Big day tomorrow!!!

Tom and I have traveled across the country (by car) to be here in Portland for my sister's big day tomorrow!  She and Marty wed at 2:30 pm PST.  Pray for us, pray for them!  What an exciting day for all of us to remember.  I am working on my toast for tomorrow night...pray I say the right things.  I love them both so much; it is just an honor to be here and stand up for them!  Off to Captain Jack's counter for the "inspiring juice"...

It's all happening...

Oh my goodness - A week from tomorrow my sister marries!  Even more exciting, tomorrow begins Tom's & my roadtrip to Portland!  I have never done the drive and am very much looking forward to it.  We will stop in to Yellowstone and Glacier along the way.  Maybe they aren't exactly along the way, but we are especially looking forward to those days camping.  Wednesday we will arrive into Portland as stinky as ever and clean ourselves up for days of fun and family.  Speaking of fun & family, here is a picture from last Sunday in the park!  peace and safekeeping....tori

Reunion!!

What an exciting day for the five ladies who moved into the Columbine House just seven years ago...Ahna, Erin, Jennifer, Mary & I gathered for City Park Jazz tonight - celebrating friendships and a few birthdays.  Erin & Lotson came to town for the first part of their week-long vacation.  The music festival on Saturday was a contributing factor, but there was also the joy of seeing all of us!  Jennifer invited her parents, and Tom, Lotson, Oren & Ezra rounded us out.  It was fun to hang out, but the food was pretty amazing, too.  Thank God for friends!

A tragic story for a lovesick girl who just wants to dance...

A tragic story for a lovesick girl who just wants to dance... My dear sister has suffered an unlikely tragedy so close to her wedding day. A knife fell from the kitchen counter to glance across her right foot, severing the tendon of the big toe! Wednesday night she was in the ER getting it taken care until surgery Friday morning. She is on crutches for 3 - 4 weeks, and then in a walking boot for 3 - 4 weeks. So at best she'll be in a boot for her wedding. She was so looking forward to the dancing! We are all just at a loss because there is nothing any of us can physically do or buy or anything to change her condition. But I do believe in the power of prayer, and if you do, too, will you offer up one for her. Alas...

shreepy - shreepy

I would like to have thought I could sleep in past ten am. I went to bed after midnight last night, and Friday night I didn't sleep well, and Thursday night was late with an early rise for work before camping. But here I am...About 7:30 am I just knew it was time. I couldn't keep falling asleep and going back to this dream where I found a hidden cupboard in my grandparents' house in Pat's old room. It had all these beautiful pieces of glass and porcelain from Japan. There were a couple things I really wanted to get to keep. It was so neat to get to feel like a kid going exploring for treasures. I remember how much I loved going through my parents' closet or through the basement storeroom exploring for forgotten trinkets or dresses or boxes of "stuff". It is still a fun endeavor to go exploring, though now it is usually in thrift stores. In my dream I was pulling these treasures out of hiding and thinking maybe I could just take one little thing, but I knew they belong to my mom and her siblings. I couldn't just take anything, so I put them all away and would ask my mom about them. But then my grandpa came home - the scrawny and scruffy guy from his last summer. He asked me to help tuck him into bed, so I did. I keep dreaming about them, waking up crying and missing them. I don't want to keep going back to bed to find myself wandering through the same dreams... Last Saturday I was in Omaha for Nikki's wedding, and after the ceremony and reception, I walked downtown and around the lake. I was overwhelmed with wanting to call Grandma, so called Grandma's house. It was sad, and I cried, but sometimes I just can't help but want them back. So here I sit feeling sad and sleepy. It looks like a cloudy Portland morning outside. I guess I will have to keep dreaming...

milestones...

July fourth - yesterday marked one year from moving in to this house! It was on the fourth of July that I took independence from Betty and came to be on Williams Street. It hardly seems like it was only a year ago... I am still so grateful to Betty for taking me in and helping me heal. Thank you! July second - the reason for the anniversary yesterday even - it was five years ago that I was struck by the car on Colfax while I was riding my bike. It isn't the best to remember it like that, but I remember it as a "Wow - look how far I've come" moment. In the last year, I settled my lawsuit with the state. Not long before that I finally bought a bike. I also had surgery to fix my hip, and now look at me...biking and all. My hip still has its days, but let's not dwell on that. June tenth was the date of my surgery last year, and now that I am a year out, I can jump again. I haven't taken up jump-roping just yet, though I think about it every now and again. And I think maybe I am allowed to run again, but that would just be crazy! Woo woo!