My camera and computer do not get along!

I really wish my camera would connect to my computer, but for some reason I won't.

I have been wishing that wish for at least a week now, and that's precisely why I haven't posted.

I need to figure out what's wrong, and I will. Soon. I promise.

So I got started on my summer list a little early. My plan was to wait at least until May 5th, when Robyn gets home from that terrible, horrible place called Washington State University. Instead, I went ahead and crossed off two whole items!!

The first one was to learn to drive a stick. I learned a long time ago. I was 17 and one of the boys in our youth group had a truck with manual gears. Yeah. I wasn't very good. Then about a year later I drove our youth pastor's jeep around the school parking lot. Again, I am sure I killed it more than 3 times. In a parking lot.

So this past weekend when I was housesitting, the vehicle they left for me, of course, was a stick. I was bummed at first, but decided to embrace the opportunity to cross one thing off my summer list. And.... SUCCESS! I drove all the way from Bradley Lake Park to 176th and Meridian without killing it! And when I was done babysitting, I drove all the way back! I was amazed at myself, and ended up driving the car the rest of the week, up and down South Hill and all around to my various jobs and meetings in town.

The second crossed off item is one I am sure to cross off again and again as the weather gets warmer-- walk around downtown at night.

Pioneer Park is so pretty during the day, and just as lovely at night! Savanah and I sat outside under the stars and caught up on life [since she goes to Western in Bellingham, we only see each other every couple months]. It was so fun and I am looking forward to walking around more often!!

Summertime and the livin's easy.

Summer is right around the corner. Since winter here has been so nice, I cannot wait to see what it will be like in the summer months.

I love every season for different reasons. There really isn't one I love more or less. I won't go into detail about fall, winter or spring... but I will about summer.

Growing up in Washington, the majority of the year is gray. Not always rainy as movies and TV make it sound, but it is usually gray. Spring begins to show signs of color, but summer is when the blue sky is best.

The nights are long, the days are warm. I just cannot get enough of the sunshine. Not to mention the smell of freshly trimmed grass, the sound of the various rivers splashing throughout the valley, the taste of BBQ smoke in the air, the feeling of warm pavement under bare feet... should I go on?

So this summer, a few of my wonderful friends and I have decide to make lists. Have I ever mentioned that lists are my favorite thing in the world? No. Okay well they are.

Anyway, summer lists. Stuff that I [we] want to do/accomplish this summer. Together, by ourselves, whichever. It is an amazing list, which I will most likely add to. But, starting Memorial Day Weekend, I will begin crossing off items as they are completed. I will also TRY to take pictures of said items, and blog about them. Can't wait!

You can see the list on the little tab towards the top of the page titled '100 Days of Summer.'

Delicious Food, All over the Worlllld.

Good Friday

"Surely our griefs He Himself bore,
And our sorrows He carried;
Yet we ourselves esteemed Him stricken,
Smitten of God, and afflicted.
But He was pierced through for our transgressions,
He was crushed for our iniquities;
The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him,
And by His scourging we are healed.
All of us like sheep have gone astray,
Each of us has turned to his own way;
But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all
To fall on Him.
He was oppressed and He was afflicted,
Yet He did not open His mouth;
Like a lamb that is led to slaughter,
And like a sheep that is silent before its shearers,
So He did not open His mouth.
By oppression and judgment He was taken away;
And as for His generation, who considered
That He was cut off out of the land of the living
For the transgression of my people, to whom the stroke was due?
His grave was assigned with wicked men,
Yet He was with a rich man in His death,
Because He had done no violence,
Nor was there any deceit in His mouth.
But the LORD was pleased
To crush Him, putting Him to grief;
If He would render Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.
As a result of the anguish of His soul,
He will see it and be satisfied;
By His knowledge the Righteous One,
My Servant, will justify the many,
As He will bear their iniquities.
Therefore, I will allot Him a portion with the great,
And He will divide the booty with the strong;
Because He poured out Himself to death,
And was numbered with the transgressors;
Yet He Himself bore the sin of many,
And interceded for the transgressors."

-Isaiah 53:4-12

My sin, oh the bliss of the glorious thought; my sin not in part but the whole. Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!