Oregon is full of so much beauty!
It has gotten such a bad rap because of all the rain, especially this year, but even with the rain, and most likely, because of the rain, it has some of the most beautiful sights that I have seen, including the places I have traveled to outside the state and country. A while back I told myself that I need to start going to the places that are right here at my own doorstep. I need to take more pictures of where I live. Not that I plan on giving up traveling away from here, I'm just gong to make sure and use my 'Oregon time' more wisely.

Bonnie and I went on two hikes in the last two weeks, both less than an hour from my place. The top photos are of

our hike to Mirror Lake on Mt. Hood.

This is Little Zigzag Falls.

This was on the way up to Little Zigzag Falls.

It was so amazing to see the places that I have only seen in photos. Now I have MY OWN photos of these places.

This was the end of the trail for us.

I bet you didn't know the had gators in our lakes!!! : )

Mt. Hood was not the only thing Mirror Lake mirrors. It was so beautiful from all directions.

These flowers were growing in ROCKS!

Why did it take me so long to see these places for myself!???!!!

I KNEW it was going to be fantastic to have all the kids home, but I didn’t know how fantastic it was all going to be. We didn’t do anything really, mostly just stayed here at our house and enjoyed our time together. It is such an indescribable thing to see your children as adults, with their families all together talking and laughing and having fun. I didn't once have to tell the boys to leave their sister alone, everybody ate what was on their plate and they all went to bed on their own. After all the years of raising them, it is unbelievable to see them now raising their own families.
One of the things that was really fun for me, was a couple of weeks ago, I asked each couple to take one of the nights and cook dinner for everyone. I love to cook, especially for my kids, but they are always telling me to sit down and be with them, but HOW can I do that when everyone is going to need to eat? Plus, they are all good cooks and I thought it would be fun for them to have a chance to cook something they like to make for everyone. That was such a HUGE success that I plan on repeating every time we get together. Dennis and Abby were the first to cook. They made a Greek recipe called ‘Chicken Souvlaki’ with ‘Tzatziki sauce’ and Pita bread with a Greek Salad. Jessi and Ariel roasted 3 whole chickens over an open fire with two kinds of rice and fried plantains and yucca, all Dominican dishes. John and Rachel barbequed steak and also barbequed romaine…I have never heard of barbequing romaine, but it was really really good. On the 4^th of July, I made ribs. My parents and John’s parents and my sisters came over too. We ended the night with some really awesome fireworks. My pictures of the fireworks didn’t turn out as good as I hoped, mostly because I was not sure WHERE they were going to be in the sky, by the time I figured it out, it was too late to shoot.

It has been so much fun spending time with Gabriel. I was not sure how it would be to have a grandchild so far away from me, but now I know that even though we don't get to spend time together all the time, like if he lived close-by, the time we do get to spend together is really special. He was a little shy at first, but in just a little while, he was back where we left off at our last visit. I've had a few times so far to spend one on one with him while Dennis and Abby work and the night they went out to celebrate their 11th anniversary. He has changed quite a bit from the first meeting with him, just after arriving from Korea, then he was pretty reserved but now he is just as outgoing as any other kid, running, laughing, eating all kinds of things he had never eaten before, swimming and learning about life. We will all drive up to Oregon on Wed. and the next fun begins....meeting the family he still has not met, aunts, uncles, cousins, older and younger than he is, great aunts, and uncles, and even more family. To add to that, Ariel will be meeting Dennis and Abby for the first time. This is going to be a 4th of July we won't forget.

Soooo...since returning from Alabama, life didn't really get back to normal. I came home sick, at first I thought it was just from being tired, but after the second day of headache and fever and wanting to sleep nonstop along with a zillion other symptoms, I knew it was more than that. After 10 days everyone convinced me that I needed to see the doctor. He tested me for West Nile Virus. I was just a hair below the level needed to be diagnosed with it, but he treated me for it anyway. Three weeks later, I was feeling pretty much normal again. I was able to go out and buy my flowers for the yard. I took my good friend Irene with me. We found this gorgeous plant and she was determined to buy for me. It looks perfect on my porch. After getting the yard in order for the summer, I began getting ready to go to visit Dennis and Abby and Gabe, and prepare for them returning back with me, cooking all of the food I could that could be stored in the freezer until everyone got there. All the while Jessi was trying to get herself, Ariel and Josiah prepared for her to go back to work nursing. Her first day back to work, she came home and collapsed with pain. We took her to the ER and they said she had a kidney stone. Two days later, we were back to the ER and they did surgery on her. She is all well now. I managed to finish everything on my list before I flew out, including go out to dinner for my 37th Anniversary. I don't see how it could be 37 years...I feel like that is more like my age, not the amount of years married.

the untaken photo

I took 800 photos in Alabama...not all of the tornado, as unreal as the tornado devastation was, there are so many things to take photos of, I could not stop there. At the time when I was taking them, they all seemed so important...I could not take it all in and I thought maybe I could really capture it as I was seeing it. Impossible! There is no way to get the peripheral, the smells, the sounds...all of it together makes those pictures so disappointing when trying to bring it home to share the moment with others.

There was one photo that I didn't take...why is it that the one I didn't take is the one that I think about the most, the one that keeps showing up over and over in my mind since I returned and tried to get life back to normal again.

It was my first day in the field doing casework. I divided my team up to canvas an area completely wiped out, since you could see across the whole area emptied homes and trees, safety was not a problem, so I sent each of us in a different direction to post fliers. As I came to an area that once held a large trailer park, whatever had been left by the tornado had been scooped into piles along the road. There halfway down what used to be the roadway, was a family. I made my way to them. They didn't see me walking up. Their backs were to me as they stood examining what used to be their home. I paused for a moment, so tempted to snap a photo, this was such an intimate moment, so touching, so much a part of why I became a volunteer. To be able to be there to comfort, to do what little I am able to ease some of the hurt that has happened to them. I did not take my camera out, no, that is not why I was there, I was there to help them, not bring home a trophy photo. The mother noticed me finally and turned around. I asked her the usual opening questions and began opening a case for them. I didn't even get past the first few questions before the Mom and I were both in tears. It was such a sad case...I could not help but put myself in that woman's place. There were so many similarities. She and I are the same age. She had her daughter and son-in-law and grandkids living with her. When the storm hit, they took cover in the bath tub as so many other families had done. They had a mattress over them. When it was over, the 5 week old baby boy was injured. He died 3 days later from head trauma. As I tried to put the story down on our form, she handed me a little paper from his funeral. His tiny little eyes looked up at me from the photo, I could hardly make out the details because my eyes were so watered up. He had been buried just the day before. I stopped all the paperwork, dropped my pen and just hugged the crying grandmother. She assured me that they would be OK, that they knew God was in charge of their lives and He would help them put their lives back together again. Eventually, I managed to finish up the casework, gave her the Red Cross supplies and she walked back to her family that was still sorting through the pile. That is when I noticed the bathtub that had held them through the storm. It had a huge X in orange in it, showing that the rescue searchers had been there. I wondered how in the world 3 adults and 2 babies even fit in it...maybe that is part what saved them. The son-in-law pulled out a stuffed animal, he held hit up, looked over at the rest of them and tossed it back into the heap. The Mom had her arm around her daughter, the daughter had her surviving child on her hip and the son-in law reached over and took ahold of his Mother-in-laws' hand. Then they all turned and got into their car and left. I didn't see them put anything into the car. I can't help but think of this family each day. Their silhouetted backs against the devastation. A picture forever in my mind, love, sadness, a family bonded, hope and faith.

The stories are unending...all such great loss. Fear, pain, mourning, some questioning WHY they were still alive when others died, why the home in the middle was fine, but the rest gone. One older man said "Sure I was scared...I'm not afraid of going to Heaven, it is just the getting there that scares me"

Sunday...Mother's Day...this year it seemed even more meaningful as I saw so many families hurting, thought of the mother's who lost children and children who lost mothers. It makes me realize even more than I already knew how blessed I am! Each of them called to tell me Happy Mother's Day and to top it off...my most wonderful kids had flowers delivered to my hotel!!! Now how special is that!!!!

I was sent to Tuscaloosa to start client casework. My first day there, I had the morning free, it was Sunday and normally Red Cross has us take the morning off so that those who go to church can do so. I asked at the front desk of my hotel for directions to one and set out to find it. On the way, I came to one of the areas that was severely hit by the tornado. It cleared out everything! It didn't matter if it was a home, business, fancy or poor home, it tore down trees .

and light poles and churches. Clothes still hung in closets, books on shelves, roofs off and windows blown. That is in the homes that were still standing, other areas had NOTHING LEFT! It was clear from one side of the neighborhood to the other.

As I was driving through one area, there in front of me, in the middle of it all, was a church. It was not the church I was headed for, but I decided THIS was the place I was going to attend that morning. I was so happy that I had. It was the first service that they had held since the tornado. It had been hit as well, the whole recreation hall and office wing was totalled, one side had all the stained glass broken out and boarded up, you can see in the photo how the it looked before the storm by how the other side looked. The photo with the pillars is the front of the church. It was an awesome service. Beforehand, I could hear small conversations whispered between the people, "How are you?", the answer (add in a southern accent as you read these) "Tired, everybody's tired". "Did you see Shelby's place? I don't see how in the world she ever survived!" "Elvin didn't make it" "I hunkered down in the tub" "I know God was with me, but I was still scared!"...I just sat there absorbing it all. There were hugs and tears and smiles and hugs. There was a hushed atmosphere. One of the songs they sang was so meaningful, I have sung it before, but I will never hear it again and not think of that day and that service.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death
Your perfect love is casting out fear
And even when I'm caught in the middle of the storms of this life
I won't turn back
I know you are near

And I will fear no evil
For my God is with me
And if my God is with me
Whom then shall I fear?
Whom then shall I fear?

Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

And I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
A glorious light beyond all compare
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
We'll live to know You here on the earth
Oh no, You never let go
Through the calm and through the storm
Oh no, You never let go
In every high and every low
Oh no, You never let go
Lord, You never let go of me

Yes, I can see a light that is coming for the heart that holds on
And there will be an end to these troubles
But until that day comes
Still I will praise You, still I will praise You

by Matt Redman

I never really thought about what would happen to a cemetery in a tornado. I found out yesterday as I rode through with my team to meet clients outside the city. This little cemetery used to be fenced...but there was no sign of it except the gate and a few sticks. The marble headstones were in pieces. Some of the headstones were ancient. I hope that the families of these people are around and can help put this graveyard back together again.

Here are a few shots of the damage I have seen so far. This shot really made me smile...something much needed around here...I spent most of the first week in a rural area, not many homes, but the ones hit were a mess. There was one life lost. It just amazes me how a tornado can totally destruct a metal building and leave flowers blooming...bent metal around a tree, but leave the tree standing, take a roof off but leave up the walls, take off a wall, but leave the photos hanging on the other walls. It will take one home and the neighbor's home is not touched. I saw one neighborhood wiped out but ONE home was left. I stopped and talked to the man sitting out front of that house and asked him what he thought about that, he said, "God just didn't want me to go yet"...he had waited out the tornado inside holding onto his aging mother. From the front, this place didn't look too bad, except for a tree on one side of the roof. But looking closer, you can see how the pressure cracked the bricks and popped up the roof. From what they tell me, the whole house gets squeezed.

This empty pad is where a mobile home used to be. It was lifted up and tossed across the street. The man inside was 98. He was a leader in his community and the funeral was HUGE!

So how long do you think I will be able to do this to him?

Some Easter Memories

When I think back on Easter as a little girl, the first thing that comes to mind is not an Easter Basket full of chocolate rabbits or marshmallow peeps…of course that is a memory, but first thing I think of is our new Easter outfits. Always a new dress, usually new shoes with white lace trimmed socks and sometimes little white gloves. Once in a while there was a cute little hat with matching purse too. I remember these cute little parasol purses we had one year but can not find a photo of them. One year, when we were getting ready for church, we found out that Cyndi had been given two right shoes! That was back in the days when stores were closed on Sundays so we could go return then for the left one. I still remember how bad I felt for her not getting to wear new shoes for Easter. I bet she does not even remember it. Mom and Dad would always make sure and go over with us that Easter was not about who had the best new dress for Easter service at church and getting those new clothes was not to flaunt our new stuff, but to show thanks to God by showing up in our best for Him in thanks for what Jesus did for us. I’m not sure how much of that really sunk in as a kid, but hey, I still remember what they told us, so it stuck, even if I really didn’t understand it all way back then.

Mom usually made us the new dresses, all matching of course.

Most of the time we had matching outfits for whatever occasion came along…Christmas, Easter, Christmas Eve pjs, first day of school, beach trips…she loved to match us up. Sometimes she would give it a twist with the same pattern, for example, all gingham check but a different color. One year as you can see, my cousins and us girls ALL matched!!!

As my own family began, I took on the trait of making sure my kids had matching outfits. What is it about seeing your little ones all blending as one? Well, for me it was a little bigger challenge, Mom had three girls, but I had to try to come up with colors that the boys would wear too but pretty enough to make my little girl look really cute. A few of them were a little iffy, but so far, they seem to have forgiven me.

This little collage of memories has one photo that always makes me….well, I am not sure what it makes me feel…here is my little family shot…WHY did I just have to have it I have no idea. It shows a totally ticked off father, a screaming baby girl, and two tired, over Easter candied little boys flipping out. And there I sit in the middle of it with a tiny smile…I think I must have thought they would magically look just fine when I got it developed. Even photoshop could not have fixed this photo if we had had photoshop back then.

Yup...its double nickles for me...55 years! wow. I dug through my change jar and the closest I could find to my birth year was 1952...and then there is a '74 for the year I graduated. Happy Birthday to me!

Last week, John and I finally got our chance to meet Gabriel! He was a tiny bit shy at first, but by the end of the week, he came all the way across the living room and hugged me! He loves to watch his Veggie Tales video and dance to all the songs, he plays patty cake and loves to shake his head in the opposite direction that you are shaking yours. So if I say no and shaking mine no…then he does yes, and the other way around.

He is showing so much flexibility in his ability to adjust to all the new changes in his life. Dennis and Abby were prepared for the worst. But even though it has not been without a few struggles, he seems to be accepting of it all. He just goes with the flow when new faces show up to meet him, is trying new foods and learning to sleep in a new place. And to top it off, it is a whole new language for him to hear and learn.

He is such a brave little guy.

Last week, I spent a few hours alone with Emily and Joshua. I don't get to do that very often. When I arrived, Emily was sitting at the dining room table with her laptop, some kind of Texas Instruments calculator quietly doing her homework. Not exactly the way I or even my own kids (her dad) had done homework when we were in middle school...oh right, we didn't even have middle school, it was called grade school all the way up until high school. I could not believe the home work she was doing! Algebra! In the sixth grade? That was not even offered to us until we were in high school! I hardly even touched on it, taking only the basic math, saying "what good is algebra anyway? I will never need it. I am going to be a mommy." As the years have passed, I was right, I have not ever needed it. John was always there if the kids needed help in algebra and I helped them on the other subjects. Well, for the first time in my life, I realized that I DID need it! I mean how do you tell your 12 year old grand daughter that you CAN'T help her with her homework because it looks like a whole foreign language? (I wish it were a foreign language, I could have helped her on it.) So my advice to youth? YES, YOU DO NEED ALGEBRA!!! Why? Because you will NOT want to have your grandchild asking you for help and you have to say...I don't know anything about that.

Now Joshua is in the 3rd grade...his homework was a whole lot better for me! Times tables. I did do them and I still know them. He was not really too excited about practicing them with me. His comment still makes me laugh! "Times tables have just RUINED the third grade!"

If I had been forced into taking more math in high school, I am sure my comment would have been the same thing! (algebra has just ruined high school!)

x+y=z

definition- x(no algebra knowledge)+y(really smart grandkids)=z(one grandma feeling really dumb!)

We decided to go out for dinner. I didn't want the usual McDonald's or Taco Bell. So after a little convincing, we stepped it up a notch and went to Roadhouse. When the waitress came to take our order for drinks, Joshua was first to speak up and order himself a 'coffee, black'. And he really did drink it! Emily likes to take pictures almost as much as I do, she saved up her money and bought herself a really good camera. She had hers with her like I always have mine, so while we waited for our food to arrive, we used Joshua as our subject. He didn't let us down with plenty of poses to keep us shooting.

CONGRATULATIONS, EMILY!!!

Last week, Emily was inducted to the Honor Society at her middle school. She even had to give a speech!

Dennis and Abby have joined the blogging world! There is a link to view it on the left hand side of here along with the link to Jessi's blog.

Off to Korea! Yes! Dennis and Abby finally got the call to travel to Korea to meet Gabriel! They were not able to get their appointment to meet him until a couple of days after they arrived, so they took a tour of the city and countryside to keep busy. I am so glad I was not in their place, it was hard enough waiting for word from here, just imagining what their minds were going through was all it took to get me all tingly and teary. Then finally late Wednesday night, the pictures showed up on Facebook of the newly formed family. SWEET!! I poured over and over the photos, I think I have pretty well memorized them all. I know that I would have gone crazy with the camera if I had been there, but they have an amazing collection of pictures without me. These are ones that I have taken off of Facebook as they have posted them. One of Dennis very closest friends, David Norton and his wife Shuna went along to video and photograph it all for them.

After a long long day of waiting, it was only minutes off...
Here is a collection of my favorites of those first few moments... he's in their arms where he belongs and off to the hotel they went

Now a few days getting to know each other and they will head back to California. What an answer to prayer that he has taken all the changes so calmly. Hopefully it will continue as an easy transition in this little guy's life. He had some excellent foster parents that nurtured him so well, preparing him for this time.

No event goes unphotographed by me, if I can help it...here is a picture of them on my computer talking via Skype. What an awesome invention! FREE video talking!!! It is times like these when I give thanks that I was born in this era and not 200 years ago with families so far away from each other that they can't communicate and be a part of each other's lives.

We will be headed down to meet him in person next week!! But I think he and I are already bonded...really! He waved to me today on Skype! He already knows I'm his grandma.