Updates for 2006Q2 can be found in   http://www.bbtj.org/journals/vj2006Q2.html

Updates for 2006Q1 appear below with the latest information at the top.

Friday, March 31, 2006, 7:47am
The last day of the month.  Tomorrow we'll be an the second quarter of the year.  I wonder when the change to daylight savings time happens.  I always rely on other people to let me know.

Yesterday was an eventful day.  Mark had been looking at the weather reports as I've been hoping to go skiing again.  Wednesday was probably the nicest day but I was having my meeting.  Yesterday was supposed to be cloudy but acceptible.  Employee poeple can take a class.  Since we weren't sure what time the early busses run, Mark suggested I take the car; the road has been fairly clear now that spring is here.

So I took the car and made it up the mountain in time to join a class.  The instructor was very good; giving us clear instructions and helping us to see what we were doing wrong.  I still have a ways to go before I feel comfortable.  However, I believe I made progress. After lunch I went down again in the afternoon.  Drove over to the Sunrise ski area half mile down the road to check that out.  I'd never been to that section of the mountain.  But I was tired enough that I couldn't make myself give it a try.  So I bought myself something to drink and read in the car until time to pick Mark up.

Our storage business is having to kick people out because the city is making them put in a big water line (for fire safety) that goes throught the main road in and out.  This is in a newer part of town so I guess the city codes are finally reaching the area.  We'd gotten a letter that we had to vacate.  We've been parking the big truck in storage; we went over their to check out.  We're decided to give parking on the street behind us a try and save money.  The city rules say a person is suppose to move their vehicles every 48 hours.  But they told me that they don't run around marking tires; it's only if someone complains.  The next street is between two motels so hardly anyone goes there.  Ron, who lives in Space 20 next to where we parked said he'd keep an eye on it.

Then we went to the guitar store.  You'll remember I borrowed Chris' guitar which had a broken string.  The condition for borrowing was to buy a new string.  So we did that and then went to drop the guitar off.  Nobody was home but we left it anyway with a note.

When we got home we found that our new neighbor had arrived.  A couple of days ago the cable installer had shown up; he was being confused since nobody was in the spot.  Fortunately the office manager was outside so I asked her--that's when I found out someone was going to be put next to us.  Guess he made better time from Arizona than expected since he wasn't due for several more days.  He must have a different RV this year because this doesn't fit the description and is a lot bigger than what I expected from Darlene's description.  Once he got his slides out, his wall is about 3 feet from ours.  These are small spaces and we are farther over because there's a tree we have to avoid.  I did have a "view" from my window and now I'm looking at a wall.  The last two people who were in the next spaces temporarily we smaller.  So I'm a little bummed.  However, I'll open the front curtain and turn my head to the left occasionally to look out.  To the north I can see all the way across the shopping center parking lot to the Chinese restaurant a block down.  I've been happier being in town so I'm not going to complain.  Robert seems like a nice man, says he's hardly ever home and is quiet when he is.  So we should get along fine.

This evening we may go check out a "church" called the Red Barn.  We don't know much about them other than they believe in the leading of the Holy Spirit--and they meet on Friday evening.  My friend Linda has visited there and said she likes it.  However, they attend Westside Church because the girls are involved in the teen activities.

I'm going to sign off for the day.  I have a long list of things to do today so I'd better get on my way.

Wednesday, March 29, 2006, 6:17pm
Our printer cartridges still haven't arrived.  I was told they'd ship out the replacement Friday by Fedex 2nd day (for Tuesday arrival).  When I called on Monday, they told me it was shipped out Priority Mail (which is as good as Fedex 2 day) and didn't go out until Monday.  They couldn't explain why they lied to me.  The supervisor I talked to said they always ship Postal.  I did get a tracking number but it didn't arrive today like they supposedly claimed.  And the original package still hasn't shown up either.  We had to go out and buy a black cartridge on Monday evening when the ink finally died in the middle of a print job.  They'll all get used but  but it's disgusting that either set of packages hasn't arrived.

Our Planning meeting for our April Stonecroft event (I had several pages I needed to print for that) went well this afternoon.  We had a small group this time but they were lively and gave good input.  Everyone was excited that the meeting last Friday went so well.  We finalized the plans for the April Tea and made basic plans for May.  Hopefully I'll get a call back about a Feature.  A feature is a secular presentation about a business/service/hobbie, etc.; something that might be informative and entertaining.  The second half of the program is the speaker who presents the gospel.

This afternoon I went over to the Celebration Community Church which I had visited a couple of months ago.  The pastors recognized me and said they'd been announcing the CWC meetings and thanks for leaving the invitations.  This pastoring couple seems real nice.  I'm beginning to feel like a resident when people recognize me.  I actually ran into two sets of people I knew at Walmart on Sunday.  That hasn't happened before.

I've been going through my emails.  I've been behind on doing that.  It's always encouraging to send out our newsletter and hear back from our readers/friends.  This morning I got an email from friends who have Tim Greenwood Ministries in California; I've known them since 1973 when we were a lot younger.  

Tuesday, March 28, 2006, 10:45am
Whew, March is nearly over.  Seems to me like 2006 is just swooshing through the months.  Linda and I are working on the May program for the Christian Women's Club, trying to keep ahead.  I have a call in to the Extension service as they provide speakers. Our theme for May is Springtime in the Country so we thought something about gardening would be appropriate.  The main speaker is Dolores Booher.  Apparently they had one of these country dinner and show businesses.  The Boohers had 8 musical children so are well known in this area.

It's been such a nice day.  It's going slowly and I'm getting a number of things done.  I've been making followup phone calls to the new people who came to the March meeting. Obviously the men were first timers; I've talked to a couple who said they had a really good time.  That's rewarding to hear.  I still have letters to get out to the vendors as thank yous and for a receipt of their expenses.

Big 5 Sporting Goods finally responded to the message I left asking about status of our request for a donation.  Evidently it may take up to 6 weeks for them to get around to all the requests and therefore I'll probably get a letter saying sorry there wasn't enough response time.  I'm disappointed but now we know.

I've been doing studies about Heaven and Hell.  I guess I've been naive. It's amazing how many different beliefs there are, not only about that but all the different doctrines that religion takes seriously.  I've always thought there were a few doctrines that the foundational and that many other ideas are only teachings of men.  Apparently denominations don't even  share the same viewpoint about foundational doctrines.  Of course, why am I surprised.  In the NT, the Pharisees and Saducees didn't agree even though they were both Jews.  We have various translations and versions of the Bible. They came up with what they thought was the best rendering of a verse.  But that certainly would have been colored by the translators' past and beliefs.  I guess that's why we need the Holy Spirit; to help us sort out what we believe and why.

I've got bread in the bread maker.  That'll provide additional warmth to the house.  

Sunday, March 26, 2006, 8:30am
Mark and I have been married 19 years and 10 months today.  We're looking forward to having our 20th anniversary.  Friends who also married in May have suggested that we celebrate our anniversary together. Sounds like a plan to me.  Mark once brought home (from a trip) a pillow that says "Happiness is being married to your best friend."  I'm glad he feels that way.

Despite the snow we have yesterday morning, Mark went over to diagnose Truckster's latest problem.  That's our big storage truck.  We haven't been able to get it started.  It drove okay in February when he took it up to Mt Bachelor to do the oil change.  But a couple of weeks ago, when it was time to drive again, it wouldn't start.  The battery we bought last week didn't help; the battery was getting weak so it won't be wasted.  The problem turned out to be a faulty glow plug relay.  We called the several auto places in town.  The only one in stock also was the least expensive of prices quoted.  So Mark got it and we put it in.  Then we drove the truck back over to where we live.  Mark thought he'd drive up the mountain today to give it a good drive and go skiing (if the weather is good).

Friday, March 24, 2006, 9:37pm
The rain held off until after our meeting last night.  Which was well attended; we had almost 70 people when it was all said and done.  The meeting went well for all our hard work.  The skit went over.  I was playing a hillbilly who wanted to audition for the April concert.  I came in singing "On top of spaghetti, all covered with cheese, I lost my poor meatball when somebody sneezed." It wasn't hard to sing off key.  People laughed at all the right places.  I don't think I'm going to be able to top that one.  Thanks to Chris for loaning me the guitar.

I finished the skit with the hostess telling me I should dress up to attend the concert so I stepped out of Mark's coveralls with my nice black dress, put on my high heels and my "girly hat" with the veil.  Linda told me afterwards that that she hadn't known I had such great legs.  That I always wear baggy t-shirts.     That's the first time in my life anyone has ever told me I have good legs.  It's been wintertime so mostly she's seen me in jeans.  

Mark got roped into introducing the speaker.  So I got to introduce him.  To tie our part into the hunting and fishing, I told about Mark getting his first (and last moose) at age 10, so he thought "what's the big deal."  Mark grabbed the mike and said "packing it out."

I ended up with the meal tickets.  Two of the men said they prayed with the speaker tonight.  We haven't had any decisions for Christ here in Bend for months.    That's very exciting. The speaker had a very moving story about how he came to know Christ as his Savior.  I hope these men will see a changed life.

The whole evening was delightful.  We had a fairly good turnout.  Many of the older ladies didn't want to come out in the evening, especially if they weren't married.  I hope those that attended will tell their friends how fun it was.  Steve Mathers is a hunting outfitter; Gary Lewis is a outdoor writer and photographer.  They told some amusing stories as the special feature which turned out fun rather than boring to those that aren't interested in hunting and fishing.

The Planning Team ladies seemed to really realize how much work Linda and I put into this activity.  Many came over and told us how well it went and we did a good job.  So that was gratifying.

Friday, March 24, 2006, 6:06am
It sure felt funny to wake up this morning and not have the empty space in my front teeth. It's been trying to rain but looks like it is clearing off to the east.  There's actually some color in the sky.  I'm writing early because I have a lot to do today including , I hope, taking a nap.  

We had 63 people signed up as of yesterday afternoon for our Stonecroft activity.  This is an opportunity for the men who come with their wives to hear the Gospel.   Our speaker is a man whose marriage was down the tubes because of his alcoholism. His wife spoke last year; I heard her in LaPine.  I can't remember what happened so that he learned about the Lord.  But sure changed his life.

Normally our meetings are for women but this is a guest night.  Many of the older ladies didn't want to come at night and may not have had anyone they felt they could invite. The Bend group deteriorated into a senior women's social club.  Linda and I are trying to change that.  However, we really need to be meeting in the evening as so many of the younger women work so aren't available during the day.  Susan who is helping me with my skit can't come during the day.  It's nice that she's being gung-ho for this meeting.

I've got more calls to make today.  One of which is to call up to bug the people from whom we ordered our printer ink cartridges.  They still haven't shown up.  I did get my printing done yesterday.  I have two more pages I need to print today after I get some final information.  So hopefully the ink will last that long.  It's been giving me very low ink messages for several days.

Thursday, March 23, 2006, 6:26pm
I sure had a day.  I spent a good portion of the day on the phone.  Some with friends but mostly taking care of assorted business.  Linda and I were calling the vendors who will be at our Sportsman's Fair tomorrow evening.  Then I got a call from Wanda Sousa asking if my article for next month's Newberry Eagle had gone in.  She's potentially going to have surgery so wanted to take her name out and put someone else as the RSVP contact.  I called the Newberry Eagle; they were on the point of going to press.  I'm supposed to get a call back to tell me if they were able to make the change.

You may remember that I broke off my front bottom tooth a while back.  I've also been having problems with my gum where the crown we had put on last spring is.  I was able to get in to a dentist today.  I do need a root canal.  Fortunately they can go through the crown so we only have to pay for a filling (besides the rc).  But the dentist was interested in my toothlessness and got excited when I said I had the tooth with me.  He drilled around, put a post in and glued on the cap.  So I can go to the meeting tomorrow without a gap in my teeth.  He did tell me I'll need to be very careful in the future as obviously this is a weak tooth.

I won't be chewing on the first loaf of bread I made this morning.  When I went to take it out, it wasn't very big and I realized that I'd left out the yeast.  I feel bad because of wasting ingredients.  Mark says he can eat it.  I won't chance it because of my teeth.  I started another loaf to be baking while I was at the dentist; it'll be out shortly.  It takes 3 hrs, 48 minutes for this particular recipe.

Wednesday, March 22, 2006, 8:10pm
Mark and I have been watching a movie called What the Bleep Do We Know . That sounds pretty raunchy.  But it doesn't have bad language.  It's more of a documentary than a "movie" as there is limited plot and scientists are giving a commentary throughout.  It's about quantum physics.  While I don't agree with everything they say (they obviously don't all share my beliefs about God), it is true that God set life and its processes in motion.  The main point of the film is that much of what we perceive as true comes from our thoughts and emotions rather than reality.

That is what we believe in our mind becomes our reality.  Sort of the Pavlov's dog thing.  The dog salivates when the bell rings even though there isn't any food.  They went into details of how the body works.  It has been proven that the body produces chemicals that are not good for us when we have negative thought processes.  Cells respond to these chemicals which basically means those cells have been compromised.  No wonder I have health problems.  I have to admit that I have been very negative and critical during my life.  I've been learning how to take every thought captive.

There's a scripture that I can't find right now that says that people know God through the testimony of the creation.  This film actually tied in very well with a belief in God. Most of the scientists seemed to think there had to be a higher being even though they didn't address the topic as would a follower of Jesus.

Frank Neeley sent me an email with a story about frogs that were having a race to a top of the hill.  Everyone kept saying they weren't going to make it.  Eventually all dropped out except one determined little frog.  At the finish line, they found out this frog was deaf so hadn't heard all the negative pronouncements.  The moral of the story is: Always be positive.  And above all: Be DEAF when people tell You that you cannot fulfill your dreams!  Always Think: God and I can do this!

Wednesday, March 22, 2006, 7:02am
Two days in a row with morning temperature above freezing!  That probably won't last but should help the electric bill a little. Yesterday we had sun along with snowflakes for a few minutes.  LaPine has been having snow on the ground.  I'm grateful that we relocated to Bend.  Just got Mark off to work so I'm starting my morning activities on the computer to get a jump on the day.

Yesterday wasn't one of my better days.  I didn't sleep well Monday night so moved to the couch and got cold.  When I woke, my neck muscles were hurting. I was a little queasy.  I believe it was an aftermath of the skiing.  I felt better after breakfast but did take it a little easy yesterday.  Worked on newsletters so have more ready to go into the mail today.  I'd arranged to meet Susan Burson who is helping me with the skit on Friday.

On my way to the Shilo Inn where I was to meet Susan, I took a detour to locate the Post Office on 4th Street.  It was near to the building where we attended services on Sunday. My Bible  (in a nice case) is missing so I detoured by the Black Horse.  Talked to the waitress who said she didn't see it when she cleaned up.  I'd been sure that I had taken it with me.  We went to Walmart after that to get a battery for the truck.  Since the pickup doesn't lock, it's possible that someone took it although nothing else seems to be missing.  I've searched the house so if it is here, I don't know where.  The Bible was my Parallel KJV/New Living Translation which I really liked.  If this one doesn't turn up  I'll have to do without and use my other Bibles.

We're awaiting our order of printer cartridges.  Although the website implied Fed Ex, it turns out the order was sent by mail and they left off our space number.  Hopefully the mailman will figure out who we are instead of returning it.  The printer gives a low ink message; I have several things I need to print out before Friday.

Monday, March 20, 2006, 4:46pm
We've have a wonderful few days.  As I wrote on Saturday, Mark was able to go skiing with his brother.  I worked on addressing newsletters.  I didn't get to the postoffice today for stamps.  Hope to do that tomorrow so the first bunch can go out.  I plan to get some more done this evening.  Mark ended up having dinner at Chris's house.  It wasn't planned but they kept hanging out, watched a movie.  I'd called the house just as they'd arrived; I told Mark I wouldn't worry about his dinner until I saw the whites of his eye.  So I fed myself and enjoyed a quiet evening.

Mark did bring me Chris's guitar for which I'd asked to borrow.  It's been in the back of my mind to try it and he'd offered it before.  I've written a skit for this coming Friday's night's Stonecroft activity.  Our April activity is a piano and harp concert.  I'm planning to come in strumming the guitar but I'm a "hick" wanting to audition for the concert. Hopefully it will be funny.

The person who has been doing nametags for our Stonecroft meetings resigned today. I don't know what we are going to do.  For some reason "they" think we have to have fancy printed name tags.  It will be interesting to hear what Pat, the area rep thinks.  If we don't have anyone to do it, then ...  I don't want to be nasty but Linda and I don't need to take on that task, too.

Mark and I our down to dregs on our black ink.  He ordered some but the package hasn't shown up.  I just hope thye arrive before Friday since I do have things that need to be printed before our meeting.

Then yesterday, we did have the chance to go to the Church at the Black Horse Saloon. which is a Biker Bar.  We walked in and said we'd come to hear Preacher Bob.  They directed us to the restaurant section.  We joined another couple at a table; they filled us in on the usual schedule.  They were ordering breakfast; I settled for a cup of tea.  The room began to fill up and eventually a man started playing contemporary gospel music.  Preacher Bob spoke.  Part of it was his testimony of how he grew up in religious organizations, made a mistake and then it seemed like everyone turned on him.  So he spent a number of years being a major sinner if no one would believe that he'd repented of the original mistake.  Eventually he hit bottom and came back to God.  We stayed afterwards and visited with some people who were lunching in the restaurant.

A really neat thing happened!  A young man approached the table and said he'd heard the men talking in the restroom.  He is a soldier, just got back from Iraq and was struggling as a Christian with having killed people.  So he wanted to get some input.  I hope he really wasaas encouraged as he seemed.  He called goodbye as our group left the building.

Today, I went skiing. Mark looked at the weather forecast and said today was supposed to be a clear day but the rest of the week is now being forecasted for snow.  So I did stuff this morning early and caught the 11:15 bus up the mountain and came home on the 2:00pm.  I think I'm getting a little better but still am not confident.  I've been sticking to the one beginner slope.  I got the lift men to slow the lift down.  The first time I went up they had it going so fast that I almost couldn't get off in time.  Certainly a learning experience.

Sunday, March 19, 2006, 5:58pm
Mark has posted the February/March 2006 News Letter to this website.

Saturday, March 18, 2006, 11:07am
It's being a quiet day.  Mark has gone skiing with his brother.  They've been wanting to do that but it just hasn't worked out.  It's a nice day here in Bend and was supposed to be sunny on the mountain.

I got home from my meeting well after bedtime.  It was almost midnight when I crawled into bed.  Mark roused enough to tell me that he had to get up early today.  I woke up even before the alarm.  So my night was rather short.  So I elected to stay home and putter around here.  I've made several phone calls; one to a friend with whom I've recently gotten back in contact.  It's been wonderful how God has been bringing people from the past back into our lives.

I just had "brunch" and will head out for a walk shortly, now that it has warmed up a little with the sun out.  We were 25 degrees this morning and it takes a while to warm. One of the ladies who has started coming to our Stonecroft activities lives just over a block away from me; they just moved here from Portland.  Hopefully we can walk together some if schedules can coincide.  She says she does power-walking so she might leave me in the dust.

Our meeting yesterday evening was fun.  I decided I was just going to go with the flow and enjoy it--rather than thinking of all the things I could be doing instead.  I noticed I wasn't the only one starting to feel dozy during the prayer time which was later than my usual bedtime.  After the general encouragement section of the meeting, they divided us groups according to our job description.  The specific information wasn't really new but we did get to talk among ourselves to share questions and experiences.  That was beneficial. Prineville did a health and beauty fare in January so this morning she sent me some files they put together to organize the vendors.

I don't think I told you that they'd said we should wear our pajamas.  My sister tells me that lounging around in "cute" pajamas is the latest rage among young people.  While most of the ladies didn't have enough nerve, several of us made the attempt.  Everyone liked my bear claw slippers that Mark surprised me with at the end of our 2001 trip to Alaska.  He saw me admiring them when we were looking for gifts for our nieces.  I'd tried them on but couldn't justify getting them.

Friday, March 17, 2006, 7:13am
This is St. Patrick's Day, not something to which I've ever paid much attention.  Mt Bachelor is letting the employees eat lunch free today so I didn't have to make Mark a lunch.  They actually were served a sub sandwich at the shop the other day.  Mark came home that day saying that he hadn't eaten his lunch.  So he took the same thing the next day and they had more sandwiches.  He insisted on taking it again on Wednesday; I told him to be sure to sniff it thoroughly.  Most of it wasn't stuff that would readily spoil; not meat or mayonnaise.

This evening is a training session for Stonecroft.  I've need to do some laundry today as the outfit I'd like to weat this evening is in the wash.  A number of the Stonecroft outreach groups have new officers so they wanted to get everyone together to talke about job duties, policies, etc.

I'm off shortly to get our BBtJ newsletter printed.  I should have taken it yesterday when I went out.  But I didn't.  I want to start getting them mailed this weekend.   Mark hasn't had time to get it up on the web or send the email version.  I will let you know when it is up.  At least the weekend is coming up.

Wednesday, March 15, 2006, 5:10pm
Mark just got home.  He missed the Home Fire and Rescue people who were installing smoke alarms.  Although ours still works (in theory as it shreaks when you hold down the testing button), they insisted on putting up a new one--with a long life battery--since our alarm is an older model.  They let me keep the old one to install somewhere up front.

We had the Prayer Connection today with the Stonecroft ladies.  It went fairly well.  Pat came and she always makes our meetings lively.  She asked for some Praise time so we could thank God for the good things that are happening in our lives.  It's always good to do that, turning our focus definitely upward.

I got most of the CWC invitations out today.  There's only a few more days before the RSVP deadline.  Mark is taking some up to the Shop; he said a number of the guys are interested in hunting and fishing.  We've already got 43 people signed up; most of the reservations come in during the last week.  So we shall see.  Esther reported that one lady picked up our trifold invitation some place and insisted that Esther record her name as wanting to come in April and May as well.  So the advance information certainly my be helpful to those who can't come in March but would see info about future months.  I took a prototype of the April meeting with me to the Prayer Connection today for proofing and comments.  Virginia Zimmerman volunteered to fold them--once I get them printed and to her.  She offered that I could leave them at her church which is a halfway point and she could come pick them up when she's out rather than me driving to the far west side of town.  That was nice of her considering she's 80 something years old.  Of course, the 86 year old lady offered to let me leave them at her house so she could help.  We're going to print 300 which is all the paper Staples had; they said I can order more online.  I'm asking God how many extra packages of paper we should order.

I ran over to Grocery Outlet to by "Kleenex" and found Amy's organic pizza for $3.99. So guess what we are having for supper!  Then I need to run over to the Bend Senior Center about 6:30pm.  The Flyfishing club is meeting tonight.  They said they'd announce our activity if I bring some invitations.

One of our acquaintances had told us about someone known as "Preacher Bob."  I ran into Cher the other day and was able to get more information from her.   Apparently this small group meets a couple of times a week for study and spirit-led worship.  Mrs. Preacher Bob answered my call and explained that they actually meet at the Black Horse Saloon.  Talk about being "out of the box."  She told me about another group that meets at a house that looks like a barn on Friday evening; they call themselves the Red Barn.  If Mark and I have a chance to visit these groups, we'll let you know. 

Monday, March 13, 2006, 7:57pm
I didn't realize that it has been so long since I did an entry.  Needless to say, I have been keeping busy.  I'll try to recount some of the things I've been doing.  Mostly it's been stuff for Stonecroft.

We've been trying to finalize things for the Sportsman's Fair that is going to be on the 24th.  We printed more flyers/invitations so I've started putting those out.  I wish I'd been able to get started earlier but had to wait for Linda to do a new master.  We wanted to add the additional vendors we'd accumulated  The ladies are getting more enthusiastic about helping now that it's getting closer to the time of the activity.  One husband took the invitations to BiMart and Sportman's Warehouse so I didn't have to do that.  I asked Louise how did he get it in BiMart since they don't have a bulletin board.  She said they have a counter in the sports section.  So I got brave and accosted one of the workers in Walmart's sports section.  One learns from every experience.

For instance, I should have written down phone numbers instead of just addresses on my list today.  Bend has streets that are NW and SW.  I found an address but the building had a different name on the sign.  I was running out of time so I didn't stop.  Later wished I had because it was the right place.  Evidently they have two businesses in the same building but there's some zoning rule where they can't put both business names on their sign.  I've never encountered that before.  If I'd had the phone number, I could have verified I really was in the correct location.  I'll zoom by there tomorrow.

This evening we took Amy Castano out to dinner.  She works at Mt Bachelor directing people into the lift lines.  Mark had introduced us because she is going to be the resident artist at the Tiger Lily in April.  Amy is a photographer and has wonderful pictures from a trip to Japan. The Tiger Lily has Asian products; the owner was excited when she met Amy and invited her to do a show.  I would say that is a blessing from God.

Saturday, March 11, 2006, 8:30pm
Every so often I put in our names to see where we are mentioned on the web.  From just typing in Bolzern, I found a number of Bolzerns listed.  We've never met Paolo, Gunter, etc.  but they must be distant relatives.  Ron and Noelle (Mark's brother and sister-in-law) made the news.  They found a dead black widow spider in some imported grapes Noelle had bought.  They turned in that information to the appropriate health department.  Something like that is certainly a concern.  It was also interesting to find a web forum on archaeology on which Mark's mother had written a comment.  Naturally, that was several years ago but it was sort of a shock to have her name pop up.

Wednesday, March 8, 2006, 3:44pm
Got back from the Tea Planning Meeting.  It went well.  We had a good turnout; the ladies were enthusiastic, gave good suggestions, and volunteered to help in many areas. Reflecting on the success of the meeting made me think about other blessings I've/we've had recently.  

1.  Wade at Fair's Diesel noticed our makeshift lens covers.  (When we were in Amarillo last year, someone broke the covers over the tail lights on Bussie.  Two were completely shattered. We taped on a plastic cover over it so we could pass inspection.)  One of the issues is that many of the lens covers we've seen for purchase don't have the same number of screw holes.  Wade checked an old school on their property and gave us the two covers that matches our needs.  What a blessing!!!!

2.  Some friends gave us some home made jams and home canned fruits and vegetables plus other odds and ends to stretch the budget.

3. I found a gas station today that hadn't yet raised their prices.  (Every station I drove by today was about 10 cents higher.)

4. A new woman at our Tea Planning meeting today offered to help me with a skit to advertize the April Tea.

5. Jan Mathers gave me use of her washer and dryer to wash Mark's grungy coat and coveralls after the week he helped work on Bussie's motor.  She also has offered to loan me a book I've been wanting to read and review when she gets it back from someone else.

6.  Since we were away from our space for a week, we didn't use any electricity which balanced out the abundant usage during the extreme cold spell in mid-February.

7.  The last two packages of mail have included letters from friends with whom we hadn't been in touch lately.  That was so exciting to hear from them.

It's easy to focus on negative things.  I feel much better when I take those thoughts captive and concentrate on all the positive things going on around me.

Wednesday, March 8, 2006, 7:59am
Just finishing up things this morning so I can get ready to go out. Mark and I are almost finished with the hard copy of the newsletter.  I would have liked to have taken it for copying today when I go get our CWC invitations.  

As for those, we have already given out most of the 350 we originally printed.  Linda took a new master with updated info about the vendors we have for the Sportsman's Fair.  I'll pick up the copies on my way to the Tea Planning Committee meeting.  Since the ladies seem more excited about that than the Sportsman's Fair, she's trying to get them organized to plan that while we finish up this March meeting.  We are hoping we are going to have new people for both these activities.  We are targeting the special interest groups and getting out the information rather than being passive in our advertising.  Last month we had 10 new people.  I only know for sure that 3 responded from advertising rather than being someone's guest.  But I thought that was pretty good considering.  And if 7 people brough guests, that's better than the ladies have been doing.

The latest book I've been reading is A Brooklyn Jew Meets Jesus by Albert Runge. It is so interesting because of his different background.  Plus to have someone write frankly about their how he developed his personal relationship with God and Jesus.

Tuesday, March 7, 2006, 6:56pm
I went to the meeting this morning.  I hadn't been sure exactly what it was about.  Turned out to be the meeting of the people who write the editorial page.  That was certainly interesting.  The daughter of the family who owns the newspaper (Dad died recently) was in the meeting so that added to the color.  They discussed some of the main issues that were in todays paper, both national and local.  I don't get a paper regularly so I learned more news today than I normally hear.

I asked the man who seemed to be in charge how I would go about asking if I could meet the man who oversees the community calendar and datebook.  He said he'd go see if he was at his desk.  So I met Jeff.  I mentioned the April Stonecroft meeting is going to include a concert.  He concurred that we might want to have a blurb mentioning that.  I said I write an article for the Newberry Eagle each month and could adapt it for this; he said to go ahead and send it.  Which doesn't mean that they'll print it as I write it.  But it was nice that he said to send it in.

I have begun putting out the March invitations for our next Christian Women's Club.  It will be interesting to see how many people actually come.  We expect that some of the ladies who normally come won't because they don't have husbands and aren't interested in outdoor sports.  So we hope that by getting invitations out to the various interest groups, we will have some new people who will come.  If we have couples who come, then that will fill in.

The big thing I've been working on is oiling the woodwork inside Bussie.  I haven't done well with that over the past two years.  So that's one of my current projects.  I'm almost finished with a first fun of the whole house.  There are areas that where the wood is dryer so I want to go over those again.

Monday, March 6, 2006, 7:50pm
I saw the Pacific Power meter reader today.  I wonder if the meter is read on the first Monday of the month.  I've been trying to figure it out.  I keep an eye on the meter so I can estimate what the bill will be.  We were gone for a week; however, we had that extremely cold weather so we used a lot of electricity to keep warm.  So my guess is that it averages out.

Sunday morning, Mark decided he'd like to go to Breitenbush Hot Springs.  That's a resort and conference center about 90 miles from Bend.  Several people have told us about it.  They are always looking for workers so that might be a possibility some day.  It's a"back to nature" place so is sonewhat primitive.  I mean that they run with hydropower so electricity is limited.  It's not the place to go if one is looking for the latest technology.  They cater to people that want to "get away from it all."  I do agree that that is the place to do it.

But they also have other activities.  Portland Parks & Rec sponsored a Cross Country Ski Weekend which was taking place when we were there.  We talked to one lady who was there for that; she said the trails were great.  And then it was wonderful to come back after a day of skiing and soak in the hot springs.

We arrived about noon.  Walked around a little to see what there was to see before lunch.  They serve vegetarian mostly organic meals.  That was interesting to see how creative the meal was.  It was their Asian Lunch with a hot soup, noodles, rice and a tofu dish to put over the noodles or rice.  They also had a salad bar.  They had a delicious red pepper salad dressing.  The only beverage was herbal tea.

Larry Pattis , an acoustical guitarist, was giving a concert that evening. After lunch  he played in the main room of the lodge as a preview.  Mark let me enjoy that while he went back to the car to get our miscellaneous stuff.  Our plan was to spend time relaxing in the hot springs for a while. I get bored after a while unless I've got something to read.  We did talk to other people who were there.  Which was interesting to meet new people and find out about them.  Eventually, I got out and went for another walk.  That was kind of nice to be out in real nature yet feel safe. 

The rest of the weekend, we more or less puttered around.  Mark went over to storage to see if he could take Truckster for a drive.  It wouldn't start and we are currently surrounded by other vehicles so he couldn't get close enough to jump it.  We'll have to try for another day.

Friday, March 3, 2006, 11:18am
Another week is coming to a close.  It's been a lively one.  Although I feel like I don't have a lot to show for it.

Of course it took time to settle in again after having been gone a week.  That sounds odd considering we were in our RV the whole time.  But it does upset the normal schedule.  Plus I added cleaning up to the list.  Mark asked me if I could clean the outside of the bus as there were/are numerous greasy fingerprints.  So I've been going out a little each day to work on that.  Once I get the prints off, I'd like to wash the whole outside.

I was talking with Jan Mathers at my meeting yesterday.  She invited me to come do laundry at her house.  I'd expressed the need to get Mark's coveralls, coat, hat, etc. clean after all the work on the motor.  She said her husband drills wells so get groady so it wouldn't hurt her washer.  So I took two regular loads of wash, Mark's stuff plus the mats we had on the floor.  I soaked them with the Orange Fast hand cleaner we used and were amazed at the results.  You have to look twice at the carpet mat to see there's still some darkish sposts.  There are still a couple of spots on Mark's coat that I plan to treat again today.  It'll also need to fluff up in the dryer.

While the clothes were washing, we were able to talk.  It was neat to find out how much we have in common.  We did talk further about my speech.  I also want to prepare a talk that includes the fact of the cancer that I am enduring.  I didn't mention that in my previous speech but I feel that now is the time to talk about it.  Jan gave some good suggestions on how to include that without it dominating the talk.  My main focus that I want to have in this new speech is how my health situations has made me appreciate life and also the strengthening of my relationship with God because of the affliction.

Jan also took me over to Costco.  We don't have a card any more.  Since we can't store bulk products any more and for two years we lived places with no Costco nearby, we gave up our card.  However, it's nice to go on occasion to get a few things.

The First Friday Art Walk is this evening.  Mark said he'd meet me at the Lahaina Gallery in the Old Mill District.  We like starting there because they usually have interesting hors d'oeuvres.  There's a shuttle that makes a circuit between the Old Mill District and downtown.

Wednesday, March 1, 2006, 5:00pm
Mark will be home shortly.  I've started working on dinner.  I like to have it ready soon after he comes home so we don't go to bed on a full stomach.  Because we get up so early, we try to be in bed by 9:00pm.

Did I tell you that the Bend Christian Writers group has been invited to "observe" an editorial meeting at the Bend Bulletin?  The editor-in-chief had spoken at one of our meetings.  I'm hoping I can meet the people I've spoken with regarding the announcements for the Christian Women's club.

We had a Bend CWC Leadership meeting in the morning and then at noon, the entire planning team met.  That made for a long day.  Although I had a lunch with me, I never was able to fit eating it into the schedule.  So I was pretty wiped when I got home a little while ago.  We did get a lot accomplished today.  Linda and I feel a lot better about some of the plans being made.  We were kind of worried about the Tea that is being planned for April.  We are hoping that several women will be able to bring their china.  I would but mine is in storage and difficult to reach.

Monday, February 27, 2006, 1:55pm
We're home!!!   Obviously we didn't get home on Saturday.  We did get the motor running but didn't quite get everything finished that day, including getting the hitch welded back.  That had to be cut off for some reason.

There wasn't much to finish up Sunday morning.  We drove Bussie up to Redmond and then back to Bend to give it a workout and test drive including filling up the diesel tank.  We were back and into our space about noon.  That gave us plenty of time to do other stuff.  We wanted to cover up the vents in the rear (where the water came in); we still will check the air filters as part of our routine in the future.  Naturally, one of the first things we did was to put up the satellite.  It was a long week without email.

Three neighbors came out to greet us upon our return.  That was neat to have people come right over to see how things were going.  Two of them had known about our motor problem; the other had noticed our absence and thought maybe we'd pulled out for good. It was nice to be missed.

Saturday, February 25, 2006, 11:52am
Yes, we are still at the garage. It's been slow going this week.  We're still hoping to get home by this evening.  Mark had to go look for hoses.  I stayed here to putter around.

I had a nice talk with my Aunt Maxine  She was involved with Stonecroft Ministries when youngest son was a toddler.  She began teaching so could no longer go to daytime activities on a regular basis.  It was fun to talk to her about the activities, including some of the big conferences, she has attended over the years.  Maxine excouraged me about my speech and was excited that I have been scheduled to speak in Bend and Prineville for August.

This morning we had the joy of locating the panel from the bedroom into the engine compartment.  A hose was kinked and it trying to fix that, Mark nicked an oil hose. That's why he went off to look for new hoses.  We pulled out the mattress (and all the covers), then unscrewed the plywood that makes up the top of the box on which the mattress sits.  The water pump is under the bed.  At the head of the bed but lower than one sees when the mattress is on it, there's a panel.   Unfortunately, one can't get to that panel without taking everything apart.  But now we know for future reference.

Thursday, February 23, 2006, 10:21am
I called my friend Beverly at the Drumond House in Hominy, OK this morning.  That's an advantage to our travel; we become friends with people all over the country.  And Jan who I worked with at Cascade Meadows this past summer.

I am enjoying having some down time this morning.  This is an opportunity to do some cleaning.  I defrosted the refrigerator this morning.  I will do the freezer once we get back to our space.  Then I can sit the stuff outside.  I could have done that here but I'm not very organized.  The refrigerator needed the cleaning more than the freezer.  I've also been thoroughly dusting the house.  With all the computers down, this is an opportunity to dust the various ledges and corners without having to be careful not to knock over Mark's laptops.  Normally when we are parked, Mark has the driver's area set up as his office. The big computer and printer are in my area, part of the "living room."

I got out my piano music and have been enjoying playing the piano.  Most of my music is packed away but it's nice to be able to play what I have.  My sister sent me some sheet music recently.  It's neat to be able to have some quiet time to worship God in a slightly different way.  

Mark says that they are starting to put the motor back together.  It's a big job.  Evidently three rods were broken and the piston sleeves.  The thought is to finish up tomorrow. Wade hasn't been able to devote 100% of his attention to our motor so it's been slow going.  It would be nice if we could be back in our space tomorrow evening.

Mark has gotten our water system functional.  That involved putting in a new water pump, and new "door" on the outside of the bus that has the piece (that broke) where the hose from the faucet connects to the bus--plus assorted connectors and pieces.  We're still showering in the shop shower because we don't want to use up all our water.  But it's nice to be have running water in the sink and toilet.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006, 8:35pm
We're still in the shop.  We were successfully towed here on Monday.  It took a while because the tow truck man had had to borrow a tractor.  When it ran out of fuel, it took him a while on the unfamiliar vehicle to find the switch to the other tank.  However, we made it hear about 3:00pm.  We were able to hook in too regular power cords. Therefore, I have one to run the heater and the other for anything else I want to do. Which means that we usually run only one appliance at a time.  However, we have lights and I can run things.

Today was my debut as a "comedy act."  I had planned to do a skit to advertize the March meeting of the Bend Christian Women's Club.  But it ended up that the other people I'd hoped to do it with me couldn't do so.  Linda was willing but she had enough on her plate.  So I decided to do a one-woman skit.  First I told them about the fortune cookie fortune that said one had to risk failure in order to succeed.  Then I told them to laugh if they even thought I meant to be funny.  Then I told them about our new neighbor who asked me if Mark was my son?  "Do I look old enough to have a 47 year old son?"  That warmed them up to tell them about the great things we have planned for March that they can bring the "men in their lives" to our Guest Night.  Then I ended up with saying the dress is casual and said I didn't like the hunting cap I was wearing.  Linda had said we could wear camoflaugh--pulled out a headband on which we'd sewn fake leaves and said I'd come up with my own brand of camo.  The ladies did a good job of laughing.

Mark's enjoying the cookies that they told me to bring home to my "son."

The rest of the meeting went well. Two ladies told us they saw one of the brochures we passed out; meaning they didn't come because their friend invited them.  So that's about 2% return which is really great!  Nice to see that some of my efforts paid off.  And I'm sure many seeds were planted.  I'm really excited about that!

Mark asked me where I got the scratch on my face.  I have no idea  since I couldn't remember doing anything scratchy today..  Guess I ran into something somewhere along the line.  We went into town to purchase parts; our water system is having trouble.  The part that connects the hose from the outside faucet into the bus broke when we were disconnecting the other day.  Mark has been nursing it along for years.  And our water pump is dripping so we haven't been taking showers inside the bus.  Fortunately they have a shower we can use here at the shop.  I've had some jugs we've been able to fill with water to give us enough to work with for other things.

Monday, February 20, 2006, 5:56am
It's been a busy weekend.  We've been keeping busy getting ready to be towed.  There's always a lot of stuff to put away before moving the bus.  They're supposed to come tow us this morning.  

I'd love to stay on the computer talking to you.  However...We will be offline for several days.  We should be back by the end of the week.  Until then!!!!

Saturday, February 18, 2006, 9:36am
Want to hear the "latest adventures of Mark and Virginia!"

I told you yesterday that some of our pipes had frozen.  I did all I could do which wasn't much.  Mark got home a few minutes before five, then went off to the store.   

He came home with a big tarp and a couple of extra heaters--couldn't find a big blower heater anywhere.  His idea was to cut it into sections and somehow attach it to the bus. He also got some rope.  We did get the tarp around the outside of the bus (the manager will probably have a fit; hopefully she'll let us leave it through Monday since it's supposed to be very cold again tonight.  I walked around the RV park looking for rocks with which to weigh down the tarps.  The empty space across the street yielded several and then I found a pile behind the laundry room.  While I was doing that Mark moved our various heaters around and added a new heater.  We were back in the house by 10:15pm. Which was a lot better than being outside at 3:00am aiming a hair dryer under Bussie.

It was interesting to see how closing off the bottom made a difference.  Within 30 minutes the ourdoor thermomenter which is under the bus had risen 6 degrees. Unfortunately, skirting a bus isn't easy, especially in town where they have city codes and things.  This morning the thermomenter said it was 18 degrees under Bussie whereas the newspaper's website says the outside temperature was 5 degrees. 

Back to last night.  About 10:30pm, the sink cold water came on.  Some time before midnight the hot water came on.  We then left it dripping overnight through both hot and cold water with the hot water heater unplugged. Mark went out this morning and put the heaters back in their proper compartments.  Apparently the pipe into the hot water heater had frozen.  We've left a combination of hot and cold running in the bathroom. Normally we only leave cold running.  I guess with the severe cold, it got too cold.

We so far haven't seen any sign of damage.  So are praying nothing more occurrs to stress the pipes.  We still are planning to be towed to Fair's Diesel on Monday.  Expect that I will be offline for several days.

Linda dropped off the master of our March CWC invitation.  Hopefully I can get it taken to Staples for printing today.  This one has been difficult because we don't have the same program.  She's using Publisher.  We have an older copy but it won't open her newer files.  So she's been printing one for me to look at and then tries to read my scribbles. Doing this trifold to cover three months hasn't been easy.  However, oddly enough, it's the info for the March meeting that is giving us the problem. So we would still have had difficulty even if only doing an invitation for March.  Linda and I will have to figure out how to do this differently in the future.  We can't spend this much time on it.

Friday, February 17, 2006, 3:41pm
Just got back from going over to storage to pick up our spare heater and an extra sleeping bag.  It's been a difficult day.  The sun finally came out for a few minutes which is nice.

This morning we got up, did all the usual morning stuff and Mark went off to work.  I eventually took a shower.  About 10:30 I got myself a belated breakfast and went to wash my dishes--no water.  Did get Mark on the phone.  We do have cold water in the bathroom. But it's a question as to when we'll get hot or cold water to the kitchen and the hot water back.  We have no idea what's going on.  Besides that has been 7 degrees or lower all day.  But I mean, what pipes are having problem or what.

It's frustrating to have this cold weather when we're needing to get towed to the motor repair place on Monday.  Cold isn't going to make the parts move very easily.  I'm trying not to stress out but to give it to God for him to worry over.

In the meantime I've been puttering around doing things here.  I haven't gotten a lot done because I keep jumping up to check on the water in the bathroom to make sure it's still running.  I assume that's kind of like a new mother checking to see if the baby is still breathing.  I am getting more email answered.  I had a bunch come in this morning.

Thursday, February 16, 2006, 9:18am
Brr!!!  It was 13 degrees this morning, dipped lower and is now a healthy 19.  I'm trying to work up the courage to take my morning walk.  I usually don't go out until it's at least 25.  But that may take a while.   I was planning to walk down to Gold's Gym.  The owner had given me a free guest pass; I've been wanting to do that. I thought about finally going to the mountain but it was -3 at the base so I decided not to be crazy and to go to the gym instead.

I got a call this morning from a photographer I'd talked to Friday evening regarding coming to our CWC Sportsman's Fair.  Doesn't sound like he's interested but he may have someone to suggest for either this activity or do to a Feature for one of our regular meetings.  So that's a nice contact.  Mark also had met a girl on the Mt Bachelor bus who is a photographer.

The report is that Stonecroft is going to be more flexible in their outreach programs.  In other words, they are now encouraging people to start "affinity" groups (like small groups but around a topic like dog grooming, hiking, etc.) That's the kind of outreach I would like to do.  And they are going to restructure the bible studies and allow people outside of Stonecroft/CWC to order the materials rather having to be approved through the headquarters chain of command.  I'm pleased that these changes are taking place and will make me feel more comfortable when telling people about this ministry.

Wednesday, February 15, 2006, 6:34pm
Another 30 minutes before I can use use night minutes on my cell phone.  I try to limit my daytime usage to "business/ministry" and call my family at night.

Today was what I call my "Stonecroft day" as those activities usually take place on Wednesday.  In LaPine we had our meetings on Thursday.  Because of my leadership role, I've been attending what is called the Prayer Connection.  Linda, our chair, is so excited about the power of prayer.  I'm thrilled to be around someone with whom I can discuss types of prayer, praise, worship, etc.  

Linda and I have been talking about the need for Praise.  That's a subject I've kind of been studying lately.  It's easy to ask God for the things we want.  And sometimes we even remember to say thank you.  But Praise is us upward, being excited about who He is. That's the best way that I can describe it.

I just downloaded an e-book written by a friend, Tim Greenwood, who says he became a "praise addict" after being healed of heart disease.  You may access the website and other information on Tim's website at http://www.tgm.org  I new Tim and his wife Marsha when I was a student at Ambassador College in Big Sandy, TX.

Tuesday, February 14, 2006, 9:25am
I made banana bread yesterday evening.  I put in 2 cups of flour before realizing it should have been 1 1/2 cups.  So I added extra milk.  It came out with wonderful texture and very smooth.  So apparently I didn't mess it up too much.  I've always heard about women who didn't use recipes.  I don't for stuff like chicken soup, casseroles, etc.  Once I made donut holes from memory just to see if I could do it.  But normally I do pull out a recipe when doing baked goods.  However, I guess from this experience that exact proportions may not be necessary on baked goods, either.  

(I probably doesn't; in the Diane Mott Davidson mystery books with Goldy Shultz the caterer as the main character...she is always experimenting and many times it is obvious that no recipe is being used.  Although they do print recipes for some of the foods mentioned in the course of the mystery.)

The mechanic from Fair's Diesel came by to look at the bus and talk to Mark about our needs.  So we have an appointment to start work on Tuesday morning.  We'll have to see about getting a tow.  They can hook us up to electricity.  We'll have to use our tanks. Normally we can last for a week as long as we are careful.

Monday, February 13, 2006, 9:57am
Yesterday afternoon I was thinking about all sorts of things that I could tell you and then today my mind is sort of blank.  However, I'm sure I'll be able to come up with most of them before I finish writing this morning.

It's been a long but tiring weekend.  Friday evening, Mark came home with the news that he had talked to mechanic at Fair's Diesel about our motor (I had also so they got a double whammy.) We need to get our name on the schedule.  They are backed up several weeks.  That's great that their business is doing well despite the owner having died recently.

The Bend Winterfest was this weekend.  We went Friday evening and walked around town.  It was similar to the Art Walk although not all the art galleries were open and more of the regular stores were open.  They served a variety of hors  d'oeuvres and wine.  Part of the event was a Wine Walk.  Certain stores were serving wine from the local winery. We only bought one ticket to that.  Was only $6 and proceeds going to charity.  But I didn't think I needed to be drinking too much.  

They let off some fireworks over the Deschutes River.  And there was a ski and snowboard demonstration.  A ramp kind of like a skateboard ramp was built but they had snow pile up and the demonstrators skied.  It looked dangerous to me.  Several did fall but everyone walked away.  One young man was twirling with the ends of the baton flaming.  That was interesting but also dangerous.  I never was able to twirl without hitting myself.

One neat thing was that we saw several people that we knew or who recognized us.  Mark always wears his Alaska trapper hat which people recognize and do a double take.  Bend is still small enough that it is possible to run into someone occasionally.  So we had several conversations during the course of the evening which added to the fun.

We visited with friends during the weekend.  It's always wonderful to visit with others who believe in Jesus.  Discussion can be vigorous as we learn from each other.  Mark always enjoyed playing with children since we didn't have any.  He was worn out from all our activities and the walking we did by the time we got to bed last night.  He confessed he'd slipped on a snowcat the other day.  Plus he lugged the heavy toolboxes home several times which was heavy on his back.  He said he was feeling better this morning.

Linda's husband dropped by another draft of our next CWC invitation.  We're trying to do a trifold with one side having information about our March meeting and then the other side with info on April and May.  We want to have a sample invitation ready to show the ladies and the prayer meeting on Wednesday.

I'm trying to stay home the next couple of days to catch up.  There's always so much to do.  

Friday, February 10, 2006, 8:12am
It has been beautiful all week.  Haven't made it up to the mountain; seems like I keep having errands and other things keeping me busy.  I thought about going up to ski yesterday but then it got cloudy and never warmed up.  Mark said it was good on the mountain so I missed my opportunity.

The RV motor still isn't turning.  We got all the injectors out so we could manually turn it; it'll only go so far which indicates a serious problem.  So we're still in limbo about that. The drivers seat of the pickup collapsed in the back part.  Another thing for Mark to have to fix.

Wednesday morning I went to a meeting of the Leadership of the Central Oregon's Stonecroft groups.  It was interesting to see the enthusiasm.  Linda and I look on this as a learning experience but not for long term.

One of the things that came up this week was being asked to write an article about the Community Church Tea that I attended last Saturday.  At first I said I said I'd have to think about it and almost said I couldn't do it.  But then I was inspired yesterday morning and whacked it out.  Also got a couple of pictures from the photographer and the publicity photo from Heritage, an inter-donominational singing trio, who provided the program. Today I need to do a final edit and send it and the pictures off to the Newberry Eagle.

I've also finished the article about Girls' Night Out except for a final piece of info that I need.  Hopefully I'll get that today so I can email it as well.  Otherwise I plan to do errands today; maybe go to a

Tuesday, February 6, 2006,  3:35pm
I had a good walk today, finally making it to the post office with a box  that needed mailing.  On my way back I stopped to visit with one of the pastors of the Celebration Community Church.  Their vision and purpose statement specifies that relationship with God is the most important and then relationship with each other.  I'd wanted to follow up on this.

While there, I was able to tell them about Stonecroft Ministries and the local Christian Women's Club.  Pastor Debbie said they'd be happy to announce our meetings and post the invitation on the bulletin board at their church.  It was great to be able to accomplish two things by one visit.

We're having a problem with our RV motor.  It was time to turn it on/drive it or something.  The engine started right up, then died.  When checking it out, Mark discovered (lots of) water in the air filters so presumably water got sucked into the motor.  Mark is trying to figure out what to do.   Right now we've got various parts taken off the motor but ... hopefully we can find someone who knows about these motors who can give good advice so Mark will be able to figure out what is the best next step.

I'm vacuuming the RV this afternoon.  I did laundry this morning.  I also cut my hair today.  It's been bothering me.  Mark really needs a haircut, too, but we keep getting distracted so another week passes without it being done.  I did trim around Mark's ears a while back and he trimmed his beard the other day so it's mostly the back that is getting long.  However, we see men all the time with longer hair so it could be worse.

Tomorrow morning, the leadership teams of the Central Oregon Stonecroft groups are going to get together.  Several of us are "new," not only to leadership but to the group. Pat thought it would be good to get everyone together to find out who we are.  Of course, I know the LaPine and Bend ladies but not the others except for one from Prineville who was a speaker in June.

Saturday, January 21, 2006, 9:34am
Greetings!  Hope everyone is having a good weekend, no matter how you choose to spend it.  I pray that you spend time with God for spiritual rejuvenation.  Often it's so hard during the week to do that.  While we should take time out of each day for prayer, Bible reading, meditation, those times may be on the run--or in my case, during my morning walks.  I even have a MP3 player which will read the Bible to me so all I have to do is listen.  I'm trying to say that it's possible to spend time with God while washing dishes, driving the car, etc.  While that's not optimum, it's all part of being with God and including him in your life at all times and hours.  I'm blessed to currently not be working outside my home so can be home with God with little or no distractions. The walk with God should be 24/7; however, most of us are blessed with non-working weekends.  It is advisable to set aside time for focused time with God; special time that may not be possible during the week.

We're organizing ourselves for the weekend.  I'm listening to some tapes on Fear (from Pleasant Valley Ministries) that a friend loaned me.  PV is the ministry that helped me so much in overcoming the Multiple Chemical Sensitivites from which I suffered during the 1990s.  I need to get these tapes back sooner rather than later so I'm will concentrate on going through them this week.

Mark wants to change the oil in Truckster and take it for a drive.  Because of the snows and cold weather we had, we're overdue on that.  He wants to drive Truckster up the mountain to use the shop facilities which makes oil changes much easier.  The truck is tall enough that it won't fit through the doors of the average place that does oil changes. I'm hoping that he can ski a little this afternoon since he had to hang with me last Sunday afternoon.  He does have several errands to do today before he can deal with the truck.

Bend Christian Writers meets tomorrow at the library.  I have books that are due so that's convenient that I can go there.  The topic is Hearing God's Call to Write.  I believe someone is going to do a book review.  While out, I will walk down the street to see if I can put out some more of the CWC invitation.

Thursday, January 19, 2006, 8:15am
Guess my makeup went over well yesterday.  At the Christian Women's Club meeting, one person told me I was looking really pretty today.

The good news is that my publicity efforts for Bend are actually happening.  Today's speaker told me that her husband so the posting on the Fox Ch. 39 calendar on the website.  The blurb appeared in the Bend Bulletin (newspaper).  I've been communicating with one of the staff about the LaPine entry and mentioned that Elisabeth sent in the Bend entry; he wrote me Tuesday that he couldn't find any info for Bend--so I was able to respond with the info before his 2pm deadline.   Who knows what happened to her material but at least it didn't fall through the cracks thanks to Jeff being on top of things.

I've been reflecting on what has been keeping me so busy as I don't have a whole lot to write.  I have a long list of things that I need to do; I've been scratching them off one at a time.  But I don't always write things like: returned suitcase to storage, went outside to write down the electric meter reading, paid the elctric bill, walked over the store to buy a sympathy card, opened my bay drawer to get a roll of toilet paper, called my neighbor who broke her ankle, collected buttons , etc.  Yet all of these things take time.

I've been regularly calling on the neighbor; she's really frustrated at being housebound during this snowy, rainy weather.  However, she's also found out that if she gets up too much, then her foot swells and she doesn't feel good.

I enjoy the one-on-one ministry of visiting with the neighbors.  Whenever I'm out and see someone else out, I always try to make contact in some way.  I was tasked with making up bags of interesting buttons to give as a doorprize yesterday; I doubt the recipients were real excited about it but...it gave me a chance to knock on doors and ask a few neighbors if they had any buttons they didn't want.  It was interesting to see the different kinds.

You've noticed over the months that I have talked about "Stonecroft" a lot. Stonecroft is an outreach ministry to reach the unsaved. Each meeting has a "fun" segment, a lunch or dinner, and then a testimony or topical speech that incorporates the gospel message.  Last Spring, I met Pat Abernathy who is a regional rep for Stonecroft Ministries.  Since I didn't know many people in LaPine, going to the assorted meetings was a way to meet people.  Then we moved to Bend; instead of distancing myself, I'm in even more deeply. 

I had started working with publicity for the LaPine group.  The Bend group had recently lost their Vice Chair and haven't had a program chairman for two year.  The Chair resigned and is now in Canada dealing with family issues.  The main jobs of the Vice Chair is to do publicity and be nice to the speakers during the meeting.  Therefore,  I accepted the Vice-Chair position with some misgivings.  I prayed about it and didn't feel that I got a no from God and Pat was very persuasive.  I did tell them that I'm going to fit Stonecroft into my life rather than Stonecroft becoming my life.

Yesterday was the test and stretching.  I was drafted to be part of an introductory "skit"--which I'm not the ham it up person; I'm the script writer, not the actor.   I also ended up doing all the introductions.  The new Chair asked me to help with that; she gets nervous about reading a paper that just got handed to her without time to review it.  Whereas I'm not as good with ad-libbing so I'll take reading any time.  I'm pretty good at adding vocal variety even if it's something I've never seen before.

While Mark and I greatly enjoy doing individual ministry, especially through this website and email, it's also fun to do things with other people or groups.  I am also learning some things that can help us in our BBtJ ministry.  I really think that's why I've been asked to do this.  It's helping me to get out of my comfort zone.

Jan did approve my synopis, title, and publicity credentials, and told me to go ahead and tweek my speech.  Now to start practicing it.

Wednesday, January 18, 2006, 9:06am
Time passes all too quickly.  Today I'm headed to the Christian Women's Club meeting.  I've been looking forward to this one as Janice Mathers is speaking.  She's the one who has been helping me with my prospective speech for Stonecroft.  We've gotten down to the synopsis, bios, etc.  Now I need to go back to the speech and tweek a few things to make sure things in the synopsis are indeed obvious in the talk.

I told you last Thursday that Melanie Meyer was going to help me with makeup.  Those of you who know me personally probably realized that I rarely wear any.  In recent years, it's been one of those things I didn't feel necessary.  Mark isn't really into kissing a woman with a lot of goo on her face.  However, we recently had a discussion and he said he'd been thinking about something I'd said and he was okay with it if I wished to experiment.  I've been thinking about it because if I do speak in public, it helps to not appear washed out under the lights and at a distance.

Melanie and I had a good time.  I'd pulled out some of the makeup I'd used in recent years.  Turns out that most of it was acceptible so we didn't have to buy much (which was a plus to me).  She thought I needed to go a little pinker than I've had in the past so I guess I'll go in that direction if and when I need to replenish my supplies.  The good news was that she thought my techniques for applying makeup were correct.  So I didn't have to unlearn much.  

Monday, January 16, 2006, 3:14pm
I'm happy to report that my ankle/foot is all healed up.  I knew it was but a good test was going skiing yesterday.  We haven't ever been to Mt Bachelor before to ski even though Mark's been working there.  We just don't have much spare time.  We went to Westside Church yesterday morning, hoping to catch up with a few people--then decided to go skiing since the weather abated for a while.

Poor Mark didn't have a good time since I was going down the slope in slow motion.  I didn't do too badly on the first green slope we tried.  But for the third run we tried a different lift which went up and up and up.  Mark said it was the steepest green slope he'd encountered.  I freaked. I got part of the way down but it didn't get any better and I got more and more scared.  Finally I said I was walking.  The ski patrol came along and gave me a ride the rest of the way down the mountain.  By that time the lifts were closing so Mark couldn't go take a run by himself.

I am happy to say I'm not as sore as I expected.  I did some exercises this morning to stretch those muscles.  I will need to keep moving.  I took a nap today and I'm more stiff now than I was earlier.  I haven't been taking naps lately but something additionally taxing does tire me.

Saturday, January 14, 2006, 8:06am
Mark just looked at the info on the Mt. Bachelor website.  It is still snowing with occasional rain.  The records say they've had 12 inches of snow in the past 48 hours.  The Sunrise Lift has a tree fallen across the lines so they're busily trying to get that fixed.  Snow is expected all week.  Which sounds good but not as many people turn out for skiing if it isn't sunny out.  

Here in Bend, we're having a gray day with snow coming straight down.  It seems like a great day to sit around sipping hot chocolate by the open fire.  However, I think the city (as well as our manager) would frown on my building a fire outside, even on the gravel.  I sure don't know how the pioneers managed during weather like this.  They must have been more hardy than I am.

Friday, January 13, 2006, 4:09pm
We've been having a drizzly day.   I went out early to get copies made at Staples, only to find out their large copier was being replaced.  Therefore, nothing was moving today.  I'm hoping to geta call from them this evening so I can go pick up the copies.  In the meantime, I've got bread baking in the bread machine.

Mark talked to his brother Chris today.  We'd hoped that he would be free to go skiing some time during the weekend.  All the rain we've been having has identified weak spots in rooves; therefore he has several roofing jobs stacked up.  We certainly can't complain when someone needs to work.

I'm working on the 2005 receipts for donations to our BBtJ ministry.  We thank those of you who have made donations to our ministry.

This week was neat because we heard from two new people.  One was a referral from one of our partners who had recommended this friend subscribe to our newsletter.  The other message was a "new friend" who had found us on the web. The mail recently brought news that two of our friends had passed away.  We've also had a number of prayer requests; thank you sharing

Thursday, January 12, 2006, 7:31pm
I hadn't realized that it has been four days since I last posted.  Guess I've been busy, even on the day when it rained...I went out to get the other new tire put on the car and the used tire changed to be the spare.

Yesterday I went to a prayer group which meets once a month.  They have a general outline of things to pray for (such as local, state, national) and naturally the ladies add other prayer requests.  I regularly attended a prayer group in Aurora but hadn't been involved with one in Oregon.

Today I'm going to do a "girly thing."  Those of you who know me probably realize that I've never worn much makeup.  I never cared for eye makeup, especially the bright colors of the 70s.  My husband also objected to that plus he didn't like kissing skin covered with stuff that could rub off on him.  Recently we had a conversation wherein he said he'd come to see that makeup could be applied tastefully.  I'd been thinking about it as I've been noticing the speakers who come to the Bend Christian Women's Club and the Girls' Night Out in LaPine.  When I get to speak in the future, while not wanting to blend in, I would like to be appropriately groomed.

The December speaker was Melanie Meyer.  She wove her testimony of God into her story of life and history with cosmotology (hope I spelled that correctly).  I had met her when I asked if I could take a picture for the Newberry Eagle article that I wrote.  So I sent her an email asking if she'd willing to help me learn about makeup.  There are questions I've always wanted to ask--such as the fact that I have puffy eyelids and eye shadow always settled into the creases.  Maybe 2006 makeup works better than it did in 1980.  Melanie responded that she'd be happy to spend time with me; we decided on this afternoon.  I've dug out the makeup I do have so she can see what colors I've preferred and give input.

Jan Mathers, the regional speaker trainer for Stonecroft, told me the other day that we're far enough along in the speech writing process that I could accept a speaking engagement. It's not until October but... Pat Abernathy said she'd also schedule me for this area sometime.   I have put my tentative testimony in our "about section" in my area.

Monday, January 9, 2006,2:25pm
Another lesson in "you can't judge a book by it's cover." Yesterday evening, at the small group we attended, someone had brought some small cupcakes; they looked kind of strang and one couldn't really tell the flavor although looked kind of chocolatey under this white frosting.  At the time we left, hardly any were gone; I decided to take two to eat later.  They went into a baggie.  I just had one.  Yum!!! Turned out to be wonderful brownies; the icing added but wasn't overly sweet.  Everyone who ignored them since they didn't look too great really missed out.

How often we pass something over because it doesn't look so good.  Not with just food either.  Don't all of us do it with human beings as well.  Jesus said we chould be kind to strangers.  We are to look past the "ugly" and to realize that God loves them, too.  During the early 90s, we had some friends who were janitors and fairly simple people.  A number of times others expressed surprise that this couple was among our best friends since Mark and I were academic technology business people.  Yet Brad and Dorothy were the salt of the earth.  They were the types who would give the shirts off their backs to someone in need.  They were always willing to talk about any subject, take interest and ask questions. We could have a give and take, sharing our lives.  We broadened their horizons and they let us relax and be ourselves, no judgment, no expectations--just friendship.

We had an interesting experience Friday evening.  It's always hard to know what someone should do or should have done.  We decided to walk over to the grocery store to look at car seat covers before going to the "First Friday" art walk.  We passed a man and a bicycle leaning against the Rite Aid Building.  We said the usual "Hi, how are you?"  We didn't catch his response but it obviously wasn't "fine."  He said he didn't have any place to go for the night and was hurting after being in an accident.  We suggested he go to a shelter that we know about.  Then as the conversation continued, he said he really needed to go to the hospital.  So we loaded his bike on Tracker's bicycle carrier (how many people have those) and took him to the emergency room.  He brought up God and that he needed help so we were able to speak to him about God's love and choices of following him versus the ways of the world.  

I have to give Mark credit for being decisive and helpful (being that he was the man of the house working with another man). I was able to contribute with a tissue and encouraging words.  We'd wondered why our evening plans changed; originally I was to meet Mark at one of the galleries but he called and said he needed to come home to take a shower before he could go out.  Then I decided to serve dinner rather than depending on the snacks at the galleries.  So our timing matched that of this man who really did need help.

It was 8:00pm by the time we finished at the hospital so we went over to the Mill District to some of the art galleries there rather than trying to go to downtown Bend during the final hour of the activitiy.  We're glad we were able to enjoy a little of the show but we also had a challenge that evening.  This is the second time Mark's had to go with someone we didn't know to the emergency room.  Divine healing would be our choice but you can't let someone die on your doorstep if they want a hospital.

Monday, January 9, 2006, 6:51am
Hopefully I can stay home today to work on stuff here.  I've been wanting to vacuum. Mark has gone out to dump the black tank.  We close the gray tank which normally is open to let water drain while we shower and the black is dumping; the wash the hose out by dumping the gray tank which we then leave open.  We normally dump on Sunday but were out most of the weekend.

We took an overnight trip to visit friends across the mountains.  It was fun to catch up since the last time which was some years ago.  I took some fruit (since fruit is usually both useful and edible) and came home with more edible items than I took.  Homemade jams, canned goods, etc.  Isn't there a saying "you can't outgive God."  That was my experience this weekend.  The conversation was great; the bed was great--it was a great 24 hour trip.

We'd opted to leave home on Saturday morning rather than driving an unfamiliar road in the dark.  Then we had a small group meeting to attend yesterday evening.  It was good that we headed home at noon so weren't driving in the dark; Santiam Pass was  snowcovered, requiring chains or traction tires.  We'd bitten the bullet and put hubs and tires (that was a blessing, see journal entry on the 3rd) on our credit card.  So that gave us good tires and 4-wheel drive that works.  Mark said he was grateful for the nudging that we really needed to do that before taking this trip.

Friday, January 6, 2006, 7:18am
Just a brief note to say hello.  I need to get a load of laundry into the washer.  Want to get that done early in the day.

Had a blessing yesterday.  During my walk, I felt this urge to go to Bi-Mart--not that I was looking to go shopping.  In walking around I saw they had mens black jeans on sale for under $10.  Mark has been needing new pants since he shed so much weight this summer.  The old ones are wearing out after years of use plus he's been having to hold them up with a belt and is bothered by creases from where these heavy pants are gathered around his "waist."  So that must have been why the Holy Spirit was telling me to go to Bi-Mart; we've never thought to look for pants there and then they were on sale.

Wednesday, January 4, 2006, 8:00pm
We awoke to a dusting of snow this morning.  It was 30 degrees so melted off fairly quickly.  Which was nice considering I needed to walk to the Post Office this morning.  I usually maintain a pace of faster than 3 mph; however, one can only walk as fast as frosty pavement allows.  

It was a busy day.  Linda Miles and I had a meeting with Pat Abernathy this morning. Pat is the regional representative of the Stonecroft On the Road.  She organizes new meetings, be they a one time activity or decide to continue.  She also is "over" the four groups of LaPine, Bend, Redmond and Prineville.  Which is why I've been working with her so much as I have been working on publicity for both groups.    Linda and I have been working on the invitation flyer for the Bend Christian Women's Club.  This is the first time we've done it; Pat gave good comments about our prototype plus we talked about some of the other needs of the Bend group.  Since Linda and I are newly participating, we have had a lot of questions about policies.

The Planning meeting was at Elisabeth's house in the afternoon.  She is the outgoing Chair; we're still praying about a replacement.  Otherwise we all just have to pitch in and do the work of the Chair.  In the meeting we finalized things for our upcoming January meeting.  Elisabeth gave me the information about who she's been dealing with for publicity.  

When I got home, I started looking for a package we were expecting to be delivered by UPS.  No one had seen UPS; I'd left a note on the door asking it be delivered to a neighbor if I wasn't home.  They deliver until 7pm but never showed up.  Tracking said it was on the truck.  We did get an answer on a phone number for UPS who said there wasn't a unit number on the package (or a phone number) so the driver didn't know where to leave it and didn't leave it at the office.  They were gracious enough to allow us to go over to UPS-Bend to pick it up after hours.  Normally that isn't done but we'd told the original person we talked to why we needed the package today.

So we just got back from UPS.  Now Mark can take the part up to the shop tomorrow along with my car to work on it.  We're going to take a trip this weekend and need everything to be working on my car.

Tuesday, January 3, 2006, 4:14pm
Mark just called me about 4:10pm as he was getting on the bus to come home from work. He wanted me to come pick him up so we can go price tire at a tire store everyone recommends but only seems to be open during daytime business hours.  Their quote for tires was less and because they had only three tires so will have to come back for the fourth tire, they made us a special deal.  They had a used tire that matches so they gave us that tire for free; it's on the car now and will become our spare.  So praise God that the tires we need so desperately weren't as costly as anticipated.  Now to pay off the credit card charge.

I went out to go to the library and postoffice; ended up going to Walmart and Fred Meyer as well instead of waiting for tomorrow.  I had planned to walk to the library today and do the errands tomorrow in the car.  But if had a feeling I was supposed to take the car and do all my errands.  At Walmart I ran into a woman I'd met last Saturday evening.  Was that a divine appointment?  Or is the appointment tomorrow.  Part of the urgins was to take Linda up on her offer of a ride to the meetings we both must attend tomorrow.  I have done that.  Pat will also be riding with her for part of the way; maybe we are all meant to be together.

Sunday, January 1, 2006, 6:48am
Happy New Year!  Best wishes for all that you do.