An Island Getaway

42 1/2 years ago this special couple took in a young university student

who was moving away from home 

to complete her studies.

It was an amazing year...

one that brought a young American into her life....

 and just 9 months later,

these two were married

for better or for worse....

and there has been lots of better

and not too much worse! :-)

 When that not so young man celebrated the first day of his retirement last week,

we decided to run away to this Island Getaway and enjoy some time with our old friends.

With views like these you can't help but relax.

 There was time to sit in the sun and read...

 and to enjoy just sitting on the window seats enjoying each other's company,

talking about the important things in our lives

and lots of time to play games and laugh together.

 

 We also went on an adventure...

 up the valley to the beautiful Qualicum Falls(these are the Lower Falls).

 There was lots of snow in the parking lot...

 and translated into very high water levels.

 It was beautiful!

 Breathtaking!

 Definitely a great time of enjoying the beautiful outdoors!

 Old friendships are the best because we have so much shared history,

so many memories,

so much laughter!

As we sat here at Qualicum Beach we marveled at God's amazing faithfulness

that had brought us safe thus far

and blessed us beyond belief!

Just Because

 

She knew that I had gone through several days of incredible pain,

and in particular one really rough day,

so she sent home this precious little bouquet,

just because......

Just because...

....she is thoughtful and kind

....she puts her thoughts into action

....we are friends who don't see each other enough

.....she is the hands of Jesus

and reaches out to the hurting...

Just Because....

and I am so blessed as a result!

Where I've Been

 

It's hard to believe that it's March already 

and I haven't written a new blog post since Christmas.

 So where have I been?

I struggled with whether to call it quits,

wondered if anyone would miss me,

 whether I would be relieved or sad not to be writing regularly 

after almost 11 years of doing this.

I read a lot, 

intentionally picking up some books that challenged my thinking,

that stretched me, 

that weren't always easy to read.

 Seeking the Face of God was the first one on the pile,

a challenging book based on the book of Psalms

that I would heartily recommend.

 Anonymous was a gift from a friend

who realizes that we are approaching a new season of our lives,

moving from being in leadership,

being known in ministry,

to a more hidden time.

Looking at the hidden years of Jesus was eye-opening.

 Fringe Hours came recommended by several friends

and I appreciated her look at how we as busy women of all ages

need to take back our fringe hours

and make time for ourselves.

I resonated with her three core questions that she says we must all answer...

Do you choose joy?

Will you celebrate your victories?

Are you thankful?

 

 Left Neglected by Lisa Genova,

who also wrote Still Alice,

is a moving look at what 'Traumatic Brain Injury' can do to a family.

 I also took some time to 're-create'...

 making cards out of photographs that I have taken.

 And we were blessed to spend time with good friends from our past...

 and I realized again that they enjoyed reading my blog posts,

seeing what was happening in our family

and watching it grow

along with hearing my heart and what God is doing in me.

 So for now I'm back,

not regular posts because that puts way too much pressure on me,

but I will write

and share,

and hopefully encourage you along the way.

The Blessing of Friendship

 Over the years we have been incredibly blessed by the friendship of special people that God has brought into our lives. This summer in particular, as Dave has been recuperating from his hip replacement surgery, we have had people bring meals, stop in to vacuum the house, bring his favorite Starbucks' drink and just call or drop in to say hello.

 This couple however have played a unique role in our lives the past couple of months.

We first met Steve and Nancy 15 years ago
when we were both celebrating our 25th anniversary on a Panama Canal Cruise.
Since then we have met all over the North American continent as our paths have crossed
and this summer they decided to volunteer at a Camp south of here

so that they could spend some of their weekends with us.

They had no idea at the time they made the decision that the timing would be absolutely perfect 

and would coincide with Dave's first 2 1/2 months of recovery from surgery.

 We have spent many long hours playing our favorite game,

Double Deck Pinochle...

(on this picture we girls were celebrating my '1000 Aces' hand!)

 ... have walked miles together as Dave has slowly extended his daily mileage
slowly at first and not very far...

 ...but eventually including an awesome afternoon stroll along the White Rock waterfront...

 ...and Fish and Chips at our favorite little restaurant.

 They were there for Dave's first excursion to go out for Ice Cream...

 ...and have helped us cheer on Aidan and his baseball team.

And on a particular Saturday afternoon 

they were there to welcome another couple to our home and table,

our mutual friends Tom and Ruth who were also on that original cruise with us,

and together we all celebrated 40 years of marriage!!

We have been so blessed by these our friends!

Visitors Big and Small

Although we are sometimes asked if we run a Bed and Breakfast because of all the visitors we have,

the answer is 'no'...not really!

But we do offer bed and breakfast to any and all friends that might stop by,

like our good friends Cliff and Edith who were here from the prairies,

and who we have walked this journey of life with over the past three decades.

 Oh how we laughed as we caught up over the days they were here.

 Then there is this 'Peeper Frog' that has taken up residence in our flowers this summer.

We love hearing his unique sounds.

 With the teachers on strike here in BC, I have had some unexpected time with our grandsons too

which is always fun!

Had to laugh at where these shoes were hung on Friday.

Our most recent guests were Ken and Grace

whom we have known for the past 40 years!!

Crazy, I know! We can't possibly be that old.

What fun it was to take them to White Rock

for their very first visit there ever.

What we didn't know is that it was the Weekend of the Moon Festival

and the pier was all decked out for the occasion.

Coming to a Street in Your Neighbourhood

 We have been blessed with the most amazing friends, literally from near and far!

 Steve and Nancy hail from California but live in their RV and stopped for a wonderful visit on their way home from spending the summer in Alaska....she blessed us with wonderful desserts...

 ...and for Sunday dinner they shared their Alaska salmon with us!

 We all enjoyed it, right down to our two grandsons!

But too soon it was time to say goodbye and they hooked up their truck to their rig...

 Tye, their dog, got right up into his seat for a better view while we joked about possibly meeting up in Texas next!

 Over the years we have met in places like California, Mexico, Wyoming, Minnesota and even Michigan!!!

.....and they are off! Headed to a street near you :-)

Friends Forever

While we were in Palm Springs, we took a day and headed east to Arizona where our good friends, Tom and Ruth spend their winters. 

As we drove we marveled at our friendship which has definitely stood the test of time!

 Ruth and I met and became friends when we attended the same church youth group about 45 years ago.
 
When we both got engaged to non-German men, well they had to meet and fortunately for us ladies, they became friends too!(which doesn't always happen so we are thankful and blessed that it did!)

 When our children came along, we continued to visit one another and even went camping together for several years in Campbell River on Vancouver Island. There we went salmon fishing, learned how to can salmon,made amazing memories together and dreamed about what it would be like when we all got older.

 Well we are definitely a lot older now and guess what? We are still good friends! In honor of our Campbell River days they even barbecued a salmon for dinner! So delicious!

The words of Winnie-the-Pooh are so true.  

"'We'll be friends for ever, won't we, Pooh?' asked Piglet. 

'Even longer,' Pooh answered."