OSYR

The first student of OSYR (Oak Springs Youth Ranch) came today!

Garage Sale for Oak Springs Youth Ranch

For those of you who have not viewed www.oakspringsyouthcamp.com in the last 24 hours, we are having a garage sale at 1460 Wallace Rd. on Saturday. Hours are approximately 9-4. We are raising money to become a non-profit organization. For those of you who are local you should stop by. I would love to see you. And maybe you'll find something that you just can't live without.

A Mattress with a Bed Frame Attached

I have a bed. I have, in all honesty, had a bed for a few weeks now. I just haven't put it together until this morning. But I didn't mind because I had a very comfortable mattress to sleep on. The bed frame - in my mind - is just to look nice and is not necessary for a delightful night's sleep.

(Does it look like a crib in this picture to anyone else?)

The bed was a gift from Grandma Bonnie. I never thought I'd say this about furniture, but it was a wonderful gift! I love it! Thank you, Grandma Bonnie.

Some of you may recognize it as the bed that used to stand in Grandma's office as an extra place for grandchildren to spend the night, or great-grandchildren to nap.
Until a few weeks ago I have been sleeping on a mattress on the floor courtesy of Black Lake Bible Camp. They had inherited from somewhere where it was necessary to indicate which end was for the feet. It is also too long for my extra-long sheets. It was with much frustration that I would lay down exhausted at night, only to hear a phwip! as the sheet popped off one corner, and then the same phwip! from another corner when I had secured the first unruly corner. I did learn how to be, for the most part, more clever than the mattress, but every once in awhile another phwip! would come along, just to annoy me.
Don't get me wrong, I was, and am, very grateful for the mattress. It was much better than sleeping on the floor. But I still prefer the bed with a mattress that is just the right size for the sheets.

Have you been wondering whatever became of the horse program I mentioned, oh, about a month ago? I've already mentioned that we had a board. Our second board meeting was this week and we had some very encouraging news. There is interest! Janet is spreading the news! I'm going to be making some calls this week to see if anyone with a similar ministry will let me come observe how they do things so that I have some idea of the structure of the program. It has officially been named Oak Springs Youth Ranch. And guess what! There's a website!

http://oakspringsyouthcamp.com/

I am beyond excited at the moment. There will be alterations, of course, as the other women involved give their input and as more events begin to happen, but there you have the first launching into the world of Oak Springs Youth Ranch.

"Oak Springs Insurance, How Can I Help You?"

I sat on the couch Friday morning, scanning craigslist.com for any job openings that seemed appealing. I sighed and said aloud, "God, I need a job." My phone rang. "Hello?" The manager of Gov Cup wanted an interview. I was so excited. Unfortunately, I didn't get the job. As I was driving along the other day, wrestling with the red flag in my mind about the job and the need for a job, a thought suddenly popped into my head, causing me to nearly panic. It was the picture I had seen in some children's Bible, or on a children's movie of the Israelites demanding that God give them a king so they could be like everyone else. The situation didn't quite turn out the way that they had wanted. "God, I don't want the job unless it's where You want me to be. I won't tell You what to do anymore!" I prayed, fearful that I had made a big mistake and the consequences would be disastrous.

Well, I don't know if the thought was a warning from God or just my own musings, but it did the trick. And in His wisdom and faithfulness, He has provided a job at an insurance group. The situation is remarkably better. I will be working for a Christian. I will be able to work after class and get done with time to feed the horses. And, as my boss is on the board for the horse program, she will work around that once it gets going. Only God could have orchestrated this job. The connections are too crazy to be anything else. It's really an amazing story.

17...Almost

Saturday, August 7th is my baby sister's 17th birthday. It is also the day of the staff banquet at Black Lake, so our birthday celebration came early. I'm rather glad because, contrary to all of my childhood beliefs, I have missed my sister this last month while she lived so close, yet so far away.

I picked the brains of a couple of people for fun things to do and came up with Pike's Place Market in Seattle. Apparently we've been there before, but neither of us remembered anything except the ferry ride and the fish tossing.

After work/lunch on Saturday, Katie, Audrey, and I climbed into my little pick-up and drove to Seattle.

After much wandering and asking for directions we finally found the original Starbucks.
Although we have a new appreciation for Starbucks after spending so much time out of the country (me) and living in a country where Starbucks is the only good coffee (Katie) we did not buy any there. Instead we went across the street to a local coffee shop.


These were the juciest most delicious peaches ever!

Audrey is our honorary sister.
Katie and her Pike's Place Market sunflower.

We maneuvered around a parade and a couple blocks of mall stores until we finally found a Mexican restaurant.
It was a lot of fun and so hard to say good bye the next day. Uncle Steve treated us to breakfast after church (best eggs benedict I've ever had! - okay, I'm not really an eggs benedict connessieur, but Aunt Nea said they were delicious too, so I think I'm pretty accurate in my assessment).

"What I love about Sundays..."

...the song, for one, is a great song.

...my church. I actually like going to church now. I never did as a child, but now I look forward to it every week. My church is so welcoming and I feel like I belong there.

...getting dressed up. I still haven't outgrown my girlhood love of dresses (although I wear them a little more fashionably these days).

...going to the river with Heather and David.

...having a picnic

...swimming in fresh water

...soaking in the sun

...taking a picture with my roommate.

...rushing back to church for work because I was having too much fun to pay close attention to the time (don't worry, I made it on time and I was very careful driving).