Dancing with the King of the Ages!

When I was 8 my parents started looking into foster care and the possibility of adopting. I don't remember much about the process, just lots of paperwork and strangers coming over to our house to make sure it was livable. I'm sure they asked Stess and I questions about our parents to make sure we weren't being abused, but for the most part nothing really changed until I was 9 when we went to pick up this kid, a 5 year old boy who's father had abused him. His name was Troy. Troy was with us for a year and a half before he went back to his dad. We had some great memories, along with the inevitable sibling moments :) The three of us got along great, for the most part. Stess was a little closer to him than I was, partly because of age and partly because they had much more in common, preferring sports to books. Troy went back to his dad for about 6 months before there was more abuse. I still remember Mom picking me up from school and asking what I would think if Troy ...

Well, after a long flight to Japan, a few hours in the airport, a 4 hour flight and an hour getting to the hotel, I'm finally here! I arrived at my hotel this morning, Friday, around 1 am. The flight to Japan was uneventful. I flew on Northwest airlines, and honestly, not that impressed. The last two times, going to Mongolia, have spoiled me. Then we had our own screens and multiple movie/tv choices. On this flight there were small screens in the aisle that all showed the same movie. At first I thought the flight was going to be pretty empty and that I would have my own row, but alas, I did have to share. My neighbor wasn't an issue, but the idea of having your own row on a ten hour flight, was really encouraging! The flight from Japan to Manila was shorter by far, and I did have two seats. I was so tired I slept through dinner, but really, dinner at 10pm wasn't very apetizing. Arriving at the airport I knew what to look for, thanks to Bonnie and our Mongolia trip...

Well, my trip to the Philippines is still a go! No, I'm not excited... Not even a little ;p I fly out around 2pm on Wednesday, July 29th. It's quite a long flight, but I honestly don't mind. I love flying! In fact, I was at the airport on Friday night, to catch a shuttle to go to Corvallis, and got excited seeing the planes as they land! I've always been that way though. I remember when I was growing up, my family lived near the airport and we knew all sorts of missionaries, so it was quite common for us to go to the airport to pick up people. This was all in the days of guests actually being able to wait at the gate and see the plain coming in. We have pictures of my sister and I standing at the big windows watching eagerly as the plains are taxing in. So, as long as I can remember, driving up Airport Way in Portland, headed to the airport gets me excited. There are so many possibilities! Anyway, I'm getting off track... I haven't written much lately,...

Right about now I get a little bit "home" sick. No, it's not for my childhood home or where my parents live, though I miss that home too. But today I miss my Mongolian home. For the past two years I've either been there now or headed there soon. Unfortunately, this year, I'm not going and that's sad. I'll readily admit I can see why and I see God's hands in this (especially since I'm going to the Philippines!!!) but still, I miss my Mongolian home. I've been looking at my pictures tonight and thought it'd be appropriate to post some. So, though you may have never been, I hope you enjoy them even half as much as I do! Ulzi and Moogi and their family. They're in the Philippines right now! Our breakfast table... Having fun in the river I'm pretty sure one of the kids was taking this picture... :) Turtle Rock in the background goofing off while playing cards... again, I think the kids were taking this picture. Ruthie's nickna...

About two months ago, an email went out at work. It went something like this on a Friday afternoon, "I (being my boss' boss...) am looking for a list of volunteers who would go to the Philippines for three months. There would be no time to come home for a break during this time. I need an answer to give to the Company by Monday." Being the somewhat reluctant traveler that I am (NOT!) my response was "something" like this... "I'LL GO!!! When is it?" Unknown to be was the fact I had accidentally hit respond to all, so every manager and every senior, saw how "un"willing I was to go... That was Easter weekend. I told my family, got all excited about the possibility, and moved on. Again, being the "reluctant" traveler that I am, I didn't get online and look at flights to the Philippines and I didn't try to find where I would be located. Of course I didn't look up World Venture Missionaries in the off chance that I...

Getting hit by a car while riding your bike, hurts. Yep, there it is, I know, quite a shocker to all of you. As you have now probably deduced, using exceptionally good deductive skills I must say, I got hit today. I okay, as I'm able to write this post, but in lots of pain. One of my very first posts was about Stess getting hit by a car while riding a bike. I didn't expect to ever write one of my own, however, today marks the day of my first official bike accident. I was crossing the street today and the car didn't see me and turned left. She hit me just about in the middle of the road. I saw it coming but couldn't do anything to stop it. As I was flying in the air I saw my bike in front of me and other cars coming up, however they all saw it coming too, so no other accidents were caused. The paramedics came right away but I declined to go to the hospital. My Uncle was able to come and pick me up; my bike is not working right now. I did go to immediate care, ho...

I love my hair. I know, odd way to start a blog, but I'm sitting here at work eating lunch and a comment made about my hair made me laugh. I'm going to tell you about it, but have to preface it first... My hair is naturally curly, and I love it, but I got it cut a while ago and it looks really good straight too. So, on any given day, it will be curly or straight. No big deal right? So back to my lunch. This guy leans over my cube wall and asks, "Is that a wig?" WHAT!!!??? He proceeded to say that my hair is always changing, he thought it was brown last week, and that he was just curious... It made me laugh... "Is that a wig?" I give him props for asking...

This came to me in email form and we had a blast laughing through it. Hope it brightens your day! KNOW THE SYMPTOMS Thank goodness there's a name for this disorder. Somehow I feel better even though I have it!! Recently, I was diagnosed with A.A.A.D.D. - Age Activated Attention Deficit Disorder. This is how it manifests: I decide to water my garden. As I turn on the hose in the driveway, I look over at my car and decide it needs washing. As I start toward the garage, I notice mail on the porch table that I brought up from the mail box earlier. I decide to go through the mail before I wash the car. I lay my car keys on the table, put the junk mail in the garbage can under the table, and notice that the can is full. So, I decide to put the bills back on the table and take out the garbage first. But then I think, since I'm going to be near the mailbox when I take out the garbage anyway, I may as well pay the bills first. I take my check book off the table, and see that there is on...

For several years now my parents have really gotten into riding bikes. We've always had bikes, mountain bikes to be exact, and made much use of them when we went camping throughout the summer. I even remember one winter in Portland where we pulled them out and rode in the snow! My mom's sister and husband got a tandem bike and Mom and Dad took to the idea and bought their own. They loved it so much they started doing tandem rallies and riding all the time. Dad's on the front and Mom on the back. Well, apparently dad got tired of looking at the white line on the road while mom pointed out all the deer and about two years ago they bought a recumbent tandem. Since they've gotten into riding my sister has and, to some degree, I have as well. Stess is much more into it and two years ago Mom and Dad got her a street bike, an upright one. Last summer Stess and I joined Mom and Dad on a tandem rally and it was really fun. I rode with Dad and Stess with Mom. The only th...

Yeah, I've not been that consistent with this blog. What can I say, life's been busy. I worked over 7 hours over time last week. Needless to say, I was a little tired. I did make that up on the weekend though and went to see Wicked again! I showed up two and a half hours early and put my name in a lottery for a $25 ticket. And I got one! It was a ton of fun and I'd do it again but alas, Wicked has left Portland... This weekend Mom, Dad and my Sister are headed up here for Easter! They're coming to my church and I'm "hosting" dinner! Oh the responsibility! We're having ham. We've had it before so there's not much I can screw up. My roommate is out of work and has been since December. She's an accountant and is looking hard but no luck yet. Her brother moved out here from Boston a few weeks ago. He's living with us for now. He's also unemployed... Last night I think he applied for a job where I work. I don't think he's plannin...

Stess came up on Thursday night as last week was spring break. On Friday we went and saw Wicked on Broadway. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! I didn't know much about the show, other than it was a Broadway and a take off on The Wizard of Oz. We had good seats bought about two weeks ago. We ended up being on the second balcony but on an aisle and right in front, so the view was pretty good. Madre and Bonnie were there too, different location but there none the less. So, I have to tell this story on Stess, cause it was funny! We sat down and were looking at the program. We're looking at the song list and she turns to me and says, "This is a musical?" I looked at her and said, "Yes!" I didn't realize she didn't know it was a musical. She enjoyed it though, so that didn't matter much, and she knows now... All in all, Wicked was so much fun! I'd go again if given the chance. After the show we joined Madre and Bonnie for desert at Pappa Hayden's. Mmm, it ...

My roommate flew out to the East coast last week to meet her brother and drive back to Portland with him. She left her car and told me to feel free to use it! Seeing as I don't have a car anymore, this was really nice. I got to thinking on Wednesday or Thursday that it would be really fun to go to the beach. Then I though, why not get a hotel room and stay a night? So, I got online and found a cute hotel in Cannon Beach, cannonbeachhotel.com. I noticed they had this deal for last minute bookings, half off! So on Thursday I called and booked a room for Saturday night. I ended up splurging a bit and got a "Premier" room. It was that or the "Basic" and though they both looked nice, the Basic was missing a tub and fireplace. So, I headed over on Saturday and I am SO glad I went! It was gorgeous on Saturday and the drive over was very nice. My room was amazing! A great four poster bed, a gas fireplace, an awesome tub... It was wonderful. I'm thinking this is goin...

Saturday was AMAZING!!! Stess came up to Portland and we went to see Chris Tomlin in concert. I’ve been to one of his concerts before and told Stess that I wanted to go because the previous time had been an evening of worship. Last night didn’t disappoint. We were talking on the way to the concert about how it must be for someone like CT to be on tour. Stess said she couldn’t do it, it’d be too exhausting. I told her I don’t think it is. Yes, it’s tiring, but I think it must be amazing to be able to lead hundreds of people to worship night after night. I imagine the best worship services on Sunday morning, the ones where you just want to keep going and you forget about lunch and what time it is. I think it’s got to be that way for someone like CT. Yes, I’m sure there are times when you are tired, and I know it’s not all fun and games. It was interesting to compare last night’s concert to the one I went to the previous Friday. Two weeks ago I saw Brad Paisley at the Rose Garden....

Stess, Stacy and I went to Bagdad theater to see “Marley and Me” yesterday. It was a good movie! For anyone who has ever loved a dog, it’s a tear jerker. One of the things I really liked about the movie though was the whole concept of family. The movie starts with the couple getting married, and throughout the whole movie they stay married and faithful to each other. Yes, they have hard times and they fight and life is tough, but they never even consider separation or divorce. So, if you’re looking for a good movie that shows a family that stays whole and is healthy, I recommend this one. Bring Kleenex though…

Wow it's been a while since I updated this! Sorry! Life is rolling along and I'm doing good. Last Friday Stacy and I, along with Madre, Bonnie, George and Cindy, went to see Brad Paisley in concert at the Rose Garden! It was tons of fun! Stacy has pictures on her blog... A coworker asked me to go to teh Blazer game on Sunday afternoon. They won and scored over 100 points, so everone got cupons for free chalupas at Taco Bell! It was a good game too, so lots of fun there. This Saturday Stess is coming up to Portland! We're going to see Chris Tomlin!!!!!!!!!! Yep, I'm excited! I saw him several years ago and loved it, so I'm really looking forward to that this weekend. And seeing Stess is always wonderful. I'm still without a car, but have been getting around on the public transportation pretty well. Once it gets sunnier, or less rainy, I'm going to try and ride more often. Work is going well. I was in training for the past week and a half and learne...

I had to say goodbye to my car today. On my way home from Stess', on my way to work, it died. No resurrection for this car, it's dead. Uncle Phil was great and came and picked me up. He called in a favor and a junkyard towed my car without charging me. When they heard what type of car I had they said there's no resale value to it, so I didn't get anything for it. So, I'm very glad I live in Portland at this time and so close to public transportation.

Tonight I went to the Blazer's game. It was a lot of fun, they won and I got to go for free. Can't go wrong with that! Interesting observation though. For the half time show they brought out all these girls from probably age 3 to high school age. The girls had gone to some type of camp that the dancer's for the Blazers put on. The final then was getting to perform at the game. It was very interesting to see the girls and how they danced. There was an adorable little girl, probably 3 or 4, who just looked cute and was out to have fun time. You could tell she was the kind who just liked to dance for the fun of it. Then you had the slightly older girls who were divided between wanting to dance cause it was fun, and wanting to dance because they wanted to look and act beautiful. Those who wanted to just had fun didn't really have all the moves down and didn't particularly look great, but you could tell this was a highlight for them, simply being able to be out ...

Around Christmas my Aunt and Uncle borrowed a friends Wii just for fun. Our family liked it so much, especially my parents who have NEVER owned any type of gaming system, that they decided they wanted to buy one. So, about two weeks ago my mom calls me and asks me if I'll call Toys R Us to see if they have any Wii's because Best Buy and all the stores in Bend and Redmond were out of them. I didn't find any but they were still looking. In fact, they'd bought the Wii fit because it was available but couldn't play it without the Wii. This weekend Stess and I went down there to visit and Dad and I were going up to the mountain to snowmobile (Stess was on a DATE!), and Mom calls saying Best Buy has 10 Wiis and should she go in to town and get one. She did so Sunday evening we all set up our own little characters and played tennis. Then on Monday, while they were at work, Stess and I played more. Today my right arm is so sore!