The Beach

Me 'n my love


My sweet baby girl loves her Daddy.

Willow is a crawler now and loves to explore the beach.

The painters came to do the touch-up one day so we had to find things to do away from the house. We took a drive up North towards Canon Beach and stopped at a state park we had never been to. It was a lot of fun. We hiked in about a quarter of a mile to the beach. The sun decided to peek through the clouds for about an hour while. Aspen and Journey loved the creek and got thoroughly wet and sandy.

There have been lots and lots of baths! It seems that they love nothing more than getting as dirty as possible.

Our goal this summer was to finish the beach house by the first of August, and then spend the month at the beach. We weren't far off on our goal! We moved in Friday, August 13th. I've been here ever since. Mark has been here except for driving back a couple times to catch up on work stuff.

It has been relaxing, and such a great way to end the Summer. It was getting a bit rough on me having Mark gone every weekend fishing or working on the house (many times during the week too).

There are so many things I love about our house here at the beach.

Here are my favorites:

• We are within walking distance to town (well, let's be honest, the coffee shop!). We have been walking into town almost every day to get coffee and go to the beach or park. We've been getting some great exersize!
• The house is on a fairly level lot, and the street is quiet. I love this because the kids are able to spend lots of time riding their bikes outside.
• We have a fire pit right outside our back deck. Aspen LOVES fires. Loves them. Now he can have a fire without it being a huge ordeal.
  
  
  These are things I would love to have at home. It's great to have them here :) There will be more posts to come of our stay here, but that's all for now.
  

My thoughts

Every once in a while, I start to feel really bogged down with life, kids, family, marriage, etc. Not just the normal, end-of-the-day "I'm tired", but really bogged down. When I get this way, my coping mechanism is withdrawal. I feel like I need to get away. I can't think straight.

It's at these times realize I need to take a step back and figure out what is behind that. What's causing me to be so emotionally drained and at the end of my rope. Now, before I start to sound like I've got it together, let's be honest. It takes a couple weeks to a couple months of this before I realize that I need to reevaluate things.

So here I am. There are lots of things swirling around inside my head that have been bugging me. I'm just going to put them out there. Just a warning, since it's my thoughts, it doesn't flow that well, has some tangents and jumps around a lot.


First of all, why does it seem popular with some people on Facebook to post about every time they spend time with God? It bugs me every time I see it. How is that not being a Pharisee? And what are their intentions behind posting that anyway?

Along those lines, what is a true Christian, a follower of Christ really supposed to look like? What is "time with God" supposed to look or feel like? I was reading in
1 Peter the other day, and I read this verse:

So the honor is for you who
believe, but for those who
do not believe, "The stone that the builders
rejected has become the cornerstone,"
and "A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense."
They stumble because they disobey
the word, as they were destined to do.

It really seemed to conflict everything I've believed about the Bible and salvation.

James 1:26-27 (NIV)
26 If anyone
considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he
deceives himself and his religion is worthless.
27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to
look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being
polluted by the world.

To much of the world, the label Christian is a joke. I was just reading an article in the Sunday Oregonian about the exodus of Christians from the institutional church in America. The author sited several studies that showed that the divorce rate is actually higher among Christians than the general population. Premarital sex is also greater at an earlier age among professed Christian kids than non-Christian. Also, that Christians are more racist than the general population, and churches are, for the most part, highly segregated. Ouch.

Number 1 - Seriously. How sad.
Number 2 - Why? Selfishness? Pride? Apathy?
Number 3 - What can I do differently as a parent to help my kids from falling in those traps? This weighs heavily on me. What can I do differently.


More than anything, I want my kids to grow up to love and serve God. More than good education. More than success. More than wealth.


I want them to be able to forfeit temporary thrills of what feels good in the moment for the things that bring true happiness and fulfillment. And, I want them to know and love and serve God.

I want them to have the strength of character to withstand life's pressures, disappointments and pain. Knowing that God is standing with them through it all, whether they brought it on by their own choices or by other people's choices.

I've also been really struggling with whether to continue the savings blog or to let it go. To continue it would mean that we really need to put some money into a better website design, and more time into marketing and ways to make money.

On one hand I wonder, does it even matter? There are so many other saving blogs out there. I'm just not sure it's worth the time investment. On the other, it's an outlet for me. A way to give of my talents and skills in this season of life. It can be a way to impact people I'd never be able to otherwise.

Another thing, how to I avoid being judgemental without becoming okay with sin? Is it the speck vs. log thing? How do I keep myself, and teach my children to avoid becoming "polluted by the world"? I personally don't think the answer is homeschooling. We are to be the light of the world. If every Christian family kept their kids at home and homeschooled them, where would the light be in the school system?

Ok. I'm done. At least for now.

We're Moving In!

These aren't great pictures, but it gives you an idea of the finished product. We are all so excited to have the house done. Mark did a GREAT job. Funny that he has been building houses for others for close to 10 years, and this is the first one he's built for us.

I love it. There are still some things to finish (as you can see from some of the pictures), but it is liveable. We are finally completely unpacked, and I'm so ready to relax and enjoy it!

Aspen's New Love

(Yes, this is the same bike he got for his 3rd birthday. It is a little small for him now, but it works. He has another birthday coming up, you know!)

Yep, you guessed it. Bike riding. Aspen finally learned how to ride without training wheels this week! Yes, I know it is kind of late, but to his defense, we live on a killer hill. There has been very little chance for him to practice riding
because it is such an event to take it to the park, talk him into riding it, etc.

This summer, we have been taking his bike to the beach and he has finally been able to get some practice in. Mark had the idea to take his training wheels off, and teach Aspen how to ride the bike in the backyard. Genius, I say!

As soon as Aspen hopped on, he was riding. The look of complete exhilaration and pride on his face was unforgettable. Of course my camera batteries were dead, but we were all out there, cheering him on. He is SO proud of himself, and I love seeing the pride of accomplishment on his face.

Wipeout

Aspen had his first major wipeout today. Surprisingly, it wasn't on his bike (which he just learned to ride without training wheels this week!), but on his scooter. It's hard to tell how bad it was, but the bump is pretty raised and black and blue, and his hands are all scraped up.

In case you were wondering, he was not wearing his helmet. Lesson learned.

We were a bit worried about a concussion because he was so drowsy and said his stomach hurt. But after a good dinner of pizza, he said he was feeling better. Whew!

My Journey

I haven't written specifically about Journey in a while so I thought I'd catch up on what she's been doing lately.

Journey is 3 1/2 years old now. Already. She is my sweet girl who loves to wrap her arms around Willow and I and declare, "We're the girls, Mama. We're the girls!" She spends a lot of time mothering her "babies", which are stuffed animals most of the time. She feeds them (just like I do!), puts them to bed, changes their diapers, spanks them for getting out of bed and talking in bed, and takes them shopping or to the park. When I'm feeding Willow, she will take the couch opposite me, lift her shirt and feed her baby for a couple seconds. Then will quickly remove the baby saying "No, no! Don't bite!" Hmmm, I wonder where she's heard that?! :)

Journey is very independant and loves to play all by herself. On the few occasions I've tried to sit and "play" with her, she gets confused and asks me to leave. And when it comes to Aspen, lets just say she has a "mind of her own". Lately I've noticed the following situations:

Aspen will run into the house calling for her, asking her to come play with him, come see a bug, whatever. She will completely ignore him and act like she didn't hear a thing. He will continue yelling for her, running around the house looking for her. She keeps ignoring him until she is "found", only to refuse to play or come with him to see what he wants to show her. This makes him crazy! Then he will beg her to come play.....He can't control her! Such a girl. Even at this young age, she loves control and knows how to play hard to get. Sometimes, it's such a great picture of myself........ and I feel a little bad for Mark.

I also notice when they do play together (lately it's been "house" with the animals. Which involves a lot of spanking their "kids" for getting out of bed, haha), Aspen has to do what Journey wants and not the other way around. Because she can take or leave him playing with her, but he wants to play with her. Ahh, girls :)

Journey is also incredibly sweet and loving. Randomly, throughout the day she will say, "Mommy.....I loooove you...". She also notices and will comment when I get something new or wear something I haven't worn in a while. I love it.

With Daddy (like Aspen), she plays hard to get. She loves to be tickled and wrestle, but will say "don't tickle me......don't tickle me........" (all the while wanting him to chase her).

I could go on and on. She loves babies (real ones). She's protective of her baby sister (if she notices people talking to Willow, she will run over to Willow, hug around her and tell them that "this is MY baby sisto!"). There are times when she still wants to be the baby. And it seems like she is constantly hungry. It drives me crazy! I think the problem is that she typically eats in small amounts, and it's her being bored. It's a constant battle trying to get the snacking to stop. But at least she isn't picky :)

More Beach House Progress

All progress pictures taken 7/28/10

Exterior Paint in Progress

Family Room

Kitchen

Bathroom Vanities