Weekend in Portland

Saturday morning we left, with Ken and Stephanie, to go visit Kelly and Brandon in Portland. We played two rounds of "Rubberneckers" on the way up. It is a card game for road trips. You score points by spotting what is on the cards or getting people in other cars to acknowlede you.

We got there just in time for lunch and we went to eat Dim Sum in Chinatown. Only David, Brandon and I had ever experienced that unique culinary experience and everyone had a great time. When you sit down, you don't order from a menu. They come around with carts of warm dishes of dumplings, rolls, potstickers, vegetables, steamed rolls and rice. You point to what you want and they give you however many servings you want and mark it on your ticket. We got to try lots of different foods because we ordered enough of each so we could all try everything.

We had several tickets to the LPGA golf tournament because Safeway gives them away when you shop there. We walked around for a bit, but it got really hot when the sun came out and most of us were overdressed. We ended up going to a movie at the St.John's Theater. It was called "Stardust" and we hadn't heard of it before, none of us had seen the previews, but it ended up being very good. It is a fantasy adventure. Well-made and not too cheesy. We ordered take out at this hole-in-the-wall mexican food place that came highly reccommended. It was in the back of a mexican market, very unassuming. It was delicious food. It tasted home-made, very authentic. We took it back to Brandon and Kelly's house and hung out for the rest of the evening.

In the morning I made breakfast and we headed out to the LPGA again because we had missed all the freebies the day before. Safeway has this huge tent with free samples for everyone who comes to the LPGA. We also walked around more and watched the golfers for a couple of hours. It is more interesting to watch live.

We had such a great time.

Keb Mo and Robert Clay

It is the one Half-Shell Concert that we decided we would go to this year. David got up before dawn to go put a blanket out at the park to reserve our spot. He was glad he got there at 4am because he got a great spot, just to the right of center, 20 feet from the stage. David took vacation time and left work early so he could go.

Robert Clay started out with his band and Keb Mo playing rhythm guitar, then Keb Mo played with his band in the second half. It was a great concert. We were so happy just to be able to go together. It was the last concert of the year and people even started getting up and dancing. The security guards tried to get people to sit, but after a while there were too many people dancing and Keb Mo was encouraging it. They played an encore with Robert Clay and said they wanted to play more but didn't want to get run off the stage. That is what happened last time when Keb Mo was here and I didn't want that to happen again.

We had a great time, but I can't believe that summer is almost over. We'll be celebrating our first anniversary in just over a week. We both took vacation time for the first week of September and I'm really looking forward to it.

Douglas County Fair

So we actually went to the fair this year. Dave's dad is running for County Commissioner and had a booth there. David and I agreed to work at the booth Saturday morning and we met a lot of people. I met one of the other commissioners as well. It is a different experience to be at the fair when you are a part of someone's booth. There is much more interaction with people that you normally would never meet. It was a great experience.

Last week my mom asked me to help her bring her art to the fair and she inspired me to enter some of my own art. I entered an 18"x24" cross stitch sampler and 3 photos from our honeymoon last year. My cross stitch and one of my photos won first prizes and another photo won third. The photo that won first was of a lionfish from the UC San Diego aquarium and the one that got third was of the sunset on the pier our first night in California during our honeymoon. There is some disagreement as to who actually took this picture. Dave and I are both sure we composed the shot. That's what happens when you share a camera. However, we are both sure I took the one of the lionfish. It doesn't really matter. So here they are. I'll post a picture of the cross stitch piece as soon as I am able to.


1st Place Amateur Photography, Marine category
copyright Sara Raynor


3rd Place Amateur Photography, Sunrise/Sunset Category
copyright Sara & David Raynor

Dave is back on evenings...

So Dave is back on evening shift, temporarily. It really is a downer! It will end as soon as they hire someone for that shift. In the meantime we will cope, like we did for the last 3 years. The weird thing is that it doesn't feel normal even though we've spent most of our time together coping with it, it feels like it shouldn't be this way. I think sometimes that is God's way of telling you He is opening up a door elsewhere, and soon he will show you where. Hopefully Dave will get to go back to school either in Fall or Winter terms at UCC to finish his computer science degree. We'll see if that is where the Lord takes us.

In the meantime we're exploring an entirely different venture. I don't want to go into too much detail until we know more, but we feel that we should start our own buisiness or take one over. One has come to our attention recently but we are not sure yet if it is meant to be, though I would LOVE to be able to do it full time. We are keeping our options open and trying to listen to God's plan for us. Please pray for us that He may make the path clear for us.

11 Days in a Row

Today is Dave's last of 11 days in a row that he had to work to cover vacations. He's getting a 3 day weekend. We were going to go camping, but it didn't work out. It is for the best, though, so he can rest his knees and back. Soon he will have to cover his old shift (evenings) until they train a new person. It will be OK, though, because we know it isn't permanent. We don't like it much, though. We're really hoping he gets the days 7-3:30 shift soon.

Looking forward to 3 days off together. Friday is a planned vegging out day. We'll be more productive Saturday and Sunday.

We had some great news lately, I'm not anemic anymore. I've started a new diet this year that has helped my digestion and improved my mineral absorption, so I have conquered anemia without iron supplements. I am thrilled at this. I thank God every day for the blessings that I have in my life and the direction He has led me in.