Ann and Brody drove down for Palm Sunday and to celebrate Eric's birthday (which is this Friday) and it was an eventful weekend!
They took us and Mat and Leah to dinner at this neat little place in the woods on the way out to the coast. We had a wonderful time eating and laughing and talking.
Here is Eric holding the book,
Splat the Cat, that Mat and Leah got him because one of the cats looks so much like him--can you tell which one?
Even more exciting was what happened after dinner! Later that night, Leah's water broke and, early the next morning, their new baby girl was delivered by c-section! Freya Jean was a bit early and is small, but she is healthy! We are so excited to go visit them tomorrow!
On Monday, we did some shopping at IKEA and then enjoyed the gorgeous weather (in the 70s and sunny!) by doing some much-needed yard work. Boy do things look better!
While driving through Portland, the clear skies gave us an incredible view of Mt. St. Helens, though it looked much bigger in real life than in the picture.
Ann and Brody also joined me in Hillsboro for a great educational event on Sunday that I had helped to coordinate--a stop on the
Witness for Peace speaker tour. Baldemar Mendoza, an egronomist and food-sovereignty expert who lives in Oaxaca, is traveling around to talk about the impact of NAFTA on their economy, their food situation and migration. It was a poweful presentation and I was so glad that about 30 people showed up--a pretty decent turnout. It's especially important now as the congregation grows its work with the Latino community. These issues impact those far away but also those in our own communities.
Ann, the WFP staff person that joined him and translated, is someone I met when I traveled with WFP to Oaxaca and the border last summer. It was great to spend time talking with both of them and I hope to see them again when they are in Forest Grove in a couple of weeks.
We had a wonderful time visiting, ate amazing food at the Vita Cafe and, of course, there were many childhood adventure stories shared.
Old building behind the pub.
We stayed in the car for a bit to listen to the rest of the inning of the Cubs/Brewers game.
It was a quiet Sunday night, so we had the bar to ourselves to watch the game. Really, who would go to a bar on Easter Sunday? To keep things interesting, the bartender was from Milwaukee.
The theater is in a connected space that is one of the last remaining buildings from the 1905 World's Fair (maybe the only?) and is pretty cool. We watched Slumdog Millionaire--really great, but more intense than I had expected.
Here is Eric holding the book, Splat the Cat, that Mat and Leah got him because one of the cats looks so much like him--can you tell which one?
Even more exciting was what happened after dinner! Later that night, Leah's water broke and, early the next morning, their new baby girl was delivered by c-section! Freya Jean was a bit early and is small, but she is healthy! We are so excited to go visit them tomorrow!
While driving through Portland, the clear skies gave us an incredible view of Mt. St. Helens, though it looked much bigger in real life than in the picture.
Ann and Brody also joined me in Hillsboro for a great educational event on Sunday that I had helped to coordinate--a stop on the Witness for Peace speaker tour. Baldemar Mendoza, an egronomist and food-sovereignty expert who lives in Oaxaca, is traveling around to talk about the impact of NAFTA on their economy, their food situation and migration. It was a poweful presentation and I was so glad that about 30 people showed up--a pretty decent turnout. It's especially important now as the congregation grows its work with the Latino community. These issues impact those far away but also those in our own communities.
Ann, the WFP staff person that joined him and translated, is someone I met when I traveled with WFP to Oaxaca and the border last summer. It was great to spend time talking with both of them and I hope to see them again when they are in Forest Grove in a couple of weeks.
We recently discovered a retreat center called Tilikum that's only half an hour from where we live. It's run by George Fox University in Newberg and is open for anyone to use. On Monday, our day off, we reserved this little cabin called the Hiding Place at no cost!
We spent a couple of hours reading, writing and drinking tea (I stayed close to the heater til it got toasty in there)...
We ate our delicious sammies...
And we wandered around. An old schoolhouse on the grounds:
An alpaca, sheep and goat beyond the blossoms:
The gorgeous lake and hills:
It truly was a day of sabbath.
At one clearing, a deer stood about 30 feet from the path. It looked as we approached, then watched us continue. It remained still and tracked us with its eyes as we kept walking for a couple of minutes--until we couldn't see it anymore. I'd never seen a deer do that without hopping away.
What a great way to spend part of an afternoon!
