternoon.  First off this morning my phone alarm went off at 7:30 - it was supposed to go off at 8:30.  So we started our day an hour earlier then we had planned.

Brandon got up and out the door about 8:00.  He was off to meet Jamie and check out their trailer before heading back to Lewiston.  I asked him if he wanted breakfast before heading down the road.  Sure!  So we made plans to meet at Big Al's Diner in Blaine.  Big Al's is just two blocks from our church.  We have eaten there way too many times over the years.  The food is good, the service great and it is always fun to meet up with folks that we don't get to see very often.  So Ron and I got up and moving when Brandon headed over to Jamie's.  We were going to meet about 8:30 but Brandon didn't get there till almost 9:00.  It was fun to have a little more time with Brandon and have a prayer together before he got on the road.

While sitting at Big Al's I had this thought "oh, no.  I put the pictures of us from our time with the carnival in the overheads for today's service.  They are supposed to be in there next week."  So I quickly gave Charles, our pastor, a call.  He saw those yesterday and deleted them.  He wondered if I was playing a joke on him or something.  Ron asked if I was eager to share.  I don't know what I was thinking...we are sharing our testimony next Sunday, November 14th at Northwood.  

More about that later, back to breakfast with Brandon.  While eating we saw Kristen & Coral.  Coral is one of our adopted granddaughters.  Coral had the cutest outfit on and the wig she wore for Halloween.  I wished I had my camera but alas it was in the suburban.  Kristen and Coral were having breakfast before picking up Jade, Coral's sister, from a sleepover.  We said we would catch up at church.  We were almost done with breakfast when a school friends of Brandon's came in with his two children.  It was good to see Aaron, Ian and Ana.  They were out for breakfast while Mommy, Kelly, was working.  Aaron graduated with Brandon and they played soccer and basketball together in high school.  Aaron and Kelly own Blackberry House.  It is a cute little coffee and sandwich shop on the corner of H Street and 3rd.  If you get a chance stop in and see them.  Aaron makes all his own bread, delicious soup and all types of coffee's.  After breakfast we shared hugs and "safe travels" with Brandon and he got on the road.  We then headed to church.  And that leads me to what i am thankful for.

Today I am thankful for our church family.  We attend Northwood Alliance Church which is part of the Christian & Missionary Alliance.  We have been attending there since November 2001.  It is a small church of about 42 members with a regular attendance between 60 & 75.  It is so good to be back in our home church.  Today was only our second Sunday back and it felt like we had not been gone at all.  The guy who was to do the overheads was not there so Ron did the overheads for the service.  As we were praising God in song I had another thought "oh no, I put in the script (the written out plan of who is doing what and when) that after community prayer time Glenn was going to call on Charles to call us forward to share about our time in carnival and how God was working in our life (remember the thought while at the restaurant earlier).  So I got up, went to where Ron was doing the overheads, checked the script.  Yep, I had put us in there.  So then I had to walk up to Glenn, trying not to be to obvious (hard to do in a small church) and whispered in his ear, as he is playing the guitar and singing (he is in the worship band) to just skip over that part.  Okay, back to worshiping God and being in fellowship with our church family.  

After the sermon, Charles remembered that we were sharing communion together as a congregation.  Now remember, I did the bulletin, script and overheads on Friday for the service today.  And I had already remembered two things that I messed up on for the service today.  Really there was three but I remembered that about 1:00 a.m. on Saturday morning while waiting for Ron & Brandon to get home from Seattle.  I had missed one of the things that needed to be tweaked on the handout.  And I had emailed Charles about that then.  He had emailed me back not to worry about it!  I so like having an understanding boss/pastor/friend.  The last I had heard on Friday was that serving communion today would be some of the young people from youth group.  Just about then, I hear Charles say "he would like to ask Ron & Alice come up and help serve communion."  Wait, Ron hates surprises.  But being the trooper he is, he came forward and we walked up front together to join John & Barb who were also walking up front to help serve.  While waiting to begin serving communion, Ron leans over to me and said "you put in the bulletin that we are having communion next Sunday."  I chuckled to myself and thought "with all these mistakes I have made in the last three days, maybe they (Northwood congregation & Charles) would be happy to see me gone again).  But mistakes on my part were not done yet.  After we served everyone, Charles served Ron & I and I whispered to Charles "it looks like Bud & Kay Dee got skipped."  Well Charles turned, walked over to them and they had :)  I then leaned over and whispered to Ron "well it looked like they hadn't been served."  So four mistakes later (at least the four I knew about), we returned to our seats to take communion together.  I gave thanks to the Lord for allowing us to be part of a very gracious and loving church family.  They accept each attender for who they are even with all their imperfections.  I am glad to know that I am one who is loved by many.


After church we visited for a little while before heading out for lunch.  We met our friends Stacey and Sean at Paso Del Norte for great food and even better fellowship.  We ate and chatted for over two hours.  It was so good to get caught up, laugh together, share stories about our kids and just being together with other believers.


After lunch we came back to the condo and have just rested, vegged, watched the Seahawks get creamed in football, did a load of laundry and just relaxed.  While I have been writing, Ron went into the kitchen and what did he find ~ the goodies we bought for the grand boys yesterday at the C Shop.  Guess I will be getting a package ready to go in the mail.  Do you notice a theme here ~ I have been very forgetful lately.  Hmmm...THEY say the mind is the first to go.  Hope I am not in too much trouble.  I think I am too young to be losing my mind ~ okay, some of you would say I already have :)


To answer a couple of questions/comments.  As of right now we don't know where we will be selling Christmas trees except somewhere between Federal Way and Everett.  Once we know we will definitely let everyone know.  Maybe some of you can take a road trip to come and see us.

Someone commented "19 people ~ that's a big family."  In attendance last night was Ron's 4 siblings:  Judy, Kathy with her daughter, hubby and three boys, John and his daughter Miriam, Lynn and her fiance, Brian, Ron's Uncle Ike and Aunt Joey, us and our son's, Brandon and Jamie and Suzanne (Jamie's girlfriend) and Opal (Jamie & Suzanne's daughter).

Hope I have covered the questions that have been asked.  Take care and check back tomorrow to see what I am thankful for.  Wishing each of you a blessed day.

Saturday Summary

Saturday night and all is good! Today I am thankful for my family.  Specifically for Ron, Jamie & Brandon.  

Brandon flew in last night from Lewiston.  His flight finally arrived at 11:04 p.m.  Ron and Brandon arrived here in Birch Bay about 1:30 a.m., yes this morning.  After saying hello we all went to bed.  It had been a long day for all of us.  Brandon had been up early for school conferences at Orofino High School.  I had been up and at 'em ~ spending my day working at the church.  Ron had been busy doing some things here at the condo.  I think I heard he did take a nap ~ lucky guy.  But he did spend over two hours driving to Seattle, 2 hours waiting for Brandon's delayed flight and then another 2 hours driving back to Birch Bay.

This morning we had a leisurely breakfast and I got started on the laundry and Ron and Brandon ran a few errands, took the tool box out of the back of the truck and putting it in the storage unit (it is a huge heavy metal tool box ~ not sure what Ron is going to do with it now that he doesn't have a truck to put it in) and getting some things from the storage unit for Brandon to take back to Lewiston and a couple of things for me.

In the afternoon Ron & Brandon watched football.  We watched the Boise game, looked for Max who was at the game with his other Grandpa.  Never saw him, he was kinda hard to see in all his blue ~ blue clothes, blue wig and I think a blue Boise sign ~ since most of all the other fans were also dressed in blue.

In the evening we gathered at Bob's Burger & Brew for dinner with the Workentin family.  We were 19 altogether.  We were supposed to be 22 but James (Kathy's son) and his little family had car problems that needed to be addressed.  A good time was had by all.  We were seated near Aunt Joey and Uncle Ike (Ron's uncle on his dad's side).  It was fun to hear stories from when he was a child, how George (another uncle of Ron's) and Pete (Ron's dad) jumped in and took care of the 6 siblings after their dad (Ron's grandpa) died at the young age of 34.  What an example of how to take care of family George and Pete were to their younger brothers.  Uncle Ike even said that George and Pete were his heroes.

As we were leaving the restaurant we ran into friends Jay & Viv.  So good to see them if even for only a few minutes. 

Once home Ron and Brandon grabbed their swimsuits and headed over to Beachwood (one of the places we park the motor home when we are here in Whatcom County.  It is a part of K&M Resorts which we belong to) to join Jamie for some hot tub time.  I am so thankful that my husband and our son's want to spend time together.  They laugh a lot, Ron would say the boys pick on him, I call it just sharing the love :), share about their lives, their goals, what they do as father's and husband's ~ they share who they are and enjoy being together.  I am so thankful that they like to be together, do things together and make an effort to be together whenever possible.  It brings joy to this mom's heart to see the love the boys have for each other and their dad.

Prayer needs ~
~ for traveling mercies for Brandon as he drives back to Lewiston tomorrow
~ for Danalyn as she drives from Boise to Lewiston on Monday.  She has been in Boise, staying at her folks while attending a 3 day class for work.
~ for the insurance adjuster to follow through on what he needs to do ~ to give the go ahead on the necessary repairs for our motor home.  We really need to get back into the motor home so we can get the necessary things done that we need to do before we report for our job of selling Christmas trees (we start on 11/23).
~ and as we continue to look for work for the new year.  We have heard from a couple of campgrounds and are  sending the requested paperwork for further consideration.

That's all for now.   It's time for me to head to bed as we have another busy day ahead of us tomorrow - church in the morning and then lunch at Paso Del Norte with friends, Sean and Stacey.  I also need to do another load of laundry ~ you know, the never ending job.

Take care and may you find something to be thankful for today as well.