Where to begin? The story is a long one and I can't do it justice here, but I do want to say that God is in it all, and He continues to amaze us each day as life unfolds before us.We praise His Holy name, because without Him, we are nothing.
Three weeks ago now, we pulled away from our Clovis house with our awesome friends, Rich Kowamoto and Yvonne Downs to make our way to our new home in Seattle Washington.
God has seen fit to give Jeff a job here with the Seattle's Untion Gospel Mission. We will be working with the homeless and addicted people in this city and we are thrilled!
I wish I could tell you all the things God did, to bring this about, but you'll have to come visit to hear the whole story :]
Anyway, our drive was perfect. We had a blast together and arrived to find our realtor with keys in hand to our new home.
We live in the community of West Seattle and are just a few blocks from the Sound.
To say it's beautiful here is an understatement.
Below are pictures of our home as we found it. A 1935 house, it is in great shape, but the walls were very dirty and everything was dusty!
Yvonne and I spent one whole day scrubbing the little kitchen from top to bottom for example.
I am having great fun setting up house. I'll keep you posted on things as they
progress.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Friday, May 8, 2009
God's Leading
Where do I begin? I have not blogged in quit awhile. I should be telling you all about my missions trip to South Africa (and I will some day), but for now, I guess I'll talk about what happened in my life the day I got home...
I guess I'll just spit it out. My husband lost his job.
I don't think I should go into all the details of why, instead I'll just tell you that this change has brought sadness and many sweet moments as well.
We have worked and lived at Hume Lake for 29 years now (minus the 3 that were spent at Bible college). Hume is our home. It's where we have lived, gone to church, loved our Hume family and served our Lord, so it seems so wierd that we no longer live there.
We have no doubt that this is all God's perfect plan for us and for Hume, but it's still hard to say goodbye to all that has been so familiar to us.
I think I will miss the people the most. My sweet friends and the darling kids at preschool, where I got to help each week this past year.
I'll miss my house and all the fun our family had there.( holidays, parties, dance parties, hours of visiting over coffee, snuggles with our babies, long serious talks, tears, laughter...)
I'll miss the view from my kitchen window
I'll miss the school room and all the hours we spent there
I'll miss my red door
I'll miss my bathtub
I'll miss sitting on the front porch in summer
I'll miss walking the lake
I'll miss the fresh air
I'll miss the view at the lake
I'll miss knowing that people are coming to Christ and that we are playing a small part in that
I'll miss busy summers and quiet falls
Enough of that...
I have been so blessed by the peace that God has given me. Honestly, it's been amazing and surprising. I know my heart is broken in several places, but for the most part, I have felt ok.
I am so thankful for the prayers of friends and family. I know this is why I am doing so well. I am especially thankful for our kids and their kind and gentle care of us during this time. I know they are very sad themselves, and yet they have been encouraging and helpful and have had such good attitudes. (Thanks Guys)
As of today, we are living in Clovis, with our son Nole and his family. Jeff is job hunting and I'm taking each day as it comes.
I'll close for now, but will continue as I can. I know this isn't written well, but if I don't just ramble, I'll never do this.
One last thing. God loves us, He's closer than ever and we will be ok.
I guess I'll just spit it out. My husband lost his job.
I don't think I should go into all the details of why, instead I'll just tell you that this change has brought sadness and many sweet moments as well.
We have worked and lived at Hume Lake for 29 years now (minus the 3 that were spent at Bible college). Hume is our home. It's where we have lived, gone to church, loved our Hume family and served our Lord, so it seems so wierd that we no longer live there.
We have no doubt that this is all God's perfect plan for us and for Hume, but it's still hard to say goodbye to all that has been so familiar to us.
I think I will miss the people the most. My sweet friends and the darling kids at preschool, where I got to help each week this past year.
I'll miss my house and all the fun our family had there.( holidays, parties, dance parties, hours of visiting over coffee, snuggles with our babies, long serious talks, tears, laughter...)
I'll miss the view from my kitchen window
I'll miss the school room and all the hours we spent there
I'll miss my red door
I'll miss my bathtub
I'll miss sitting on the front porch in summer
I'll miss walking the lake
I'll miss the fresh air
I'll miss the view at the lake
I'll miss knowing that people are coming to Christ and that we are playing a small part in that
I'll miss busy summers and quiet falls
Enough of that...
I have been so blessed by the peace that God has given me. Honestly, it's been amazing and surprising. I know my heart is broken in several places, but for the most part, I have felt ok.
I am so thankful for the prayers of friends and family. I know this is why I am doing so well. I am especially thankful for our kids and their kind and gentle care of us during this time. I know they are very sad themselves, and yet they have been encouraging and helpful and have had such good attitudes. (Thanks Guys)
As of today, we are living in Clovis, with our son Nole and his family. Jeff is job hunting and I'm taking each day as it comes.
I'll close for now, but will continue as I can. I know this isn't written well, but if I don't just ramble, I'll never do this.
One last thing. God loves us, He's closer than ever and we will be ok.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Blossoms in the snow...
It's snowing really hard outside, as I type. The tree branches are bending low with the weight of so much snow. It's a beautiful winter wonderland where I live. We won't be seeing signs of spring for quite awhile here...
So, you can imagine my glee to find two delicate, white jasmine flowers blooming inside my home!
Jeff bought this jasmine for me to set next to the front door last summer. When the weather became cold and I put away all my potted plants, the jasmine was still so pretty, I brought it inside.
I kept moving it around (mostly because it's big, and it was in the way), until it landed next to our sliding glass doors that face the back of the house. The sun comes through these windows every day and the jasmine seemed happy there.
Well, just recently, long, fresh limbs began to grow and vine around the older branches, fresh baby leaves began to unfirl, and wonder of wonders, two little blossoms opened their faces to the sun.
If you get close enough, you can even smell their sweet fragrance.
Spring may be far off here at Hume Lake, but my jasmine doesn't seem to care.
Hopefully, it will take residence near the front door again and bless us with more of it's sweet flowers. Until then, I'm content with these two.
Valentines Day with my Guy
My husband and I had the BEST Valentine's Day weekend ever! No, we didn't go away to the coast, or stay in a beautiful Inn somewhere. We just had a blast at home. Now, we do live in a beautiful place, but that wasn't what made it so special. Honestly, it was the fact that we just love being together.
We have been married now for 27 years and our love and passion for eachother is amazing! I feel so blessed.
Jeff gave me a darling basket filled with bath stuff, candles, chocolates, chick flicks, home magazines etc... He also brought home all kinds of fun picnic type foods and we had a picnic in front of the fireplace. We talked about all our Valentine's Day memories from our lives and remembered a similar picnic we had in England one time together.
Our son, Edward wasn't home for most of the day on Valentine's Day, so we got a sneak peek at what the "empty nest" will be like :)
I love my husband more than anyone else on this earth. He is God's richest blessing in my life.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
A Fresh Look
We have never spent any real money on our bedroom. It always seems like we choose to spend the money on other parts of the house. So,the last time we were in town, I began dreaming about a new bedroom look and asked my husband Jeff, if we could spend some money. He said we needed to wait a few more months and then we could do it "right". So, later that week, I took almost everything out of our room, cleaned it really well and used some old things to give it a new look.
I wish I had a "before" picture. But, you'll have to use your imagination. We had two small vintage tables with old green paint on them, bedding in muted red and tans, and lots of odds and ends for decoration.
I thought a clean white look might make the room look bigger, so this is what I ended up with. Jeff likes it a lot, and I'm fighting the urge to add some color.
What do you think?
I wish I had a "before" picture. But, you'll have to use your imagination. We had two small vintage tables with old green paint on them, bedding in muted red and tans, and lots of odds and ends for decoration.
I thought a clean white look might make the room look bigger, so this is what I ended up with. Jeff likes it a lot, and I'm fighting the urge to add some color.
What do you think?
Learning To Knit Cables
This was my first try at knitting cables. These gloves are so fun to make and they take no time at all! Of course, my first try had to be in the color green, because I love green and it makes me happy just looking at them. I learned a new technique for the thumb in this pattern as well. These gloves are knit in a nice wool yarn, so they are sturdy and should last awhile also. I hope to knit all my girls a pair of these in their favorite color too.
Fun~
Fun~
Friday, January 30, 2009
Finger-less Gloves
My friend Elisa gave this pattern to me because she thought it was a good, easy, first project. These gloves are knit on small double point needles in the round and were really fun to make! I think the biggest thing I learned was reading the pattern. Elisa had to translate several times, but I have almost completed the second glove and I haven't had to call her once :) As you can see, by the photos, it is a simple rib stitch for most of the gloves, but the thumb gusset was done in stockinette and required a few increased stitches (which I had never done before).
I really enjoyed this project. I've never worn this type of glove before, but if you see me out in them, be sure to tell me how cool they are :)
I really enjoyed this project. I've never worn this type of glove before, but if you see me out in them, be sure to tell me how cool they are :)
My God is Amazing
I haven't been blogging, because I got a new laptop and I haven't been very good at figuring out the photo thing. But, I wanted to share something that happened in my life today.
Today I had the opportunity to sit across from a lovely young woman and to hear her heart about some situations in her life. I prayed a lot before she arrived, that God would give me words that would encourage, and that He would be glorified.
It turned out, that I was able to share a story from my own life when, God said "no" to my hearts desire and I had to submit to Him. The coolest part of the story came several years later when God revealed why He had said "no".
It felt so good share that God's ways are always perfect and that He alone can change our desires, if we will let Him. And, when He does, it's because He has something far greater waiting for us.
I am glad that today, the Lord reminded me of this time in my life. Of His awesome love and complete care for me.
I hope my story encouraged my friend, but maybe in the end, the memory was just for me.
Today I had the opportunity to sit across from a lovely young woman and to hear her heart about some situations in her life. I prayed a lot before she arrived, that God would give me words that would encourage, and that He would be glorified.
It turned out, that I was able to share a story from my own life when, God said "no" to my hearts desire and I had to submit to Him. The coolest part of the story came several years later when God revealed why He had said "no".
It felt so good share that God's ways are always perfect and that He alone can change our desires, if we will let Him. And, when He does, it's because He has something far greater waiting for us.
I am glad that today, the Lord reminded me of this time in my life. Of His awesome love and complete care for me.
I hope my story encouraged my friend, but maybe in the end, the memory was just for me.
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Let them eat cake
First of all, this isn't Eugenie, this is Erin, I've been instructed to blog for her and so here I am, doing her bidding.
Second of all, I'm pretty sure the quote "Let them eat cake" wasn't actually about cake and was actually about brioche, no seriously, look it up.
Dustin loves carrot cake and I'm determined not to be a woman who neither cooks nor bakes so I decided I would learn and my first(on my own) endeavor was a carrot cake, from scratch. here is the recipe in case you were wondering. It took me most of 4 hours to make this cake which while it was ridiculous turned out to be worth it. The most lengthy part of this process was peeling and meticulously grating 9 carrots, it was also quite a process to 'zest' the lemon, but like I said, well worth it. Anyways I won't bore you any longer here is the outcome, although you cannot enjoy the taste from the pictures alone.
Second of all, I'm pretty sure the quote "Let them eat cake" wasn't actually about cake and was actually about brioche, no seriously, look it up.
Dustin loves carrot cake and I'm determined not to be a woman who neither cooks nor bakes so I decided I would learn and my first(on my own) endeavor was a carrot cake, from scratch. here is the recipe in case you were wondering. It took me most of 4 hours to make this cake which while it was ridiculous turned out to be worth it. The most lengthy part of this process was peeling and meticulously grating 9 carrots, it was also quite a process to 'zest' the lemon, but like I said, well worth it. Anyways I won't bore you any longer here is the outcome, although you cannot enjoy the taste from the pictures alone.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Pa Pa with his stocking
Nole and Heather with Avery and North
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Everyone Came Home!
Christmas this year was such a gift to my mother's heart. Every single one of my children, their spouses and children AND pets came home for a long visit~ We had such a lovely time! We played in the snow, played games, did lots of talking and eating, and laughed at the babies and the puppies as they romped around the house. Jeff and I felt so blessed to have everyone home. We know this won't be the case every year, so we cherished each moment and thanked God for this gift. On Christmas morning, we opened our stockings, Jeff (Pa Pa) read the Christmas story from the Bible and then we opened our presents. As you can see, everyone from Great Grandpa to little Gwendolyn had a wonderful time :)
My New Thing
Just recently my dear friend, Helen Schuler had me over to teach me how to knit. I have knit before, but it's been awhile. She started me on this little hat. It's called an Easy Roll-Up Hat. It is knit on circular needles. I have knit 7 of these hats I believe. (I keep giving them away :). I like to add a vintage button on the hats for girls, I think it looks darling. One thing I love about this hat, is that it looks good on just about everyone. My son put one on and folded the rolled edge into a cuff, it looked really cool on him. I have a New Year's resolution to get better at knitting. I am listening to knit and crochet podcasts and have subscribed to a knitting website called Raverly. I would say that this makes me an old lady for sure, but as I get to know the knitting community, many of them are young! In fact, today I'm going to my friend Elisa's house to learn how to knit finger-less gloves from her, and she's young :) So much fun! I'm thinking maybe my husband and I should go to town on a date day on Saturday so I can check out the new yarn store in Fresno. Maybe I'll use my Christmas money to buy needles and yarn. I'll let you know, how it goes. Until then, be creative.
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