Montana in blue jeans

Camp roads in the cool rain

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE BEST MOTHER EVER!

The clouds hang low between the Rocky Mountains. "Did you hear the rain last night?" we ask each other. (He did. I crashed into bed and slept through it.)

The cabin is almost ready for our reunion guests. We've unpacked, sorted goods into cabinets and shelves, and pulled on our jeans to meet the cool damp morning.

It's my first time in jeans since we left for Singapore in June. This rain is unlike the warm downpours of the tropics. Cold water splashes up at us as we walk to the coffee shop.

Breakfast is served:
Montana Coffee Traders

Montana Coffee Traders is legendary in these parts. Israel has its Aroma chain, with great pastries, meals, and coffee. Montana has MCF, which serves yummy omelets, quiches, and sandwiches.

Our kids stayed at the cabin with friends in July. They left it clean and tidy. Kudos! to them. We move around some furniture, stack old paperbacks and kids' books onto shelves, and do a quick inventory. We purged our home collection of books and toys before our basement reno. The classics have come up to the cabin with us, for grandkids and guests to enjoy. One of the losses for our new calling is this cabin. We'll rarely be able to come up to enjoy it; after 18 years of W's DIY, this year it will be finished. Sigh.

Here's what we see when we walk in the door:

Living room: reclaimed Douglas fir underfoot.
Furniture from family and friends and
my fav giclee print by Carrie Fell

Cabin kitchen with retro teak furniture from our
past life, when the kids were young

Candle chandelier found in a shop nearby

W snaps pictures. Above the front door, wasp nests
hang on strands of copper lanterns

We head to town to stock up for the good times ahead. (It occurs to me: wow ... we are blessed to be conservative Christians. It's a lot cheaper to host a non-alcoholic event. Cleaner and safer, too.)

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*All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ. Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

So we praise God for the glorious grace he has poured out on us who belong to his dear Son. He is so rich in kindness and grace that he

purchased our freedom with the blood of his Son and forgave our sins. He has showered his kindness on us, along with all wisdom and understanding.

God has now revealed to us his mysterious plan regarding Christ, a plan to fulfill his own good pleasure. And this is the plan: At the right time he will bring everything together under the authority of Christ—everything in heaven and on earth. Ephesians 1:3-10 NLT