It's December Already?

My new header picture is a shot of Mount St. Helens with a fresh snowcap.  I took this picture from our driveway on the afternoon we left to go to Cape Disappointment. 

Dave and I are back from the beach.  It was quite wet and windy while we were there, and I didn't have a chance to take any pictures. :(  We went on a few walks in between the rain storms, but I forgot to bring my phone or my camera every time we went out.  The weather was sunny the first couple of days, but then turned stormy.  We didn't even try to go to the lighted boat parade or crab pot Christmas tree lighting in Ilwaco because it was too cold and wet.  I read that some of the towns in California had to cancel or postpone their lighted boat parades because of their stormy weather. 

In ten days we'll be leaving for our big trip down south.  Dave and I are both looking forward to the trip.  We'll be sad to miss Christmas with Sophie and her parents, but that's why we are having an early celebration with them. 

I'm trying to decide what quilting projects I want to work on during our trip so that I can pack accordingly.  I made a couple of Christmas gifts while we were at Cape Disappointment, but I can't post pictures of them at this time. ;)  I am very glad that I bought a lightweight (11 pound) sewing machine so it's not a hassle to move it back and forth.  It's easy to put away when I need to clear off my sewing area, which in the RV is the dinette. 

Dave and I are both looking forward to getting lots of exercise once we are in the good weather.  Oh sure, we can use our treadmill at home in all kinds of weather, but it's so much more fun to walk out in the fresh air and sunshine. 

A week or so ago I evidently pinched a nerve in my back/hip.  I had so much discomfort and lack of mobility that I finally went to the doctor.  He poked around some and diagnosed it as a pinched nerve, possibly sciatic.  He recommended physical therapy and gave me a prescription for pain.  A day or two later, miraculously, and after taking only one of the prescribed pills, the pain was gone.  I'll go to the already scheduled physical therapy for one visit, then we leave on our trip.  I hope the physical therapist will recommend stretching exercizes or something to deal with another back pain that I get frequently in the upper right area of my back.  I ALWAYS get that pain when I do sewing, and some days I get it even when I am not sewing.  I am very happy, however, that the pinched nerve problem went away! 

Activities

Dave and I ate our turkey dinner with just the two of us and then went to a friend's house for pumpkin pie,--Dave's favorite pie.  Then on Saturday we celebrated again with Tim, Kiersten, Sophie, and Jonathan, who drove down for the day.  I made lasagna, salad, and garlic bread sticks and for dessert--you guessed it--pumpkin pie, this time from Costco.  I forgot to take pictures!  :(

It was a busy week.  Today I am loading food into the motorhome for a trip to Cape Disappointment State Park.  We had made this reservation a while ago.  In the meantime, we decided to move up our annual snowbird trip to California.  We are going to leave a couple of weeks before Christmas this year.  We will arrive in Pismo Beach on January 9th and stay the couple of months that our one share allows.  Before then, we plan to go to Las Vegas for about ten days and then on to Death Valley National Park for a few days.  We have a busy time ahead of us preparing for the "big" trip. 

At the end of October, we made a short trip to Maryhill State Park.  That's another park where we can stay off-season for $6 per night.  In early November they shut off the water hookups, so we always try to go in October.

Maryhill--site #31

View of the Maryhill-Biggs Junction bridge across the Columbia River

Earlier in October, Kiersten brought Sophie (19 months) over to our house to make cookies.  We had a great time and I found out that Sophie likes to eat chocolate chips!

Sophie looks at a book before we start the baking.

Last week I went to Tigard and drove Kiersten and Sophie to a couple of stores to shop for some items for our Operation Christmas Child boxes.  Again, I had a good time.  Sophie is at such a cute age and is beginning to talk up a storm! 

Kiersten, Sophie, and Tim--Baby girl #2 is due at the beginning of February!

Meanwhile, I have been sewing and quilting and have been trying to lose weight.  I'm not calling it a diet, but rather I'm following a calorie budget, and using an online program called MyFitnessPal to record my meals.   I'm 37 pounds down, with only a small set-back for Thanksgiving.    ;-)

Happy Reformation Day!

Here's another blog post that I want to share with my fellow Christian blog readers.  This one was written by Gene Veith, who writes a blog called "Cranach--the Blog of Veith":

http://www.geneveith.com/2012/10/31/reforming-the-church/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+geneveith+%28Cranach%3A+The+Blog+of+Veith%29

REFORMING THE CHURCH

Today is Reformation Day, the 495th anniversary of Martin Luther posting the 95 Theses against the sale of indulgences. Some people have been criticizing Lutherans and others who celebrate this day. Why should we celebrate the shattering of the universal church?

First of all, the posting of the theses did not shatter the universal church. Luther was reforming the church, and it needed reforming. Financial corruption (the sale of church offices, the indulgence and relic trade, profiting from Christians terrified of purgatory), sexual immorality (popes with illegitimate children whom they named bishops, brothels for priests, the notion that fornication is better than marriage for clergy under vows of celibacy), and political power (popes with armies waging war against other countries, popes claiming temporal power over lawful earthly authorities). Even worse, the gospel of Christ was obscured in favor of an elaborate system of salvation by works. To be sure, the medieval church taught Christ’s atonement on the Cross for the forgiveness of our sins, but in practice that was relegated to baptism only. After baptism, Christians had to atone for their own sins in a complex penitential system, requiring the confession of each sin, works of penance, and even after absolution the punishment of those sins after death in purgatory (unless an indulgence was purchased or rewarded).

That the church needed reforming because of these practices is proven in part by the Council of Trent, which addressed the most blatant financial and moral faults, while keeping the penitential system, though also encouraging personal piety (another fruit of the Reformation over against what had become a mechanistic approach to religion).

The splitting of Christianity came when the Roman church excommunicated Luther for his stance on indulgences, even though it would later grant most of his points.

Reforming the church, though, is something to celebrate and something to keep working on. I would argue that the same issues that sparked the Reformation are still problems in today’s church, including protestant and Lutheran congregations: financial corruption (the prosperity gospel, religious scams), sexual immorality (scandals among pastors and church leaders; the pornography plague), political power (the new social gospel of both the right and the left). And now, as then, we see the Gospel consigned just to first becoming a Christian, so that many people think of Christ’s atonement as applying to conversion, but feeling themselves now as being under the Law. They have lost the sense of God’s grace and forgiveness as a continuing reality, available through the Word and Sacraments as the constant life force for the Christian life.

So we still need Reformation Day and we still need the message of the Reformation.

12 More Days?

Regarding the upcoming presidential election, all of you fellow Christians might enjoy reading the following short article by Michael Horton, which he posted on his White Horse Inn blog.  http://networkedblogs.com/DVKDC 

PROMISES, PROMISES

Political candidates these days summon our confidence by promises they make about the future. We wonder whether we can believe them. Or we jump on one bandwagon or another as if it could actually fulfill our deepest hopes and dreams—and drive away our deepest fears.

But when Jesus says, “Fear not, little flock, I have overcome the world,” he is actually announcing an accomplishment of his agenda. The saints in the old covenant had to wait for the promises to be realized, but we stand on this side of victory. His representative life of obedience fulfilled the law; his death delivered us from the curse; his resurrection brought justification and inaugurated the new creation.

Down to the last word, John gives all glory to “him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom…” (Rev 1:6). He records the words of Jesus Christ: “‘I am the Alpha and the Omega,’ says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty’” (Rev 1:8). “When I saw him,” John reports, “I fell at his feet as though dead. But he laid his right hand on me, saying, ‘Fear not, I am the first and the last, and the living one. I died, and behold I am alive forevermore, and I have the keys of Death and Hades’” (vv 17-18).

With this confidence as our ultimate anchor, we can be wildly optimistic about Christ’s future for us without being seduced by the false promises, ideologies, and idols of our age—and the illusion that somehow our cultural and political labors are building or restoring Christ’s kingdom. Rearranging the order of our loves, this good news frees us to exercise responsible vocations—including citizenship—without idealism or, it’s flip-side, cynicism. We can cast our votes while casting our fears on our risen and returning King. We can even promote our candidates (outside the church!), with restored sanity. United to Christ, we should be the most responsible and the least fearful people at the polls on November 6, 2012, because our King already achieved his landslide victory in Jerusalem during Passover, AD 33.

A Walk on the Beach

Dave and I are home now from our trip to the beach.  Still at the beach on Friday morning, we woke up to rain--the first rain around 102 days.  The whole state of Washington had been under a burn ban, but that ban is lifted now.

We like to camp at Washington State Parks during the off-season.  Not only are the parks less crowded, but we can use Dave's Senior Off-Season Pass and camp for $6/night.  Each season we have to pay $50 to buy the pass.   Unfortunately, this great deal is only available for Washington residents. 

On Wednesday, while Dave made a quick trip back to Vancouver, I went for a walk on the beach.  The weather was beautiful and there was no wind. 

Benson Beach at Cape Disappointment State Park is accessible from each of the three sections of the campground.  Here's a picture of the access from Sites 1-60, which is the full-hookup section where we like to stay.

The picture makes it look like the path to the beach was blocked, but it was open and it was an easy walk to the beach.  Here's a shot looking back toward the camping loop containing sites 11-20.  This is a busy loop because everyone walks through this loop in order to get to the beach.  This loop also gets the most wind since it's closest to the ocean. 

The sign at the top of the picture warns that dogs must be on a leash and that hazardous swimming conditions are present.  And, oh yes, no gathering of wood is allowed on the beach.

There was plenty of driftwood along the edge of the beach.  Below are a few pictures of some of the structures that people had built from some of the driftwood. 

I saw this piece of flotsam and couldn't quite imagine what the original boat had looked like.  I also couldn't tell if these remains came from the Japan tsunami or from a local boat.

Top of the flotsam:

Back of the flotsam:

Cape Disappointment has two lighthouses, Cape D Lighthouse, which has black stripes and is pictured at the top of my blog, and North Head Lighthouse, which has a red roof and no stripes, and is visible from Benson Beach.

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse is accessible by taking a 2-mile hike, but North Head Lighthouse has a road and parking lot and also has two rental vacation houses.

Did you know that according to Norse mythology, the first humans, Ask and Embla, were formed out of two pieces of driftwood, an ash and an elm?

THE END

Cape Disappointment State Park

Our first night at Cape Disappointment State Park was very relaxing.  Lulled by the sound of the ocean waves, I enjoyed a good night's sleep.  At home I have been on edge ever since our motorhome was broken into, but it's so peaceful and quiet here at the state park that I am finally able to relax.

Dave wrote in his blog about a new cell phone signal extender antenna which we are trying out.  It works!  The signal is still weak and the internet connection through our smartphones is still slow, but at least it's a signal.  No more trips to the library or McDonald's to use their internet. 

Dave and I went for a walk in town (Long Beach, WA) and had lunch at our favorite spot, Hungry Harbor Inn.  Many of the stores are only open on the weekend during the fall and winter.  Even our trip to town was relaxing! 

The driftwood at the park's Waikiki Beach was present as always. 

Cape Disappointment Lighthouse

As Dave mentioned in his blog, we were able to add an extra day onto our stay here.  We'll have to change sites, but we'll still be in our favorite loop.  On Friday we'll move to Elochoman Marina RV Park located in the small town of Cathlamet where Dave will be observing and videoing the varsity football game Friday night. 

Site #7

This site, like many of the sites in this park, is spacious and would be a fun place for children to play.

The new cell booster antenna--believe it or not, it folds up small enough to store.

Update

After our motorhome was burglarized on September 7, Dave and I have been busy cleaning it up and trying to assess all the items that were stolen.  We have replaced most of the things and we have a nice long list of current prices and receipts to submit to our insurance agency, Pemco.  I believe it will all be handled by our homeowner's insurance policy as there appears to be no physical damage to the motorhome, except for one inside cabinet door being torn off its hinges, which Dave was able to fix.

The biggest items stolen were all the electronic items, including TVs, DVRs, DVD player, etc.  In some cases, the cables were cut, so Dave has been making new cables to replace them.  It is all very time-consuming.  All the bedding and several of our towels were stolen, along with smaller items such as a lamp, binoculars, printer, wifi and cell phone boosters, flashlights, kitchen knives, etc. 

When all is put back together, we plan on taking the motorhome out for at least a one-night trip in order to make sure that we haven't overlooked any missing items or any other damages. 

I want to thank all my blog readers who commented about the break-in.  It's legally considered a burglary if there's more than $500 worth of stuff stolen.  Our grand total is closer to $5000 than $500.  Anyway, thank you so much, dear blog readers--your comments, support, and sympathy were much appreciated during this difficult time.

The good news is that there appears to be no structural damage to the motorhome, inside or outside.  Dave and I are both alive and well.  Our house was not broken into, neither was our shop.  It's all just stuff.  Sure we want to replace it and get our motorhome restored to its former condition, but we could live without all of it if necessary.  We've beefed up our security for the motorhome and our house and shop.  The deputy sheriff assured us that we had done everything right to protect ourselves and that this was a random act, but one that is becoming prevalent in this society where there are so many people hooked on drugs and doing evil acts. 

Hopefully next time I blog it will be about a more cheerful topic!  :-)