Hopefull Hearts

  I believe the answer to this question is Yes, animals do go to heaven and I believe they are there waiting for us. Here on earth we have these wonderful furry friends in our lives who bring us so much joy and comfort and when we observe them they teach us wonderful lessons in love, loyalty and forgiveness. This is Maude, she is a guardian angel dog, she makes sure everyone is ok and where they are supposed to be. She is acutely aware of how her humans are doing as well as any other furry creatures that belong to her "pack". Her eyes penetrate your soul when she looks at you and you can almost feel the question, "how are you really?" When Paulie the companion of Laurie's mom, Barbara, dug her way out of the backyard and escaped into the wild world of the suburban expanse, Maude was on the case. She led the wandering and very frightened girl safely back. Barbara had been taken to the hospital and Paulie found herself in unfamiliar territory. Here she is safe fro...

 We've made it to our first intentional destination, the driveway of our friends Dave and Laurie. In 2021 they will celebrate their 30 year anniversary, we were in/at that wedding. The theme was Household of Faith, I sang (nervously) the song of the same title as two families became one. Two kids became four and their household became full, not only of faith, but of life, love, joy and the activity of a neighborhood teaming with teenagers inventing games that scaled the neighborhood and city hall across the street. We're on our journey, we have shared this journey, our lives with these right here and we are going to pause right here and stay planted for awhile. We will make new memories and remember the stories not only of our shared past, but also the stories we have lived while being apart. These stories are rich and include our son's and daughters who are busy living theirs with grandkids who now fill their houses with laughter and made up games. This is Laurie's mom...

 We all have stories that make us who we are, part of this journey we are on is gathering these stories from people we've never met and from people we have known. We met this couple at a hot springs in Burns, Oregon, Crystal Crane Hot Springs. They have a story, they built this teardrop trailer in 3 weeks while working on his family's river guide business in Utah. He is a graduate with a business degree and she is finishing college in Seattle earning a Master's degree in nutrition. She hopes to start a vlog about keeping healthy while living the new Nomadic Lifestyle on the road. They are very adventurous and since college is being done online these days why not finish your degree in the great expanse of the United States of America? They represent the new story, this next couple represents not just the past story or the "old" story but really as we came to find out, the continuing story. This is Chuck and Debbie, they have been part of our past story when we live...

We haven't gotten very far on our journey (3 days in) when these two angels (our sisters) met us in Longcreek Oregon for our first weekend away from home. We were able to park and practice living in our new not too shiny tiny home while having access to Bing's sister's family hunting house. The thing about sisters is that no matter how many years may have gone by or how much older we become we go right back to the place of childhood, which includes laughing, a lot, playing games, (to win!) and to the kind of banter you develop and speak in the secret language of family history. We love our sisters, they know us, they get us and we will treasure this gift of days they spent with us exploring places like this one  in Mt Vernon, Oregon, Fruit of the Vine, a combination junk store and wine tasting/sales. You can taste all his homemade wines while browsing "treasures" and listening to banter between old hippies and hunters pausing to explore.  We're ready to move o...