And Last (Finally)...

As you can see, we were blessed with such beautiful scenery on this trip. The pictures don't in any way do justice to God's wonderful creation. I posted the pictures pretty much in the order they were taken. I think my personal favorite was the last one I posted.

I'll take pictures of the house soon and post a couple later.

And A Few More Pictures...

A Few More Pictures...

Some More Pictures...

More Pictures Of Our Trip

Our Trip

We drove over 3000 miles from Pensacola, Florida to Burlington, Washington. It took us about 6 days. We had some car trouble the first day (Sunday) after we initially started out. That delayed us for a day. So, we really didn't get started until Monday.
Monday: Day 1: May 28th: We only drove about 273 miles. First stopped off at Ruth's to see her in Oxford, Alabama; then drove on to Hartselle, Alabama and spent the night with Daniel, Tiffany, and Abby.
Tuesday: Day 2: May 29th: Drove from Hartselle, Alabama to Kings City, Missouri, about 556 miles.
Wednesday: Day 3: May 30th: Drove from Kings City, Missouri to Burlington, Colorado; about 593 miles. We attended church at Burlington Church of Christ.
Thursday: Day 4: May 31st: Drove from Burlington, Colorado to Evanston, Wyoming; about 627 miles.
Friday: Day 5: June 1st: Drove from Evanston, Wyoming to Pendleton, Oregon; about 625 miles.
Saturday: Day 6: June 2nd: Drove from Pendleton, Oregon to Burlington, Washington. I'm not sure of the mileage, but it was a little over 300 miles I believe. We arrived here in Burlington around noon.

We took a few pictures on the way, (mostly from the car), so we didn't get too many good ones. I'll post a few that show some of the different landscapes we drove through.

Jared's High School Graduation

We've had a LOT of changes in our lives over the last few weeks. Jared is now a high school graduate. He graduated from West Florida High School on May 24, 2007. The graduation took place at the Civic Center in Pensacola.

Several of our friends came to see him graduate. Pat and Danny Wright came down from Kentucky just for his graduation! Jared will spend the summer with us in Burlington, and then he'll be attending Freed-Hardeman University in the fall.

Check This Out! Baby Got Book!

There's more than one way to spread the good message!

My Personalized M & M!

I kept seeing this commercial on t.v. about this website and making yourself an m&m. I just HAD to try it out! If you want to as well, go to this website and try it.
Who doesn't LOVE an m&m anyway?????

It's Spring Here In Florida

The weather has been really nice here in Florida. The kids are gonna have GREAT weather for spring break this week! Though the water will still be cold, you can bet that the beaches will be full of people soaking in that sunshine!

Today it is a little nippy. Supposed to get up to a high of about 68, but tonight the low will be 38! Spring doesn't officially start until Wednesday.

The dogwood trees are in full bloom, as well as the azaleas. This is my favorite time of year here. We have 3 dogwood trees on our property.

Just thought I'd post a picture of our bird Cosmo, or "birdy-bird" as he's often called!

Mike Enjoying The Spring Flowers

Outreach Training Seminar

We just completed an 8 day outreach program at our church. Dennis Menear, from a congregation in West Virginia, was our instructor. The church where he attends actually pays his way to visit any willing congregations twice a year to offer this training. That's pretty amazing to me! I'm surprised that he's not booked up years in advance, but he isn't.

He said that our congregation was the largest group he had had participate (in comparison to the size of the congregation) EVER! That's pretty good! We initially had about 20 participants, but some had to drop out because of illness. And some missed because of other obligations...but overall it was a really good thing for our congregation.

Basically it was geared towards getting us confident enough to begin to reach out to others more; just sharing our faith with others. It's a hard thing to do sometimes. I think mostly because we are all afraid of offending someone, or we're afraid they will say they aren't interested. I think we are all afraid of rejection. But remember, even Jesus wasn't successful with everyone! so how can we expect to be???

We just have to sow the seeds as we go along. I need to share Christ with others because I love them and I care about them and I know that without Christ they are lost. We need to care about that. Because the Bible says that broad is the way that leads to destruction and many will go down that road. I want to do everything I can to help someone who is going down that broad road to realize their need to change; their need for Christ.

It's so easy to get comfortable and content, and to lose that sense of urgency that comes with knowing that Christ could return at any time. We don't know when. Don't we all know someone who is not a christian? We were encouraged to choose 3 people that we would pray daily for; that we would try to "love and influence" (which involves spending time with them, helping to meet their needs and trying to get them involved with other christians). Our ultimate goal is to lead them to Christ.

So...we should all pray for opportunities; for wisdom to know the right things to say in a way that they can understand it. That we would make the most of every opportunity that comes our way and that we would always be kind. But most importantly, we need to get us out of the way and let God speak through his Word.

We should: always be ready to give an answer to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you...1 Peter 3:15

Just A Couple More Pictures Of Our House

We Sold Our House...Already!

Both John and I woke up this morning and realized that we had the same dream last night. We dreamed that we put our house on the market and it sold that same day!!! Well...it wasn't a dream! It really happened, and we're very happy (though still in a little bit of shock!)

They put the "For Sale" sign in our yard yesterday morning, and our Realtor (Audrie Palmer, she's a member at Leonard Street) showed the house yesterday afternoon. They LOVED the house and made an offer, which we accepted.

I also love this house...well, at least as much as you can love a material thing. I'd love to be able to pack it up and move it to Washington State with us. But I am so thankful that we don't have to worry about whether or not it is going to sell before we have to leave. All the worry about that is just gone.

If I had even a smidgen of doubt that God's hand was in this whole process (John getting the job in Burlington, us moving up to the Pacific Northwest, getting the house sold in a timely manner) then they are all gone. God surely has been blessing us and leading us in this direction...NO QUESTION ABOUT THAT!

If I was Elaine Bennis (On Seinfeld), when Audrie told me she was going to use our dining room table to write up an offer and a contract, I would have stood in front of her, pushed her with both hands and shouted "Get Out!" She would have went flying across the room! THAT'S how excited I was! (If you're not a Seinfeld fan, you have no idea what I'm talking out!)

I'm posting a few pictures of our house.

Den of Boxes

We've been pretty busy the last couple of weeks, just getting rid of the "cluttery" stuff around the house. We're hoping to get our house put up for sale in the near future. A woman from church is a realtor and she has agreed to sell it for us.

We had one couple from church look at it, but they thought it was a little too old fashioned for them. (That's what I DO like about it!) Anyway, we also had our neighbors from across the street (she's the sister of who we bought the house from)...well, they have some friends who are planning to move down here in June who might be interested. Who knows, maybe we won't even have to put it on the market at all. Wouldn't that be great???

Our den is now full of boxes, which we plan to move out into the garage probably this weekend. So...we'll just keep busy. And I need to get back to washing windows! (Yuk!)

Catching Up

John and Jared went to the lectureships at Freed last week. Daniel went as well, so it was good that the 3 of them got to spend a little time together. I was working anyway, so...it worked out just fine.

Yesterday was officially my last day to work for Covenant Hospice. Now I begin the job of getting our house ready to be put on the market to be sold. It's definitely a buyers market down here right now. LOTS of houses are for sale. I've been told by a couple of Realtors though, that if you don't overprice your house you will most likely not have too much trouble in selling it.

I think part of the problem is that some people bought their homes at such a high price a couple of years ago, and now they are trying to sell them and get back what they put into them. But the market has kind of bottomed out now.

It's kind of exciting for me because this is all just one step closer to our goal of moving this summer. Makes it seem so much closer, like we're actually doing something to make it happen! Yep, definitely a very exciting time!

Bible Lessons

STORY OF ELIJAH

The Sunday school teacher was carefully explaining the story of Elijah the Prophet and the false prophets of Baal. She explained how Elijah built the altar, put wood upon it, cut the steer in pieces, and laid it upon the altar. And then, Elijah commanded the people of God to fill four barrels of water and pour it over the altar. He had them do this four times "Now, said the teacher, "can anyone in the class tell me why the Lord would have Elijah pour water over the steer on the altar?"
A little girl in the back of the room started waving her hand, "I know! I know!" she said, "To make the gravy!"

LOT'S WIFE

The Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot's wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt, when little Jason interrupted, "My Mummy looked back once, while she was driving," he announced triumphantly, "and she turned into a telephone pole!"

GOOD SAMARITAN

A Sunday school teacher was telling her class the story of the Good Samaritan, in which a man was beaten, robbed and left for dead. She described the situation in vivid detail so her students would catch the drama. Then, she asked the class, "If you saw a person lying on the roadside, all wounded and bleeding, what would you do?" A thoughtful little girl broke the hushed silence, "I think I'd throw up."

DID NOAH FISH?

A Sunday school teacher asked, "Johnny, do you think Noah did a lot of fishing when he was on the Ark?"
"No," replied David. "How could he, with just two worms?"

HIGHER POWER

A Sunday school teacher said to her children, " We have been learning how powerful kings and queens were in Bible times. But, there is a higher power. Can anybody tell me what it is?" One child blurted out, "Aces!"

MOSES &THE RED SEA

Nine-year-old Joey, was asked by his mother what he had learned in Sunday school. "Well, Mom, our teacher told us how God sent Moses behind enemy lines on a rescue mission to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When he got to the Red Sea, he had his army build a pontoon bridge and all the people walked across safely. Then, he radioed headquarters for reinforcements. They sent bombers to blow up the bridge and all the Israelites were saved." "Now, Joey, is that really what your teacher taught you?" his mother asked. "Well, no, Mom. But, if I told it the way the teacher did, you'd never
believe it!"

THE LORD IS MY SHEPHERD

A Sunday School teacher decided to have her young class memorize one of the most quoted passages in the Bible; Psalm 23. She gave the youngsters a month to learn the verse. Little Rick was excited about the task -- but, he just couldn't remember the Psalm. After much practice, he could barely get past the first line. On the day that the kids were scheduled to recite Psalm 23 in front of the congregation, Ricky was so nervous.
When it was his turn, he stepped up to the microphone and said proudly, "The Lord is my Shepherd, and that's all I need to know."

Church Smiles

There was a very gracious lady who was mailing an old family Bible to her brother in another part of the country. "Is there anything breakable in here?" asked the postal clerk. "Only the Ten Commandments," answered the lady.

AMISH BUMPER STICKER

While driving in Pennsylvania , a family caught up to an Amish carriage. The owner of the carriage obviously had a sense of humor, because attached to the back of the carriage was a hand printed sign... "Energy efficient vehicle: Runs on oats and grass. Caution: Do not step in exhaust.''

SUNDAY SCHOOL MESSAGE

Sunday after church, a Mom asked her very young daughter what the lesson was about. The daughter answered, "Don't be scared, you'll get your quilt." Needless to say, the Mom was perplexed. Later in the day, the pastor stopped by for tea and the Mom asked him what that morning's Sunday school lesson was about. He said "Be not afraid, thy comforter is coming."

So Cute! From another email. Smiles, Trish