August Adventures

Sorry for the long delay! Not a whole lot on the wedding planning front has developed since my last post, but I thought I'd catch up with the other things happening in our lives.

I'm currently in the thick of studying for my NARM (North American Registry of Midwives) certification exam coming up in a little over two weeks on August 20th. I've been down this road once before (this past February), but found out in March that I didn't pass and that I would have the distinct privilege of taking it over again. How exciting!!! : ( Anyway, I'm ready to take it again, and praying for a better result! If you think of it breathe a prayer for me!!!

Ryan has kept quite busy this summer working for a commercial roofing company based in Gresham, Oregon. They've worked at sites (not to be confused with cities) all over the Portland area since starting in June, but mainly have been working on a school in Salem (technically the town is Keizer) for the past month. They should be wrapping things up down there shortly, and then they'll be on to the next job. Ryan will continue roofing with his crew until school starts the last week of August, and then he hopes to go back to Sherwin-Williams a couple of days a week during the school year. I just have to say that this roofing job has been such a blessing!!!

Speaking of school, I can't believe it's nearly time for Ryan to start another school year. He's so incredibly excited to get his classes going, and even told me the other day that he wishes they'd already started. I'm trying a little harder to hold on to the lazy days of summer, where we can come and go without having to check his class schedule or basketball schedule. Ah well, I guess I just have to remember that when we get to the end of this school year it will be wedding time!!!

Which brings me to...

Today we filled out our application for married student housing for the 2009-2010 school year! We've decided it will be more cost-effective to live on campus, and it will give me an opportunity to get more involved in the community at Multnomah. They really encourage community among the married students, so I think that will help me to not feel so isolated when Ryan is busy with classes and studying!!!

We're taking care of the application now so we can get on the waiting list for apartments that open up on campus after this school year. I think we're first on the list (as of last Thursday no one else had turned in their application), so here's hoping we get first dibs!!! One more thing to check off the list! CHECK!

On Sunday morning, we met my family for the early (9am) service at our church, Crossroads Community Church. Our senior pastor, Bill Ritchie, has been undergoing proton radiation therapy for prostate cancer in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida since June (he returns in a couple of weeks!). We've been incredibly blessed to have heard Luis Palau, among others speak while Pastor Bill is on his self-proclaimed "radiation vacation". Please pray for Pastor Bill and his wife Betty!!!

This Sunday we heard William P. Young speak. He's a local man who authored a book called The Shack. If you haven't read it, you must. Let's just say, he set out to write this work of fiction for his children and his family only. He never intended to get it published, nor did he intend to be a well-known author!! God had other plans!!! What he shared on Sunday was incredible and it helped me to better understand where the book came from. It's fictional and yet it's so strongly influenced by his personal history. A definite must-read! You can find it on Amazon.com or Barnes & Noble.

The afternoon was spent with my mom, dad, sister, brother, sister-in-law and the doggies (Oscar is Blake and Vanessa's dog; Chloe is mom and dad's dog). We met out at Lacamas Lake in Camas, Washington around 2pm-ish... (they arrived at 2; we arrived at "ish")! The guys had fun throwing the football, and playing frisbee golf (they made up their own course as they went), and we girls enjoyed chatting in the sun. Oscar, ever the mischievous doggy-kid, had loads of fun checking out all of the new smells, and even took the opportunity to check out some not-so-pleasant smells when nobody was looking. Enough said, right?!! : ) Chloe was most interested in the good food (as always) being eaten, but definitely enjoyed hanging out with her family!!!

Before we headed home, we took a stroll down to the boat launch to check out the lake. It was small and beautiful (not sure I'd want to swim in it!), and we had fun reminiscing about taking Grandma & Grandpa Pitts' boat out on Flathead Lake in Montana.

We capped off our day up at Mom & Dad's house with napping, snacking, chatting, and a round of one of our favorite games, Quiddler. (sp?) Just in case you're wondering... I won. ; )

Ryan and I had to venture up north to Battle Ground earlier this evening so I could retrieve my keys from my sister at work. (I left them up at Mom & Dad's yesterday.) We don't make it that far north very often as it's a little out of the way, so we decided to go do a little exploring at Lewisville Park, which happens to be a short two miles north of BG.

Now, I've only been down to this particular park a couple of times in the 13 years (yep, we moved out here from Colorado 13 years ago at the end of this month) that we've lived here, so I wasn't exactly sure what to expect. I remembered a large pavilion-type area (of which we found many), and nice grassy areas to play volleyball! We discovered basketball courts, tennis courts, horseshoe pits, swings/slides/merry-go-rounds, and we even saw a baseball backstop from afar. To top it off, the park sits right on the banks of the Lewis River, which moves along slowly enough that many "float" the river to escape the heat! I've never done it, but I've heard it's fun!!! We also enjoyed the walking trails that meander through this large park, and think we might hang out there again! Who knows, we may even hold some of the pre-wedding events down there!!!

Well, that about catches you up... I just want you to know how much your emails have meant to us, and I intend to reply to each and every single one of them. There are many, so if you haven't heard back from me yet, I promise you will!!!

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