Category Archives: Family

Being a Disciple of Jesus, Events, Kathy, Project 365

Women’s Retreat Part 2

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Tim and I are racing to post blogs tonight. He “forgot” (likely story) to take any pictures on the 1st, so no one blogged that day. Thankfully I had suspected such a thing might occur, so I snapped a few shots with my phone while I was at the women’s retreat. Whew! The sanctity of Project 365 was preserved. Hey, this is important stuff here. We’ve been taking a picture a day and blogging it EVERY DAY since January 1st. We can’t let lapses occur just because certain people “forget” to take a picture.

I managed to post date a blog for Tim’s day (the 1st), and now he’s writing something for the 2nd. I guess I’ll use the photo I took today, combined with the other retreat pictures from yesterday, and count this post as May 3rd blog.

Confused?

Don’t worry. You can just sit back and enjoy the pictures, skim the cheerful, rambling words, and go back to your busy life. :)

Our women’s retreat was exactly what I needed – a weekend away with some of my closest and dearest friends, a time of relaxation and reflection, a chance to walk several of the beautiful paths of Gig Harbor, a sweet opportunity to hear a beloved friend teach 80 of us from God’s Word, and the blessing to get to know some new women from our church.

Heading out on a hike

Heading out on a hike

One of our beautiful views

One of our beautiful views

On Saturday afternoon, a friend and I hosted a breakout session on homeschooling. I love talking about homeschooling with curious, interested moms. And it was an extra joy to have several faithful, long-time homeschooling friends join us for the seminar. We talked about 10 Myths of Homeschooling and answered as many questions as we had time for. We all agreed many of these topics could be whole seminars all by themselves.

Time for some research and review before our talk.

Time for some research and review before our talk.

And of course we had some giveaways.

A little Starbucks and Barnes & Noble gift cards for our audience.

A little Starbucks and Barnes & Noble gift cards for our audience.

The annual women’s retreat holds a special place in my heart. I have served on the planning committee many times. I’ve written and performed skits and co-taught various seminars over the years. I have enjoyed countless conversations, often lasting LATE into the night.

Love these friends!

Love these friends!

This year was no different except for one thing – I actually went to bed at a decent hour (for me anyway) AND I got up each morning to walk with the (I’ll just call them beautiful and crazy) morning walkers. The sun was shining so brilliantly this weekend, I couldn’t help but get outside and praise the Lord for the beauty of His Creation.

I know I’ll forget someone, but I just have to say a few Thank You’s!!!!

Thank you, Tim, for letting me sneak away this weekend.
Thank you, David and Sarah, for cleaning up the house BEFORE I came home today.
Thank you, Holly, for sharing your heart with all of us as you taught from the scriptures.
Thank you, Krystal and Michelle, for being great friends and roommates.
Thank you, Beckie, Krystal and Debi for taking the SHORT version of the hike with me on Saturday.
Thank you, Nancy for getting us outside walking each morning.
Thank you, to the wonderful women in my small group.
Thank you, Susan for co-teaching Homeschooling 101 with me.
Thank you, Debbie for putting together a relaxed, God-focused retreat.
Thank you, Krystal, Becky, Nina and Kirstin for planning and preparing and working on the retreat.
Thank you, Sue, Ellen and Lura for leading us in amazing worship.
Thank you, Amy, for picking me up some Starbucks on Saturday.
Thank you, Lisa, Karen and Jen for working the sound and PowerPoint for our worship this weekend.
Thank you, Amanda and Rebekah for selfie mixers and silly games.
Thank you, Shari, for making me laugh on Sunday morning with all your hugs.

Thank you to ALL the incredible women who came away from the busyness of our ordinary lives to celebrate together and learn something fresh about Jesus.

Until next year….

Project 365 – Day 123
Kathy

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Project 365, Rachel

In Honor of Rachel

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My beautiful oldest daughter, who is finishing up her freshman year at college, is sick. I HATE knowing one of my children is sick and feeling miserable so far away from home.

And so, because we’re thinking of Rachel and praying for her, this blog post is dedicated to her.

Today Rachel’s friend Jenny came over for a visit. We LOVE Jenny. She’s truly part of the family as she has gone on vacations with us, helped us plan, prep and celebrate countless parties, and spent many, many hours at our home. Seeing her car, Tim walked in the house saying, “Is my other daughter here?”

Come home soon, Rachel!

Come home soon, Rachel!

We had a lovely dinner together then the boys went off portaling. Sarah, Jenny and I hurried to clean the kitchen and do all the dishes (yep, still no dishwasher).

"We miss you, Rachel!" say the cats.

“We miss you, Rachel!” say the cats. Although I’m not sure why Misty looks so scary with those eyes.

After everything was put away, and the dishes washed and set aside drying, we went to pick out a movie.

“We need to pick something in honor of Rachel,” Sarah declared.
“Good idea!” Jenny agreed and they hurried to confer over movie titles.

We settled on the obvious – Megamind.

Megamind for our evening movie.

Because, really, is there any other movie worthy of a “Thinking of Rachel” night?

David and Tim never did make it home in time to see the movie, and Daniel is working a long shift at Chick-Fil-A. The girls and I, however, enjoyed ourselves thoroughly and chatted with Rachel while we laughed over the antics of the best supervillian ever.

Miss you, Rachel. Praying that you will feel better and get well soon. I know you’ll finish the semester strong. Hang in there! Study hard! Sleep when you can and soak up every bit of knowledge you can before you leave.

Love you,
Mom

Project 365 – Day 120
Kathy

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Family, Project 365

Off Kilter

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Kathy and I have both been burning the midnight oil, lately, and so we’ve gotten off a bit in our blogging. Now we’re a day behind, and I don’t know what to do. Should I post today, but revise the post date and call it ‘yesterday’? I don’t have very many pictures from yesterday — I was really busy at AWANA last night, wearing multiple hats (several of our leaders were out of town).

Should I stage a picture and pretend it was taken yesterday? Or maybe I should take a picture of something that isn’t date-sensitive, so it doesn’t really matter when it was taken?

Difficult ethical dilemmas, these.

When I first started working for my current employer, I brought in several poster-sized pictures of my children so I could remember them and pray for them while I was at work. This montage is one of my favorites. Although the kids (and adults) have all gotten much older since then, these pictures really capture their quintessential nature.

Round up the usual suspects ...

Round up the usual suspects …


I am SO thankful for my family.

Project 365, Day 119 (or possibly 120)
Tim

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David, Project 365, Sarah, Tim

A Bit of Earth

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When Kathy and I were first married, we frequently listened to The Secret Garden soundtrack, partly because it was one of the only CDs we owned (along with Les Miserables and Joseph and the Amazing, Technicolor Dreamcoat). We both enjoyed the story line and the excellent vocalists.

At one point in the story, Mary Lennox gathers her courage and asks her guardian for ‘a bit of earth’ in which to plant things with her friend Dickon and (ultimately Colin Craven). Granting the request, Archibald little suspects that he is really granting her permission to reopen his dead wife’s Secret Garden that he has locked up in his grief. The landscape design process is the foundation for every successful landscaping project.
Throughout the construction process, the landscape design is referenced every day. Observations and suggested changes should be noted because they too will affect the ultimate outcome. In many ways, the landscape designer is the quarterback of your project. You have hired them to create your project and take it to completion. There will hand-offs to construction crews, but how can you be confident that your intentions are carried out?
Most important it finding a professional landscape designer that you trust. Then be sure to discuss the common landscape design mistakes so that your project meets your standards.

All she wants is a bit of earth ...

All she wants is a bit of earth …

Today, with much less pathos and hardly any singing, we began to re-develop our own ‘bit of earth’, in hopes of a vegetable harvest this summer.

I waited much too long this year to transfer my tomato seedlings from their seeding tray into pots — they were badly intertwined with one another, and I had to use way too much force to separate them. I’m afraid a lot of them will not survive my rough treatment.

I don't think this little guy is going to make it ...

I don’t think this little guy is going to make it …

Time will tell. We converted David’s bedroom into ‘Tomato Central’, since he has a south-facing window. Sometime around the 11th of May, it will be safe to plant them outside.

David mowed the lawn, and I did a little weeding in one of our raised garden beds — with a few more weeks of effort, our yard will be ready for Spring! Of course, by that time it will be Summer …

A mighty mower, o'er the land.

A mighty mower, o’er the land.

Project 365, Day 117
Tim

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Budget & Money, Project 365, Tim

Handyman Victorious

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I’ve been called many things in my life. Some of them have been positive. Some, not so much. But one thing people never call me: a Handyman.

There is a good reason for this. I have a certain anti-genius when it comes to fixing things or building things (except for decks). When I get involved in a home project, you can expect that you will be paying for materials twice and STILL end up hiring someone to do it properly.

But there is one force in my character that is even stronger than my handyman ineptitude: I am very reluctant to pay money for something I could (even potentially) do myself. So this morning, I decided to remove our dishwasher, which broke down a few days ago. As it turns out, dishwashers cannot simply be wrenched out from under the counter, but are attached to the rest of the house in three fiendish ways: a water intake tube, a water drain, and electrical wires. Removing each took a lot of patience and effort in cramped (and damp) places.

Not a face that inspires confidence ...

Not a face that inspires confidence …

Somehow, I persevered, and removed the dishwasher without (a) damaging the house, or (b) electrocuting myself, even though the copper water tube was VERY hard to detach, and the electrical plug had to be un-wired (it wasn’t a simple matter of unplugging it).

It was a pretty good day. We bought the new dishwasher (a swanky Bosch model), but (of course) it was in the warehouse, and we’ll have to wait a week or so for delivery. I can hardly wait for it to arrive, so I can amaze you all with my installation prowess. Stay tuned.

Project 365, Day 115
Tim

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