a flashback moment

Last night Brent had a meeting in our home with a couple from church.  Their older children quickly paired up with our kids to play.  But their little one-year-old toddler needed a little more supervision, so he and I got to hang out together for awhile.  He wanted in on the meeting and was becoming a bit of a distraction, so I decided to take him outside for a walk.  And that’s when the flashback moment hit me.  There I was, hand in hand with a little toddler, walking on the sidewalk, and enjoying the summer breeze.  As we started down the street, my memory immediately went back 10 years when I was doing this exact same thing.  It was such a vivid memory of where our lives were a decade ago.  I got a little teary from the nostalgia of it all.  Ten years ago, we had just moved from Texas to Minnesota for Brent’s new job.  (At that point, we still thought he was going to be a church choir director for the rest of his life.  Ha!)  That summer, we lived in a little one-bedroom apartment, just Brent, me, and our little one-year-old Emma.  We moved with only one car, so there were many days when Emma and I were home without access to a car.  That meant we took walks, a lot of walks!  We walked to the playground.  We walked to the the laundry room.  We walked to the garbage dumpster.  We walked around the parking lot.  We walked around the block.  I realize it was an inconvenience to be without a car, but I really did enjoy all of those walks with Emma toddling beside me, just a I enjoyed my walk with my little friend yesterday.  Those slow-down moments are precious.  And my flashback reminds how much they stick with us through the years.

It’s amazing the think about all that has happened in our lives since that summer a decade ago.  There have been a lot of changes:  different houses, different cars, more children, and a different job in a different state.  I’m thankful to be married to a man that sees all of these changes as part of the adventure of following the Lord’s leading in our lives.  And I must admit that I’m excited to see what the Lord has in store for us and our children over the next ten years.  Hopefully, we’ll some more slow-down moments along the way.

Silverton part 2

I’ve been taking a break from the computer, which is good.  But that means that it’s been a long time since my last post, which isn’t so good.  Here are some more pics from our trip to Silverton.  We had such a good time there as we scouted out places to take our family this summer when the Oklahoma side comes for a visit.

Only in the Northwest would you find a drinking fountain in the shape of a slug!

Our own little hobbit in the Children’s Garden

one of the many beautiful selections in the iris secton

Brent is in the lower right corner getting a picture of the beautiful falls.

At first glance, this doesn’t seem like much of a picture, until you realize that we are standing behind the waterfall! It was awesome!

It might be hard to notice, but there is a walkway for hikers behind the falls. So cool! The falls are beautiful from every angle.

where we went

If you haven’t guessed from yesterday’s hints, we recently visited Silverton, OR.  It really is the Willamette Valley at it’s best (but don’t the that to the people of McMinnville).  Our first stop was The Oregon Garden.  Then we went on to Silver Falls State Park.  The beauty of both of these places was breathtaking, sometimes in delicate ways and sometimes in overwhelming ways.  Here are some pictures we took to share with all of you.

This beauty was ready to welcome us to the garden.

purple pinecones

one of my beautiful girls

having some fun in one of the fountains

Mr. and Mrs. Pots presiding over the children’s garden

Even though it was a cloudy day, we didn’t really experience very much rain, which was nice.  One of the most interesting things to see as we drove through the Silverton area was the acres and acres of Christmas tree farms.  We’re talking about millions of trees.  What a sight!  The Garden certainly prompted us to get busy with our own little yard.  Now that Memorial Day has passed, we don’t have to worry too much about a bad freeze, so it’s relatively safe to start planting.  Getting your hands in the dirt is one the great things about summer.  We’ll share some more photos from our trip soon!  Happy planting!

guess where?

We recently took a quick trip to a beautiful place.  Can you guess where we went?  The answer is coming soon!  Here are a few sneak peeks:

around town

We’ve been making our way around town these last few days.  We always like exploring new places, trying new restaurants, and finding new treasures.  Here are some of our adventures this week:

The Farmer’s Market:  It must truly be summer now that the farmer’s market is back in town.  We were blessed with a beautiful sunny day to kick of the market season.  This year, it’s set up in the long alley between downtown and the Deschutes River.  Some of the booths are from local vendors, and some come over from the Valley.  Either way, it’s all full of tempting goodness.

Pastrami Old World Deli:  Brent discovered this new little deli downtown on Franklin.  We admit that we are suckers for a new restaurant to try.  So we used our weekly coffee date as an excuse to try it.  We think it’s a winner!

Lastly, Ironhorse Antiques:  If you like digging for treasure, then this is your place.  It’s in the neighborhood by Drake Park on Congress.  We had a lot of fun looking through their collections.  Brent even came home with something!

We love to see what our town has to offer.  It should be fun to see what new places we’ll discover throughout the summer.  Happy exploring!

June Bible reading

This month, I’m trying to go through a part of the Bible that is probably more neglected than any other section.  And no, it’s not Leviticus.  It’s the Minor Prophets.  It’s not that what they had to say is minor, or not as important.  It’s just that their writings simply aren’t as long as some others, like Isaiah or Jeremiah.  These books are short and sweet.  Actually, they really aren’t that sweet at all.  There will be a lot of despair, and warning, and destruction.  But in the end, there is always hope when we seek out the Lord.  I’m skipping the book of Hosea for now, so that means I’m starting with Joel and working my way through to Malachi.  I’m looking forward to learning more about who these men were and what they taught.  Right now, some of them are just names that I’ve memorized, which, frankly, isn’t enough.  These books are in the Bible for a reason, so I’m going to discover what they have to say.

Happy reading!