He who loves a Garden, still His Eden keeps…

I love this quote by Amos Bronson Alcott. You may as well say it…
“Get ON witch yo’ ADAMIC self!”.
And I do.
I still keep my Eden- in fact it is one of the highlights of my day- to putz around my garden and deadhead a flower, pluck a trespassing weed, or to behold something new in bloom. Its very rewarding you know, to have a garden. Last year- I purchased an Agapanthus, Lily of the Nile. This particular variety was called “Peter Pan”. Well this little plant was clearanced at the local Lowe’s store because the stem of the bloom had been broken, and therefore was judged to be no longer worthy of a first class sale price. Well, I couldn’t resist it, knowing full well that if I took it home and planted it- that this summer I would have blooms. Well, my friends, Peter didn’t disappoint me! In fact I have 3 stems of blooms arising from good ol’ Peter Pan! I’ll post some pictures of Peter Pan later, along with the east border of my yard which is coming along quite nicely. I would have a picture today, except with the afternoon suun, it didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped.

We just celebrated my mother and father in-law’s 60th birthdays here at our home. Happy Birthday Wayne & Elaine!! We had all the extended family over for a BBQ. So I, of course, flew into high gear, getting my yard ready. I re-did the pathway to the shed in the backyard, and put 2.5 cubic yards of compost in all my plant beds, planted 2 planters and 4 hanging baskets, and freshly edged the lawn. And now I have the most beautiful backyard. Its only June– I have all summer to enjoy it!!

Here are some pictures of my (well, and God’s handi-work… I can’t take all the credit!)

One of my plant borders on the South side of my yard.

Dara and I after having finished planting our planters and baskets.

A bloom from one of my daylilies. This particular daylily is just loaded with blooms this year.

I have been enjoying a new visitor to my garden too. We have a hummingbird frequenting our feeder- which has been conveniently placed just outside our dining room window. We love to spy our little friend coming for nectar. Well, I just had to share my little portion of Eden with you. You should stop by sometime. Garden tours are free

A Unique Opportunity

This week, Dana and I had a special opportunity to fly down to the Los Angeles area. We had been invited by the Lifestyle Magazine, a Christian television talk show produced by the adventist media center. Dana was invited to be a participant on the show because of her experience with regression therapy and false memories.

What is regression therapy? It’s a form of counseling that believes that a person’s present problems stem from traumatic memories that have been repressed or dissociated from. In 1998 Dana had gone to a licensed Christian counselor, who had been a proponent of this kind of counseling and after months of counseling had led us to believe that Dana had been a victim of satanic ritual abuse at the hands of her grandfather, who had been involved in Freemasonry. It was in these “sessions” that Dana “recovered” memories of being involved in weird, sadistic, and sexual cult rituals at the masonic lodge as a young child. After “discovering” this information, we began a process of talking to Dana’s parents and ultimately, we severed contact with Dana’s paternal grandparents. Since that time 7 years passed, and although we still had good relationships with Dana’s parents… it was hard because we had always felt that Dana’s father, Wayne, never believed that the abuse had happened. In 2005, Wayne gave us a book, and asked us to read it. The book was called, “Second Thoughts” by Dr. Paul Simpson. It was a book sharing Dr. Simpsons personal journey as a regression therapist, and his journey of discovery in proving its lack of validity. He compiled a lot of research about the human mind, the memory and how information and human experience is stored. The book was also a hard look at the the demographics of those people who had claimed to have recovered significant memories of abuse. Most of the people who had done so, were white, female, highly educated, middle to upper class, and between the ages of 21-40. After reading the book and processing the content, Dana and I came to the conclusion that we had been seriously misled, and not only that, but it had caused serious strain and damage to our family at large.

Immediately we sought for reconciliation with Dana’s grandparents- we wrote a long letter, asking for forgiveness and seeking to be restored to relationship with them. I am glad to say that we have been given that opportunity and were graciously received again by Grandpa and Grandma Wright, as well as Dana’s aunts and uncles on her father’s side.

Wayne had written an article chronicling our family’s journey through the False Memory Syndrome, which was published in a newsletter by the False Memory Syndrome Foundation. It was because of this letter that we were invited to come and share our story on the Lifestyle Magazine talkshow. It was a special opportunity for us to share our testimony and give hope to other families who had possibly suffered the loss of relationship with loved ones because of this heinous form of counseling. For three days we stayed in Simi Valley, California. We got to meet and visit with Carol Marks, a well known marriage and family therapsit who has been striving to reel in those of her profession who bought into the regression or recovered memory therapy back in the 80’s and 90’s, and who has testified in numerous court cases where false allegations had been made in regards to sexual abuse. Dana was apart of the show along with Iris Anderson, a parent of two children who had been through the same kind of counseling as well as with Carol Marks and Mike Tucker, the host of the Lifestyle Magazine.

The taping went very well and we had a wonderful time sharing our story on the show. Here are some pictures from our time away:

Dana outside the Adventist Media Center

Dana getting her makeup done by a professional make up artist

Dana and her dad, Wayne, before the taping of the show

Dana and Carol Marks

Dana and Mike Tucker, host of the LifeStyle Magazine

You can look forward to seeing this episode of the Lifestyle Magazine late this year in December, or early January 2008. We will update you with specific information as we get informed ourselves. If you have any questions about our story, or want more information about False Memory Syndrome, there is a lot of information on the False Memory Syndrome Foundation website : www.fmsfonline.org.

The icing on the cake…

Its May 11. We just got home from Friday night church at Current. It’s about 10:30 pm and while Dara and I are snacking on a little Taco Bell we had picked up on the way home and Dana brings out this little gift bag and says, “Honey, I got a little present for you today while I was out.”

I was a little suprised to say the least- I couldn;t even imagine why Dana would have gotten me a present, other than she was just being sweet. A little mystified, I stared at the little purple gift bag, and after her encouragement to open it, I peered through the tissue paper and I saw this:

I paused.
I didn’t get it.
Flashback: 2 weeks ago, I had come home from a very hectic week at work, between my job at Christ Community and Starbucks- I was tapped. In a moment of weariness I said, “You know honey, here we are and I am working 2 jobs, we are planting a church with our friends… wouldn’t it be the icing on the cake if we found out we were pregnant?”

Wonder began to emerge from my disbelief as I looked up at Dana- and she says, “Go on… there’s more.”
So I lift out the frosting and low and behold I pull out a onesie and two pregnancy tests. Dara starts shouting “Its for a baby! Its for a baby Daddy!” My eyes were tearing up. I looked at Dana, “Is this for real? Are you pregnant?” Dana just smiled.
It was the icing on the cake.
I was going to be a dad again! A dream come true! Thank you Lord!

Laughing Out Loud

OK. So here I am picking up a few supplies at the Wal-Mart on 192nd Ave in Camas. Normally, I don’t shop at Wal-Mart but this month’s budget predicated some practical maneuvers to ensure smooth sailing. So there I was buying some select hygiene supplies… colgate total toothpaste, some feminine hygiene supplies (yes fellas, I buy those for my wife), deoderant, some root beer… and I am in the checkout line when low and behold- I see this on the tabloid stands:

Laughing out loud… can’t stop laughing out loud. Visions of Gramma Mabel going to her trailer door to see a total redneck freak of nature about to suck her type A positive blood dry. Well, too late I noticed that two of the ladies standing next to the tabloid were looking at me and whispering to each other. Unfortunately, I think they thought I was laughing at them! I chuckled all the way home. Redneck vampire attacks trailer park. Totally slayed me!

Learning to Ride…

This Saturday I got to teach Dara to ride her bike without training wheels! It was definately a moment that I would say qualifies as a “lifetime memory moment” for me and for her. She was eager to remove the training wheels and get going so we moved out to the street out in front of our house. Of course she was shaky at first, but literally within 30 minutes she was riding on her own. I was amazed at how ready she was to tackle this and I was impressed with her determination to learn. There were a couple of times she wanted to rest, but she wouldn’t stop until she had mastered riding on her own. The very next day she practiced starting and stopping on her own. Now she is a proud rider as she says, “a two-wheeler!” We are so proud of you Dara!

God’s faithfulness…

Nascar drivers have their pit crews to refuel and recondition their cars before they zip out into the race again. Long distance runners have their team car following them with water bottles, gatorade, shouts of encouragement. Helps you keep running your race, you know?

Well, this Wednesday was my pit stop, where In the midst of my race, I got some fresh water. I had woken up early to meet a friend for Bible Study. But during the morning, when I usually shake the fog of tiredness and wearyness, I just couldn’t seem to step out of it. I went to work at Christ Community to find a horde of phone calls from people needing emergency dental care, agencies needing food orders and hungry families needing food boxes and counseling. About 1pm I was exhausted. So I told Carolyn, my secretary that I was stepping out for a bit to get some fresh air. And stepping out of the office, I went for a short walk and prayed that God would lift my spirits and give me some strength to finish the day out.

When I returned to my cubicle, it wasn’t 5 minutes later that Tara (not her real name), a young woman that I had counseled about 3-4 weeks earlier had come into the office for another food box. I put away all my other work and got ready to visit with her, and as I was doing so I recalled that when I had last seen her she had shared with me that she had been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Tara was in her mid twenties, with a 2 year old little girl and a 6 month old baby boy. She had shared on her first visit about having a follow up with her OB/GYN following the birth of her son, how they discovered the cancer in her right ovary. She had seen 2 different doctors and both were recommending a hysterectomy followed by chemotherapy. I remember listening to her and my mind reeling at her circumstances, two little dependant children, chemo and hysterectomy? After I had heard her story I asked her if I could pray with her and we asked the Lord to heal her body and remove the cancer. I still remember helping her take the food to her car with her 2 year old daughter in one hand and baby carrier in the other wondering what kind of report she would have when she returned.

Fast forward to the present. I had just returned to my cubicle from my walk and prayer. Carolyn gave me her file and I welcomed Tara back. I proceeded to sit and listen with amazement as she testfied of how she went to a 3rd doctor after our visit, taking with her the results of all her other tests. They scheduled an exploratory surgery and discovered that not only had the tumor mysteriously shrunk in size since the original appts, but they decided to remove only a portion of her ovary and biopsy the surrounding tissues. After the day surgery they sent her home and told her they would have the results from the biopsies in a couple of weeks. Two weeks later she got the results… NO CANCER. Talking with her medical doctor he reassured her that there would be no chemo, no hysterectomy, just a follow up visit in 6 months! Tears streamed down Tara’s face as she related to me how relieved she was that God had healed her and answered our prayers.

What an amazing God we serve! That young woman’s life was changed. God had pulled up during my marathon and given me some fresh cold water- through Tara’s testimony. God is so faithful… I just had to share!