Once upon a time, long long ago (9 years) I met a teen mom just out of high school with a baby only six months older than mine. She was surprisingly mature. I was completely baffled by her life story and yet she took the stand that you can’t blame other people for your actions and your consequences they may have effected your experiences but ultimately you still made choices. How could someone in her circumstances and at her age be so wise? Since that time I have so appreciated her friendship and advise with kids the same age we are monthly in conversation about budgets, homeschooling, Bible study, health, marriage. She is one of those friends I can sit down and talk to for hours and hours and hours (6 hours today). I have thanked God often for our friendship maybe someday she will let me tell her whole story. Thank you for all the laughs today you are one in a million, Michele, thanks for not letting me get away with any excuses ever. There are friends and there are good friends you know the kind that call your bluff and make you a better person. You are that friend. ❤️
Posts Tagged With: Friends
Epic Refresher
Today was a scheduled Epic refresher in Albany. It made for a very short day thank goodness. We had some tears, stress related over housing this morning. Even though we know it will all work out it is not coming very easy and as of today it looks like we will be going with the most expensive route (hotels every night) just because no door we have knocked on has opened yet. I did get to visit Silverton FBC again this evening at change of shift and at the end of a staff meeting which means I got to see a lot of the nursing team not just who was on for one shift. Of course they all asked me how traveling is going and over all it is good since we are doing what we set out to do although there are so many tough aspects. Some one said, “you have to be really smart to do that!” Lol not really just willing to look like a fool.
First Day Samaritan Pacific Community Hospital 2015
This time the I’m nervous feeling didn’t start until we were in Newport about 12 hours out of time to start my first shift. Even at that it wasn’t too bad until the last 45 minutes. It is in these first days that I have to frequently remind myself that it is good to be outside of my comfort zone. And that in the long run the positive consequences of hard work way out weigh the ease of laziness. (This is an internal battle that I am always fighting and don’t always win.) Ariving 40 minutes early I waited in the car 10 minutes then headed in to try to find my way to L&D. A small hospital can still be quite disorienting, but I made it upstairs and to my new unit. The nurse that I will be covering for maternity leave was on, it was fun to meet her and get some idea of what my schedule will look like. We chatted for a little while as day shift arived. Everyone was friendly. We got most of the first day stuff done, name badge, door access, computer access, med system access, unit tour, scavenger hunt, first admission and delivery giving me some familiarity with the paperwork, process and a few of the providers. That is what everyone hopes their first day is like. You don’t want to go too long with out an admission or a delivery because you don’t get very many orientation days as a traveler and you have to know how to do those things (charting systems and some processes are all a little different at every hospital). I love it when people tell me it’s ok to ask questions…fair warning now I ask a LOT of questions. There is no way to learn everything in two days of orientation. 1915 came quick enough, I was definitely ready for the shift to be over. A headache was starting to creep up on me and I was eager to catch up with Chad as he had been working all day on our housing situation.
Chad picked me up out front bearing gifts from The Gluten Free Place, a delicious pineapple upside down cake.
Admitting that we may just be spending too much money there this assignment because they had tasted a few things that were all delicious and it wasn’t too far from the hospital. I have been given a huge gift in Chad as my husband, he is beyond supportive always thinking of ways to make me feel loved by doing something special for me. So, good news with an awesome GF place in town, but bad news as far as housing goes. There are a lot of private campgrounds with long term residents, but they (all the ones he drove by, talked to, called) were full. We could see empty spots on a few that we drove by Sunday but when he called they said they have no monthly spaces available. There was one (the most expensive one at $700 a month) on a paved lot with no grass say that they probably could do it, but we would have to shuffle around and move sites every week because they also were booked. We don’t want to pay that much to be in a paved lot and move around every week so, we will continue to look. We will be checking on a few more places today, as well as our next options.
With computer training in Albany on the schedule next we headed home to Salem.
Newport Bound
I think we might have a plan now, I’m not sure if it is plan G or plan J but it is far from plan A or plan C. We packed quickly this morning. Less planning is needed when your only going two hours drive away, but still there were a few things we could not afford to forget. Attending church at our own church was amazing as always. Getting to see Aunt Bonnie and Great Grandma Brown was a special treat as well as trying out a new Sunday school class since our old newlywed and young couple class that we attended for 14 years has morphed into a much different class in the last year and a half. We attened a new class with our old classmates that is currently on a parenting series. I hope we will be able to attend enough to follow the current study. We sat in our “normal” (if you can call it that anymore) spot in hopes that we would get to sit by Dr. Dan and Robyn so I was super excited when Roby came up from behind us and slid into the chair next to me!!! Yay! It was so good to see them (our Sunday school teachers since the day after we got engaged in 2001, they came up to us at church and said, “We are starting a young married’s class. We would love to have you join us.” We have hundreds of fond memories made together.) A few hugs, and minutes to catch up is all we had before service started. We had time to make temporary dinner plans for next week I can’t wait to catch up for real. After church we rushed off to our lunch date with Grandma and Grandpa Owens and Red Robin. Their current coloring pages are the United States we counted up that we have visited 22 states so far on our “trip”
looks like at the end of this assignment we need to head south then East as we have not yet seen most of the south east states. After lunch Caleb headed out with Grandpa to get a card for a party they were headed to. A little one on one time while Grandma works the off to camp in the morning.
I love that he has so many strong godly and manly mentors in his life. In the last week alone he has had the oportunity to work beside my dad one on one and now quality time with Chad’s dad. I couldn’t have dreamed that we would be so blessed, I hope there is a day when Caleb recognizes just how blessed he is.
The rest of us buckled in and headed west.
She is just so darn cute. We made it to Newport, checked into our hotel and then headed out to drive around. Plan G like we talked about earlier is us borrowing a trailer from Chuck and Donna (Chad’s parents) and finding a campground that allows long term campers with a monthly rate. We will still need a lot of things to fall into place but right now that is where we are at.
It is so beautiful here! We can’t wait to get settled. Now for a little sleep, ready or not we start tomorrow. 😬
Thank Goodness For That Text Message!
Saturday morning I took Chad to work, with the agenda for the day being get Caleb’s hair cut, clean our room (we all five share a room when we are home it gets really messy really quick), get Caleb packed for camp, we needed to get packed for Newport, and a few other miscellaneous things. All in all a really low key day comprised with only a couple hours of work if we really were focussed. Before I even got out of the car back at the house my phone vibrated with a text message from a friend saying we could invite Jayson, Stephanie and Cyrus to the girls birthday party today too….birthday party, I had missed something. Well, we weren’t late yet, and we weren’t going to turn down an oportunity to hang out with some of our favorite people. The kids got all ready and we got Caleb mostly packed for camp, everyone was in their swim suits hopping in the car about 10:30. Steph and Jayson had a commitment in Portland so we headed one way and they headed the other.
It has been so hot, but today not so much. Overcast and even a short stint of spitting rain followed by an equally short sun break in the clouds. Morning pool party turned to finger food lunch, the noise of children’s laughter and occasional squabbles. I went to get Chad from work and before we knew it dinner time. Mark and Chad went out and got us hotdogs and buns that we roasted over the fire. Becky and I ran to the store for a few things for camp. All the while the kids played and played. I’m not sure that they had such a long day of company planned. We will see if we ever get invited back over again 😉. Thank you Mark and Becky for a day of just being together. We did get Caleb the rest of the way packed before bed. In the morning we all got packed for Newport, and we are going to have to clean our room later.
Family Drive Through the Colombia River Gorge
Needing to go pick up Caleb today we decided to make the day of it. After getting to visit for a while with Aunt Vicki and Uncle John this morning we picked up Grandma Owens, stopped at Starbucks, then headed toward The Dalles. It is so so gorgeous this time of year! We didn’t stop on the way through the gorge, on the way back was a different story. After getting to visit with my mom and dad in The Dalles we headed back home. We took the scenic route, then due to the sheer number of visitors flocking Multnomah Falls we opted to skip it this time and stop instead at Rooster rock. First though, we did a short hike at Latourell Falls.
Then back on the road…I was not prepared for how gorgeous the view would be!!!!
Then we took the craziest route ever to Tualatin, hey it was way faster than taking 205. Pieology and Cabelas with grandpa and daddy to finish up the day. It is very good to have Caleb home such a fun scenic day with awesome company.
Seaman Day Pictures
This photo was taken just as the park opened. Many more Newfs came and went over the days time.
http://www.dailyastorian.com/Local_News/20150709/on-seamans-day-there-is-historical-drama-and-drool (the news artical written about the event!
Pictures sent by the ranger in charge of hosting Seaman’s Day.
Seaman’s Day, Lewis and Clark National Historic Park
Seaman Day? What is that?
Every year on the second Wednesday of July Fort Clatsop (where the Corp of Discovery wintered 1805-1806 on the Oregon coast) hosts a full day of events and activities for adults and children focused solely on the 34th member of the Lewis and Clark expedition, Seaman, Meriwether Lewis’ dog. Seaman was a Newfoundland, and Seaman Day allows kids, and adults, to meet and touch dogs like him. Today our job was to be throughout the park so if someone wanted to see a Newfoundland they would and if they didn’t like dogs/afraid they would not feel threatened or like they couldn’t see the park. They had us sign up for a few of the different events and activities, we were signed up for the 1100 River walk, the Kid’s Corp, the 1430 Meet a Newf and a Seaman Stories at 1530. I was nervous about how Myra would do since she is great with people but pulls terribly and wants to play with every dog she sees and there would be a lot of dogs.
We set our alarms for 0430, took our showers the night before getting to bed kind of late but before midnight. Eve woke up pretty happy. Stephanie and Cyrus joined us as well and by the time we were to Portland area all three of our backseat passengers were checking for holes in their eyelids, no snoring included.
We made good time and had plenty of time to stop and eat breakfast at Safeway in Seaside. We were the first ones there by maybe two minutes and before 15 minutes had passed there were at least 5 more. We have a Newf but had really never seen or hung out with any other Newfoundland other than Myra and two brief visits with her parents when we met her and picked her up from the breeder. She was born from two family dog Newfs not a reputable breeder and Newfoundland owners and breeders can be a bit snobbish about where you got your Newf and linage/bloodline. Would they be excepting of Myra, would there be any other Newfoundlands as small as Myra? Would she get along with the other dogs her size? Would that much personal touch by strangers and kids climbing over her be taken in her usual low key stride? Time would soon tell.
The good news was all the other Newfs were as low key as Myra or lower key and as long as she had a chance to meet them after that she no longer pulled toward them and after the first half hour or so she didn’t really pull even for new dogs she did growl two times at a bigger dog throughout the day but it was short with no teeth or anything just a holy cow this a big dog and I don’t know what to think about a dog bigger than me. She liked all the events, but I think the Kid’s Corp was her favorite….the cool indoors with kids petting her all over while she sacked out on the floor. The other Newfoundland parents were all very friendly and not at all judge mental. It is funny how I remember all the dogs names and only a couple of the handlers names. They may all have the sameish colors and similar markings, but between personality, size and head shape they were very distinctly different. If we had let them all loose in a gym it would be easy to tell who is who.
With Uncle Jayson picking up Hannah from camp we didn’t have any time constraints, but everyone was done long about 1530. Eve and Cyrus were starting to misbehave, Myra was ready to not be bothered (mostly because Eve was misbehaving and poking her nose with sharp sticks which she did get in trouble for) but also she has never in her life been handled that much and she was starting to turn in towards us instead of reaching out with her nose to lick every new person who came with in reach. Instead of making it a bad experience we quit while we were ahead. Myra and I went out of the park and sat in the shade out front of the visitor’s center. Aunt Stephanie, Eve and Cyrus watched a few movies in the visitor center and Chad stayed to help one of the other Newf handlers finish the Seaman Stories presentation. We left as soon at the presentation was over as did Brogen (another Newfoundland, the best looking one I have ever seen in person) with us two being the last to leave the park of the doggy volunteers for Seaman’s Day at 4:30PM.
The kids were asleep within 10 minutes and stayed asleep most of the way home. It was a very good day! That only could have been made better by leaving about an hour earlier…we are taking note to remember that for next year.
Eve was giving Myra a volunteer hat to wear.
The flag raising ceremony. The period flag had 15 stars and 15 stripes. I never knew about flags with more than 13 stripes. Eventually they went back to thirteen because let’s face it 50 stars and 50 stripes would be a super complex flag. Shortly after this time period they decided to go back to thirteen for the original colonies and only add a new star for each state.
The replica fort is super awesome. I think we could live in a complex like this. 
Check out this HUGE slug!
The family above has 4 Newfoundlands!!! I think one is plenty, I don’t know how they do it!
Kid’s Corp
Below is Brogen in the Seaman Stories presentation.
A new must try in Seaside. Fish and chips made out of tuna.
I can’t wait to get the group photo I will add it when it comes.
Battery Charging Kind of Day
Kidless this morning, Chad and I both still got up before 7:00am. Chad had plans to work with his dad for the day and I needed to pick up Eve from grandma’s house and take Myra to the groomer. We headed out a little early so we could take the car by the mechanic shop because we had some concerns about how it had been acting lately. It was a good thing we did. The car did fine until it warmed up. We made it to Japanese Connection just fine but the last five blocks from the mechanic to the shop (Chad’s parents business base) was rough. We couldn’t get it out of first and the clutch was sticking. We are hoping it is the master cylinder. Needless to say once we parked the car in the shop we knew we would not be able to move it too far. It will stay there until it’s “doctor” appointment on Thursday. Donna saved the day by coming and picking me up and taking me back to her house, since we are a one car family we are kind of high and dry when our car misbehaves. Chuck and Donna have let us borrow one of their cars for the next two days to get us by. They are continually such a blessing to us I don’t know what we would do without them. Eve and I then took Myra to the groomer and rode with Aunt Steph and Cyrus to check out the toy section of Fred Meyer running into a church friend there. Back at home Eve and Cyrus were playing well together and Steph offered to keep an eye on Eve so I headed to Silverton Hospital Family Birth Center!!!! Seriously I can’t stay away from that place. It was 11:00 and I guess I picked the perfect day to visit. The census allowed for me to have the opportunity to say hi and catch up with each of the nurses, CNA, tech, and unit clerk with out interfering in their work. I was on the unit for about an hour then headed to the cafeteria for lunch with the management team. The weather was perfect for sitting outside and we caught up, as Hawaiians would say “we talked story” mixed with a little business. I love Silverton so much! Whenever I am there I come away wishing that I could take everyone with me to each assignment. Then we could see the United States without ever having to be away from our friends, doesn’t that sound perfect? I got home from the hospital around 1:30pm Stephanie was in the front yard talking to our neighbor who is also a good friend, we talked for quite a while before we decided that it was getting hot enough we should move to the shade. Ice tea, lawn chairs, and the shade with the company of a fellow mother/neighbor it doesn’t get much better than that. Steph had headed out for coffee with a friend so Hosanna and I visited and watched the kids play for a few more hours. Steph came home from coffee and took Eve and Cyrus to swimming lessons and I got ready for a bridal shower. Mary Beth came over and we headed out to go shopping, then we picked up Myra and took her home just in time to sneak in a sit down pizza dinner and make it to the bridal shower. We had some good laughs, it was one of our best visits. It was so wonderful to see so many friends at the shower too. It really has been, besides the car acting up, the most wonderful and relaxing/recharging day we have had. I am just starting to feel like maybe I can face starting back to work again. It is an awfully good thing since my next contract starts Monday.
And Then There Was None
One of our littles (Caleb) stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Sherman for the week. Hannah got all packed up when we got home last night and headed out to camp early this morning.
She was so excited, I hope she has a life changing good time, many of my favorite childhood memories were made at church camp.
Eve and I half-heartedly worked on organizing the garage, Chad and Jayson took a few things to the dump and we got ready for lunch at Keizer Station with Grandma and Grandpa Owens. Chad went on to work with his dad, and Eve decided that an afternoon with grandma would be much better than returning home with me.
So just like that I was kidless and husbandless…that hasn’t happened besides sleep (daytime sleep after a night shift if you are worried about why I would be husbandless at night 😋) in a long time. A nap might have been good, but a cute 4.5 year old boy wanted a playmate and I didn’t bring his cousin (Eve) home with me. I’m not sure how we got around to trying to ride a big boy bike with out training wheels but before I had been home 40 min. he was peddling like a champ and giggling when I had to run to keep up with him.
I guess Cyrus was in need of some Aunt Sarah attention so I stayed outside with him and sorted some stored clothes and watched him practice starting and stopping until it was time for dinner. Steph and Jayson headed out for an anniversary date night and Cyrus and I headed to Grandma and Grandpa’s house for dinner taking along his bike and helmet so we could show grandma, grandpa, and Uncle Chad his new skills.
Eve and Grandma had gone to the store. Grandma let Eve plan and make dinner, she chose meat balls, cheese balls, melon balls, blueberries and Cheetos. She was having a “ball” planning a meal and preparing it with grandma.
Cyrus and Eve played for a while after dinner then Cyrus had everyone come out side to see him ride his bike. We said goodbye and came home with Eve staying for a sleepover. It was a pretty productive, fun day and overall relaxing.
Also my “Big Island” earrings came in the mail they are bigger than I thought they would be but they are light and I love them. I will be thinking of our four months in Hawaii everytime I wear them, all the amazing people we met and the metamorphosis that occurs each assignment in our hearts as we trust in God, trying to obey and be a blessing to those around us only to be humbled at how he has provided key relationships and situations that have stretched and grown us, providing for our needs before we even knew we had them.
Owens Endeavors 