Summer Highlights

This month we had the amazing experience of witnessing the Total Solar Eclipse. We were fortunate to live so close to the path of totality. Warnings for weeks were out about the biggest traffic congestion ever in this area. The morning of the eclipse, the roads didn’t look too bad, so we ventured out, heading to Silverton by some back roads through Estacada. We passed many people along the way, preparing to see the eclipse in many parking lots and open fields. Gratefully, we were able to find a good spot to pull over and watch the incredible heavenly phenomenon, as the moon took bites out of the sun until it was completely covered. It was amazing to feel the temperature drop and have everything go dark, a metallic kind of dark, but not completely dark. Cheers from people off in the distance could be heard. For nearly two minutes we could feel this eerie kind of stillness and calm, and see a bright ring around the darken sun. An absolutely amazing event in our lives. It seemed so unreal to have it start getting light so quickly, the traffic and noise began again, and then to face the traffic going home, but it was definitely worth it! What I loved the most was that our country was unified that day in the wonder of this glorious world and we were all focused on the heavens together.

Other events of the month included hosting Seth & Tiffany’s family, and some of Tiffany’s family as they gathered for their Gee Family reunion for several days. We love this good Gee family. We were happy they could borrow one of our cars for several weeks. We enjoyed picking Corwin and Lynette up at the airport and going to dinner for our last time to visit with them before they left on their mission. Hunter & Courtney stayed with us one evening on their way to Eugene. We’ve had several sleep-overs with grandchildren and spending some fun time with our Caudle family. We took them one afternoon to a water park and had so much fun with them. Crismon also helped out in mnay service projects in the area. Life is great!

Crismon picked blueberries with Ondalynn's children. I was so happy to get my freezer full again with yummy blueberries for my smoothie all year long. Crismon has also done a lot of community service.

Jackson (15), stayed with us for a couple of weeks as he had an internship with Brett Caudle’s Tech Academy. Jackson has studied coding on his own. It was quite amazing to hear how well he did. They nicknamed him “The Dr.” as he was able to solve problems with their website that others couldn’t. It was a very successful experience for him. All our family is doing well, busy doing good things for which we are so grateful.