Thanks for your prayers and support.

Just an update on our Mexico trip. Most of you have heard the saga of the food poisoning and Teresa ending up in the hospital. Thank you for all your prayers and calls and support. We really felt loved. We arrived home on Sat. night about 10:15 p.m. after getting an earlier flight. It is great to be home. We had a great service at church Sunday that was encouraging even though the trip didn't seem sucessful in the natural we still praise God and see his hand in many things along the way.

Most of the laundry is done and one suitcase is empty. The rest will probable sit for a few days…. (or weeks?) I went to the doctor today for my cough and sore throat but it is just a cold so no antibiotics for me but I can say that I know it is not something worse. Teresa is feeling fine and is already out and about. She went to a friend’s house last night and a movie and home group tonight so she is obviously feeling much better.

Since the dishwasher wasn’t working well I got impatient when Chris was taking a nap and decided to take it apart. I have watched both Chris and the neighbor do this before and thought it can’t be that hard. Little did I know I would just make it worse. We did manage to get it taken apart and found a few cherry pits but I thought there must be some hair or string dragging the spinner down so I tried using a crochet hook to see if I could pull something out. Needless to say I dropped the crochet hook instead and had to find a way to fish it out. We tried a magnet, scissors, a fondue fork and finally had success with a hook from a plate hanger. Good thing I kept that in the drawer! You never know when I might need it to fix the dishwasher. Lol The dishwasher is now loaded again and working well despite many laughs and shakes of the head from Laura and Teresa and a lot of patience from Chris.

Now I’m off to do a dictation from HealthWorks Northwest.

Love Jan

Count down to Mexico

The count down is getting close now. I have been checking things off my to do list. Teresa and I leave Friday night at 7:00 for Mexico. I have finished working for the week unless I get called in so I have time to finish packing and shopping (for groceries for the group meals on the way down), finish a transcription tape, search for Tonia’s veil, donate blood and more packing.

Chris got our medicine chest hung and I am enjoying it a lot. It adds a lot of space for all our stuff but it does change the perspective of the room. My face is much closer to the mirror since it sticks out from the wall about 5 inches so I sometimes feel claustrophobic for a minute.

Teresa has only a half a day of school left. No more picking the girls up from school. Next year she will be driving herself. Yes!

Laura got called for two job interviews today. However the first one didn’t pan out as the employer couldn’t read on her cover letter that she was only available for the summer. But the next interview is next week and is for summer work with the county. We’re praying she gets this one or something even better.

Better get to bed. Love Jan

Just for your information I hate war movies! We watched Cold Mountain yesterday which had some good parts but which I basically didn’t like. The ending was dumb! I am really the odd person in our household because I don’t like most of the movies we watch. So in an attempt to get some variety we have joined a mail order video rental program. It is unlimited movies paying by the month having three at a time. We will let you know what we think.

Today we went garage saling. Our biggest deal was a large mirrored medicine cabinet for the front bathroom. Ideally it should be recessed but I think it is okay just to hang which is what we will do. (That’s what the people who owned it did.) Now we will have enough room to put all our bathroom paraphernalia and Laura’s stuff. (Once we get it up of course. Lol) I am excited about the possibility.

Teresa and I also went shopping for clothes for the Mexico trip. We have to have enough stuff for 10 days or do some laundry by hand in our “spare” time. So we hit Ross and got a lot for just a small amount of cash which makes me happy. Only 6 days to go! And so much to do. Lol

Teresa and Laura are out the door to graduation for Cornerstone and then we will go to Cathlamet this evening. It has been a long time… too long. In the meantime I might just take a nap.

Love to you, Jan

Some days are just better when they are over!

This is what I thought about on Monday. I worked 7-4 and then started prepping for a colonoscopy on Tuesday. I have been dreading both Monday and Tuesday but I survived. Actually today was probably better than yesterday. I didn’t get too sick from the anesthesia (just a little loopy)and I am not in any pain like after other procedures I’ve had. He said everything checked out fine so I’m good for another ten years. Yea.

We had a busy weekend with Jonathan and Tonia. They ended up coming here late Friday night or actually about 1:15 am Saturday morning. I think they were tired of camping at that point. But they did have a great time. Saturday their main goal was to buy a car. We had checked out some earlier in the week and given them the details by phone so they did the test drive and negotiating etc. They ended up buying a 93 Ford Explorer. They will probably blog some pictures eventually. A few trips to Wal-Mart for oil changes and pictures and a trip to get Holly also filled up the day.

The main bad thing about their trip was finding out that Tonia’s job had been discontinued. There had been a change in management and we think the higher ups didn’t want to spend the money on the position. So we need to pray for jobs for Tonia, Laura, Teresa and Chris.

On Sunday I had to be at church at 8:30 for the Mexico missions meetings and Teresa went to New Horizons for e-team at 9 and JonTon left about 10:15. In the afternoon we mostly slept and caught up on laundry and bill paying etc.

Laura comes home tomorrow evening. She thinks she can get everything in her car since she brought some things home over Memorial Day. We are looking forward to having her home.

Love to you, Jan

Finally I'm blogging

Others have written about our weekend so I won’t expound on that except to say we had a great time. Jonathan and Tonia are at the beach camping. I have been thinking about them especially when it has rained! We did hear from them yesterday and they have had rain but are still having a good time.

I worked Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday I sewed in the morning. I hemmed a dress and shortened the straps for one of the doctor’s daughters and altered a dress for mom. I had physical therapy in the afternoon and picked up Teresa after school. And I worked on a tape for HealthWorks Northwest. I only had four tapes all last month so I am out of practice but this was a big one so fortunately I had lots of time to do it.

It is now Friday. I finished my tape and will try to sneak in a few garage sales. My big priority has to be finishing painting Laura’s/the guest room. She doesn’t claim the room any more since I painted it pink (which for the record was not my idea). Lol I only have this one window of opportunity (unless it is possibly Sunday) to finish as she moves in again on either Tuesday or Wednesday. We are looking forward to her return for the summer.

Chris will be test driving a car for Jonathan and Tonia and we’ll try to get it to the mechanic to get checked today. Jonathan and Tonia are coming through Saturday on their way home from the beach to try to buy a car and then will go to her parents house early Sunday morning.

Chris has decided not to go to the Mexico missions trip as they have scheduled nerve tests on his arm during that time. He doesn’t want to delay the process at all. Dr. Black doesn’t want to do the surgery for epicondylitis without tests to rule out Dr. Green’s diagnoses of radial nerve problems. We are disappointed about the trip but he has a peace about it. By the way I did finally find my birth certifiate for the trip which is a big relief.

Chauntel is coming for dinner tonight and spending the night. They will be watching Gilmore Girls all evening. Chris and I need to find a different movie to watch for sure.

Love to you. Jan

Catching up

The last two or three days have been good for catching up. I paid the bills, replenished the cupboards and fridge :) cleaned the house and finally mowed the lawn once the weather cooperated. It is a good feeling to catch up a little.

Thursday Chris and I went to Wal-Mart and bought some more flowers for the front yard. We now have red and white geraniums in front of the window. I like to try different things from year to year. We also bought some yellow marigolds (I don’t like the orange ones mixing with my other colors just so you know) and some dianthus variety that are brilliant deep pink. These will go under the tree and the marigolds where the tree was taken out by the street. Hopefully tomorrow we will have time to plant these before I kill them!

Chris went to the doc yesterday and they determined the next course of action is to have Dr. Blackstone do the surgery for epichondylitis since it will take too long to appeal the other diagnosis. If this surgery doesn’t work they can try the other surgery. This should help both arms since he won’t be typing during the recovery. The process is still slow so it will probably be six weeks till the surgery is done.

Teresa finally had her birthday party last night. It was delayed due to friends being grounded. It went well and they actually got a little sleep. Teresa was sick for three days earlier and we wondered if the party would be delayed again but she recovered just in time!

Chris and I got two days of garage saling in to make up for last week. We found a few treasures but mostly had fun.

Tomorrow we have Teresa doing E-Team at our church for two services so she starts at 8. We have a Mexico team meeting at 8:30 a.m. and church at 10. After church we have the first meeting of our home group after they have multiplied into two groups. It is a potluck at our house at 1:00. We are looking forward to it.

Love to you Jan

Thus sayeth the Lord

We just spent 4 sessions at a prophetic conference held at our church. We had the privilege of being prophesied over which was really cool. We were scheduled to be the last ones prayed over in the last session. We didn’t know what we would think about it all before we got started but were anxious to hear from the Lord. I never would have thought I would be so totally absorbed in hearing two men prophesy over people for over 8 hours. But it was very encouraging and uplifting and exciting. The words from the Lord seemed to be very true to the people they were said over (we wished we had really known more about the people since we are so new). We are constantly amazed by what God is doing at a Baptist church. I have been convicted of my prejudice toward denominational churches. Don’t judge a book by its cover or a church by its name.

God Bless
Jan

Its official, Teresa has her license. Although she got her license yesterday she is just now going on her first solo drive. She ended up sick last night and this morning so she couldn’t take the car to school as planned. But she is sneaking out to pick up my transcription tape even though she is supposed to be sick (which she still kind of is). However sneakers often get caught and Teresa has had two friends call in the 10 minutes she has been gone. Go figure!

I have also caught whatever Teresa had so I have not accomplished much today except going to physical therapy. I got three new exercises for my shoulder. Fun, fun- but it is getting better so that is good. I also managed to find Chris’s birth certificate amid a bunch of pictures that I had forgotten we had so we spent a few minutes looking at pictures and another envelope that had a bunch of old pictures and thank you cards from Jonathan and Laura to Grandma and Grandad. Now I still have to find my birth certificate. I have one more file drawer to look through.

Unfortunately we had to cancel or rather postpone our mother’s day dinner out with Mom and Dad due to our sickiness. We had been looking forward to getting together with them.

I got my flowers planted on Sunday that I received for Mother’s Day. They look great and will just get better. Thank you everyone.

Love Jan

Wonderful kids make me happy!

We just returned from a visit with “The kids”. (That phrase reminds me of my Grandpa.)
On the way to Renton we had a great time talking with Teresa. She asked us all kinds of questions about our history in YWAM and we had fun remembering all the adventures we had and relating to her how God has worked in our lives. She had not heard some of the stories and it was good for us to remember some of God’s direction and leading.

We arrived Friday night at JonTon’s apartment about 10:20 and found the hidden key and loaded all our stuff in. In a short time they returned from their movie night and we talked and talked until about 1:15. Chris started the coffee at 6:30 a.m. while I tried to pretend I didn’t hear. At about 9 it was off to the Museum of Flight. We had a picnic of pizza and strawberries and then toured some more. The planes were fascinating and we heard a talk on how wind power might have been used to build the pyramids that was quite interesting.

After the museum we met up with Laura at her dorm and then went to a park in Ballard for a picnic of sandwiches and a game of Frisbee. Due to car problems in the McQuiston’s family we were not able to meet up with them which was a disappointment. I think they will get together tomorrow instead.
After very slow traffic we arrived home about 9:30. It was a good trip.

Hope deferred a little longer

You are probably wondering about Teresa's Driving test. We found out that she did have to take a written test first. ( I had thought the driver's ed test was the written one but I was wrong) So she passed the written one yesterday and is scheduled for next week for the driving test. We'll let you know.

Yesterday we went to an informational meeting regarding the new school building. It was comprised of the former and current board members. It was basically the first step of the fund raising campaign but we knew it was coming. lol It was interesting to figure out who some of the people were. I had never met the founder of Northlake, Jim Conrad. It was inspiring to hear him tell of his initial dreams when the place was just a field across the street from his house. Now we are in the prosess of trying to figure out what God would have us give. We do believe in the project as the school has been such a good thing for our kids.

Love Jan

THE BLOGGER DILEMMA

So my dilemma is that when I have something worth blogging about I don’t have time to blog and when I have time to blog there is nothing worth saying, which is why I haven’t blogged for a long time.

Tonight we had home group at our house. We have wanted to do this but there is a certain amount of stress the first time what with cleaning and worrying about the dog barking and comparing our house to some that we have been to that are beautiful homes. We are happy to say everything went well. The dog was happy and quiet with a huge bone and music in the garage. Caleb came and played with the toys I have been collecting (he is almost 4). And the house got clean. Yea! And the most important part is the fellowship with friends and the Lord!

We enjoyed the busy weekend which Laura described well. Thanks Mom and Dad for hosting us all. The food was great. Thanks everyone for making our birthdays so nice.

Tomorrow Teresa tries for her license I think if we have time to do it. I work till four so Chris might take her. Then we have a dessert meeting to find out more about the plans for the new school at 6:30.

But for now it is bedtime at last, 5:40 a.m. will soon be here.

Jan

Thank you God

Thank you God for:

*Getting Milton through his surgery. Help him through each new day.
*For life group and a great dinner with friends.
*for our new church and the renewed excitment with have.
*for our jobs and the money we need to live with extra to spare.
*Family
*and Books, especially Your Book.

Love Jan

All together again

Wilson came home from the vet today. He is not quite his normal self but has finally eaten so I think he will perk up as time goes by. Today was my day off so I went to physical therapy for my arm (this is my second time) and did a little shopping. Later in the day we all went to Wal-Mart. I mostly did catchup stuff around the house.

Tomorrow Chris has his independent medical exam in Portland to hopefully confirm his diagnosis and therefore expidite the surgery. We have to be there by 7:30 a.m. I have the day off so I will be going with him.

Teresa will also be hitting the road for Portland ... or rather Boring, Or for an e-Team performance.

Later in the evening we will meet the Ferguson extended family for dinner at Henri's.

That's what's happening with us. Love Jan

FYI Dogs and slug bait don't mix well!

Well our dumb beloved dog was acting very strange.... not hungry (that is a good clue), very shaky and not able to walk on the vinyl floor covering. So a little deductive reasoning led us to suspect slug bait. It was off to the vet. Now he is being treated and has to spend the night. Poor Wilson.

Sunday

Today we became members of Northlake Baptist Church. It felt good. Already we feel a part of the church and have built relationships. Unfortunately Teresa was at an E-team performance and so wasn’t there to go up and be introduced with us. Our sermon was on the end times and the Mark of the Beast. It was very interesting and discussion provoking.

After church we had our first Mexico missions team meeting. We will be meeting weekly until we leave. Next week we will be meeting with the pastor of the church in Mexico that we will be working with. He is visiting and speaking at church next Sunday.

Tonight Chris and I went to a city wide prayer and praise meeting at New Life dealing with the topic of Meth in Cowlitz county. If you have read the paper at all you know the city is doing a lot of research and discussion on how to solve the drug problems. The sanctuary was packed and it was a good meeting. We desire to become more involved in the community and want to find ways to be informed and actually do something. Our natural tendency is just to stay safely on the outskirts of the problem and not get involved but we also have the desire to make a difference somehow. A few ideas were presented on how to pray and help various organizations involved with the drug problem.

Love to you, Jan

The Field Trip

Teresa and I have returned from our field trip to Hanford and the Tri-cities area. This was a science oriented trip and we visited various scientific sites. Our first stop was the CHREST museum.There we learned about the history of the Hanford plant that made plutonium during WWII and about Lewis and Clark. (Not that they were particularly related mind you.)

Next was a stop at L.I.G.O.
The LIGO acronym stands for Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory, whose mission is to observe gravitational waves of cosmic origin. There we did an exercise determining the distance of various stars in three different constellations. And had an explanation and tour of the tubes that house the lasers and mirrors. The tubes extend 2.5 miles in two directions and are vacuum sealed. Their website is found at http://www.ligo-wa.caltech.edu/

The next day we went to the Energy Northwest nuclear power plant and had a tour. Their website is http://www.energy-northwest.com/gen/cgs/

From there we went to the Energy Northwest’s wind project where we learned about their 49 windmills. Each windmill is over 300 ft tall. We went inside the base of one and they are huge. See more at http://www.energy-northwest.com/gen/ninecanyon/index.html

We hooked up with families from Liberty Christian School for dinner and a basketball game and spent the night with host families from the school. All in all it was a good trip.

Love Jan

L.I.G.O. 

Theater In Your Head

Ladies and gentleman,
The Ferguson Project is pleased to bring you an operatta. Presented here, in front of your eyes. Your only responsibility is to provide the casting, staging, and music as you enjoy. Trust me, it almost happens automatically. Though admittedly pirated from an old book that certainly has no right to still be in print, I freely share it with you, because you likely will come across it in no other way.

With no further ado, here is our presentation of:

NEWMAN LEVY'S
THE BELLE OF THE BALKANS
A BROADWAY OPERETTA

The scene: a public square in Ruritania,
Fair Ruritania, land of gay Romance,
Where the natives have a strange and curious mania
For gathering in public squares to dance.

Amid a scene of unrestricted gaiety,
They drink from cups of papier-mache.
The military mingle with the laity,
And sing an opening song that goes this way:

"Clink, clink, we merrily drink,
Though the -weather be sunny or rainier;
Then -we sing and we laugh
as our vintage we quaff
From the vines of our fair Ruritania."

Among the local bourgeoisie and peasantry
There dwelt a maid who tended at the bar
Of all the girls, for beauty, charm and pleasantry,
Dolores was the loveliest by far.

She quite surpassed the other maidens vocally.
Her skill and grace at dancing took the prize;
But, strangely, it was not suspected locally
Dolores was their princess in disguise.

And now upon the scene in Ruritania
Arrives a gay adventurer named Cohn
A dashing lad from Scranton, Pennsylvania,
Who greets the maid in dulcet tenor tone:

"Dolores, my dearest, I love you,
You are the ideal of my dreams.
I never knew there was someone like you,
You're fairer than princess or queen.

Springtime you know, dear, is ring time,
So let us get married in June.
Then we'll stroll down life's pathway together,
My darling, Beneath the Balkan moon."

And now, mid cheers the king appears,
A comic chap and rowdy,
A royal clown with tilted crown
Who greets the crowd with "Howdy !"
"Howdy, folks I I've got some jokes. What d'ye think of this ?
My Jester has written a brand new song
Called 'Jester Little Kiss.'

Come bring a drink for your noble kink.
Don't think that I'm complaining,
But it's strange that I am always dry,
Although I'm always reigning.

"I am searching with this large imposing retinue
For my daughter who is hiding here, I learn.
Which is nothing to the hiding, I am bettin' you
That she'll get from her old dad on her return.

"She is working in this picturesque locality
As a bar maid in a neighboring cafe,
An employment of debatable legality,
And unsuited to a princess, I must say.

"So my troops will search this section and vicinity—"
When, behold from out the crowd the maid appears
Quite disguised in simulated masculinity
In the costume of The Royal Grenadiers.

"With a rum turn turn of the fife and drum,
While the banners gaily fly.
For a soldier's life is a soldier's life,
Which nobody can deny."

There, beside her, stands the gallant Pennsylvanian,
As the natives gaily quench again their thirst,
Then they all join in an anthem Ruritanian
As the curtain quickly falls on Act the First.

Act Two. A scene of glittering aristocracy:
The Palace, filled with nobles gathered there,
Who remarkably resemble the democracy
Who were gathered in Act One about the square.

There they merrily imbibe the royal potables;
Mr. Cohn is seen commingling with the throng.
Then the king arrives and entertains the notables
With a tap dance and the chorus of a song.

"Dinah, no gal is finer,
Say that you love me true, Boop-oopa-doop.
Way down in Carolina, Dinah,
We'll have a love nest Just built for two."

Now once again the plot unreels,
(With time out for performing seals)
Upon the scene with royal mien
The princess enters stately.
She sings a song and does a dance,
While Cohn, amazed, looks on askance.
"Last week I saw her wearing pants,

This mystifies me greatly.
My dear," he cries with anguished moan, "
Oh say that you remember Cohn!
Can't you recall my face at all? Please tell me that you know me!"

The princess says, "I quite regret
That you and I have never met."
And then they sing a love duet
Entitled "In Dahomey."

Now a telegram arrives in Ruritania
Which anounces that the gallant Mr. Cohn
Has been chosen Mayor of Scranton, Pennsylvania,
By the largest vote the city's ever known.

Then the king says, "Since, in your benighted domicile
That position corresponds to duke or earl,
If to love my child and cherish her you'll promise,
I'll Be proud to let you wed my charming girl."

Then the curtain falls upon an outburst lyrical,
As the critics rush to write their morning rave,
As they pen the words, "Delightfully satirical"
Mr. Gilbert does a handspring in his grave.


Theater In Your Head has been brought to you by
The Ferguson Project,
and your imagination.

The price is right

Well the festival of Jan is about over now. I celebrated in Seattle, Cathlamet and at home group, at Sing Sing restaurant and received cookies at work today. Thank you everyone.

One exciting thing that happened is that we finally sold our desk. We don’t have to cut it up for firewood after all. If it is listed for under $100 the ad in the paper is only $5.20 for two weeks so we listed it as $99 and had many calls. We sold it to the first lady. So we now have a lovely large room. Yea!

Tomorrow, bright and early, (7:00 a.m.) Teresa and I leave for a field trip to Hanford and other energy sites east of the mountains. We will return Friday evening late. So we will fill you in later.

Love Jan

The Festival of Jan’s Birth

Getting old isn’t so bad when birthdays are celebrated with those you love.

Friday started the festival at JonTon’s home with a great dinner and a delicious carrot cake. I am very happy about the extra set of silverware and I will need to host a large dinner soon I think to put them to good use. I also received some movies from Linda, (one of which we watched tonight). Although we may sacrifice a small amount of sleep by spending the night I really enjoy the talks and games and just being together on Friday night. It is worth it!

Saturday we enjoyed the Experience Music Project. My favorite part was the room with all the guitars representing the history of the guitar. After much encouragement and coaxing we enjoyed dinner at JonTon’s favorite Indian restaurant. It is good to get out of our comfort zone and try new things occasionally. And I was able to find something on the menu I liked :)

The festival continued Sunday with dinner at the Cathlamet Fergusons with Mom and Dad (a.k.a. Ruth and Larry) invited also. There we were fed a feast and I was showered with more gifts including a beautiful new rug for the family room (Yea!) and flowers (potted and bulbs)(very pretty) and a paper cutter (yea!) and various other treasures. Thank you everyone. I am very grateful and blessed.

Love you lots, Jan