We managed to get away to the beach for a few days. We are in our motorhome at Cape Disappoinment State Park near Long Beach, WA. We've had rain off and on but went for a long walk on the beach in between rain showers. This is one of Washington's best state parks--full hookups along with the roar of the ocean in our ears. It's hard to get away during football season, so we'll be back home Friday afternoon in time for Dave's varisty football game.

This has been a month of unexpected expenditures. We had to get new rear air brakes for the motorhome installed yesterday and while they were installing the brakes they noticed that one of our rear tires had some chunks missing from it. We got a new tire this morning at Les Schwab before leaving for our beach trip. This was our first time using this repair place for our motorhome. It's Lemon Aid in Camas, and we are pleased with their work and grateful to them that they told us about the tire problem. It turns out that we've probably had the tire problem since our last trip to Sacramento in late December for Dave's brother's memorial service. God has truly protected us during all these months.

I enjoyed the Renewing Your Mind conference this weekend. It was very uplifting, with much food for thought. I enjoyed the Hyatt Regency Hotel which was a wonderful place to attend a conference. We were within a block or two of many fine restaurants and shops, even a second floor IMAX theater and bowling alley, all accessible by sky bridges. I enjoyed the company of the Harwoods, especially since Dave had to stay home to work some football games. We ate at P.F. Chang's one evening which was the first time I had been there.

The only problem with the trip is that on the way home I got off I-5 to stop at an outlet RV sales place near Chehalis. On the way back to the freeway, I looked at an RV park. I had to back into a driveway going downhill in order to turn the car around. While manuevering, I hit a post that was there. At first I thought the damage to the passenger side of the car was minimal, but now we see that the car will need some major body work. We haven't gotten estimates yet, but it will probably cost well over $1,000, especially if they have to paint the car. Ouch! That makes it a very expensive conference!

Friday and Saturday I will be attending an R.C. Sproul conference in Seattle. It will be held at the Bellevue Hyatt Regency. Dave can't go because he has football games all weekend. Also speaking will be Alistair Begg (Truth for Life) and Michael Horton (White Horse Inn). The overall topics will be related to "Is There Life After Death?" I'm trying to think what to take with me since we usually stay in the RV, not fancy hotels.

"So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day." -- 2 Corinthians 4:16

Today was Dave's birthday. Happy 61, Dave! In honor of Dave's birthday, both of his NFL teams (the Raiders and the 49ers) won their games today. We celebrated with the Harwoods by going to dinner at Rib City before meeting at our house for home church. As usual, we had a rousing discussion about Reformed theology. I'm reading a very interesting and well-written book called "Young, Restless, Reformed: A Journalist's Journey with the New Calvinists" by Collin Hansen.


Last night we celebrated with Tim and Kiersten. It's always good to get together with them. We tried to go to TGI Friday's but they were out of business. These days we never know what will be closed next.


Our son, Tim, got a new job at The New Group in Portland. He's going to be doing IT and system architecture. He's been working there as a consultant at the same time he was still working at his old job, Innovative Asset Group in Wilsonville. The old company did intellectual property rights work and the new company does digital advertising for all kinds of clients, two of whom are Jenny Craig and Adidas.

I've lost 41 pounds since mid-April. It seems slow, but I keep plugging away at it!

The tree trimmers are here today. Lots of big equipment has arrived. I am going to escape by going out for a bike ride and then grocery shopping.

Here's a cute license plate surround that I saw: Eternity--smoking or non-smoking?