For some reason I have to learn my lesson the hard way on everything! I came home from work last night and Jesse gave me some "bad" news. As of yesterday we thought we had 6 interviews, but we really have 5. We lost Hibbing, MN!!!!!!! Jesse received an e-mail from the Hibbing site and he read it like he had an interview. I was totally excited!! I really wanted to go there! It sounded like a cute little town up in the back woods of Minnesota! My Uncle Brad even wanted us to go here - great fishing holes!!
Last night he received another e-mail from them saying that they were not going to offer him an interview at this time. I guess you could say I was bit heart broken! But, I am no longer picking a site - what we get, is what we get!! I had already been looking at apartments in Hibbing. I only had 8 to choose from, but I was looking. I was looking to see what kind of jobs they had to offer. Long story short, I need to be patient and wait to see what we get.
So, we have 5 interviews in 5 days. (January 8 - 12)
Iowa (I can't remember where)
Chicago
2 in Milwaukee
and I think our last one is in Minneapolis.
And for some happy news!!! We leave on Friday to head back to Wisconsin to spend the holidays with our family and friends!! Whooohooo!! We are so excited it has been about 6 months since we have seen everyone!!
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!!
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
What can happen when your neighbor's heater quits working.
Posted By Jesse:
Sunday evening I saw my friend and neighbor, Ryan, walking by our apartment. He told me that he was over by Liz, another one of our neighbor friends, trying to fix her heater. He was unsuccessful in fixing the heater, so I decided that I'd offer one of my electric space heaters to her since it would get pretty cold in her apartment by the time morning came.
As I walked down the steps toward Liz's apartment I noticed a man in the shadows of the garages, it was about 9:30 PM and it was raining in a typical Portland fashion. I immediately recognize the tall slender gentleman as another one of my neighbors that I knew through my casual conversations with him. I proceeded to Liz's back porch, to find her smoking a cigarette and chatting on the phone as she often does. I briefly interrupted her conversation to ask if she needed a heater only to have our conversation interrupted by the man I had just noticed in the shadows. He yelled to ask if I'd come over by him. I asked him to wait a moment and finished my conversation with Liz. Within seconds I walked over to him. I could tell something wasn't right, but only because I don't typically see this guy outside of his home walking around, especially on such a dreary Sunday evening. As I walked up to him, I asked him what he was up to and then I noticed a large fillet knife in his left hand. His response was, "Do you know that girl (Liz)?" I said, "Yeah, she's my friend." He replied, "Tell her to get of the phone." Why he said that still doesn't make any sense to me. He seemed very upset, his eyes were wide open, his posture was very guarded, he smelled of alcohol, and he didn't seem to be playing with a full deck of cards. Everything about him was rather eerie. With great concern and fear I asked what he was doing with the knife. He told me he was going to kill himself. I'm not ashamed to say I was very scared. Not only scared for him, but also feeling a bit scared for myself, like I said, I'm not sure he was in his right mind. I'm also not ashamed to say that between every word I muttered, I was praying to God. In the moments before I prayed, I felt completely overwhelmed and helpless. I realized that no one could help me; not my father, not my wife, nor any of my friends. It was just me and this man with a knife standing in the rain. All I had was my own knowledge and a God that has always been there for me in the past. My prayer was brief, I simply asked for wisdom and the ability to protect myself if I needed to.
I asked him what was happening in his life that he wanted to die. Two days earlier I had talked with him and he told me about some major health complications he'd been having. He also has little money, it's the holidays, and he'd just had a fight with his wife. All of those were reasons he wanted walk down to park, slit his wrist, and leave the pain of this world behind him. I knew that he and his wife just had their first son about 5 months ago; I also knew that he grew up not knowing his own father. I asked him if he thought it would be fair to his son to also grow up without a father. He didn't answer me; instead he looked around and appeared to be confused. At this point we have been talking for about two minutes, and a group of three people just walked past. I can't help but wonder what they were thinking; seeing two guys standing in the rain, one of them holding a 10 inch fillet knife. He never responded to my question about his son, we just sat there for a while in silence. I asked him if he'd give me the knife, he refused. Now there is a car coming down the way, he takes a step back and rests his back on the garage door. We weren't blocking the roadway, but I though he'd stepped back to make more room for the oncoming car. Turns out he wasn't. Since he'd stepped back, I decided that I'd also step toward the garage. He instantly said that I'd better not come any closer. I then realized that I wasn't his ally, but just another threat to him. He talked some more and in a typical psychologist fashion I just listened, knowing that's what he probably wanted most of all. His situation was heart breaking, it didn't seem fair, I couldn't help but think I could have been in the same place had I experienced the same life.
Our conversation went on for about 5 minutes, perhaps longer. Then I noticed three cars coming down the way, they were moving exceptionally fast, but then again a lot of people drive really fast through this area. But these cars weren't just some reckless kids; it turned out to be three squad cars coming without their lights or sirens on. It happened so quickly. The three squads came to a screeching stop and they were out of their cars so fast. Within seconds this man and I were looking down the barrels of two pistols and a shotgun. I still clearly remember the sound of the officer cocking his shotgun. They yelled for us to get our hands in the air. My hands, as they often are, were in my pockets. It seemed like slow motion as I pulled my hands out, thinking that I should be careful to not make any sudden movements. I'm glad he was still holding the knife and that he refused to give it to me, or the situation could have been very different. I can just imagine my stuttering words as I try to explain that I'm not the guy they're after, even though I'm holding the knife. The officers quickly spotted the knife in his hand and told me get out of there. I stepped away as the officers closed in, repeatedly asking him to drop the knife. He was slow to comply and that's when I remember the part of our conversation when he mentioned suicide-by-cop. Thank God, he was willing to drop the knife. However, he was even less willing to drop the cigarette he had been smoking. All said and done, the officers handcuffed him and took him to Saint Vincent's Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
I told this story to my friends Ben and Brandon. Ben asked where the cops were from. The one I spoke to was from the Beaverton PD. Ben made a great point. The cops in this area received a similar call about a man with a knife about a month ago; however, that situation ended with the armed man shot to death. As Ben pointed out, "I'm sure that whole situation is still fresh in their minds." Unfortunately Ben witnessed part of that shooting as it went down at his apartment complex just down the road from here. You can actually read Ben's account of that night by clicking on Ben & Katie's blog located on the right side of our home page.
Police shootings are pretty common in this area, but I don't blame them for it. However, it's really a different experience when you are the one at the end of the barrel. You really start to hope that all the police shootings are not the result of some trigger happy cops.
If this man's story has touched you and you believe in God, please say one prayer for him. He has multiple health concerns, psychological issues, a wife and three children, and little money. In the past he's been a very laid back and fairly happy individual. The stress and pain of this world is breaking him. He needs a lot of things and one of those things is prayer.
Sunday evening I saw my friend and neighbor, Ryan, walking by our apartment. He told me that he was over by Liz, another one of our neighbor friends, trying to fix her heater. He was unsuccessful in fixing the heater, so I decided that I'd offer one of my electric space heaters to her since it would get pretty cold in her apartment by the time morning came.
As I walked down the steps toward Liz's apartment I noticed a man in the shadows of the garages, it was about 9:30 PM and it was raining in a typical Portland fashion. I immediately recognize the tall slender gentleman as another one of my neighbors that I knew through my casual conversations with him. I proceeded to Liz's back porch, to find her smoking a cigarette and chatting on the phone as she often does. I briefly interrupted her conversation to ask if she needed a heater only to have our conversation interrupted by the man I had just noticed in the shadows. He yelled to ask if I'd come over by him. I asked him to wait a moment and finished my conversation with Liz. Within seconds I walked over to him. I could tell something wasn't right, but only because I don't typically see this guy outside of his home walking around, especially on such a dreary Sunday evening. As I walked up to him, I asked him what he was up to and then I noticed a large fillet knife in his left hand. His response was, "Do you know that girl (Liz)?" I said, "Yeah, she's my friend." He replied, "Tell her to get of the phone." Why he said that still doesn't make any sense to me. He seemed very upset, his eyes were wide open, his posture was very guarded, he smelled of alcohol, and he didn't seem to be playing with a full deck of cards. Everything about him was rather eerie. With great concern and fear I asked what he was doing with the knife. He told me he was going to kill himself. I'm not ashamed to say I was very scared. Not only scared for him, but also feeling a bit scared for myself, like I said, I'm not sure he was in his right mind. I'm also not ashamed to say that between every word I muttered, I was praying to God. In the moments before I prayed, I felt completely overwhelmed and helpless. I realized that no one could help me; not my father, not my wife, nor any of my friends. It was just me and this man with a knife standing in the rain. All I had was my own knowledge and a God that has always been there for me in the past. My prayer was brief, I simply asked for wisdom and the ability to protect myself if I needed to.
I asked him what was happening in his life that he wanted to die. Two days earlier I had talked with him and he told me about some major health complications he'd been having. He also has little money, it's the holidays, and he'd just had a fight with his wife. All of those were reasons he wanted walk down to park, slit his wrist, and leave the pain of this world behind him. I knew that he and his wife just had their first son about 5 months ago; I also knew that he grew up not knowing his own father. I asked him if he thought it would be fair to his son to also grow up without a father. He didn't answer me; instead he looked around and appeared to be confused. At this point we have been talking for about two minutes, and a group of three people just walked past. I can't help but wonder what they were thinking; seeing two guys standing in the rain, one of them holding a 10 inch fillet knife. He never responded to my question about his son, we just sat there for a while in silence. I asked him if he'd give me the knife, he refused. Now there is a car coming down the way, he takes a step back and rests his back on the garage door. We weren't blocking the roadway, but I though he'd stepped back to make more room for the oncoming car. Turns out he wasn't. Since he'd stepped back, I decided that I'd also step toward the garage. He instantly said that I'd better not come any closer. I then realized that I wasn't his ally, but just another threat to him. He talked some more and in a typical psychologist fashion I just listened, knowing that's what he probably wanted most of all. His situation was heart breaking, it didn't seem fair, I couldn't help but think I could have been in the same place had I experienced the same life.
Our conversation went on for about 5 minutes, perhaps longer. Then I noticed three cars coming down the way, they were moving exceptionally fast, but then again a lot of people drive really fast through this area. But these cars weren't just some reckless kids; it turned out to be three squad cars coming without their lights or sirens on. It happened so quickly. The three squads came to a screeching stop and they were out of their cars so fast. Within seconds this man and I were looking down the barrels of two pistols and a shotgun. I still clearly remember the sound of the officer cocking his shotgun. They yelled for us to get our hands in the air. My hands, as they often are, were in my pockets. It seemed like slow motion as I pulled my hands out, thinking that I should be careful to not make any sudden movements. I'm glad he was still holding the knife and that he refused to give it to me, or the situation could have been very different. I can just imagine my stuttering words as I try to explain that I'm not the guy they're after, even though I'm holding the knife. The officers quickly spotted the knife in his hand and told me get out of there. I stepped away as the officers closed in, repeatedly asking him to drop the knife. He was slow to comply and that's when I remember the part of our conversation when he mentioned suicide-by-cop. Thank God, he was willing to drop the knife. However, he was even less willing to drop the cigarette he had been smoking. All said and done, the officers handcuffed him and took him to Saint Vincent's Hospital for a psychiatric evaluation.
I told this story to my friends Ben and Brandon. Ben asked where the cops were from. The one I spoke to was from the Beaverton PD. Ben made a great point. The cops in this area received a similar call about a man with a knife about a month ago; however, that situation ended with the armed man shot to death. As Ben pointed out, "I'm sure that whole situation is still fresh in their minds." Unfortunately Ben witnessed part of that shooting as it went down at his apartment complex just down the road from here. You can actually read Ben's account of that night by clicking on Ben & Katie's blog located on the right side of our home page.
Police shootings are pretty common in this area, but I don't blame them for it. However, it's really a different experience when you are the one at the end of the barrel. You really start to hope that all the police shootings are not the result of some trigger happy cops.
If this man's story has touched you and you believe in God, please say one prayer for him. He has multiple health concerns, psychological issues, a wife and three children, and little money. In the past he's been a very laid back and fairly happy individual. The stress and pain of this world is breaking him. He needs a lot of things and one of those things is prayer.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
Christmas Tree Stories!
I was driving into work the other day and I was noticing all the Christmas tree for sale signs. So, I thought it would be fun to share a few tree stories. Feel free to share yours too!!
I had to be in middle school when we (Mom, Shannon, Adam and I) talked Dad (aka: Mr. Grinch) into going out into our woods and cutting a tree down ourselves!! We were so excited!! This was going to be the cool way of doing it!!
I think there was a little bit of snow on the ground (not much) and we dressed in our snow suits and headed out to the woods. Of course my Dad is grumbing the whole way - he didn't understand why we needed a tree at all. But, he loves us and did it anyway.
I can't remember how long we looked for that perfect tree but I know we found one. And, I should just tell you that these are just trees growing in the woods. No one has trimmed or shaped them - Ever!!
We get our perfect tree home and decorate it all up...
I have to say that this was NOT the perfect tree. Ranks up there as the most ugliest tree. We put the tree right in front of the front window facing the road and when we would turn on the tree lights at night you could see it from the road - it was a scary site!!! I am pretty sure the neighbor girl, Jodi, questioned me. What's wrong with your tree? Where did you get it?
It may have looked perfect in the woods next to the other "perfect" trees. But once we got it in the house it was almost a Charlie Brown tree.
I have one more story and then I am done. Our first Christmas tree we got in Oregon we decided to cut it down ourselves. Except we went to an actual tree farm!! We get it home and we are decorating it and we start to notice a few spiders. That tree was full of spiders!! I had bug spray that I was using on my plants that summer and I sprayed that whole tree and we were still finding spiders. It was so gross!! When we took the tree out we had pest control come in and spray our apartment!! YUCK!
The next year we thought we would just get one that was already cut - maybe they didn't come with spiders. WRONG!
We have learned our lesson and we are not getting a tree this year!! I am not a fan of bugs so no tree at all is way better than a tree full of spiders!! Apparently this is normal out here because when I complain about this to Oregonians they just laugh and say "Yeah, one year we had a family of wasps in our tree."
I had to be in middle school when we (Mom, Shannon, Adam and I) talked Dad (aka: Mr. Grinch) into going out into our woods and cutting a tree down ourselves!! We were so excited!! This was going to be the cool way of doing it!!
I think there was a little bit of snow on the ground (not much) and we dressed in our snow suits and headed out to the woods. Of course my Dad is grumbing the whole way - he didn't understand why we needed a tree at all. But, he loves us and did it anyway.
I can't remember how long we looked for that perfect tree but I know we found one. And, I should just tell you that these are just trees growing in the woods. No one has trimmed or shaped them - Ever!!
We get our perfect tree home and decorate it all up...
I have to say that this was NOT the perfect tree. Ranks up there as the most ugliest tree. We put the tree right in front of the front window facing the road and when we would turn on the tree lights at night you could see it from the road - it was a scary site!!! I am pretty sure the neighbor girl, Jodi, questioned me. What's wrong with your tree? Where did you get it?
It may have looked perfect in the woods next to the other "perfect" trees. But once we got it in the house it was almost a Charlie Brown tree.
I have one more story and then I am done. Our first Christmas tree we got in Oregon we decided to cut it down ourselves. Except we went to an actual tree farm!! We get it home and we are decorating it and we start to notice a few spiders. That tree was full of spiders!! I had bug spray that I was using on my plants that summer and I sprayed that whole tree and we were still finding spiders. It was so gross!! When we took the tree out we had pest control come in and spray our apartment!! YUCK!
The next year we thought we would just get one that was already cut - maybe they didn't come with spiders. WRONG!
We have learned our lesson and we are not getting a tree this year!! I am not a fan of bugs so no tree at all is way better than a tree full of spiders!! Apparently this is normal out here because when I complain about this to Oregonians they just laugh and say "Yeah, one year we had a family of wasps in our tree."
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Uh-oh Chicago!
I came home last night and Jesse told me that we have another interview to add to the list. One of our Chicago sites, I think it was the Meier Clinic, would like to interview us!! That makes this 4 sites total - just in case anyone is counting!! : ) We were told that we should get 6 interviews total - almost there!!!
I know those cousins of mine are hoping for this site - we could all go see Oprah if we land here!!! I would love to see Oprah too, but I am not sure I am ready to live here. If I moved 1/2 way across the US to Oregon, I can live in Chicago!! All the bad thoughts I have of Chicago are from my good ol' brother-in-law Jerry!! He lived there for a couple years while he went to school and he doesn't have nice things to say! I have never been there - so I can't judge, right!!? I am trying not to - I just need to stop talking to Jerry!! Sorry Jerry, I am going to have to cut you off until after this is all over!! Love ya!!
This site has already scheduled an interview for Jesse on the 19th of January. Right now we are in the process of having to coordinate all these interviews for when he is actually going to be there. This could get ugly. Worse case - we just have to fly him back for this interview.
Whoohoo!! Just wanted to keep you all updated! It was real hard when we got that first no - but it has been all up hill since then!! Praise the Lord!!
I know those cousins of mine are hoping for this site - we could all go see Oprah if we land here!!! I would love to see Oprah too, but I am not sure I am ready to live here. If I moved 1/2 way across the US to Oregon, I can live in Chicago!! All the bad thoughts I have of Chicago are from my good ol' brother-in-law Jerry!! He lived there for a couple years while he went to school and he doesn't have nice things to say! I have never been there - so I can't judge, right!!? I am trying not to - I just need to stop talking to Jerry!! Sorry Jerry, I am going to have to cut you off until after this is all over!! Love ya!!
This site has already scheduled an interview for Jesse on the 19th of January. Right now we are in the process of having to coordinate all these interviews for when he is actually going to be there. This could get ugly. Worse case - we just have to fly him back for this interview.
Whoohoo!! Just wanted to keep you all updated! It was real hard when we got that first no - but it has been all up hill since then!! Praise the Lord!!
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Miranda Lambert and Dierks Bentley
Thursday night my friend Katie and I had the opportunity to see Dierks Bentley in concert at the Memorial Coliseum in Portland. The Randy Rogers Band and Miranda Lambert were going to open for Dierks. We had to go!!! We purchased our tickets the second they went on sale and we ended up with Floor, Row 1, Seats 31 & 32!!!! Row 1 on the floor!!!!!!! You have no idea how excited we were and how long we had to wait for this concert to finally get here!!
The day of the concert we e-mailed each other all day counting down the hours until we were done with work and could go see Dierks and Miranda from the front row!!!
We walked into the Coliseum and headed right to the front row! We knew where we were going! One of the security/workers stopped us to see if we needed help finding our seats. Nope, we showed her our tickets and she said "lucky" and let us go right on up to the FRONT ROW!
We get to the front row and it wasn't right up to the stage like we thought it would be. We had a fenced-in area in front of us without chairs and there were people standing in there. Apparently they had Floor, General admission tickets and that is how they got in there. We still had great seats and were totally giddy with excitement!!!
The Randy Rogers Band came out and they were so good! I never heard any of their songs until that night and I put their CD on my must have list. They were really good!! They had this fiddle player that was awesome. He didn't look like a fiddle player at all and he hopped all over stage. They introduced him as "the coolest kid at fiddle camp". He was the coolest!!
While they were changing the stage for Miranda Lambert, her band was standing off to the side of the stage and we could see them. It looked like they were looking right at us!! We waved. They waved back. We tried to send hand signals that said "can you get us back there" and they sent hand signals back but we couldn't figure out what they were saying. We felt pretty cool, Miranda's band was talking to us!!!!!
Miranda finally came on stage and she was awesome!! She is such a cutie!! She came out in just a pair of jeans with an awesome belt, a t-shirt with a long sleeved shirt on underneath. Totally relaxed but very stylish and cute!
It took forever for them to set-up the stage for Dierks - at least it felt like forever! As soon as the lights went out and his band started playing Katie and I turned into school girls. We grabbed on into each other and started jumping up and down and screaming!! A little too excited!
Can I just tell you about the couple next to Katie? Good, I have to! They looked like they were 18/19 years old and they were all over each other. They were dancing very close and it was very disgusting. For those of you who know what the word "grinding" means - that is what they were doing the ENTIRE time!! Not even kidding when I say ENTIRE!!! We had a fence in front of us to separate us from the "general admission", they walk up to the fence to take a picture and they stayed there!!! So now they are in front of us dancing like this!!! It was totally disgusting and very distracting!! Then they had the urge to kiss!! Oh boy! Not sure you can call it a kiss - more like a bath!! The girl next to me says "It isn't even a slow song". Dierks just has to sing "come a little closer" and they go at it even more! It was so gross!! We couldn't take it so we went up to the fence to get away from them.
While Katie and I are standing up at the fence Dierks sees us!!! He holds his guitar pick up at us, points it at us, winds up and throws it at us!!! We lost it in the light and never seen where it landed!! We felt pretty cool that he seen us! I am not even imagining things either!
Dierks has this song that is called "light domestic and cold" and before he sings the song he says he needs to grab something light domestic and cold. He walks over to what looks like a speaker and opens it up. It is a mini-fridge filled with beer! He grabs one, takes a drink and starts singing his song. Of course the crowd went crazy - you could drink at this concert. Beer bottles and beer classes were all raised up!
The concert was great. Every one did a fantastic job and we had so much fun!!
The day of the concert we e-mailed each other all day counting down the hours until we were done with work and could go see Dierks and Miranda from the front row!!!
We walked into the Coliseum and headed right to the front row! We knew where we were going! One of the security/workers stopped us to see if we needed help finding our seats. Nope, we showed her our tickets and she said "lucky" and let us go right on up to the FRONT ROW!
We get to the front row and it wasn't right up to the stage like we thought it would be. We had a fenced-in area in front of us without chairs and there were people standing in there. Apparently they had Floor, General admission tickets and that is how they got in there. We still had great seats and were totally giddy with excitement!!!
The Randy Rogers Band came out and they were so good! I never heard any of their songs until that night and I put their CD on my must have list. They were really good!! They had this fiddle player that was awesome. He didn't look like a fiddle player at all and he hopped all over stage. They introduced him as "the coolest kid at fiddle camp". He was the coolest!!
While they were changing the stage for Miranda Lambert, her band was standing off to the side of the stage and we could see them. It looked like they were looking right at us!! We waved. They waved back. We tried to send hand signals that said "can you get us back there" and they sent hand signals back but we couldn't figure out what they were saying. We felt pretty cool, Miranda's band was talking to us!!!!!
Miranda finally came on stage and she was awesome!! She is such a cutie!! She came out in just a pair of jeans with an awesome belt, a t-shirt with a long sleeved shirt on underneath. Totally relaxed but very stylish and cute!
It took forever for them to set-up the stage for Dierks - at least it felt like forever! As soon as the lights went out and his band started playing Katie and I turned into school girls. We grabbed on into each other and started jumping up and down and screaming!! A little too excited!
Can I just tell you about the couple next to Katie? Good, I have to! They looked like they were 18/19 years old and they were all over each other. They were dancing very close and it was very disgusting. For those of you who know what the word "grinding" means - that is what they were doing the ENTIRE time!! Not even kidding when I say ENTIRE!!! We had a fence in front of us to separate us from the "general admission", they walk up to the fence to take a picture and they stayed there!!! So now they are in front of us dancing like this!!! It was totally disgusting and very distracting!! Then they had the urge to kiss!! Oh boy! Not sure you can call it a kiss - more like a bath!! The girl next to me says "It isn't even a slow song". Dierks just has to sing "come a little closer" and they go at it even more! It was so gross!! We couldn't take it so we went up to the fence to get away from them.
While Katie and I are standing up at the fence Dierks sees us!!! He holds his guitar pick up at us, points it at us, winds up and throws it at us!!! We lost it in the light and never seen where it landed!! We felt pretty cool that he seen us! I am not even imagining things either!
Dierks has this song that is called "light domestic and cold" and before he sings the song he says he needs to grab something light domestic and cold. He walks over to what looks like a speaker and opens it up. It is a mini-fridge filled with beer! He grabs one, takes a drink and starts singing his song. Of course the crowd went crazy - you could drink at this concert. Beer bottles and beer classes were all raised up!
The concert was great. Every one did a fantastic job and we had so much fun!!
Meet Calvin.
Last night we went to Bridgetown again with our care group from church. I have to say I wasn't excited about going. Either was Jesse.
We met the Bridgetown team at their church where we sorted clothes and prepared the meal. After all our tasks were done we were assigned our "job" for the evening. I really wanted to serve food! They called off all the jobs and I raised my hand for serving food and handing out clothing and he didn't pick me for any of them!! So, that left me with hosting a table. This was way out of my comfort zone!!! As a host you were suppose to sit down and eat with the folks at your table, get them more food/drinks, and talk with them. Oh boy!! I was not excited. I pouted to Jesse and he gave me a few tips - ask them how their week has been. You won't have to ask them anything else, they will carry the conversation from there. Easier said then done if you ask me.
We set up all the stations and I stood by a table and waited for people to come and sit at my table. No one came to my table so I decided to walk around and my find someone who looked nice and friendly!! I seen this guy who had a sandwich in front of him and he was wearing a hockey jersey with a stocking hat on. I felt like I could talk to this guy. I asked him if I could get him some coffee because he was rubbing his hands together trying to stay warm. (It was a cold night.) And he told me no - he already had some. I asked if I could go find him a pair of gloves from the clothing station and he said no. It was like pulling teeth to get this guy to talk to me. Well, I wasn't leaving! This was the first person I had enough guts to make the first contact, he was going to have to deal with me the rest of the night!!!
I stayed and talked with him the rest of the night!!! I didn't move!! He eventually warmed up to me and told me a lot about himself. His name is Calvin and he is 27. He has 4 children, 3 sons and a daughter who is the apple of his eye!! Daddy's little girl he said. He had pictures of his kids and he showed them to me, and I said there are only 3 here where is the 4th. He had a hard time telling me the story. One of his sons past away at 5 months old, he had a heart condition and didn't make it. The heart condition runs in his family.
Calvin dropped out of high school after his freshman year. He was very into track and cross country, but got into a lot trouble and didn't want to be there anymore. He still enjoys running. He also enjoys hunting and fishing. I of course told him my only hunting story and he had a good laugh. (Where the deer practically ran me over!! If you ask my Dad about it he has a different story, but I swear that I could of jumped on that deer's back and went for a ride. It was so close to getting me!!)
I asked him if he had any family and he said that his Dad lived in Vancouver, WA but they didn't get along all the time. They were too much alike and would butt heads. He had seen his Dad on Friday and would be seeing him again today. He was helping him paint a house. He had a brother that lived in New York and a sister that lived in the Midwest (I can't remember where). His kids lived in Portland with their mom's uncle. The kids were taken away from the Mother because she was into drugs. Calvin said he is trying to clean up his life and get off of drugs so that he can get his kids back. I asked him how he was going to get the kids and he said he would have to go talk to the Uncle. Calvin and the Uncle do not get along. He said he would have to apologize for things he never did. Breaks my heart - he seemed like such a good guy.
Calvin has been on the streets off and on for 16 years. He just got a place he can call home on Thursday. He doesn't have anything to put in it but his sleeping bag. His first night there he put that sleeping bag in the middle of the floor and stretched out!!! What a great feeling that had to be!!
While Calvin and I were chatting there were 2 other guys sitting by us. One of the guys was going to be turning 40 and he was dressed in very nice clothes and had a very nice looking sleeping bag. He was carrying around this very nice blue button down shirt and I asked him what he was doing with that shirt (stupid question I am sure, oh well) and he said it was for interviews. He had an interview at a restaurant in Sherwood. He had hitch-hiked/walked to Portland from Newport, OR (which is on the coast). 400 some miles! He was so excited to go and get his feet washed! I told him my husband is over there he should go to him!! As soon as I said that Jesse showed up at our table and told us that they were running out of water. I watched his sleeping bag and shirt while he went to check out the water situation. He came back a bit later and said that he was able to get them washed!! He was pretty excited!! He thanked me for sitting down and talking to him and thanked us for everything that we did with this organization. He really appreciated it! I think his name was Dell.
The 2nd guy that was sitting at my table was a bit strange. While I would be talking to Calvin he would look at me and raise his eyebrows and either shake his head or smile. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I ignored it for a while but he kept doing it. He said something about not having sugar in his coffee so I asked him if I could go get him sugar and he looked at me weird again and said no. Then he says, "Do you have a younger sister with brown hair?" I told him yes, but she doesn't live in Oregon. He tells me that he knows this girl named Chelsey and she works at a bar that he went to. Apparently this girl looked exactly like me! He said we had the same eyebrows, eyes and smile. I asked him if that is why he kept looking at me funny. I can't remember his answer. He made those faces and shook his head and smiled the rest of the time he was at my table. Finally I said, "She looks that much like me, that it is that hard to look at me?" He said yes. He finally walked away and I was relieved - the guys was starting to freak me out! And then I couldn't figure out if he was one of the Bridgetown helpers because he was sitting in a circle with some of the other helpers that were singing songs and playing the guitar. I'll never know.
In the end I had a great time and so did Jesse. It is just getting me there that is the hard part! It is so interesting hearing their stories and learning how they ended up on the streets. Before we went down to the bridge last night one of the leaders said something very true and very intersting:
The only difference, if there is a difference, between you and them is that their sin is on the outside. Our sin is on the inside covered and protected by our nice clothes, our nice house, and our stuff.
We met the Bridgetown team at their church where we sorted clothes and prepared the meal. After all our tasks were done we were assigned our "job" for the evening. I really wanted to serve food! They called off all the jobs and I raised my hand for serving food and handing out clothing and he didn't pick me for any of them!! So, that left me with hosting a table. This was way out of my comfort zone!!! As a host you were suppose to sit down and eat with the folks at your table, get them more food/drinks, and talk with them. Oh boy!! I was not excited. I pouted to Jesse and he gave me a few tips - ask them how their week has been. You won't have to ask them anything else, they will carry the conversation from there. Easier said then done if you ask me.
We set up all the stations and I stood by a table and waited for people to come and sit at my table. No one came to my table so I decided to walk around and my find someone who looked nice and friendly!! I seen this guy who had a sandwich in front of him and he was wearing a hockey jersey with a stocking hat on. I felt like I could talk to this guy. I asked him if I could get him some coffee because he was rubbing his hands together trying to stay warm. (It was a cold night.) And he told me no - he already had some. I asked if I could go find him a pair of gloves from the clothing station and he said no. It was like pulling teeth to get this guy to talk to me. Well, I wasn't leaving! This was the first person I had enough guts to make the first contact, he was going to have to deal with me the rest of the night!!!
I stayed and talked with him the rest of the night!!! I didn't move!! He eventually warmed up to me and told me a lot about himself. His name is Calvin and he is 27. He has 4 children, 3 sons and a daughter who is the apple of his eye!! Daddy's little girl he said. He had pictures of his kids and he showed them to me, and I said there are only 3 here where is the 4th. He had a hard time telling me the story. One of his sons past away at 5 months old, he had a heart condition and didn't make it. The heart condition runs in his family.
Calvin dropped out of high school after his freshman year. He was very into track and cross country, but got into a lot trouble and didn't want to be there anymore. He still enjoys running. He also enjoys hunting and fishing. I of course told him my only hunting story and he had a good laugh. (Where the deer practically ran me over!! If you ask my Dad about it he has a different story, but I swear that I could of jumped on that deer's back and went for a ride. It was so close to getting me!!)
I asked him if he had any family and he said that his Dad lived in Vancouver, WA but they didn't get along all the time. They were too much alike and would butt heads. He had seen his Dad on Friday and would be seeing him again today. He was helping him paint a house. He had a brother that lived in New York and a sister that lived in the Midwest (I can't remember where). His kids lived in Portland with their mom's uncle. The kids were taken away from the Mother because she was into drugs. Calvin said he is trying to clean up his life and get off of drugs so that he can get his kids back. I asked him how he was going to get the kids and he said he would have to go talk to the Uncle. Calvin and the Uncle do not get along. He said he would have to apologize for things he never did. Breaks my heart - he seemed like such a good guy.
Calvin has been on the streets off and on for 16 years. He just got a place he can call home on Thursday. He doesn't have anything to put in it but his sleeping bag. His first night there he put that sleeping bag in the middle of the floor and stretched out!!! What a great feeling that had to be!!
While Calvin and I were chatting there were 2 other guys sitting by us. One of the guys was going to be turning 40 and he was dressed in very nice clothes and had a very nice looking sleeping bag. He was carrying around this very nice blue button down shirt and I asked him what he was doing with that shirt (stupid question I am sure, oh well) and he said it was for interviews. He had an interview at a restaurant in Sherwood. He had hitch-hiked/walked to Portland from Newport, OR (which is on the coast). 400 some miles! He was so excited to go and get his feet washed! I told him my husband is over there he should go to him!! As soon as I said that Jesse showed up at our table and told us that they were running out of water. I watched his sleeping bag and shirt while he went to check out the water situation. He came back a bit later and said that he was able to get them washed!! He was pretty excited!! He thanked me for sitting down and talking to him and thanked us for everything that we did with this organization. He really appreciated it! I think his name was Dell.
The 2nd guy that was sitting at my table was a bit strange. While I would be talking to Calvin he would look at me and raise his eyebrows and either shake his head or smile. I couldn't figure out what was going on. I ignored it for a while but he kept doing it. He said something about not having sugar in his coffee so I asked him if I could go get him sugar and he looked at me weird again and said no. Then he says, "Do you have a younger sister with brown hair?" I told him yes, but she doesn't live in Oregon. He tells me that he knows this girl named Chelsey and she works at a bar that he went to. Apparently this girl looked exactly like me! He said we had the same eyebrows, eyes and smile. I asked him if that is why he kept looking at me funny. I can't remember his answer. He made those faces and shook his head and smiled the rest of the time he was at my table. Finally I said, "She looks that much like me, that it is that hard to look at me?" He said yes. He finally walked away and I was relieved - the guys was starting to freak me out! And then I couldn't figure out if he was one of the Bridgetown helpers because he was sitting in a circle with some of the other helpers that were singing songs and playing the guitar. I'll never know.
In the end I had a great time and so did Jesse. It is just getting me there that is the hard part! It is so interesting hearing their stories and learning how they ended up on the streets. Before we went down to the bridge last night one of the leaders said something very true and very intersting:
The only difference, if there is a difference, between you and them is that their sin is on the outside. Our sin is on the inside covered and protected by our nice clothes, our nice house, and our stuff.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Another one!
We have another interview!!!! This is so exciting and fun!! It gives me a little sneak peak into our future of where we could be moving next year. I know there is still that chance that we don't get any of these sites, but it sure makes me excited!!
This interview is with the Wisconsin Dept. of Corrections.
I have a proud wife moment to share with you: Jesse had mock interviews yesterday and he nailed them. The teacher/supervisor that was conducting the interview told him that she would hire him on the spot!! And the students that were sitting in and watching said that he was very professional, knowledgeable, and confident!! This gave him a little boost and helped him get ready for the the real deal!!
Tonight we head to Bridgetown again to work with the homeless. I am going to try my hardest to serve food. They only need about 3-4 people to serve food and I can never raise my hand fast enough. I hope I get picked tonight!
Happy December!!!
This interview is with the Wisconsin Dept. of Corrections.
I have a proud wife moment to share with you: Jesse had mock interviews yesterday and he nailed them. The teacher/supervisor that was conducting the interview told him that she would hire him on the spot!! And the students that were sitting in and watching said that he was very professional, knowledgeable, and confident!! This gave him a little boost and helped him get ready for the the real deal!!
Tonight we head to Bridgetown again to work with the homeless. I am going to try my hardest to serve food. They only need about 3-4 people to serve food and I can never raise my hand fast enough. I hope I get picked tonight!
Happy December!!!
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
2 Interviews!
I just got a call from Jesse with some awesome news!! He opened up his e-mail this morning and he has two interviews!!! I am so excited!!!!!!
Hibbing, MN and Wales, WI!!!
Hope you all are having a great week!!
Hibbing, MN and Wales, WI!!!
Hope you all are having a great week!!
Saturday, November 25, 2006
Black Friday
This year Jesse and I participated in the crazy shopping frenzy that happens every year - Black Friday!!!
Jesse and a few guys (Brandon, Ben, & Jim) left at 11:30pm Thursday night to stand in line at Best Buy. Best Buy didn't open until 5am Friday Morning!!! They took a thermos full of coffee, thermos of hot chocolate, a small heater, cards, poker chips, and dressed in a mixture of warm clothes and rain gear!! To much of your surprise, they were not the first ones in line!! About 200 people in front of them!!! The first person in line got there at 2pm Thursday afternoon!!! (That's crazy!)
I heard the time went fast and I am not sure about the other guys but Jesse made a haul. But, I can't tell you what he got because they are presents!! Even surprises for me!!! (Jesse doesn't hide them very well - oops!! I wasn't even looking!!!!! Promise!!!)
Natalie, Katie and I left at 5:45am Friday morning to open Target! We were so excited! When we pulled into the parking lot we couldn't believe there was a line to get into Target!! What was at Target!!!?? The only thing I knew about was the preschooler games for $3.99!!! As soon as we were walking up they opened the doors and everyone rushed in. We kind of cheated and just walked in - Jesse gave me a lecture when I told him that!! He said at Best Buy there was absolutely no cheating!!!!! They had a Best Buy Worker patrolling for cheaters!
Us girls have been dreaming about this day for a long time. We had a game plan. Get to Target and get a Starbucks. Starbucks was our biggest excitement of the day!! So, Natalie and I get carried away by all the rushing people we step aside and give Katie and little nudge and tell her to get the cart we'll wait. We are waiting and chatting away. Pretty soon everyone has come in and the carts are gone and no sign of Katie!! She was standing in line at Starbucks!! She remembered the game plan!! Natalie and I forgot!!
We shopped around at Target and then went to Old Navy and finished up at the mall. We felt like we stood in more lines this year. JC Penny's was the worst! We stood in line for almost 45 minutes. We were starting to get scared because you got an extra 10% off before Noon on all items and it was almost 11:45 and our line was stuck!! But, we made it!!! Whew!
I came home with lots of bags and lots of fun things! Maybe too many fun things for myself...
Black Friday worked to our advantage yesterday. And, it was a lot of fun!!
Jesse and a few guys (Brandon, Ben, & Jim) left at 11:30pm Thursday night to stand in line at Best Buy. Best Buy didn't open until 5am Friday Morning!!! They took a thermos full of coffee, thermos of hot chocolate, a small heater, cards, poker chips, and dressed in a mixture of warm clothes and rain gear!! To much of your surprise, they were not the first ones in line!! About 200 people in front of them!!! The first person in line got there at 2pm Thursday afternoon!!! (That's crazy!)
I heard the time went fast and I am not sure about the other guys but Jesse made a haul. But, I can't tell you what he got because they are presents!! Even surprises for me!!! (Jesse doesn't hide them very well - oops!! I wasn't even looking!!!!! Promise!!!)
Natalie, Katie and I left at 5:45am Friday morning to open Target! We were so excited! When we pulled into the parking lot we couldn't believe there was a line to get into Target!! What was at Target!!!?? The only thing I knew about was the preschooler games for $3.99!!! As soon as we were walking up they opened the doors and everyone rushed in. We kind of cheated and just walked in - Jesse gave me a lecture when I told him that!! He said at Best Buy there was absolutely no cheating!!!!! They had a Best Buy Worker patrolling for cheaters!
Us girls have been dreaming about this day for a long time. We had a game plan. Get to Target and get a Starbucks. Starbucks was our biggest excitement of the day!! So, Natalie and I get carried away by all the rushing people we step aside and give Katie and little nudge and tell her to get the cart we'll wait. We are waiting and chatting away. Pretty soon everyone has come in and the carts are gone and no sign of Katie!! She was standing in line at Starbucks!! She remembered the game plan!! Natalie and I forgot!!
We shopped around at Target and then went to Old Navy and finished up at the mall. We felt like we stood in more lines this year. JC Penny's was the worst! We stood in line for almost 45 minutes. We were starting to get scared because you got an extra 10% off before Noon on all items and it was almost 11:45 and our line was stuck!! But, we made it!!! Whew!
I came home with lots of bags and lots of fun things! Maybe too many fun things for myself...
Black Friday worked to our advantage yesterday. And, it was a lot of fun!!
Saturday, November 18, 2006
DONE!!!
Applications are done!! Applications are mailed!!! We are done with the application process!!! YESSSSS!!!
Jesse worked his butt off today to finish these up and he finished. We drove them to the post office and sent them on their merry way!! Then of course we had to celebrate!! We took ourselves to good ol' Olive Garden and had some fantastic food and a few yummy drinks! I had this drink that tasted like a lemon starburst - oh so good!! (I'll try not to slur my words as I type.)
I am so excited that we have moved onto the next stage of the internship process. Can I even say excited... waiting for interviews can't be exciting. I might be back complaining about waiting but right now I am real excited to wait!!!
Have a great night!!
Jesse worked his butt off today to finish these up and he finished. We drove them to the post office and sent them on their merry way!! Then of course we had to celebrate!! We took ourselves to good ol' Olive Garden and had some fantastic food and a few yummy drinks! I had this drink that tasted like a lemon starburst - oh so good!! (I'll try not to slur my words as I type.)
I am so excited that we have moved onto the next stage of the internship process. Can I even say excited... waiting for interviews can't be exciting. I might be back complaining about waiting but right now I am real excited to wait!!!
Have a great night!!
Sunday, November 12, 2006
What a great night!!
As I mentioned before, Friday night we went to Bridgetown. I'll try to set the stage for you.
We met up at our church. We picked out what station we wanted to help out with. Foot washing, hair washing, serving food, clothing, or hosting a table. Natalie and I thought we would feel most comfortable at the clothing station. One of the bridgetown leaders comes over to explain our task for the evening. He starts out by saying that this is going to the be the "hot" spot tonight! It has been raining very hard for the past couple of days; they are going to be looking for some warm, dry clothes. He also tells us that if anyone starts to get aggressive with us to dish it back to them. And if that doesn't work just walk away and find a leader. Aggressive!!!?? And, we were only allowed to give them one piece of clothing from each bin. Don't let them take more! (Oh boy, what are we in for.) The good news is we had one guy on our team and we designated him as the bodyguard!
After we were told about our task we all came back together and sang a song, prayed and drove down to Portland.
We couldn't set-up under the bridge because the sweeper was going to be coming and we needed to be out of the way. Oh, did I tell you that is still raining out!! Fortunately there was a big huge white tent set-up that we could use! At the back of the tent was the clothing line, in the middle was the food (Chicken Noodle Soup was the meal I think - it looked so good!!) and a bunch of tables for them to sit down to eat, and at the front there was the foot washing station, hair cut & wash, and there was even a station for the guys to shave if they wanted.
Natalie and I are back at our station to hand out clothing but they never really told us how to do it. Oh but one of the homeless guys sure knew what were suppose to do. "Mens on one table. Womens on the other and we walk through." While we were setting up I was noticing that some of the guys were already starting to get aggressive!! One of them was yelling and complaining that this was wrong that we were under this tent and not under the bridge and that sweeper doesn't come until late at night. And the another one kept saying I am first in line, the line starts here!! I just felt so much pressure and still had no idea what I was really suppose to be doing. We get our bins all set up and we get the guys to line up on one side and the girls to line up on the other and we begin. Oh, did I tell you it is dark!! So, there was a little light but not enough light to read sizes.
I stand in front of the mens jeans/pants and the mittens & hats. And we started!! I had so much fun!!!!! I know, can you believe it!!? I had a blast! I met some very cool people! Good thing one of the rules is "Don't take them home with you". My heart is too big and I could have taken one guy home with me! And the women that are homeless just break my heart!! Why are they out here?!! I just had so many questions!
There was this big (round) black guy that stood at the end of the table and was asking for a size 42 pair of pants. I am looking at all these jeans for his size. And I can't find a size 42. Meanwhile I am helping other guys try to find pants and getting them gloves and hats. I get down to about 5 pairs of jeans and this black guy is still standing there asking me if I found a 42 yet. He was telling us how he had a bum leg and couldn't get around very well. Then I had this other guy come up and he was telling me that he had a girlfriend back at the tent by the river freezing and he needed to bring her some clothes back. I helped him find clothes for himself and then I showed him the womens section. All of sudden my size 42 friend starts telling me that he has an old man back at his tent and he needs to bring him a size 43!! I know he is pulling my leg - so I start playing along. I say "Oh really, why is he not here" "He is sick and couldn't come" Anyway this big story keeps going on and I just blow it off because I am only suppose to give them one item each.
I am looking and re-looking for a size 42 for him. And he starts saying "Please God let there be a size 42." All of sudden I find a 42!! And I let out a big ol' scream and get all excited for him and he got all excited and said "Thank you Jesus!" I am not kidding, he practically skipped away on that bum leg!! He was so excited!!!
I talked to a few more guys that night and they all broke my heart. One of the guys that I was talking to had a wedding ring on. He was telling me that his wife is pregnant and she is sick right now. So, she was at Women's shelter. She was about to move into an apartment and he would be able to move in with her. She was pregnant with a little boy and he had a name picked out for him. He was naming him after himself and he is a Junior so the baby was going be the third. He told me that he hasn't been able to tell his Dad that he is going to be a Grandpa because he travels a lot and was in between moving.
The next guy I talked looked like he was in 20s very well kept up. Good looking clean kid. He comes over and starts talking to the guy standing by me helping out with the clothing. And his story starts out real sad. He lived in LA and he was kicked out of his house. Living on the streets in LA was rough so he snuck on a greyhound bus and came to Portland. He signed up for the navy but had 4 weeks until he could start. So, he was sleeping under bridges until then. He keeps talking and pretty soon he is telling us how he robbed 2 banks when he was 17. He was telling us how he did it!! How he was sent to some prison and what that was like. After he left I looked at the guy he was talking to and said "What part of that story was true?" And the guy says, I wished I could of recorded that. Wild story!
(I only have one more story and then I'll stop!)
We are starting to pack up our bins and leave. This guy comes over and tells us that he just got a job and needs a pair of pants. I only had one pair left and they were HUGE! My size 42 friend would have drowned in them! And I told him that I only had one pair left and that he was going to swim in them. And, I started small talk asking him where he is working. New York Burrito. And he just took the conversation from there. We talked and talked. Everyone cleaned up around us and pretty soon it is just me and him standing there talking. He use to live in Switzerland, he went to high school there. Very smart guy. He was clean shaven and dressed in nice clothes. He said that he ended up on the streets because of gin. He was in rehab right now and had a job making burritos. I shouldn't say making he called it assembling burritos. He was so funny!! He was telling me how he had some friends that were letting him sleep in their car. Tonight was going to be his first night to sleep somewhere warm and dry. Meanwhile the group I came with had cleaned up everything. Jesse and seen us so he came over and we talked some more. They talked politics, you name it we talked about it! The group was starting to leave and head back to their vehicles and he noticed and so we said our good byes and he went to go sleep in this car and we were headed home. His name was Jeff!
Saturday I was suppose to be finishing up a book (I had book club that night!) and I couldn't read. I just kept thinking about all the people I had met. Jesse told me that we can go again this Friday. I looked at our calendar and we don't have anything scheduled!!! And, they are doing a whole Thanksgiving meal for them!!!! Cooking 6 turkeys!! They plan of feeding 300 that night!! I think I might need to go to see if these guys are still okay!!
We met up at our church. We picked out what station we wanted to help out with. Foot washing, hair washing, serving food, clothing, or hosting a table. Natalie and I thought we would feel most comfortable at the clothing station. One of the bridgetown leaders comes over to explain our task for the evening. He starts out by saying that this is going to the be the "hot" spot tonight! It has been raining very hard for the past couple of days; they are going to be looking for some warm, dry clothes. He also tells us that if anyone starts to get aggressive with us to dish it back to them. And if that doesn't work just walk away and find a leader. Aggressive!!!?? And, we were only allowed to give them one piece of clothing from each bin. Don't let them take more! (Oh boy, what are we in for.) The good news is we had one guy on our team and we designated him as the bodyguard!
After we were told about our task we all came back together and sang a song, prayed and drove down to Portland.
We couldn't set-up under the bridge because the sweeper was going to be coming and we needed to be out of the way. Oh, did I tell you that is still raining out!! Fortunately there was a big huge white tent set-up that we could use! At the back of the tent was the clothing line, in the middle was the food (Chicken Noodle Soup was the meal I think - it looked so good!!) and a bunch of tables for them to sit down to eat, and at the front there was the foot washing station, hair cut & wash, and there was even a station for the guys to shave if they wanted.
Natalie and I are back at our station to hand out clothing but they never really told us how to do it. Oh but one of the homeless guys sure knew what were suppose to do. "Mens on one table. Womens on the other and we walk through." While we were setting up I was noticing that some of the guys were already starting to get aggressive!! One of them was yelling and complaining that this was wrong that we were under this tent and not under the bridge and that sweeper doesn't come until late at night. And the another one kept saying I am first in line, the line starts here!! I just felt so much pressure and still had no idea what I was really suppose to be doing. We get our bins all set up and we get the guys to line up on one side and the girls to line up on the other and we begin. Oh, did I tell you it is dark!! So, there was a little light but not enough light to read sizes.
I stand in front of the mens jeans/pants and the mittens & hats. And we started!! I had so much fun!!!!! I know, can you believe it!!? I had a blast! I met some very cool people! Good thing one of the rules is "Don't take them home with you". My heart is too big and I could have taken one guy home with me! And the women that are homeless just break my heart!! Why are they out here?!! I just had so many questions!
There was this big (round) black guy that stood at the end of the table and was asking for a size 42 pair of pants. I am looking at all these jeans for his size. And I can't find a size 42. Meanwhile I am helping other guys try to find pants and getting them gloves and hats. I get down to about 5 pairs of jeans and this black guy is still standing there asking me if I found a 42 yet. He was telling us how he had a bum leg and couldn't get around very well. Then I had this other guy come up and he was telling me that he had a girlfriend back at the tent by the river freezing and he needed to bring her some clothes back. I helped him find clothes for himself and then I showed him the womens section. All of sudden my size 42 friend starts telling me that he has an old man back at his tent and he needs to bring him a size 43!! I know he is pulling my leg - so I start playing along. I say "Oh really, why is he not here" "He is sick and couldn't come" Anyway this big story keeps going on and I just blow it off because I am only suppose to give them one item each.
I am looking and re-looking for a size 42 for him. And he starts saying "Please God let there be a size 42." All of sudden I find a 42!! And I let out a big ol' scream and get all excited for him and he got all excited and said "Thank you Jesus!" I am not kidding, he practically skipped away on that bum leg!! He was so excited!!!
I talked to a few more guys that night and they all broke my heart. One of the guys that I was talking to had a wedding ring on. He was telling me that his wife is pregnant and she is sick right now. So, she was at Women's shelter. She was about to move into an apartment and he would be able to move in with her. She was pregnant with a little boy and he had a name picked out for him. He was naming him after himself and he is a Junior so the baby was going be the third. He told me that he hasn't been able to tell his Dad that he is going to be a Grandpa because he travels a lot and was in between moving.
The next guy I talked looked like he was in 20s very well kept up. Good looking clean kid. He comes over and starts talking to the guy standing by me helping out with the clothing. And his story starts out real sad. He lived in LA and he was kicked out of his house. Living on the streets in LA was rough so he snuck on a greyhound bus and came to Portland. He signed up for the navy but had 4 weeks until he could start. So, he was sleeping under bridges until then. He keeps talking and pretty soon he is telling us how he robbed 2 banks when he was 17. He was telling us how he did it!! How he was sent to some prison and what that was like. After he left I looked at the guy he was talking to and said "What part of that story was true?" And the guy says, I wished I could of recorded that. Wild story!
(I only have one more story and then I'll stop!)
We are starting to pack up our bins and leave. This guy comes over and tells us that he just got a job and needs a pair of pants. I only had one pair left and they were HUGE! My size 42 friend would have drowned in them! And I told him that I only had one pair left and that he was going to swim in them. And, I started small talk asking him where he is working. New York Burrito. And he just took the conversation from there. We talked and talked. Everyone cleaned up around us and pretty soon it is just me and him standing there talking. He use to live in Switzerland, he went to high school there. Very smart guy. He was clean shaven and dressed in nice clothes. He said that he ended up on the streets because of gin. He was in rehab right now and had a job making burritos. I shouldn't say making he called it assembling burritos. He was so funny!! He was telling me how he had some friends that were letting him sleep in their car. Tonight was going to be his first night to sleep somewhere warm and dry. Meanwhile the group I came with had cleaned up everything. Jesse and seen us so he came over and we talked some more. They talked politics, you name it we talked about it! The group was starting to leave and head back to their vehicles and he noticed and so we said our good byes and he went to go sleep in this car and we were headed home. His name was Jeff!
Saturday I was suppose to be finishing up a book (I had book club that night!) and I couldn't read. I just kept thinking about all the people I had met. Jesse told me that we can go again this Friday. I looked at our calendar and we don't have anything scheduled!!! And, they are doing a whole Thanksgiving meal for them!!!! Cooking 6 turkeys!! They plan of feeding 300 that night!! I think I might need to go to see if these guys are still okay!!
Friday, November 10, 2006
Tonight is the night
Tonight we are going to Bridgetown Ministries to help out with the homeless. I am a bit nervous. The good news is that Brandon & Natalie are going to come with us. Praise the Lord!! I'll have Natalie with me!!
We are also house sitting/kid watching this weekend. A family from our church is going away for the weekend, without kids. I am not sure what their oldest son is doing but he won't be home. Their youngest son, Lucas-who I think is an 8th grader, will be home. They wanted Jesse and I to come and house sit with him!! :) Anyway, Lucas wants to go to Bridgetown with us!! Which makes me a bit more nervous. But, the youth group from our church will be going so he will have all his church friends with him. Plus Brandon and Jesse, a couple of the best psychologist, will be there to debrief Natalie, Lucas, and I!!! I am sure we will be fine and we might even want to do it again!! I'll let you know how it goes!
Working with the homeless couldn't have come at a better time. Wednesday night we got our first "I am sorry we will not be interviewing you"!! This was from the Minn. Medical Center in Rochester, MN. This crushed us; I guess you could say this was our number one site. It was hard news to take. We felt like we had nothing after hearing this! But, I am sure we will feel like a million bucks after we spend some time tonight under the bridge working with the homeless!!
It took us a while after hearing this, but we picked ourselves up and dusted off and we are ready to keep moving forward. Lets just say before this I was totally against Chicago. I did not want to move there!! Now I am willing to go anywhere!! Wherever we get placed I am going with open arms... because we got placed!!! I also have some great news!! Jesse has 12 out of the 14 of his applications DONE!! Yeehaw!! This is such an accomplishment!! Such a hard worker!! You go Jesse!!
Okay friends and family that is all I know as of right now. I will definitely let you know how it goes tonight! We'll be in touch!! Take care and have a great weekend!!
We are also house sitting/kid watching this weekend. A family from our church is going away for the weekend, without kids. I am not sure what their oldest son is doing but he won't be home. Their youngest son, Lucas-who I think is an 8th grader, will be home. They wanted Jesse and I to come and house sit with him!! :) Anyway, Lucas wants to go to Bridgetown with us!! Which makes me a bit more nervous. But, the youth group from our church will be going so he will have all his church friends with him. Plus Brandon and Jesse, a couple of the best psychologist, will be there to debrief Natalie, Lucas, and I!!! I am sure we will be fine and we might even want to do it again!! I'll let you know how it goes!
Working with the homeless couldn't have come at a better time. Wednesday night we got our first "I am sorry we will not be interviewing you"!! This was from the Minn. Medical Center in Rochester, MN. This crushed us; I guess you could say this was our number one site. It was hard news to take. We felt like we had nothing after hearing this! But, I am sure we will feel like a million bucks after we spend some time tonight under the bridge working with the homeless!!
It took us a while after hearing this, but we picked ourselves up and dusted off and we are ready to keep moving forward. Lets just say before this I was totally against Chicago. I did not want to move there!! Now I am willing to go anywhere!! Wherever we get placed I am going with open arms... because we got placed!!! I also have some great news!! Jesse has 12 out of the 14 of his applications DONE!! Yeehaw!! This is such an accomplishment!! Such a hard worker!! You go Jesse!!
Okay friends and family that is all I know as of right now. I will definitely let you know how it goes tonight! We'll be in touch!! Take care and have a great weekend!!
Monday, November 06, 2006
Earthquake
Last night around 9:30 there was an earthquake somewhere in Portland. I think they said it was a 2.7. We didn't feel anything. Jesse was real disappointed - he wants to feel an earthquake before we leave. I don't!! I told him we don't even know what to do when there is an earthquake!! Jesse tells me I just wait it out. Wrong person to tell to wait it out!! But, we never felt anything and there wasn't an aftershock, at least not yet. Then they have the nerve to tell me that we have 3 active fault lines in the Portland area. How many more months do we have left out here?!?
3 more applications went out this past week. Whoohooo!! 5 down!! These applications are so stressful! But, I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel!
I hope you guys have a great week!! We'll keep in touch!!
3 more applications went out this past week. Whoohooo!! 5 down!! These applications are so stressful! But, I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel!
I hope you guys have a great week!! We'll keep in touch!!
Monday, October 30, 2006
Halloween Week
I started the week out with a little pumpkin carving!! Natalie and I carved our pumpkins on Tuesday. We did so good and had so much fun!
Friday night we had a costume party with our friends from school. I was dressing up as Jesse and Jesse was going to be a pack of Camel Cigarettes. He made his costume! It was a big hit at the party!
One of the guys brought his karoake machine. Which was a huge hit. We all sang and danced the night away. So much fun.
Saturday night we went to the haunted corn maze, so we thought. We ended up at the corn maze but the not the corn maze we wanted to be at. Which was completely okay with us girls because this one wasn't haunted, or so they told us. And, it was biggest one. We went for it. For some reason we decided to make it a race, girls vs guys. Oh us girls were ready to kick some butt. We had flashlights, a picture of the maze, and clues!! The guys didn't have anything!!
Once we walked out of that maze we hooted and jumped up and down!! We were getting real tired of walking in circles and the punk kids were driving us crazy. We thought for sure we had beat them. We didn't!! They had been waiting an hour and fifteen minutes for us!!!!! They said they did it in about 30 minutes!! But, they cheated!!!!! So, we actually beat them!! They were cutting across the corn and not staying on the path. And there was one point where you had to cross a bridge and they never even saw a bridge. Pretty sure that means the girls win!!!
Today Jesse and I went for a walk around the park at our apartment.
I hope you all had a great week as well!!
Friday night we had a costume party with our friends from school. I was dressing up as Jesse and Jesse was going to be a pack of Camel Cigarettes. He made his costume! It was a big hit at the party!
One of the guys brought his karoake machine. Which was a huge hit. We all sang and danced the night away. So much fun.
Saturday night we went to the haunted corn maze, so we thought. We ended up at the corn maze but the not the corn maze we wanted to be at. Which was completely okay with us girls because this one wasn't haunted, or so they told us. And, it was biggest one. We went for it. For some reason we decided to make it a race, girls vs guys. Oh us girls were ready to kick some butt. We had flashlights, a picture of the maze, and clues!! The guys didn't have anything!!
Once we walked out of that maze we hooted and jumped up and down!! We were getting real tired of walking in circles and the punk kids were driving us crazy. We thought for sure we had beat them. We didn't!! They had been waiting an hour and fifteen minutes for us!!!!! They said they did it in about 30 minutes!! But, they cheated!!!!! So, we actually beat them!! They were cutting across the corn and not staying on the path. And there was one point where you had to cross a bridge and they never even saw a bridge. Pretty sure that means the girls win!!!
Today Jesse and I went for a walk around the park at our apartment.
I hope you all had a great week as well!!
Thursday, October 26, 2006
2 Down... 13 More to go
Two applications are going out today!! They are being sent to Minneapolis and Rochester Minnesota. Minneapolis is our #1 site... hope it makes it there safely!!!!
Last night Jesse is getting everything ready for the applications and our printer is going out. It leaves black marks down the edges of the paper. So, we took out the cartridge and cleaned it and cleaned the inside of the printer... still leaves the marks. He still had stuff to print and it did not look very professional. Good thing our neighbor Brandon was home and was so kind to let us use his printer!! Thank you Brandon!!!
We'll keep you posted!! Until next time...
Last night Jesse is getting everything ready for the applications and our printer is going out. It leaves black marks down the edges of the paper. So, we took out the cartridge and cleaned it and cleaned the inside of the printer... still leaves the marks. He still had stuff to print and it did not look very professional. Good thing our neighbor Brandon was home and was so kind to let us use his printer!! Thank you Brandon!!!
We'll keep you posted!! Until next time...
Monday, October 23, 2006
New Meal... Balsamic Chicken with Pesto Gravy
Before I give you this awesome recipe, I thought I would give you an update. I have been super busy with work and Jesse has been super busy with internship stuff. He is sending out a few applications on Wednesday. That means he needs to finish and revise his essays, cover letters and vita. Then he needs to assemble all this and put his blessings on it and put in the mail!! I will try to post on Wednesday what sites and where these applications went. I don't want to distract him... he is working very hard on it right now!!!
A couple of us girls had to get out and let our husbands work on their applications so we went to the movies on Friday. We saw Flicka!! All I can say is bring your box of kleenex. Yes I mean box!!! I cried during the entire movie... it was so good!! All 3 of us were crying!! It was a very good movie!! Put it on your list.
I tried a new recipe tonight and it was awesome!! So awesome that I thought I would share it with you. Do you want to know the best part? It is quick and easy!!!
(This recipe is from www.rachaelrayshow.com)
Balsamic Chicken with Pesto Gravy & Bitter Greens
2 Chicken Breasts
2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 bunches arugula, thoroughly washed
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Parmigiano Regiano shavings
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
1/4 cup homemade or store-bought pesto
Heat a large skillet over high heat with a little drizzle of EVOO. Place chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap. Using the bottom of a heavy pot or small saute pan, give each chicken breast a good smack to make them even thinner. Peel back the top layer of plastic wrap and drizzle the balsamic vinegar over top and season with a little salt and pepper.
Transfer the chicken to the hot saute pan, seasoned-side down, and cook on each side for about 2 minutes.
While the chicken is cooking, combine the arugula, with the juice of half a lemon a drizzle of EVOO and a little bit of salt in a bowl. Remove chicken from the skillet and reserve on a plate while you make the sauce.
To the saute pan add butter and melt. Add flour and cook for about a minute or so. Whisk in chicken stock and cream and bring up to a simmer to thicken. Remove from heat and add the pesto to the skillet. Stir to combine. Divide the arugula onto individual plates, place one chicken breast on top of the arugual and pour pesto gravy over the chicken. With a peeler shave some Parmigiano over the greens, season with salt and pepper.
I have a few tips for you. So, I have no idea what arugula is... I assumed lettuce. In place of the arugula I used handfuls of lettuce. I also don't have Parmigiano Reggiano... I used just the Kraft brand Parmesan in the shaker (The kind you use for spaghetti or pizza).
I use store bought Pesto. And for my family members that only have one grocery store to shop at... you would find this by the specialty cheeses (blue cheese crumbles or by the salsa that must be Refrigerated.) Maybe by your produce?!!!? Gosh, I hope you can find it. Because this recipe is so worth it!! (I don't recommend buying the dry packet of pesto.)
Oh, and we had lots of the pesto gravy left over so I froze it for next time!!
That's all for now. I'll try to come back on Wednesday and let you know where those applications went.
A couple of us girls had to get out and let our husbands work on their applications so we went to the movies on Friday. We saw Flicka!! All I can say is bring your box of kleenex. Yes I mean box!!! I cried during the entire movie... it was so good!! All 3 of us were crying!! It was a very good movie!! Put it on your list.
I tried a new recipe tonight and it was awesome!! So awesome that I thought I would share it with you. Do you want to know the best part? It is quick and easy!!!
(This recipe is from www.rachaelrayshow.com)
Balsamic Chicken with Pesto Gravy & Bitter Greens
2 Chicken Breasts
2 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (EVOO)
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
3 bunches arugula, thoroughly washed
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Parmigiano Regiano shavings
2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chicken stock
1/3 cup heavy cream or half-and-half
1/4 cup homemade or store-bought pesto
Heat a large skillet over high heat with a little drizzle of EVOO. Place chicken breasts between two pieces of plastic wrap. Using the bottom of a heavy pot or small saute pan, give each chicken breast a good smack to make them even thinner. Peel back the top layer of plastic wrap and drizzle the balsamic vinegar over top and season with a little salt and pepper.
Transfer the chicken to the hot saute pan, seasoned-side down, and cook on each side for about 2 minutes.
While the chicken is cooking, combine the arugula, with the juice of half a lemon a drizzle of EVOO and a little bit of salt in a bowl. Remove chicken from the skillet and reserve on a plate while you make the sauce.
To the saute pan add butter and melt. Add flour and cook for about a minute or so. Whisk in chicken stock and cream and bring up to a simmer to thicken. Remove from heat and add the pesto to the skillet. Stir to combine. Divide the arugula onto individual plates, place one chicken breast on top of the arugual and pour pesto gravy over the chicken. With a peeler shave some Parmigiano over the greens, season with salt and pepper.
I have a few tips for you. So, I have no idea what arugula is... I assumed lettuce. In place of the arugula I used handfuls of lettuce. I also don't have Parmigiano Reggiano... I used just the Kraft brand Parmesan in the shaker (The kind you use for spaghetti or pizza).
I use store bought Pesto. And for my family members that only have one grocery store to shop at... you would find this by the specialty cheeses (blue cheese crumbles or by the salsa that must be Refrigerated.) Maybe by your produce?!!!? Gosh, I hope you can find it. Because this recipe is so worth it!! (I don't recommend buying the dry packet of pesto.)
Oh, and we had lots of the pesto gravy left over so I froze it for next time!!
That's all for now. I'll try to come back on Wednesday and let you know where those applications went.
Sunday, October 15, 2006
Bridgetown Ministries
This morning after church there was a meeting for Bridgetown Ministries. Bridgetown Ministries is where a group of people go to downtown Portland and meet under the bridge and set-up different stations to "serve" the homeless. They have a foot washing station where they will wash the feet of the homeless and give them a fresh pair of socks. Hair washing station / hair cut, food and clothing. They said they can get anywhere from 100 - 300 homeless people that will show up.
Jesse and our friend Brandon did this a while back and did the foot washing station. I did not go with... I wasn't ready. There was no way you were going to get me to wash any feet!! I have a hard time touching my own feet! Washing hair - no way! I didn't think I could do it! Brandon and Jesse came back and told us what they did, they both enjoyed the experience. Of course they highly suggested that Natalie and I try this at least one time. We looked at each other with a worried look on our face... are you sure this is something for us?!!!?
Jesse and I decided to go to this meeting this morning after church. And let me tell you, it tore my heart open for these people!! Brain and Natasha are from our church and are trying to head a team up from our church to go down there twice a month. (They go every Friday night!!)
We got to hear a short story from one of the guys who Brain & Natasha met and helped him and his wife get married and get a job... and even a home of his own!!!
These stories just made me hurt for these people and why are they put in these situations. Afterwards Natasha had gave me a call... she seen my little nose turn red and wanted to know if I needed talk. I want to do this... but then I don't. What do I say to them? How do I act? Be yourself... but I don't think it is that easy! Anyway she shared with me some amazing stories....
Natasha saw this guy who is 6'2" dressed all in black, has a Mohawk and his street name is Dragon!! She went over to him and started to talk to him. After about the third Friday he finally opened up and they were able to talk for about 20 minutes. She said after a while she noticed him getting there earlier and staying later. One Friday night he didn't show up and she got real nervous because the last time she seen him he was depressed and she worried that he might try to take his life. She found out from some of the other people there that he was actually arrested for attempted murder. She asked around to see if anyone knew his real name, no one did. She was able to contact the jail and they gave her his real name and where he was located. She wrote him a letter asking him to put her on his visitor list. He did. Dragon is still in jail and has just found out that he might have a daughter in California that was born in January. The mother left and they can't find any family members. They are having a paternity test done and if Dragon is the father of this baby girl down in California, Natasha and Brain will take custody over her until Dragon gets out and on his feet and is able to support his daughter! Dragon had told them that they are better parents to him than his own. Natasha now calls him her 29 year old son!!
Natasha also told me about this girl she met who was 19. Natasha talked to her for a while and she said that her hair was just matted and she asked her if she could wash it for her. The girl said you can't even get a comb through it. Natasha took her over to the hair station and sat down on one side of her and the girl's boyfriend sat on the other and they sprayed so much detangler on her hair and combed and combed and combed. They got all the snarls out and Natasha washed her hair. She said the water was black! She washed and blow dried her hair. She said the girl was beautiful. She had this long strawberry-blonde hair. This girl stood in the empty parking lot and put her arms out and spun in a circle!! She felt like a million bucks!
So, I have come to the point where I want to do this. I can't say that I am ready to wash feet. But, I think I can serve food or even help someone pick out clothes! I am still scared out of mind to do this. Whenever we go to downtown Portland I am always right by Jesse's side because I am afraid of them. Natasha told me she felt the same way I did. And the first time she went down there she just observed and slowly she became more comfortable and realized they are just people! Brain has been doing this for a couple years and he said that it is completely safe! These people are very thankful for this ministry and truly benefit from it!
I think the first time we will go will be on November 10th! We will all meet at our church and prepare the food and get all the stations together. A big trailer will come up (they call it Night Strike) and we will load everything we will need that night into the trailer and car pool down to the bridge and set-up! I am real nervous yet real excited! I think it will be a great experience and a growing experience for me. I will be sure to post my experience when I go!!
Jesse and our friend Brandon did this a while back and did the foot washing station. I did not go with... I wasn't ready. There was no way you were going to get me to wash any feet!! I have a hard time touching my own feet! Washing hair - no way! I didn't think I could do it! Brandon and Jesse came back and told us what they did, they both enjoyed the experience. Of course they highly suggested that Natalie and I try this at least one time. We looked at each other with a worried look on our face... are you sure this is something for us?!!!?
Jesse and I decided to go to this meeting this morning after church. And let me tell you, it tore my heart open for these people!! Brain and Natasha are from our church and are trying to head a team up from our church to go down there twice a month. (They go every Friday night!!)
We got to hear a short story from one of the guys who Brain & Natasha met and helped him and his wife get married and get a job... and even a home of his own!!!
These stories just made me hurt for these people and why are they put in these situations. Afterwards Natasha had gave me a call... she seen my little nose turn red and wanted to know if I needed talk. I want to do this... but then I don't. What do I say to them? How do I act? Be yourself... but I don't think it is that easy! Anyway she shared with me some amazing stories....
Natasha saw this guy who is 6'2" dressed all in black, has a Mohawk and his street name is Dragon!! She went over to him and started to talk to him. After about the third Friday he finally opened up and they were able to talk for about 20 minutes. She said after a while she noticed him getting there earlier and staying later. One Friday night he didn't show up and she got real nervous because the last time she seen him he was depressed and she worried that he might try to take his life. She found out from some of the other people there that he was actually arrested for attempted murder. She asked around to see if anyone knew his real name, no one did. She was able to contact the jail and they gave her his real name and where he was located. She wrote him a letter asking him to put her on his visitor list. He did. Dragon is still in jail and has just found out that he might have a daughter in California that was born in January. The mother left and they can't find any family members. They are having a paternity test done and if Dragon is the father of this baby girl down in California, Natasha and Brain will take custody over her until Dragon gets out and on his feet and is able to support his daughter! Dragon had told them that they are better parents to him than his own. Natasha now calls him her 29 year old son!!
Natasha also told me about this girl she met who was 19. Natasha talked to her for a while and she said that her hair was just matted and she asked her if she could wash it for her. The girl said you can't even get a comb through it. Natasha took her over to the hair station and sat down on one side of her and the girl's boyfriend sat on the other and they sprayed so much detangler on her hair and combed and combed and combed. They got all the snarls out and Natasha washed her hair. She said the water was black! She washed and blow dried her hair. She said the girl was beautiful. She had this long strawberry-blonde hair. This girl stood in the empty parking lot and put her arms out and spun in a circle!! She felt like a million bucks!
So, I have come to the point where I want to do this. I can't say that I am ready to wash feet. But, I think I can serve food or even help someone pick out clothes! I am still scared out of mind to do this. Whenever we go to downtown Portland I am always right by Jesse's side because I am afraid of them. Natasha told me she felt the same way I did. And the first time she went down there she just observed and slowly she became more comfortable and realized they are just people! Brain has been doing this for a couple years and he said that it is completely safe! These people are very thankful for this ministry and truly benefit from it!
I think the first time we will go will be on November 10th! We will all meet at our church and prepare the food and get all the stations together. A big trailer will come up (they call it Night Strike) and we will load everything we will need that night into the trailer and car pool down to the bridge and set-up! I am real nervous yet real excited! I think it will be a great experience and a growing experience for me. I will be sure to post my experience when I go!!
Monday, October 09, 2006
Happy Birthday Shannon!!
Happy 21st Birthday Shannon!! I hope you had a great day!! I was thinking about you!!Sunday, October 01, 2006
An update
As I am sitting here waiting for Desperate Housewives to come on (and Jesse is playing playstation) I thought I would give you an update on our internship process. Some of Jesse's applications are due on the 1st of November. Today is October 1st.... that is a month away!! All of this is starting to sink in and become real!
Jesse's Dad is starting to look for a trailer to move us home with!! He is definitely ready for us to be a little bit closer!! We need a trailer big enough to pull our Jeep and all the things that we have collected over the past 4 years. And I do mean collect!! We now have 2 garages and a one bedroom apartment.... we started out with a 500 sq foot apartment!!!! Jesse has his father's blood when it comes to junk!! And I say junk as nice as I possibly can. When our garage neighbor, Greg, was moving he was giving 1/2 his stuff to Jesse. "Hey Jesse do you need this 2 x 4?" Of course he can't even turn down a piece of wood... You never know when you might need it!! So you can imagine the stuff we have!!
Anyway, back on track. All this moving talk and internship stuff finally sunk in last Sunday. We only have about 10 months left out here. I was vacuuming the floors today thinking that our lease is up the end for March (and I get a free carpet cleaning!!!) but we won't be able to sign on for another year! We can't even do a 6-month! We will have to rent month to month!! This is all very exciting yet very stressful!! I don't remember it being this stressful when we moved out here! Maybe because I just finished college we just got married and came back from our honeymoon... things didn't have time to sink in!
I have to remember that there is no need to worry, God already has a place in mind for us and it is getting it ready!! I just hope it is in either Minnesota or Wisconsin!!
That is all I have to say right now about the process! Just pray for us for patience as we wait to find out where we will be going next! God bless!
Jesse's Dad is starting to look for a trailer to move us home with!! He is definitely ready for us to be a little bit closer!! We need a trailer big enough to pull our Jeep and all the things that we have collected over the past 4 years. And I do mean collect!! We now have 2 garages and a one bedroom apartment.... we started out with a 500 sq foot apartment!!!! Jesse has his father's blood when it comes to junk!! And I say junk as nice as I possibly can. When our garage neighbor, Greg, was moving he was giving 1/2 his stuff to Jesse. "Hey Jesse do you need this 2 x 4?" Of course he can't even turn down a piece of wood... You never know when you might need it!! So you can imagine the stuff we have!!
Anyway, back on track. All this moving talk and internship stuff finally sunk in last Sunday. We only have about 10 months left out here. I was vacuuming the floors today thinking that our lease is up the end for March (and I get a free carpet cleaning!!!) but we won't be able to sign on for another year! We can't even do a 6-month! We will have to rent month to month!! This is all very exciting yet very stressful!! I don't remember it being this stressful when we moved out here! Maybe because I just finished college we just got married and came back from our honeymoon... things didn't have time to sink in!
I have to remember that there is no need to worry, God already has a place in mind for us and it is getting it ready!! I just hope it is in either Minnesota or Wisconsin!!
That is all I have to say right now about the process! Just pray for us for patience as we wait to find out where we will be going next! God bless!
Saturday, September 30, 2006
The Queen of Salsa
Okay, okay, okay Ben may be the King of Salsa.... but I am the Queen!! I just made the best salsa!! I got the recipe from Rachael Ray here it is. (You'll never eat store bought salsa again!)
Fresh Tomato Salsa:
3 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 to 1 jalapeno, stemmed and minced with seeds (I do w/out seeds)
1/2 medium red onion, grated (I do finely chopped)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, leaves and stems
Toss the tomatoes with the jalapeno, onion, and the 1/2 teaspoon salt. Smash the garlic clove, sprinkle with the remaining salt, and with the flat side of a large knife, mash and smear the mixture to a coarse paste. Stir the paste into the salsa with the olive oil and 1/4 cup of cilantro.
And if you are feeling really sassy...
Season a couple chicken breasts with chili powder and salt and fry in a pan with EVOO and when finished top with your salsa! Oh so good!!
I have found a new specialty of mine. I love to cook!! I'll post more good recipes when I find them. I can't wait to hear what you think!!
Fresh Tomato Salsa:
3 medium tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/2 to 1 jalapeno, stemmed and minced with seeds (I do w/out seeds)
1/2 medium red onion, grated (I do finely chopped)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 clove garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro, leaves and stems
Toss the tomatoes with the jalapeno, onion, and the 1/2 teaspoon salt. Smash the garlic clove, sprinkle with the remaining salt, and with the flat side of a large knife, mash and smear the mixture to a coarse paste. Stir the paste into the salsa with the olive oil and 1/4 cup of cilantro.
And if you are feeling really sassy...
Season a couple chicken breasts with chili powder and salt and fry in a pan with EVOO and when finished top with your salsa! Oh so good!!
I have found a new specialty of mine. I love to cook!! I'll post more good recipes when I find them. I can't wait to hear what you think!!
Thursday, September 28, 2006
Pumpkin Cheese Bread
Here is the recipe for the Pumpkin Cheese Bread I talked about in my celebrating fall post.
2-1/2 cups sugar
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup margarine
4 eggs
1 (16oz) can pumpkin
3-1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 cup chopped nuts
Combine sugar, softened cream cheese and margarine mixing until well blended. Add eggs (one at a time), mixing well after each addition. Blend in pumpkin. Add combined dry ingredients, mixing until moistened. Fold in nuts. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 x 5 inch loaf pans. Bake @ 350 degrees for one hour and 10 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool ten minutes and remove from pans. Cool on cooling rack.
Let me know if you try this and what you think!!
2-1/2 cups sugar
1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese
1/2 cup margarine
4 eggs
1 (16oz) can pumpkin
3-1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1 cup chopped nuts
Combine sugar, softened cream cheese and margarine mixing until well blended. Add eggs (one at a time), mixing well after each addition. Blend in pumpkin. Add combined dry ingredients, mixing until moistened. Fold in nuts. Pour into 2 greased and floured 9 x 5 inch loaf pans. Bake @ 350 degrees for one hour and 10 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. Cool ten minutes and remove from pans. Cool on cooling rack.
Let me know if you try this and what you think!!
Celebrating Fall
This past Saturday we spent it celebrating all the great things about fall with our friends, Ben and Katie. We had perfect weather! Jesse and Ben went golfing at the King City Golf Course. Katie and I did a little painting on my window and then went to Als Garden Center!! Before we went to Als we made a pit stop at Starbucks for some coffee.... but it was too hot for a "hot" coffee so we got frappuccino instead. Yum!
As we pulled in the parking lot to Als we drove by the front window and Katie gave out a loud gasp!! (I thought I was about to run someone over!) They had Christmas stuff out!!!!! And it was a happy gasp for her! She loves Christmas time!! They had so much Christmas stuff... they had lots of trees in all different colors all decorated!! So cute!! After drooling all over the Christmas stuff we had to remember why we came here... we headed outside to the fall things! We loaded up our cart with 2 oat bales, 2 bundles of corn stalks, 2 pumpkins, a mum, a purple grass thing, and some other really cool plant! Our cart was heaping!! Then, we had to push our cart around with these big 'ol corn stalks sticking out!! It was a bit of a challenge and people stared and smiled at us. Probably because we were practically skipping around the building we were so excited and proud of our gigantic cart full of fall goodies!!
We loaded up the truck with our stuff and just giggled because we felt like farm girls loading our bales of oat and corn stalks!!
We went back to my apartment first and decorated my front door with an oat bale, corn stalks, a pumpkin, and the purple grass thing. So cute!! We left a trail of oats from the truck, down the side walk, up the stairs, and to our door!!!! The other night I was getting in the truck and I looked over and our neighbor's parking spot is full of oats.... wonder where they came from?
We grabbed our chicken noodle soup that I made for supper and went to Katie's!! We decorated her door - so cute!!
Made some pumpkin cheese bread!! Amazing!! We ate the best batch of chicken noodle soup I have ever made!! Oh, and Ben made some homemade salsa - yum!! So good! I think we all gained 5 pounds!!
Katie and I painted the cutest picture on her window while the guys did guy things!
As we pulled in the parking lot to Als we drove by the front window and Katie gave out a loud gasp!! (I thought I was about to run someone over!) They had Christmas stuff out!!!!! And it was a happy gasp for her! She loves Christmas time!! They had so much Christmas stuff... they had lots of trees in all different colors all decorated!! So cute!! After drooling all over the Christmas stuff we had to remember why we came here... we headed outside to the fall things! We loaded up our cart with 2 oat bales, 2 bundles of corn stalks, 2 pumpkins, a mum, a purple grass thing, and some other really cool plant! Our cart was heaping!! Then, we had to push our cart around with these big 'ol corn stalks sticking out!! It was a bit of a challenge and people stared and smiled at us. Probably because we were practically skipping around the building we were so excited and proud of our gigantic cart full of fall goodies!!
We loaded up the truck with our stuff and just giggled because we felt like farm girls loading our bales of oat and corn stalks!! 
We went back to my apartment first and decorated my front door with an oat bale, corn stalks, a pumpkin, and the purple grass thing. So cute!! We left a trail of oats from the truck, down the side walk, up the stairs, and to our door!!!! The other night I was getting in the truck and I looked over and our neighbor's parking spot is full of oats.... wonder where they came from?
We grabbed our chicken noodle soup that I made for supper and went to Katie's!! We decorated her door - so cute!!
Made some pumpkin cheese bread!! Amazing!! We ate the best batch of chicken noodle soup I have ever made!! Oh, and Ben made some homemade salsa - yum!! So good! I think we all gained 5 pounds!! Katie and I painted the cutest picture on her window while the guys did guy things!
Thursday, September 21, 2006
Happy Fall!!!
Fall is here!! The rain has started! And this picture is perfect!! My mom e-mailed me this picture this morning... it was taken in her garden. Don't you just love fall colors!! My friend Katie, has totally made me a fall girl!! So many fun things to do in the fall!! This weekend we are heading to Starbucks for a Pumpkin Latte and then to Al's Garden center for some hay, cornstalks, mums, and a pumpkin to decorate her front her door with!! Then we are going to eat chicken noodle soup and paint fall pictures on her window!!I am in the process of painting a scarecrow in my window. I'll post a picture when I am finished.
Happy Fall!!!
Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Ice Skating Lessons
Last night around 5:45 p.m. we had a little knock at the door. Jesse was on the telephone so I answered it. There was a little girl (maybe a second grader) with her Dad. She had a pink purse and she was carrying a rubbermaid full of pencils and pens. She said that she was selling pretty pencils and pens to raise money for ice skating lessons. You could buy a mechanical pencil for $1.00 and the rest of the pencil and pens were $.50.
Jesse rounded up $3.00 in change and we bought pens... we seem to loose them no matter how many we have. We started talking to them and she said that ice skating lessons were $90!!! Her Dad said that they had her already signed up at the YMCA and now she wanted ice skating lessons. He told her that she needed to raise the money for lessons. She was the cutest thing and Jesse thought it was so cool for this Dad to be taking his daughter around teaching her that things just don't grow on trees!!
When we were done she said, "Thanks for doing business with me." And she shook our hands!!
Jesse rounded up $3.00 in change and we bought pens... we seem to loose them no matter how many we have. We started talking to them and she said that ice skating lessons were $90!!! Her Dad said that they had her already signed up at the YMCA and now she wanted ice skating lessons. He told her that she needed to raise the money for lessons. She was the cutest thing and Jesse thought it was so cool for this Dad to be taking his daughter around teaching her that things just don't grow on trees!!
When we were done she said, "Thanks for doing business with me." And she shook our hands!!
Sunday, September 17, 2006
West Coast Cycle
Jesse and I have been spending many weekends designing and creating a website for his business. This past weekend we made it e-commerce!!!
The company I work for asked me last winter if I would re-design their website... I said yes. They bought the web design program and I learned it.... I watched one introduction video and learned the rest on my own!!!! Here is the site that I did for my company www.performancepropumps.com
Jesse was jealous and wanted a site for his company and wanted me to create him one... but he wanted his customers to be able to purchase from the site! Remember no training!!
I am proud to say that I did it!!! Sorry, if I am bragging... but right now I am so proud!! But, I can not take all the credit. We did hire Jim from ThotComm who built us two templates. From those two templates we created our website!!
Please go and check out our site and maybe even buy a few things!!! (wink, wink)
www.wcc-tech.com
The company I work for asked me last winter if I would re-design their website... I said yes. They bought the web design program and I learned it.... I watched one introduction video and learned the rest on my own!!!! Here is the site that I did for my company www.performancepropumps.com
Jesse was jealous and wanted a site for his company and wanted me to create him one... but he wanted his customers to be able to purchase from the site! Remember no training!!
I am proud to say that I did it!!! Sorry, if I am bragging... but right now I am so proud!! But, I can not take all the credit. We did hire Jim from ThotComm who built us two templates. From those two templates we created our website!!
Please go and check out our site and maybe even buy a few things!!! (wink, wink)
www.wcc-tech.com
Tuesday, September 12, 2006
Tour of Oregon
We just got back from the coolest vacation!! I kept a journal of our trip so I could come back and blog it. I hope you all enjoy it!!
Wednesday, August 23rd. Odometer reading = 1996 miles
5:50 p.m. Left the apartment. Headed for Newberg for supper!! We are starving!
6:11 p.m. Jesse gets Taco Bell
6:20 p.m. Lynn gets Burgerville. For all you chocolate shake lovers they have the best!!!
7:20 p.m. We are having trouble staying awake. Our supper is making us sleepy. We decided to go to Roseburg and spend the night. In the morning we will go to the Wildlife Safari.
8:27 p.m. Lynn forgot the curling iron!!! Grrr!!!
9:00 p.m. Stopped in Roseburg to spend nite. Sleep Inn = $92.64
Thursday, August 24th. Odometer reading = 2152 miles
10:08 a.m. Left the hotel and headed for the safari. We are not sure if they will let us take the jeep. On their website it said no convertibles. I hope they let us go!!
11:46 a.m. We just went through the Wildlife Safari. We couldn't go through the bears, lions, or tigers section because of our soft top on the Jeep. Jesse's favorite animal was the camel and mine was the giraffe. ($31.50) This Safari was so cool! We were able to drive around a 600 acre park where animals just can run around free. There was a giraffe crossing the path as we were driving by and they are so big!!! We felt so tiny next to it!!
11:56 a.m. Loves Gastation. 15.204 gallons @ $2.999 = $45.60
2:33 p.m. Just ate @ Mac's Diner. We just took the top down!! While we were eating we realized that we missed a site on our list. Colliding Rivers. Which was back in Roseburg and we are in Medford. Darn it!! So, the Colliding Rivers are two rivers that run into each other at 45 degree angle. I guess water splashes up! We will never know... but that is what we have heard!!
4:38 p.m. Still driving. We have had some drama. Something came in the Jeep and landed on the inside of my left pinky finger. It felt like fire. So, I was waving my hand trying to get it off. It wouldn't come off so I had to pull it off and it left a little piece in me. Looked like a stinger but I don't think it was a bee. I pull the stinger out and my finger is still burning. It swelled up a little bit but now it is fine. My finger is much better now. It swelled up big enough that I could wear my wedding ring on it!! It started itching a few days later!! I do have a little pink spot where the stinger was but I don't feel anything in there. I am sure it is fine! Oh, and when I was packing to leave on Wednesday I, like any girl, grabbed my tweezers!! Jesse asked me why I needed that!! I told him that he should call my cousin Megan she could explain!! You just never know when you are going to get one of those stray eyebrows that you need to take care of right away!!! And, I almost needed that tweezers to get that thing out of my finger!!
We also noticed that we missed another site! We wanted to go to Brown Mountain Lava Fields. Which according to our map was to be on Hwy 140. Which we are on!! We never saw a sign!!
I know why I forgot the curling iron... when you ride in a jeep your hair blows everywhere!! I tried putting a hat on but that almost blew off too!! I am going to need a haircut when I get back!!
5:16 p.m. Lynn has not slept in the car yet!! I slept all the way out to Mississippi on our honeymoon and when we drove out to Oregon!! But not this time!! Um yeah, pretty sure I took a 30 minute nap after I wrote this!! I spoke too soon!! But, I am proud to say that this was my only nap the entire trip!!
6:19 p.m. Lakeview, Oregon. Chevron. 15.049 gallons @ $3.21 = $48.44
6:32 p.m. We are going to spend the nite in Lakeview. Lakeview is a small town - one off those where everyone knows everyone! We went to go get supper at a restaurant that a gas station attendant told us to go to "The Dinner Bell" we get there and we see people eating inside but we can't get the door open! The family inside eating just looks at us!! We don't see a sign that says "CLOSED" and plus it is only 8!! We yell through the window to the family and ask if they are closed and they just shrug their shoulders at us. We finally see a sign and it says they close at 8!!!
7:58 p.m. We went to see the only Geyser in Oregon.... not working!! The water table is so low right now that it is not blowing out water! Ate at Jerry's restaurant for supper. They do not mark things very well out here!! We drove around and around looking for this Geyser. We ended up seeing a beautiful sunset while looking for it! Anyway we think we find it... we see an area full of water and we both just stare at it because we don't want to miss it if it blows. In our literature it says that it goes every 30 seconds... nothing is happening... are we at the right spot? There is a very run down hotel in the background so we decided to go there and maybe ask them where it is. Oh, there is also suppose to be hot springs here too!! Turns out we were looking in the right spot 
it just isn't working right now!! How this Geyser works is the cool water falls down and gets close to something (I can't remember) which heats the water and builds up pressure that it all of suddens blows the water out creating a Geyser!! But, the water table is down so low that it just wasn't working. We also asked them about the hot springs he said they are out there but he wouldn't let us go by them because there are some hot patches that are so hot that it would take your skin off the bone!!!
Lakeview, Oregon. Fremont Inn $81.84
Friday, August 25th. Odometer reading = 2422 miles
9:37 a.m. Left the hotel.
10:21 a.m. Albert Rim/ Albert Lake. Albert Rim is huge!! And the lake is so pretty! We found a little jeep trail that we took to get closer to the water.
11:41 a.m. We thought we seen some steam coming from a hot spring. We found a dirt road so we took it to get closer to the steam. We are driving along with our windows rolled down and we notice that the inside of the jeep is filling up with mosquitoes!! We roll our windows up and start killing them. Right now Jesse has two dead mosquitoes squished on his window!! Come to find out what we were seeing is what I call a little dust tornado!!
12:06 p.m. Summer Lake, Oregon. Summer Lake Store. 7.1 gallons @ $3.25 = $23.00
2:00 p.m. Crack in the Ground. I was driving so Jesse made this
entry and I guess he isn't much of a writer... Here is another site that isn't marked! We seen it on our map and we came across a road that was called 'Crack in the Ground Road' (or something like that). It is another rough, washed out dirt road! I am driving remember, so I am going slow because I feel like the car is going to rattle apart... Jesse tells me if I go fast it will feel smoother!!! Pretty sure it just made it worse!! Anyway, we take this road and we drive and drive and drive!! We are not seeing any signs nor anybody else on this road! There are lots of free roaming cattle out here so every once in awhile we will see a cow or two but that is it!! Finally we see an outhouse and a sign!!! We made it!! I am not sure why this crack is here - there wasn't a sign explaining it. Just a sign that said not to vandalize the toilet, which had two bullet holes in the window!! You could walk through the crack but I was wearing flip flops and it was very rocky and sandy which made it slippery, so we just went a little way. The part we saw was pretty impressive!!
2:52 p.m. Talked to Mark the fire lookout guy. While we were in the lookout we asked him what the haze in the air was from. It is from the wildfires burning on Mt. Hood!! We think he said that the Mt Hood fires have burned over 26 thousand acres and it is still burning!! Jesse thinks we are about 200 miles from Mt. Hood (as the crow flies.) These poor lookout guys are in these towers in the middle of no where for multiple days, up to 6 days at a time!!! The only human contact they have is if someone just happens drive by, like us! No electricity, no water, no restrooms, no heat!!! You have to bring everything you will need for the days that you are there! Mark was just a fill-in so he will only be there for a couple of days! He is a hunter so he had his bow so he could target practice and he also said that he produces hunting videos. (He had his video camera too.) You can rent these lookouts in the off season, we have been looking into it but they are so booked up!! The earliest we could get one would be in spring time!! (Our friends have a book that lists every lookout tower in Oregon.) Some of these towers you have to hike into because in the winter time there is snow and you can't get a vehicle up to it!! That means you hike in all your food and supplies for the time your there!! Some towers have fire places and have fire wood for you - but this one did not. If you wanted heat you would have to bring it yourself!! It was very interesting talking to Mark and after we drove away I wanted to go back and get our picture taken with him but we didn't want to turn around!
4:21 p.m. Hole in the Ground. Another un-marked site!! My goodness!! We almost didn't find this one! Our fire lookout friend, Mark, told us we might have a hard time finding this. Not much to say about this one - just hole in the ground!! And, I accidentally deleted the picture! Oops! (The hole is behind us.)
6:00 p.m. Econo Lodge: We booked this hotel site unseen and when we got here we went to our room which was an outside entrance and separate from the main building. Our room smelled so bad!! I can't really explain the smell it was just yucky!! When we walked in we didn't even put any of our stuff down... we circled the room and looked at each other. Neither of us could stay there!! We went back and asked for our money back and went to find something a little better! The only reason we booked this room is because it was $59 on a Friday nite!! What a great deal we thought and they had breakfast!!! Everything else was $109/nite!!! How could we pass it up - we should have known. We tried to be cheap and it just bit us in the butt!!
6:10 p.m. Bend, Oregon. Hampton Inn @ $108.90 They could have told us it was going to be $250 and we would have paid it!! We were so excited to have a nice room that smelled clean!! We ate supper at Pizza Hut and sat in the hot tub.
Saturday, August 26th. Odometer reading = 2652 miles
9:38 a.m. Left hotel. I finally got to see Rachael Ray cook!! I make all kinds of her meals but never seen her show!!
9:58 a.m. Redmond, Oregon. Plum Fierce. 9.82 gallons @ $3.059 = $30.05
10:32 a.m. TASTEE TREAT!! We only thought tastee treat was back home!! Ice cream tastes just like ours did!! Prineville, Oregon.
11:19 a.m. Stiens Pillars.
12:15 p.m. We just came off the coolest road or should I say trail. It was just a path thru the woods. And the coolest part is it was on our GPS!!
2:18 p.m. Painted Hills
4:33 p.m. Heppner, Oregon. Shell. 10.971 gallons @ $3.099 = $34.00
Jeep got a quick bath. They had a water hose so we asked if you could use it and we got to get some of the dust off!! We can now see out our back window again!!
5:02 p.m. HOT!! It is so hot out!! In Heppner the bank sign said 85 but it feels much hotter. No A/C in the jeep - I am melting! Right now we are driving threw fields after fields. The fields are so big that sometimes you can't see the end. No trees! Everything is a golden yellow color. There are mountains/hills in the background - but no trees on them and they are also that golden color and look fuzzy and soft.
5:56 p.m. Oregon Trail. I was a little cranky right about here so I didn't write much... I'll fill you in now. Jesse really wanted to see the old Oregon Trail... I didn't really care. So we went and it was 1-1/2 mile hike to see the wagon tracks! I couldn't believe that we were really going to see the wheel marks - how could they still be there. I was hot and cranky. Jesse pleaded and I gave in. I must say the hike was so easy! A blacktop path that did not feel like a 1-1/2 miles! We didn't see actual wagon marks we just seen a grove in the ground.
6:26 p.m. Pendleton, Oregon. Best Western = $78.48
8:07 p.m. Cimmiyotti's!!! We just had our last meal of our trip and it was amazing!! We both had prime rib and it was just perfect!! Okay, if you ever find yourself in Pendleton, Oregon you must go here and eat!! It was so good!! We found it in our AAA book and went!! (It was the only restaurant they had for Pendelton.)
Sunday, August 27th. Odometer reading = 2902 miles
9:31 a.m. Left hotel. We are headed back to Portland today. We are driving the same road as we did when we moved out here. The memory card is full and the batteries are dead on our camera.
10:30 a.m. We have entered the Gorge and lost our radio station that had the Crook & Chase countdown. Grrr! We found Crook & Chase again!! We don't have any sites to see today so you get to hear about our radio station dilemmas.
11:01 a.m. Rufus!! We just passed the first city we stopped at when we moved out here.
11:25 a.m. The Dalles, Oregon. 76. 13.729 gallons @ $3.059 = $42.00
1:03 p.m. HOME!! Now the Jeep needs some major TLC!! We had a great time. Odometer reading = 3100 miles!
I can't believe our trip is over already!! We had so much fun and want to do it again!
Wednesday, August 23rd. Odometer reading = 1996 miles
5:50 p.m. Left the apartment. Headed for Newberg for supper!! We are starving!
6:11 p.m. Jesse gets Taco Bell
6:20 p.m. Lynn gets Burgerville. For all you chocolate shake lovers they have the best!!!
7:20 p.m. We are having trouble staying awake. Our supper is making us sleepy. We decided to go to Roseburg and spend the night. In the morning we will go to the Wildlife Safari.
8:27 p.m. Lynn forgot the curling iron!!! Grrr!!!
9:00 p.m. Stopped in Roseburg to spend nite. Sleep Inn = $92.64
Thursday, August 24th. Odometer reading = 2152 miles
10:08 a.m. Left the hotel and headed for the safari. We are not sure if they will let us take the jeep. On their website it said no convertibles. I hope they let us go!!
11:46 a.m. We just went through the Wildlife Safari. We couldn't go through the bears, lions, or tigers section because of our soft top on the Jeep. Jesse's favorite animal was the camel and mine was the giraffe. ($31.50) This Safari was so cool! We were able to drive around a 600 acre park where animals just can run around free. There was a giraffe crossing the path as we were driving by and they are so big!!! We felt so tiny next to it!! 11:56 a.m. Loves Gastation. 15.204 gallons @ $2.999 = $45.60
2:33 p.m. Just ate @ Mac's Diner. We just took the top down!! While we were eating we realized that we missed a site on our list. Colliding Rivers. Which was back in Roseburg and we are in Medford. Darn it!! So, the Colliding Rivers are two rivers that run into each other at 45 degree angle. I guess water splashes up! We will never know... but that is what we have heard!!
4:38 p.m. Still driving. We have had some drama. Something came in the Jeep and landed on the inside of my left pinky finger. It felt like fire. So, I was waving my hand trying to get it off. It wouldn't come off so I had to pull it off and it left a little piece in me. Looked like a stinger but I don't think it was a bee. I pull the stinger out and my finger is still burning. It swelled up a little bit but now it is fine. My finger is much better now. It swelled up big enough that I could wear my wedding ring on it!! It started itching a few days later!! I do have a little pink spot where the stinger was but I don't feel anything in there. I am sure it is fine! Oh, and when I was packing to leave on Wednesday I, like any girl, grabbed my tweezers!! Jesse asked me why I needed that!! I told him that he should call my cousin Megan she could explain!! You just never know when you are going to get one of those stray eyebrows that you need to take care of right away!!! And, I almost needed that tweezers to get that thing out of my finger!! We also noticed that we missed another site! We wanted to go to Brown Mountain Lava Fields. Which according to our map was to be on Hwy 140. Which we are on!! We never saw a sign!!
I know why I forgot the curling iron... when you ride in a jeep your hair blows everywhere!! I tried putting a hat on but that almost blew off too!! I am going to need a haircut when I get back!!
5:16 p.m. Lynn has not slept in the car yet!! I slept all the way out to Mississippi on our honeymoon and when we drove out to Oregon!! But not this time!! Um yeah, pretty sure I took a 30 minute nap after I wrote this!! I spoke too soon!! But, I am proud to say that this was my only nap the entire trip!!
6:19 p.m. Lakeview, Oregon. Chevron. 15.049 gallons @ $3.21 = $48.44
6:32 p.m. We are going to spend the nite in Lakeview. Lakeview is a small town - one off those where everyone knows everyone! We went to go get supper at a restaurant that a gas station attendant told us to go to "The Dinner Bell" we get there and we see people eating inside but we can't get the door open! The family inside eating just looks at us!! We don't see a sign that says "CLOSED" and plus it is only 8!! We yell through the window to the family and ask if they are closed and they just shrug their shoulders at us. We finally see a sign and it says they close at 8!!!
7:58 p.m. We went to see the only Geyser in Oregon.... not working!! The water table is so low right now that it is not blowing out water! Ate at Jerry's restaurant for supper. They do not mark things very well out here!! We drove around and around looking for this Geyser. We ended up seeing a beautiful sunset while looking for it! Anyway we think we find it... we see an area full of water and we both just stare at it because we don't want to miss it if it blows. In our literature it says that it goes every 30 seconds... nothing is happening... are we at the right spot? There is a very run down hotel in the background so we decided to go there and maybe ask them where it is. Oh, there is also suppose to be hot springs here too!! Turns out we were looking in the right spot 
it just isn't working right now!! How this Geyser works is the cool water falls down and gets close to something (I can't remember) which heats the water and builds up pressure that it all of suddens blows the water out creating a Geyser!! But, the water table is down so low that it just wasn't working. We also asked them about the hot springs he said they are out there but he wouldn't let us go by them because there are some hot patches that are so hot that it would take your skin off the bone!!! Lakeview, Oregon. Fremont Inn $81.84
Friday, August 25th. Odometer reading = 2422 miles
9:37 a.m. Left the hotel.
10:21 a.m. Albert Rim/ Albert Lake. Albert Rim is huge!! And the lake is so pretty! We found a little jeep trail that we took to get closer to the water.11:41 a.m. We thought we seen some steam coming from a hot spring. We found a dirt road so we took it to get closer to the steam. We are driving along with our windows rolled down and we notice that the inside of the jeep is filling up with mosquitoes!! We roll our windows up and start killing them. Right now Jesse has two dead mosquitoes squished on his window!! Come to find out what we were seeing is what I call a little dust tornado!!
12:06 p.m. Summer Lake, Oregon. Summer Lake Store. 7.1 gallons @ $3.25 = $23.00
2:00 p.m. Crack in the Ground. I was driving so Jesse made this
entry and I guess he isn't much of a writer... Here is another site that isn't marked! We seen it on our map and we came across a road that was called 'Crack in the Ground Road' (or something like that). It is another rough, washed out dirt road! I am driving remember, so I am going slow because I feel like the car is going to rattle apart... Jesse tells me if I go fast it will feel smoother!!! Pretty sure it just made it worse!! Anyway, we take this road and we drive and drive and drive!! We are not seeing any signs nor anybody else on this road! There are lots of free roaming cattle out here so every once in awhile we will see a cow or two but that is it!! Finally we see an outhouse and a sign!!! We made it!! I am not sure why this crack is here - there wasn't a sign explaining it. Just a sign that said not to vandalize the toilet, which had two bullet holes in the window!! You could walk through the crack but I was wearing flip flops and it was very rocky and sandy which made it slippery, so we just went a little way. The part we saw was pretty impressive!! 2:52 p.m. Talked to Mark the fire lookout guy. While we were in the lookout we asked him what the haze in the air was from. It is from the wildfires burning on Mt. Hood!! We think he said that the Mt Hood fires have burned over 26 thousand acres and it is still burning!! Jesse thinks we are about 200 miles from Mt. Hood (as the crow flies.) These poor lookout guys are in these towers in the middle of no where for multiple days, up to 6 days at a time!!! The only human contact they have is if someone just happens drive by, like us! No electricity, no water, no restrooms, no heat!!! You have to bring everything you will need for the days that you are there! Mark was just a fill-in so he will only be there for a couple of days! He is a hunter so he had his bow so he could target practice and he also said that he produces hunting videos. (He had his video camera too.) You can rent these lookouts in the off season, we have been looking into it but they are so booked up!! The earliest we could get one would be in spring time!! (Our friends have a book that lists every lookout tower in Oregon.) Some of these towers you have to hike into because in the winter time there is snow and you can't get a vehicle up to it!! That means you hike in all your food and supplies for the time your there!! Some towers have fire places and have fire wood for you - but this one did not. If you wanted heat you would have to bring it yourself!! It was very interesting talking to Mark and after we drove away I wanted to go back and get our picture taken with him but we didn't want to turn around!
4:21 p.m. Hole in the Ground. Another un-marked site!! My goodness!! We almost didn't find this one! Our fire lookout friend, Mark, told us we might have a hard time finding this. Not much to say about this one - just hole in the ground!! And, I accidentally deleted the picture! Oops! (The hole is behind us.)6:00 p.m. Econo Lodge: We booked this hotel site unseen and when we got here we went to our room which was an outside entrance and separate from the main building. Our room smelled so bad!! I can't really explain the smell it was just yucky!! When we walked in we didn't even put any of our stuff down... we circled the room and looked at each other. Neither of us could stay there!! We went back and asked for our money back and went to find something a little better! The only reason we booked this room is because it was $59 on a Friday nite!! What a great deal we thought and they had breakfast!!! Everything else was $109/nite!!! How could we pass it up - we should have known. We tried to be cheap and it just bit us in the butt!!
6:10 p.m. Bend, Oregon. Hampton Inn @ $108.90 They could have told us it was going to be $250 and we would have paid it!! We were so excited to have a nice room that smelled clean!! We ate supper at Pizza Hut and sat in the hot tub.
Saturday, August 26th. Odometer reading = 2652 miles
9:38 a.m. Left hotel. I finally got to see Rachael Ray cook!! I make all kinds of her meals but never seen her show!!
9:58 a.m. Redmond, Oregon. Plum Fierce. 9.82 gallons @ $3.059 = $30.05
10:32 a.m. TASTEE TREAT!! We only thought tastee treat was back home!! Ice cream tastes just like ours did!! Prineville, Oregon.
11:19 a.m. Stiens Pillars.
12:15 p.m. We just came off the coolest road or should I say trail. It was just a path thru the woods. And the coolest part is it was on our GPS!!
2:18 p.m. Painted Hills4:33 p.m. Heppner, Oregon. Shell. 10.971 gallons @ $3.099 = $34.00
Jeep got a quick bath. They had a water hose so we asked if you could use it and we got to get some of the dust off!! We can now see out our back window again!!
5:02 p.m. HOT!! It is so hot out!! In Heppner the bank sign said 85 but it feels much hotter. No A/C in the jeep - I am melting! Right now we are driving threw fields after fields. The fields are so big that sometimes you can't see the end. No trees! Everything is a golden yellow color. There are mountains/hills in the background - but no trees on them and they are also that golden color and look fuzzy and soft.
5:56 p.m. Oregon Trail. I was a little cranky right about here so I didn't write much... I'll fill you in now. Jesse really wanted to see the old Oregon Trail... I didn't really care. So we went and it was 1-1/2 mile hike to see the wagon tracks! I couldn't believe that we were really going to see the wheel marks - how could they still be there. I was hot and cranky. Jesse pleaded and I gave in. I must say the hike was so easy! A blacktop path that did not feel like a 1-1/2 miles! We didn't see actual wagon marks we just seen a grove in the ground. 6:26 p.m. Pendleton, Oregon. Best Western = $78.48
8:07 p.m. Cimmiyotti's!!! We just had our last meal of our trip and it was amazing!! We both had prime rib and it was just perfect!! Okay, if you ever find yourself in Pendleton, Oregon you must go here and eat!! It was so good!! We found it in our AAA book and went!! (It was the only restaurant they had for Pendelton.)
Sunday, August 27th. Odometer reading = 2902 miles
9:31 a.m. Left hotel. We are headed back to Portland today. We are driving the same road as we did when we moved out here. The memory card is full and the batteries are dead on our camera.
10:30 a.m. We have entered the Gorge and lost our radio station that had the Crook & Chase countdown. Grrr! We found Crook & Chase again!! We don't have any sites to see today so you get to hear about our radio station dilemmas.
11:01 a.m. Rufus!! We just passed the first city we stopped at when we moved out here.
11:25 a.m. The Dalles, Oregon. 76. 13.729 gallons @ $3.059 = $42.00
1:03 p.m. HOME!! Now the Jeep needs some major TLC!! We had a great time. Odometer reading = 3100 miles!
I can't believe our trip is over already!! We had so much fun and want to do it again!
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