Picture Perfect

Such beauty is not often displayed as it was today.

28 Years and Not Much Has Really Changed

It was approximately 28 years and 2 months ago that we packed up our belongings and closed the Tacoma chapter of our lives. Our time in the Pacific Northwest had been an important time and now we were pressing on to see what God had in store for us. If we had written the next chapter it probably would have been different than what it actually turned out to be but God, who works all things for our good put us on a different route than we planned.

All these years had passed and we had never returned to visit the place where we had lived for 6 years but this fall we had the privilege of going back.  Some things were still surprisingly the same.

Majestic Mt. Rainer

Wonderful Friends

  The Seminary Mansion

  Beautiful Plants

We were looking forward to driving by our home in Tacoma and to our delight it really hadn't changed much at all

We enjoyed this home and spent 5 years in this abode. This is what it looks like now. 

This is what it looked like in 1981. The large blossoming cherry trees are gone along with some other landscape changes, new windows and front sidewalk but the color scheme is still the same and is still recognizable as our house. It sure was fun to see.

If we would wait another 28 years to visit again, let's see, how old will we be? Umm, maybe we shouldn't wait so long next time.

It Has Been Awhile - So Here I Go

The month of September whizzed right by and with school starting along with some other activities, blogging took a back seat. I have had many blessings and some trials but my God has seen me through and I thank Him for the mercy, love, and grace poured out on me.

A huge blessing that I want to share is the addition of four new boys to our family. They come from California and Illinois and are here living with Denise and Tom, going to school at John Marshall. They have been fun to have around and we welcome them.

Dontorrie, Eric, Wesley and Jorge - our newest family members.

September was a beautiful month - lots of warm, sunny weather and I enjoyed being outside. My co-worker and I ate lunch outside on the picnic table almost everyday, I enjoyed several outings on the Douglas Trail, and this past weekend ventured up to St Joseph, MN to visit Brian, Nichole and Isaac. We had a small birthday celebration for Brian - his birthday was earlier in the month and we were unable to get together with him at that time.

We strolled around the Munsinger Gardens on Saturday, ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant, and harvested some milkweed for his monarch caterpillars and then headed home. It was a fun weekend.

I enjoy the changes in the scenery as the seasons progress so one day while I was out I shot some random pictures. I hope you enjoy them.

 

I must tell you about our little squirrel friend. We happened upon him out in the field and he came right up to us, tried on numerous occasions to crawl up my pant leg, and then followed us up to the very door of our house. He has to be someone's "pet" to be so friendly. When we first saw him we thought "Oh, he is so cute", then we began to think "This is really a little scary".

Snippets of August

I cannot believe that the month of August has disappeared. After the family birthdays in the first part of the month the rest of the days seemed to just evaporate. Here are the highlights of what I remember.

Dan's mom came to visit for a week and while she was here the grand girls came over one morning. Getting Elise to hold still for the picture was quite the challenge.

The Lettermen were singing at the Martin County Fair and we had an enjoyable evening of going over and listening to them sing. We had been to one of their concerts 30 some years ago. They are still singing most of the same songs. It was a very enjoyable evening.

The Shiners'  were having a convention in town and a parade. We picked up Mikaela and enjoyed a beautiful cool Saturday morning watching lots of grown men play with their toys.

There were several groups of bagpipers. I love their music and the quilts. They always make me think of our good friends Ron and Janelle as Ron was from Scotland.

We had Elise one afternoon and enjoyed playing with her.

Dan started a small project of placing a retaining wall around the front side of the house. It is pretty much finished except for the filling. I will place an update on this project when it is finished.

We finished up the month with having Tom and Denise along with their family for dinner one evening. For those of you who don't know, they are starting a new adventure as resident directors for Rochester Better Chance. Four high school aged boys from around the country will be living with them and attending high school here in Rochester. You will be hearing more about that as time goes on.

This is a quick look at our lives this past month. God is good.

Dan's Birthday

We had a great family time for Dan's birthday this year. It was Dan's desire to go to the arboretum to see the different flowers and shrubs that they have there and then to have dinner at Buca's. Dan's mom told us that she was coming to visit friends in Waterloo and that she was planning on spending some time with us too which happened to be during that week so she went to the arboretum with us.

We saw lots of beautiful flowers. Some cool arrangements in pots

A cool tree with these big seed pods

Neat water falls

I really liked these.

A shrub with blue berries on it.

A turkey.

A really cool quilt which they are raffling off in September. I actually bought a raffle ticket so maybe this will be displayed in my house come September. If it becomes mine I plan to make a Northwood's bedroom for my guests when they visit.

After touring the Arboretum we met at Buca's where the family all joined us for a great dinner together.

We were seated at the pope table - having him join us was a little weird.

b Happy Birthday Dan

That evening everyone came to our house to hang out. It was a very fun day.

The little kids had a great time together too.

Day Trip to Albert Lea

Since the beginning of the summer I have had intentions of going to spend the night with Kathryn in Albert Lea. After turning the calendar over to August I decided that it was time to get going.  I happened to pick the very day the Freeborn County fair opened, lucky me.

I arrived mid afternoon and shortly after that we made our way to the fair. Now most people drive their cars to the fair and find a place to park them. Kathryn lives very close to the fair and it is easily walking distance. We did walk home but I received the most unique ride inside the gates that I could ever imagine. Yes, I rode in the Albert Lea ambulance to go to the fair. Kathryn is a paramedic and works on the ambulance and during fair week the ambulance and team are always on site. The team was just returning from a call and so they stopped and picked us up. I didn't get to go with sirens or lights but it still was pretty cool.

The space in the back of an ambulance has all kinds of nooks and storage places for supplies.

Thanks guys for the ride - It was great.

We walked through the commercial building and found a nitro ice cream stand. They gave me a generous sample and I was hooked. We went back before leaving and Kathryn and I shared a dish. YUMMY. It is a very smooth and creamy ice cream, firm yet soft if that makes any sense.

We watched some square dancing while we ate our ice cream and then walked home shortly after.

After hanging out at Kathryn's for a while we grilled a steak with some corn on the cob and enjoyed a walk around part of the lake. It was a very fun evening.

I had to leave early the next morning to return to Rochester to help out at our VBS so our time of fun was over.

Birthday Season Has Begun

This past weekend we kicked off the season of birthdays in the Arm's family. Elise turned 2 and Denise turned 32 so of course it was time for a party. Not wanting Denise to loose the distinction of her birthday we actually had two parties in the same day. We met at Dos Amigos for lunch and since it was such a beautiful day we were able to eat on the patio.

Eating at a Mexican restaurant of course mean having chips and salsa.

We enjoyed a time of visiting and Denise opened presents from our family and then we all headed in our own direction to rest up for the big party that night.

We gathered at the Moody home later in the day and enjoyed the company of many friends.

Isaac and Elise were playing a little pre dinner music for us.

We enjoyed a delicious Dora cake

Elise went right into her cake, at least the frosting anyway.

The new potty chair was a big hit. She wanted it right out of the box and sat right down.

The water table was loads of fun too.

We are so very thankful for the family God has given to us. We wish both Denise and Elise a very happy birthday and that they will be blessed in the coming year.