T P ' d

This morning I awoke to an unbelievable white wonderland! (Well, not when I first opened my eyes) At first sight of this new day, everything looked normal. However, as I walked out of my bedroom and down the hall, toward the coffee pot in the kitchen, the sight out the larger-than-life living room windows stopped me in my tracks! Everything was white! It was like "winter-wonderland", except, even in my half-awake, half-asleep state of mind, I knew it wasn't winter! It took a minute for it to register that...we'd been T P 'd during the night--toilet papered, that is!!

Who would want to do such a thing to us??? We have no known enemies, and no well-known, local teenagers in our lives at this place and point in time. But, someone obviously chose to give us many rolls of toilet paper (a kind-hearted gesture ?), while decorating our yard for us! Hey, Pam ("Super Mom"), I do recall you asking for a picture of our yard, after I spent many, many hours out there working on it. Well, here it is, in all its "loveliness":As I stood there staring, open-mouthed in disbelief, my husband came upstairs (from his office on the lower level), and enjoyed the shock on my face. Then he quickly informed me that it was starting to rain, so we'd better get out there and get it cleaned up as fast as possible, before the toilet paper became soaked, and nearly impossible to remove.

So, without another step toward the much-desired cup of coffee, I threw on some clothes and hurried out the door to help with the very speedy clean-up effort.

Fortunately, the weather cooperated and the sprinkles didn't turn into a down-pour until after we were finished grabbing/pulling/raking all the white stuff out of the trees and stuffing it into the trash bin. Unfortunately, it filled up half of the trash bin, leaving a very limited amount of space for the trash to be added over the next four days!Nonetheless, it was a very fun wake-up experience! We laughed and chatted with one of the neighbors who also enjoyed both the scene, and our reaction! Oh, such fun!

Vacation Days

We've just returned from a little vacation in California, and it's time to admit -- it has finally happened! A move back "home" to California?
No, not yet. Instead, it's the thing we've dreaded might happen to us, ever since moving to Oregon (3 years ago this month). We've become

tree-huggers!

We knew it was bound to happen sooner or later. But, it didn't happen in Oregon as one might expect.

It happened on this visit to California. As soon as we arrived at the Redwood Forest, Larry stopped the car and ran for the nearest big one! What could I do (as a good wife) except follow my husband's lead!

Hugging this baby bunny would have been much more delightful, but it preferred to just sit and visit with me, keeping a wary eye open for any movement that was too close for comfort.

Our time away was very nice -- beautiful scenery, wonderful relaxation, and perfect weather -- sunny and warm, with cloudless azure skies!

More pictures to be posted soon . . .

Today it's time to return to reality -- life on the edge in Oregon, where everything is beautifully green, and the skies are white.

Exhausting Rejuvenation

Is it possible? Yes! Cutting away the dead stuff and eliminating the excess is painful and exhausting, but, oh so rejuvenating!

Yesterday I worked in the yard for the entire day! By the time I called it quits (about 7:00/7:30) last night, I could barely force my legs to walk into the house. It took sheer will power just to put one foot in front of the other. First I went into the garage and peeled off the dirty clothes, dropping them right where I pulled them off. (They were not suitable for the dirty clothes hamper!) Then I headed straight for the shower and let the hot water soothe my soreness before I could even begin to scrub away the filth. Washing the gunk out of my hair was the biggest challenge--it was full of pine sap, and shampoo could not remove it! I began thinking I would have to cut it out, but a bar of of soap finally did the trick.

Next stop was the sofa -- somehow I made it that far and stayed there for a long time! Larry was still outside working. (He hadn't started yard work nearly as early in the day as I had.) When he came in, although he too was very tired, he drove to get some "fast food" for us. Otherwise, we may have gone to bed hungry!

This morning I keep walking from window to window, inspecting and admiring the loveliness of our yard. The exhausting labor was well-worth it! Although my body is still weary, and some spots are expressing their disapproval in what I did to them yesterday, I feel rejuvenated--glad for the exercise and fresh air that my lungs took in all day long yesterday!

Oh, and my trees and bushes feel much better today also -- I think.

Reflections

Reflecting on how much I've learned in life by way of the ever-present trials and tribulations . . .

Yesterday morning as I was driving to church I was thinking about the "school of hard knocks" -- a learning institution that every one of us has attended, and will continue to attend throughout our entire lifetime. It's one school that has no commencement exercises because no one is ever graduated from it! Just think how boring it would be to be all done learning!

It's the hard things of life, the difficult times that can provide us with the greatest opportunities to learn what not to do, what not to say, what will cause hurt to others . . . what will actually help or hinder others, what will encourage or discourage others, what will build others up or tear them down, what will benefit or harm the well-being of others.

As I thought this through this morning, I suddenly felt thankful for the hard things I've experienced in my life. I felt thankful for the difficulties I've experienced with people. God was (and still is) in it all! He knew what I needed to learn, and the best way to teach it to me. He knew what I could handle, and what I could learn to handle--with His help.

Life is all about people! I love being personally involved in their lives, and helping with their needs! I love listening to their hearts, and communicating the love of Jesus to them. I love having opportunities to reflect the character of God as He develops that in my life, and to provide for others the care of His hand, as He also does that for me through the hands of others that He brings into my life.

Doing unto others (and speaking to others) as I would want done and said to me is a good rule of thumb! Hey, maybe we could call it "The Golden Rule"! What a great way to live! That's how I want to learn to live.

Too Busy for Blogging!

Life has become really busy for me! A few weeks ago I spent some time dialoguing with God regarding ministry. It seemed to me that the gifts He gave me were mostly just sitting on the shelf, not being used much. That has really bothered me for the last couple of years (ever since moving from Washington to Oregon). Well, lo and behold, God showed me how He desires to use me, and even gave me a name for it!

D' VINE CARE

What is "D' VINE CARE"?

It is giving care to others, as God's hands and feet, helping with the needs of people, as God brings them to me. It's whatever is needed in the lives of other women, such as: meals during difficult times, hospital or home visitation, "Kitchen Table Counseling", mentoring, one-on-one discipleship, transportation, practical help during a crunch time for someone . . . whatever is needed!

During the last four weeks, I have been so busy with opportunities for service, that I hardly think about the blog world anymore. What a huge change for me! I'm usually quite tired out by the end of the day, but loving every minute of the ministry God has given me!