Friday's Moonlight

On our way to church we drank in the moonlight tonight and let it unearth buried memories. Fond memories are tied to the shafts of light that travel space to touch our skin. Then my thoughts traveled back in time to the night in the garden of Gethsemane and I shuddered.

We remembered tonight the final sacrifice, Christ's blood shed for sin, and the price of redemption. The iniquity of us ALL fell on Him. In one moment, the transfer of mankind's sin was completed. "It is finished," was His cry.

I cannot claim to fully understand such great love, but I choose to accept it.

II Corinthians 5:21 "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him."

Newsbrief: Dinner Woman & USAF cadet in Seattle

(no I have not eloped...unlike one roommate I know! haha).

Our personal wake up service this morning whispered, "Blueberry pancakes." This meant I made pancakes, while Uncle D. made lattes with our home-roasted coffee. A delicious way to begin our sunny, cloudless blue sky day in the gorgeous Northwest.

We have enjoyed eating many splendid things....gelato, pad thai, crostini, risotto, sardignia, porcini and tartufo cream sauce, gyros, and more. We also enjoyed doing many things...walking downtown Seattle in the rain, tasting every age of balsamic vinegar known to man at Pike's Place market, conveniently losing ourselves in a used book store for hours, singing long lost Sandi Patti songs (yikes, we actually remember the words.), picture-viewing, hot-tubbing to relax our travel-weary feet, bedtime stories, and today we finished our time off with a trip to Snowqualamie Falls. It's been a wonderful weekend! Thanks for many great memories Heidi.

Missing You

Yes, my dear friends, I must say I am missing you...not the chores, or cleaning sticky goo off countertops, or getting crumbs stuck between my toes, or finding someone to repair the next plumbing problem....just each one of you! Soon I will be home and I am excited to celebrate the joy of the Easter celebration with everyone.

When it rains, it hails and snows

The evergreens out the window create a back drop for a comforting cloudy day in Seattle.
The actors in today's stage play: Rain, Hail, and SNOW!!
Enter stage left: Rain
Exit stage left: Rain
Enter stage right:Hail
Exit stage right: Hail
Enter stage: SNOW!!
Weird, eh! It wasn't cold enough to stick, but it was gorgeous to watch.

At 5:45pm I decided to go out for a walk/run since I had been inside all day. After 10 min. it began to drizzle, then tiny pieces of hail began to fall. I kept on running, enjoying the white dots that speckled my hair and sweatshirt. Some snuck its way into my mouth and even tasted good.

All of a sudden I looked up to see the horizon break open to let bright yellow sunset light stream over the bejeweled trees. I was transfixed. The smell of fresh flowers blooming, pine trees, and wet earth filled my burning lungs and I had to stop to take it all in before the clouds quickly moved on. With a prayer of thanksgiving on my lips, I continued to run home...arriving a little wet, and a little cold, but very joyful.

The evenings are anything but quiet and uneventful, tonight was no exception. What should arrive in the mail today, but a present for U. Dan. A friendly client had sent a coffee roaster and 6 types of coffee/blends to roast. I laughed as we researched coffee roasting and A. Ev suggested we roast our first batch to surprise the master of the house (with the smell of it, mainly). With girlish excitement we were soon off and at it. Knowing that there is plenty of smoke let off in this process, I made sure to open the windows (brr!) and turn on the kitchen vent. All was going well, until Stage 3. First one alarm and later another, smoke rose and we could see it hover along the ceiling. Fans were turned on, alarms unplugged, and we hoped the security company wouldn't call, laughing the whole time!

SUCCESS!! We now have a lovely roast of Sweet Maria's Espresso Monkey Blend for espresso....and the house smelling pungently of coffee smoke.

What a day, what a day. Miss you girls and love ya lots.

a short-lived marriage

Well, Dinner Woman has not been gone 24 hours, and already the house is noticably different. The back bedroom seems a bit emptier, no sewing machine hums as a backdrop to the multiple conversations, no heavy footsteps down the hall, no early morning cappacinos, and well, there is now a lawn chair in the backyard. No, Matthew has NOT moved in, or should I say, moved out? But, one of the other housemates has become espoused, and the committee insisted on maintaining previously established boundaries. Yes, there was a union at the justice of the peace today, with but two witnesses. However, there is some incredulity as to the real existence of the new significant other. The roommate seems evasive in her descriptions of him, refuses to give his name, and insists he will come over. . . later. There was the hour or so she slipped away on a supposed "house call," but in most of our opinion, she returned much too quickly for there to have been a meaningful rendez-vous. So, the mystery remains, and we all wish you were here to sleuth it out for us. We miss you!

Intentional suffering

Though darkness haunts
and seeks to bind us,
we fight a battle
to shine the light.

Together we see
the shadows
still in need of conquer
on our battlefields.

Life isn't always easy
when living in community.
We know each others strengths
and are tested by the weaknesses.

Though try as we might
it is impossible to escape
from moments of despair,
then times of great joy.

What strange and vehement
conviction makes us sure
we can avoid being hurt,
thus creating a deeper scar;

That aches when touched
And seldom heals, before it
once again is torn.

We defend ourselves against
each other, then run back
with tears and open arms
to beg forgiveness,
and say, "I'm sorry!"