Life Sometimes Seems So Puzzling!

Well, I think we've settled in nicely; we've eaten several homemade meals, watched some movies, and slept in our new bed. Yet things still are up in the air. <sigh>

Financially, God is going to be the only One Who makes this first month happen. I am looking forward to seeing how He does it - but there's a part of me that's fighting being depressed about it. I AM fighting it, though - this is a recurring theme in our lives, that we have to DAILY depend on His provision. So please pray and praise with us as He does it - and if you happen to see our sale gallery posts on Facebook, share them so other people can sow into our ministry support! :)

Now, then. I've got a loaf of banana bread in the oven, my grandmother's recipe, and the apartment's going to start smelling like HOME. :) Kenn's out shooting the sunset for the first time on our trip. :D So I thought I'd share a few of my photos from our visiting our new 'hood. :D

This is about two miles down the road from Reedsport, and the closest beach access to the house - that we've found so far. :D What you see past the sign is a triangle where oysters are raised commercially - to the far right of the photo is the Umpqua River mouth entering the Pacific Ocean.

And this, of course, is Kenn at the ocean. It was an absolutely glorious afternoon/day. It was forecast as RAIN. We simply had to get out of the house and go to the ocean. :D

There is an elk reserve on the way inland, and we happened to be driving in when we spotted a rather large herd. I think they're ugly. LOL

This is the Umpqua Lighthouse. It's not very tall, but it is beautiful! And VERY accessible - it's only about three feet inside the Coast Guard compound, so you can see the whole building.

The above photo is the ocean and the beach without Kenn. :D



And finally, this area is a national ATV draw; it's the Oregon Dunes National Recreational Area. And WOW, do these people have the toys - RVs, ATVs, bikes, buggies, trailers. :D


We went to church this morning, and it was good to be in a place where our dear friend, Nila, was known and so, by extension, were we. But OH, how I miss our Springhouse family and worship. So does Kenn - for the first time in his life, he's actually homesick for people, not a place. And that, friends and family, is evidence of God at work in his life. WOW.

So, at this moment, I don't know what our adventure will be - or for how long. But I am determined that God be glorified, no matter what or where we are! :) I'd love to hear from some of you! :)

We found a place!

We are now renters - in Reedsport, Oregon! It's not too big, but it's fully furnished - and have a twin hide-a-bed, so room for one guest at a time. :D
Here are pictures!

See? Open floor plan and high ceilings, so it feels much bigger. It's basically what I know as a mother-in-law suite, attached to the owner's house by a breezeway. Full kitchen, because the wife of the owning couple is a CHEF! How cool is that?! :D

OK, I'm outta here. We're headed back into the valley this afternoon to get all our stuff out of our friends' house, then back to start living on the coast again! :)

One month!

Yes, that's right. Wednesday marks one month since we left the house in Old Hickory. And yes, to me it feels that long! :) We've logged a LOT of hours and miles in the car in the past month! And Wednesday, we head back to the beach to look at a possible rental. Yea! :)

There hasn't been a whole lot going on around here to share. However, we did go to Wooden Shoe Tulip Farm today - Woodburn, Oregon, is in the middle of its tulip festival. And WOW!

So this post is to mostly share some photos with you, and ask you to continue to pray for our housing needs, provision, and HEALTH! :) (If you have stock in Puffs, I'm your increased revenue this quarter.... :D )

 This is Kenn and me at the front of the garden. :)

This is a tulip I for which will be waiting to come on the market! It's in testing right now, and it's the PERFECT tulip for my mom. Isn't it beautiful???

Kenn setting up to take his first picture of this amazing field of tulips!

It really is amazing - they seem to go on and on, in beautiful stripes of color.

This is one of my all-time favorite tulips. I love purple! :)

Trying to catch y'all up a bit!

Well, let's see. The last I wrote, we were leaving California.

We went to Bend, and spent ONE night with our friend, Jane. She had a cat, and that kind of started off a period of bad news for me. She also had a juniper tree in full bloom right outside her front door, and that's one of the worst for Kenn's hay fever. SO. We called Lee and Corrine, and said we were on our way. Although way surprised - we weren't supposed to be with them for five more days! - they graciously said to come on.

Now, Lee and Corrine also have a cat. They keep an ionizing machine in the bedroom we use, so I have a safe zone - but it always feels awkward to check out for a while when everyone else is together. :/ So I probably overpushed it; I developed my yearly upper respiratory infection.

But that hasn't stopped us! We went to the ocean this week! :D

This is Yachats, probably my favorite rocky beach on the Oregon Coast. It's also one of Kenn's; Smelt Sands Beach is the one place we visit more than any other. Perhaps you can see why! (Don't forget you can click on any shot to see it at the size I uploaded it!)

Monday was pretty cloudy, but we were at the OCEAN. :) We took lots of photos, we ate good Chinese food, and we kicked back.

Tuesday started out the same way; we went out to take some pictures, but it was just too drizzly and rainy. So we took a drive and looked at a couple of properties and went and asked questions of a local facility, then got a Papa Murphy's pizza and took it back to the room to cook and eat. We rested and watched TV for a while, then went to see GI JOE:RETALIATION. Good movie! When we came back out, it was BEAUTIFUL!!! HOORAY!!!

Out we went for photos! :) This one is from Cape Fowlweather; it was a glorious evening.

Wednesday morning, I woke up to sunshine filling the kitchen area and the bathroom. It was really nice. :) Kenn went to the marina to take some pictures; when he came back, I was ready to load. The sun was starting to get clouded out, so we went inland, stopping along the way to take some more photos. :)

These last couple of photos were from our first day, when we went to Yachats. Knowing about the trauma the Japanese are still going through, mostly because of the work Kenn's brother, Bob, is doing with them - you can find his blog here.

Anyway. We've been back in St. Paul since Wednesday afternoon, and have had good food, good times, and relaxing time. We're waiting on some information from an acquaintance about lodging possibilities; we're in a waiting mode, I think. God's moving, I know. We just don't SEE it yet. :) So all prayers are gratefully accepted - for health (I'm still fighting this URI, Kenn's still fighting the pollen!), lodging, direction. But above all, we are SO grateful for His love and for yours!!

Time SO flies!!!

Whew. I don't think I even know what day it is anymore! :D It's been a long haul into and up California; tonight is our last night on the road before we get to our friend's house in Bend, OR; we'll be there for a few days. It will be NICE to not have to go anywhere for a while - except I can't wait to go to some of the places we USED to go and take photos. :D

ANYWAY. Remember when I was talking about my two peas? Yeah. I have PROOF.

We met Kaisa and her boyfriend at the Denny's in Mojave, CA, for brunch before we hit the road again. We had a good time, and I had fun shooting these two silly, most-important-in-my-life
 people. :)

It was difficult saying goodbye, but hopefully she'll come visit soon.

And off we went!

(I need to load up some photo editing software on my computer; these are all straight off my camera, and I have LOTS more to do. So please bear with them - and me. :D )

Desert. Yes, it started looking a LOT like El Paso. And jut like when I lived there, I can't figure out WHY people live there. :D But Sunday's drive was only a couple of hours long; we were going to a friend of Kenn's from way ago, in Bakersfield.

They live in an oasis. Seriously. They have a glorious house with an incredible back yard and a beautiful pool. Just lovely.

(I wish I had my software to help soften the lighting on this, but this is what it was at noon in the desert. :D )

Kenn and Tom had a great visit; I got to know Nancy pretty well. We spent a lot of time together while they boys were off playing. :D

So Monday, we drove to Modesto. Kenn's allergies were off the charts because of his time outside with Tom, so we didn't do much fun or fun for dinner. It was a nice property, a Clarion, so if we ever come through again, we'd like to take our time and enjoy ourselves. I think we're both just road-weary.

Today's drive was up to Weed, CA. We made one stop, but it wasn't anything to brag about. So I won't. :) Neither was dinner - we spent too much money on meals that didn't deliver today!

But this HOTEL ROOM!!! It's a brand-new Quality Inn in South Weed; Kenn got us a jacuzzi room since it's our last night. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. (The thing I miss most on trips and vacations is my garden tub. :D ) What a nice treat. Kenn's allergies are still pretty bad; my eyes are itchy. <sigh> I need a beach wind! :)

Oh, and this hotel room? This is the view from my BALCONY. Yeah. Uh, huh. :D

That would be Mt. Shasta, ladies and gentlemen. We are back in the Cascade Range!

OK. Time to relax a little more, get a good night's sleep, and rock the last leg of this segment out. THANK YOU for praying for us - keep it up! PLEASE pray for the allergy problems. It's not fun - and his eyes glow in the dark almost. SO awful. We love and miss people in TN, but have been blessed to see lots of friends we haven't seen in forever. :)

Kaisa

We only drove for about five hours today! Hooray! :D We're in Lancaster, CA, visiting Kaisa - Kenn's daughter. She is a lovely young woman; she's always been a good kid, and she continues to be a bright light in Kenn's life. :)

A lot has happened in our lives and her life since we last saw her, so it was a good time to catch up with her today. I still can't believe she's going to be a milestone year this year's birthday; she still looks like she's 17. :D I had a good time showing her pictures of her cousins, so she could get to know their faces. She's only met two in person!

It's fun watching her interact with him as an adult. They are as alike as ever, my two peas in a pod.

Tomorrow, we'll do lunch together before we head on down the road to one of Kenn's friends in Bakersfield. Relationship-growing! :) THANK YOU for praying!! Keep it coming, peeps! :D

Get your kicks...!

Good Friday Evening from Needles, CA!

It was a MUCH better day - thank you all for praying for us!!!! The wind went away, for the most part, and our gas mileage was MUCH better. We didn't turn the car off until we stopped to unload, then stopped for dinner - and it started both times! HALLELUJAH! The car had a much easier day, even though we went way up and way down on elevation - started at over 6000, ended up at about 450!

It was a GOOD day. The morning, especially, was really easy driving. This afternoon, we decided to stop in a little town one of Kenn's friends had told him to stop in, Seligman, Arizona. We couldn't figure out WHY - it was out in the middle of nowhere, literally.

OH, was it a cute town! The reason we got off the interstate in the first place was to take Kenn's picture at the advertised Roadkill Cafe for his friend. :D But it was SO CUTE!!! AND - you guess, ON ROUTE 66!!!!

There was so much to take photos of - great old signs and cars. It was pretty quiet in town, so we stopped up and down the "strip" to take photos. :) Here's Kenn, taking a photo of an old colorful car! :D

We spent about a half-hour there; I bought a new hat to wear. :D I splurged, but it was worth it to me. :D I've been wearing my OR Coast hat to travel in, so I don't have to worry about what my hair looks like. I think I'll start a collection of "beach hair hats". :D I've got two now. :D

We changed our last time zone, so we're on Pacific time now. We got here early in the afternoon for them; we ate dinner, and we're checking email, etc., now - getting business out of the way. BTW, if you ever have a reason to come to Needles, CA, I recommend the Rodeway Inn. It's a great rate and a nice property, and easy to find. We're going to enjoy the outdoor hot tub tonight - it was 85 degrees here today!

Please keep your prayers going - what a difference in today! :) Tomorrow, we go to visit Kenn's daughter. It will be so great to see her again - it's been a LONG time for me!!!!!