I love the flatbed pickups.
I love seeing the spare tires on the cabs and on the fronts of pickups.
I love the open feeling.
I love the big sky.
I love the empty roads.
I love the smell of pine trees, sage brush, fresh rain on dirt and irrigation water.
I love alfalfa fields.
I love the sound of the irrigation on the alfalfa fields.
I love how my heart fills up when I drive east.
I love how I feel like I am getting a big hug from the landscape.
I love the mountains, and how they look blue.
I love that people wave when they pass you, even if they don't know you.
I love knowing the back roads and where people live.
I love seeing people I know, and having them know me too.
I love the old barns, homesteads, and fences.
I love the cows.
I love the dry land.
I love the cowboy boots and worn sun-tanned skin on family and friends.
I love how time slows down... even when you're in a rush.
I love seeing family and friends.
I love laughing at old stories and dreaming of the future.
I love going home.
Monday, April 27, 2009
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
So much has been happening lately! We have been so busy, but so happy to be busy.
The weekend before Easter Brandon, Luke, and I all worked on putting our raised beds in so that we can have a garden this year. We used recycled lumber and made four big beds. Brandon dug trenches and was able to plumb the beds into the underground watering system so that watering the garden is simple.
Easter weekend my parents came down and my dad and Brandon worked on getting the rest of the backyard on the water system. That was an all day project, but it will be so nice this summer to not have to move sprinklers around. It will just water on it's own!
Meanwhile, my mom and I searched for a good garden center (and found one!) and also looked for new dining room chairs. This has been something I have been doing for a year now. I did find two, and got a GREAT deal on them. Now I am working on painting them so I can put them around our table. I still need to find about 4 more.... the project never ends!
This past weekend Brandon, Luke, Matt, Matt's girlfriend Jenni and I worked on laying patio pavers around our new raised beds. We started at 8am and nobody left until 9pm that night, we worked so hard! But it is mostly done... just a few little things to do. Sunday morning we got up at 6am and did a few things around our yard before heading down to Eugene to work on Jenni's patio, laying the same pavers that we used. We worked REALLY hard all day, not leaving until 7pm. We have been so busy, but we have gotten so much done!
This weekend I am headed to Hermiston Friday night to see two or three of my bestest Hermiston friends and then to Heppner Saturday for a bridal shower for another friend. I am going by myself... which won't be a fun drive but I am kinda looking forward to it. I can listen to my own music, sing out loud, call friends and then stay up late with my girlfriends catching up on stories. I am so looking forward to laughing, telling stories, laughing, listening to stories, maybe some crying, and hugging my friends. I miss them so much. We are going to have so much fun!
Maybe the following weekend Brandon and I will take some time to rest... but I doubt it.
The weekend before Easter Brandon, Luke, and I all worked on putting our raised beds in so that we can have a garden this year. We used recycled lumber and made four big beds. Brandon dug trenches and was able to plumb the beds into the underground watering system so that watering the garden is simple.
Easter weekend my parents came down and my dad and Brandon worked on getting the rest of the backyard on the water system. That was an all day project, but it will be so nice this summer to not have to move sprinklers around. It will just water on it's own!
Meanwhile, my mom and I searched for a good garden center (and found one!) and also looked for new dining room chairs. This has been something I have been doing for a year now. I did find two, and got a GREAT deal on them. Now I am working on painting them so I can put them around our table. I still need to find about 4 more.... the project never ends!
This past weekend Brandon, Luke, Matt, Matt's girlfriend Jenni and I worked on laying patio pavers around our new raised beds. We started at 8am and nobody left until 9pm that night, we worked so hard! But it is mostly done... just a few little things to do. Sunday morning we got up at 6am and did a few things around our yard before heading down to Eugene to work on Jenni's patio, laying the same pavers that we used. We worked REALLY hard all day, not leaving until 7pm. We have been so busy, but we have gotten so much done!
This weekend I am headed to Hermiston Friday night to see two or three of my bestest Hermiston friends and then to Heppner Saturday for a bridal shower for another friend. I am going by myself... which won't be a fun drive but I am kinda looking forward to it. I can listen to my own music, sing out loud, call friends and then stay up late with my girlfriends catching up on stories. I am so looking forward to laughing, telling stories, laughing, listening to stories, maybe some crying, and hugging my friends. I miss them so much. We are going to have so much fun!
Maybe the following weekend Brandon and I will take some time to rest... but I doubt it.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Into each day put equal parts of faith, patience, courage, work, hope, fidelity, liberality, kindness, rest, prayer, meditation, and one well elected solution.
Put in about one teaspoonful of good spirits, a dash of fun, a pinch of folly, a sprinkle of play, and a cupful of good humor.
found in a Pottery Barn categlog.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
rejection
Rejections.
I have had dreams two nights in a row now about people rejecting me. And you know what? I think about it when I'm awake too.
Seriously, I do! and I feel that I am a confident, sure of myself gal. Even so, I want people to like me. I want to have lots of friends. I worry that I'm not happy enough, not friendly enough, not there enough for my friends and family. Maybe I don't smile enough, compliment others enough, ask enough questions. Maybe I should hug more, or send more cards. I just worry about it all! ugh!
What brought this up though? page 81 in A Love Worth Giving by Max Lucado. My friend Lindsay lent me this book almost a YEAR ago (I'm really sorry Linds!) and I read most of it last summer, and then put it down. It wasn't the right time for me. But I recently picked it up again, and I think it is the right time for me. And there are two sentences on page 81 that really caught my attention.
"You cannot keep people from rejecting you. But you can keep rejections from enraging you.".
It's true. I can't help what others think, or say, or feel. But I can help how I deal with these. I can choose to take these rejections and continue on my journey through life, or I can choose to let them change the path I am on. Change my journey. Turn my journey into something negative and sad. I can "let His acceptance compensate for their rejection". (page 81)
I'm still dealing with how I feel on the inside. But this was such a welcomed reminder that I have His love, His compassion, and His acceptance, and I need to stop worrying about what others in my life may think or feel about me. God is great!
I have had dreams two nights in a row now about people rejecting me. And you know what? I think about it when I'm awake too.
Seriously, I do! and I feel that I am a confident, sure of myself gal. Even so, I want people to like me. I want to have lots of friends. I worry that I'm not happy enough, not friendly enough, not there enough for my friends and family. Maybe I don't smile enough, compliment others enough, ask enough questions. Maybe I should hug more, or send more cards. I just worry about it all! ugh!
What brought this up though? page 81 in A Love Worth Giving by Max Lucado. My friend Lindsay lent me this book almost a YEAR ago (I'm really sorry Linds!) and I read most of it last summer, and then put it down. It wasn't the right time for me. But I recently picked it up again, and I think it is the right time for me. And there are two sentences on page 81 that really caught my attention.
"You cannot keep people from rejecting you. But you can keep rejections from enraging you.".
It's true. I can't help what others think, or say, or feel. But I can help how I deal with these. I can choose to take these rejections and continue on my journey through life, or I can choose to let them change the path I am on. Change my journey. Turn my journey into something negative and sad. I can "let His acceptance compensate for their rejection". (page 81)
I'm still dealing with how I feel on the inside. But this was such a welcomed reminder that I have His love, His compassion, and His acceptance, and I need to stop worrying about what others in my life may think or feel about me. God is great!
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