Wednesday, June 30, 2010

I will abide in the shadow of the Almighty!

"He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High, Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust." Psalm 91:1-2

Hello all family and friends,
I really do want to update the blog more often than I do. I always have a lot to say. But life gets busy and something always has to give. I apologize. I miss talking to you. Feel free to respond back too, it is always encouraging to hear from you.
I have a daily devotional link to MY UTMOST FOR HIS HIGHEST off to the right side on this blog. On July 4th, it was about "Don't fret" or don't worry. I believe worrying is a sin or at least leads to sin and against the very nature of God. I have been dwelling on the fact that we need to "rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him." Psalm 37:7. In the devotional, it said the resting in the Lord is not dependent on our external circumstances at all, but on our relationship with God Himself. That should be our focus, our relationship with God. Where are you at in these days of uncertainty? We are all in different areas of uncertainty. All of our fretting and worrying are caused by planning without God. Some of these words are right out of the devotional for the 4th of July. Read it when you can. It was very good.

So for this past month of June, Aaron graduated from High School. I am so proud of Aaron. He is a very special son. He is creative and funny. He always has us guessing what he will do next. His plans are to attend North Idaho College this fall. I am hoping that church ministry is still his interest but I think he still would like to get into business. We shall see. Here are a couple of pictures on his graduation night.
Here is Hannah, Aaron and Sarah in front of CDA High School after the graduation. Aaron is our sixth child to graduate. And each one is as special as any other.
Aaron in front of the house before heading out to graduation. He then went on a road trip with friends to the Oregon coast for a special graduation campout.

The next day, Sarah and I were signed up for the 2nd Annual Sports Adventure Week Deep Water Trail run up at Farragut State Park. This is a Half Marathon Trail run which included several trips up Goat Hill. Some of you might remember Goat Hill in you Cross Country Meets up at Farragut. This run was a repeat for me from last year BUT it was Sarah's first trail run. And guess what. Sarah was following some other people and took the wrong trail. When they were running through thick weeds and things just didn't look right, they all decided they were lost and backtracked. Sarah probably ran an extra 3 miles because of the 'detour'. She had fun though and wants to do it again next year.
Sarah and I after the half marathon. It is a beautiful place for this Adventure Week. The week consists of runs that cover 50 miles, 31 miles, a marathon and a half marathon. It also has extreme sporting events as well. Really alot of fun. Nathan, Leah, Sarah, Jason and I are all signed up for the Portland Marathon in the Fall, on 10/10/10. We are a running family and it has been a nice family time together. Nathan is signed up for the CDA Triathlon and the Hayden View Triathlon which are at the end of July. Will keep you posted on his races. Michelle is planning to do the Sandpoint Half Marathon in September.

And of course we had different events to celebrate. SO, to do things more efficiently, we threw a party out back to celebrate Aaron's graduation, Leah's birthday (June 16th) and Father's Day on the Saturday before Father's Day. It was gorgeous out. Our summer has been very slow in getting to the nice weather. So that day was exceptional. So here are some pictures of the family and of us boys.
Here is the family. Michelle had to go feed Luke so she is missing unfortunately. From Left to right, Laura, Jason, Mary, Nathan, Aaron, Jake, Hannah, Kayla in front, Doug and Leah.
The boys in a serious pose. I didn't know that I was supposed to be serious.

We also had a family night at Skate Plaza with our 4H group. Here is a picture of Hannah with Laura and Kayla. It has been years since I put on skates and it actually felt pretty good. I didn't look real graceful out there but I had fun.

And what would the summer be without going to our amusement park, Silverwood Theme Park. The girls have passes so they have been going alot, especially since the weather has been soo nice. Here is a picture of them with Garfield at Silverwood.
And we have been camping some. We do love to camp. And we still sleep on the ground in a tent. Now that is getting into nature. This past weekend Nathan, Michelle and Luke came up for the day. This was Lukes first camping experience and I think he liked it. Can you tell from his smile below. He is in the backpack for this picture. We went on a hike all of us together. Luke is now about 6 1/2 months old. Laura has been doing some babysitting for Michelle. Laura is taking a babysitting class at the hospital for two days learning some good stuff like infant CPR skills.

Luke
Luke and the girls all in a row on the picnic table.