$1



You may recall that on our most recent trip to West Africa, one of the most urgent issues facing our partners there, was the lack of clean water. It was haunting and heart-wrenching to see fellow humans actually drinking water we would consider too muddy, even for washing our cars. Lack of clean water is an ongoing crisis over most of the African continent; recent flooding, drought, and seasonal factors have only made things worse.

In order to bring more awareness to the issue, writer Donald Miller is riding a bike across the U.S. during June and July. You can check out his site to read more about it or check out his video plug below. You might even consider sponsoring his ride--all proceeds will go to Blood: Water Mission, a non-profit started by the band, Jars of Clay. Donations will help fund the drilling of clean water wells.

$1 will pay for water for one African for an entire year.

Often we say that all we have is Gods'.
But can He really trust us with His money?

Our guy.



Dearly beloved
Daddy
Hero
Lover
Best friend
Hottie
Comedian
Helper
Protector
Provider
Runner
Reader
Companion
Encourager
Listener
Human
Man seeking to follow Christ into every day

We are so blessed
by God
to be
your girls.

Granma and Granpa



Two of Audrey's most favorite people came to visit from CA-- Granma and Granpa! And what a time was had (unfortunately, not many pictures were taken...)! We had fun showing them around our new neighborhood and town.


We had a nice, relaxing visit that included long walks, golf & the Oregon Trail Interpretive Center, fantastic meals at local establishments, and lots of chit chat .



...they even brought a Dora the Explorer phone that calls Audrey by name





and Lederhosen that once belonged to Mike at the same age!

Arthouse Cinema-
Cooler than cool.



M's parents are visiting and so we had a date Sunday night. Having heard about this phenomenon of 'Art House Cinema's', we had to see for ourselves.

If you've never been to one, let me tell you--this will revolutionize our lives forever. Seriously, why aren't there more of these everywhere?

Super cool, old vintage theaters are still used for movies--but now they have tables at your seat, where you can eat while watching the movie! The Laurelhurst theater we went to serves gourmet pizza slices, microbrews and soda by the pitcher or glass (a pitcher of soda cost only $3!), candy, popcorn and donuts. Movie tickets cost only $3. Seriously, how cool is that? And there are 3 or 4 of this in SE alone!

Our friend, Lisa, sent this to us. Funny.
The fatally short attention span of American goes for alot of things.

Helmet

Since you've asked--this is what my helmet looks like:


M's is matte black. Both of our bikes are black. We're so adventurous.

Have you ever...



...seen anything more adorable or hilarious?



Audrey and mommy went shopping for her first bike helmet and, according to the salesperson, she was unusually good and cooperative in the buying process (unlike her mommy with clausterphobic tendencies who kept wanting a bigger helmet with a looser chin-strap, which apparently goes against what's safe; i detest anything even slightly constricting around my neck and chin. All those biking years in Denmark, I never wore one, but then again hardly any girls did, so as to avoid 'hat hair' and such. But, now, i must set a good example (argh) so my girl's cranium will be protected. )



She loves her new bike helmet so much that she wants to eat with it on.



I let her pick the color and will confess to trying to talk her out of the pink options. Despite my attempts to be nonchalant about the matter, I ended up exercising mommy-veto-power by nixing the ' Girly Doggy Glamour' helmet, and let her get the pink bunnies instead. Gag. But ok.

Morgenhygge



Audrey and I were having a 'hyggelig stund' this morning, so I am finally able to satisfy requests for more pictures of the house. Speaking of hyggelig--our visit with the Winn family last night was just that --(sorry there's only this one pic; the rest were no good.)

Brennan Winn (such a doll) double-fisting peaches




This is the coolest picture of Audrey that ever has, or ever will be taken. (From our lovely friend, Denise....whom we miss desperately.)



The living room...from a few angles...










The dining room...





The small, but functional bathroom...





Audrey's bedroom...
(not quite sure what she's doing to Angel the mouse; I think he might be getting frisked.)





Our boudoir...





Pictured here is the famed wardrobe from IKEA that Denise and Mike wrestled into existence. Holy cow--what a mammoth project; and these are two very adept and experienced assemblers, let me tell you. It was no small thing--but there was almost no closet space so we appreciate it every day.



Hopefully we can take pictures of the basement (including office and guest room once the boxes are cleared enough to actually see anything down there.)

Composting



An embarrassing story:

One of the first things we noticed upon our arrival to this house was the EXTREMELY small trash barrel. And the fact that there was only 1 of them. Plus a few assorted containers for recycling and yard debris.

This was shocking because at our other house, we had 2 GINORMOUS barrels and we stuffed those puppies to the gills every single week. I'm afraid to say that despite our efforts to reduce packaging, yada, yada--we were definitely doing our part to furnish the landfills. And this was with us taking our glass and aluminum to the recycling center.

So here we are with our with 1 barrel, roughly the size of our kitchen trash can--which we literally emptied every day. Serious panic time. And we ask the neighbors what the recycling system is and how on earth people get by with such little trash bins--even if they do recycle. Jen, our neighbor, looks at us with a dubious look, explaining that ours is even the 'large' barrel and that it's really no problem for most people. I doubted.

But I am AMAZED to report that it is TRULY incredible, how much less trash you have if you both recycle and compost. INCREDIBLE, I tell you. The homeowners already had one of those compost bins hidden behind the garage, so we just bought a countertop composter (shown below), which we fill with all organic materials (food scraps (coffee grinds, eggshells, etc., but not meat or dairy), Audrey's diapers (one of the kinds we use is compostable), and so on.) Then with the paper, glass, aluminum and plastic in the recycling bins, to my shock and awe--we don't even fill up the 1 trash can every week!



May be it's just me, but to think that at least 75% of the stuff I was putting into my trashcans could have gone elsewhere, is mind-boggling. WOW. I am especially amazed by the amount of compostable stuff and paper we generate.

(The counter-top compost pail is just an interim stop so that you don't constantly have to run outside. It's really just a pail with a charcoal filter in the lid to eliminate odor.) And that compost is going to make incredibly fertile hummus--so just watch and see as the Darth-Vader of gardening turns back to to the light.)