SPIRITUAL SUNDAY

Hi everyone,

How has your week been? Mine has been really good, and full of some ups and downs.  More on that at the end of this post.  Here's the link to Week Three and Four of the Girl Talk 2011 series. This is part of the  Virtue for Women series for the summer from Harvest Church. Click here to view the videos.  There are so many good topics. Right now I'm  listening to the videos in the background while I'm working on my blog :) :) Later today or tomorrow, I'll actually watch the videos and take some notes. The topics range from  friendship and fitness to biblical perspectives on food. There's so much goodness here.

DAD AND I WENT OUT TO THE AIRPORT TO LOOK AT PLANES. IT IS SUCH A BEAUTIFUL DAY. WE WERE FORTUNATE TO SEE SOME TAKE-OFFS AND LANDINGS. IT'S  JUST AMAZING.

Dad and I went out for a small drive this morning. He loves airplanes, so we went out to see what we could see today :) :) Plus, this is our favorite  viewing spot.  This old tree has probably been around for a very LONG time, a long time before this airport was even built.  It's so gnarly and old..I wonder what kind of stories it would have to tell.

My sweet friend Linda wrote about the latest happenings in the process of her son and daughter-in-love adopting Vitaliy from the Ukraine.  Click here to read about it in Linda's post. Also her daughter-in-love Tonya has a precious blog called Come Rest At His Table.  She's selling some really super cute pendants to help raise money to bring Vitaliy home. Please pay her a visit. If you feel led, consider buying some of  her pendants. They are really cute and the money is going to a great, great thing :) :) :)

THIS IS ONE OF MY FAVORITE COFFEE SPOTS. HERE IN THE NORTHWEST OF THE UNITED STATES, THERE ARE A LOT OF DRIVE-THRU COFFEE STANDS. WHY? WELL, IMAGINE A REALLY COLD WINTER....WOULD YOU WANT TO GET OUT OF YOUR CAR? NO. IT'S NICE TO HAVE  SOMEONE HAND YOU  NICE, WARM COFFEE THROUGH YOUR CAR WINDOW.

After we watched airplanes, my dad took me to The  Human Bean.  I love this coffee spot. The coffee is great, the baristas are really nice AND....here's the best part, they have treats for dogs. So it's really funny to watch, because anytime a car pulls into the drive-thru that has dogs...well, the dogs really start becoming really animated. They KNOW that there are doggie treats to be had here :) :) It's sweet ;) :)

DID YOU KNOW THAT TIRES MAKE GREAT CONTAINERS FOR HOLDING GROCERIES? YES, IT'S TRUE....(INSERT SMILE AND LAUGH HERE)

God has been so good to my dad and I...always.  We are going through a time of transition right now.    First, I'll tell you about the tire.  A really sweet couple in our church paid for four BRAND NEW tires for our car. The tires that were on the car before were starting to wear really thin. In fact, so thin, that we could no longer drive on the freeway/highway, because we were afraid the tires would shred.  So it was only driving on surface streets. In any case, we were able to get four nice, new tires. What a gift. Tires aren't cheap.  Now we feel safe to drive on any type of roadway.  After the mechanic was done changing the tires, my father asked to keep one of the old tires.  My father kept the "best" of the old, used tires as an emergency spare. We just put it in the trunk of the car. Well, here's where the funny blessing comes in, because later that day we went to the grocery store.  We put the groceries in the trunk, saw the big, used tire and had the idea to use it to keep the groceries all in one place. So the moral of the story is that not only is it good to have an emergency spare tire, it also makes a great container for groceries ;) :) :) It keeps the groceries from rolling all over the trunk of the car ;) :) Isn't this just the most hysterically funny thing ever? I think so :) :)

THIS IS ONE OF MANY, OLD BUILDINGS IN  JACKSONVILLE, OREGON.  DON'T YOU JUST LOVE THE OLD ADVERTISEMENTS PAINTED ON THE BRICK WALLS? IT IS SO VINTAGE COOL.

Okay, so back to the time of transition that my father and I are going through right now.  As many of you know, my father and I have both been unemployed for some time now. We finally came to the point about a week ago, where we needed to make a decision to stay in Oregon or move in with my aunt (my dad's sister) in California.  So we've been praying about it for awhile.  We even shared the prayer request with the elders of our church, since they were meeting at our house last Sunday.  We thought we had an opportunity for a place to live, that would have been perfect for our financial situation. It was a  gorgeous place and we  were grateful for the offer and excited about the possibilites that God could make happen here.  That was earlier this week. Well, we continued to pray...always in prayer, that God will guide our every decision and give us wisdom.

Yesterday, it appears that God really shut the door for us.  I won't go into more details, simply because it's not the time to share too much. However, we were praying...and God has at this time clearly shut the door to this particular living situation. So as of now, it appears that God is closing that door and opening up the door to move in with my aunt. She's a really neat lady and has been more than gracious/helpful towards us :) :) We are so thankful.  So unless God changes our direction again, we will be moving back to California most likely sometime in August. 

SOME PRETTY FLOWERS IN  JACKSONVILLE, OREGON.

I know this post might sound really random today. All this to say, that sometimes life is boring and slow. Then sometimes, stuff comes at you all at once from every direction.  Trust God because He is faithful and He always keeps His promises. Sometimes life is doing absolutely nothing. It's totally quiet, boring and still. You're in a season of waiting. Then God tells you to "Go"....be ready to go :) :) Again, trust God because He is faithful. He always keeps  His promises. 

So in this time of transition, keep us in prayer. Right now, we are planning on moving back to California, unless God clearly shuts the door.  You know when God shuts one door,  He  ALWAYS opens another door. That is for sure. When God opens a  door, nobody can shut it. When God closes a  door, no one can open it.  As things progress, I'll keep you updated.  Right now we'll be starting to pack boxes and get rid of anything we don't need. My plan is to sell some items on Craigslist and/or have a yard sale.

SEGWAY OF JACKSONVILLE IS A  NEAT LITTLE BUSINESS. CLICK HERE TO  VISIT THEIR WEBSITE AND FIND OUT MORE INFORMATION.

That is about all for today :):) :) Hope you all have a wonderful Sunday and a  really great week.  That's the news from Oregon today. Love and hugs, Heather :)