Do Not Be Afraid- Stand Still and See...

I quickly grabbed a book from our church library on Sunday- It is Christian Fiction by an Author I don't know that I've read before (T. Davis Bunn). 
One of the most interesting things about this book is that several times, during the course of 265 pages, you follow the characters into their church and sit through most of a sermon with them...........
Below is an excerpt from one of the sermons 'preached'........hope you enjoy as much as I did :)

'Many of the lessons God wants us to learn are based on the principal of release.  We need to learn to take our hands off of the controls.  When we are at our most desperate and our desire to cling to control is strongest, this is when we most need to let go.  To be willing in faith to take our hands off, and put the experience and the circumstances under the control of God.  Yet, we desperately want to direct our own lives.  It is fear which keeps us from releasing control.  It makes us skeptical and keeps us from believing in the goodness of God.  A moment given over to fear is a moment lost from God.  We are lost in that moment, trapped by fear and doubt and a desperate desire to cling to what we know.
At these times, we can do ourselves the greatest harm by trying to forge ahead alone, governed by our fears, blinded by our terrors and our pains and our pasts.  It is in this moment that release to God is vital..... this is no senseless casting everything to the winds of fate. This is trusting God- putting action to the theory of faith.
Remember when the Israelites were trapped between the forces of Pharaoh and the Red Sea? Moses turned to them and in Ex, 14:13 says 'Do not be afraid, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today.'
In our impossible times, when our human frailties are greatest, this is when God's power can be strongest.  If only we can release the impossibilities to God, He will work His miracles.  Free yourself from the deadly assumption that you have the strength and the wisdom and the capacity to make the right decisions yourself....Release control to God and step off the cliff of comfort into the unknown...... Hallelujah, AMEN!'  Author T. Davis Bunn (One Shenandoah Winter pg. 219-221)

Keeping it Simple....

Last night Ryan came up with the idea to drag out an old discarded plastic bin and fill it with water- He wanted Ellie to have a swimming pool-  I didn't say anything at the time but was thinking to myself 'she's not gonna like it- I have drug out her giraffe pool time and time again and she hates it- what a waste of money that was...'
When the plastic bin was full of water, Elle's got right in
Wow!
Ryan, Matt, and I could not help but pull up chairs and watch- For a good hour Ellie twisted, twirled, and played in her bin of water...

Later, as I was cleaning up the outside, I came to the bin....as I stood over it, for some reason I started thinking....

It's not the over abundance of
(The over abundance of toys strewn throughout one's house and back yard all in hopes of encouraging both learning and play ignored by our children only to find that an old discarded bin filled with water will entertain for hours.......)
OR
the price spent that determines the fun (or appreciation of)..........
(As a decent amount of dollars and hours are spent picking out 'occasion' gifts by us parents, only to find that the child is more thrilled with the bow off of the wrapping than the actual gift itself)

A 2 year old, enjoying that old discarded bin filled with water...kicking her feet, laying on her back so that her hair can float, giggling at all the splashing she can do is a great reminder to keep it simple and enjoy what we have......

It's not always about bigger, better, or more of........sometimes it's just about appreciating what is already here....

Thank you Elle's for this reminder :)




Thank you Ryan for this adorable pic

Who's Trash is it Anyway?

A few posts back I mentioned that we were in the process of purchasing a small piece a property (a little over an acre).  This property was owned by the same woman since the early 60's....almost 55 years....I am making a logical guess here when I say that the Mrs. of the property was either looking for ways to save money or the 'grossed out' part of her brain was not functionally property... She choose not to have trash service but instead use the whole 1.23 acres to drop her trash...........for 55 years
From what I could gather the owner was elderly and passed away recently and did not have a proper will (and without properly disposing of her trash.........she definitely was not proper).  Due to a lack of relatives and some bills that needed to be paid, the State of Oregon acquired the property. 
In the eagerness to be rid of this property, the State found a realtor and allowed the price to reflect the trashy condition of this piece of land. 
After signing the closing papers on Fri. Matt and I talked about a plan of attack on all the trash.....praying for a flood to take all the trash away didn't seem very realistic..........neither did hoping that thieves would come onto the property and steal every last thing SOOOOO the first of several BIG garbage bins was scheduled to be delivered that same day and the weeks and weeks of clean up work began.....

Saturday as I was gazing out over the property it struck me that we were cleaning up a whole lot of someone else's trash...someone else's trash that had just become our trash............WAIT....who's trash is it anyway??? Their trash or Ours??

OURS :)

Free boat :)

In with the good air...out with the bad :)

• Wheat Thin Crackers taste exactly how dog food smells
• Refried beans used to be a staple in my diet (bean burrito w/o onions but add sour cream) UNTIL about a month ago.......I was looking at the refried beans in the bean burrito just before taking the first bite- I thought to myself 'refried beans look just like diarrhea'....then I took a bite of that burrito...dry heaved.........and have not eaten refried beans since.  I did the same thing with mayonnaise when I was in middle school (looked at it on a sandwich and thought it looked like a wad of snot).......I did not eat mayo until after I graduated from high school- Maybe I will go back to eating refried beans in my mid 40's
• Have you ever heard of Adrenal Fatigue?  Ya, neither had I until late spring.........Good bye late nights, over scheduling one's self, and bad eating habits.... I am on a strict regiment of vitamins (D, Iron, B complex, whole food vitamins, etc.), at least 8 hours of sleep a night, and 75 mg of progesterone cream a day for 14 days a month- I am also supposed to eat a bit healthier  :(-  It's a funny thing when your mind is saying 'go' and your body is saying 'no'.....So glad to not be as tired as I was 3 months ago but looking forward to being 100% again
• Matt is sitting by me........He just let one rip.........as I was glaring at him he looks over at me and say's 'You know what they say...in with the good air out with the bad!'....................hee hee hee hee hee!
• I'd like to give a shout out to my dad.  My dad is, I think, my biggest blogger fan- He is quick to remind me if I go to long without posting........... Hi dad- I love you!  Come visit me already!!

Hope you all are having a great Sunday night-

It took a lot of firm talk to make him take his hand down and get the picture below...
I guess teens don't think it's 'cool' to get their pictures taken with their parents

Design on Four Hundred and Fifty Dimes!!

After seeing this picture of our bedroom (our home is currently for sale- a photographer came in to do a photo shoot of it for the advertising)

It opened my eyes to exactly how bare and blah our bedroom looked..........no curb appeal.......nada.....zip........ZILCH. 
We do not have our bedroom furniture yet and I am not exactly sure what I want to decorate our bedroom like for the long term
BUT
Something needed to be done NOW to help with the curb appeal..........
Between Goodwill (love that store), Ross, and what I already had in storage at my own house
AND
with a total cost of a little under $45. this is what we came up with
Picture: Ross $19.99
Bed Pillows: Ross $19.99
Curtains: Goodwill $2.99
BEDSKIRT!!!!: Goodwill $1.99 (and it's pottery barn)
Dresser: Already had just moved it from one side of our room to the other
Mirror on top of dresser: already had
Ottoman, lamp, and light blue comforter: Was stored around the house in various places

Guess Where We're Moving :)

Our primary residence went on the market today (we have had it for sale by owner for the past couple of weeks...we decided that Matt is just to busy to take on selling our house so we hired JJ.....if you live in my neck of the woods you know who I'm talking about)

GUESS WHERE WE'RE MOVING!!!!!

We are in the process of making the transition back to Hawaii...........................

JUST KIDDING!!
hee hee hee hee hee hee hee!!

We are purchasing a little over an acre that we will build a modest track house on in the same town we live in now (Oregon)- After the house is done we will also add a good size shop (the property is zoned both commercial and residential) and stay put until Ryan graduates from High School (Ryan is starting his freshman year this Sept.).............That is our plan at this point- we are a whimish lot so these plans could change- What is certain at this point is that our house is up for sale and escrow is set to close on that acre property we are purchasing on the 19th of this month.........................

I will post pictures of the new property later- tonight here are the pictures of our house that just went up for sale....

Hope you all are having a great Fri.- mine was spent cleaning and making sure that every nook and cranny of my house was suitable to be inspected by those looking for a home like ours........

AND LAST BUT NOT LEAST.............This is so embarrassing because this picture of my bedroom made our local MLS today- ..........I captioned this picture on facebook with the following

Nothing like realizing AFTER THE FACT that you should have bought a bed skirt, curtains, a stylish comforter, put pictures on the wall BEFORE the professional photographer was over to take pictures- (house just went up for sale)...........learn from me ladies- ACCESSORIZE (and make sure your comforters are on straight)!!

Ellie's Kate....

July 21, 2017
I wrote this post in August of 2013 when Ellie and Kate were 2 years old.  Today is precious Kate's 6th Birthday (Happy Birthday, Kate!).  4 years after this post was written and 6 years after the girls were born, Ellie and I still pray every night for Kate, Claire, Jaylee, Jayme, Grayson, Linnea', Toby, and Jon.


August 7, 2013 
Every night when we put Ellie to bed we pray the same prayer- The prayer started back in August of 2011 when Elle's was just two months old....

One afternoon, a few weeks after Ellie was born, my sis and I were talking on the phone and I asked her what she was up to

'We're going to a bbq at some people from our church's house- you can come if you want.

After getting to the bbq I asked Jodi who's house we were at- She pointed out an adorable blonde with an even more adorable pregnant belly.  Jodi informed me that Kelly was almost due with her fifth child. 

The summer Ellie was born was a special summer of deliveries- Ellie was born 10 weeks after my friend Val's daughter Jayme, 3 weeks before Ellie's cousin Claire and 6 weeks before her cousin's (twins) Grayson and Linnea.  I knew that Ellie would be growing up with these precious kiddo's- I also knew that she would be growing up with Jaylee, who joined my friend Michelle's family by way of adoption the summer before Ellie was born.

On July 21 (2011) Kelly delivered her daughter Kate.  Shortly after Kate was born she had some routine testing done- It was in those tests (and confirmed by other tests) that Kate was diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis.  When my sister called to tell me about little Kate I knew what my Ellie and I needed to do...

Starting that August night in 2011, when Ellie was put to bed she heard this prayer:

'Dear Lord Jesus please be with Kate Elisabeth, Jaylee, Jayme, Claire, Grayson, and Linnea......'

She has continued to hear the prayer every night since and will continue to hear the prayer until she gets old enough to pray for Kate, Jaylee, Jayme, Claire, Grayson, and Linnea (and whoever else she chooses to pray for) on her own (her cousin Toby has been added and her friend, Jon).

As Ellie and Kate were playing together several Sunday's ago my heart melted.

Heavenly Father thank you for little Kate!

thank you to Kate's mom Kelly for this picture

The pictures above were the original pictures with this post.  Below are a few I added today of the girls over the last couple of years