Checking Yota's Oil

Today or actually just before I got here I had to check Yota's oil. She was in desperate need of it. She is such a thirsty car! The little pig she is.

You may wonder why I named my car Yota, or even named my car at all. Well Su(with Pepe) and my mom(with Nellie) did so I figured I needed to. (I am such a crowd follower!) And at first I thought she needed a white preppie chick name because it just seemed to fit my car. But the other day I thought, "Wow! Yota! Toyota, Yota. And she's green like Yoda." So it all worked out fine. Yota, the Fawn Slayer.

But I really do get tired of putting oil in her every week. And it made mom late for something because I had to do it before she left.

To add something Godly to this conversation----

We need to be thirsty like Yota, in constant need of God's love and grace to be poured upon us or down our throats like Yota. And we need to make sure we are close to Him, as close and right with Him as we can get. We have to check our level of growth in Him to make sure we are not running out. If we don't we will blow up just like my engine will if I don't keep oil in it like I should.

So be like Yota, thirsty, and keep close to God for your health.
God does a body good.

Cady Lake, Great Food, Gay People, and Seat-belt burn

This weekend we traveled to Belfair for my great-great Aunt Nina's birthday party. She turned 90 so we had a big celebration. Auntie Barb planned this all out to be a lake resort. The lake was Cady Lake and it is very pretty up there (or down there or however you would describle it).
It is a bed and breakfast place and extremely nice. It ended up being a lot nicer than we expected which is always a plus. Dad, mom, Aunt Cynthia, Jessi and I stayed in a room together and it wasn't that cramped; it was a big room.

We got there about 2 o'clock in the afternoon and were in time to surprise Auntie Nina. What really surprised her is that Grandpa Petersen came too. And he hardly ever goes away from his cows anywhere. But he came and she was so happy to see all of us. And she is doing fairly well considering the last time we saw her she was on oxygen and in a wheelchair. But she walked around with her cane and managed to last until around 6, when they took her home.
But anyway, there was a ton of food (typical of my family, food draws us together in feasting). I ate a ton of shrimp. That made me very happy. Shrimp does that to me. That and sparkling apple cider. Of which I had both with meatballs, broccoli salad, ham, Hersey kisses, and delicious cake. *sigh, thinking of all the food*
She opened presents. The family talked about old times and told jokes of which I won't repeat because my family... well... lets just say they are not Christian and have no problem with drinking, cussing, and other things. And then they took a bigillion pictures of us in all combinations. Petersens with Auntie Nina, children with Auntie Nina, Dousts with Auntie Nina, adopted children with Auntie Nina, friends and so on.

And then came the Bell-fairies. And no we do not call them that. They call themselves that. The Bell-fairies would be the several homosexual people that attended. You see my dad's cousin and Auntie Nina's only grandchild is a lesbian. Yep. And so her partner and 2 gay couples who are friends of their family were there.
Half of my family, mainly those who live over there on the coast are accepting of it all and it doesn't seem to bother them. But the rest of us, it creeps us out. It is just odd having to hug someone you know is a lesbian. But you do because she is family and it isn't like she does anything unappropriate, but you just feel odd and a little creeped out with the fact that she likes other women. I try not to think of it and that is why we will leave it at that.

Most of the people left around 7 to their houses and motels except us that came from far away. We stayed there. The boys, Jessi, and I watched Hitch, which I had never seen before. And we played some Yahtzee. And then we all went to bed.
We woke up in the morning and talked while Larry, the owner and host, made a huge breakfast for us. A few of the people came back for breakfast. It was great. (Can you tell that I most always think of food as great? lol.)
Then we cleaned up. And a few of us went to say good-bye to Auntie Nina again. Dad got "mis-placed"--he won't let me use the word lost, because, "We aren't lost. I know where I am at. I just need to find her house."-- and we spent 30 minutes driving around while the people following us because we "knew where we were going" followed us laughing. I could see them in the mirror. But we got there as always and said goodbye and tried to hug Auntie Nina without crushing her frail body. Which is honestly something you worry about.

So we headed off. Our trip there was uneventful. But our trip back wasn't. Between Tacoma and Seattle (if you can differenitate that) we got into a small car crash. Small, but it scared us. Four cars ahead of us slowed down quickly. The 2 behind them managed not to wreck, but the car in front of us tried to break couldn't enough because the road was wet. And we bumped into them.
As always there was so much to be thankful for. It crushed the front of the van but did nothing to the car in front of us. The huge truck behind us managed to swerve into another lane with no one in it, giving Aunt Cynthia who was behind them time to break. And it didn't hurt anything important on the van and we were able to drive it home. Jessi hit her head lightly on the seat in front of her and got a headache; I got seat-belt burn on my side because I was laying down sleeping at the time. But that was all. And because it was really no one's fault neither us or the other car were given a ticket. God always seems to protect us. I am so thankful for all the wrecks that we get in that end up being really nothing. (This incident, my fawn slaughtering...)

We got home around 4 and went and got Sam. He was happy to see us. And we were happy to be home. Safe and sound, having had a great weekend with family.

Hunting

This morning I woke up at 5:30 to go hunting with my dad. Hunting is an interesting sport. I love it but it doesn't really make all that much sense to me. Especially when most of the time you are trying to outsmart all the other hunters and not necessarily out hunting the deer. It is the hunting part I like not the stragegy. So it starts to annoy me a little when dad and I sit on a hill for 30 minutes trying to decide where we should go to outsmart this other guy up on the hill. Should we go south and chase those deer even though there are a ton of other people waiting on the south end or should we go along this rockslide and try to push the deer out of their beds hoping that there is a legal buck? Hmm. This takes much pondering. We ended up doing the later, which was my favorite choice. We did push the deer out and we would have had a perfect shot except that there were no legal deer in the bunch. As dad says, "We were snookered." Don't ask me what that means, I am guessing fooled or cheated. We were in such a hurry to get up the hill and make sure no one else got the deer that we took no water. So it was tiring and I am so out of shape.
But despite my complaining I really do like to hunt. The adrenaline rush of sneaking up on one is amazing. My dad's friend and I did that last year and we got about 10 yards away when we realized it only had 2 points. But I was amazed at what a rush I got. This year I didn't actually have a license or carry a gun because I decided that I didn't really want to shoot a deer myself. I have no problem with seeing someone else kill one, but I didn't want to do it myself. But I enjoyed going along for the ride and spending time with my dad. And he teaches me so much about deer and their habits, things I am sure he learned from his dad and it becomes a generational thing to me. I am glad to spend time with him doing something he enjoys, sharing that with him.

Father-daughter bonding is the best. I suggest that you all do some of that soon with your dad. It is such a special time. It's great when your dad treats you like a princess and spoils you with ice cream and such, but it is also great to do something with him that he enjoys. Even if you don't. I am blessed to enjoy what he does, but I think the main reason I do is because he is doing it with me. I don't want to miss out on that. I don't want to regret not showing my love to him when I was young when I am older.
In a way I also see it as preparing me for being a wife. A wife needs to be supportive and join in the things her husband enjoys too. Doing that with your dad can be a "practice" run. Like playing house in a way.
But most of all I see it as a symbol of our heavenly Father. He also wants to spend time with us doing what He wants and what His heart is in. And that is loving Him just like it is loving our dad here on earth. And it is important to Him just like I know it is important to my daddy.
I love my dads. I hope I am showing it.