Rapture and Anguish

Will and I enjoyed a little jaunt with our 5th wheel over to Ontario last weekend for the wedding of a friend (of which I will post and share some pictures soon). The highlights of my exciting life are the adventures that happen while taking walks in different places where we camp. The first night, we were at Hilgard State Park right on the Grande Ronde River. What a beautiful walk.

Will recently signed me up with a Twitter account, and I had never tweeted. I decided this picture was a worthy first tweet, so I Twittered it out there the next day. I felt bad when I realized my first Tweet was a lie, because I said it was a morning walk, and it was actually the evening walk. But I have no idea how to recall it.


We spent the next few nights at the "Neat Retreat RV Park, nestled along the Oregon/Idaho border between Ontario and Payette in Fruitland, Idaho". The first evening, I didn't join Will and Zeek on the evening walk - not interested in walking along a busy city street. He came back and showed me a lovely picture of a river. He is so smart, he took a walk in the quiet residential area behind the RV park and found a river nearby. 


So the next evening, I followed along. This little bridge led to overgrown paths, and I almost felt like I was out exploring the wilderness. I love this kind of thing.

 I explored the area, bravely overcame obstacles and bushwhacked to a log to take in the view.

It seemed a great idea to Tweet another picture to my Twitter "followers", all three of them (my husband, my son Nick, and my husband's sister Sue). So I snapped a photo to tweet later.

Then I turned to look at the river, and to my complete consternation, felt my left hand squish into something very disgusting on the log. I looked down and saw a poop pile flattened by my hand. My cries of dismay rang out into the evening air, destroying the peaceful riverside scene, while I frantically scrubbed my hand against the log. 


My phone camera was still in my right hand and I looked down and saw this horrifying sight reflected back at me. I snapped the picture before carefully putting the phone in my pocket with my clean right hand. Just to prove my complete lack of vanity, I am sharing it here. Pitiful and heart wrenching, isn't it. Pure anguish.

I asked Will if he could identify what kind of poop it was, and his best guess was raccoon. Stupid uncouth raccoons. I actually took a picture of the squished poop, but it is really revolting and I am far too polite to share it with you. I'll delete it as soon as I have a chance to show it to my boys. I will make them look at it whether they want to or not because it is my duty to make sure they know how much I suffered.

I found a spot where I could rinse my hand in the river, and we headed back. Nearby we saw some bloody partially eaten animal entrails in the water...and Will was kind enough to remind me that I had just washed my hands in the water. 

On the way back, Will let Zeek practice staying while he walked away. What a good dog.

Fortunately, the rest of our walk was uneventful. Upon our return, I washed my hands thoroughly with soap four times and then dried them on Will's towel. Then I liberally applied hand sanitizer and felt almost ok.

I joined Will in our grassy area at the Neat Retreat and composed my Tweet. I had to revise a few times to get it under the 140 character limit. Eventually I posted with my happy face picture: "A pleasant view from a log interrupted by the horror of my hand squishing raccoon poop - another memorable evening walk." 

Then I saw Will's Tweet. "She screamed POOP I PUT MY HAND ON POOP it was so funny." I'm pretty sure he didn't spend a lot of time on his word selection.

Can't wait until our next evening walk....at the Metolius before we know it!

Pride goeth before...what?

I was so excited to finally get off work today so I could come home and play with my new toy. New toy, you ask? Coincidentally, on Tuesday, (the exciting day that I reached my goal weight), my dear husband had a surprise waiting for me when I got home from work quite late. It wasn't anything I had even realized I needed or wanted, but when I saw it, I knew it would change my life forever. (Or at least duriing spring, summer and fall every year.)


The last time I went to weed and water Tyler's little memorial garden at the park behind us, Will came to help. Carrying a 5 gallon bucket of water and assorted implements in a wheelbarrow isn't very convenient, and rather messy, but it's what I did. Will tends not to put up with inconvenient inefficiency. Will searched at least two cities to find a better solution. 


I saw this beautiful new toy on Tuesday night when I got home, but this is the first night haven't either worked late or partied since then! When I went to the patio after coming  home today, Will already had the water jug and bucket filled and loaded on the cart. I was bursting with pride, both with my new toy and with my thoughtful, loving husband. I told Will I must have a picture, and set it up where I could show off my beautiful roses, which I possibly might also feel a bit proud of right now.


Just look at this cart! It carries a 5-gallon bucket, a watering can and a 5-gallon water container, fertilizer, a big plant, and 2 gardening implements with room to spare! Will says it will hold 1000 pounds! I am so pleased!

 There's a shallow drainage trench between the path and the grass....I asked Will if it was safe to take the cart across it. He said as long as I took it slow. Well, I did take it slow, but something happened fast!

For some reason, the words "Pride goeth before a fall" immediately came to mind. Even though of course we all know that Proverbs 16:17-19 actually says, "Pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall." Hmmm.

Fortunately, the cart did not appear damaged. Look how cool this is, the side flips down and we can easily fill the watering can!

 The flowers are growing. I hope the Shasta daisy I planted tonight will get as tall as the one already there.

Oh, and this is pretty cool too. This cart actually came with my name on it! Can you believe it!

So, I have been reminded not to be proud lest I fall, or worse yet, be destroyed. I am very thankful for all the wonderful things I enjoy in this life and realize that it is all only because of God's grace!

Won is gone!

My brother Doug and his family have been hosting Asian exchange students for several years. Some have been memorable in ways that wouldn't exactly bring a fond smile to your face. But this year their guest was definitely my all time favorite.  Won was friendly, interested in everything, not afraid to ask questions about the many things he didn't understand about our lifestyle and culture, and just fun to be around. Not long after he arrived,  I crossed paths with him one night as I was leaving Zumba and he was coming to youth group and he said "Hi Aunt LeAnn"! It surprised me and well, it brought joy to my heart!

One Sunday morning in February, we had a skit to promote our upcoming women's retreat. A couple of women walked across the stage talking about what a great time they had last year getting to know women who they see all the time but hadn't talked to before retreat. I wrote the skit, and made sure they said good things about other women, such as Lou Reed ("She always looks so perfect up here on Sundays playing her flute, who would have thought she's so down to earth and friendly...I just love her.") But I allowed them to poke a little fun at me. ("And what about LeAnn, she always looks so serious and kind of boring up here on worship team...it turns out she's kind of funny...she really seems to need friends, bless her heart.") Later that afternoon, Anisa told me Won said he thought it was not very nice of those women to say mean things about Aunt LeAnn in church. He said, "I don't think she's boring, I think she's fun and funny!" Now you see why I love this kid!

He left bright and early Monday morning to go home for the summer. We went to a going away party for him Sunday night, and he consented to get his picture taken with us. He likes to make silly faces for the camera.

 But we also got a sort of sincere smile too!

I hope he has a great summer - apparently much of it will be spent studying for SATs. He will be back for another year at Santiam Christian next year, but will stay with another family since Doug and Anisa no longer will have a high schooler!

Speaking of which, we attended my wonderful nephew Duane's graduation high school a week ago Saturday night. He then left for a mission trip to Uganda early Sunday morning. Duane is blessed with so much charm and personality and has a great work ethic and heart for God. Aunt LeAnn is so blessed by this great kid!