WE DID IT !

We have settled in to North Coast Family Fellowship in Seaside and it feels SO RIGHT!
We should have done this years ago but it was a very hard decision for us.
We are so excited about the atmosphere and the feeling of worship that goes on at NCFF ! It is just a breath of fresh air every week we attend. We visited around for several weeks and nothing felt just right until we got there. Yes, it is a big church but we are finding already that it isn't that hard to get acquainted. We turned in a form they have in the bulletin for new people and that Monday received a phone call from a lady in the office just wanting to get to know us. I talked to her for probably 30 minutes about how you get to feel at home with so many people you don't know and especially how we would ever get to know the pastor. She had some great ideas and
then said would you like to have coffee with Pastor Glen sometime to get to know him.
Later that day he called but we weren't home so he e-mailed us and we set up a time to meet with him. Spent a good hour with him at a coffee shop and came away feeling like we knew our pastor! He is a great guy....enjoy his preaching very much. He is going thru the book of Romans right now.
Later that same week we got a call from the Sr Connection group (because we had put our ages down) inviting us to their weekly meeting at the church and then we received a card from a prayer group on Friday saying they had prayed for us. Immediate responses! They are doing all the right things to make people feel welcome and included.
We signed up for a small group study and have gone two weeks now and have met a neat group of people there. We meet every Wednesday night. They really focus on small groups because that is where the intimacy comes with the body. (Like our Care Units at BBC years ago ! ) That kind of fellowship is what it's all about! The last two weeks we have attended the morning adult Bible Study on Sunday mornings before church and that has been good too. Another way to get acquainted. We are going thru the book of Ephesians.
I love the worship and atmosphere of the whole worship service on Sunday mornings too. The music rocks at times but they still incorporate some of the good old hymns and older songs in the service too.
We have twice in one morning seen people come up to a person that is ill and pray with them standing right in the hall. Not just, we will be praying for you this week. Which I'm sure they did but we were impressed that they also prayed right then and there for them too.
The love and concern seems so genuine among the body that it just radiates thru the church.
Pastor Larry (the associate pastor) always greets everyone at the door when you leave and when we first started he wanted to know if we were new in town and we told him no we are just sort of in and out checking for a new place of worship.
So he said one week, "Oh yes, you are just in and out, right " and we told him "No - we are in!" Our decision had been made!
So, of course, we got a welcome to NCFF from him.
God is so good in helping us over the hump. We have season tickets to a monthly concerts at the Liberty Theatre in Astoria and last month was our third concert. The couple that has season tickets sitting in the row right ahead of us introduced themselves to us at our last concert saying, "Well, if we are going to sit in front of you every month, we may as well get acquainted" so we all introduced ourselves. Well, you guessed it. The very next Sunday we met them at church for the adult study. Yes, a familiar face in the midst of strangers. God is good !
Actually it takes us about the same amount of time to get there as it did to BBC because although it is a little farther, you go highway speeds so it only takes about five minutes longer. Well worth the extra time !
As I said before, this was long overdue and the feeling of freedom and worship is permeating in my life.
God is faithful if we just but listen to his instructions ! SO ALL IS WELL AND AT PEACE!

Question for Today ?????

You just lost your entire phone number list to a cyber gremlin.
Who 's number would you look up first and why ??

Cute Huh !

This is my favorite bear.....His name is Rumples. When Lorraine and I redid our bedroom we used a beautiful picture of a mama bear and three cubs as our focal point so I decorated with some bears I had before to compliment the picture.
This special bear has been around for a LONG time... and is very special because Bob gave him to me years ago.
The circumstances are what made it so sweet. We were in Portland a long time ago - just the two of us, don't remember why none of the kids was with us - but for some reason we had a spat on the way up. When we got to Portland we both had different stores to go in to so we went our separate ways... I got back to the car first (or at least I had thought I had) but when I reached the car and unlocked the door this big fuzzy bear was in my seat all seatbelted in. Yes, Bob was forgiven and all was well again because of this big, soft bear.... Thanks Bob for this fun memory ! What a sweet thing to do.
Rumples still has a special place in my heart....as does my very special husband!

Snow Fun !!

Look at these poor little ducks. They sit on our back porch throughout the year but I think they are unhappy with this season of the year!

Waiting for tomorrow night ?? : )

They are just resting up before Santa calls them to work tomorrow night.........

Not really - they're not even reindeer, just our local elk enjoying an evening rest.

We saw them awhile back when we were driving down to Cannon Beach and pulled over to get this picture. Aren't they beautiful !!

Happy Birthday, Grandpa Clint !

December 21 - today is Grandpa Clint's birthday. (Bob's Dad-my Father-in-Law) He would have been 90 yrs old today....
Yes, his birthday was close to Christmas and I learned VERY EARLY after meeting the family, it HAD to be separate from any resemblance of Christmas.
He was such a fun person, pretending to be crusty but really a softie inside. He was a great bowler and had many trophies to prove it.
He was in WWII but never talked about his time overseas. When he was returning his troop ship was anchored in the Columbia River right off of the Longview - Kelso area and was quarantined because of an outbreak of something on the ship. It was Christmas time, his wife and two small sons were living in Kelso but they had no idea he was on the ship sitting in the river....I'm not sure how long it was before the troops got to leave but I can't even imagine how he felt, coming home from the war and having his family right beside him but couldn't even contact them.
He LOVED his grandkids. Always had pictures with him to show anyone who would look at them!
He and Grandma often came down to watch even the Jr High football games and then any other games the kids would be playing including coming to watch Cathy cheerleading at the games.
He always gave the grandkids the little cardboard box of assorted flavors of Lifesavers at Christmas..... When he was caretaker for the Aberdeen Water Shed our kids would go out and spend time with him and Grandma and they loved it. He would take them fishing (where fishing was prohibited, of course, because it was in the water shed) But if you just went around the bend above the dam, no one could see you and there he would take them out in his boat and fish in the lake.
He was just as proud of his great grandchildren. As you can see here in this picture you can see him rationing out jelly beans to Kyler. He was always teasing them with pieces of candy. Grandma would get mad at him for teasing them but he loved every minute of it and so did they.
After he left the job at the dam, they lived in a small trailer in South Aberdeen where he gardened and grew the most beautiful dahlias and other things in his greenhouse. He loved to raze people with anything he could think of... He was a great guy and a lot of fun!
I could not have asked for a neater Father-in-law. He was always supportative and loving.
He has now been gone since Feb 20, 2002 but he will never be gone from thoughts and our hearts
Anybody have a favorite memory of Grandpa Clint they would like to share ??

News Headlines

Recently Seen Newspaper Headlines !

Final Stock Session Sluggish

Berserk Man Kills Self, Stabs 5 in Shopping Area

Nation Reeling from storm

20 year Old Venice CA man Walks Out Friday After Being Lost on Mountain

Don't Start the New Year Dead Drunk, Call Care Cab for a Ride Home

Reagan adds Grenada to Caribbean Aid List

Police Looking for Green River Clues to Compare Recent Killing With Previous Women's Deaths

As This Year Begins Soon, Our Hopes Are Raised Aloft That Peace May Bless the World
(Whiteside Memorial Chapel)
Sale Going On !
Blowout Recliner Sale - Deluxe Chair - $297 Standard - $247

Apartment Listings!
Ranging from $235 to $425 per month - Don't miss out on these low rates !!

SOUND FAMILIAR !
Most things don't change a lot thru the years. Well, sort of, huh. At least until you get to the prices.

I got all of these headlines in an Aberdeen Daily World newspaper from December 3, 1983 that lives in the bottom of the box where we keep Grandma Young's ceramic Christmas tree throughout the year. It was packing to keep the tree secure. I have saved that paper each year even though it is really beat up and I look thru it every time we get the box down at Christmas. It was a Saturday am edition and it cost 25 cents.
It just makes me happy to realize Mom and Dad (Grandma and Grandpa) read that paper !