New Roots

Our church has a group for 'married with no children.' (No comments that the title sounds just like the tv show that included children.) I was a little skeptical to join at first because it can be intimidating to approach a group of people who know each other and the only thing you have in common with them is your life stage. Michael and I joined about a year ago and throughout this last year we have attended the Saturday night meetings (at the church, usually with a speaker and discussion on some marriage topic) and the Bible Study (in a home, during the week where we follow a book study and talk about our thoughts and theology). 

The group has been a huge blessing to us. We have met fantastic couples. Everyone in the group is going thru something different, but we'll all discovering how to be married and how to make the marriage the best it can be. None of us are alike, but we can all understand the ways of marriage and can help each other with whatever we happen to be going thru.  

Last night, we had 14 people (7 couples) over to our house for dinner after New Roots. I grilled salmon (marinated in soy sauce and lemon juice) and we had fresh veggies and watermelon. I baked all morning making chocolate chip cookies and honey cookies with frosting. We all sat outside on our back patio because the weather was perfect. It was a nice evening. There was nothing formal about it or too spectacular. I think that's what I liked about it. It was just a group of married with no children friends who enjoy each others company. I got these flowers at the market yesterday to have on our table. The black flowers really stand out and really looked beautiful. I feel really lucky to be part of New Roots because it has been such a blessing to Michael and I. 

The fruit garden is in!!!

So, this is the veggie garden. (I didn't mean for this pic to be first.) This is the garden that we've had for a while. It has tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and peppers. 

Not knowing how much dirt to buy, we bought a yard of dirt. It filled the entire back of the truck. Here's the left over after Michael got it all out. 

Here is my second strawberry of the season. I already ate the first. It was delicious. 

Here are my fruit beds! I love them. Michael did a great job. The left one has pumpkin, watermelons and cantaloupe. The one on the right has strawberries and raspberries. 

We had so much dirt that Michael filled in the rest of our yard with it. 

putting the new fruit bed together

Michael made me two new raised beds for my fruit garden today.

The poor guy, he worked all day to get this done for me. He is a real sweetheart. 

He even took out time to hang my moms new flag holder. 

We lined them on the side of our house for the most sun. 

He's so cute. I love him. 

our trip to the lake cabin

My mom bought a cabin at Cougar Lake and Michael and I decided we'd better get up there to see it, so we thought this weekend, being Mother's Day and my Birthday would be the perfect weekend and it was! I was even sunny most of the time. The cabin has 2 bedrooms, a kitchen, plumbing and a fireplace which heats the house. There is no electricity and the nearest cell phone tower is 17 miles away, so there is no service for anyone. It was a really nice get away. 

The cabin is 7 miles Southeast of Mt. St. Helens. You drive around the mountain to get to the cabin. On the way in, this is the view we had of the mountain. It was beautiful!

Michael and I walked around the campsite and found this fun chair. Michael sat in it but it had sap on it and that wasn't much fun. 

Here we are on the Marina. Dave bought a boat, so the next weekend that we are there, we'll be in the water. 

Mom, Dave and Taz on the Marina. 

My chocolate cake for my birthday. We had such a great time!! Thanks mom!!!

Early May Garden Update

Michael and I had a raised bed put into our backyard. We're hoping to add another one, but I don't know if we'll get to that this year. Maybe we'll add a second one next year.

I planted 25 watermelon seeds thinking that I would be lucky if 1 popped up, but it looks like all of them did. So I will be doing some thinning soon. 

I also planted 50 cucumber seeds and will need to thin these out as well. 

I already have a tomato blooming. It's hard to see in this photo, but the tip of my finger is touching it. 

I really hope that we get some of fruit and vegetables this year. I've come a long way since I started gardening and I am learning a lot too. I love to garden. 

CASA Training

I am in the middle of a 30 hour training for CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate). We meet for 5 weeks, training 6 hours per week and I have 2.5 weeks to go. My wonderful husband has been supportive of me despite the fact that I can’t always make dinner and seem to have less and less time. I love you Michael.

In our training, we are prepared to work with children who have been physically, emotional, or sexually abused, or who have grown up around a chemically dependent parent, or a parent with mental illness, or a parent who wants nothing to do with the child. Because CASAs are volunteers, we are trained quickly on things like addiction, community resources for the mentally ill, and how children end up in custody of the state.  

One of the key components in our training is discovering for ourselves which case(s) we cannot work with. Meaning which case would bother us so much personally and emotionally that it would push our buttons and we wouldn’t be able to handle it well. This is, of course, designed to weed out anything that we cannot handle and help us to know that before we get into a case that overwhelms us and we have to step down from it or from CASA all together.

After much thought, I have come to the conclusion that the type of case that I cannot work with is one with a parent who feels that he or she is religiously entitled to abuse or neglect his or her child(ren). An example would the 450 children who were taken from the Texas Ranch Cult a year ago or a child whose father feels he is called by God to instill discipline in his children by the use of force to the point of broken bones. I can’t represent kids like that, it pushes to many buttons in me. I feel, at this time, that I can represent a child in any other type of case, including physical abuse, just not abuse resulting from religious entitlement.

Throughout this process, one question has kept popping up from other people: How can I involve myself with cases involving abused and neglected children and report my observations to a judge? My answer is, how can I not? The court system isn’t perfect and families need a lot of help and some may never get better, but a non-perfect system isn’t a good enough reason for me to not help someone that I might be able to. Not every situation turns out perfect, but a CASA is someone who walks along side a child and who stays consistent until the outcome of a case. I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to be a person like this in a child’s life, I just hope that I am good at it. 

san antonio texas

Michael led his first training seminar in San Antonio this past weekend. He did a great job! In case you don't know, Michael runs his own software company which features Contract Collector, a loan servicing software program. I'm really proud of him. I went to help him at the conference and then he and I spent Saturday and Sunday playing in San Antonio. It rained on Saturday but was beautiful on Sunday while we were there. 

Remember the Alamo! Even on rainy days. It was the first time it rained in San Antonio in a year (so say the locals) and it was really needed because they are on water ration but we really were looking forward to the sun. Here we are in front of the Alamo which was a really awesome place to visit despite the tragic event. I love old history places like that. 

I loved the Riverwalk! It is a river that flows thru the city center and has restaurants all along it. There are also tons of lush green trees. It is a great place to visit and to eat. Michael and I also found a place to sit and just rest under the shade in the sun (when it was sunny on Sunday). I really liked the Riverwalk, it was relaxing. 

Michael and I on the Riverwalk, just walking around. I bought this hat at the Hard Rock Cafe. 

On Thursday and Friday night we were taken out by some of our customers and both times they kindly took us to Italian Restaurants. If you know me, you know I don't like Italian food, so it was kind of funny. Michael and I made it our mission to find a good Mexican Restaurant on Sunday (which you'd think would be easy since we're 150 miles from the border) and we finally settled on the Original Mexican Restaurant on the Riverwalk. Good food and even better virgin strawberry daiquiris. 

Our last pic on our last day. Finally, some sun!