Some pictures of the season!

Last Saturday we hosted Andrew's company Christmas party (20 people) at our home. We had to move our sectional out of the living room and into the bedroom to make room for the tables, but it all turned out beautifully, thanks to Andrew's sisters helping with the decorating and set-up! Here are a few pictures, from different sides of the room:

The table in the entryway:

Here's a photo of Andrew and me at the party (he hadn't gotten his food yet...he's not on a diet or anything)!

Our sister-in-law's father set up a little photo studio in our guest bedroom and took pictures of all the couples at the party. Here's one he took of us!

We have had a 6-foot artificial Christmas tree for the last few years, but since our ceiling is taller in the living room now, we got a 9-foot pre-lit tree this year, and put the shorter tree in the back TV room. So we have our pretty, elegant tree with white lights and blue, silver, and white ornaments in the front room and our cute, cozy tree with colored lights and red, gold, and bronze ornaments in the back!

Praying your Christmas season is joy-filled and blessed!

A trip to see the family!

I enjoyed a great visit with my family Thanksgiving week...here are a few pictures from our time there!

Anna with Aaron and Ben:

Mom and Dad enjoying an after-Thanksgiving-feast nap:

Ben and Aaron playing in the tent I brought them ($9.99 at Ikea!):

Sisters:

Here's an adorable video of Ben and Aaron playing in a hall cupboard. They are so cute!

And finally, a video interview I did with Ben...now that he's 3 1/2, he has a bit more to say (if you're reading this via e-mail, you'll need to go to my blog to see the videos)!

I look forward to seeing them all again in February when I go up to help out when Baby Grace is born!

What were they thinking? (Part 2)

As promised, here are some more things I discovered about youth group in the 1970s!

2) Being "PC" was obviously not something anyone was concerned about yet:

COMBINED GIRL WEIGHT GUESS: Choose three boys and send them out of the room. Ask the girls (three) for their weights. Add them, and tell audience total. Then bring the guys back into the room, and ask them to guess the total weight of the three girls. Each one guesses, and the one who is closest to the total wins prize; losers get a penalty.

I have a feeling this game would never fly in today's weight-obsessed culture with eating disorders abounding! Besides, isn't there some kind of unspoken rule that you never ask a lady how much she weighs?

THE SIT DOWN GAME: 1. Ask the entire audience to stand. 2. Instruct them to sit down when the "if" characteristic applies to them and remain seated. 3. Encourage them to be as honest as possible. 4. If you have trouble because most are not sitting down, then give some general characteristics, such as: a. Sit down if you are under 15 (over 18, etc.). b. Sit down if you have on white socks. c. Sit down if you are in love.

OK, first of all I have to say that I did play this game in youth group. But we were given things like, "Sit down if you are wearing jeans; if you have brown hair; if you've never had a cavity" -- things like that. They do have some normal suggestions like that in here, but get a load of some of the things they also suggest for this game!

SIT DOWN IF:

You kiss with your eyes open
You went to the drive-in this weekend but didn't see the movie
You dated a loser this past weekend
You haven't taken a bath in a week
You kiss sloppy
You have a pimple on your nose
You are ugly
Your nose is crooked
You read this month's issue of Playboy
You believe in necking on the first date
You believe in necking before the first date
You still suck your thumb
You wear "baby doll" pajamas
You have dandruff
The person in front of you has dandruff
You walk funny
You weigh over 200 pounds
You are going steady, but wish you weren't
You have ever "two-timed" your girlfriend or boyfriend
You are cross-eyed
Your mother dresses you
You have never been kissed
The person in front of you smells
You are on a diet
You aren't on a diet but should be
You aren't on a diet, but the person next to you should be
You are really good looking

Can you seriously even BELIEVE some of these? My word, times have changed! If a youth pastor played a game where he said stuff like this today, he could probably be sued for something-or-other!

3) Youth pastors in the '70s must not have been too concerned about liability issues:

EXCEDRIN WAMP: Have each boy (4 to 6 -- or as many as 100 to 300) put a paper bag loosely over his head down to his ears. Each boy has a rolled newspaper. The object is to knock the other guy's hat off without losing one's own. No one is allowed to hold his hat on.



Yes, let's set a bunch of teenaged boys loose with paper bags over their heads and rolled-up newspapers, giving them permission to whack each other aggressively over and over. Imagine the fun -- especially if there are several hundred of them!

STABBING DUEL: Have two boys tie left wrists together. Each takes a banana in his right hand. The object is to one-handedly peel the banana and stab the other boy in the face. The first to do so is the winner.

Unfortunately, there was no picture accompanying this description. Maybe a picture of a boy with a banana sticking out of one eye wouldn't have made it past the editors of the book. By the way, do you notice how they left the girls out of these particular games?

PASS IT ON: The entire group forms a circle. Everyone is given an object which can be large, small or any shape (such as a bowling ball, a trash can, a shoe, etc.). On a signal, everyone passes his object to the person on the right, keeping the objects moving at all times. When a person drops any object, he must leave the game, but his object remains in. As the game progresses, more people leave the game, making it harder and harder to avoid dropping an object since there are more objects than people very soon. The winner is the last person(s) to "drop" out.

Yes, because passing a bowling ball or other heavy object around quickly in a circle will surely NOT end with said bowling ball or other heavy object being dropped on someone's toes.

4) I can't think of a sentence to describe this next game...let's just say it's somewhat lacking in spiritual discernment.

PLATE HYPNOTISM: Explain to audience that you have had some experience (in college) with hypnotism. Ask for volunteers, "Who will try hard to be hypnotized?" Give them a plate full of magic hypnotic power which they hold in front of them with one hand and you do the same. Then the volunteer does everything you do while looking you straight in the eyes. You rub finger in top of plate and rub between eyes over and over. Then rub edges and finally the bottom of the plate and rub between eyes. You have charred the bottom of the volunteer's plate with a match, so he rubs black soot on his eyes, unaware of what is going on. Work out a good solid routine for this and it is guaranteed to be a winner.


Guaranteed to be a winner! Unless the kids in your youth group go home and tell their parents that the youth pastor tried to hypnotize them.

5) And this game is just wrong on so many levels...

FUNNEL TRICK: Place a funnel in a boy's pants (in front). Have him tip his head back, then place a nickel on his forehead. The object is for him to drop the nickel into the funnel three times in succession. The third time, pour a cup of water into the funnel while his head is tipped back.



Mother: "Johnny, what did you do at youth group tonight?"

Johnny: "They stuck a funnel down the front of my pants and soaked me with cold water!"

(Even though in this picture it looks like the youth group kid is soaking the youth pastor -- which is slightly more disturbing.)
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Well, that ends our "blast from the past" look at one segment of 1970s youth group culture. Hope you enjoyed it! :-)

What were they thinking?

As the director of our church's library, I go through all of the books that are donated. We recently had a retired pastor donate his entire personal library: commentaries, Bible dictionaries, books on Christian living and theology and counseling; and then there were these two gems:

Wow, those covers alone just draw you in, don't they! Curious as to what it would have been like to attend a church youth group function in the mid-1970s, I began to thumb through the pages. Here are some interesting things I discovered (any italics in the quotes were added by me for emphasis):

1) Youth groups in the '70s offered plenty of wholesome activities for teenaged boys and girls, they of the raging hormones and conflicted emotions:

SQUIRM RACE: Place a volleyball (or ball of similar size) between the foreheads of a boy and a girl couple. Without using their hands, they must work the ball down to their knees and back up again. Their hands must be kept behind their backs and the two must start over if they drop the ball. Couples do not have to be of the opposite sex. Two guys or two girls will work fine but a boy-girl couple usually adds to the fun of this event.

Oh, yes...I can only imagine the fun, especially if your partner is the cute guy you've been eyeing across the pews!

GREAT SPAGHETTI RELAY: Divide the group into teams. Each person gets a potato chip (the larger, the better). Each team lines up, and the first person in line holds his potato chip in his mouth. A wet spaghetti noodle is then draped over the chip and the person must run to a set point and back without dropping the noodle or breaking the potato chip. On returning, he passes the noodle on to the next person, who does the same thing. The game continues, and the first team to finish is the winner. The rules: (1) No hands are allowed. (2) If the noodle drops off, breaks, or becomes mutilated, the player must return to the line, get a new noodle, and start all over.

This game must be especially exciting when you have the teams lined up boy-girl-boy-girl, as evidenced by this picture included with the game description:


Why does this guy remind me of Peter Parker from the 70s TV show "The Amazing Spiderman"? Must be the hair...

(Off-topic aside: I did not realize until doing a search for this picture that Nicholas Hammond, who played Peter Parker, also played one of the Von Trapp children, Friedrich, in The Sound of Music!)

ESKINOSE: Divide group into two teams, alternating by sex. First person has lipstick smear on his nose. Winning team is the one who can pass the lipstick the farthest in thirty seconds by Eskimo kissing (rubbing noses). Winners get Eskimo Pies.

See above picture again for an idea of what this game would have looked like in action!

And finally, we have...

JOHN-JOHN: This can be used for groups up to 500. Form a circle using everyone. Selected leaders start the game by running to a person of the opposite sex and yelling, "What's your name?" The person replies, "Linda." The leader looks behind himself and yells, "Linda-Linda...Linda-Linda-Linda" while doing a little dance similar to Mexican Hat Dance. The person (Linda in this case) falls in behind the leader, putting her hands on his waist, and together they run to the opposite side of the circle. This time they both do the above together. After they finish the little dance, Linda makes an about face. The leader does the same and grabs on to Linda's waist. The new person grabs on to the previous leader's waist. Now all three proceed to the opposite side of the circle with Linda leading. She would go to a boy. Each chain continues to get longer until everyone is chosen. There would be many chains and the object would be to keep from getting hit by the other chains.


Whoa there, guy in the stripey shirt...you're getting just a little bit too close for comfort to the young lady in the white mini-dress!

Stay tuned for more inappropriate youth group games from the 1970s!

TO BE CONTINUED...

It's a Picnik!

I just wanted to share a cool website I've used to play around with my pictures. You have to register, but it's free. Below are some examples of pictures I've "Picnik'ed" -- enjoy!

http://www.picnik.com/

And this is just the tip of the iceberg of what you can do with photos!

Where did the summer go?

Wow, time sure flies! We have had an eventful summer, full of overnight guests and weekend BBQs and getting the new house in order (I haven't forgotten about posting before and after pictures of the house...I will try to get to that soon)!

So anyway, my sister said she was tired of checking my blog and always seeing the same thing week after week, so here you go, sis...a new blog post just for you! :-)

I'll even throw in a picture of Skipper smiling for the camera!

Hope everyone's having a blessed week! :-)

Off-roading in a Minivan

So a few weeks ago, my sister Anna and my nephews, Ben and Aaron, were visiting us while Anna's husband Matt was in Mexico with their youth group. Matt dropped Anna and the boys off near our place on their way down south, and picked them up again on their way back up to Oregon. Well, we actually had to drive Anna and the boys to meet up with the group in Ione, a city about 45 minutes from Sacramento. At least, it was supposed to be only a 45-minute drive...

See, it all started when I printed out directions on how to get to Ione using some computer software I have. Having never been to Ione, I assumed it was giving me good directions. We were in a rented minivan with NO navigation system (something I never want to be without again), and the trip turned into a real comedy of errors.

So here we were: my brother Nate, my sister Anna, the two little boys and me, off to take a leisurely little drive to Ione. Ione is out in the country, by the way -- kind of the middle of nowhere. Keep that in mind as you read.

Our first mistake was missing a road we were supposed to turn on. We just kept going and going and going...and weren't seeing the road. Finally the road we were on spit us out onto the freeway, so we realized we must have missed it and backtracked until we saw it. We turned onto this road and soon discovered that what started as a road quickly turned into little more than a trail. The road got narrower and narrower and was soon just dirt instead of cement. All we saw for miles around was farmland and fences...no houses, no cars...nothing. We would round a bend or crest a hill and see nothing for miles but more of the same...and we had no cell phone reception!


Here's what we saw:








We debated about whether we should keep going, hoping we'd find a main road again, or whether we should just go back the way we came. We decided to press on. We finally did come to a main road, only to come to a place a little bit later where we weren't sure which way to go -- and chose what we later discovered was the wrong way: we ended up on yet ANOTHER out-in-the-middle-of-nowhere road with barely any signs of civilization around us. And this road was in WORSE condition than the first road -- we were bouncing over potholes and swerving to avoid big piles of gravel, backing up to avoid driving into ditches, carefully lining our wheels up with the ruts of previous travelers who'd managed to navigate the craziness...it was so bad it was funny! We were not just in the middle of nowhere -- we were in the MIDDLE of the middle of nowhere!

Anna started singing, "Five passengers set sail that day for a three-hour tour..." and we all laughed. "We should have brought Skipper and Gilligan!" I responded. (Those are my cats, for those of you who don't know!) Every time we got to the top of a hill and saw nothing more than miles of this same road stretching before us, we had to laugh -- it was just too crazy! Meanwhile, we knew that Matt was waiting for us and probably wondering what on earth had happened! We couldn't call him, because we had no cell reception.






FINALLY, we saw some farmhouses in the distance. We stopped at one to ask the way to Ione, because we didn't want to do any more minivan off-roading, thank you very much! When the farmer discovered which way we'd come, he was incredulous. "That seven-mile stretch of bad road? I've lived here for eight years and have only been on that road four times, and only when absolutely necessary!" He graciously gave us directions and we arrived in Ione about 2 1/2 hours after we'd left Sacramento -- I told Matt I'd just been trying to sneak in a little extra time with my sis! ;-)


I learned several things through this experience:


1) Either make sure you have a GPS system in your vehicle when headed to a new location, or get good directions from a local!


2) If you are stuck in a minivan, lost in the California countryside, make sure you have traveling companions by your side who can take it all in stride and laugh at it with you. It helps not having uptight, stressed-out passengers! Even though Anna was anxious to get to her husband after not seeing him for 10 days, she didn't get a bad attitude or blame me for getting lost, which I really appreciate! :-)


Hope you enjoyed the chronicle of our little adventure!

Long time, no blog!

Whew...we have finally moved into our new house -- the big move day was June 19 (Andrew remembered as we were in the middle of moving that the day we moved to Sacramento from Vancouver was June 19, 1999, so I guess June 19 is just our day for moving)! Two days after we moved, some of our closest friends (we all met at Bible college) came to stay with us for a week, and the day they left my sister Anna and two little nephews, Ben and Aaron, came to stay for 10 days! They left last Sunday, and on Tuesday my parents arrived for a visit! They will fly home this Sunday evening. We have really enjoyed sharing our new home with everyone, even though it's been a whirlwind few weeks!

I plan to share some before and after pics of our new home soon...I just want to get a few more things done (like curtains and artwork put up) before I take the "after" shots! Thanks for your patience! :-)

In the meantime, here are a few pictures from the last few weeks...enjoy!

Becky and LaSarah, my two best friends from college, at the Jelly Belly Factory in Fairfield, CA, where we took a tour to see how the famous candies are made!

LaSarah with her husband Nate and their kiddos, Josh and AnnaLuisa, posing on some "toadstools" at FairyTale Town in Sacramento.

My brother Nate with our nephews Ben and Aaron at a little community parade we went to see.

My sister Anna and me; pardon my squinting -- it was bright!

And just a little something to tide you over until I can get more before and after pics ready, here's the circular fireplace in our living room as it was when we purchased the house:

And here's what it looks like now, after we commissioned a local artist to paint it (the scenes are from the Northwest, where I'm from -- Multnomah Falls and a scene from the Columbia River Gorge). We're quite pleased with the end result!

Hope...

During a recent worship-based prayer gathering with two friends of mine, the Holy Spirit kept bringing up the theme of hope. We read passages like:

Psalm 71:4-6
"Deliver me, O my God, out of the hand of the wicked,
Out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man.
For You are my hope, O Lord GOD;
You are my trust from my youth.
By You I have been upheld from birth;
You are He who took me out of my mother’s womb.
My praise shall be continually of You."

Psalm 33:16-18
"No king is saved by the multitude of an army;
A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.
A horse is a vain hope for safety;
Neither shall it deliver any by its great strength.
Behold, the eye of the LORD is on those who fear Him,
On those who hope in His mercy."

Romans 5:1-5
"Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. And not only that, but we also glory in tribulations, knowing that tribulation produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us."

1 Peter 1:13
"Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed."

Keeping that last verse in mind, an acronym for hope came to me while we were praying:

Having
One
Perspective --
Eternity!

I love this simple reminder.

And I love that biblical hope is not just wishful thinking ("Oh, I hope it will happen..."); it's a confident expectation that what God promised WILL come to pass! This hope is the anchor that keeps us from drifting away in doubt and discouragement when life gets tough. In fact, I think God's Word has something to say about that very thing!

Hebrews 6:17-19a
"Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure."


This hope anchors my soul:

...when remodeling projects seem to go on forever and a day!

...when I'm faced with new and challenging responsibilities in ministry.

...when the price of gas and other costs of living keep rising and rising.


And this hope anchors my soul:

...when I watch the news and hear about devastation, despair, and other discouraging things around the world.

...when I see people I love making destructive life choices that don't honor the Lord.

...as Andrew and I approach our 13th wedding anniversary as a childless couple.


The world doesn't understand how we can still have hope in spite of both the minor irritations and the serious concerns of life. To me, it's simple: having one perspective -- eternity. When I make a conscious effort to look at the circumstances of my life in light of eternity, God's Spirit whispers encouragement to my heart: "Yes, this isn't all there is! Look up! Look ahead!" My life is eternal, and my time here is but a breath in comparison to what awaits me! I trust with all my heart that my Heavenly Father, who loves me so much He sent Jesus to die for me so I could be a part of His family, is working everything together for my good and His glory, and that fills me with such peace and joy!

I pray that these thoughts will be an encouragement to you as well. I leave you with a final benediction from God's Word:

Romans 15:13

"I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in Him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit."

Sorry for the long absence!

Life has been busy lately! We are finally going to be moving to the new house, hopefully starting at the beginning of this next week -- we'll probably move a little bit each day (the boxes, that is) and then choose one day to move all the big furniture and stuff. We have friends from out of town coming on June 21 to spend a week with us, so I need to have everything set up and the house decorated and all that by then!

I have to say that I'm very thankful for a friend of ours from Vancouver, WA, Michael Makarenko, who drove down with a friend of his on May 20 to help things at the house get done faster...we appointed him as "supervisor" over all the other workers, and it's thanks to his hard work that we will be able to move in this week...so, THANK YOU, MICHAEL!!! He and his friend are driving back to Vancouver this Sunday.

Hard to believe we signed papers for the house on December 26 and we're finally going to be living there! It's seemed like a dream for so long, and now it will finally be reality -- thank You, Lord!

Four Things (I've Been Tagged!)

Suzanne tagged me, so here we go:

Four jobs I've held:

1) Grounds worker at Multnomah Bible College (the summer after high school) in Portland, OR

2) Part-time secretary at my uncle's furnace cleaning company in Portland, OR

3) Part-time church secretary at First Baptist Church of Vancouver, WA

4) Receptionist at the K-LOVE Radio headquarters here in Sacramento, CA

Four movies I could watch over and over:

1) "Anne of Green Gables"

2) "Sense and Sensibility"

3) "The Sound of Music"

4) "The Princess Bride"

Four places I've lived (in order):

1) Portland, OR

2) Santiago, Chile

3) Vancouver, WA

4) Sacramento, CA

Four TV shows I like:

1) "Little House on the Prairie"

2) "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition"

3) ?

4) ?

Sorry, I can't really think of any other favorites...I'm not much of a TV watcher, especially lately!

Four favorite foods:

1) Homemade soup

2) A big, fresh salad

3) Cream top yogurt, all different flavors

4) Homemade pizza

Where would I rather be?

(As long as my husband is with me, too) :-)

1) Visiting my family in Oregon

2) On an extended stay at a Bed & Breakfast on the Scottish moors

3) On an extended stay at a Bed & Breakfast in the Irish hills

4) On an extended stay at a Bed & Breakfast in the English countryside

Four people I'm tagging (for those new to this, it means you copy and paste this onto your blog and put your own answers):

1) Anna

2) Melissa

3) Jenn

4) Cathy

Weekend Fun

Andrew and I spent the weekend in Napa, California, attending an event with Strategic Renewal, one of the ministries I volunteer for. The former pastor of our church, Daniel Henderson, is the President of Strategic Renewal, and it was great for Andrew and I to be able to spend some time with him and his wife, Rosemary, while at the event. They are a great encouragement to us! We were in a beautiful location, surrounded by wonderful people, and able to spend quality time worshiping the Lord and being reminded of why this ministry is so worthy of our support!

After the event ended on Sunday afternoon, Andrew and I drove to the nearby town of Calistoga to see California's Old Faithful Geyser. Every 20-40 minutes it erupts, shooting a stream of hot water high into the sky for a few minutes. It was pretty cool! Here's a video:

There were also some animals at the same location...goats, sheep, and llamas. Here's a video of me interacting with some of them!

We had a relaxing drive home, thankful for the chance to spend a few fun days together exploring some places we'd never been before!

(Don't worry...that's not a working well! The bottom of the well is level with the ground!)

Orlando Recap

I spent last weekend in Orlando, Florida attending a retreat/meeting with four other members of the Board of Directors of Hannah's Prayer Ministries. The flights there and back were long for me (around seven hours of travel time each way), but worth every minute to be able to spend time with these awesome ladies (Jenn from Florida, Arica from Ohio, Becky from Arkansas, and Michele, who is currently living in Puerto Rico)!

We stayed at a cute little vacation house with 80's-era decor that provided endless amusement (just imagine everything teal and coral, with lots of floral and lace motifs -- and butterflies). Our meeting was productive, and the rest of the weekend was very fun! Jenn, who is from the area, has a friend who works at Epcot who was able to get us in for free using her guest pass! The weather was beautiful, and we saw some Christian skywriting, which apparently is not uncommon around there these days (hence the very cool picture above). We didn't see any alligators, thankfully! We did see a turtle crossing the road, though. And on Saturday, we had lunch with some other Hannah's Prayer members who were in the area.

(At this point, some of you may be wondering what in the world Hannah's Prayer is...it's a ministry for married, Christian women who are dealing with all aspects of infertility and pregnancy loss -- the major aspect of the ministry is an online Community Forums message board, where I am very active. And I'm on the Board of Directors, hence my traveling to the meeting!)

So here, for your enjoyment, are some pictures from the weekend (most of them have just four of us because Jenn had her little 8-week-old daughter with her and couldn't come to Epcot with us)!

Arica, Sarah, Becky, Michele

Goofy wanted a kiss on the cheek, but I told him I didn't know if my husband would approve!

Jenn and little Lila