I'm hooked!!! It's kinda sorta like how you can get free backgrounds on myspace, only these are for blogs. The ones I looked at are very "scrapbooky." You find one you like, then follow the directions and copy the code. I've been wanting to do this for a while, but hadn't found any that I really, really liked. So I was sticking with the classic boring green thing from blogger. Until today. I've found the interior decorator for blogs site of my dreams :) So if you want to give it a try, click the link that's on the top left of my blog and look for free backgrounds or something like that. It's super easy.
What else have I been up to since my last post? Well, over the weekend, Phil and I went to the church campout at a Timber Lake Campground in Stevenson, WA, about an hour away from here in the Gorge. It's kinda up there in the mountains, and the name is deceiving, because there is no lake. It's more like a lake of trees. If you want water, you've got to go down and splash in the Columbia. We had a great time. Most of the families camping were people who are in our small group. They are wonderful, Godly people and I'm so enjoying getting to know them more and more. We had church outside on Sunday. Loved that. We sang with guitar "Fairest Lord Jesus" which I thought was very appropriate - especially when we got to the verse, Fair is the meadow, fairer still the woodland, and all the twinkling starry host. It's my good Baptist roots in me that loves all the old hymns. I know all 4 verses of every single one :)
When Phil and I had like a month to move out of the house we were renting in North Portland, these people graciously came and helped us move. We barely knew them. We had only been attending East Vancouver Community Church for about 4 months and had only been in the small group a few weeks. They were such a blessing to us. One of the things I love about them is the way they deal with their children. Some of them homeschool, some send them to private school, but all the kids are so respectful and use good manners. As a teacher, you gotta love that.
Speaking of teaching, I spent the last two days in a seminar for 1st and 2nd grade teachers. It was put on by the Bureau of Education and Research and I've been to probably 7 or 8 of their seminars by now. They always present such good, useful, and easy to implement information. I needed this one. Second grade is still so new to me and there were many, many days last year where I felt like I was doing it all wrong. I felt like I was doggie paddling all the time, barely keeping my head above the water. These last two days have confirmed that I did do a few things right and helped point me even more in the right direction for this fall and the darlings that will be coming into my room in their new navy and burgundy uniforms.
You might have heard on the news that there's a forest fire in central Washington. It's burned over 8,000 acres so far and much more is expected to go up in smoke. When we were back in Vancouver after the campout, I noticed a big huge white fluffball cloud. The first thing I said was, "Oh my word! Did Mt. St. Helens just erupt again?" Erupt again. . . because the first year we were married, we were sitting down eating dinner, the TV was on in the background, and the newscaster gave the late breaking news about Mt. St. Helens coming back to life. And Phil said, "Well, if that's the case, you should be able to look right out the window over there and see it." I pulled back the blind on the window and this is what I saw.
Where I grew up, you just don't see that sort of stuff everyday. So right away I called my dad and yelled and screamed into the phone that there was an eruption going on right before my very eyes!!! The whole neighborhood was outside just watching it all. It was very surreal.
Flash ahead to Sunday afternoon and that's pretty much the same kind of thing that I saw. Only it wasn't in the vacinity of Mt. St. Helens, it was more toward Mt. Adams, and you could see that the farther down the road you went. Well, we got home and watched the news and found out that lightning a week before had started a smouldering fire and then with the heat and lack of rain, the thing had just taken off like. . .well, wild fire.
In four more days I'm picking up mom and dad at the airport! I can hardly stand it, I'm getting so excited about seeing them and having them here to see a little bit of my world. We're going to have a wonderful time. We've got so much planned that Phil seems to think he's going to need a vacation from the vacation. That is not likely to happen. At least not for him anyway :)
2 comments:
Love your new blog background! How cute is that!?
Your weekend sounds great. I am sure your Sunday service was quite special. I love old hymns, too.
That is quite neat that you were able to see Mount St. Helens the other year. I hope the forest fires are out soon. We had some in eastern NC a few weeks back. The smoke came all the way here.
Love the new look, Schwen!! Loved catching up on your last couple of days, as well. I'm glad you've found a great group of people at your church to hang out with. It's so important, isn't it? Enjoy the time with your parents when they arrive!!!
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