Do The Puyallup

Off to the Puyallup Fair aka the Western Washington Fair. I will be looking for a "Democrats for Mc Cain bumpersticker that I hope my husband will allow me to put on something, perhaps my forehead.

I will be back with pics and stories.

And Kathy, you will have your five things. Kathy, even you will learn five things you didn't know about me. But you must wait till Anna gets her birthday present of a day at the Fair.

See You soon

Marriage and The Bedroom (Or where ever)

Dirt and I found something interesting several years ago while preparing a class for parents on parenting for purity. We delved into marriage, scripturally, what it is in God's eyes. When we were looking to scripture to see the beauty in the marriage relationship that is in no other relationship outside of the one we have with God as individuals and as His Church, we found this:

God's view of sex - what God created it for.

Mystery, everyone loves a mystery, intrigue and wonder. And in Proverbs 30:18-19 God tells us that we will find one in the marriage relationship. Oh, we can attempt to dissect it analyse it but we can never really unravel the mystery.

There are three things which are too wonderful for me,
Yes, four which I do not understand:
The way of an eagle in the air,
The way of a serpent on a rock,
The way of a ship in the midst of the sea,
And the way of a man with a virgin.

Procreation Genesis1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”

Genesis 9:1 So God blessed Noah and his sons, and said to them: “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth. This one seems to have falling into disregard lately so we made sure to include one that would usually have gotten a "duh". In this he calls us to participate with Him.

Oneness Genesis 2:24 For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh. Not the same as knowledge.

Knowledge Genesis 4:1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.” Not the same as oneness.

Comfort Genesis 24:67 Then Isaac brought her into his mother Sarah’s tent; and he took Rebekah and she became his wife, and he loved her. So Isaac was comforted after his mother’s death. I think that this is by far my favorite, I obviously need a lot of comforting.

Pleasure Song of Songs 1:2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth - for your love is more delightful than wine. A whole book devoted to the richness of marital relations.


Satisfaction of Desire Proverbs 5:19 - A loving doe, a graceful deer - may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be captivated by her love. In the New Testament Paul says if you can't handle your desires, get married.


Seven reasons to not accumulate baggage and give Satan footholds into your life that distract and disrupt from the abundance that God has for you. Our message to parents was to first discover all of the reasons for themselves.

And then to understand how beautiful a present to give to their children, an entrance into their future marriage relationship as unencumbered as possible in a fallen world. Can we really protect them too much - is the idea of too much protection scriptural?

I'm Excited

I'm excited for a big change in my life. I am excited to vote for McCain.

It will be the first Republican candidate for President that I will vote for.

And from a girl who has only voted democrat or third party in presidential elections for thirty-two years, that is a change.

His running mate, while she certainly is not a role model for my daughters, is going to be a tough cookie. And maybe they will compassionately change and reform the current muddled mess.

I have confidence that America, a great and good country, not far from her "American ingenuity" will get herself firmly in the game, and stop feeling a need to apologize for herself. Especially if these two positive people, not susceptible to whining, ducking and excuse making, are elected as our leaders.

Dirt's excited too.

Why Iron Creek?

What makes Iron Creek so special? Why is it the campground of choice for Labor Day?

Oh, a few things I suppose:

My dad liked it. The trees are huge. Most of the camp sites are good sized and secluded.

We can ususally get a site that we can hear the river (Cispus) when we are going to sleep.


What keeps it from being hugely popular? (Which by the way are up sides for me.) It doesn't have flush toilets and showers. It does have vault toilets (a lot like an outhouse) And it miles, nay hours, from anything remotely smaking of tourist shopping. Well unless Packwood, 17 miles east, and its annual swap meet (junk fest) fits your bill in that department.




But besides that, it is very close to the huckleberry fields. And every year that is what this last week end is really all about (for Dirt's family). Yes, it is within an hour and a half from home so lots of friends and family can join us, we cook like crazy and feast from one end of the weekend to the other, fish, hike and go see other sites but really huckleberries the wild high mountain deep purple beauties are really what this weekend is all about.

First Night At Iron Creek

A week ago the girls and I headed up to Iron Creek campground in the Gifford Pinchot National Forest. We made a quick stop in Morton to pick up some tarps and line as the fog and mist just got thicker and thicker and thicker as we headed farther into the mountains and into the day. To bad I didn't pick up all the other things we forgot to pack but then I would have had to know that they were forgotten.

We didn't get to the campground in time to get the open site across from our families main site, so we had to find a suitable site close to the site we reserved six months back. We set camp pretty quick for three girls, two of which don't have much camp experience. We arrived at noon, found a site, strung a tarp, set up the tent and kitchen area, built a fire and sat in our chairs by two o'clock.

We forgot forks and spoons and someone figured we only needed a few paper cups. So eating oatmeal and cup a noodles was interesting and coffee and cocoa cups were tested to their maximum use. I chose to use my fingers to eat my noodles, Anna found a long straw in the glove box which she cut in half and used as chopsticks till frustration had her just sucking noodles through the straw. Bet got tongue sprain trying to fish noodles out without getting her hands in it.

But all in all it was a good start, so good in fact that Bet and I are looking forward to heading out for at least two more overnighters before winter sets in.

But I must go find coffee for me, water and fertilizer for my suffering plants, so that I can come back in blog a little more and listen to the latest news. Which I would really like to comment on but after last night's erasing several drafts have decided to not touch it here. But my tongue is sure bloody from being bitten, so I'll go get it a band-aid now.

Okay, I'm Finally Sitting Down, Are You?

I really do not know where to begin. I have spent a great deal of time reading many blogs, catching up with "home".

This camping trip was a very good one, the best yet. In spite of rain, snow while picking huckleberries and tears on the mountainside while I thought of my parents.

I miss my folks a great deal.

My daughter, Michelle, and her friend Jenn made my mom's favorite camp dish, Noodle Medley. It made me think of my mom more than ususal. She was a trooper, always willing to go camping with my dad, crammed in a tiny trailer with her six children and at least two of their friends. She was a great cook in the trailer or over a camp fire. She dug clams, fished, hiked and kept a very tidy camp. One favorite memory was when we hiked up out of Salmon La Sac and she read "How Green Was My Valley" at each rest spot. I love that novel which caused the movie to become one of my favorites and a large piece of Dirt's and my parenting choices.

My mom was very pretty and always well dressed and made up, but she was willing to get grungy (in a very tidy way, like she was a movie star) and work hard. She helped my dad do much of the physical work around the house that they built together and I grew up in. She was my dad's bookkeeper for his business and that was hard on them both. She was a saver, she even saved leftovers that we so small that they went in with other leftovers to make it worth it to keep. A hold over from her childhood spent in the depression, I am sure but it was also an admirable trait for a wife of a self employed man. Along with her willingness to turn her husbands collars around to extend the life of his shirts, split sheets down the middle and sew them up when they were worn in some places but not in others, all those things she would do to stretch those dollars. Even when they could begin to afford not to.

She is a hard act to follow in many respects and I cherish the things she taught me. I tease about her lack of color in her decorating but her life was certainly colorful, and yes, there were plenty of things we didn't see eye to eye on but man I wish I had some more of that time back that we had. But God had other plans and I trust Him.

We're Home!

We just pulled in. There is a ton to do. I will get to posting this evening. Not sure which to write about first, our terrific camp out or all the thoughts rambling in my head!?!