Visiting friends

Well, this is now old news, but I have to finish our story....
We traveled to Beaverton area, near Portland, OR , to visit our friends, Bobbie and Dave and Paula Hammond. For 4 days we had a little slice of heaven. Of course, all the adventures we'd been having and places we've seen make me think of heaven too, but I think one of our most glorious times in heaven will not be adventures, but enjoying the company of God's people. We met the Hammonds when we first moved to CA from Florida. We had lots of family here, but they were the first friends we met. They both have so much wisdom and are just a joy to be with. Our time with them, as usual, was blessed. We also received a bonus of getting time with their daughter Paula, and "surprise!" their granddaughter Melissa, who was visiting from Southern, CA. We had a blast berry picking with Melissa and Paula. (OK, it brought back my days working on the blueberry farm, and lets just say I got a little carried away--as a matter of fact, our efforts ended up filling freezers in Bobbie's home as well as Paula's for the next few days!)
Dave and Bobbie moved to Oregon several years ago to be closer to Paula and we have missed them terribly. Our visit was way overdue. We spent time strolling the neighborhood and walking the kids to the park--Oregon was much warmer than Washington, but so green and lush. Our best time was spent in their livingroom or family room just talking and laughing. They are all a blessing to us.
On Saturday, Nathaniel and Mark had to head home for Nat's boyscout camp. The traffic in Portland is so bad that we decided to take the high speed train. Bobbie was so sweet to accompany us on the long train ride to the airport. It certainly beat driving, and the kids thought it was a great adventure.
I am ashamed to say, I don't have many pictures. I had the same occurence in my time with my family in Washington...when I finally sat down to load pictures, I thought, "Where are all the wonderful times with my family that we had???" , then again on this last visit I was asking the same question. Apparently, when I am visiting loved ones, I am focused on visiting and not running around taking pictures. The only reason I have any of Bobbie, Dave, Paula and Melissa is Hannah commandeered my old camera. Next trip, she's in charge of photography!

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Mt St. Helens, WA

We traveled next to Silverlake, WA, the town closest to Mt St. Helens. As we traveled south and a little east we were losing daylight. Over on the Olympic Peninsula, we could still see light at 10:15 in the evening. It was great...we actually felt like we had more hours in the day! Here in Silverlake it got dark about 9:30pm. We got in late, so took the next day to tour Mt. St. Helens and some of the scenery surrounding it. When we got to our campsite, Mark was most excited about the canal running right in back of our trailer. The campground bordered Silver Lake and had canals to the lake running all through it. Mark and the kids fished and finally caught something! Two big catfish that we promptly tossed back as soon as we got pictures.

The day touring Mt. St. Helens was really amazing. Though it is humbling seeing the devastation to the area, the rapid recovery is even more so. Its been 30 years this year, since the eruption, but the area has really come back as far as forestation and animal life. It was more barren at the National Monument as they didn't allow any replanting. At the Weyerhauser visitor center, we were told that their company planted over 18 million trees in the following six years after the eruption of the volcano. In such a short time, this landscape has been forever changed and is continuing to change. It makes 6000 years look like a very long time!

There is great information out there about what the Mt. St Helens eruptions can teach us about rapid destruction of an area due to catastrophe. This has made many scientists re-think their view on other formations (i.e. Grand Canyon-a little water over a lot of time, or a lot of water over a little time) Here is a link to find out more: www.answersingenesis.org/articles/wog/mount-st-helens
or
www.answersingenesis.org/creation/v6/i1/mtsthelens.asp

Also, enjoy the pictures!

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A surprise in the islands

We spent our weekend with Mark relaxing in the Cascades. We went back to Baker Lake, and spent time bike riding and fishing a little at the river. On Monday, we decided to travel to Anacortes and catch the ferry (no trailer this time) to the San Juan Islands. While waiting for our ferry, I heard someone call my name. An old friend, Cheryl Dykstra, from Oakhurst EVFree years ago, was sitting right there, waiting for the same ferry. As Micah would say,"A coincidence, I think not!" I had promised Peggy Cunningham before I left, I would try to see Cheryl if i could, but we hadn't been able to get on the ferry over to Whidby Island where Cheryl lives. So we figured...next visit...as I'm saying about a few friends already. God makes our world very small when you are connected by a family of believers. We had a nice visit with Cheryl and met her friend, Dave.
Our family had a lovely time riding the ferry over. It was an overcast, cold day and I was disappointed as I'd really tried to schedule according to sunny weather. But rather than have a grumpy attitude about it, I just asked God if He wouldn't mind bringing the sun out when we were at San Juan Island. Guess what? Just as our ferry ride was ending, the sun came out for the rest of the day. Isn't God wonderful to care about our little concerns as well as our big?
We spent the afternoon touring around the island in museums and just sitting at the harbor and looking at the spectacular view. I can see why my parents keep returning to this place. Unfortunately, we didn't get to see Cheryl on our way back also, but enjoyed our time visiting with her on the ferry over. What a relaxing beautiful day. I recommend it for anyone wanting a perfect day...head over to these islands.

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Over the river and through the fields....to the Cascades we go

"Let the field be joyful, and all that is in it. Then all the trees of the woods will rejoice before the Lord. For He is coming, For He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, and the peoples with His truth." Ps. 96:12-13
The area of Washington we are now staying puts me in mind of these verses. There are deep woods surrounding open fields of farm or ranch land. All of this is surrounded by the Cascade mountain range. Everything is so lush and green--something a Californian appreciates. The fields are overflowing with Shasta daisies, lupine, poppies and wild foxglove. There are rivers and lakes every direction we travel. Our campsite is forested and very quiet. The kids and I are having some days of quiet and rest before Mark arrives.
We traveled into Cascades National park one day. Another, we ventured down to Baker Lake and stood under the shadow of Baker mountain. All the other days, we road bikes around the area and rested in our quiet campground, playing in the creek that runs along the boundary. We tried to explore a few fishing spots for Mark on the Baker and Skagit Rivers.

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We finally traveled to Bellingham to pick him up from the small airport there. We toured Whatcom Falls Park and headed to the marina where we watched boats launch in to the Puget Sound for the opening of crab season. The weather was a sunny 74 degrees. It was good to have Mark back with us for a few days of adventure before we packed up and left Washington. I hope you enjoy some of our pictures! (I couldn't fit them on one slideshow, so there are two here)

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We drove the trailer on the ferry!!!!!!!

Well, we had to leave the Olympic Peninsula, though we loved our time there. The friends we were visiting in Oregon were traveling (we came earlier than planned to be with my family), so we had decided to spend some time in the North Cascades. The only problem from the Peninsula, we would have to travel the windy road back down to Olympia, then get back on I-5 through Seattle, drive north and then east toward the Cascades. It would take us all day in the truck....or we could take the ferry over to north of Seattle and cut off as much as 5 hours or more. The idea of pulling the trailer on to a ferry was daunting. I am not the best driver. I always tell everyone I do fine pulling on to a highway and just going. Even at our campgrounds, we always have pull-through spots. I can't for instance maneuver to "move over". We prayed a lot, (I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength), asked questions and my Dad kept saying it would be "so easy". So we decided to try it out. As we approached, I felt something bordering on panic, so the kids started praying. What an adventure it would be, but Lord, please don't let anything go wrong! Well, everything went smoothly. God Himself was my guide on to that giant ship. We got parked and climbed out to see the sights. Mark was quite upset we didn't get a picture of the actual truck and trailer on the ferry, but we were so relieved, we weren't thinking. The ferry trip was awesome. Micah loved it the most and wants to go again (Yikes!) The only hiccup was when Hannah and Nat headed to the restroom. They took a really long time and the shore was approaching, so I went in search of them. We must have missed each other on the way, as they weren't in the restrooms. When the ferry parks, you need to have your engine running and ready to go when they say. So we had to head downstairs without Hannah and Nathaniel. Thankfully, as soon as we got to the car, they showed up. I must have said something like, "if we're gone when you get back, it means we had to head down to the truck"...and they actually listened. Thank you, Lord. Family intact, we drove off the ferry without a hitch (no pun intended)and due to traffic, may have saved as much as 6 or 7 hours in the car! As Hannah would say, "Yee-haw"

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More fun on the Peninsula!

Well, we toured tons of Lavender farms, spent a day on the Dungeoness River and went to the Audubon Center (very interesting). We also saw a Salmon shark in Sequim Bay! However, I didn't have my camera for any of these outings...sorry! We had a lovely day with the girls...Mom, Melanie, Natalie, Jaime, Hannah, Cori and myself touring lavender farms. The final one had a beautiful cafe, set up like a garden room. We sat and had a late lunch, complete with lavender lemonade.
Mark had to return home and two days later, everyone else, but the kids and I headed home. We felt a little lonely on our own, but continued to have adventures. We drove to Port Townsend one day to check out the ferry. I was considering pulling the trailer on to one as it would save us five hours or more heading to our next destination. It seemed doable...with a lot of prayer. the heat hit a whopping 89 degrees that day with slight humidity. That was our hottest day in Washington. It was a cold, but fun, fourth of July. Every day after that has been beautiful. Sorry Californians,
(105!?)
Well, we decided to do a very touristy thing and go to the Olympic Game Farm. We heard that you drive around and see animals and you can feed them bread. How dangerous can that be? We thought it was neat, but a little hokey at first. Llamas wander around, but zebras are caged. Then we got to feed a rhino, and some kind of musk ox. When we came out of a forest, we hit grizzly bear country. We were five feet away from these guys! After that, we saw wolves, lions, and fed buffalo and elk. What fun it was. We used up all our bread, bought five more loaves at the booth and went around again! You've got to see these pictures, to believe it.

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Off we go on a new adventure!

Well, we have headed up north to spend some time with friends and family in Washington and Oregon. We met family up on the Olympic Penninsula and toured lavender farms, alpine mountains, and beautiful beaches. What a wonder of God's creation this area of the country is! We started with cold rainy weather and are now in sunny, beautiful weather. The Olympic Mountains catch all the rain, so this area is very balmy and dry. Everyone enjoyed hanging out with their grandparents and cousins. We are continuing the adventure on our own now, and are heading for the Olympic game Park!

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Reloading Goblin Valley pics as they were lost. See previous post "Bumps in the road"

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God's music

I was priveleged to attend a concert today with friends and their children. Beethoven's 9th Symphony was performed by the Fresno Philharmonic. They may be a "little city" orchestra, but my opinion went up several notches as I thought they did quite a good job.

Prior to the Beethoven performance the orchestra played a world premier of another "modern" composer. Let's just say it was not my cup of tea. Several of the children and adults commented that it was hard to tell if the right notes were being played or if a wrong note was hit. It was discordant. As Hannah put it, while rubbing a crick in her neck, "It made me tense." This brought up a discussion on the way home about what God's actual purpose for music might be.

I happen to be one of those "math" people. I love it. Not because I can do amazing analytic calculations, but because it always makes sense. The answers always add up, so to speak. I think math reflects God's order and consistency. I tend to think music is very much like that. It was designed by a God that Makes sense. Certain notes were meant to go together, certain notes were just not. Some notes just don't add up correctly.

Don't get me wrong. Discordant sections in music can have their place...when telling a tragic story, when describing something uncomfortable, like a raging storm...or when describing something in a way that shows it isn't meant to exist that way, like sin. But a whole composition that sounds incongruous, inharmonious, or jangling just seems to me to fall very short of the purpose for which God might have intended for music--which, primarily is to give Him glory and praise and secondarily to encourage/entertain us.

"Sing unto the LORD a new song, and his praise from the end of the earth, ye that go down to the sea, and all that is therein; ...Let the wilderness and the cities thereof lift up their voice...let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout from the top of the mountains. "
"Let them give glory unto the LORD, and declare his praise in the islands.”

On the other hand, I am not an artistic person. Maybe music truly is just an expression of one's emotions. I'd love to know opinions of those that are more artistically minded than myself.

Beethoven's 9th was wonderful. The orchestra performed more than adequately. The build up was wonderful. And of course, it all culminated in "Ode to Joy". Four choirs combined to fill the auditorium with glorious sound. Unfortunately, the original version does not have the wonderful words so many know from the church hymnbook...but it does include these words:

"Do you fall in worship, you millions? World, do you know your creator? Seek Him in the heavens; Above the stars must he dwell."

I believe, however, all of us were filling in the familiar words:

Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flowers before Thee, opening to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, fill us with the light of day!

If this link will work, you can hear a bit for yourself.