Cross Country Skiing

A few weeks ago Justin and I had the chance to spend a nice, relaxing weekend at the family cabin. I had never been there during the winter season and was excited to see the winter wonderland. There was snow everywhere, very beautiful. Besides spending some serious time in front of the fire with a book, I had the opportunity to go cross country skiing for the first time. I was surprised how timid I was a few times going down hill, no edges on the skis made them harder to control. But all in all, a pretty successful first time. Enjoy the pictures!

Biscuits and Gravy

I have always liked biscuits and gravy, and while living in Tennessee, was fortunate to have many opportunities to eat real, southern biscuits and gravy. Right before I moved, while shopping at Kroger, I found frozen packets of Bob Evan's Sausage Gravy. Heat it up, pour it over some Pillsbury's biscuits, and enjoy one of my favorite foods at home anytime. When I moved to Seattle, I looked high and low for a replacement, but to no avail. Even restaurants that served biscuits and gravy weren't as good as what I had in TN. And then one day at QFC, it happened. I found it! I wasn't even looking for it but its like it just stared at me from its shelf. Campbell's Country Style Sausage Gravy. So we bought it. And made it. And loved it! So if you are looking for a quick and easy biscuits and gravy meal, might I suggest Campbell's Sausage Gravy. You won't be disappointed.

Christmas Light Shows

This Christmas season we had the chance to go check out two local light shows. The first was displayed by a couple from our Sunday School Class (nice job Byers!). I believe this is the 3rd year he has done the display, each year fine tuning it even more. It featured 20,000 lights connected by 2,200 feet of extension cord and 94 independent channels to make each light turn on or off. We tuned in our car radio to a local station and the light show was coordinated with 4 Christmas songs and an excerpt from the Charlie Brown Christmas Special. Pretty spectacular show. Here is a picture with most of the lights on.


A few weeks later we checked out Woodinville Wonderland with a couple of friends. This display was in a more rural setting with more land and had two 30-minute radio shows to coordinate the lights. Apparently you can buy software to create your light show. Pretty impressive!

Check them out next year!

Oh Christmas Tree

DISCLAIMER: The flow of this entry is messed up! Pictures are in reverse order and should be after text, but alas, Blogspot is not being very helpful.

Its been quite awhile since I have blogged, but have been having some technical difficulties. I prefer to use Windows Live Writer for posting, but the program was uninstalled from our computer as we tried to remedy our Blue Screen Nightmare and now won't download. Another fatal error. So I am finally biting the bullet and posting through Blogspot, which will take a bijillion years! And probably have funky spacing and layout.

Justin and I have started a tradition for our Christmas tree, each year we want to cut one down. This may not sound like a unique tradition, but neither of us grew up having real trees at Christmas time and the excitement of going out and hunting for the perfect tree has a certain appeal. So we headed out to Mountain View U-cut Tree Farm in Maple Valley several weeks ago. (As in several weeks before Christmas, that's how behind I am on posting). The first time we cut a tree down, Scout was only about 5 months old and came along and was permitted to walk around with us as we chose our tree. But not at Mountain View. So we had to but him back in the car, after he thought he was going to run around and explore a new place. The poor guy was not thrilled.

So we headed off, dogless, in search for the perfect tree. We found one we liked after about 5 minutes, took a few pictures of it and then just as Justin was about to cut it, we thought, maybe there are some better ones, we haven't really looked very much. So we continued the search. And found another good one, and then another and another. But upon closer examination, each had some fatal flaw, like too tall, too short, uneven branches, etc. We finally decided on what we thought to be a great tree, despite a large lopsided branch at the bottom, and Justin chopped it down. Then we went to buy it, but they only took cash, which we didn't have. Luckily we were close to my in-laws and they quickly came to our rescue.

We headed home with tree in tow, Scout happily sniffing it up. When we tried to set it in the tree stand we encountered a roadblock, the giant extra branch at the bottom. So Justin chopped it off, but that left a large bare spot. So we had to keep rotating it to try and get an even side facing forward. Decorating progressed and as it did, we found more and more uneven and bare spots,thus prompting us to name it "Our Charlie Brown Tree." We came to terms with this, thinking it unique, our special tree.

Our next concern was the dog. We have only had one other live tree and Scout was never left alone with it. He stayed in his crate while we weren't home, but we have since stopped using his crate. Its not even in the house anymore since he is a good boy when we are away. Soundly sleeping on his kingsize Tempurpedic bed! We were a little concerned he'd knock it over, or knock ornaments off and break them. But he didn't and we were quite pleased.

And then it happened, at 5:15 a.m. 2 days after it had been put up, it tipped over and crashed to the floor, spilling water and ornaments all over the floor. One side was still too heavy. So we did some more trimming. But once you start, its hard to stop and before we knew it, there was a large bare area on the bottom. So then I had to try and redo some of the lights, which was tricky because the ornaments were more lateral than the lights. What an adventure! All in all it turned out just fine and was our unique tree.

Merry (belated) Christmas!

Wallace Falls

This morning we headed out for a day hike at Blanca Lake but as we continued on our drive, the weather was getting worse. We figured we wouldn’t have much visibility for the beautiful views so decided to do one we’d already done and that was even a little closer. Interestingly enough, it happened to be the first hike Justin and I ever did together, sort of, as a group activity with The Bridge, the young professionals ministry where we met. As usual, Scout was pretty excited to be out prancing around. Without paying much attention when we first started, we accidentally took the Railroad Trail for the first ~2 miles, which was pretty flat and easy going. Once it merged with the woodland trail, we had a easy-moderate climb to the Lower, Middle and Upper Wallace Falls. It rained a little off and on, nothing too bad. We enjoyed a packed lunch at the top and then headed back out. Here is the photo roundup.

And all tuckered out on the way home!

The Water Project

Did you know nearly 1 billion people in the world do not have access to clean water?  Access to clean water affects health, hunger, poverty and education.

Health begins with access to clean water. HIV/AIDS is a disease that just ravages the body’s immune system. How can you live with this disease if the water you drink is so dirty that even the healthiest of people, with intact immune systems, get sick? You cannot treat HIV/AIDS or even manage the symptoms if you do not have access to clean water. Having access to clean water can drop infant mortality rates by 50%. And people cannot work if they are sick. Many of the reasons that un-developed areas of the world remain so is that they are caught in a cycle of poverty that is often the result of very poor health and nutrition.

Relieving hunger in Africa has to begin with access to clean water. It may seem simple, but we forget that without water, food is impossible to grow and difficult to preserve and prepare. It takes huge amounts of water to grow food. Did you know it takes 2400 liters of water to produce a hamburger? 70 liters for an apple? 185 liters for a bag of chips? Water is fundamental to relieving hunger in the developing world

One of the greatest causes of poverty in Africa is the lack of access to clean drinking water.  Access to clean water is the foundation of all development. The lack of water is therefore an often insurmountable obstacle to helping oneself. You can't grow food, you can't build housing, you can't stay healthy, you don't go to school and you can't keep working. Without clean water, poverty is inevitable.

Everyday, women and young girls carry over 20kg of water from sources over 7km from their homes and villages in Kenya. This leaves little time for education which is critical to changing the long term prospects of developing nations. Schools cannot run programs if they cannot provide water to students, faculty and their families. Because so many adults are sick from unclean water, children are often left to manage homes, provide food and look after the sick. With the many additional burdens that a lack of clean water brings, education simply becomes less of a priority. This sets up an unfortunate cycle of poverty as without a proper education, there is little chance of improving one's situation later in life.

Take a few minutes to think about how many times you use water everyday, without even a thought! To take a shower, use the toilet, wash your hands, prepare food, drink! We literally have water at out fingertips and yet nearly 1billion people are without. Please consider making a donation to The Water Project, an organization that funds both the technical assistance and supplies needed for communities to build wells, small dams, rain catchment systems and/or water filters. For as little as $10, you can help provide water for a person for 10 years.  Consider making a donation in someone’s name this Christmas season.

“I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink.” Matthew 25:35

Click here to be directed to the secure donation site of The Water Project, a non-profit organization that's bringing relief to communities around the world who suffer needlessly from a lack of access to clean water.

Let's make water erupt from the floors of Africa and India .
And give men, women, boys and girls the gift water

Its wet out there!

Days off usually go better if the dog has been thoroughly exercised so we headed off to the dog park first thing this morning, with me in full body gortex. And it was raining. A lot. Like really a lot. And I think water, whether rain or swimming water, makes this dog crazy. It re-energizes him or something and he goes crazy. Pretty funny to watch.

This is him telling me to throw the ball.

Got it!

The agility!

Playing in the tall grasses, 2nd only to tennis balls. Wait, 3rd only to tennis balls and swimming.  Who am I kidding, food is first.

Attempting to shake off after a swim but not very successful when its POURING!

On the way home.

Hope everyone is staying warm and dry.