Busy, wonderful summer

We've been doing so much these past months and I haven't made time to blog. Here are some of the things we've been up to this summer:

Softball! Goose and I have been playing on a recreation team called the Circuit Rider (meaning behind the name here) with folks from the Forest Grove UMC. We are not the best (not even close!) but we always have fun! I love being on a team again! It's something I've talked about wanting to do since we got married and, five years later, it has finally happened!


Creation Vacation! Earlier this week, I was the dean for this family camp which offers a vacation at a UMC camp on the coast for very low-income families and provides an opportunity for relationship-building between church folks and community families. I recruited volunteer "family friends," planned the schedule, coordinated with the camp, worked with a local housing agency called Bienestar and helped families prepare for camp--and then walked with people while we were there. It was more than worth all the work! I had such a wonderful time being with families as they experienced new things (I got to teach an older woman how to row a rowboat and watched her make her first s'more and saw kids try archery and ride donkeys!) and it was so great to see new relationships forming and families having fun together! Here are some folks heading out to do some wave jumping:

Westside Compassion! Eric is a co-coordinator for this annual one-day health clinic for uninsured and underinsured people that will be at Hillsboro UMC this Saturday. He has been super busy confirming dentists and chiropractors and food and social services agencies and he's off this evening training volunteers. There was a point this spring when it seemed like things might not come together and he worried that the event would have to be canceled this year, but so many people have worked hard together to make it happen and I am so proud of Eric for his commitment to it being a success.

Landmark Education! Ok, this will be the topic of a more involved post later, but our participation in the Landmark Forum (which we did in April), the Landmark Advanced Course (which we did in June) and the Landmark Relationship Seminar (which I am in right now) has been completely transformational. It has transformed our relationships, our work and our enjoyment of daily life in so many positive ways. We have a new relationship to our word (doing what we say we'll do), which has had a huge impact. One thing we've been able to commit to fully for the first time ever:

Body for Life! We just completed four weeks of this twelve week eating and workout program and we have stuck to it every single day. We took before pictures and will maybe consider sharing our before and after pictures when get to the end of the twelve weeks. We are planning out all our meals ahead of time, eating great, and doing a combination of lifting and cardio. I feel wonderful!

PLAN. I have had a second birthmother client in my position as a birthparent counselor at PLAN Loving Adoptions Now and she is due to have her baby any day! Helping the birthfamily and adoptive family prepare for this day has kept me busy, but it has been very meaningful for me.

Hanging out! Thankfully, we've had a some time here and there to visit with people. We've had some meals with our friends Mat, Leah and baby Freya and here we are at a Forest Grove UMC picnic:

After Westside Compassion is over, we should have a little bit more time to relax--at least for a couple of weeks! Even with all the busyness, though, it has been a wonderful summer so far!