a simple week

My beloved husband is out at sea right now. He left early Sunday morning and will be back this evening. For only being gone for 4 days, I've gotta say that I really miss the guy! He's been able to call me a few times when they're in harbor for the night and said he and a good number of other guys got pretty seasick the first day, but ever since they've been fine--queasy, but no puking. He also said things are going really well with sampling and they're getting good data, which is great! I can't wait to hear more about his time this evening.

The past week and a half has been quiet. And yup, very simple.

The majority of it has been spent in bed. Resting and trying to recover from our wonderful camping trip last weekend. All of last week I didn't do much at all. This Monday I made myself dinner and took a shower, so that made me feel accomplished. I also unloaded and loaded the dishwasher and ran it. Tuesday I made myself dinner again and took out the trash. Another accomplished day.

Today I'm feeling pretty horrible and am so glad Spencer will be home tonight--obviously because I've really missed him, but also, I need someone to fix dinner tonight because I'm simply too exhausted. I had a grand scheme of having a delicious meal prepared for him upon his arrival, and even hoped to get the apartment cleaned up a bit, but making lunch and taking a shower really did me in for the day. I'd totally understand if you are thinking to yourself, "she can't really be *that* tired..." I mean, it sounds rather exaggerated or overly dramatic to me, and I'm the one who wrote it! But honestly, I am this tired.

I found this excerpt from J. C. Ryle on GirlTalk the other day. It was encouraging to me in this present situation...

“Reader, if God has given you His only begotten Son, beware of doubting His kindness and love, in any painful providence of your daily life! Never allow yourself to think hard thoughts of God. Never suppose that He can give you anything which is not really for your good. Remember the words of Paul: ‘He who spared not His own Son—but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things’ (Romans 8:32).

See in every sorrow and trouble of your earthly pilgrimage the hand of Him who gave Christ to die for your sins! That hand can never smite you except in love! He who gave His only begotten Son for you, will never withhold anything from you which is really for your good. Lean back on this thought and be content. Say to yourself in the darkest hour of trial, ‘This also is ordered by Him who gave Christ to die for my sins. It cannot be wrong. It is done in love. It must be well.’"

sunburnt and happy

We had a lovely weekend camping.

Friday...

Here's our campsite. 

It really was this green.


We loved falling asleep to the sound of the stream 30 feet from our site
Nitrate/preservative free chicken hotdogs for dinner... they were pretty good!


Banana slug! we found a lot of these critters over the weekend

That night as we were drifting off to sleep, we were startled awake by loud cracking, groaning, a whoosh, an then a terrible thud. Somewhere off in the forest, a tree went down. It was an impressive sound that I had never heard until then.

Saturday...
A walk in a canyon full of ferns and frogs.

We took a rest by a quiet stream and snacked on KIND fruit & nut bars. I had almond - apricot and Spencer had banana - oatbran. delicious!

These flowers smelled so good. The meadows are covered in them around here...

We saw an elk


and visited a nearby waterfall. 




After a very full day, we headed back to our campsite and roasted marshmallows in a tired stupor

We're realizing that our bodies are aging. Sleeping on the ground with only a sleeping bag for padding was much more uncomfortable than I recall in previous camping trips over the years. Speaking of growing older, I found a beautiful silvery white hair growing from my head last week. Spencer thinks I should thank College of the Canyon's Registered Nursing Program for that...

Sunday

We got our site packed up and drove about 15 minutes north where we enjoyed a hot breakfast at a small town diner. We then headed for a nearby outlook in hopes of spotting a plume of river water flowing into the sea. Spencer will doing a 4 day cruise collecting samples from this river plume next week, so he was hoping he could eyeball the location of the plume for future reference. Sadly, all we could see was fog and it never did burn off that day.

We spent the afternoon wandering around on the beach, getting sunburnt, and enjoying a very scenic dirt road drive home.

I used up too many spoons this weekend and am now severely lacking, but it was well worth it. It was such a blessing and encouragement for Spencer and I to "get away" for a few days.

This Psalm came to mind a lot during the weekend...

Psalm 104

Praise the LORD, O my soul. 

O LORD my God, you are very great; 

you are clothed with splendor and majesty.

He wraps himself in light as with a garment; 

he stretches out the heavens like a tent

and lays the beams of his upper chambers on their waters. 

He makes the clouds his chariot 

and rides on the wings of the wind.

He makes winds his messengers, 

flames of fire his servants.

He set the earth on its foundations; 

it can never be moved.

You covered it with the deep as with a garment; 

the waters stood above the mountains.

But at your rebuke the waters fled, 

at the sound of your thunder they took to flight;

they flowed over the mountains, 

they went down into the valleys, 

to the place you assigned for them.

You set a boundary they cannot cross; 

never again will they cover the earth.

He makes springs pour water into the ravines; 

it flows between the mountains.

They give water to all the beasts of the field; 

the wild donkeys quench their thirst.

The birds of the air nest by the waters; 

they sing among the branches.

He waters the mountains from his upper chambers; 

the earth is satisfied by the fruit of his work.

He makes grass grow for the cattle, 

and plants for man to cultivate— 

bringing forth food from the earth:

wine that gladdens the heart of man, 

oil to make his face shine, 

and bread that sustains his heart.

The trees of the LORD are well watered, 

the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.

There the birds make their nests; 

the stork has its home in the pine trees.

The high mountains belong to the wild goats; 

the crags are a refuge for the coneys. 

The moon marks off the seasons, 

and the sun knows when to go down.

You bring darkness, it becomes night, 

and all the beasts of the forest prowl.

The lions roar for their prey 

and seek their food from God.

The sun rises, and they steal away; 

they return and lie down in their dens.

Then man goes out to his work, 

to his labor until evening.

How many are your works, O LORD! 

In wisdom you made them all; 

the earth is full of your creatures.

There is the sea, vast and spacious, 

teeming with creatures beyond number— 

living things both large and small.

There the ships go to and fro, 

and the leviathan, which you formed to frolic there.

These all look to you 

to give them their food at the proper time.

When you give it to them, 

they gather it up; 

when you open your hand, 

they are satisfied with good things.

When you hide your face, 

they are terrified; 

when you take away their breath, 

they die and return to the dust.

When you send your Spirit, 

they are created, 

and you renew the face of the earth.

May the glory of the LORD endure forever; 

may the LORD rejoice in his works-

he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, 

who touches the mountains, and they smoke.

I will sing to the LORD all my life; 

I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

May my meditation be pleasing to him, 

as I rejoice in the LORD.

But may sinners vanish from the earth 

and the wicked be no more. 

Praise the LORD, O my soul. 

Praise the LORD.

heat wave!

It is 80ºF outside. Up until now, we've considered it WARM if it got close to 60º!

Spencer is DONE with the spring semester! It's so nice to be able to see him more :)

Tomorrow we're going camping. We're excited. It'll be nice to relax away from home for a few days without ringing phones, dishes to be washed, or homework to be done. I'm pretty worn out, so we probably won't be doing much adventuring, but it should be nice to hang out at our campsite, take some walks, spend time at the nearby beach... we're looking forward to a slower pace of life for a few days.

I'm exhausted, so this is all for now. I'll try to update more sometime soon.

11

I've been married to my best friend for 11 wonderful months now.

Each month we are increasingly glad and thankful to be married.

Each month we also seem to look increasingly tired and goofy :)

Spencer will be done with finals on Tuesday. We're excited! It's been a long semester....

cats

A couple of weeks ago I was telling Spencer that I missed my cat. My family had to give him away years ago because I was allergic to him.

Before I knew it, I was crying about how lonely I was and how much I wished I could have a cat to keep me company while Spencer is at school and work all day. At some point during the tears, it suddenly struck me as ridiculous that I was literally weeping over wanting a cat! I began to laugh while still uncontrollably sobbing. My sweet husband held and comforted his emotionally confused wife and we both had a good laugh about it later.

I wouldn't characterize myself as a "cat person." I'm not a "dog person" either. But I really do like both. I've been wondering if maybe I'd be able to better tolerate having a cat around again, seeing as it's been a few years and I'm being super careful to avoid other stuff I'm allergic to. It'd be so fun to have a little critter to hang out with.

One of our neighbors asked us if we'd take care of her cats while she was out of town last week. I was excited. Spencer did most of the cat care, as I wasn't feeling well enough to accompany him. But one evening we both went over there and hung out with the cats for a while. They were so fun and playful. We both laughed a lot. I was careful to not touch my face until I had washed my hands and changed my clothes as soon as we got back to our place. Despite my precautions, I woke up the next morning super itchy and promptly had an asthma attack.

No cats for me :(

I have a sweet consolation thought. There are two cats who are best buds and they hang out in our backyard everyday. They are very friendly and love it when we play with them. Being outside with a cat seems okay, as long as I wash my hands right away after. And hey, I don't have to feed them or clean out their litter boxes :)

this is Bubba. he belongs to our next door neighbors.

we don't know his name, but he likes to follow Bubba everywhere.