5 Acres in Alfalfa!!

Here is proof that our house is really for sale!! :) So tell all your friends, 5 acres in Central Oregon!! WOW!! We have the greenest grass in Bend right now!! (oh, not the grass in this picture, up in our front yard you will find a lawn about as green is the

picture of England on this page.

It is kind of fun to be here right now, as soon as the weather warms up again we are going to plant some flowers and even some herbs in the garden. Maybe even some lettuce or something. Might as well feed ourselves while we wait. :)

Just do not know when it will warm up again......

Good Times with Friends.......

We had a bonfire a couple weeks ago. The forecast said it was going to be 78 the following Saturday. Hard to believe since we were in the middle of a blizzard at the time. But, we decided to just once have faith in the weatherman and go for it!! :) So, we had the first bonfire of the spring and enjoyed the special time with friends.

Younger friends thought up their own ideas of entertainment.....
How cute can you get...........


Ben was awesome on the guitar as always.......

Dennis BBQd hamburgers, yum..........
Nothing more relaxing than gazing into a fire with awesome guitar in the background a full tummy, topped off with a cup of coffee and those awesome Marsden Brownies!!!!!

We are grateful for friends and family..................

Just another Spring Day........

We woke up this morning to snow on the ground. Out our front window, enjoying our new hand rail we spotted this quail!! He sat there for a long time. Usually there are quite a few of them all together, so I am thinking this one is standing guard and the rest of his family is under shelter from the snow that is falling. I find it very amazing how in the animal/bird etc. world, God made the males beautiful so that preditors would be attracted to them and the rest of their family would be safe. Just look at this little guy, who would think he was a male. When I see quail, I think they look like proper little ladies on their way to a tea party, wearing their little hats adorned with a feather!! I think I can safely say, I am glad God did not plan it that way in the human race. I am glad our men are big and strong and manly and there to protect us in a different way, I am not sure I would want all our men to be "pretty". LOL. Enjoy your spring day, wherever you are, find something new and happy.

SPRING IS HERE!!!

Do you think?? Hmmmm.......snow flurries in April........oh yes, this is Central Oregon!!! "April (snow) showers bring May flowers!!" Hey, we're doing good, little daffodil leaves are coming up, as well as tulips and other spring bulbs. If you look closely the rhubarb is coming alive. And at the base of many plants, there is green!! Just don't leave the area and go somewhere that all these things are in full bloom, keep your focus here and YES! spring is upon us.

Seems like we are in the habit of writing on this blog about once a month. Anna started this blog so that when we got to England we could keep it updated on a regular basis so people who wanted to could see what we were up to. Since we are not gone yet, it is hard to write much.

Our house has been 4 sale for 3 weeks now. We lowered the price once and we have not had one single call. We are trying some different things this week to see if we will have a better response.

Dennis has not worked for a couple of weeks, he had jobs set up for this week, but they keep falling through or getting pushed out, so he has had to look for work without much success. This would be a very good time for our house to sell. :) With the time off, he has kept busy getting cupboard doors on, building a new island in our kitchen and he has started on new kitchen cabinets. Also, he has done some great trim work in our living room around the window and front door, beautiful knotty pine with a craftsman style to it. Nice work!!

Anna is working for a friend making Salsa and doing some sewing projects that were ordered from her online store. She is keeping busy and having fun.

Janice keeps busy just keeping the house nice in case anyone would call to see it. She has done a small tea recently and we are thinking of having another big one soon. It is also tax time, so lots of bookkeeping to do. :( Fun times!!

Anna has been living out of her suitcases for a very long time, she wanted to know exactly what she could take. Janice was done sorting and packing a long time ago as well. Storage is packed and we have a huge pile of stuff for a garage sale after the house sells. We are pretty much ready to go, all that is left to pack are a few things we are using.

Basically right now, we are continuing to live our lives in Bend, Oregon. Spending time with friends and staying involved in our church. Waiting on God and His timing. We had heard many stories about how fast people sold their houses and were able to just GO!! We had thought that would be our story. But God has a different story for us. We are excited to see what that story is as it continues to unfold. We are learning lessons, being challenged and continuing to trust God to lead us and guide us in His perfect way.

Time Flies..............

when your having fun!!! or so they say........... :)

Well, we put our house on Craigs List one day, but as soon as we did that, Janice got sick and was

unable to refresh it every day and Dennis was consumed with a cabinet job in his shop and really did not need the distraction......soooo, we have not done much with that. But sickness and cabinets are all behind us now, so we are going to put our house up 4 Sale tomorrow or Monday.

A couple weekends ago we took a trip to Eugene to see family and friends. That is just about our last trip of goodbyes.... :(
We spent the day at Dennis' sister Terri's house. She helped my tie Aimee's quilt!! (Now we know why people pay to have them quilted !!!) About two years ago friends sent quilt blocks for Aimee's birthday, and so it is time to finish it before we go................A friendship quilt!!!

Later that day we got to go spend some time with his other sister Jeanie..........it was nice to spend time with family.

Sunday after church we got to spend some time with the Saylor family. They have been friends since Aimee was in first grade. We met at a homeschool function......these two met out in the hall where they were walking around bored.............. :)

Dennis with Jim Saylor, Jim is also the guy who Dennis speaks about that discipled him over 20 years ago!!

After a wonderful time with the Saylors, we went on to one of our favorite places on earth......

Frank and Margie Fergusons...................

Frank and his boys, Jim and Steve built this beautiful log home from trees off their very own property.........it is awesome and a fun site to see along with all of Franks stories!! :)

Margie is the one who taught Janice how to do TEA!! Janice and the girls helped Margie with her Teas for a few years, now Margie has moved out of that season of her life and spends much of her time making beautiful quilts...............like this one..................

This is called "Framed Redwork", each square has a machine embroidered redwork design......

Margie also has a beautiful garden, she has done teas in her garden and had "Open Garden" days which were very fun!!

That evening they had there Potluck Sing and it was fun to see more old friends....some clear from Roseburg and enjoy a time of sweet fellowhip and singing.....

YES!!!!! The snow did melt and the railing did get worked on...........not done yet but a good enough start to put our house up 4 Sale...............

Isn't it BEAUTIFUL!!

Proverbs 20:24

"Since the Lord is directing our steps, why try to understand everything

that happens along the way?"

I was just thinking this morning....it has been two weeks since the guys tried to do the railings.....then I realized by the time they come

next week, it will be three weeks!! That
is a long time :( So, my next thought or audible words were something like, "sure glad you know what your doing, God". Then mentally thinking (as if God could not hear me :), "sure is taking a long time".......all the while knowing there is a reason. Knowing God has a plan. Knowing I need to get right back into that resting place of abandoned trust and stop trying to figure things out all the time or even understand. Often we will not understand and that is when we have to let God be God in our lives - just the way He wants to be....then I run across a verse like Proverbs 20:24 and immediately feel the truth in that and let go and step forward and press on........

We serve an Awesome God!!!

Pleasant Sights

"Pleasant sights and good reports

give happiness and health."

Proverbs 15:30

Hey, here is a pleasant sight.......see the shadow.......that means

the sun is shining!!!

Which means the snow is beginning to melt.....slowly....but it is melting. See the gravel and grass through the snow?? The weather is changing. We have planned a "railing work day" for a week from this Saturday, that is Saturday the 16th. Please pray with us that all will go well!!