A very special man

So, as I was planning on getting ready to go for my blood test this morning I checked my email. It was probably a bad idea, but since I use an iPhone I guess it's better that I saw the message before I left the house rather than all the way there with a 40 minute drive to get home.

It's a message I've been dreading receiving for some time now. It was the news of the death of a man that was so dear to me, and a person who was such an instrumental part of me becoming a Christian in my mid-teens.

My good friend had emailed to let me know the sad news. I was inconsolable.

As I thought of Ron, and memories of him came running through my head I looked down at my hand. His name was written there as a reminder from yesterday - a note I'd written myself as I sat in church listening to Charlie's talk.

Yesterday as I was at church our pastor was talking about people who went before us in our journey with Christ and saw something in us that we didn't see ourselves. They were the people who had laid the foundation for our Christian life, and they would always be a part of something special. It conjured up images and thoughts of Ron for me. He was a wonderful man, and he was such an encouragement to me always, even when I didn't believe in myself. He could always see the potential underneath and always encouraged me to be the woman God wanted me to be. I often think of him and am so glad I got to visit with him last March when he was in hospital.

As I was there at church I had the feeling that I wanted to make sure that Ron knew that he was such a big part of my Christian life and who I am today, and I wanted to write a letter to tell him all of this and thank him for everything.

It's ironic (and sad) to me that this morning I would hear the terrible news of his passing, and so that letter will remain unsent. This dear man meant so much to me and to so many people.

He touched the lives of everyone he met. He was a great encourager, a wonderful Christian example and he also gave the biggest biggest hugs!

Rest in peace dear Ron. You will be sorely missed.

YAY for Andrew & Adie

So, Cory and I are excited, bcause tonight we get to go pick up Andrew and Adison from the airport. They're arriving from NC for three weeks over the holiday season.

We just heard a couple of hours ago that one of their connecting flights was cancelled, so they had to switch to a different flight, but the good thing (I think) is that their flight now arrives at 7pm instead of 11.30pm - at least we'll get back here to Mac at a reasonable time!

It'll be good to see them both, we don't get to see them often enough :)

That's all for now, time to go and bake some yummy cookies....

Catch ya later :)

Alex & Tara visit...

We were so excited to have Alex and Tara come up from Salt Lake for a long weekend...

They arrived on the Thursday, so we decided to go to the Horse Brass English Pub in Portland on the way back from the airport for some dinner and drinks! I was so excited to see English beers... Weird I know, but it's crazy how different things here are... I ordered a glass of Blackthorn Cider... Classy I know! ;)

Jeff came and meet up with us for a drink... it was nice to finally meet him, and to see everyone together again.

Since it was Tara's first time here in Oregon, Alex wanted to show her Linfield college, and we had also planned to go on some cool wine tastings... The rest of the day we chilled, and played board games in the evening...



We headed to the beach on Saturday morning - Jeff and Janelle joined us too..... Firstly and importantly we had to make a stop at Kiyllos for Alex... He loves that place, so we timed it right for lunch! ;)

After that we headed to PC to the beach house we had rented... It was awesome, and perfectly located just slightly north of the dune with private beach access!

After settling in, someone (I don't remember who) had the bright idea of climbing the dune! Well, it sounded like a good idea to all of us, so we headed out (leaving Janelle behind to study).

Very shortly I realised that there was no way in the world I was going to make it up the dune... But, instead of being a spoilt sport, I kept trying... chugging along at the back over the first two little dunes.

As I approached the main dune I was feeling light headed and out of breath, my thighs were burning and I just didn't know what was going on. I had never had a problem doing things like this before. Cory came and tried to help me get all the way to the top, but there was no way, and I eventually had to stop and sit down while the rest of the group carried on to the top! I was defeated and extremely annoyed with myself.

Even on the way back to the house I was struggling to climb back over the two little dunes and I felt embarrassed. Little did I know, but it should have been a sign that something was going on with my health... Again the graves disease tried to get our attention, but we ignored it!

Saturday evening we had a great night, playing board games, chillin' in the hot tub and enjoying the group of friends... oh, and Jeff made meatball grinders... they were really good, but I had never been served such a lot of meat (and only meat) in one meal!

Well, the weekend had flown by and Alex & Tara were to leave on Sunday afternoon... We decided to drive up the coast and see some sights before their flight... it was a great afternoon, we saw Cape Meares and the light house.... Then we headed to the grand lodge for lunch before saying goodbye!It was a great weekend... It was nice to meet Alex, who had been one of Cory's closest friends since college. Tara is awesome too - they're great friends to have and fun people to hang out with!

Little did we know we'd see them in Oregon again in a couple months... ;)

Amsterdam

Cory came over for a visit, and we decided that we'd try and cram as much into the two weeks as possible... so, we start with a couple days in Amsterdam!

It was fantastic!

I am so glad we went... we had perfect weather and I just loved the city! I would highly recommend it to anyone, and will jump at the chance to go back again in the future - maybe when it's a little warmer would be nice!

There were a lot of hi-lights of Amsterdam, but one of the things that tugs at the heart strings was our visit to Anne Frank's house. To see where and how they lived during that terrible time, and to just listen to the story of the Frank family is a real eye opener. To just think that this was not all that long ago, and it's not the kind of thing that could never happen again... it makes you realise that we have to be very careful in this world to not fall into the same situation again...

Here are some pics from Amsterdam :)