Good Dog.

My childhood doggy had to be put to sleep yesterday.

The ruling concensus of all the family back home: it was time.

So... while it makes me sad that she's really gone, at least I have lots of good memories.

Chelsea at 12 yrs old... at her after dinner post.

A Good Dog.

She almost lived to her 18th birthday... I vividly remember the day my mom brought her home. It was summer. I was 5. We named her Chelsea Rae.

She somehow built a chocolate immunity, even consuming an alarmingly large quantity of fudge once (when we weren't looking) and living to tell about it. And, really, she was always eating chocolate which, in case you didn't know, is lethal to dogs.

She had an amazing vertical leap (around 36-42 inches in her prime - which is huge when you consider her legs were only about 4-5 inches long), even surprising the birds she caught out of the air and delivered dead on the doorstep.

An avid hunter, I know no other dog who would stubbornly sit out in a snowstorm barking at a squirrel until completely hoarse with a layer of snow that collected on her. (And even then, she didn't willingly come inside... we picked her up and brought her in... and then she paced the house whining to be outside to get the squirrel).

She was always getting into anything that smelled like human food (usually sweets)... whether it was Christmas presents or hidden bags of candy, nothing was safe from her sense of smell.

She loved to lick the dirty dishes in the dishwasher (as you already know from the picture above).

She was a hardcore burrower and cuddler. Blanket + cozy spot (aka bed, heater vent, patch of sunlight) = Chelsea's favorite spot. Unless food was anywhere in the vicinity. But after she ate the food, she would return to her favorite warm spot and burrow.

She was a protective mommy of 16 puppies in 5 litters. Oh the joys of baby dachshunds, even if we did have to sell them. (I suppose my Mom who cleaned up after them may have a different opinion as to how much fun puppies are.)

The fence could not deter her from pursuing adventures - and squirrels - in the outside world. In fact, if there was a crack in the fence, she would find it and run, run, run. And if there wasn't a hole or crack, she would dig one.

Yes... she was a good dog. And she lived a good long life.

Toward the end, she wasn't doing so well. And it was time.

But she was a good dog. And she'll be missed and remembered as a good dog.

Part 2? Just catch up...

Well, I was going to write more about St Louis... but now that it's been almost a week -- and a very long, crazy, stressful week at that -- I'm not feeling very inspired. Suffice it to say, I made it there and back again, met some good people, sat in sessions that reinforced some great things for my job, and really enjoyed getting to know my co-workers better.

Thanks to some out-of-my-control circumstances for a work project I was in charge of back in Portland, I was feeling pretty fried by the time the conference was over. It's really hard to sense your impending doom from thousands of miles away... and still have no control over making it happen well. Wednesday was tough. It was hard to watch the project crash right in front of my eyes but still have no control over it. I learned a lot. Hopefully the others who contributed to the perfect storm learned a lot too so that the same mistakes aren't repeated.

The rest of the week finished fine... rather in a haze, but fine nonetheless.

Yesterday was great. In the morning, 9 of us younger (20s - 30s) girls from work met for our monthly brunch and prayer time. It's a blessing to have a place to be open and honest with solid Christian sisters who love and pray for you. In the evening, Sarah and I went to Newberg to surprise Bekah for her 28th birthday. I love spending time with Bekah and Kara and their group of friends and family.

Today? So far, so good. Early church. Brunch with Jenny. And in a few minutes, I'm off to a friend's farm for a bbq and capture the flag. All good things.

I'm feeling the need to relax. Rest. Reset. Be. The Sabbath is obviously important to God. He knows how desperately we need to stop everything and just be with Him. I'm so thankful for the Sabbath and the Lord of the Sabbath.

PS. Something strange... A year ago this weekend, I was graduating from Fox. Strange. Very strange. And funny that I was in Newberg yesterday celebrating Bekah's birthday at the same time several hundred students were celebrating their graduation. Another time, another place.

Traveling Adventures, Part 1

Early yesterday morning, 3 co-workers and I left Portland for St Louis with a lay-over in Minneapolis. All was going great... I started and finished a book during the flight. We landed in Minneapolis and got some food.

Then... our flight was cancelled. Yeah. Cancelled.

Fortunately, they were able to rebook us on a later flight, and we only ended up having to wait 5 hours. And they gave us food vouchers (for, as my boss put it, the pain and suffering we endured). Because the voucher can only be used at one place (not like cash, they don't give change), we strategically combined our food orders so that we could maximize the benefit of the vouchers. So, we all enjoyed philly steak and chicken sandwiches for dinner -- and had enough vouchers left over to hit up the Ben & Jerry's scoop shop. Definitely eased the pain and suffering there ;)

And, really, the 5 hour wait wasn't bad at all. It was nice to have travel companions to talk to the whole time. In addition, the Minneapolis airport is huge -- so I took advantage of the opportunity to get some mild exercise in and walked from the far end of one terminal to the far end of the other (about 15 minutes one way... walking quickly).

We arrived in St. Louis around 9:45 pm. Fortunately, the Sunday night sessions we missed weren't that big of a deal. Strangely, it felt really late... so Liz and I went to bed before 11 pm (which would be 9 pm back in Portland... which is really early for me as of late).

The sessions went well today. This post is getting long... so I'll write more later.
Also, Liz took pictures while we were in Minneapolis, so perhaps I can post some of those when she downloads them.

Interesting, naturally.

Morning sun. Not glorious warm light, but a cooler dull sun. Gray clouds yonder. Gray clouds here. Rap. Tap. Tap. Rain against the window. No, wait. Snow? Rain falling like snow? Looks like snow. Swirling now straightening... hail. Hail like the coarse rock salt for making ice cream. More hail. Falling harder. Collecting. Collecting quickly. Everything covered in a layer of white. Hail falling in driving torrents. Traffic on the highway slowing. Children outside. Attempting snowballs out of hail. Throwing child-size fistfulls at each other. Neighbors at their windows. Lady across the street taking cell phone camera pictures of her car. Torrents slowing. Hail falling, but thinnest layers on pavement darkening as though to melt. Raining again. No...snowing. White piles of hail still thick on roofs, cars, grass. Sky dullish white but with bright light. Still snowing, but lightly. Large flakes. Still snowing.

Hike at Silver Falls

A day at Silver Falls State Park was just what the doctor ordered - and the weather couldn't have been better. (For months, I've had this hike penciled in for this particular weekend - and what a blessing that God made the day sunny, clear, and 80 degrees.)
Just a disclaimer: the pictures don't do it justice...

Jodi, Jenny, Sarah, and me (from left to right)

Two for one in the women's restroom.
We had a good laugh over this one...

You'll just have to imagine the thunderous roar...
The trail leads behind the falls.

Taken from the other side. I love the swirling mist behind the falls, and I lingered as long as my companions would let me.

For all but one, Sarah and Jenny didn't know I was still taking pictures. Most of these are blurry... but I love the progression. : )

This would be the point on the hike where I got called the "Hike Mom" because I pulled out lunches and individual packages of peanut M&Ms for the girls from my backpack.

I was trying to focus on the falling water droplets and have the unfocused falls in the background. The falls are unfocused enough...but some of the water droplets look like fire.
Said with the enthusiam and drama of a child, "So, we went to see these waterfalls, and one of them was next to a volcano that started erupting sparks...it was totally awesome!!!"

My camera lens fogged up because of the heat and moisture... but I thought the picture was cool anyways.
This is my Father's world.
If I were to keep silent, the rocks would cry out.
My God, how great Thou art!

Been There, Done That

Tonight I had the privilege of talking to a former prof's class at Fox. He had asked me to come and talk to his students about life after college... what it's like... how I got to where I am now... things I wish I had known when I was sitting where they are currently...

Sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago -other times like just yesterday - that I was sitting in those same seats with two weeks until graduation and lots of final projects and presentations to do.

I realize that my own situation of graduating and getting a job was not at all the norm or most college students. Therefore, I tried to stick with general concepts dealing with interviews, adjustment, differences between college and work life... I wanted to give them a reality check, but also encourage them.

It was an interesting dynamic. They could relate to me as a peer because I was just where they are, and yet I also held their attention the whole time because I had something to share that they wanted to know.

It was cool too -- several of the students in the class were among those in the Stats class I tutored and sometimes taught last year. And there were a few who had been in classes with me. I really enjoyed seeing them again.

I prayed for God to speak through me what these 14 students needed to hear. And I really feel like He answered that prayer.

Rendezvous in Newberg

I spent the evening in Newberg. A relaxing end to a relaxing weekend.

First I met up with a friend who is still attending Fox. She and I got smoothies from a local coffee shop and then enjoyed them on the 15 minute drive up to Bald Peak.

It was pretty chilly outside, so we stayed in my car with our smoothies and just enjoyed the view. But then, before we had to head back down the mountain/hill, we quickly ran out into the cold to snap a few quick shots (and I do mean quick).

The view was amazing... the pictures don't do it justice by any means.

After I dropped Kristen back off at Fox, I drove over to Kara's new house. (She moved back in January, but this was the first time I had seen it.) She had invited a number of people over for show and tell of all her pictures and stories of her week-long DC to NY trip over Spring Break with 45 of her middle schoolers.

Good food, fellowship, friends, and fun. I'm so blessed.

To be or not to be?

Not to be.

If at first you don't succeed....

As you well know, normally that would end "...try, try again."

But sometimes I doubt baking cookies was ever meant to be a trial-and-error process.

Another cookie experiement failed miserably. No, really. These were bad.

At least the chocolate squirrels were salvageable. But the cookies I attempted Sunday? Not fit for consumption.

I started with a mystery base - a flour mixture with I don't know what else. (well...I do now, but not when I started the experiment)

I made some false assumptions on the unknown variables.

I added more variables (aka. ingredients) based on those false assumptions. (Dangerous...very dangerous -- though less when it comes to cooking, and more when it comes to beliefs. But I digress...)

And the results: strange. Ultimately, disastrous.

Jenny and I each tried the tiniest taste of raw dough and half of the flat, crunchy, crumbly sweet baked things -- and not even 10 minutes later, both of us felt sick and buzzy. Seriously as though we had eaten the entire batch in one sitting.

Not good.

I was VERY confused. (Beware of those false assumptions!)

What had gone wrong?!?

It hit me in the middle of the night. OOOHhhhh.... of course. No wonder.

Sugar haunts me again.

And another batch bites the dust.