Friday's Photo.....

Marking Territory

God-Sighting 9,455-Baptism

"But why are you going to get baptized tomorrow?"

"Well, because I love Jesus, and I want others to know that. I want those in our church to know that I know I have sinned, and that I've confessed that to Jesus, and that he's forgiven me."

My son spoke, "Well, I love Jesus too. I want to be baptized too."

This was the conversation that my husband and my oldest had the night before my husband was baptized for the first time at age 34. Being that old might not seem unusual unless you know that my husband committed his life and his life choices to Christ at age 18. Most Christians might be baffled by the time span between his confession of faith and choice to be baptized.

Some of my readers will not be shocked by that time span, but actually might be more surprised that he choice to be baptized. You see, my husband was raised as a Quaker, and until last year had always gone to a Quaker church. I love this about my husband. His expression and view of God was one of the things I found most attractive about him when I first met him in college. He challenged my views as a Christian and he confirmed many of the TRUTHS I was taught as a child by my mother who was also raised as a Christian Quaker.

God is our Light and our joy. We cherish the many TRUTHS that we learned by our fellowship with other Quakers, but we also rejoice that God has moved us to a different place of worship where our understanding of God's Truth is being expanded. That is why my husband decided to be baptized this last week. The time was right.

I believe my husband's act of baptism will be a huge spiritual marker for our four-year-old. He was giddy all Sunday morning. He couldn't wait to get to church, my son not my husband. :) (But maybe my husband too.)

During the worship my son seemed a bit agitated. He kept walking to the front and then returning to our seats near the back. Finally I knelt down beside him and asked him what he wanted, why was he going up front and then coming back to where we were sitting?

"I just want to see Daddy get baptized."

I smiled, "Do you want to go up with Daddy?"

He nodded.

My husband held his hand and assured him that he'd get to go up front.

The pastor spoke.

My husband went up, and in his large hand rested my son's small one.

My son stood as close as he could to the baptismal without getting baptized himself. He saw it all. He heard his daddy's testimony. He listened. He saw. A God-sighting.

My heart rejoiced. I'm glad my husband waited. He waited. He listened. A God-sighting. He sensed the Holy Spirit. He responded, and I know God's perfect timing was at work.

God is good....all the time.

Friday: Picture Post

I'm thinking of starting a picture post on Fridays. Just a picture, no words....or at least a few. So, here is goes. Please do not expect anything terribly artistic or deep.

2009: Year of The Boot

Oh, It Was A Good Decade

(NOTE: AFTER READING THIS POST YOU WILL KNOW I KNOW NOTHING ABOUT COMPUTERS. SORRY ABOUT THE PICTURES.

Oh, but it was a good decade. It was. It wasn't evil, anymore evil than any other. If the Great Recession hadn't happened would so many people be complaining about the last ten years....regardless of world events. We Americans have a habit of only complaining when something directly effects our immediate happiness.

And so, here's is to this last decade! It just happened to be my best one yet. Sure, it wasn't easy. No way. It was hard. It was stretching. I grew into my role as adult, and being an adult means that I have to fix my own messes and stop passing the blame. I ate the fruit; Eve did not make me.

I am fully admitting that this blog is a blatant copy of a good friend. So here is her link and you must read hers since she did it first. (I let her know I was doing this.) Her blog is called The Short Years.

We bought our first home! This home represents our firsts: first remodel job, first flooded basement, first neighbors, first mortgage/debt, first vandalism, first "city" living, first nursery(baby), first garden(plants), first backyard bbq's.......first stress and first place of rest and peace. My memories abound. When we decided to buy it I could see a little boy, naked, running on its oak floors after a bath. It was here, in the kitchen, that I starting my tutoring business. It was here that I learned to cook. It was here that I planned school lessons, graded papers, wrote my first novel(ha!), and dreamed of vacations and other things to come. It was in our home that my husband and I grew from our discord and our harmony. I wouldn't change and thing.

In this last decade I went to Georgia, twice. Georgia is a piece of my husband. It is where his mother grew up. It is the place of Grandma Daisy and all that means.

This decade also represents careers and jobs and choices. I saw my dream of being a teacher come true. I loved all my classes, all my students. I learned and grew from all my successes and failures as a teacher. My first class is now in their 20's. I was a very young teacher, 21-years-old. My husband went from youth ministry, to going back to school to get his Masters in Teaching. Oh, those were the lean years....so we thought at the time. We were working toward a goal, and we achieved it.

These pictures are of one of my classes and a group shot of Tween Camp, which we directed for four years. I loved my years in youthwork. We had a lot of fun building relationships with other youthworkers and the kids. This was also the decade of Quakers. I evaluated my beliefs and felt affirmed in my relationship with Christ. I received healing from a bad church split that happened in my teen years.

This last decade was a lot about us, my husband and I. We waited 6 years before we had our oldest, and we lived those six years up. We loved finding fun new places to eat in Portland, listening to music, going to the beach on a whim, trying new things, and traveling. We went somewhere every spring break and every summer. I do miss traveling like we used to, but I am enjoying the shift from 20's travel to family travel. Here are some pics of some of our adventures.








But, the best part of the decade started in 2005. We went from two to three to four to five.



We moved from all we knew and took a step of faith, based on our listening and trusting God. We moved back to the farm. It is good. So much good has come in these last two years: good job for my husband, unique relationship with my parents who live 100 feet to our east, being part of an authentic church community who is enthusiastic about God's truth, friends....the list goes on.

Even the passing my my grandfather was a blessing in this past decade.

I give thanks to God, and I anticipate what the next will bring. After all, by the end of the next one I will be the mother to three teenage boys.

Winter Isn't Over on December 26th

We still have January and February to go. My middle son reminds me everyday when we walk outside, "It is still winter. It is Monday." I guess Monday equals winter in his mind. It'll be a long Monday then.

There is a tendency to clean up the Christmas decor and think spring is soon to arrive, but it isn't. Our chances of snow and ice still exist, and that is why I'm excited to share these three children's books with you!


Love, love, love this book. It has beautiful pictures, great word images, and a touch of humor that is perfect and engaging for the preschool mind! Sebastian Meschenmoser is the author. His first book is titled Learning to Fly, and I'm planning to put it on hold at the library.

Basically three woodland friends are waiting for the first snow to arrive, but none of them have seen it....they know that "snow is white and wet and cold and soft." They come up with all sorts of clever things to pass the time as they wait for the first sign of snow. Finally they are sure they've found the first snowflake. But have they?

My other two favorite winter stories are quite old. Katy and The Big Snow was published in 1943 and White Snow Bright Snow was first printed in 1947. These are must haves for a true lover of children's books. Both are art in illustrations and in words. They capture the essence of snow and its anticipation and joy perfectly. I get all giddy and excited when I read these two to my children. And even though they are a bit wordy, compared to many of today's reads, they hold my sons' attentions and capture something lost in this new age of busy.

I'm bummed I was unable to share images from these books with you, so please follow the links. And please, check them out at your local library. I'm sad to return mine tomorrow.

Hoping for piles of the white stuff!

2010 Calendar Farm Quotes Continues

"Trade increases the wealth and glory of a country; but is real strength and stamina are to be looked for among the cultivators of the land." William Pitt


"I know of not pursuit in which more real and important services can be rendered to any country than my improving its agriculture." George Washington





"When tillage begins, and other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founds of human civilization." Daniel Webster


"The farmer has to be an optimist or he wouldn't still be a farmer." Will Rogers






"Farming looks mighty easy when your plow is a pencil, and you're a thousand miles from the cornfield." Dwight D. Eisenhower.

"Life on a farm is a school of patience; you can't hurry the crops or make an ox in two days." Henri Alain

2010 Calendar

Remember those black and white calendars that featured kids doing romantic things, all dressed up and carrying colored red roses? Yep, had one of those. I also had a Norman Rockwell calendar that I loved. My son gets his first calendar this year; he actually requested this. How can a mother deny that request? So, my mom found the perfect one.....an NRA sponsored calendar from my deceased Grandfather's pile. Now, I am not a fan nor member of the NRA, but it does have perfect boy pictures on it. Each month features another dog with his boy. (Oh, and a strategically placed gun.) I'm holding the whole gun/weapon thing loosely these days: I have boys. Boys seem strangely drawn toward weapons. All of our current weapons are made of plastic. Note: I'm pretty sure this calendar is not going to send my son down a path of violence.

OK, that was a lot of blabber just to say that I have a new favorite calendar this year put out by the Oregon Farm Bureau. The farmer in me sings. Each month mirrors the seasons outside my window. April=tulips. May=orchard blossoms. June=berries. You get the idea.

The best part are the quotes that accompany each month. Here are my favorites:

"The first farmer was the first man. All historic nobility rests on the possession and use of the land." Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Agriculture is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to the real wealth, good morals, and happiness." Thomas Jefferson

"I had rather be on my farm than be the emperor of the world." George Washington

"Life on a cattle ranch...was a fine, healthy life; it taught a man self-reliance, hardihood, and the value of instant decision." Theodore Roosevelt

"The farmer is the only man in our economy who buys everything at retail, sells everything at wholesale, and pays the freight both ways." JFK

"If you tickle the earth with a hoe, she laughs with a harvest." Douglas William Jerrold

OK, so I basically like them all. I'll make the other quotes another blog post. Keep it short, and hopefully you'll read them all.