This is ridiculous! We have had SNOW every day for the past 6 days! The spring flowers just don't look right with snow coming down on them!

The kitchen windows got steamed up when I was cooking the other day. I noticed this strange pattern across it...what do you think it is?

It was a ladybug trail!

Isn't that so cute how it just wandered around like that?

Today I received the official approval to be moved up from Client Casework Associate to Supervisor!

Pre Easter dinner

So we finished the show and went back home. Emily got to spend the day alone with her Mom and Dad. They went to visit Great Grandma and Grandpa McCool and then hiked to the top of Multnomah Falls. We got the chickens into the oven and while they roasted, we watched the Bee Movie

Finally dinner was ready. We started out with pear bunnies that Emily assembled, roasted herbed chicken, barley pilaf, stuffing, peas, carrots and pea pods and home made rolls, finishing off with Red Velvet Cake.

After that, we had the egg hunt. They started out a little wild, then slowed down a bit until they found them all.

So now everyone is gone and look what is left of Easter dinner...

Go, Dog. Go!

Way back last fall, I bought tickets to take Joshua to see a play at the Children's Theater for his birthday. I didn't realize that Easter was the same weekend. Oh well, Joshua and I went to the play at noon and had a really fun time. I had no idea how they were going to make that book into a show, but they were very creative and did a fantastic job of it. He was camera shy, so the picture I took of him at the show, only shows his book. He was not about to have any of the actors pose with him for a photo after the show either. I did manage to get him to take one with me once we got back home.

Good Friday
Tonight I went to church (English version) for Good Friday service. It was a very unique service. Very meaningful and powerful. It started out with the usual songs, but the lights were low and they were more prayerful than usual. Quieter. Between songs, a person would go up and read a little paper about a struggle with some sin in their life. After each read their little paper, they would go over to a huge cross and pick up a hammer and nail that paper to the cross, they did this one by one between the songs. Then they stopped the songs, and passed baskets with paper and pencils in them and we were told that if we felt like writing a personal struggle, some sin we are facing in our own lives, then write it on the paper, and take it to the cross and nail it there. There were huge crosses all around the sanctuary. Next to the cross was a table with the bread and cups for communion. Each person would nail their paper and take the communion if they wanted to. When I was done, I sat there in my chair waiting for the others in the room to finish nailing, I closed my eyes and just listened to the sound of all those nails going in. Thinking of all those sins that Jesus died for.

Sometimes I think that my sin is the biggest in the world and then other times I think, well, everyone sins…it is not so bad…but as I sat there listening, I realized that we all have those sins, we all struggle, and even if I think mine is the worst, there is somebody out there who thinks theirs is the worst, but no matter how big, or small, it is sin…and sin is why Jesus did that for us on the cross.
It was very solemn…quiet except for those nails echoing.
Then the pastor got up and said…yes we need to look at those sins, we need to realize how needful we were for a Savior. We need to confess and repent. We need to remember those sins are on the cross. We have been forgiven. BUT…it did not stop at His death, if he had only died, then it would have been for nothing. He died, but rose from the grave. And that is why we can thank Him for those sins being on the cross, it was His victory over death that we celebrate on Easter. It was His Resurrection that gives us the forgiveness required to receive Eternal Life in Heaven.
Jesus died on what we call ‘Good’ Friday. Thanks to God, through the gift of His son Jesus...YES, IT IS A VERY GOOD FRIDAY!

Did you ever use a bread maker? A few years back almost everyone wanted one. The ones who had one raved about them. Things like, "Oh wow! It is so fast and easy, you don't have to do anything but put in the ingredients and wait. No mess, either" I never wanted one, I love to bake. I like to make things from scratch, I don't think it is too much work to make bread the old fashioned way. I like mixing it up, kneading it, watching it rise, punching it down, and then baking it. Besides that, those machines are HUGE, who would want to take up all that counter space for that ugly thing?

Well, Jessi is one of those people who had one. I say 'had' because for the last year, it has been sitting on a shelf in my house in storage for her while she is working in the Dominican Republic. I sorted out some closets recently and decided to take a look through her bread recipe books. Mmmm...there were some pretty good looking breads in there. White bread, sourdough, whole wheat, herb breads, breads with fruits in them, breads with meats in them, breads I had never heard of. OK, so why not just give one a try? So I lugged that HUGE machine into the kitchen. There were not instructions for it, so I went to the Internet and got the instruction manual. Yeah right, fast? So far no. I loaded the ingredients into the machine, closed the lid and ONE HOUR later...the house had the most delicious aroma of baking bread as I was slicing it up. It looked beautiful! It tasted so good! I found out that it can be loaded up, and a timer set so that it will come on and have fresh baked bread when you wake up! I just may have to rearrange those counter tops to make room for my new bread machine!
Home made raspberry jam, optional.

With McCool for a maiden name, you know I have to wish you a Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Spring has arrived!

Jessi's Birthday is this week!

Fire Duty

I went out on a fire call tonight. It was one of the extra sad ones. A single man with a little daughter. Their place was destroyed. She had two cats. One died, one might not make it. They lost all of their belongings, including the little girls hand knitted ‘blankie‘ that she sleeps with every night. One of the things I get to do is take them a little bag of much needed things like a toothbrush, soap, wash cloth and shampoo. We also give out blankets, especially nice for those fires that wake them up in the middle of the night and all they got out with was the pjs they were wearing, (if that much). But the best thing I get to give out to the kids is a little stuffed animal.

So tonight, there stood this man…without anything left except his daughter and a dying cat…telling me he didn’t even have a toothbrush left and then I got to hand him the little goodie bag of things that we don’t even think about not having until we don‘t have them. It just amazed him to open it and pull out a toothbrush! In addition to those things, I gave them the other normal things Red Cross helps with…temporary hotel, some money for food and a new set of clothing and a coat, but it was that knitted blanket and a little stuffed cat that made the biggest difference to that little girl whose cat died today. You will never believe that out of the whole box of animals that I have here, when I randomly grabbed one out before leaving for the fire, the one I happened to pick was a cute little tiger cat! The cat that died was a tiger! And that blanket I left with her…it was hand knitted! not the normal blankets we give, but the kind that was given to me last time I restocked my disaster box.

He didn’t want to take the assistance, but I convinced him that it was OK to let people help you once in a while. They both were so grateful. He had his daughter wrapped in her new blanket clinging to her new stuffed cat as they waved goodbye to me as I drove off. I feel so guilty when I leave a fire feeling like I took more than I left behind. Tonight was one of those nights.

Lunar Eclipse

I had the most spectacular view of the eclipse last night! I sat right there at my kitchen table eating dinner and watching it begin, then moved outside to the deck with the telescope after that. At one point, it looked like a side view of an eyeball...I was sure wishing I had film in my 35mm camera, the zoom and quality of my digital is just not what I wanted to capture at the moment.

Feeling GOOD!

Wow! I didn't know how yucky I was feeling until I got well. After a month and a half of one tiny cold moving to a tiny sore throat, then to a cough, and then back to runny nose, then... just something all the time, but nothing really bad...I finally went to the doctor to see what it was. I was given some antibiotics and I now realize how yucky I was feeling and how good it feels to feel good.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I made you cookies today...

...where are you?

Basketball

Today, I went to watch Joshua play basketball. I was in for a big surprise when I saw how amazing he is at basketball!

I was pretty impressed, it went in!
He is not the tallest
on the team, but he is really quick and stares them in the eyes when it is time to guard 'em.

So what do you do when you don't have anything new to add? Have a cappuccinno.

More snow

Well, now THIS is more like it! I thought yesterday was good, but today was even better!

I was so excited when I got up I just had to start taking pictures. Well, those didn't turn out at all, so I waited a while longer. Even though it was not that great of light, I like how the color turned out.

It is only just over an inch, but that is enough to cover everything and it is so beautiful. Pictures don't show it nearly as beautiful as it is.

Red Cross

I am now the proud holder of two more Red Cross certificates. Last Friday and Saturday I attended two full days of classes to become an instructor for the Red Cross. I now am able to teach Disaster classes. Funny how a couple of years ago, I hated talking in class and now I feel ready to instruct one. My kids equate my collection of class certificates to Boy Scout Badges. Whatever!

Snowy wakeup

I love waking up to snow! First thing I did was make sure the wood stove was going, then I made myself a latte and curled up in a blanket and watched those huge flakes falling down. Of all times for the furnace to go out. The repairman was here on Friday, but needed to order a part, so until Monday, the wood stove will be going full force. Did you ever notice how quiet everything is when it snows?

January is Birthday Month!