Umtanum Hike

On Saturday the 29th, George, Bonita, Taraz, Megan, Alonzo, Rue, Daisy and I went on a hike in the Umtanum Recreational Site. It is just outside of Ellensburg on the Eastern side of the Cascades. I love crossing the Cascades. The landscape changes so quickly and I always feel like I am in a completely different state. There were rolling golden hills all around and lots of trees with there changing colors. The colors were so bright and vibrant it made me just want to stand and take it all in for hours.

Here you can see the small extension bridge we had to cross in order to get to the trail. The bridge bounced and rocked. You can see how it was in the video clip below.



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In these pictures you can see the beautiful colors of the trees. This was a perfect hike to go on in the fall.












Here is some video of a rock outcropping that we climbed to the top of. Once we got to the top George was able to see the actual trail we were supposed to be on. Even though we got lost we had a great adventure.

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Of course I have to add a little picture of me in here so I can prove that I was actually there. :)









The aspen groves were so peacefully beautiful. I felt like I was walking in a fairy tail when we went through them. They were so enchanting.




This is video of when we were lost. We found a little beaver dam where we could cross the creek. As you will see in the video Taraz got very excited about the sticks the beavers had chewed the bark off of. He likes to make those kinds of sticks into what he calls "power sticks". It is one of his unique but also fun qualities. :) (We did eventually find the right trail.)

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George and Bonita being cute with eachother. :)



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Megan had a extra apple and asked Taraz if he wanted it. Instead of eating it he decided to try and hit it with one of his "power sticks". Megan tossed it to him and instead of it shooting off into the woods it exploded into apple sauce all over the side of Taraz's face. Needless to say we had a great laugh. I wish I had gotten it on video.




Taraz seems to have endless amounts of energy. He bounded up the side of the hills like a gazelle. I actually had to zoom in really far on this picture in order to see him.







On the way home we stopped at the Thorp Fruit stand and Antique mall. George treated us all to coffee. I had a pumpkpin spice latte in celebration of the season. While we drank our coffee we perused the fruit stand downstairs and the antiques upstairs.




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I so much love spending time with family I can never get enough. This is definitely a day that will be stored in my memory "archives". :)

Pen Pulpit

THE POWER OF WORDS
January 27th, 2000


As children in Sunday School we sang, “Oh, be careful little tongue what you say!” Our words, both good and bad, have a tremendous effect on others.

The goal of the church is to evangelize those outside the church (Acts 1:8, Matthew 28:19, 10) and to edify one another (Ephesians 4:11-16.) The extent to which effective evangelism is taking place will depend largely upon the degree that real, loving edification is happening.

Basic hindrances to this two-fold goal are:

• Lack of credibility with unbelievers. The lives of some Christian reflect little difference from the lives of non-Christians (II Peter 1:5-9).

• Lack of sensitivity to believers. A failure to embrace the principle of Philippians 2:1-4).

Our words are the area in which the breakdown is the greatest. Words are the expression of ideas, the formation of thoughts, and the units of communication. Some examples are the Living Word (John 1:1, 14, 18 and the Written Word (I Corinthians 2:9-13). Our words are tangible expressions of what we are (Luke 6:40-45).

Words are an indicator of our maturity (James 3:1-12) and a basis for judgment (Matthew 12:36, 37.)

We can develop a greater sensitivity to other believers by:

• Recognizing the awesome effect our words have upon others (Proverbs 18:21)

• Asking the question - will my words made God look good (Colossians 3:17).

• Thinking before we speak (James 1:19).

“Oh be careful little tongue what you say!” - an admonition for adults as well!



Love to you all.

--Pastor Charles Covington 1933-2000

Then and Now

One day when I was babysitting at the Schneidler's Isaac wanted to play Candy Land. All of these memories flooded back to me of when I was little and would play it with my brother or cousins. I found the game but when I pulled it off the shelf I was horrified to see that now it is different. The characters are all newly done and they look nothing like the ones I remember on my board game. There are now 4 little boys and girls on the board, one black, two white, and one Asian. When I played there was only a little blond boy and a blond girl. The names of some of the characters are completely different. Instead of Queen Frostine now it is Princess Frostine. Instead of Princess Lolly now it is just Lolly. Plumpy, the little green dog, is gone. Perhaps they felt saying "plumpy" was rude. Even though there were lots of changes Isaac and I still had lots of fun playing together. He had a great time shouting out the color squares as he picked them. I am sure when he sees this game when he is older it will bring back lots of happy memories for him. But I bet when he is my age the game will have changed even more. This gave me an idea. I wanted to look up on the internet all of the games I played as a child, see what they looked like then, and see what they look like now. So here are some of the games a played "then and now". :)


Candy Land THEN



Candy Land NOW


Chutes and Ladders THEN


Chutes and Ladders NOW


Mouse Trap THEN


Mouse Trap NOW


Memory THEN


Memory NOW


Battle Ship THEN


Battle Ship NOW


Twister THEN


Twister NOW


Guess Who THEN


Guess Who NOW


One game I am so delighted to say has changed hardly at all, The Uncle Wiggly Game!!

Uncle Wiggly THEN



Uncle Wiggly NOW

Pen Pulpit

THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT

Galatians 5:22, 23
February 20th, 2000

“For the Fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, - peace, long suffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self control, against such there is no law.”

LONG SUFFERING

Long Suffering - Putting up with a person or situation for a long time.

God is a long suffering God.

• Toward sinners - II Peter 3:8,

I Timothy 1:16

• Toward believers - Psalm 86:15

God is long suffering, not wishing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
We are to be imitators of God our Father - long suffering with our non believing world, to one another, as well as to situations we find ourselves in.

KINDNESS

Another virtue of our Heavenly Father is kindness. Believers are to be characterized by kindness. God’s people are never to be unkind to anyone. In Ephesians 4:32 we read that God expects us to be kind -

Be ye kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.

See also I Corinthians. 13:4, II Timothy 2:24, Proverbs 31:26 and Colossians. 3:12.

These past several months Eva and I have had a wonderful chance to practice long suffering and you, dear folk, have shown abundant kindness to us for which we can’t begin to thank you enough. God bless.


Love to you all.

--Pastor Charles Covington 1933-2006

One Way or Many?

I have been doing a little bit of reading about whether or not religious truth is relative or whether there has to be one solid truth. I most definitely believe there is one truth (The only way to God is through Jesus Christ's death on the cross, burial and resurrection). Here is an article I found as to why there can only be one way not many.

Why Is Christian Doctrine Exclusivist?
by Daryl E. Witmer

Perhaps the simplest answer to the question above is: "Because Christian doctrine is true, and all truth is exclusivist." If something is true, then it's opposite must be 'excluded' as false.

Another answer: "For the same reason that all religions either directly or implicitly hold that their teaching and position is exclusively correct."

Hindus with whom I have met have claimed that their faith is really "open source" — that any and all religions can be a valid way to God. But they have then explained that position to mean that the evangelical Christian view about Jesus being the only way to heaven is wrong and unacceptable.

I once served as pastor of a congregation meeting in a building owned by the Unitarian-Universalist Association (UUA). The UUA publicly made much of the fact that they were all-inclusive, welcoming everyone. But one day they went to court to seek the eviction of those of us who held that Christ alone is the way of salvation. It seems their inclusivism had limits.

Did you know that Islam is also exclusivist? The Qur'an (3:85) says: "If anyone desires a religion other than Islam (submission to Allah), Never will it be accepted of him; and in the Hereafter he will be in the ranks of those who have lost."

Kenneth Wapnick of the Foundation for A Course in Miracles recently disparaged the world of "absolute truth" and "seeming certainty" where 2+2 always equals 4 as being "wrong-minded." He denunciated a world that "follows specific laws and is regulated by adherence to form..." He rather advocated a change in our belief that there even is such a thing as a 1+1=2 reality. But one wonders if he is "absolutely" "certain" of that.

The reason that even those being critical of doctrinal exclusivity end up being exclusivist themselves is because truth itself is exclusive. No one can live consistently in a world where 1+1= anything that you want it to be. And any good student of comparative religion will tell you that every significant religious system, not just Christianity, assumes an exclusivist doctrinal stance to one extent or another. God is either one with creation as monists claim, or He is not. You can't have it both ways. Either Jesus was merely human as Jews claim or He was fully God. You can't have it both ways. Either Moroni was an angel of truth as the Mormons claim or he was not. You can't have it both ways. Either there is no such thing as objective moral sin as New Age thought suggests, or there is such a thing. You can't have that both ways. Either Christ really was historically crucified and raised from the dead as Christians teach, or He wasn't, as Muslims claim. You can't have that both ways.

From ChristianAnswers.com

Nancy's Notes

I wanted to share with you an e-mail that Nancy Suko (our Pastor's wife and my best friend Hannah's mom) sent to all of us ladies. Every week she sends out a note of encouragement to us and to remind us of what we are studying in Bible Study. This one was so special because last week Hannah shared with us a little about Gabe and what a wonderful man of God he was. I think about how he must be rejoicing right now and worshiping our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the One Who he lived 100% for.


Dear Friend,

As we continue this week looking at delighting in God, I would like you to consider these wonderful verses. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will--to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves." Ephesians 1:3-6 Are these verses real and personal to you? If so, they should be a great joy to your soul and a great cause of delighting in the Lord.



Last week in Bible Study Hannah shared something that was a great blessing to all of us. Before Gabe left for Iraq they had talked about their desire to live every day 100% for the Lord. One of the last letters that Gabe sent to Hannah he wrote about what their lives would be like in 50 years if every day they lived 100% for the Lord--not, trying to protect themselves and living a "safe" life, but, out on the edge for the Lord. Not only that, but, he wrote of the joy that such a life involved that could never be found by living a "safe" life. Such living is REAL living and it can only be done when we DELIGHT in the Lord!

Oh, how the Lord has blessed us! Read the verses above again and personalize them by inserting "me" for "us," etc. May our souls ever delight in Him!!

May the Lord be your life!
Joyful in Him,
Nancy
"Trust in the Lord with all your heart."

Stockings for Soldiers

On Monday night about eight of us ladies from church got together and started working on Christmas stockings we are going to send to the soldiers. We are going to send them to Gabe's unit and if there are any extra they can hand them out. We will put Christmas candy, little personal hygiene products and Christian literature in them. We are going to include little stuffed animals they can pass out to the Iraqi children. We are still trying to come up with a final list of all the things we want to put in them. Once we have the list we will hand it out at church and ask for people to donate the items. We had such a fun time visiting as we worked. The time flew by so fast. We completed thirty-three last night and we are going to get together every Monday evening until we are done.

Gabriel

Pen Pulpit

PRAISING GOD - DO YOU QUALIFY?
Psalm 1
February 13th, 2000


In Psalm 150:6 we read “let everything that has breath praise the Lord.” However, this statement must be qualified as “the fool has said in his heart there is no God” (Psalm 14:1) and therefore, is certainly is not qualified to praise Him. It is God’s desire that all men qualify to praise God.

Psalm 1, the introductory Psalm, presents sharp contrast to two extremes - the truly righteous way of life and the basically wicked way. This Psalm expands the ramifications of the pursuit of these two ways - the truly right way of joy and blessing and the basically wicked way with misery and hopelessness (Matthew 7:13-14, 24-27).

1. The blessed man is qualified to praise God (Psalm 1:1-3)

• He avoids walking in the counsel of the ungodly which leads to standing, and then sitting - a subtle erosion of his principles. Ungodly counsel in terms of ethics and moral judgments and the philosophy of life is so destructive to the Christian and is not conducive to praise.

• He avoids participating in the practices of the sinner as thinking leads to action. The blessed man does not think like the world.

• He avoids joining with those who openly mock God (v. 1c). Thinking like the world leads to practicing the world’s philosophy which could eventually result in open ridicule of the ways of God. Notice the process of erosion.

• In contrast he pursues what is right as “his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law he meditates day and night” (v 2).

• Consequently he is strong in his faith and able to resist temptation (v 3). See also Jer. 17:8, Psalm 92:12-14, Hosea 14:4,5 and Acts 20:32.

2. The blasted man is unqualified to Praise God.

• His present life is empty and without meaning.
(Psalm 1:4, Jude 11-13, James 1:6 and Ephesians 4:17-19)

• His future is bleak and hopeless. (Psalm 1:5, Eph. 2:12, I Thes. 4:13)

In Revelation 5 we see the final praise service of the righteous - what a congregation and how exciting to know the blessed man will be a part.

In contrast we see the final gathering of the ungodly in Revelation 20:11-15.

Beloved, are you qualified to praise God?


Love to you all.

--Pastor Charles Covington 1933-2006

Babysitting

Last week I got an e-mail from Michele (the lady I used to nanny for) and she asked if I would like to come and babysit on Tuesday. Of course I said yes. I had not seen the boys since this last spring. At that time the family did not need a nanny anymore. I had been a nanny for them for two and a half years. I was really excited to see Isaac and Gabe. Isaac is now four and Gabe is a year and a half.

When I arrived I was greeted at the door by Michele and right behind her was a big smiling face. Isaac started jumping around and saying that I was going to play with them. Michele said that she had told him that morning that I was coming over and she said he kept asking all morning when I was going to get there. He immediately wanted to show me the new kitten they had just gotten. He led me into the computer room and there was the cutest little kitten. Michele told me that it was a girl and they let Isaac name her. Her name is Louis (pronounced Loo-ee). Isaac was very sweet to her and made sure to pet her nice and gently. Later on that afternoon we went in to look at her again and he picked her up very gently and as soon as she acted like she was uncomfortable or didn't like it he would put her down very softly on the carpet.


All this time Gabe was shyly watching me. I am not sure if he remembered me or not. But he did warm up to me very quickly and started calling me Annie as soon as he heard Isaac calling me that. Not too long after Michele left it was time for Gabe to go down for his nap. After he was down Isaac wanted to take me outside and show me all of the new toys he had gotten since I had been there last.

Here is some video of Isaac showing me his new toys. Note how often he asked me if he could see the video. He is so cute! :)


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Isaac and I also played Candyland together while Gabe was sleeping. Isaac goes down for his nap about 30 minutes after Gabe. We had a lot of fun playing and Isaac won!


When both boys got up from their naps they ate a snack and then we went downstairs to play. I am amazed at how quickly two little boys can make a huge mess with their toys. It must have been a matter of seconds! We played downstairs for about an hour and then we cleaned up. We went upstairs and got cozy on the couch and I read them stories. I am so glad that they love to be read to. I have noticed how a lot of kids don't want to sit all the way through a story being read to them. I wonder if too much tv is to blame for that. Michele and Andrew make sure that the boys only watch about 30 minutes of tv a day and that's it. They sat nice and still cuddled around me and I read to them. They kept wanting book after book and never got tired of it! I am going to make sure that I read to my kids more than they are allowed to watch tv. I want my children to be able to sit down and enjoy being read stories to by their mom.

After about six books Michele came home. Michele asked if I would like to come every Tuesday so that she can get errands done. Isaac was very excited to hear that I will be coming back next week. :)




Here are some earlier pictures of the boys while I was still their nanny.