Milestones

This week has been filled with Milestones for both me and my family. 

We set this crib up when I was pregnant with Taylor 15 years ago. There has not been a time in the last 15 years without a baby in the crib. 

Liberty is 3 1/2 now and constantly tells people that she sleeps in a big girl crib, not a baby crib. With some, OK A LOT of coaxing and shoving from my friend Tami, We took down the crib, moved Libby to Ruby's toddler bed and set up a twin bed for Ruby. Both girls are very excited! 

Big Girl Crib Comes Down

Also this week I finished reading through my entire Bible! I read 4 of the books twice and all the other books of the Bible once. I made it a New Year's Resolution in 2011 to read through the Bible in a year. When 2012 came I decided to keep going and so have completed reading through my Bible in a year and a half. This is something I have never done before. Sure, I have read all my Bible but never in a sequential manner and with the purpose of diligently covering all of it. It feels great to have done it. Now I look forward to slowing down again and diving deeper into God's word. 

Because I'm cool that way.
 We set up the tent in the Family Room  and the boys slept in it for  a few nights. 

We are leaving for our annual camping trip to Leavenworth tomorrow and this is the first time I have given the children a list and told them to pack. I have not checked their work, nor am I going to. If they forgot something it will be on them. I have realized that I am doing my children a disservice by micromanaging everything. 

We are working on being more diligent in our chores, our attitudes and our relationships. 

Finally, we attended a send off ceremony for some wonderful friends. Last night we prayed blessings on the Haechton's and I said good bye to my amazing friend, Stacy and her family. I have never said good bye to someone who was leaving for the mission field for an extended period of time. It was much more difficult than I imagined. Although, I am so very excited for their journey and for God's faithfulness and provision each step of the way. They are an amazing family and I feel so fortunate and blessed to have walked with them for a season. 

It has been an amazingly wonderful and difficult week. See you next week! God's Blessings to you. 

Snow Falling

Yes I know it's June, but here in the Pacific Northwest we can snowshoe in June. 

 My college friend, Anissa, came up for 10 days at the beginning of the month. We celebrated by getting pedicures, then enjoying my free birthday dinner at Red Robin.

 We attended our friend Rebecca's 50th Birthday celebration, went snowshoeing, had a slumber party, ran 8 miles together, went to Pike's Place Market and Downtown Seattle, thrift store shopping and plenty of wonderful food!

 The last time Anissa came to town I was only home for one day before I left town for San Antonio. It seems like a very long time since we have had time together. I stole Anissa away from our other friends Marla and Rebecca and we planned a wonderful day with vistas and sunshine. Unfortunately, in the Northwest the weather did not get my memo.

 The path I usually take was obscured by the tracks the Snow Cats left. We decided to follow what path was there and never mind the view because there wasn't any anyway.

 When I took this photo my screen looked blank. This was the edge of the trail we were on, and beyond it was zero visibility.

 Uninterrupted conversation is an anomaly for me, I was so excited to have time to catch up with my friend. I did discover that I really do carry on 47 different conversations at one time and never really finish one. It leaves me wanting more. As I regularly tell my children, "We don't always get what we want."

 Just so you know, Anissa wasn't the only one falling. We opted to turn back when the snow kept getting slushier and slushier. We made some impressive elevation gains, got great exercise, created priceless memories and fell a lot. I began by taking a picture of the first time she fell, because it was so dramatic. Then, I had to continue with the photo documentary because each fall was graceful, clumsy, painful, hilarious, and random.

On our descent we opted to take the hills sitting down. That was so incredibly fun! We also tried sliding on our bellies and headfirst. We concurred that had we know how much fun it was going to be we would have opted to climb and slide all day. I ended up losing both of our water bottles somewhere on Mt. Baker. However, we decided it wasn't worth the effort, plus the weather turned even worse rather quickly. Hopefully the person who finds our favorite water bottles will enjoy them.
What made the day even better was that my husband took the day off to be with the children so I could have time that he knows is so precious to me. I am grateful for his flexibility and willingness to give me so much time.