Happy New Year!

It's been a long Christmas break, but I'm finally back into school this week. Those weeks off were eventful in their own ways. Christmas itself was quiet, though, and it was good just to spend time as a family. The day after Christmas we went on a drive down the gorge. We stopped by Multnomah Falls on the way home, which is where the shot below is from (with a little desaturating in Photoshop). The wind chill that day made it feel incredibly cold, and you can see the frost around the falls. I love the gorge, and it's always nice to get back out there.

It's hard to get back into a more structured schedule after quite a few weeks off, but it's also a good feeling to know that the day was full of mind-stretching work. Sometimes I struggle with wondering what my motivation to do college classes is--after all, I don't consider myself the "scholarly type." I can do it, but it's not my passion. I know, though, that God wants me to keep expanding my mind and gaining skills, and this is one of the ways I can accomplish that. So I will press on! I have yet to decide on a particular track, so right now I'm still taking this and that. This quarter I'm taking another online class from Clark: Introduction to Database Design Using Access. It's another computer class; enough said (I really do find it interesting, though). I'm also taking two Whitefield classes: New Testament Survey and Ethics. Altogether, I think these are going to keep me quite busy for the next few months!

Water and Light

Rain and light--what a beautiful combination designed by the perfect Artist.

This little leaf was on our deck, and it caught my eye.  I used Photoshop to make the background black and white.

The rest of these photos were taken around sunset last Saturday, which some of you may remember was really stormy. 

In addition to this lovely rainbow on the east side of the house, there was this incredible golden glow towards the west.  It didn't look quite like the pictures do, but it was pretty amazing! 

Reformation Celebration

Our church Reformation Celebration was last Friday. It was a great evening, we really enjoyed the music, lectures, and play that made up the program for the evening. The play was on John Calvin, who was born 500 years ago this year. Christina had the opportunity to direct the play this year, and she asked me to take pictures at the dress rehearsal. So here are some of my favorites.

This was probably my favorite scene. Calvin and Farel are having a heated argument about whether Calvin will stay in Geneva to help Farel in his ministry.

Farel makes a point for why Calvin should stay. But Calvin says he's not staying...

"CALVIN!!"

"NO!!"

The curse upon Calvin's rest and labors, since he has refused to help Farel. But Calvin changes his mind a few moments later.

The "mob scene"--angry Genevans threaten Calvin and Farel

Farel and Calvin

Calvin sees the new edition of his Institutes

Another day of pictures

My camera has been sitting idle far too long, so I finally pulled it out today. Today's weather was an interesting mix of rain and sunshine, so I took advantage of that to get some different shots. Here's what caught my eye.

We also took a quick little drive down the Gorge. The autumn scenery from Cape Horn was beautiful!

Back to the blog

This happened last year--school begins and I fall out of the blogosphere for long periods of time. I have no excuse. Here's a little update for the last month or so.

This past Monday marked a special anniversary for us. Five years ago on that day we moved to Washington. Five years?? To a girl who's never before lived somewhere more than about three and a half years that is a long time! God has been very good to our family. I love my adopted home.

I started working on a couple classes. One is an online class with Clark College--"HTML fundamentals." It's been interesting, and I'm surviving so far. My other class is with Whitefield College; it's an Old Testament Survey class that I started last spring but didn't finish. I just completed the reading and lectures, so now on to the research paper, then it will be over.

Last month we attended Ligonier's West Coast Conference in Bellevue. It was really enjoyable. The topic was, "Is There Life After Death?" The speakers were R. C. Sproul, Alistair Begg, and Michael Horton. Considering that the resurrection is such an important truth, and that we tend not to focus on it as much as we should, a conference dedicated to the topic was very beneficial. I wouldn't be able to do justice to what they said, but if you can, listen to the CDs when Ligonier starts selling them!