Rambles on Love, Water, Trees, and a Paccaris

This is the year of roadtrips and this post is now horribly overdue. It's been locked in solitary confinement in my draft folder, and it now deeply desires to see the light. So here goes...

One Thursday we began our California adventure centered on Ellen's beautiful wedding in Sacramento.

My California experiences have been limited to Disney Land and several flights into San Diego for cruises. Most of it is uncharted territory.

Our first stop was at the Winston Wild Life Safari where we road camels, were attacked by an emu, fell in love with a stuffed leopard, and gawked at giraffes, bears, lions, yaks, and countless other creatively assembled critters.

We rolled into Ashland and satisfied our hunger with pizza, salad, and a Shakespeare faced cupcake. We were in town long enough to see several terrifyingly wonderful book stores and discover that Ashland is full of arty people of a very different type than Portland...Let's just leave it at that.

We only had time to see Loves Labors Lost, which I read in air conditioned tranquility on the drive down. They did well and humorously (although they explored awkwardness I was blissfully unaware of in the play...some of it primarily exhibited by a excess of men's tights and Russian dancing). They set in the 50s, which I enjoyed.

Loves Labors Lost is fairly new to me, but now it really has me thinking...what was Shakespeare trying to say? I wonder what he thought the conclusion was...judging by the name, I don't know. Another rambling post to come one of these days...

We finished the distance between Ashland and Sacramento Friday, and reunited with people from our own church. Monstrous jolly since I hadn't seen some in ages since I've been elsewhere. We invaded a sizable portion of their Best Western. We explored the gigantic mall and generally had a good time.

Saturday Ellen got married. It's still hard to believe. She was the stunning beyond comprehension and everything was beautiful and good and I wanted to weep through the whole ceremony and beyond. But I didn't of course. I was the soul of propriety. ;-)
 It is most strange to have a friend who is Ellen somebody one minute and Ellen somebody else the next. One minute single. One minute a wife. Marriage and love are most distinctly peculiar. And good, of course. :-)

Well everyone disembarked from our Best Western to enjoy Letherbys, the legendary ice cream world, I stayed back to work on a writing project, got nothing done, and went to bed ridiculously early.

It was wonderful to worship and fellowship with Church of the King on Sunday. Another reminder of the blessings we have as one body!

Sadly, we had to get back on the road and didn't have a lot of time to hang out. We stopped a couple podunk towns, and one of the million Clear Lakes of America...which was not even remotely clear, but had a beautiful dock and nearby green grass and prickles to run about in.

We arrived at a beautiful inn in another small town where we had enough time to read a bit, email important people, befuddle the vending machine, write, and watch a girly movie together before giving into sleep at a decent hour.

We got moving on Monday soon enough to visit the continental breakfast where Mama's toast took a flying leap to freedom...a noteworthy and startling event.

We spent 12 hours on the road, primarily starring at big tree. The Redwoods truly are beautiful. I think my next writing trip scheme should include running off into one of the parks and living under a dead log (preferably with internet access). I like open spaces, light, and big hills, but there is something very peaceful, quiet, and promising about a tree that's been going steadily upwards since the signing of the Magna Carta.

We stopped at one park long enough for me to climb up on a fallen log with journal, pen, and Bible and sit six feet above the dry forest bed and do some scribbling.

The Redwoods are good for thinking and they seem to be good listeners too. If you need somewhere to think some serious thoughts, find a stalwart tree-friend, carve your name, or get dizzy in record time, go to the Redwoods.

We visited a strip of California coast, but just missed the sunset and any California warmth.

Our next stop was in Bandon and late into the night after much confusion and turning about, a restaurant with salmon that was indeed food of the gods. We ran wild on the beach for the morning and then visited another miraculous wildlife safari where we got to cuddle with eight week old Bengal tigers, an eleven week old leopard, be thoroughly disturbed by various monkeys, stare into the jaws of a yawning lion, and fall in love with the simple attraction of noteworthy pig, apparently called a Paccari.

Going back to Bandon and ridding horses on the coast is a future must.

We drove all the way back to my brother-in-law and sister's house that night and stayed up way to late talking and staring at the stars on their deck.

After a week that involves much more car travel then generally considered appropriate, it was good to be home. An awesome adventure that now seems like a few years ago. It's been a crazy, glorious summer.

Life is good. Even with all its so very not good moments.

The end.

Random thoughts from Idaho

I spent several hot days in Boise and Moscow this month. I was very blessed to be able to attend a friend's beautiful wedding and visit people I haven't seen in half a decade.

Most of the time I felt like I had the IQ and social graces of a delinquent moose, but God knew I needed the break from normal life.

And because lists are so handy and random...here's just a few highlights.

-The wedding.
It is always magical (not in the fairy-dust sense, but in the gut wrenching, awe-inspiring way) to watch two committed people who have waited, worked, and listened to council, finally stand in front of a body of believers and declare their love to each other. Suddenly your friend is a Mrs. Somebody. It's crazy.
God is good...and love is both beautiful and terrifying.

-People.
I got to see dear friends and old acquaintances. I got to meet lots of new people. Generally I had an awesome time with good conversation, arguments, and brainstorming with funny, wonderful, intelligent people. :-)

-I spent a large part of my time writing on my current project...which isn't going so well...fyi. Writing and reading in various coffee shops was a sweet break. I spent a few days living in Bucer's. I shall miss it.

-Stargazing late at night after tromping through a damp golf course. I saw three shootings stars and managed to close my eyes at just the perfect time to miss the other dozen. Froze to death and had an amazing time.

-Singing.
Singing in Friendship Square, singing in a resthome, singing on the street, singing in church. All good.

-The moon.
Saturday night, there was the most glorious moon creating stunning lighting with dark clouds. I could have stared at it all night, but Benjamin and Susannah were there to talk me into being rational.

-Play structures.
Personally I love swings and all play structures no matter how small. Unfortunately, no one would brave them with me...Susannah...Bobbi Jo. Hem hem...

-Saturday picnic with a mob of NSA types. Awesome opportunity for conversation and people watching.

-My brother and sister came Saturday and we had a wonderful time bashing about and laughing continuously around Moscow. We had a delicious dinner in Bucer's and then watched a movie in the park on Benjamin's laptop. I have a pretty awesome family. The end.

-Picnic Sunday afternoon at the Arboretum with some wonderful ladies...and Benjamin, of course.

-The drive home. My tummy muscles are still aching from our laugh-a-thon.

-Everything and everyone else. Basically, it was awesome. :-)

It's good to be home and see the rest of my family...to be back in Oregon where there is moisture in the air and the weather stays reasonable.

Whenever you leave, you get a perspective coming back. Here are a few things I noticed--

-Portland is green. No...really... As soon as you see signs heading towards Portland you go from brown to green with some other bright colors mixed in.

-I need more book shelves.
This is my conclusion nearly every day, but especially after coming home from anywhere...and especially after visiting a few too many book stores.

-Our water tastes the best. Not open for debate, simply true.

-My room is mild wreckage. I need to throw out a quarter of it and reorganize the rest.

-My whole life needs some reorganizing. What am I trying to get done anyways? Why do I like so many different things? What's important? How am I actually going to get anything accomplished?

-I am truly allergic to animals. How inconvenient.

-Bumpiness don't go away when you leave and come back, but you do get new perspective. Time to jump back into reorganizing my room, life, and relationships.

Despite the fact that sometimes I just really didn't think God had done His planning right, I know that He did. Seeing friends again, getting my mind cleared out and refreshed, working away from home, and coming back to beautiful, green Oregon with all these people I love is just the thing I needed.

I'll need to go back and visit some amazing people in Idaho again soon. :-) That's the problem with going anywhere...then you have more people to miss. Thank you so much, all of you who made my stay awesome. I am very grateful for the past two weeks

The end.

A few thoughts on Poland

Currently, my life has involved a lot of travel (if you hadn't noticed by the silence). Sometimes that means writing and reading get left behind, and other other times, they get accelerated.

 Peter Mahar Photography

There is no simple way to explain my two weeks in Poland. God was very gracious to us and gave us the weather, people, and opportunities He knew we needed (even if it wasn't what we thought we needed).

He brought together over 35 people from multiple churches and four countries, all united under one God.

Our main ministry was traveling as a choir, singing on the street, and handing out invitations to our evening concerts. During the evenings, we would perform about 45 minutes worth of music with a 15 minute sermon. In the rain our attendance wasn't so great, but some days we were blown away by the people who stopped, listened, and wanted to talk afterwards.

The CREC Churches there are struggling for fellowship and encouragement. Many have very few children in them and people are just beginning to pioneer homeschooling. Watching the Polish saints' humility and unapologetic living-out of the Gospel as missionaries in their own country, was both convicting and inspiring.

The days I will remember most were the ones where we sat in one room with people from over four countries speaking one common language in worship. Christ is victorious. And with Him, and only Him, there is true unity and fellowship.

At one meal, I ate roasted lamb with people speaking Russian, Japanese, Ukrainian, Polish, and English to communicate in whatever way possible.

Miwaza Photography and Design

God is good.
He blessed us so much...I hope we were able to encourage and bless the Christians in Poland as well. Experiences, lessons, friendships and strained vocal chords that will last a lifetime.

We're planning and praying for another trip in 2013. Lord willing.

I am so thankful that God made it possible for me to go. I was pushed way out of my comfort zone, stretched, challenged, and amazed at every turn. I have been blessed beyond measure, over and over again.

I could say more. But if you're really all that interested, you could read Reformation for Poland or Evangelos, and I could get some sleep.

Chorale Gaudete Psalm 63

I am recovering from jetlag and editing my manuscript like mad. I miss the Poland team, but I'm blessed to be back with my family. Can't wait to see my church family tomorrow!

Outdoor concert in Gdansk. Psalm 63.


Concert 05 - Poland 2011 from Miwaza Jemimah on Vimeo.

If you have not seen all the pictures and videos on Evangelos, you should really check it out. Tell them what an awesome job they did and continue to do!

Reformation for Poland has a fairly detailed journal of the entire trip.

Thank you all for your prayers. God blessed us greatly in our trip to Poland. I'm sure you'll be hearing more about it. :-)

Have a wonderful Sunday!

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

Blogging Break

I just got home from an amazing week at our annual Church Family Camp. What an excellent reminder of the encouragement, safeguards, and challenges of community!

I have two things that should be, Lord willing, accomplished before I renter the blogging world around July 14th.

1. My book, Called to be Fruitful Now will be at the printers.

You have no idea what freedom and ecstasy this will give my spirit!

2. I will be back from Poland a (hopefully) wiser, more experienced, probably exhausted person.

Thank you so much to those of you who have already been praying and showering me with encouragement. Your support is greatly appreciated. I continue to covet your prayers for our team!

You can keep up on news and updates from both of the following blogs-

You can also like Evangelos on facebook to get recent picture updates.

Thank you so much for your encouragement and prayers. I look forward to sitting and writing some more thought through posts when my break is over. 

Thanks for reading. I'll be back in July. :-)

Miss Pickwickian

I am going to Poland.

On June 27th. It's so close, I can't believe it.
You've probably heard me talk about it in passing, but it's time for a full fledged post.

Everyone! I AM GOING TO POLAND!

It is a two week mission trip with other members of our church and other CREC churches in late June-early July. We're traveling as a choir of sorts...singing on the street and in a more formal concert stetting in the evening.

Poland is 90% Roman Catholic. It's not the sort of Roman Catholic you probably are thinking of. There really are indulgences posted on churches. Poland needs the Gospel. We'll be working along side pastors and churches our church has been involved with before.

We need lots of prayer and encouragement. Please help us by praying that God would open doors and give us the right words to speak.

You can learn more about the trip at Reformation for Poland and Evangelos. We'd greatly appreciate it if you can help tell others about our mission by word of mouth or by posting links on your blog/facebook. We want a lot of people praying and we want to alert others to the need in Poland.



<a href="http://polandmission2011.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i220.photobucket.com/albums/dd15/riversong14/ReformationforPoland.jpg" /></a>

There is so much to think about and accomplish.

-My book is oppressively looking over my shoulder, daring me to open the file and bash it into submission with the million and one edits it requires. That's my biggest deadline horror.
Besides the fact that it needs lots and lots of help internally, I still don't have a title or cover design.

-Many select sheep need to be managed and ready to sell. Lambs are ready to be separated etc...

-My room is still in the middle of reorganization.

-I need to get past the fact that the new episodes of  Sherlock aren't coming out until fall. Cwy.

-I need to work and make some money. :-/

-Practice our music and work on our Bible. I just need to learn a lot in general. I so do not feel ready for this!


Blogging may be touch and go for awhile, while I focus on other duties. If you're interested in what's going on for our trip, please visit Reformation for Poland (which I will hopefully be updating regularly) and Evangelos (which should have some epic pictures and videos).

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

More on Mexico - A Church in Puerto Vallarta

partly to please Hannah and Bobbi Jo...

I'll attempt a series of snapshots from our cruise to Mexico.

I don't think I can cover the experience in any sort of comprehensive detail and if I could the post would be random and grueling. Instead I'll just catch pieces when the time and urge comes upon me. ;-)

Puerto Vallarta is gorgeous.

One of my favorite pieces is the promenade along the waterfront and all the people thinking of creative things to do for money and tips--rock balancing, music, complicated sand sculptures, swinging about upside down from poles, lemonade, donuts, and painting oneself in sand to name a few.

The best part is the plaza and the artists. Besides a bracelet in Cabo this is where I spent all of my trip money. Most of the artists paint scenes you can see around Puerto Vallarta and this church is predominate in the town. One man paints only with his mouth! The art is good and cheap and the artists think of it as daily work in a way most "arty" Americans don't.

Last time we were in Puerto Vallarta we didn't get to walk up to the church although you can see it down most streets. This time we did. We marched in with a horde of other tourists clutching "Holland America" bags, snapping photos, and talking loudly.

There were a lot of locals sitting in the pews praying or just staring.

One very old, Mexican woman walked up limping and got down on her knees. She slowly crawled up the whole aisle, stopping every few shuffles to bow very low to the dusty floor and pray.

It is one of the pictures that sticks closest in my mind.

Nearly everyone wearing crosses. Images of saints everywhere. Numerous gold embellished churches. People laughing and friendly, ready to bargain down to the last peso. Street and drug fighting-- so bad that we can not dock at one of our ports. Messes and chaos everywhere...sometimes happy sometimes dangerous.

This is Mexico to me.

What drastic differences there are in a post Christian American culture and Mexico...just in the way we drive.

Thanks for reading.

Miss Pickwickian

My Week in Mexico

We just spent an awesome week on a Mexican Riviera Cruise. :-)

This was a "work" cruise, meaning our business paid for it and Mama and I worked for at least 4 hours a day. I managed to get a lot accomplished on my non-fiction book, although it still has some deep issues to work out. And, of course, we had amazing time.

This was my third time aboard my M. S. Oosterdam. I love her... I wonder how much a cruise ship costs? ;-)

Mexico is not my thing--at least not as much as it is my sister's--but we did have a wonderful time. To go from an Oregon January to Mexico is quite the shock. It was hot.

I like Mexico--

-the crazy people.

-the life and noise.

-the margaritas.

-the warm ocean.

-the cute little kids running about.

but I love--

-to walk into a store and buy something for what the price tag says it is.

-to walk down a street and no one tries to sell you anything (including themselves as bodyguards).

-black and white. I love colors too, but Mexico doesn't give you a break.

-cold. Summer is awesome, but I'd rather it be cold and brisk than sweltering.

-waitresses that wash their hands.

-water that is drinkable...and cold.

-moments of solitude.

This was my second trip to Mexico and it confirmed that I was not cut out to live there, but that it is a pretty awesome place. I'd love to go back some day.

As for the cruise ship. I love everything about that. :-) Cruising is the way for me to travel. No stress. All relaxation. A wonderful writing atmosphere. Love it. Seriously.

Holland America is amazing, too. They have the best service imaginable and a wonderful, laid-back feel. I guess if you were going to party you might want to pick a different cruise line, but this is the one for me.

I know I can't do the trip justice and I have several book reviews to catch up on and such, so if you want to here more-- wait for some exuberant posts from my sister here. She took some amazing pictures and I'm sure you'll be amused by her posts.

I am now home and it is perfect outside. Sunny, cold, and windy. And an awesome friend is here from PA. I think we shall go take a walk. (Or a gallop or a session on the trampoline....as the case may be.:-)

Thanks for reading,
Miss Pickwickian

My Week in Pennsylvania

I'm home again.

What a wonderful and amazing time in Pennsylvania! I was truly blessed to be able to take this trip.

Thank you Aisha for an amazing time and for being wonderful!

There was way too much awesomeness to summarize. I'm just going to make you hear about two pieces because they were beautiful and because they relate somewhat to my blog. ;-)

Of course the best thing of all was spending time with Aisha. :-)

Some of the amazing things we did included visiting a lot of churches, cemeteries, coffee shops, and book stores. All beautiful.

I really enjoyed visiting All Saints Presbyterian Church.

I loved staying up late our last night drinking a warming beverage, just doing nothing.

I loved getting high on cheesecake and then getting high on book sniffing at Borders. That was an amazing day.

I loved watching favorite movies together and reciting them word for word. I enjoyed watching new movies...even when Aisha was tired. ;-)

I loved listening to Les Mis well we drove through amazing fall Pennsylvania countryside.

I loved reciting the Jabberwock and hearing it too...even the hundredth or so time. ;-)
I loved having serious talks and crazy, wild rambles.

I loved walking all over Lancaster, wet or dry. What beautiful buildings!

Okay...so more than two things...but I just had to talk about it.

The two things I was going to mention were these-- my German/English Bible and St. James Episcopal Church.

Unfortunately, my sister wasn't there. She is the camera mastermind so we didn't get very many good pictures. The ones I attempted were pretty pathetic, but I knew when I got home she would exercise her genius and fix them for me.

She did. :-)
And then she used her sweet new Nikon and extra awesome picturesque spotting skills and did a photo shoot with my Bible. You'll be seeing some of those in the next post.

This is the beautiful cemetery behind St. James.

The other side of the cemetery and the back of the church.

It was a cool church, inside and out.

We went here three different days. The last day, before our trek to the airport, we came here and wrote. It was raining, but just before we left it changed to brilliantly sunny.

And my Bible.

On Monday we walked all over Lancaster again. One of our stops was an amazing bookstore, called Dog Star Books. The shop smelled incredible and they had some of the most wonderful old books. One was an early 18oos Luther Translation. It was beautiful. That was a bit out of my price range, but next to it was a 1849 German/English New Testament. That's what came home in my suitcase. It's magnificent. I am so happy.

Aisha got a huge unabridged copy of the Count of Monte Cristo with hundreds of pen and ink illustrations. It's really neat.

And we are only $20 poorer. It was crazy cool!

My sister got some outstanding pictures that I'll be posting soon. :-)

We stopped at another cemetery, a huge one, on the walk back home and I tried to take some pictures of my new purchase. No matter how many buttons I pushed I couldn't figure out where the macro setting was. Thankfully, Suzy cleaned this picture up.

We got to the airport in plenty of time, despite the fact that Aisha ran over a helpless robin. The craziest thing about Pennsylvania is that there is no Starbucks in the massive Philadelphia airport! There is nowhere to get any coffee unless you go through security. Finally, a guard told us that the Marriott Hotel next to the airport had coffee. A lifesaver. :-) We had a delicious and relaxing lunch, tea, and coffee.

It was a perfect ending, since the ending had to come.

My whole family was waiting for me at the airport. It was so sweet. And it was good to be home. Suzy and I stayed up until 2 eating Krispy Kreme donuts, chatting, and laughing.

Mostly laughing.

Trips are good. Home is good. Friends are good. Family is good.

God is so good.

So much better than I can imagine. So much wiser. He knows what I need when I need it. He knows our plans, and has already made better ones.

Praise God!

I am so thankful for this trip and opportunity.

Thanks for reading. Sorry it turned hideously long. ;-)

Miss Pickwickian

Back from Mexico....and everything else!

Life has begun to slow to a reasonable pace again. The last couple weeks have been amazing, but I'm ready for some not-so-amazing slower paced days ahead. :-)

Mexico was AWESOME!



All the relaxation and all was extremely inspiring. I wrote down plenty of notes and I'm ready to get back to work (as soon is the house returns to normal).

It seems like there was an era where to be a writer you traveled the world and had adventures you could write about. Today it seems like you sit in a class room and learn things second hand. I think there is a nice balance between the two.

I'll post something more interesting soon. ;-)
Miss Pickwickian

Why the Silence?

Well...I've been preparing for a cruise to Mexico! I shall be back the 24th.
Talk to you then! :-)
Miss Pickwickian