End of summer outing with the grandkids...

I'm interrupting my weekly series that I've been posting of photos from my sixtieth birthday trip to Maine. This week I wanted to share some photos that I took last week when we took our five oldest grandkids, all but the three month old, to the little cabin on the beautiful Umpqua River.

Our oldest grandson spent the majority of his time fishing.  He loves to fish!  He caught lots of small mouth bass- three of them were big enough to keep and to eat for dinner.

The other four grandkids spent most of their time swimming-except for our three year old grandson who preferred playing on the rocks or sitting in the rubber raft letting the older grandkids pull him around.

Our five year old granddaughter is fearless when it comes to the water.  Thank God for life jackets!

(photo edited with Kim Klassen's waterfront texture)

Each morning that we were at the cabin began with fog.

It wasn't long before it would give way to blue skies and sunshine!

The cabin is located just a short drive inland from the beach, so one afternoon we loaded the kids up and spent the afternoon by the sea.

The tide was coming in and the waves were rough, which one of our grand girlies experienced by getting a good dunking. "Never turn your back on the ocean!" were words I grew up hearing from my dad. Those sneaker waves can be dangerous!

The people in the background of this photo are doing something that most Pacific Northwesterners know not to do. Those waves are strong enough to pick up that log and roll a person right off, risking that the log could roll right back on top of them. 

We had such a great time with our grandkids on this little getaway. Each year that the grandkids get older they also get busier with sports and summer jobs, so I don't take these times together for granted.  School starts next week, so this trip together was a wonderful way to end the summer!

still following, 

songography at "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out"

image-in-ing:Variations

http://www.lifenreflection.com

buckaroo mama

peabea

As long as thanks is possible...

Last week, a spur of the moment decision to make the desire of two little grand girlies come to pass, meant a whole lot of fun with a side of exhaustion. You can read about what we did here.  Thanks is indeed possible.  How can I not be grateful for all God's many blessings in my life?

****************

Since 2009 I've been counting my blessings thanks to the prompting of Ann Voskamp.

 I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my journal.

(and capturing some of my blessings via my camera or iPhone)

#10,162-#10,193

8-21-17-

-our "arrows"-all of our children and grandchildren

-an answer to prayer

-watching the eclipse

-dinner at our daughter's-our youngest grandson is cooing back at us now!

-an amazing sunset on my walk

8-22-17-

-waking up before sunrise, which makes for a lovely quiet time!

-a promise kept to take our two youngest granddaughters to the cabin

-our kitchen cabinets paint job turned out great!

8-23-17-

-a safe drive to the cabin

-a fun afternoon playing in the river with the grandkids

-hungry kids gobbling up tacos after an afternoon of swimming

8-24-17-

-watching the sun come up from from the deck of the cabin with my grandson

-warm from the oven scones with homemade raspberry jam

-oldest grandson catching three small mouth bass 

-driving to the beach 

-ice cream cones on the way back to the cabin

-salmon, and those small mouth bass, for dinner

8-25-17-

-pancakes, eggs and sausages for breakfast outside on the deck of the cabin

-playing in the river all morning long with the kids

-a picnic lunch on the big rock by the river 

-going out for pizza

-our youngest grand girlies watching Little Women for the first time

8-26-17-

-home!

-help from friends putting the cabinet pulls on the cabinets

-making a crisp with wild blackberries for a family dinner tomorrow

8-27-17-

-our youngest grandson's baby dedication

-an encouraging testimony

-a fun family dinner after the baby dedication

-our smiley youngest grandson 

-all of our grands!

-everything in the kitchen is put away

still following,

Prayers and Promises...

Towards the beginning of summer, one evening our eight year old and five year old granddaughters had been over at our house.  We ended our time together gathered round a fire in the fire pit, roasting marshmallows and enjoying sticky, gooey s'mores.  Our conversation turned to camping and we talked about the possibility of taking the girls camping later in the summer.  As the conversation progressed, we asked if they'd rather go camping or go to the cabin on the Umpqua River, owned by our youngest daughter's in-laws.  Having heard about the cabin from us, their aunties, and their cousins, they decided that they'd prefer to go to the cabin.  And so, a meandering conversation while enjoying s'mores became a promise in the mind of two little girls.

And then the summer got busy and seemed to zoom by.  There was the usual busyness of ordinary life, work, family and ministry. There was a kitchen remodel that began mid-July and is just now nearing the finish line. There was my sixtieth birthday trip to Maine with my daughters.  As the summer drew to a close and the start of school neared, I began to make mental excuses to not try to squeeze in a trip to the cabin with our two youngest granddaughters-we were running out of time, we had too much going on to make it happen, we really hadn't promised them we'd go.  But, then one night when I couldn't sleep, it began to bother me.  Deep in my heart, I wanted to make my granddaughters' desire come to pass. (Join me for the rest of this post on Sunday, August 27th, at Woman to Woman Ministries where each Sunday I share a bit of Sunday Soul Food!)

still following,

Also happily linking up with the lovely

Susan B. Mead
and

Sunday Scripture Blessings

From Portland to Portland...

My Mama was born in the family homestead on Prince Edward Island, but grew up in Bath, Maine.

Bath is located just a bit over thirty miles from Maine's largest city, Portland. During World War II, a handsome sailor happened into the shipyards of Bath and swept my mama off her feet. They were married within a couple of weeks!  After the war, Daddy talked Mama into leaving her home and family and moving out west.  Eventually they settled in a small suburb of Portland, Oregon, where we lived until I went away to college.

The summer I turned six, mama and daddy and six of the seven of us kids, drove across the country back to Maine to meet Mama's family for the first time.  As young as I was, I fell in love with my Maine family and that beautiful place.  Mama took my youngest brother and I back again the summer that I turned 16.  Then my husband and I visited Maine and several of the other New England states for our twenty-fifth anniversary.  The summer after Mama died in 2011, my husband and I and my sister and her husband flew to Maine together, revisiting Mama's hometown, then we drove up through Canada to P.E.I. to visit her birthplace and to meet our P.E.I. relatives for the first time.

My dream was to return to Maine someday with my family.  However, there are now fourteen of us counting us, our three daughters and their husbands, and our grandchildren.  So, for my sixtieth birthday this month we planned a celebratory trip to Maine for me and my daughters, (and our two month old grandson tagged along with his mama).  We flew in to Boston, then drove up to Portland, Maine, where we spent our first night.

When you live in the Pacific Northwest, where the historic buildings are from the 1800's, then you visit New England and see buildings and towns dating back into the 1700's and even some from the 1600's it's quite phenomenal.  My Portland, Oregon girls instantly fell in love with both the natural and historic beauty of Portland, Maine.  

still following,

songography at "You'll Shoot Your Eye Out"

image-in-ing:Variations

http://www.lifenreflection.com

buckaroo mama

peabea

Today I am thankful...

The summer I turned six we drove across the U.S. from Oregon to Maine where I met my Mama's family for the first time.  I remember seeing the solar eclipse in Maine in that summer of 1963, through a rigged up cardboard box with a pinhole in it. Today I viewed the solar eclipse here in Vancouver, Wa, 54 years later, using that same cardboard shoebox method. I'm thinking how my grandkids will remember this summer day of 2017 when there was a solar eclipse like I remember that summer day in 1963.  

****************

Since 2009 I've been counting my blessings thanks to the prompting of Ann Voskamp.

 I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my journal.

(and capturing some of my blessings via my camera or iPhone)

#10,144-#10,167

8-14-17-

-the air so cool this morning I could almost have used a sweater

-going to my sister's 70th birthday party

(Sisters. I just turned 60 and she just turned 70.)

-driving home down the back country roads at sunset

8-15-17-

-losing another pound...(slow and steady wins the race, right?)

-an apology

-a sleepover at our house with my oldest granddaughter and our "unofficially adopted granddaughter" 

-an evening walk with the two of them

8-16-17-

-"my help comes from the Lord Who made heaven and earth"

-my part of the prep for the cabinet painters is done

-going to bed early after waking up early and a busy day

8-17-17-

-the painters have begun!

-fun at the park with our grandsons

-praying with others

8-18-17-

-the beautiful Lewis River

-a walk around Lake Sacagawea

-a heron posing for a photo

-yesterday's migraine is gone!

8-19-17-

-a hummingbird enjoying the lavender in my patio pots

-laughing with a friend

-cool evening breezes on my walk

8-20-17-

-wonderful worship

-a great message

-God is growing His church-each Sunday for several weeks we have new people 

-God's provision

still following,

Survival tips for tumultuous times...

This past week has been difficult.  We are being bombarded with bad news.  Division and strife abounds.  Our whole world is sin ravished and sick, not just the United States.  For people of the Bible this should not come as a surprise.  However, it can be disheartening and overwhelming.  Back in the day there were no instant news sources alerting us of breaking news twenty-four hours a day.  (Perhaps ignorance was bliss!) There were no social media platforms with people continually voicing their opinions and arguing with one another.  Add it all together and no wonder peace is hard to find and confusion seems to reign!  Hopelessness, despair, depression and anxiety have become common struggles.

May I suggest that in order to survive, and even thrive in these trying times, it is important to be extremely discerning about the voices you are listening to.  Psalm 62:5 says, "My soul, wait only upon God and silently submit to Him; for my hope and expectation are from Him." Let's break this verse down and see if it can help illustrate the point I am trying to make.  First of all, our soul is our mind, will and emotions.  What we feed our mind affects our emotions and eventually our choices.  As the world gets louder and more confusing, it's good, necessary even, to pull away, wait on God, and submit to Him and His voice. (Join me for the rest of this post on Sunday, August 20th, at Woman to Woman Ministries where each Sunday I share a bit of Sunday Soul Food!)

still following,

Also happily linking up with the lovely

Susan B. Mead
and

Sunday Scripture Blessings