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Some pictures of my florida trip

 leaving Spokane airport.

 the Stout's front yard.

 the Stout's house.

 going over a bridge on the way to the beach.

 the beach! the sand seemed very white to me when I first saw it and the water seemed very salty.

 going to the beach. still very white, because I hadn't been in the sun yet and I've been trying not to get scorched until AFTER the wedding.

 isn't it beautiful?

driving from the airport to the Stouts' house.

same. it seemed very green to me.

another project

A purse or bag for carrying things.  I designed it myself, but I wish now I would have rounded the bottom corners a little.  Not too disappointed, though.

eight more days and I'll be in florida.

Psalm 96

While reading Psalm 96 tonight I noticed that it was full of commands to His created order.  I find it interesting that there are so many imperatives in one Psalm, but they are not laws.  He gave us 10 of those already (or 2, if we simplify a bit).  God is actually showing us and all other created things how to worship Him.

What are we supposed to do?

Sing a new song to the Lord,

Proclaim the good news of His salvation every day,

Tell His glory to the nations,

Tell His wonders to everybody.

Why should we do this? 

Because He is great, and deserves to be praised and feared above every other god, (all of which are idols).  He made the heavens, honor and majesty are before Him, strength and beauty reside in His sanctuary.

What are the families of the earth supposed to do?

Give strength to the Lord.  

Give Him the glory that His awesome name deserves. 

Bring an offering, and enter His courts.

Worship Him in the beauty of holiness.

Tremble before Him.

Tell everyone that He reigns.

Say that the earth is set firmly and cannot be moved.

Tell the people that God will judge in righteousness.

What about the rest of the created world?

The heavens must rejoice.

The earth should be glad.

The sea and everything in it should roar.

The fields and everything in them should joyful.

And then the trees will rejoice.

Why?

Because God is coming to judge the earth.

He will judge the world righteously and the peoples truthfully.

two new girls

I've been horribly neglectful lately.  But life has been super busy and when I get time to just sit and do nothing, coming up with a blog-post isn't usually what I want to do.  But, since I have some exciting news, I thought I should put some stuff up here.
First of all: On Friday, May 27th, 2011 Alyssa Rose Dahlin was born.  Ben and Brianna are happy, as are all the aunts and uncles and grandparents.  She weighed 6 lbs and 13oz and was 19 1/4 in long.  This small size was especially delightful to Brianna.

 The second bit of news is that Luke and Theresa are engaged! Yes!  I am SO excited for them.  They have set the white-dress date for October 1st.  Theresa and her mom will be coming over this morning (and all or most consecutive Mondays) and we are going to work on wedding planning.  But mostly, I think these days are going to be our get-to-know-Theresa days.  I'm happy about that.

summer projects

My two weeks of summer have been full of projects.  We've been working on the garden, trying to get things planted before it's too late.  The sun hasn't been helping much, though, so we've only got some potatoes and onions planted.  We've also been piling and burning brush on our property, which looks a lot better now.
Today the rain was so heavy that we decided to work inside, and this is what I did.

I just bought a pink lamp that looks somewhat like this

that is pink, so that is why I chose pink for the pencil-holder.  I never used to be a pink person, but lately- well, lately pink is just awesome.
Another summer project I'm making is a coral-pink and brown quilt.  It is one that my grandma started before she died and that I've been trying to finish.  It will be a twin-sized quilt and the squares are very nearly done and then I'll sew them all together and put some borders on.  I am hoping to finish it before school starts, but I'm pretty sure that will be hard.   Or maybe impossible.  Anyway, if I get it finished, I will use it in Moscow on my bed, which I think would be pretty awesome.  I would also like to make some pillows to use with it, so I hope to have enough scraps leftover to make some matching pillows.

haiku

My random haiku,
written way too late at night.
After ice cream party.

Just five syllables
and then it can be seven.
Then it's five again.

The wind yells and screams,
I'm not even listening.
But Moon hides himself.

Blue

Cuffed sleeves, blue striped shirt,

topped with a big blue bow-tie,

blue jeans and blue eyes.