tagged again

Five things in my bag:
1. My Providence Newberg Medical Center photo ID that I only wear when I’m in the facility to get mail or need to look official when getting coffee at Chapters
2. My favorite mellow yellow highlighter (don’t care for neon yellow, thank you very much)
3. My favorite Parker ballpoint pen with my last perfect refill purchased before they were ruined by someone’s dumb idea of “new and improved”
4. A pouch of necessities that contains several $1 coins and other loose change, mechanical pencil lead, small post-its, a travel size bottle of Ibuprophen, Claritin, Tylenol Severe-Cold pills, a baggie with half an unidentifiable pill, business cards with our old address and logo on them, Band-Aids, and a miniature “to go” pack of pink emery boards. (It might be time to clean that out)
5. A free lunch card for Ruth’s Café that my boss gave me for being a good sport

Five things in my bedroom:
1. My husband. Scratch that, he just got up. Um...the bridesmaid dresses from two very good friend's weddings that were over 20 years ago. (They are hanging on the "what should I do with these" hook because I recently cleaned out my closet)
2. An antique, cedar lined, trunk sporting a leather tag with my maiden name hand tooled on it and stuffed to the gills with childhood treasures – mine, my mate’s, our offspring’s, and our ancestor’s.
3. An obscene amount of dust
4. An aerial photo of my Uncle Bill’s farm in Alberta, Canada
5. Books. Several. Mostly read. One new and not yet opened

Five things I have always wanted to do:
1. Ride in a hot air balloon
2. Look through an 800 mm camera lens
3. Recommend a piece of legislation that actually makes things better somehow
4. Write a book
5. Get my masters degree

Five things I’m currently into:
1. Photography
2. The class of 2008
3. Facebook (thanks Shan)
4. Medical appointments, co-pay vs deductible, clinic locations, EOBs, prior authorizations, stitches, non-stick gauze, paper vs cloth tape, and polysporin vs neosporin
5. Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin

Five People who need to do this too:
1. I’m sorry. Due to #4 above, I have no idea who has already been tagged. If you are friend enough to read this all the way to the bottom and haven’t been tagged yet, please, do us the favor!

Thanks Denise - you're my hero too!

A funny thing happened in church today. At our table in Sunday school this morning, I spoke in reference to a scripture that helped me through the hard days of a child's illness and how that particular promise of God has helped since in times when my faith has been thin and God is being especially quiet. Then, our pastor closed the worship gathering with the same reference to the same scripture and spoke out the same promise.

The reference is to a story in Luke 12/Matthew 6. It is a story about how God takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field with a resounding assurance that you and I are more valuable than these to him. The promise; God will take care of you. And me. He will. He does. He will continue to. So we can, do, must depend on God for everything.
The trick is to remember that God is alive and well in the hearts, minds, and bodies of his beloved, very human, children and we cannot continue to fail each other by failing to dispense his care, love, and encouragement to each other. Asking for help is ok. Asking another person for help is sometimes the same as asking God for his divine help. And, that’s not weakness. That’s wisdom.


I wish I had believed that a lot sooner.

seattle summer

Hello Friends and Acquaintances,

How sweet is the view from my kitchen window?

If you were going to vacation in Seattle this summer with your teenagers, what would you plan to do? Where would you stay that is near the PSU campus but not enormously expensive?

We want to explore the city so AJ is familiar with the territory and do something fun so AW isn’t bored out of his mind. Any suggestions? Thanks!