Glorious

The sunset this evening was glorious. It always amazes me how beautiful and unique each sunset is. They are like paintings done by God who is the true artist.

The heavens declare the glory of God;
And the firmament shows His handiwork.

I will meditate on the glorious splendor of Your majesty,
And on Your wondrous works.

Psalm 19:1 & Psalm 145:5

He Who Keeps You Will Not Slumber

Psalm 121
A Song of Ascents.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills—

From whence comes my help?

My help comes from the LORD,

Who made heaven and earth.

He will not allow your foot to be moved;

He who keeps you will not slumber.

Behold, He who keeps Israel

Shall neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD is your keeper;

The LORD is your shade at your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day,

Nor the moon by night.

The LORD shall preserve you from all evil;

He shall preserve your soul.

The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in

From this time forth, and even forevermore.

Fun at the Beach

Yesterday we were able to go to the beach for the afternoon with the Keulens and several friends from out of state. We spent our time climbing rocks and trees, taking pictures, looking at tide pools, getting very dirty and just generally having fun. We were planning to watch the sunset but it was too foggy to see it.
Afterwards we all went to the Keulens' house for homemade pizza and more fun. Soon we had the instruments out for jamming and singing. We were all having such a great time that before we knew it was almost 11 and time to go home an get some sleep!
Thank you, Keulens for inviting us, we had a wonderful time!

The tree we climbed into




Out on the rocks

Looking at the pet crab

Who had the dirtiest feet at the end of the day?

Having a Ball!

Last Friday evening my whole family attended a civil war ball. Our friend Sharon came over before to get dressed for the ball and rode with us. It took us a little longer than we expected so we were russhing out the door when we should have been arriving. It is ridiculous trying to get three girls in hoop skirts into the back seat of a van! We all had an enjoyable time.

When we got home at 11 p.m. the three of us girls started watching Wives and Daughters, a four part movie. We only made it through 2 episodes before going to bed at 3 a.m. It was a terrible place to stop but we were all so tired.

All dressed up

Dancing

Signs of Fall

Fall is coming! It is starting to feel more like fall; the weather was cooler today and the leaves are just starting to turn color. I am looking forward to fall. I love the cooler weather, the fall colors, wearing sweaters, the smell of apple crisp baking. I enjoy all the different seasons but I think fall is my favorite.

Another Trip

Well we made it back from Oregon. We got home around eight last night after a late start and a long drive.

We had an enjoyable and busy trip. We packed a lot into only six days. The first two nights we spent with our grandparents up in the Bay Area. Grandpa has a couple old Oldsmobile "muscle" cars and he likes to take them out to "exercise" them. So Dad, Jonathan, and I went for a ride with Grandpa in his black and gold hotrod car. He likes to drive really fast; way over the speed limit!

On Sunday afternoon there was a birthday party for Grandma at my cousin's house. All our relatives on my mom's side were there. It was good to see everyone.

Grandma opening her gifts

Monday morning we packed up and headed for Southern Oregon. We spent the night at the state park along the Rogue River in a yurt. A yurt is a round tentlike shelter. It was actually very comfortable.

The next morning we picked wild berries along the river and had them for breakfast. They were delicious! We spent the day mostly driving around the area. We saw some very pretty areas around Ashland, Grants Pass, Cave Junction, and the Applegate Valley. We drove by some properties that we had looked up before we left. We are not planning to move but just like to look, we didn't really like anything we saw anyway. We also ate lunch and walked around in Jacksonville which is a fun historical town.

Mom and Melissa in front of the yurt.

Wild blackberries


On Wednesday we took a tour of the Oregon Caves outside Cave Junction. It was very interesting despite the evolutionary ideas our tour guide threw in. The tour lasted for about an hour and a half and it was quite cold down there. It is so amazing to see all the formations that are under the ground. It just makes me realize what a creative God we have. Then after a picnic by the creek we went to the Rogue River to try some fishing. We had a good time fishing but didn't catch anything that we kept. Melissa and I did catch a lot of very small fish though. The weather and scenery was beautiful and it was very relaxing.

Rock formation in the caves.

Melissa fishing in the Rogue River



Thursday was an especially fun day. We took a two hour drive up to visit some friends. We visited the Boohers and also Jenny and Julie K. who are up there staying with them. It was a good time of visiting. That night we went to see a Shakespeare play in Ashland. We had never done anything like that before and it was a lot of fun. The play was pretty good but it seemed like it had been changed some and "modernized". We were not allowed to take pictures in the theater so I don't have any.

Visiting with friends

An almost full moon



We were supposed to get an early start on Friday morning to head home, but... well we didn't. We went out to breakfast which of course takes a while. It was very good though. Next we were going to walk around Ashland quickly but that turned out to be not so quick. There were some fun shops to go in and a lot of sidewalk sales. Then we found a music store! It had all sorts of instruments; old violins, banjos, guitars, upright bass. It was so fun just to look. I found a book of Early Dance Music for the Mandolin. It looked interesting and came with a CD (now that I play more by ear it a CD really helps) so I bought it. I guess I need to start practicing more now! Well we finally got in the car and headed off toward home.

When we got home we had to take care of our animals and milk the the neighbors goats. They took care of our animals while we were gone and we are taking care of theirs while they are gone. It just worked out that we got home the same day they left.

I had a fun time on the trip but am happy to be home.