Spontaneity and Clarification

What a great few days we've had. Totally exhausting as evidenced by my THREE hour nap today, but we're all happy!

Wednesday we ended up in downtown with the Lundes at the Science Center for the afternoon. We had a great time, with great friends. We tried to get a picture of all the boys, but we waited until the end which was was too late for them. So, here is our attempt!

Friday we were spontaneous! A big deal for this family because it does not happen much. Layth had a dentist appointment in Portland, most of our Salem friends were busy for the weekend and so I had decided just to let Layth go down and back for the day. But, after lunch Friday I got a brainstorm and ended up online where I booked a hotel for that night in Portland. Friday when Layth got home we drove down to Portland, stayed up late (way too late!) at the hotel, got up the next morning and had a great breakfast in the restaurant. We dropped Layth off at his appointment and then the boys and I went back to the hotel to swim and hot-tub. Very nice! Checked out, picked Layth up and headed to OMSI for the rest of the day. What a blast! We all had a great time there and closed the place down.

About 4pm the Wests showed up and played at OMSI with us and then we ended up at The Red Fig for dinner. After dinner we headed to Perry's for some AMAZING dessert (I ate way too much) and then finally a little after 8pm we started our journey home.

Needless to say, 7:15am came way too early for me this morning, but I have to get up at that time to get everyone bathed, dressed and fed before we leave for church about 8:30. What a fantastic few days though. After church today we had lunch with mom and Lori at Costco and then home for a relaxing afternoon and evening. Wonderful.

I've come to a lot of conclusions this past weekend about a lot of things. Probably because I'm back into the Word daily and doing Bible study so much. I'm OK with being here! This is a very good thing. In fact, I think I'm GLAD we moved now that I can reflect on the last couple of years in Salem and where I was in my life. I'm not sure I was moving forward at all in Salem. I was stuck in rut and I really think that the only way God could get me out of it and moving again was to force me out of the situation. I'm glad He did. I'm not the same person I was 5 months ago, I realize that now. The culmination of a whole lot of thoughts and tears and prayers came just this evening. My journal reflects it all, I won't go into more detail here. Just that, I think to accomplish the work that needed to be done in me required a drastic change in my life - like moving. I thank God that in spite of it all, He continues to work out His will in my life! What peace, what freedom.

I guess that's all for now. I'm going to head upstairs to my make-shift office (the PINK room!) and work on Bible study and retreat talks some more.