Passions define...

So, what are we passionate about? Us: Worshipping God the Father and Our Lord Jesus Christ (we desire to grow more in this) Summer vacation (Scott-finishing teaching 6-20-07 and Heather-finishing internship 7-13-07) Playing games together and with friends Camping Scott: Heather Teaching Running Ultimate Frisbee Heather: Scott Card making and Candy making (visit Taste and See blog) Homemaking Music These are just a few of the things that we are passionate about at this time. How about you? What are you passionate about?

Wow, this past weekend has been really busy and full of exciting events!!! We've broken down the three events in three posts.

1. Brian and Abby Boatman's Wedding
2. Soren and Sarah Overby's Graduation from Corban
3. A house burning right out our back patio.

Check these out posts and the pictures that go along with them.

The Boatman Wedding Friday, May 4th. We were honored to attend the wedding of Abby Langbecker and Brian Boatman at McMenamin's Edgefield. Heather has known Abby and Brian for many years and it was such a joyous occasion to see them married. It was also fun for Heather to see some great friends from her years at the Church on the Mountain. The wedding was in Blackberry Hall and was an absolutely gorgeous event. Click here to view pictures.

Soren and Sarah Overby's Graduation from Corban College Saturday, May 5th. Soren and Sarah Overby graduated from Corban College both with their degrees in Education. They are the first two Overbys to graduate from Corban. For those of you who know the Overbys you might be saying, wait a minute, didn't Sjana (pronounced Shawna) go to Corban. The answer to that is, sorta kinda. She went to and Graduated from Western Baptist, which is now Corban College. So, the same school, but new names. Plus, when she graduated from "Western Baptist" she was no longer an Overby but a MacSwan. So both the college and Sjana have had a name change to make the statement technically true that Soren and Sarah were the first Overbys to graduate from Corban College. And technically Sarah walked first so she graduated before Soren did. Side note: Soren and Sarah will not be the last Overbys there, Seth is planning on attending Corban this fall. After the graduation the whole Overby and Roach clan (Sarah's maiden name was Roach) went to the "Best Little Roadhouse" in Salem. And let us tell you, it is a very good little Roadhouse. We enjoyed Onion Straws (like onion rings but smaller) and yummy honey bread, and by the time our meal came we could only eat a little of it. Don't worry, we enjoyed it for lunch the next day. With a group of 20 (yes there were that many of us) we got to eat outside on the heated patio and enjoy a fun time of fellowship with our family. After the food, Soren, Sarah and the two of us went over to Northern Lights Theater to catch a movie. Unfortunately nothing good was showing (it's $3 a movie at Northern Lights) so we went to Blockbuster to rent a movie and watched it at Soren and Sarah's place. We rented "Man of the Year" with Robin Williams and we loved the plot and some of the jokes. By some we mean about 15%. Otherwise it was just raunchy humor. Scott and Soren got to play some Halo on Soren's Xbox, which Scott really enjoyed. The day was fun and filled, and we send our congratulations out to Soren and Sarah again and to all those of you graduating from High School or College this year. To those who are close, keep hanging in there, you can do it!!! Here are some more pictures from the graduation.

Fire Day: Sunday, May 6th. About 3 weeks ago we had an influx of firefighters congregating at the house across from our back patio. We found out that some people bought the place and were going to burn it down to subdivide it for townhouses or houses. The date for the big burn was May 6th. Between then and Sunday firefighters occassionally showed up to cut holes in the roof, cut out walls, do some smoke drills or other firefighter-esk things. May 6th finally arrived and boy was it a show!!! There were probably 5-6 firetrucks and lots of firefighters. They started with small burns, and they would go in and put the flames out. Then it was time for the big show. I know we have lots of pictures, but it's the best way to explain the excitement. The smoke went really high, the flames were HUGE. We could feel the heat from our apartment which is about 75meters from the house. Since the burn they've completely hauled away all the rubble (concrete and all) and they will start preparing the land soon for more houses!!! Just what we need. To fill you in about this house (it was no ordinary home). It seems to have once been some sort of recreation center because there are two stories on one side of the building which both seem to just be large open rooms. In the other side of the building was an old run down swimming pool! Yes an indoor swimming pool that even had a side bathroom/changing room/kitchen. But, it's all gone now. Enjoy the show.

Before: More Pics

During: More Pics

After: More Pics

Young Married's Game Night at Church on the Hill: April 21st We had a game night for the young married couples at our church in McMinnville. We "co-hosted" it with our friends Jeremy and Claudette. It wasn't that well planned due to the busyness of life. When we arrived at the church the room was locked. When we got in, nothing was set up as it was supposed to be, and no childcare was arranged. Oh well, it was still fun, even if there were 10 toddlers running around. There was good food, Thank you Jeremy for the chicken wings, and fun games. We played Apples to Apples, Uno, the Shocking Game, and Wii. For those of you who aren't sure on what those last two games are. The Shocking Game (there's no better way to describe it) is where 2-4 people hold these futuristic looking remotes all connected to the center console. It will flash red and make annoying sounds, when it stops making noise and turns green everyone hits the button on the remotes. Last person to do so or does so too soon, gets shocked. One of the guys there said it's not quite as shocking as holding an electric fence. Let's just say it was most popular among some of the guys. The Wii is the new game system by Nintendo. The controller is more like a remote that senses your movements. It's lots of fun. We were playing a "Wario" game that has you do a bunch of little mini games like hold the remote like a waiter, or like a remote, or like a tug of war rope. Very different than your typical game console. After the game night, we went to another activity (also at the Church on the Hill), Heather's friend Laura was hosting a Victorian Regency Ball. There we learned a bunch of dances like you would see in Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, and Emma. For you guys out there, it was actually a lot of fun. Even Scott and Jeremy enjoyed it (Jeremy and Claudette joined in for a dance). Overall we had a really fun night.

Click Here to see more pictures from the game night

Scott's Birthday Family Dinner and Bower's Baby Shower: Sunday, April 16th On Sunday April 15th, we got to enjoy a birthday dinner for Scott with his family. We went to the Cheesecake Factory at Washington Square Mall. Yes they serve Cheesecake, but that's not all. They have HUGE MEALS at decent prices, and the service was amazing. Well, with a party of 10 people plus a highchair for our nephew Hunter, we needed a little bit of special attention. Those attending were: Us (Scott and Heather), Scott's parents (Steve and Sue), Scott's Grandparents (G'pa Richard, G'ma Bettie, and G'ma Carlene (G'pa Stan was home sick)), Scott's Siblings (Sjana and her husband Brian, Seth) and our nephew Hunter (Sjana and Brian's son). Before the dinner, Heather enjoyed Bethany Bower's Baby Shower! Baby Rhubarb (they didn't know the gender), was due May 5th. We haven't heard yet whether Rhubarb is a boy or a girl and the new corresponding name. While Heather was partying it up, Scott was at Starbucks lesson planning, and finishing the book "The Ezekial Option"

To see more pictures from our weekend click here.

Hello friends and family! Wow, we can't believe it's been over a month and a half since we last posted. Sorry it has been so long. Don't give up though, we still want you to know what's going on in our busy life. Scott is back in the job hunt now. His one year temporary contract is ending at McMinnville and we are looking to see where God wants us to be next year. Heather only has to drive up to Portland fifty more times for her internship. Thirteen weeks left and she will be finished with this chapter of her life. She is learning a lot though and her music therapy skills are improving daily. Please pray for us as we are once again in life's transitions. Take care everyone! Here are some highlights of the last month and a half.

Happy Birthday Scott! Scott celebrated his 24th birthday this weekend. He awoke Saturday morning and was surprised to receive a waffle iron as one of his first gifts of the day. He had told Heather many times how much he loved waffles. Heather is not a huge waffle fan but decided that in order to satisfy Scott's desire for waffles she would need to buy an iron. So, Heather made waffles with fresh strawberries and syrup and whip cream on top. He was really happy and ate a lot! Scott also got a book of love certificates for things like boy movie rentals, desserts of his choice, special homemade dinners that Scott likes, board games like Risk, Clue, Mastermind, and Monopoly that Heather would not usually pick, and different cleaning jobs that neither of us like to do. He also got the game Settlers of the Catan which he will really enjoy playing soon. We went to Airport park, and had lunch outside of the Evergreen Aviation Museum. That night, Heather tried to surprise Scott by having people over for dinner, cake and ice cream but Scott became suspicious when we started cleaning the house. Our guests included Aaron Young and Evelyn Williams, Dave and Amy Bertolini, and Deborah Barber. Check out these pictures.

Darts anyone? We have been having so much fun on our back patio lately. Scott hung a dartboard we got for Christmas and we can play regular darts and baseball darts. Come on over and we'll play some time. Check out these fun pictures!

March 29th. Scott and I went out to dinner tonight at McMenamins in Downtown McMinnville and met up with David and Rhonda from church. We also met Kevin who is friends with David and Rhonda and Heather got a ride on his sweet Harley. We have also been having a wonderful time with Jeremy and Claudette Stevenson who we also know from church. Claudette even offered to highlight and cut Heather's hair one Saturday. She is an engineer and also went to beauty school for a while. She did a wonderful job on Heather's hair and she would love to have Claudette do her hair in the future. Here are some more photos.

Sunday, March 11th was daylight savings! We went to the 9:30 service at church, cleaned house and had G'ma Bettie and G'pa Dick come visit us. It was the first time they had seen our apartment and we enjoyed going out to lunch with them at the Golden Valley Brew Pub. We love our family!

Last weekend we had a wonderful opportunity to head east and see our families. We first spent time with the Overbys where Grandpa Stan (Overby) was celebrating his 80th birthday! In attendence were Stan and Carlene, Richard and Bettie Mills, Steve and Sue, Brian and Sjana MacSwan and their son Hunter, Seth, Uncle Spence and us (of course). Uncle Spence (Overby) flew in from Arkansas to be there for his dad's birthday. Unfortunately the girls (Shantelle, Stephenie, and Samantha) and Kathy were not able to make the trip too. Soren and Sarah were also missed. They took a Praxis test in Corvallis that day and had not arrived by the time we left. If you need a diagram of the Overby family we can draw one for you later. :-) We enjoyed a wonderful lunch together (the Overbys always seem to get together when there is food involved), Grandpa's birthday cake, playing with Hunter (who just turned 1, and as everyone knows 1 year olds always steal the show), and seeing Grandpa open his presents. In the pictures you'll see the Overby cousins gave him a Arkansas Razorbacks hat. He also received a scrapbook full off pictures and notes from the entire family.

After our time with the Overbys we headed up to Welches to see Gene and Cinda Tilgner. They recently returned home from a sailing trip in Mexico. They are soon leaving for Arizona where they will visit Thomas, Beth, Andrea and Gavin. So this was our last opportunity in a while to see them. Cinda made an amazing meal with Steak Fajitas and Fish Tostadas. Mmmmm. We enjoyed several games of Pinochle (one of our favorites the other being Hand and Foot), and just being with them. We spent the night there, and had a relaxing Sunday with them as well. Scott worked on some lesson planning while Heather went for a hard walk with Cinda. But, all good things must come to an end, and we came back to McMinnville where Scott spent the rest of the afternoon and evening lesson planning. This is what fills most of our evenings now. We can't wait for next year when all this time he's putting in now will pay off! That's all from our world, we hope you're doing well wherever you are. To see more pictures from our weekend click here.

Last night we had the privilege of seeing two very dear friends of ours from Willamette get married in a beautiful ceremony ordained by God Himself. Dan and Carly Kenagy are a lovely couple and are now husband and wife. We enjoyed seeing them, of course, and also enjoyed seeing many other Willamette friends at the wedding. Some of the people we were delighted to see were Tom and Lindsay Regan, Jeff and Tammy Poush, John and Kari Konrad, Kevin Hall, Josh Ray and Katie Bruhn, Tommy Balcolm, Doug Allan, Tyler May, Jun Zhang and Michelle, Israel Zurich and Becky, and many more. We had a wonderful time celebrating with Dan and Carly and we pray they will have a joyful life together. To view more pictures click here.

I (Scott) had the opportunity to celebrate with a bunch of guys from college the upcoming wedding of my friend Dan Kenagy. That's right, a Bachelor Party! The festivities included some intense basketball at the Tualatin Rec Center on the outdoor courts. Then Dinner at the Mongolian Grill. Video games at Wonderland, and Milkshakes at Jack-in-the-Box. It was a blast seeing these guys who I haven't had a chance to hangout with in a couple of years. The attendees were John Konrad, Tyler May, Joel Flachsbart, Jun Zhang, myself, Josh Edson, and of course the Groom-to-be Dan Kenagy. One of the highlights was getting giant gumballs at Wonderland! They were so big it hurt our jaws just to chew them. We had a great time together, and we are looking forward to Dan's upcoming marriage to Carly Smith. Congrats Dan! If you want to check out more pictures click here.

While Scott was enjoying time with the guys for Dan's Bachelor Party, I (Heather) was spending the weekend with nine women in a music therapy assisted childbirth course in Portland, provided by Sound Birthing. As you may know, I am currently doing my music therapy internship in Portland with Earthtones Music Therapy Services. This Music Therapy Assisted Childbirth Training (MTACB) was a continuing education class that I chose to take. I learned so much more about childbirth and the many ways music can be used to enhance the childbirth process. I will soon be taking another certification training course with DONA, which is the largest and most recognized doula association in the world. I am really excited about music therapy assisted childbirth and I’m looking forward to using my skills to assist many women in labor and delivery. On Saturday evening while Scott was with the guys I went to my dear friend Bethany’s house for February's Fantastic Fondue Fiesta for Friends. I had such a wonderful time with Bethany, Corey, Brad K., Annie, Aaron, Brad C., Andrea and Amanda. We ate cheese and chocolate fondue (of course), played Taboo, and laughed jovially at all manner of conversations. Scott had the camera at the Bachelor party so I did not get any pictures of the fun. Trust me, there would have been some great picture taking at this get together.

Oh man, the joys and trials of life in the "real world". Heather is realizing what it is like to work full time and commute at least 100 miles a day. She is now full-swing in her music therapy internship with Earthtones Music Therapy services in Portland, Oregon. This is a six month unpaid internship that is required in order for her to become a board-certified Music Therapist. Scott just began his second semester teaching at McMinnville High School. On top of all the Algebra and Pre-Algebra classes he was teaching last semester, he is now teaching a geometry class as well. That is a lot of lesson planning every day! That's what he gets for being a first year teacher. He does like it though. Today was Superbowl Sunday. We had a young marrieds meeting before the game and we stayed at David and Rhonda's house to watch the game on their big screen TV. It was a good game to watch (our one game a year) as it was fairly evenly matched. The Colts controlled most of the game and ended up beating the Bears. It was fun to have an opportunity to hang out with friends and make some new friends as well.

Our third snow day in a week! Wow. We got the call at 5:30, which allowed Scott to actually sleep in. Heather's internship was also canceled for a second day in a row. We played more cribbage, went to see Charlotte’s Web at the Moonlight Theater, and got a new sink! Our maintenance guy came to replace it on the absolutely perfect day, both of us were home. He also gave Heather a few tips on playing the accordion. Turns out he took accordion lessons when he was younger. What a beautiful snow day.

Wow, another snow day! We weren't expecting this on the Tuesday after Martin Luther King Jr. Day. Scott got the call at 6:45 and it completely caught us off guard. Heather also received a call from her supervisor saying her internship was canceled for the day. So we get another day together! As we enjoy the day at home decluttering our apartment, we look outside as the snow comes pouring down. What a wonderful weekend. Two snow days in less than a week. Unfortunately this will be hard on Scott as far as lesson planning goes. Now he only has 5 full days before finals to get his students ready. Hope you are safe and blessed wherever you're at.

On Thursday morning January 11, 2007 we were blessed with a wonderful snow day! Scott woke up at 5:30, his normal time to get ready for work. At 6:30 he received a phone call that the school was on a 2 hour late start! He used that time to finish some grading and make his lunch. When it was light enough, he looked outside and saw a fresh blanket of snow and more coming down! He went online and checked the reports, and sure enough McMinnville School District- Closed. He ran into the bedroom waking up Heather saying, "You've got to see this!" This is a huge blessing, because Heather just finished up the last of her paperwork and projects for Marylhurst the previous day, and those items have been causing alot of stress recently. We were able to enjoy the snow day together, playing outside and creating our snowman "Sam" (Scott was the creative one who came up with the name). Yay for snow, it's a beautiful day, walking in a winter wonderland. To see more photos click here.