Walking down the street...

Introduction to my new home...first pictures of life here

Alaska (Part II)

 I went to Alaska to visit Heidi and Doug.  

I loved seeing their world and did not take enough pictures - here are a few.

Having fun in the middle of construction

River View

 Moose Sighting!

Visiting Alaska (Part 1)

May 2015

Look how green it all is!

Henna Hands with the 6th grade girls (Mark 2:1-12)

 Time with Dad and Mom

 Touring with Autumn

 Mt. St. Helen's on a beautiful May afternoon 

35 years after it exploded May 18, 1980 

Visiting Grandma Gillihan

 Grandma Enbody and all her kids

A few pictures from March

Celebrating Heidi's Birthday for her at Pancake House!

 My favorite meal of all time

Kebabs on the grill (and shared with friends but I forgot to take pictures of people...)

 Grandma asked for an Arkansas mug for her birthday

 - so I tried a Pinterest idea and made her a mug (I made two the same just in case)

A few more pictures from Washington

 Walk around Lake Sacajawea

Day at the beach!

Birthday

Mexican Food

Visiting with Grandma

Cannot get over all the options in every store

Treasures in the Attic

Doctor Appointment

Dark Chocolate Smoothie Drinks

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Enjoying being back at the house in the woods

Time has passed quickly since I got back to Washington.  A few highlights have been time with family and friends, driving my Honda again, Taco Bell, ham, rain and the amazing green!

Baby Shower - Oh, the places you'll go!

Best Christmas Surprise Ever!

Christmas with the DeLaughter's!

Christmas Party!

I was so happy to finally be able to host a party for my old neighbors in my new apartment.  We had fun putting together Christmas puzzles, eating snacks and fazulia and decorating sugar cookies.  Everyone left with gifts in hand.

I am copying and pasting this post off of a facebook message to a friend of mine so I don't know who to give credit to, but I read every word twice and wanted to share - I don't think I could write anything better to describe the last few years of my life and what I have been working through in my thoughts this last week.  Hope it encourages another as much as it has encouraged me today.  In Joy Letha

October 17: Learning To "Wait" On The Lord

"I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in his word I put my hope. My soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen wait for the morning, more than watchmen wait for the morning." (Psalm 130:5, 6) (See Psalm 5:3; 130:5-7; 17:14; 37:7, 34; 38:15; 119:84)

"WAIT" (Author Unknown)
Desperately, helplessly, longingly, I cried: Quietly, patiently, lovingly God replied. I pled and I wept for a clue to my fate, and the Master who gently said, "Child, you must wait."
"Wait?" You say, wait!," my indignant reply. "Lord, I need answers, I need to know why! Is your hand shortened? Or have you not heard? By faith, I have asked, and am claiming your Word.
"My future and all to which I can relate hangs in the balance, and You tell me to wait? I'm needing a 'yes' a go-ahead sign, or even a 'no' to which I can resign.
"And Lord, You promised that if we believe we need but to ask, and we shall receive. Lord, I've been asking, and this is my cry: I'm weary of asking! I need a reply!"
Then quietly, softly, I learned of my fate, as my Master replied once again, "You must wait." So, I slumped in my chair, defeated and taut, and grumbled to God, "So, I'm waiting… for what?"
He seemed, then, to kneel, and His eyes wept with mine, and He tenderly said, "I could give you a sign. I could shake the heavens, and darken the sun. I could raise the dead, and cause mountains to run.
"All you ask me I could give, and pleased you would be. You would have what you want – but, you wouldn't know Me. You'd not know the depth of My love for each saint: You'd not know the power that I give to the faint.
"You'd not learn to see through the clouds of despair: You'd not learn to trust just by knowing I'm there; you'd not know the joy of resting in Me when darkness and silence were all you can see.
"You'd never experience that fullness of love, as the peace of My Spirit descends like a dove; you'd know that I live and I save… (for a start), but you'd not know the depth of the beat of My heart.
"The glow of My comfort late into the night. The faith that I give when you walk without sight. The depth that's beyond getting just what you asked of an infinite God, who make what you have last.
"You'd never know, should your pain quickly flee, what it means that 'My grace is sufficient for Thee.' Yes, your dreams for your loved one overnight would come true. But, Oh, the loss! If I lost what I'm doing in you!
"So, be silent, my child, and in time you will see that the greatest of gifts is to get to know Me. And though oft' may My answers seem terribly late. My most precious answer of all is still, 'wait.'"
Facts of the Matter: Daily Devotionals.

My New Apartment

I few pictures from my new apartment.  I am in a great location to get to school and small groceries by foot.  I am missing my old neighbors but slowing getting to know my new neighborhood.  You can see we are trying to remember it is Fall and so are decorating and baking fall goodies - even if the weather won't stay below 100 :).  It will cool off by Thanksgiving.