On our recent trip to Ft. Stevens, Patsy and I enjoyed climbing a watchtower in Astoria, and enjoying the view of the big bridge that spans the Columbia River.  Beautiful, and free:)  The girls rode bikes, clammed, fished, read, and I continued to work on school with Ja’Ana.  We are not quite finished, having lost some time with the move.  We had to go over to the valley for a family event, and brought one of the cousins back with us.

We enjoyed roasting marshmallows and hot dogs one night with her.

I sewed Patsy a dress.  I used 50% off patriotic fabric from JoAnn’s, but chose one that was summery enough to go past the 4th of July.

We got the garden in shape before taking off for the beach again.  We were able to harvest veggies to take with us.  We used lettuce in many meals the past few days.  I was able to take a huge salad with us to my sister’s house for our family Sunday meal.

I had not grocery shopped since we moved, except for a few dollars here and there.  This past week, I spent $58 on groceries.  I am finding it do-able with the new $50/week budget I am sticking with.  I “shopped” from my food storage in our storage bins and freezer and used as much garden produce as I could.  I also made another meal from the fish we caught and froze.

We are at Newport, Oregon this week.  We took our bikes.  We took our first family bike ride in years.  Rob wisely bought me a helmet, as bike riding is not my strong suite.  I am happy to report that neither I, nor anyone else, fell off.  We had a great time.

Since we have a foster/adopt park pass, we save around $30/night, every time we camp.  Of course, there are rules about how often you can use it, etc., but they are very generous.  We are really loving having this option during this summer of change.

We are also saving money by not having internet, but I must admit it is frustrating to have to drive somewhere to catch wi-fi.  We also have been able to use Rob’s Mom’s garbage can each week, as she does not fill it, so we have no bill for that.  Of course, at campgrounds, you can throw your trash and recycling away there in the proper area.  We don’t have our phone land line anymore.  We have no house payment.  We are still spending money for gas, food, cell phones, the camper, and a few other things.  Overall, though, we have reduced the bills tremendously, and that is helping us get through the summer without feeling any pain at all!  What a blessing!

My sister noticed that we were losing some water where the hoses were connected.  She fixed it so that the watering can now catches the drip.  Patsy has been using that water to pour into her watering can and water the garden.  We have a lot of water in Oregon, but there’s not use wasting it.

We spent a morning fishing in a lake near the campground.  We caught 15 trout, and the man fishing beside us on the dock gave us his 3.  Wow!  So far, we had them for 1 meal, gave a few to the neighbors camping next to us in the campground, and froze some for future meals.  My teeny, tiny camper fridge is extremely full, so we kept 4 out for a meal very soon.  That was fun!

We went clamming again.  We all 4 limited out, catching 60 clams total.  Rob and helpers got them cleaned, and I minced them up in my mini-chop.  Last time, they were quite tough, so I thought mincing them would help, and it did.  I made clam chowder and froze the rest.

We had a really good time.  This time, we tried another place because we did not want to climb over the jetty.  So, we went through the woods, up a sand dune, and straight down the steep side to the beach.   Right as we were finishing, we got to enjoy these parasailers, who were using the wind to power their sails.  It was amazing.  It reminded me of huge kites, catching the wind, and giving them rides.

If you look closely, you can see Rob and Ja’Ana on the top of the “cliff.”  That was no picnic to climb, but it was an adventure:)

This past week was a mixture of very good, and very hard.  Life is like that sometimes, and this was one of those times.

We returned from camping last Monday, and began settling down into camper life pretty well.  I weeded the garden, and Rob tilled it all up.  I planted new plantings of a few things.

On Thursday, we took off for our trip to see our dear friends in Eastern Oregon, and had a wonderful time.  On the trip, we took food along in the cooler, and ate that quite a bit.  We ate out 1 time going over and 1 time coming back.  While there, we ate at our friends’ house the entire time.  I was able to take a few things, including a lot of garden lettuce, which we ate up for the most part.  I have so much growing right now, it was awesome to have a place to share it.

Ja’Ana, Patsy and Abbie (3 of my girls) have birthdays within a 1-week period.  We celebrated them all last evening with a barbecue outside of our camper.  It was awesome.

Yesterday was the bad day.  When we went over to Rob’s mom’s house to get some meat from the freezer, we were dismayed to find that it had broken over the weekend.  Rob had removed some items before we left, and it was fine, but clearly had stopped working sometime since then.  The temperatures have been close to 100 degrees here, and we lost about 3/4 of what was inside.  Fruit, vegetables, and worst of all–a lot of the pig Rob just raised.  Some was still partially frozen or very cold, so we were able to quickly put it in another freezer, but if anything was warm, or questionable, we threw it away.  We cooked up a bunch of it yesterday afternoon to serve over the next couple of days. But still, it was a garbage can full of meat.

I was very upset.  I know that it is not a question of whether or not we will starve, but I was counting on that meat for the next few months. I especially was mourning the amount of time Rob spent raising that pig, and the fact that we are no longer in the position for him to raise another one.   I confess–I had a big “boo-hoo” over the whole thing.  After that was over, I gained some perspective.  We still have beef and poultry in another freezer.  The garden is growing very well.   We caught it in time to save some of it.  And, through my daily Bible reading, I had been reminded just that morning that we are not to put our trust in anything but God, and God alone.  Not a freezer.  Not pork.  Not corn, beans, or blueberries.  Just God.  He is our Provider and He will provide.

I’m feeling much better today.  Rob and I both agree it is a good day.  We don’t understand everything that happens in this life, but we do know that we choose to believe that what God promised, He will do.  So, we are waiting to see what will happen next.  We trust it will be good.