I am reading a fascinating book, In This House of Brede, by Rumer Godden. It was originally published in 1969 but reissued by Loyola Press in 2005. It's the story of a woman in who enters a cloistered Benedictine community at the age of 42 after a successful life as a businesswoman in London. This fiction book rings true and this statement from the back cover sums up the book: "Rumer Godden penetrates the mysterious, inner heart of a religious community--a place of complexity and conflict, as well as joy and love." I'm not Roman Catholic and never have been, but I've always been fascinated by stories about nuns and convents. After I finish this long book (656 pages) I would like to read more of Rumer Godden's work. From the biographical introduction included in the book, her story is almost as interesting as her fiction.

It has been exactly six months since my heart valve replacement. I am feeling great except for a little minor chest discomfort, mostly at night. My weight loss has slowed down but I am still plugging away at it. I try to exercise each day and to watch what I eat.

We just got back from a one night RV trip to Champoeg State Park, which is located southwest of Wilsonville, OR, a little over an hour from home. The only downside to the trip was that Dave caught a cold and didn't feel well. Today we woke up to lots of rain. We are still learning about the new motorhome and getting it loaded with the stuff that (we think) we need. While Dave napped yesterday afternoon, I took a long walk around the park. Very nice!

Around 6:30 pm, Tim and Kiersten came to visit us at Champoeg and to see the new motorhome. We had a good visit with them and got caught up on their activities. They gave us a gift of a lilac candle for the motorhome. Thanks, guys. Love you!

It's dark and dreary and raining today. It looks like it will be an all day rain. It is making me sleepy!

This morning we were too efficient. We went back to the DMV after receiving the title to our new motorhome on Monday. But today we learned that Olympia is still doing its search on the VIN number in order to make sure that all is well and that it's not a stolen vehicle. That search will take three weeks or so and we have to wait until then to go back to DMV to get our Washington title.

After that errand, we went to the Vancouver VA Clinic so Dave could get his flu shot. I got my flu shot (for seasonal flu) two weeks ago at Kaiser. Neither place has the H1N1 flut shots available yet and I haven't decided whether or not I'm going to get that one. This morning I read in the paper that they are running out of the seasonal flu vaccine.

Our final errand was to Camping World. We went to the newest store which is located at Olinger RV, east on I-84. It's closer than the store in Wilsonville. We bought vent covers for our three vents, a side window visor for the driver's side, and some small stuff including an indoor-outdoor thermometer.

Tonight we caught up on the last three episodes of The Amazing Race. (Thank you, Tivo!) It's an interesting show and we enjoy seeing all the countries that the teams visit. In Dubai, they went from the desert to an indoor ski arena. Amazing!

I got some good information at the End Times theological conference on Saturday. Hopefully, I am now better prepared to defend the position of amillenialism.

This morning we took the Honda CRV to the dealer to get the body work repairs done. We'll be sharing a car for the next five days.

Tomorrow, Saturday, October 17, the Harwoods and I are going to attend a conference to be held at a church in Estacada, Oregon, which is about an hour south of here. The topic is "Awaiting Our Blessed Hope: A Biblical Look at the End Times." The speaker is Dr. Kim Riddlebarger, a pastor and host of the White Horse Inn talk show. The conference is sponsored by The Reformation Society of Oregon. From the conference flyer: "Dr. Riddlebarger will carefully untangle the confusion surrounding the Antichrist and the end times."

Today we went to the DMV to register the new motorhome. We had to pay a little more tax because (gasp) our sales tax in Washington is a little higher than where we bought the RV in California. We will have to go back to DMV when the title arrives in the mail in a few weeks. For now we have a two-month permit. Since we don't have a back window, the permit has to be displayed in the left side bedroom window.

I measured all the inside cabinets today and will look for containers to hold stuff. We have a lot of inside storage, but it's configured a bit differently than in our old Bounder 31W. I need to install rubber anti-slip matting so that the stuff doesn't move around while we are driving.

We are home from California. We didn't have any RV problems today until we got home and the steps wouldn't go down. Dave called the dealer and got another fix for them. Also, the car battery was dead after towing it. We have learned to keep jumper cables in the car, so Dave was able to use the RV to start the car at Fred Meyer where we went to unhook the car and get gas for the motorhome. That's when we discovered that the steps wouldn't go down. This new motorhome is huge and barely fits in the spot we have for at at the side of the house. We can't quite extend the bedroom slide all the way because it's a much deeper slideout than on our old RV. Despite all the problems, we feel thankful and blessed to have gone on and returned safely from this trip and to have our new (paid for) toy to play with.

The saga continues. This morning we left De Martini RV around 9:20 am. Dave enjoyed driving and noticed that he had more power than in our old motorhome and that the wind and trucks passing didn't bother him. We didn't have rain until we got to I-5 at Red Bluff. Just south of Mt. Shasta City, our troubles began. The windshield wipers got entangled. Dave was able to get them untangled (in the rain) but the passenger side didn't work after then. Then a few miles later, someone motioned to us that our electric steps had come down. The steps had been on our list of things that got fixed while we were at the dealer's.

Dave called DeMartini talked to a service person who suggested that Dave solve the step problem by banging on the magnet. Strangely enough, that worked. The windshield wiper problem was solved by tightening the bolts, which had to be done again later in the trip, too.

Then just north of Yreka, CA, the outside propane storage compartment door flew open. That compartment is required by law not to have a lock on it. The latch usually is sufficient to keep it closed, but not this time.

We made it to Seven Feathers Casino RV Park in Canyonville, Oregon around 6:45 after no further problems. We were fortunate that all three problems were able to be fixed by Dave and that no further damage was done to us or to anyone else.

Tomorrow's drive home should take about five hours if we don't have any more problems. And that's how the story goes when you buy a movable house called an RV.

"Just Give Obama All the Prizes" from the website http://www.geneveith.com/:

Yes, President Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize. But why didn’t he win the Nobel Prize for Medicine, seeing as how he is trying to reform American health care? And the Nobel Prize for Economics, since he is trying to fix the collapse of the economy. And the Nobel Prize for Literature for his book and speeches. And the Nobel Prize for Physics for trying to make something out of nothing. And the Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his chemistry with foreign leaders. I’m personally offended that our president is not getting the international respect that he deserves.

While we're waiting for the new motorhome to be serviced, I have been catching up on reading some of my favorite blogs. Here's a gem from http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justintaylor/

Why You Need to Start Talking to Yourself More
D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Spiritual Depression, pp. 20-21:

Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself? Take those thoughts that come to you the moment you wake up in the morning. You have not originated them but they are talking to you, they bring back the problems of yesterday, etc. Somebody is talking. Who is talking to you? Your self is talking to you. Now this man's treatment (in Psalm 42) was this: instead of allowing this self to talk to him, he starts talking to himself. "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" he asks. His soul had been depressing him, crushing him. So he stands up and says, "Self, listen for a moment, I will speak to you."

Sunny Grass Valley is not so sunny today. We had sprinkles around dinnertime yesterday and then during the night, it started pouring and hasn't let up. We purchased the new motorhome yesterday which took until about 3:30 by the time the coach was detailed in and out and we went through the walk-through. We were able to stay overnight on the dealer's lot in a site with full hookups. We found a number of (hopefully small) things that need to be fixed, so the motorhome is in the service bay now and Dave and I are sitting in a conference computer connected to Wifi.

We weren't able to try the washer/dryer yet because we have no hot water. (Also no showers for us, boo hoo.) The ice maker works great, the 4-door Norcold refrigerator is nice and we finally discovered where to put the milk. The bed and hide-a-bed are both comfortable (we tried them both). The hide-a-bed comes with an air mattress like the one we bought for our old motorhome. Dave test drove the new RV and it performed well accelerating up a hill from a near stop. We're still getting used to the storage space and where all the light switches are located. I love the ultra-leather seats--very comfy.

Today we are in sunny, Grass Valley, California. We were able to check into our hotel, the Holiday Inn Express, when we arrived in town around noon. We had lunch at Cousin Jack's Pasties. I have always wanted to taste a Cornish pasty (pastie?). I had an 8-oz "Jenny size" beef pasty. I thought it was a bit dry and had more potatoes than meat. Dave had a banger sausage in a bun. I'm glad I finally was able to order a pasty but I wouldn't rush right back.

After lunch we headed to DeMartini RV Sales. The man that we need to see won't be there until tomorrow, but we were able to see the Bounder 35E and sit in it and check it out. So far, so good. The motorhome was in the service bay as they appear to be fixing a few minor things and we hope that it will be ready for purchase tomorrow. We also need to test drive it. If it's not ready tomorrow we'll have to stay one more night in a hotel.

Now we're back in the hotel and Dave is watching the 49ers game. Around 5:30 we are heading to Auburn, CA, to have dinner with Pam and the girls (Dave's brother, Terry's family).

We are on our trip to California to look at a new motorhome. Tonight we are staying at a Holiday Inn in Redding, California. The temperature was in the 80s when we arrived and it's still very warm outside. The low temperature in Vancouver was supposed to get down into the 20s this weekend. We had a good trip today with good weather. The trip goes faster in the car! We ate dinner at Marie Callender's which is across the street from the hotel.

We decided to sell our motorhome. We have been thinking about upgrading and actually put in an offer on a couple of different motorhomes within the past two years. Neither of those deals worked out. Dave was recently approached by a friend who mentioned that he was interested in buying our 2000 Bounder 31W. After scrambling to see if we would be able to find a replacement, we located two possibilities: a used 2006 Bounder 35E in Everett, WA, and a new 2010 Bounder 35E. The 35E is our preferred floorplan, and in 2006 they upgraded the unit to 50 amp instead of the previous 30 amp electric hookup. We like also like the 35E because it has a washer/dryer. (I know, I know, not a necessity for camping, but it would sure be nice to have when we travel for several weeks at a time.) The 2010 Bounder is located at a dealer in Grass Valley, CA, so on Saturday we are heading down there in the car to look at the motorhome, and if all is well, buy it. We are loading the car with stuff to load into the motorhome in case we buy it. We have to be back home a week from Friday so that Dave won't miss his varsity football game. ;-)

We've spent three days cleaning out the old motorhome and we'll deliver it to its new owner tomorrow. I worked on unloading the inside cabinets and Dave worked on the outside storage. What a big job! I had two injuries: yesterday the bathroom medicine cabinet door gouged the top of my head, and today I got stung by a bee. Not fun, but all part of the job, I guess.

Tonight I'm working on writing my CASA dependency review report for court on November 3. The report is supposed to be turned in a few weeks before then so that copies can be distributed to all the parties involved in the case. I always put off writiing the report because things keep happening with the case, but once I sit down to write the report it comes fairly easily to me. It's kind of fun to summarize what's been happening during the last six months. Hopefully, as it is with this case, things are improving and soon the children won't be in dependency court any longer.

Christianity in a sentence:

"The essence of the Christian religion consists in this, that the creation of the Father, devastated by sin, is restored in the son of God, and recreated by the Holy Spirit into the kingdom of God."
-- Herman Bavinck, Reformed Dogmatics, Vol. 1