Flowers and Insects

I took these in the garden today. I LOVE the colors!
The purple cone flower was covered in bumble bees today. I counted 17 if I got them all.
Check out the one with many purple coneflower. How many bees can you find?

Click on the pictures for closer views.

Intentional Community?

What does it mean to grow an intentional community? An Orthodox intentional community? Rade of The New Relic on more than one occasion talked about this. It's something that has always been on my mind as something that could be good if a group worked really hard at it. I came across this website called Orthodox Village that doesn't really have all that much to it but the idea behind it is good. He has good hopes and plans but it doesn't seem to have grown much. On the message board I found this icon that a woman drew when she started Homestead.org in 1994...but she's Orthodox!!! which I found fascinating! (she no longer owns that site)
I love this icon! It is so beautiful!!

This is a link to Alana's -Morning Coffee blog. This particular post I'm linking to is her conversion to Orthodoxy story. It is very beautiful and so well written. She touches on quite a few things that really touched me and I want to share it.

I'm Melting!!!!!

It is TOO HOT! I know some of you may be used to hot temperatures but I(we) here in Seattle are not. There is not air conditioning except in my van and at the mall. I'm not a mall type person! It is too Hot!!!!!
Record Highs Friday and Saturday in some parts were over 100!!!! I turned my van on Friday afternoon to see the temperature reading outside and it registered 101!

There are, however, certain activities that are especially good for hot weather. Here are some of our favorites we've relished in the last 3 days...
but first I had to put this in this morning....even the dog is hot! Early this morning (Monday) I put the fan in the window and within a few minutes found the dog sitting in front of it!!! It cracked me up!

Update on Rachel

A couple days ago I posted this prayer request and this first update. Here is the wonderful update I received last night...

The fluid in Rachel’s lungs is gone, making possible removal of the drainage tube; just a few minutes ago she was taken off the ventilator, & is now breathing on her own, all thanks and praise to God! She is still in I.C.U., & though receiving post-operative pain medication is conscious & able to respond non-verbally. “Prayer,” as blessed Saint Agathon said so long ago, “ is warfare to the last breath.” May we continue to faithfully intercede for dear Rachel & her family!

Bald Eagle in Seabeck Bay

We went through downtown Seabeck (don't blink) and had pizza at the pizz place on the bay. While we waited we ran into an artist painting on the beach and he pointed this beautiful sight out to us. I didn't get close enough. Click on the image and it will get bigger.

What's been going on here?

We have been quite busy these days preparing for this. I know you probably have seen that link from Paradosis link. In the last 2 weeks before market day (July 7) we completed the family room wall (it was bare drywall) , painted it, redid moulding through almost the whole house, packed up about 6 loads of JUNK to put in storage (don't know why and can't believe all the stuff we can supposedly "live without temporarily"...why not always????). I spent an entire afternoon (6+hours) in the rain planting and mulching and cleaning the yard. The list goes on. Now we are on the market. Within 2 days we had a great offer and 2 days later it fell through. The Missus of the said offer didn't like our house enough. :( But we are only 6 days into the game and have had lots of lookers. When we sold our house in Sultan it was on the market for 3 1/2 months and probably didn't have near the traffic this one has had in 3 days. Another gorgeous weekend to come should bring lots more traffic. Please pray God's Will be done!!
We have the weekend loaded with houses to look at for ourselves on the Kitsap Peninsula. That should be fun. We have our eyes on one we both really like. It is very private 2 1/2 acres and it has all the stuff we need to get started on our "hobby" farm: corral, 2 fenced pastures, 2-stall barn, fenced garden, chicken coop! Perfect. We think.

Another funthing we've been up to is camping. Here are some fun pictures of our trip to Mossyrock Campground in Mossyrock Washington.

Thank you for all your prayers as we seek God's guidance in the sale of our home and purchase of a new home-following our dream.

UPDATE ON PREVIOUS PRAYER REQUEST

I received this at 8PM...

Don called a few minutes ago, to report that although Rachel “isn’t out of the woods yet,” the news is much more positive this evening. She has responded well to a medication change, her kidneys are functioning, & although still on the ventilator she is breathing partially on her own. All praise & thanksgiving to God for this wonderful news – may we continue to surround Rachel, her family, & all who care for her with our fervent intercessions!


Thank you for your continued prayers.

PLEASE PRAY...

...for Rachel. She is a girlfriend of one of our parishioners. She is right now in ICU on a respirator after emergency intestinal surgery. Just 5 minutes ago we were informed her heart is failing. She is 22 years!

Lord have mercy.

You know they've had a good day when...

...they come in the house at the end of the day looking like this little warrior.

I've uploaded some new pictures to the photo blog.