Were Home

Dillon and I were visiting family in California this week. We celebrated babies and birthdays all week long. We also had great pasta dinner with our good friends Tony and Megan, I forgot to take a picture of them so this one will have to do. They are the best.

If you don't live in California let me tell you, this last week was HOT. Now I know if you are reading this from Oregon or some other place you are thinking "yah, it was hot here too" but you are wrong. It was 106-109 every stinking hot day! BUT despite all that Dillon and I had a wonderful time. Here is a picture of my beautiful sister-in-law (who is working on aunting me), her mother on the left and my mother on the right (Angie is in the middle.) Congratulations again Angie, Dillon and I are both proud and excited for you, Brandon and little Noah. We love you.

So while Dillon and I were gone our wonderful friend Haley came by to feed and pet our pitiful kitty. She (Haley) is the best. We both love her dearly, if you don't know her you should and if you do know her you should tell how how much you love her. Here is her picture, it is fun to introduce every one. I hope you all think this is fun! Our little kitty is happy we are home, I think she is punishing us though because if we go out side she sits at the door and wines and refuses to come out of the bedroom, I think she is scared of all the fans, it is 100 degrees here at our house today.

So, all week, while in CA I could not stop thinking about my garden, I am a bit obsessed but it is the most fun ever, please note previous pictures of the garden. Well, short story, I took a bunch of squash home for family, as I have no use for 15 lbs of the stuff, Dillon's cousin Jessica, who I have no pictures of but she is a cute blond thing, grew a zucchini that was like 3 feet long. I felt so pitiful with my little 4-6 inch squash. All the books said to harvest at 4 inches to ensure a good crop, to heck with that, look at what was waiting me when we got home, that's right, another picture. Ok, so picture formatting is kicking my butt right now......Grrrrr. Any how.

So, down here now I guess. Back to work tomorrow for me and Dillon is headed back to the dungeon for more studying. Oh, I meant to point out that those squash above are not next to any ordinary shoe, that is my mammoth size 10 my friends, that's right, you now have a whole new respect for the size of the squash, as I knew you would. There is a lot left unsaid about this week, like the wonderful reunion of me and an old friend for brunch, Dillon and how he and his sister build a magnificent deck despite she scorching heat for his mother, seeing my cousin for a short visit ect ect ect. Well enough for now, I love you all and hope you are doing well. Hope, as always, to see you soon.

Languishing....

So, I am here in Oregon desperately missing my wonderful husband who is home in California building a new deck for his mom. I am finding myself sitting at home waiting for him to come home, quite pitiful really, but what can I say. Next week I will be joining him as we continue to visit family.
I have been trying to find something to write about. I have lots on my mind but not much to write about. I am thinking a lot about the next step in life for Dillon and I. We are not sure where that will lead but have confidence that we are headed in the right direction. We are following up on some leads for Dillon in regard to jobs. I am trying hard not to think about leaving my wonderful friends and "family" at my current job. It is so hard when two aspects of your heart don't jive. Any tips? Lots of prayer is all I have come up with, it seems to be working OK.

I have a question...Does it mean anything that I love stories of tragic love? I don't mean like love and death, not like Romeo and Juliet, but like the "hard" love. Movies like The Notebook, I cry, and I mean CRY every time I watch it. I guess that's what makes a good movie, if it was nice love that just fell into place with no "conflict" then it would not make a good movie. Well, never mind, I guess I figured it out.
Well, enough of that useless rambling, if you happen to see my Husband this week give him a big hug for me and know there is one jealous girl in Portland.

The Basement

I’m sitting in my familiar place of solitude in the basement floor of the Multnomah Seminary Library. I’ve spent many an hour here over the past three years but not nearly as many as I will spend in the next eight weeks. Recently Kristen and I came up with a plan, and as odd as this may sound it is the quickest way to be without a plan that we could think of. On August 30th Kristen will be quitting her job at Sunset Pediatrics. Rather than spending what’s left of the summer looking for a summer job, we decided that I would spend my time more effectively doing everything I can to finish the first draft of my thesis. So I will be coming to this place in the basement of the library for the rest of the summer when Kristen is at work. I’ll be doing a lot of reading and hopefully a lot of writing. The trouble is I’m not sure exactly what I’ll be reading and writing quite yet, but perhaps I’ll have a better idea in a couple of weeks.

The unique thing about our plan is that beyond August 30th we don’t really have a plan at all. Well, I guess we are planning a trip to Glacier National Park the first week of September with Tony and Megan Stover, but after that we don’t have a plan. I am continuing to look for a job, as I will be until I find the right one, so perhaps I’ll have a strong lead by the end of the summer. If not we will probably pray a lot and see if the Lord puts a certain place on our hearts, then sell most of our stuff and move to that place. So if anyone wants the Lord to place a certain town or city on our hearts, you had better start praying too.

For the next two weeks I will be in California, the first week I am building a deck for my mom, the second week Kristen is coming down and we are hanging out with family and taking a break. I’ll write again when we return.

Blessings,
Dillon