Remembering Ian

Ian Tawney was a great friend to me in high school. We shared a lot of wonderful memories, and I was blessed to have had him in my life. Since high school I had not seen Ian, nor even spoken with him. But when I heard of his death in Afghanistan I was truly heartbroken. My heart is heavy, and I am filled with emotion. I mourn the loss of a great friend. I grieve for his family - his wonderful parents, his siblings, and his wife and unborn child. I mourn the years that I allowed to pass without staying in contact with my high school friend. Ian was a great man. He fought for our country, putting others' lives above his own. He will always be remembered, and he will be greatly missed. I take comfort, though, in knowing that for those of us who have accepted Christ as Lord over our lives, we will see him again one day in Heaven. I remember conversations that Ian and I had as teens, and his love for Christ. I know that while his body may be dead here on earth, he is alive and well in Heaven. I look forward to the day when I will be reunited with friends and family, and we will all rejoice together in the presence of our King! For now I pray for comfort, for myself and for everyone else who will miss Ian so much here on earth.

Busy life

Well, by now you are probably thinking that I've given up on blogging. I promise I haven't; I'm sorry it's taken me so long to post anything new. We have been out of town more days than not this past week and a half, and our few days home were filled with getting ready to leave again. But here I am, writing from Oregon. Lets go back a little farther, though, and I'll try to fill you in on the past couple weeks. I will add pictures once I'm back home, in about a week and a half.

Last Thursday our family packed up our car and travelled over the pass to Woodinville, where we stayed the night with some good friends of ours. Jared and I were able to go on a double date while we were there, with our friends Sean and Cathy. We went out for very yummy Thai food! The next day our friend Phyllis, with whom we were staying, took the kids and I around Woodinville. We did a little shopping and then went for lunch at a super fun place called The Tot Spot. It was a restaurant with a huge play area in the middle for kids! Ellie and Parker loved it! Ellie found the dress-up clothes right away, and Parker quickly found all the riding toys. Later that day Phyllis took me with her to the YMCA, where she has a membership, and we worked out together. It was so much fun! If it weren't such a long drive for me, I would definitely join a gym! Friday afternoon we left Woodinville and drove to a camp a little north of there, where our friends Sean and Cathy work. The staff from our camp was having a retreat there for the weekend. I really didn't do much with our camp staff, besides eating meals. I spent most of the weekend with Cathy. We went to the outlet mall Saturday morning (without kids!), and had so much fun. We spent Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning at the camp, playing outside, on the playground, and in the gym. It's a beautiful camp and we all had a wonderful weekend (although it was nice to get home and get a little better sleep again)!

Monday and Tuesday were spent recovering from our trip, cleaning, doing lots of loads of laundry, and preparing for our last MOPS of the year on Wednesday (the past three years I have been coordinator of our MOPS group). Wednesday was Ellie's last day of preschool for the year and my last day of MOPS for the year. It ended up being an emotional day for me (sometimes I wish I wasn't such a crier). We packed up the car, washed the car, cleaned house, and got ready to leave for Oregon early the next morning.

Thursday morning I got up at 5:00 (planned on 4:00, but was too tired to get up and drive), and we left the house at 5:30. The kids and I headed down to Oregon, while Jared stayed home to work. It was a long, mostly fun day of driving. Unfortunately I got a speeding ticket on my way. You know, in my younger years I sped intentionally, and of course I felt I deserved the two tickets that I got in my first couple years of driving. However, yesterday's speeding was completely unintentional. I thought I was in a 70mph area, and hadn't seen the sign marking that it was now a 60mph construction zone. So I was pretty sad about getting the ticket. Oh well, I guess I need to pay better attention to signs!

So now we're here in Oregon, enjoying a week and a half with family. There's a wedding reception on Saturday and a graduation the Saturday after, and I'm sure we'll be busily getting ready for both of those. But I'm hoping for some great relaxation, too, and just enjoying spending time with family. So for now, that's what's going on with us. I will hopefully continue to post updates daily, and will post pictures as soon as we get back home. God's blessings on you today, and I am off to visit.....