A week's worth of groceries: How different it looks!

Germany: The Melander family of Bargteheide

Food expenditure for one week: 375.39 Euros or$500.07

United States: The Revis family ofNorth Carolina

Food expenditure for one week:$341.98

Japan: The Ukita family ofKodairaCity

Food expenditure for one week: 37,699 Yen or$317.25

Italy: The Manzo family ofSicily

Food expenditure for one week: 214.36 Euros or$260.11

Mexico: The Casales family ofCuernavaca

Food expenditure for one week: 1,862.78 Mexican Pesos or$189.09

Poland: The Sobczynscy family of Konstancin-Jeziorna

Food expenditure for one week: 582.48 Zlotys or$151.27

Egypt: The Ahmed family ofCairo

Food expenditure for one week: 387.85 Egyptian Pounds or$68.53

Ecuador: The Ayme family of Tingo

Food expenditure for one week:$31.55

Bhutan: The Namgay family ofShingkheyVillage

Food expenditure for one week: 224.93 ngultrum or$5.03

Chad: The Aboubakar family of Breidjing Camp

Food expenditure for one week: 685 CFA Francs or$1.23

Christmas Time is HERE!

So, this past weekend we've jumped chin-deep into Christmas. On Friday night, at BIG Friday a group of us went to an older couples home for a visit. Besides the lovely decorations they had up, and the hot cocoa and cookies they had prepared, the Christmas carols we sung really made me feel like Christmas was here. It was a lovely visit, but by 9:30 PM, we knew it was time to leave. We hurried back to the church and helped make the last few cards for those on our list of "needing a note of encouragement".

Then, Sabbath morning, the praise songs I led with Marella and Debbie were Christmas carols. To hear the whole congregation belting out Silent Night really filled me with the warm spirit of Christmas. And to hear Pastor Jeff preaching about the way Jesus came to my world to understand me, reminded me of what Christmas is all about. A fun evening with young adults at Glow Miniature Golf didn't remind me of Christmas as much as the CROWDED mall we waded through to grab dinner and get to our venue (the mall parking lot rarely fills up, so that was the first sign).Then Sunday morning we picked up my grandparents and headed over the river and through the woods to the Taylor's home for a lovely afternoon of Christmas Tree decorating. We hiked out in the woods, found the tree, cut it down, shaped and trimmed it and then made it beautiful (see pictures).

It was really fun to have some of the family around helping our tree be straight shapely and decorated just right.

Mom hung the stockings while Jack baked fresh chocolate cookies for us to munch on and SMELL!

This is just the beginning of an influx of family time over the next week or so. Wednesday we leave for northern California to do it all again with Jack's family. I'm loving it!

WORD Time

The title of this post could mean several things to you all:
1. I'm a scrabble/word game nerd
2. I'm attempting a gansta'/rapper phrase
3. I can't spell "world" correctly
4. I've had a cool experience in Bible study

And the correct answer is... #4! We started a Friday night Bible study time last week, and it is becoming more and more exciting. Though our attendees have varied from last week to this week, one thing is for sure: we're making time with friends to connect in God's word, and it is have a powerful influence. This influence is rather subtle now, but people cannot say enough good things about this simple gathering. All we do is meet at our humble apartment, find a cozy place on the couch, do a few minutes of sharing about what we have been studying and what questions/passages we want to pursue with the group and then study. It is relaxed, loosly led in the inductive style, and winds down with some practical application. So far we have tackled: The Parable of the Sower and the Parables of the Wheat and Tares, Mustard Seed and Leaven. Check them out for yourself and tell us your thoughts! This week we are looking into the phrase "Kingdom of Heaven" as used by Jesus when telling parables. What do you know about this?

Thankfulness

This afternoon as I counted out handouts for an upcoming nutrition class, I decided to listen to Rob Bell. He's the guy who talks on the Nooma videos. A friend from church told me about his podcasts and I've seen the Nooma videos, so no sales pitch was necessary. But as I listened I realized so many things that I have to be grateful for. I'll just list a few:
A loving, God-focused husband
The Bible, as a guide for a growing knowledge of and relationship with God
A community of believers to learn from, support, be challenged by and depend on
A family that cares about me and my needs
A brother who defends my freedom with his own life
A place to live that is reasonably priced, warm, dry, safe, and comfortable
A car that keeps working and doesn't cost much
A weekly celebration of resting in God's grace (Sabbath)
Friends who care and are interested in my life, and have lives that are interesting enough to care about
Physical health to enjoy outdoor recreation
A beautiful place to recreate in
Humor (my own, my husband's, my family's, my friends')
A college education
A desire to continue learning
The love of food, access to ANYTHING I want, ANYTIME, and a few culinary skills I've acquired over the past few years
Really COOL in-laws and a darling niece with red hair and blue eyes
Children (not my own, but friends', family's) and their wonderful example of living care-free and exhuberantly
Music and the ability to create and enjoy it
A job that I REALLY enjoy and am challenged by

I could go on, but I think you get the point. This time of year is one that stirs my awareness of all the blessings in my life. Take time to write your own list, soon.

Another Whirlwind Weekend

The Halo Bride

Bev-Lea

Emily

Me (with my half up beehive)

Sarah, the bride

We've done it again. In Vicki's 100 mph style, we loaded this weekend with lots of fun activities. Friday evening started our wedding phase of the weekend. It all began with our 5 PM rehearsal (not to mention the day of preparation that Jack experienced). We gathered at the Beam Residence, practiced our placement, our walk, our boogie, the music and the kiss (well, they did!). A group dinner of falafel and pita followed, filled our tummies and led to a slumber party with the ladies and bride. The next day (with little sleep) our friend's Zak and Sarah Cooper tied the knot. Sarah was one of the most calm brides I've ever seen. In fact, the "Halo Bride" picture says it all. The only other pictures I have right now are from the salon. It was a GREAT wedding: small, sunny, simple, sentimental and short. The food was great, the guys and gals looked stunning and at the end of the day, they had a wedding celebration they will never forget. It's fun to help friends with momentous events like this!

Smelling the Roses

Linda found the "Queen Linda" tile. These tiles represent the Rose Festival Queens as far back as 1900.

We took a break after our meandering and cuddled close for a group shot.

Shortly after Canadian Thanksgiving, Mel and Linda stopped in town for a few days. It was great to see them (I can hardly believe it's been a few years!). Our activities included eating (Chang's Mongolian Grill), eating again (great place on Hawthorne Blvd), chatting it up and wandering through the lovely Portland Rose Garden. It was a lovely day, the roses were in bloom (which really surprised me), and we were together. I haven't stopped to smell the roses in a while. Probably because I don't have my own to sniff. Of course, when I'm with Denali, her cute sniff gets me to slow down, breathe deep, and look around. The afternoon with Mel and Linda was relaxing and enjoyable, and ended all too soon!

Saved!

It's amazing to think we can be so blind the the real struggle that Jesus experiences over us. The things in this life that rip us away, entice us, fool us, harm us. These things he allows us the freedom to explore, though he is standing by and feeling our pain. And as we begin our journey, in response to his "tugs" on our hearts, he risks EVERYTHING to bring us back to safety. I was truly moved by this dramatization.

This post was inspired by the following video:

New Job Bliss

It has been a while since I last posted and I really do feel badly. Vicki is keeping me in check (as much as she can without physically MAKING me blog on a regular basis) simply by threatening to remove our blog as a link on their page. Ouch! So, I am trying to make this a more regular thing. Today, I have a good reason to blog too!

I'm one week into a brand new job. I've told a few of you about it... and I love working in my home county! I'm so thrilled to be here. I've been able to take walks during lunch on the beautiful grounds. A few things I get to enjoy are: a wildlife botanical garden, featuring dahliahs, food, and other pretty things, a large wooded area with winding trails, wildlife (I saw 3 deer my second day) and quietness (no zooming cars, scary crosswalks, etc.).

I'll write more later...

Learning to balance

Recently I've been learning a lesson in balance. I don't mean gracefully walking the balance beam. What I mean is being willing to say, "No." Protecting my time. Being intentional about resting or withdrawing from all the rush and fast-paced living.

I was inspired a few months ago by our senior Pastor, who encouraged us to only get involved in the few things we were truly gifted in and leave the other jobs for other people. He had to do it for medical reasons, and had plenty of time to reflect on the healthfulness of choosing balance. He was now encouraging us. So I started with asked to do praise singing at church half as often. Then I missed a few of the evangelistic meetings in a recent series. The I asked for help sending weekly e-mail updates to our young adult group. It was working! Other people were doing a fine job at doing these things, and I had more time and less busyness.

I've recently applied this to work. Taking my full lunch break. Taking my 15 minute breaks. Saying "no" and doing fewer things well. I hope I can find a way to consistently choose a life of balance and reap the benefits that come with it!

Grandma Winifred in youthful beauty

Kids and pets

Came across this picture and couldn't help but post it. Denali, my adorable niece, is calling the sea lions in a show we attended at Sea World, just like she calls dogs over that she wants to pet. "Here, little sea lion," she thinks as she pats her leg. How cute!

Friends and Family Tour 2007: Experience California

Shamu jumps and sprays trainer!

Shamu break dancing

Polar bear swim

Denali watching beluga whales... awwww!

Dolfin hello!

Shamu slammed backside

Shamu slammed frontside

Shamu slamming the crowd.

Labor weekend was an exciting one for us! Why? We did a grand tour of our southern California friends and enjoyed a long weekend with family, all in 6 consecutive days! What an experience! It all started with 2 and 1/2 days with Preston and Heather Seyle and their two girls Sierra and Marlee. We stopped there first to have some mellow hanging-out time, and be close to Dr. Michelle and Darla. Thank the Lord that they have AC because as soon as we arrive and heat wave spread across Riverside bringing temperatures into the 110's. Ouch! We (the girls) stayed inside playing and puttering around and they (the boys) worked out the finishing touches on the Passat we would be borrowing the rest of the weekend. Both of us were satisfied by Saturday morning!





On Thursday afternoon we took a little journey over to Upland to visit with Michelle. It was a blast! We enjoyed a lovely taco salad for late lunch and then took a walking tour of her school, Western School of Ostepathic Medicine. It was so exciting the see the OMM (don't ask!) pracitical classroom, lecture hall, campus features and surrounding scenery. Becoming a doctor is a challenge I can barely comprehend, but she's doing it! We're hoping her clinical rotations will send her up our way sometime soon!





After an evening of visiting, checking out the mall, enjoying a yummy Thai dinner and more talking, I decided to stay the night and Jack drove back to Preston's. He had a few more things to complete on the car and then we would be set for phase two: San Diego with the Duffys.





The next day Michelle and I took our time getting up, headed out for some errands around Clarimont and enjoyed a yummy Mediterranean lunch. It all worked out for Jack and Preston and around lunch time they came rolling in to pick me up at Michelle's. On the way home we simply couldn't pass by In-and-Out Burger (for the TRUE California experience) so we stopped and ordered our veggie burgers (toasted cheese) fries, and a shake.





Finally we arrive home, started packing up and hung out for the evening, which included a nice mexican dinner and games into the evening!





Saturday morning we embarked, for the first time in our lives, on the Sea World experience. It started with an early morning 2-hour drive from Riverside, a short wait in line, and ended 11 hours later after our third round of the dolfin show. It was amazing and certainly too much to take in in one day! That's why we went back on Monday...





To name a few things we were able to enjoy: petting/feeding dolfins, seeing Shamu shows (3 in two days), seeing dolfin shows (3 in one day), seeing the Cirque de la Mer show, petting bat rays, watching penguins in their arctic environment, getting "Shamu slammed" (see the picture), watching beluga whales and a polar bear swim around, walking through the shark tunnel, and watching sea lions and a walrus perform! We thorough enjoyed it and really tried to get our money's worth. It was also great fun seeing it with Ryan & Vicki and little Denali!





To make it a truly Californian experience, we just had to see the beach one day. So Sunday morning we headed to the shore, set up a shade post with chairs and plenty of fluids to drink and lounged, swam, boogie boarded and sweated almost all day. It was awesome and some of the locals even said the waves were the best they had seen in a long time!





After two days of Sea World, a day at the beach and 2 1/2 days with other friends in Riverside, we were ready to come back to the hum-drum of normal life. We said goodbye to friends and family and head back home on our 2nd wedding anniversary, September 4th. It felt good to be home and what a great anniversary trip it was!

A Grand Ol' Time in Alaska

Silly face as the boat crew gathered!

Bill Liversage, the officiant, Tiffany, bridesmaid, and me take a walk along the boardwalk to the boat tour of Resurrection Bay.

Not so ferocious as we though! Awww...

We admired the beautiful snow leapard in the Anchorage Zoo.

Us and Moose!

Our first view from the plane. Awesome!

Float plane we toured the Anchorage wilderness in.

Spectacular view of glacier from float plane (with the snow melted you can see the gnarly ice).

Bikers, take your mark...

Multitasking: steering a bike and operating a camera... oh yeah, and smiling!

Jack takes in the view along the bike trail in Anchorage.

For the first time in our lives, we adventured in Alaska this summer. A wedding was the reason for our trip, however, we maximized the vacation by making it a little post-college friends reunion (for Jack), and sight-seeing endeavor. We also enjoyed a scenic drive to Seward, AK as well as a boat cruise of Resurrection bay, visit and tour of the Alaskan Seal Life Center and sea kayaking trip, to the compliments of the newely-weds! They wanted to make this weekend one to remember, and they did it! It was a blast gathering the crew (which took several middle of the “night” airport runs to accumulate), eating family style meals, adventuring on bicycles along the Anchorage coastline, visiting the zoo and treating ourselves to a plane tour of the Alaskan wilderness area.

Our drive down from Anchorage to Seward was absolutely spectacular and well worth the time! We arrived in Seward to more group bonding, eating and wedding preparations. Sabbath was a special time because we sang together, did some group sharing and studied a beautiful passage in John. Though our time was short we saw the gospel and were truly touched. Now it was party time!

The evening wedding was held in a small country church and was quite beautiful. The guests were then piled onto a historic trolley and led to the sea life center for the reception. The underwater viewing area was the site for appetizers, drinks and pleasant music along with a picture slide show of Steve and Maria. We greeted the wedding party and new couple and then moved upstairs for a fun-filled reception. Dinner, dancing, surprise entertainment (Swedish singing and wedding bell presentation and Sound of Music trio performance of “How do you solve a problem like Maria?”). More dancing, more eating, dessert and finally a behind the scenes tour. We were exhausted by the end… but there was more.

The next morning we rolled out of bed and realized we could join the kayaking trip at the last minute! We jumped into our clothes and raced to the meeting place just in time to join the crew. Off to the sea we went, though a morning drizzled accompanied us the whole way. The trip was so much fun! We saw bald eagles, sea otters and stopped half-way for hot cocoa, snacks and visiting with the guests. What a great way to see Alaska and bond with friends!

We are Family!

The time had finally come for Jack and I to travel north for a family gathering in Anglemont, British Columbia. The reason for our gathering was two-fold: gather with siblings, children, and grandchildren of the late Winifred Duffy and do the big sort through her belongings in the house she lived in for the past 40 years. It was a happy time: reunions with relatives we hadn't seen for a long time or even met, hours looking through Winifred's vast collection of photo albums, sunny days swimming on Shuswap Lake and discoveries of her hidden and known treasures. The sad moment was the time when we took Winifred's ashes to her burial site. The family circled around and Uncle Derek share a few encouraging thoughts from scripture and had prayer. People were moved to tears as they were reflecting on what a good mother, grandmother and friend she had been. Reflection time was soon over and we were back to the task of sorting, packing and laughing. With a car loaded with goods and another furniture run planned the next day, we started our trip southward. Smooth sailing through the border three times over was an answer to our prayers. This weekend was one that filled us with good memories, grew family bonds stronger, and left us with boxes and piles of keepsakes that remind us of Winifred and all the love she gave the family!

The Duffy Family gathers for a group photo at Winifred and Gramps' grave.

Shuswap Lake at sunset.

Gentle lapping waves on a beautiful shore of perfect skipping rocks. Many summer days of playing in the lake were spent here with Grandma.

Shirley places Winifred's favorite flowers, hydrangeas, grown in her garden, at the gravesite.

The family gathers around in remembrance of a wonderful woman!

Winifred's ashes were buried on top of her fathers casket, as she said, "in his arms."



Shirley, Ralph, Bertie, Jack and Pauline share laughs and fond memories as they look through Winifred's vast photo album collection (at LEAST 50).