some small town love.

The best text message ever:

"Could you volunteer for a massive Harry Potter event on 8/30 7 pm dressed as Professor Trelawney and 'reading' tea leaves??"

Why yes. Yes I can. (Pics to follow.)

*****

Another excellent one:

"I miss u! Want to come over tonight and can pickles?"

Why yes. Yes I do.

*****

And one more:

"Okay, I have to walk the dog and feed the chicken, and then I'll be ready to go."

*****

"Grandpa Roy", an octogenarian who lives a few blocks from me, had a bunch of plants outside his house with a sign reading 'FREE!'. I stopped and knocked on the door and he ambled out and helped me choose lemonbalm, mint, bay leaves, and chives. He also made sure to pick me a bouquet of dahlias  from his flower garden because "You haven't gotten one this year yet, have you?".

*****

Thank you for setting up my new shelves, neighbor and friend!!

(And thank you for giving me the gorgeous hardwood shelves, other friends!!)

*****

If you stop by my house while biking to the grocery store for your mom
or walking with your children to the library,

I will gladly provide you with hugs, popsicles, a bathroom...

I will also put you to work watering.

Come over anytime :-)

*****

Drying herbs in my kitchen.

Nicole hand-drew me beautiful labels for all of them.

 

*****

Erica's knocking out her summer reading.

*****

My favorite barista got married last month and invited all the regular customers (aka, half the town) to the wedding.

It was held on a berry farm nearby and was absolutely beautiful.

*****

I lied. One more text. This actually may be a strong contender for best ever.

"Just a warning, my kids are hell bent on your destruction tomorrow. I have NO idea why. Just brace yourself. (Sorry!!!)"

"This was stated by them?"

"I think the words were, "Fight Emily! Fight! Fight! Fight!"

I tried a costume to diffuse the tension.

L opened the door glaring at me, but as soon as she saw the lei and the magic wand the game was up. Success!!

*****

Walking down the street and running into friends driving through the bank...

they had just been blueberry picking and handed me a bag of fresh blueberries through the car window.

Whoa-k.

*****

Camping.

*****

Some Maryland attempts were made recently to convince me that

"so sad how they are closing all the coffee shops and cutting down all the trees in Oregon!!".

Yeah, keep trying.

I love this town so much:

.and it's a big sweet life, it's a big sweet life.

simple joys.

.a friend.

This week, our community is mourning Bob,

a wonderful man who spent his life loving God and loving people.

He passed away on Thursday.

He was the much-loved husband of Marcile and the grandpa of my friend Jay.

I was blessed to be in Bob and Marcile's small group since shortly after I arrived in Newberg,

and I've learned so much from them about faithfulness, endurance, and prayer.

Bob, you will be missed.

me with Bob and Marcile at my housewarming party last summer

.august is for romans.

...Abraham believed in

the God who

brings the dead back to life

and

creates new things out of nothing.

...he was fully convinced

that God is able

to do whatever He promises.

...his faith grew stronger

and in this

he brought

glory to God.

(chapter 4, verses 17, 21, 20)

.this is why i keep a blog.

"Write what should not be forgotten."

-Isabel Allende

i write and snapshot and reflect on and link

to remember what is beautiful,

what gifts i have been given,

and Who i want to know.

Behind all my asking.

"Dear Father God,

I feel like I ask for so many things.

But You bid me ask.

And behind all my asking

is the deeper longing for You."

-Richard Foster,

Prayers from the Heart

Abundance.

recently hung from my kitchen window

Yesterday Cherice taught her six-year-old, Espen,

what "abundance" means.

He had heard it in a song at camp and came home asking.

I asked her what she taught him.

"I said,

abundance is when something is gratefully so much more than what we need or asked for,

and we can't even believe it."

I love that.

Cherice and I picking green beans tonight

...we celebrate Your abundant goodness

and joyfully sing of Your righteousness.

For as we share abundantly in Christ's sufferings,

so through Christ we share abundantly in comfort, too.

"I have come that they might have life,

and have it abundantly."

the community garden's colorful abundance.

Steinbeck summer.

"And here's a story you can hardly believe,

but it's true,

and it's funny and it's beautiful.

There was a family of twelve and they were forced off the land. They had no car.

They built a trailer out of junk and loaded it with their possessions.

They pulled it to the side of 66

and waited.

And pretty soon a sedan picked them up.

Five of them rode in the sedan and seven on the trailer, and a dog on the trailer.

They got to California in two jumps.

The man who pulled them fed them.

And that's true.

But how can such courage be, and such faith in their own species?

Very few things would teach such faith.

The people in flight from the terror behind-

strange things happen to them,

some bitterly cruel

and some so beautiful

that the faith is refired forever."

-The Grapes of Wrath

.family vaca.

We are in full-on, old-fashioned family vacation mode in Coronado, California,

where the four Eaton siblings grew up.

My extended family is intergenerational, and I love that:

my mother and her brother were born a decade after their older sisters.

So the oldest cousins were in middle and high school when I was born,

as Allie and I and Chuckie and PJ were when their babies were born,

and now there are 20-somethings and teenagers to toss around the new babies

(ranging in age from 4-11)

just like their parents did with us.

It's the best.

We are eating breakfast and dinner together,

going to the pool, the beach, the zoo,

making s'mores and tickling and catching outdoor concerts in the park our parents grew up going to.

Family is a crazy blessing.

So thankful my sister drove down from LA to join the fun. 

sister!

cousin party for the week in our mother's hometown.

attempts at a tandem bike happened yesterday.