Sunday Food Court

Longtime readers will remember our family food court tradition. It's been along while since we've been but we ran into Steve S. at church on Sunday and made plans to meet up at the food court. I had Shusi. Food court and Sushi - just doesn't seem the right surroundings but it tasted good.

Anna was such fun - smiley and friendly.

It was short - but time with you guys is always important, welcome and enjoyed.

A Perfect Summer Evening

That's what Lance called it and I would agree! We drove out to visit these guys on Saturday evening. Aimee fed us a delicious supper of lemon chicken and roasted fresh organic veggies. Then we quickly headed to a local pool - the most beautiful outdoor pool I've ever been in - and only a few minutes from their place. It was like a pool in a forest and it was one of these newer pools with no walls just level which is so lake like along the edges. Elijah is quite the jumper, jumping independently from the edge to a waiting adult. Eva likes to have hands already holding her sides to help her jump. We played with these big rafts. In the wading pool, the kids can climb on and off them themselves, but we were in the big pool so that meant helping. Happy to help!

Eva was standing on a raft and I asked her, "Are you surfing?" She got the most huge open mouth grin you can imagine and replied, "My surfing, MY SURFING. FUN! FUN! FUN!" I loved that moment.

She surfed quite a few times. I could zoom her along by the fingertips. Aimee said she'd have to go back to Tofino. Eva hollered, "My in Tofino! My surfing".

We've got surfers in the family. Family surfers, what's the smallest wet suit size available? :)

After swimming we went for Gelato and home for stories, bedtime for the kiddos and conversation for the adults. Thanks guys for a great time.

I'm Falling in Love

...with Steven's cordless drill. It's amazing how many little projects require a drill - putting up a shelf, building a little cupboard, fixing this and that. His drill is small, chuck free, and ready to go. I keep telling LK, "I'm in love with a drill!"

Better than that -way better than that - I'm falling in love with my soon to be daughter in law Courtney. I just love getting to know her more and more and have such a happiness knowing that she is going to join our family and be our girl - our girl too.

With help from my big Klassen family, I hosted a bridal shower at my mom's place. I called it "Welcoming Courtney". My mom had hoped to attend a shower but with her limited mobility we thought maybe it wouldn't work out. Well, the idea came to me to host one at her house and boy was she game. I invited all our Klassen gang and Courtney's mom. Most of the girls brought food so it was pretty easy and pretty delicious.

Here's Courtney checking out the table early on - before all the goodies even came!

Some of the happy faces. We played a game of questions about Courtney. If you thought you knew the answer you just shouted it out. Courtney or her mom would fill us in on the details of stories. It was great. After that, we all wrote blessings for Steve and Courtney in cards. We didn't read them at the party, but sent them home to be read together. Steve told me later that he thought that was really cool.

Can you find Steve in the picture? And what is he doing there? Well my mom gave him a call before the shower and told him that in her day it was the custom that the groom would come near the end of the shower, say hi to everyone, have a snack and help haul the presents home. She invited him to do so, and he did.

Mother and daughter, stories and laughter.

Thanks everyone for coming. I think it's such a great encouragement and help to have people cheering the young folks on and helping them with setting up their home.

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Courtney's maid of honor, Danielle, also hosted a shower and invited Courtney's mom and sisters and a bunch of the young women. She did a LOVELY job of putting on the shower. And we heard more stories and laughed some more. This shower was a kitchen pantry shower. Lots of cake mixes and a number of cookbooks.

Happy homemaking Courtney! Happy married life.

A Holy Moment

I've never been comfortable with foot washing in church settings. I thought we had no culturally current equivalent to the biblical foot washing. Then on the May long weekend, which we spent on the beaches of Tofino, I had a brief foot washing experience that was natural, and I thought - ah....I get it. There was a faucet and a hose near the motel to spray feet off before coming in. I had a child in my arms, Lance sprayed his feet off and then mine. These sort of moments go by so quickly - but they make up some of the ah moments of life.

Here Eva and Elijah are having a sink foot washing.

Beautiful. Another ah moment in life. And it was Aimee looking on who named it holy.

Fun at Home

All kinds of things have been going on at home. Lots of organizing. Every day I try to take a few things out of the suite and truly find a home for them or give them away, making space again for another set of newly weds. Every day it seems, Steve and Courtney make a few of their own adjustments to the suite making it more and more ready to be their home. It's really nice to have a generous amount of time for them to settle in as opposed to the one day move in that many rental situations allow for.

We've been having lots of fun with these guys - new kids on the block. Aimee and I picked blueberries a while ago and this is the scene when the one of the buckets was placed on the floor. Blueberry madness - I mean gladness!!

And this is what happens when two new big packs of toilet paper are not put away yet. Add Uncle Steven and relaxed Grandma Kathy and you get toilet paper circles though living room, kitchen and dining room. It was worth it!

Toilet paper wrestling match.

Visiting Grandpa LK at the bookstore. The barn is entertaining another generation of kids. We'll just paint it again and it will find a new home in the expanded children's department.

Our Campsite

We've never camped at Thousand Trails Cultus Lake because it seemed SO crowded when we drove though to view it. I call the campers double circled in the middle - the circled wagon train. The usual place we go to has a broken swimming pool. Considering our options, we came here. Bringing our good attitudes along, we knew we could spend lots of time at the lake if our site was too city like.

On the way here I asked Jesus if he would please pick us out a pleasant site. See below. We have a corner site and only one neighbor near by. Last time I camped God gave me a garden, sky and birdsong. This time a forest, lots of shade and beautiful space. I'm enjoying it and feeling grateful.

See? Very nice eh?

My canopy of green.

The view from my dinette window.

Today we swam in the pool with views of brightly blooming planters of flowers and verdant mountains in the background. Tomorrow I've booked a golf lesson! I have never been good at hitting a ball with a foreign object - baseball, ping pong, tennis - so I'm thinking probably not good at golf either. But I am up for new things and I do enjoy a good laugh. We're sharing a lesson LK and me. I'm expecting it will be fun.

Let's Go Up the Ladder to the Roof

Here stands LK beaming on what will be the new floor of the music and used book departments, of our bookstore. He really had been using a ladder to get up to this view, but one night, the very first night that the steps were built, he took me up to the roof. Man, sometimes I think we're nuts going out on a limb like this in our mid fifties, but being in the building, walking through the future departments is very exciting. I told LK two things - one, I thought it romantic and special that he brought me up the very FIRST moment that the steps were finished. And - two, it makes me feel young. I told him so and he grinned - him too. This new project, and all that it means to us, breaths new life into us.

Since this photo, the walls at each end are completed with three windows in each end and a view of Mt. Baker from the front. Unfortunately for the customer, and for whatever reason, the rooms with the windows are meeting rooms, perhaps to be rented out. But the music room will have many skylights.

Summer Happenings

Many holes were in my perennial garden. They are now filled. And the floundering plants are getting pampered so they can gain strength and grow and multiply.

The soon to be marrieds are laying claim to the suite. Brown, sand and turquoise, otherwise know as "impact blue" as Steven calls it.

Lovely Ricka and her daughter apprentice, Courtney - also lovely. Ricka painted most of the suite for the kids - a special gift so they could have their special colors to make their first ever home - theirs.

I'm loving summer. The company. Children playing in the back yard. Gracie playing in the back yard. Meals on the deck. Barbecue.

And camping. Right now we are camping. I rode an inflatable dragon at Cultus Lake today and rode the big boat waves. Yes, we're camping just a stone's throw away from home! Fresh cool air to sleep in. Goodnight.