$2 fee lets go see!

Last summer we met my brother's kids at the Portland Zoo and it was so much fun to see all the animals with them we decided to do it all over again this year. Each month they have a day when the entrance fee is only $2 so we plan around it......uhh and so does half of Portland it was a zoo in more than one way!

Our Favorite exhibition this year were the dinosaurs.

They were life size! They roared!

They were lurking everywhere.

But we were not scared.

Let's go get some ice cream.

Treasures by the sea

Along this particular inlet on this particular beach, sand dollars thrive by the hundreds or maybe thousands. We could not take a step in some areas for the sand dollars were stacked up so close together. The boys and I were treated to a hike to this facinating place by our friends, Bob and Sharon, who live not far from here.

We took buckets and shovels along on our hike and once we arrived at the beach we dug...then we spotted the hundreds of sand dollars closer to the surf and the boys rushed about picking up as many as they could get in their buckets. It was such a delight to feel so rich!

 

Zak's bucket of sand dollars.

Digging for clams.

The underside of a sand dollar.

This green one is quite small. It is dead but we found loads of live ones. They were purplish in color and leathery. On the underside they had hundreds of tenticle like feet.

 

Another fun find!

A Life Well Lived

I follow a blog John Stumbo writes about his mysterious journey into a mysterious disease....his blog link is on the right side bar under inspiring blogs.... Today, John writes about a lady I knew from afar, was always impressed with and felt good about life and myself when around her. She was often up front playing the panio with gusto and life you rarely see in churches these days and she was strikingly beautiful inside and out. I know little about her life but I do know she over came many odds just to be able to perform and play music like she did. She passed away this week due to cancer. I pasted in John's tribute to her because it brought tears to my eyes and clarity to my goals. It is a poem about her and how she lived her life. I found it such a complete and inspiring list of qualities I wanted to have.

                                               

I CELEBRATE A LIFE

I celebrate a life well lived,

A story well told,

A song well sung.

I celebrate a woman who

Knew how to be a friend and receive friendship,

Give and receive love.

I celebrate a woman who

Heard permission to be herself

And lived it out well.

I celebrate a woman who

Tasted grace and

Passed its inviting flavor along to those she met.

I celebrate a woman

Who searched and searched until she found the Father’s heart

In the midst of suffering.

I celebrate a woman

Who felt God tapping her on the shoulder to awaken her

To spend time with Him in the morning.

I celebrate a woman who mastered

And then rejected

The broadly accepted art of “image management.”

I celebrate a woman

Who carried well the banner of truth-telling

And modeled authenticity for the rest of us.

I celebrate a woman who knew

That the Lion of Judah was not a tame lion

And resisted attempts to make Him jump through our hoops.

I celebrate a woman who didn’t volunteer for her challenge—

Who never would have chosen to walk the path of cancer—

But faced it courageously.

I celebrate a woman who worshiped Jesus with all her heart

And now has the pleasure of doing so

In His presence.

I celebrate the life of Lorelei Friesen

Who was carried from this life to the next

On this day, August 20, 2010.

Life is fragile. Death is emminent.

What would people write about you after you have passed on?

Begin today to live. Chose truth, chose Jesus and you will not be disappointed.