Ladies Tea and Devonshire Cream

Saturday, September 6 was the kickoff annual ladies tea for Women Walking Wisely. Jenny was my co-host. She has a knack for creatively making things pretty. I was so thankful for her help as that gene seems to have escaped me. She is a great hostess.

Laura Brown, Head of Women's ministry spoke to us about the importance of Worship and the comforts we have from knowing some of God's attributes. We can trust God's wisdom to guide us thru his Word. His Sovereignty rules the universe. He has us in his hands, and no man can pluck us out.


Sue made the mediterrain themed food. Steve and Karine spent a lot of time helping. They did a great job. I was given the job of making the devonshire cream. My first time to attempt this was for 150 ladies. The recipe is simple. Whip up the heavy cream then add cream cheese, vanilla and pd. sugar. Any dummy can do that, right. My fist problem was trying to mix it all up at one time. When I turned on the gigantic mixer it protested by spewing a large glob of cream at me and the floor. After cleaning up that mess, I then proceeded to make butter or cottage cheese. So this year the devonshire cream was definitely not fluffy like whipcream, but more like snotty cheese. I will do better next year, I promise. Sue might not let me have that job. Bev and I really laughed cause Sue tried to get her to whip it more to add fluff, but it just got more cottage cheese like. Good try Bev. Sue told me to add more sugar if we could not get the texture correct. So people still liked it...Sugar makes everything better. And that is something I have believed for a long time. =0)

Pauline decorated with a lovely collection of fruits and vegetables. She has a lovely assortment of dishes. She said she stores them in clear tubs with lists of what is inside lined up in the garage.

We saw a BEAR!

Yes, it is true. Raffi was in the lead, we were hiking on an easy trail may 50 yards from our cars. Raffi said, "There is a bear." He said it in his usual quite, serious way. Of course we thought pretty much he was joking. After struggling to see it, or some part of it, we finally all agreed that it truely was a bear. Unfortuneately one of did not see it, as his flight adreniline juice kicked in. I got some pictures but pretty much all you can see is the black blur. Trust me, that really is a bear. It stared directly at us with disinterest. Monique wanted to see it closer to the concern of her hubby. She said she loves to be scared. Needless to say, that was the end of our hike.

This weekend we had such a fun time "camping" on Pine Mountain Resort in a large house. We were really roughing it with two bedrooms and three bathrooms. We played Wii tennis, bowling, and Super Mario. The best part was really just talking, laughing, and eating. What a blessing to talk about Jesus and to learn from each other, from applying the Word about how we can be more holy. We even discussed the merits of "Christian Rap" or the non-merits.

Happy Birthday, Steve and Raffi. Both turned 34. Steve is two days older than Raffi.

Jenny did such a great job organizing and cooking. It was super fun and relaxing. We are already talking about next year. We just have to convince Fernando to want to try real camping.

Broken

John Bradford said that when he was in prayer, he never liked to rise from his knees till he began to feel something of brokenness of heart.

Get up to your chamber, then, poor sinner, if you would have a broken and contrite spirit, and come not out until you have it. Remember, you will never feel so broken in heart as when you can see Jesus bearing all your sins; faith and repentance are born together, and aid the health of each other.

Law and terrors do but harden,

All the while they work alone;

But a sense of blood bought pardon,

Will dissolve a heart of stone.

Home again, home again

How blessed we are to get to help Patricia arrange and clean her classroom for the start of school. We are excited to think about the 22 little souls in her watch care for the year. We will pray for her strength and recovery. She has to be the most clutter free class room I have ever seen. Teachers are reknown for being packrats. She has escaped that teacher malady! I was burdened to learn that the classroom library inspectors will remove Jesus books and replace them with junk like "Arthur and His Underwear." A double slap for sure.

We are working hard to declutter our house. This is a teribble hang over from my teacher years. I actually still have some teaching items from my teaching days going on 6 years ago. "Never know when you will need some of them."

Special Friends

Our dear friends from Poland, Alla and Ellie visited the Getty Center with us . We wish we had more time with them. They are dear fellow believers that we met last year on our STM trip.

Here is a "Walking Flower".

We also must thank the Levis Family for the roof over our head as we traveled. Great tent and sleeping mats. And the latern was a life saver at night. Steve is great at planning our way. He picks the trail and then I navigate or I might suggest miss-navigate. And that is with our nice GPS. Sometimes, when she tells you where to go, I think she just doesn't mean me.

Scanning Sacramento

We made it to Sacramento. Ronnie and Steve are sitting in a murel area with a young girl pondering life in the basement under the capital dome.

I am doing laundry like no tomorrow. Almost done. This is a huge blessing so I do not have to do it when I get back to LA.

Today we visited old Sacramento.

Saw an old steam boat, The Queen.Ever wonder what the American River looks like? This bridge rises to allow large boats to clear under it.Here is an old train model, We saw some old remodeled storefront type streets and our capital building,Here is a fancy stair case in the capital building. Ronnie is modeling how an important assemblyman might look descending.

No Gov Arnold was not in the capital building. We did enjoy strolling the halls and seeing the sites.

This is the historical site of the beginning of the Pacific Railroad.

Trip back to California, Crater Lake

Crater Lake is surreal. I mean it looks so perfect that it must be a painted backdrop. According to the Park brochure, the lake is so pure that fish cannot survive in the lake. "At its deepest, the lake's floor plunges 1,932 feet below the surface, making it the deepest lake in the US. Because no water flows through the lake, the lake remains pure and tranquil."

Trip back was gorgeous. We stopped to see a lovely falls in a National Forrest I can't spell or pronounce but I did get some pretty cool river rocks and pics. I collect river rocks, and I collected some nifty pumice, basalt, and scoria. Also saw Mt. Shasta from a distance - the highest point in the state of California. By the way, northern (I mean real north) California is beautiful.