What Was I Thinking?

This whole blog thing seemed like a great idea to me...at the time. What was I thinking? I suppose I shouldn't be too hard on myself what with the holidays and all. My last post on December 20th was followed by the usual holiday flutter with the benefit and craziness of my kids being home from school. We did have a very nice time of it though we missed our usual get together with three of our "couple friends" and their families who we've known since college days. The all live within a couple of miles of each other in Tacoma where I grew (about 30 minutes from Olympia). This was our third annual gathering together on Christmas day. We have the best time eating and laughing and telling stories of years gone by while our children of varying ages play or "hang out" together (depending on the age of course...teenagers don't "play" they "hang out"). Our trip was nixed due to the very rare presence of a snow storm which started earlier in the day. We made a valiant effort but after traveling a mere 4 blocks in 15 minutes we turned around and headed back home. Sadness. Here is a picture of our family on Christmas Eve by the tree! Yup, that's a pretty handsome group right there!

The next big event on the holiday circuit was a little New Year's party for our kids and a few of their friends. The evening revolved around a major Guitar Hero competition. We had a lot of fun playing with and against each other. For those of you interested in the important aspects of the party, we started with a subway sandwich bar with every kind of topping you can think of and completed the night with an ice cream sundae bar. I am pleased to inform you all that my husband actually stayed up past midnight which was made possible by a long nap earlier in the evening. My last check on the kids was sometime after 3 am and I have been told that Victoria and her friends made it till sometime after 6am.

Lest you think that things settled down after January 1st I will say just two words: Winter Camp. Ah yes, the annual January tradition of traveling 4 hours to a mountain camp with - count them with me - 104 students. I have determined that I am way too old for this event and I am quite sure that I will forget that determination by the time Summer Camp rolls around. Could someone make a mental note to remind me please?

Camp, actually, was wonderful (for everyone under the age of 48) and many new students joined us this year. Our speaker was phenomenal - he was also our speaker last year - and many of our students had life altering encounters with the living God. I had what felt like life ENDING encounters with things like noisy girls in our cabin who couldn't distinguish between 4 PM and

4 AM; a mattress that really couldn't qualify as a mattress and would probably be rejected as a donation by Goodwill Industries; early mornings and, my personal favorite, two - count them - two falls on icy paths. I am not by any means complaining merely stating the facts as I see them. The last great thing about Camp (besides the part where I arrived at my own home complete with a clean, hot shower and a nice mattress) is that we have seen an increased presence of God at our Wednesday night meetings (called Fos Church) and a big increase in students wanting to connect with God here at home and connect with others through our small groups. Lastly, my dear Spencer had the opportunity to stay in a cabin with a bunch of sixth grade boys and three great leaders. One big thing at camp is our Team Competition (each cabin is a team). The big event of competition day was a reenactment of the wars of old where enemies line up and take turns firing on each other. Then they move closer and fire again until one team lies in ruins. Instead of guns (they aren't allowed at camp except for the counselors stun guns of course) snow balls were used. Spencer was elected the captain of his team due to his small stature (if the captain dies the whole team loses) So, he hid behind one of the leaders who was a college basketball player, and called out all of the team's commands (you know..."left, right, left; ready, aim, fire") It was impossible for him to be hit and in the end his cabin won the entire war. (Did I mention that while this fun was going on I was in the nurses cabin all afternoon after receiving a Demerol shot?). Spence was stoked about the whole deal and came away with the "Captain my Captain" award. Pretty sweet. Below is a picture of Anna and myself...note how pretty she looks and how haggard I look. It has taken years of practice to perfect the art of looking horrible on the last day of camp but I think I've mastered it! The next image is of Anna and Tori and Tori's friend Alexis...note how pretty they ALL look.

So that's it sports fans. I'm off to a women's event at church where I have the joy of playing percussion with the band (which is much easier on my body). Peace.

MUSINGS FROM THE WOODS

It has been raining here for days. Not the usual misting we get in the NW but heavy rains combined with wind which makes me want to stay inside by the fire. Today though, I awoke to beautiful sunshine. I was quite mystified by this because late last night it was stormy. There are woods in the back of our home-the very reason we chose this lot to build on. As I watched the woods I realized something about my life. In our woods there are two types of trees: the evergreen variety and the deciduous variety. Working in a nursery, I of course, know the difference (probably all of YOU know the difference not because you work in a nursery but because YOU paid attention during your high school biology class). Looking at the trees, noticing the vast differences in the two, I came to the disappointing conclusion that I am a deciduous tree and not an evergreen.

The evergreens have the joy of staying green all the time. No matter how cold or hot it gets they just keep on being green. In the spring they display lighter green foliage of new growth which can be almost imperceptible unless you are looking for it. They are steady. Constant. Boring. The decisuous tree is not like that. They burst into spring with new growth of varying colors. They seemingly come to life and are noticed by all (except perhaps teenagers who notice nothing except themselves). Every year people comment on them and their beauty as though they hadn't seen it before. However, as I look in our woods today, it is a different story. The trees that were beautiful last spring; that captivated my attention this fall when the colors changed, now look bleak. Lifeless. Dead. Around these trees, on the ground, lie the remains of what had been new life. Dead, decaying leaves. Leaves which we quickly rake from our grass because if allowed to rest there they will kill the green lawns we meticulously manicure in the summer. Hmm.

The deciduous trees look dead to me. In the winter I want to yank them out of the ground because they look horrible compared to the constant color of the evergreens. There are a few trees that have a leaf or two still clinging to their lifeless branches. For whatever reason the trees refuse to let these dead leaves drop. It is as though they are trying to hold on to some semblance of life, pretending they are like the evergreen but looking, for all to see, like a pathetic picture of one who holds on to the dead things of the past. As trite as it may sound I feel like those trees.

I can honestly say I would not want to be an evergreen. That life seems mundane to me. I like the changing and the newness and the differing colors. I don't however like the deadness of this winter. I feel something close to hopeless that the spring will ever return (even though it does every year). I can't seem to remember the vision that the decaying leaves around me used to hold. The vision that was once so vibrant, so passionate is now lost to me; lying dormant on the ground of my soul. My only postive thought this morning is that the leaves decaying on the ground in my woods will, by their very act of decomposition, provide rich nutrients for the soil around the trees they once graced with their beauty. I don't understand that process. How can something decayed and rotten actually nourish and fertilize something living. My great friend Monika talked to me about the death process in the fall when all the trees were changing but I wasn't ready to notice it then. I couldn't make myself look and ponder. I can't seem to comprehend the "decomposition brings fertilization" process. Maybe I'm not meant to.

I don't have a sweet analogy to end with so anyone reading can log off with a sweet sigh of pleasure. No, I'm afraid the nature of today's musing is unresolved; like a song that ends with a minor chord. I'm left wanting for more this morning. Or perhaps wanting for different. I so dislike unresolved anything but that's what I have; what I am, at this point in my journey. So, here I will stay (as if I have a choice) and here I will wait for the process of my creator to unfold.

WHAT ITS ALL ABOUT

So, I've never had a blog before...truth be told I didn't even know what a blog was until several months ago. My hope is to use this as a cathartic outlet for my inner thoughts. It's mostly for me but also for those I am connected to; those I want to regularly engage with. I have been accused on so many occasions of not answering my phone(s) and not listening to messages and not returning calls...all true by the way. So, I'm thinking that if I can keep up with this whole blogging thing then the people who call me to see how I'm doing or what's going on (Monika, my mother, Angel, Janet, my mother, Monika...) can avoid the frustration of the lack of connection by simply logging on and reading. It's very convenient that they can also leave comments for me and I would caution right at the start that nasty comments will be deleted immediatly because I have the power to do that!

So, wish me success-heck, pray and fast for success if you'd like, and hopefully this will be a wonderful experience for all concerned.

Peace!

Cool People I Live With

Here's a little about the cool people I get to live with...in no particular order becuase I couldn't actually figure out how to arrange them in the order I wanted to...


This is our Australian Labradoodle, Tegan. He has become my constant companion this last year. As I've said to my husband, I've always wanted a man who would follow me around and worship the ground I walk on; now I have Tegan, who does just that! Tegan loves to pretend he's human, enjoys the wind blowing in his face and entertains us with his neurotic habits (drinking out of water bottles...thanks Garrison, barking and jumping at dogs on the TV and stealing Anna's underwear from her room.

This is Spencer, our youngest child. He's in fifth grade, is very kind-hearted and sensitive and loves animals-especially his two bunnies Ranger and Riley. Spence is all about two things: playing x-box and playing war with his friends. His prized possession is his Dad's Army Ranger Coin and he is responsible for 3/4 of our hot water usage due to his LONG showers (pick up the towels would ya dude?!).

This is Garrison our almost 15 year old son. He's a handsome, buff dude who lives to make HUGE hits on the football field and also competes in wrestling. He's very smart, amazingly articulate and loves to leave his stuff (dirty towels, boxers, dishes...you name it, he leaves it) everywhere. Garrison and I enjoy watching football together and having spontaneous coffee dates at Starbucks.

My husband of 23 years, Doug, is pictured here at a Seahawks game. We met at Western Washington University, married a year later in Tacoma, moved to Nebraska for 15 years and have been living in the Pacific Northwest for the past six years. He's a Physician Assistant at Tumwater Family Practice and the team PA for Black Hills High School. Some of the things we enjoy doing together are: going to plays, having friends over and working in the garden.

Anna is a new addition to our family; I refer to her as my daughter from a different mother. Oddly enough she looks more like one of my children than my actual kids! She's 25, a Chaplain at Evergreen Christian School, and is saving to go to grad school. She has been a wonderful, happy, lay-the-smack-down-on-my-kids-addition to our family. Some of the things that Anna and I like to do together are: working out at our gym and watching CSI together.

Victoria Grace is my actual daughter; she's unbelievably cute, very thoughtful and wicked funny! She's 13 and enjoys taking pictures, laughing with her friends and leaving lights on. Some of the things she and I like to do together are shopping at the mall (Hollister of course) and getting our hair done by the fabulous Megan Jones at Austin Charles Salon.