Issues

We thought living in this peaceful paradise would have no problems; but the deer, hawks, rabbits, and racoons have shown us that it would be otherwise. Let's see, we have virtually NO garden - and flowers? Very few! The deer even stand over the deck to eat a few geraniums. And can I find someone who is willing to sit around outside here to wait for them to show up so they can be removed? I fear that removing these few will not fix our problem but I have to have some general hope.

The hawks are incredible to watch. There are four of them and they seem young; but I don't know enough about them to be sure but they are cool. The call each other in the trees behind the house. There is about three feet behind the house to the tree and brush line. They fly through that and up into the tallest trees. Whew! I worry about my Molly's future.

So even though the critters have eaten all I have, I love it here and find each day to be a joy to see what or who moves in to share our space.

Our Hike

Ron and I went hiking yesterday. It was a wonderful glorious day! We did a five mile hike at Sunrise on Mt. Rainier to Fremont Outlook. It was an old fire watch in the past, but it isn't used now. It's just a great destination.









There were cool outcroppings of Rocks. I was impressed by this typical pile. It looks like a castle or a bit of rocks from "The Lord of the Rings.


















I love the look!

Mount Rainier in all of it's glory!

Our Yard Sale

New Arrival

So. . . not so long ago I blogged about our cat, Buddy, who was missing in action. Well, we have a new kitty, Buddy's half sister - Molly. To be exact - Miss Molly Malone. She is adorable, but hard to control. So here are her new pics - and more to come!

My Yard Sale

I want to have a yard sale. I put it off because I needed Ron's help going through all 15 boxes in storage. He helped and I now have three boxes of stuff to sell, a ton of questionable stuff, and 12 boxes left. . . not acceptable, I need to do it all over AGAIN and sort one more time. Saving 12 boxes of junk is NOT on my agenda.

As I planned this yard sale, I thought about having it here in the pasture and putting up signs and doing it on Labor Day weekend. Oops, I realized last night this is Labor Day weekend, I have no signs, no tables, and it's going to rain.

So I will sort through the 12 boxes again, make signs, and have the sale next weekend. Maybe.

I know it doesn't sound like I'm looking forward to this sale -but I am. I LOVE selling junk. Life is so good when I can get rid of stuff and have money to get more stuff. Only this time I don't think I'll get more stuff because its my main problem. If I make enough money, I will join a gym for the year (hahaha) or maybe get a cat.

I'm so looking forward to this sale that I'm even selling junk for everyone else! Maybe I'll charge a commission for my services!

Mt Rainier

So, Ron and I went on a hike two weeks ago. It was a 2500 foot elevation gain in 3 miles. . . and we only went 1.5 miles before my wimpy legs said they might not even make it back much less forward. So we went for a drive looking for beautiful views of the mountains instead. Wild flowers and peaks.

Inside the adorable house

Okay, we aren't done with Missions - I did go to Guatemala this summer, but we are done with living full time in a non-English speaking foreign country for the time being. Since we are here, why not live where we want, on the back of our property where the deer, hawks and rabbits roam - and eat my vegetables. So we do. We love this house and it's location is great!

Our House on the Edge of the Woods

Welcome to our new home. 400 sq. feet and we are very happy with it! Come on out for a visit! However if you are coming from a long way away, please bring your tent.

Our time here in the states has been one of continuous adjustment and seeing what God has planned for our lives. For sure God has encouraged us to settle down and wait through the next few years and see what He wants. And so, Ron has a good job with the Fife School District and I just began working with Media Logic. One thing we have done is hike, enjoy where we live, and we bought a new house. We live on the back of our property and are enjoying the peace and solitude. Not the deer (she is eating our garden) or the hawks (they may be the reason Buddy left) but the openness of the area. I'll post some pictures of the new place.

Team!

No Tocar means Don't Touch and would it
suprise you to know that her dad put that
sign from a skit on her back! Becca is a blond beauty who drew attention!

Our Team

We did street ministry and drew a huge crowd! What a great opportunity, there were many people of different nationalities. This was a fun time!

Land marks

These are various scenes in Guatemala - such a beautiful country! The old ruins are a Mayan sacrificial site. Under the large tree is a school! And this entire country is build on mountains! Every road is twisted and takes forever to go anywhere, but even the hillsides are productive.

Team Guatemala

Here a few pictures of our team before leaving for Guatemala. We wore our orange team shirts so that we could find each other in the airport. . . what do you think? Obvious?! Thanks that was the plan! I'll blog a bit on this experience with more pictures in the next few days, but what a fantastic time. God was with us, and we had a great time.

Buddy - MIA

This is just a sad note to express our sorrow at Buddy's disappearance. We assume, since he was a juvenile delinquent, that he ran away to join the circus.

There it is!

Buddy says, "Good job guys! but wait! What are you doing? You can't leave it in THAT position! I can't lay on it and sleep in the sun!!!!!" "STOP!" And yet you left it like that, not fair.

Doing Buddy's bidding

Good job, you are all working in the bushes together. . . but what is this? Joe! does every job always have to involve your 4 wheel drive truck????

Video of the rock job

This is a carefully watched video - the first time I ever had to figure out how to load a video, this ne is fairly simple and you don't have to watch it but it works, I did it and so here it is. I did check to verify that it had no obscene material on it, you know. . . like the result of drooping pants. . . . buddy does not run a tight ship so the pants are rather loose. But it is safe.

Buddy says. . .

Why are you watching Ron do all the work? Get to it y'all!

and thanks Ron for getting those stickery things out o the way.

who is in charge?

As I told you earlier, yes there is a rock in here and yes you need to move more of these nasty green things and ah hem. . . I am in charge!

THE ROCK

Is there really a rock in there? What do you think we should do? Should we move some of the brush? Who should do the hard work? What do you think?