Christmas Newsletter, 2009

A Merry Christmas to all!

This mosaic is actually a collection of scenes from the New Testament - the little rectangles note the scripture reference for each.

Likewise our year has been like a mosaic of the acts of God and our adventures.

Ruth has been using her spare time here and there to build a sheltered area on the side of the garage where she will be able to do dusty and stinky things - like refinishing cabinets - while out of the usually imminent threat of rain.

Early on this year, our company embarked on a few, but challenging, bedbug jobs. Bedbugs used to be considered the problem of the poor and dirty folks. Then in America, at least, the problem was practically eliminated for a generation or two by DDT. Now bedbugs are back, and likely as not, pestering the wealthy, who have the means to travel. They are now turning up in resorts and upscale hotels.

The stains on this unfinished wood wall in a resort cabin have been made by bedbugs. There are a few bedbugs in the picture also.

This year the district teen Bible quiz championship tournament was held at our church. The group on the platform is preparing for the All-Star quiz-off. The 5 winners formed a team that represented western Oregon at the regional tournament.

Ruth enjoys doing a little volunteer work for other churches and church campgrounds with ROAM - RV's on a mission. Although most ROAMer's are retired and travel around in their RV's, they let me help out, even tho I don't fit that criteria. Here I am after crawling under the Junction City church to reconnect the drain pipes after we repositioned the baptistry.

Extermination has its occupational hazards, of which exposure to pesticides is probably a small part. Here Carlton notes the poison oak he will need to get through to complete his task.

I haven't asked Carlton what he was doing here, but that is some high scaffolding!

But the hazards are offset by lots of nice perks, too, like getting to service the properties at the coast. Yes, that is the famous Haystack Rock at Cannon Beach.

This year, our crew even got together to go on a rafting trip. Ironically, the fellow who put it all together for us had a horseback riding accident that made quite a mess of his leg, and he didn't get to participate.

We have enjoyed "grandparenting" Elijah this year. He just turned 3 this fall, and he is learning so much so fast! Here he is at the church neighborhood party on a very hot summer day, having just gone down this big water slide. See Mommy's knees up there? She is coming down after him.

Our church now has a thriving Latino congregation, and they brought this band to the neighborhood party. Notice the drummer boy. He is 7, they told me. Good, too!

Sometimes we exterminators see strange things. This is an office building, concrete slab, metal studs and brick siding, lots of window glass - the point I am making is that there is little wood. If you look closely, there is a green arrow on the carpet by the seam with the stone. This marks the termite hole. Not much for termites to eat here, but they did chew up a little string on the carpet backing. And what's more, came back for more! It has the record for my smallest termite job ever.

Realizing that our 31 year-old composition roof was no doubt pushing the limit, we hired 4 young fellows that could use a bit of work and had never done roofing before to strip off our old roof and put on the new. They did just fine, and now have one more life skill. There are a few areas that look a bit off, if you examine closely, but it doesn't leak. Should last very well.

Ruth kept them going with lots of supervision and smoothies.

Elijah's highlight at the State Fair was the fish. Elijah likes fish - it's amazing how much he knows about them already.

Here are Elijah and Yoshimi all costumed for Halloween. Our house sets way back from the street, so it was nice to get some trick-or-treaters.

On the other hand, I was working at my duplex in Redmond on Halloween, and had more than 40 come by - kept climbing down off my ladder with paintbrush in hand to pass out the treats.

One of our 2 quiz teams at Quiz Camp in Prineville.

The fall season in Redmond is certainly graced with lots of beautiful sunrises and sunsets.
One morning a forked horn mule deer walked right by my window. What I saw at first were his antlers gliding along just outside the window.

In November Ruth went to Arlington to enjoy the dedication of the new building that she worked on for a week last year. Met some really great people, too.

On my last trip to Redmond, I got a gorgeous view of Mt. Hood at sundown. No renters to be had in this season, with this economic climate, so I moved in a young couple from the church with 2 baby girls that would otherwise be homeless.

We are really praying that they find work, good work, and lots of it. Hopefully they get their feet under them before people start moving around in the spring.





This Christmas season, I am pondering anew the concept of miracles. If you watch TV, read GuidePosts or various church papers, you may get a starry-eyed perspective of miracles. But there is another side to every miracle - a price was paid, likely very dear. As I was trying to explain myself to my Sunday School teacher, he got to the bottom line. Jesus' part in the miracle of our redemption was "a bloody mess". And often our Lord offers us the privilege of taking part in some miracle he is doing for one or more of his beloved children. Our part may not be much fun, it might be inconvenient, expensive, frightening, painful, or more. But that is what love is, and we love, because He first loved us.

May you have more than a Merry Christmas, may you have a Blessed a Joyous Christmas, and a Wonderful 2010. With our love, Carlton and Ruth

Smith's Christmas newsletter 2008

Dear family and friends, Wishing you a very merry Christmas as we sit by the fire and wait for our first snow of the season to start falling. Carlton is puttering with a friend's broken computer. It's a common passtime for him, and I'm sure a lot of folks appreciate it. He has also discovered Netflix movie deals. Every Friday he fixes a pizza dinner for his friends, and then we often enjoy a movie. Sometimes he teaches a English as a second language on Saturday mornings.

This bunch took me snowshoeing.

This is a neat wind effect viewed from the southeast side of Mt. Hood.

We have both been busy exterminators this year, Carlton full-time in Portland, Ruth part-time, but very busy filling in for one missing man after another. Ruth enjoyed the traveling around - the various routes cover all of NW Oregon, including the coast. Finally, in October, the full crew is working, and Ruth is catching up around home, and hauling a couple pickup-loads of wood debris a week out of a business complex. It fetches a little money and sometimes a good board or a bit of firewood.

Working in the snow.

Termites!

A sneak peak at Willamette Falls

This is a male spider. See his boxing gloves?

So as not to be overworked, Ruth took several time-offs this year for various adventures. There were a couple 1-week work/mission projects in Oregon, Kamp Kellogg and Arlington Nazarene. I went to Medford for a mission convention, and to Idaho for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to work for a week at the National Bible Quiz.

This is the crew at Arlington

Ruth was working on the wall...

UP There! making those spots on the left.

The female blossom of the wild filbert (or hazelnut), Oregon's state nut, - enlarged.

A carpenter ant queen.

Henbit is a pretty weed in the spring - up close.

A couple of the many projects at Kamp Kellogg

Cleaning up winter storm damage at Kamp Kellogg. There was a lot of it this year.

The red osier dogwood and something else....

do you see it?

Look carefully

look very carefully

The goldenrod spider has a wonderful camo for sitting on this head of flowers. I hope you can see it now.

There were lots and lots of showy milkweeds in perfect bloom on my trip from Idaho.

Jason and Twi hosted a mega birthday party in July for Carlton, Ruth, and the two-year old son of a good friend in a park near their home. The toddler enjoyed the playground, and we enjoyed him. The calico cat that adopted us many years ago died, so Crystal and Bryan gave Carlton a kitten for his birthday, perhaps partly so Common, the ginger cat we inherited from Yoshimi, would not be so lazy or lonesome. We picked out a black kitten, and named her Unique. Common welcomed her to his abode a few days later by bringing a live sparrow in the house and presenting it to her. There were feathers everywhere! She is getting along well with all of us, has been hunting the rat that burrows in the duck pen, and is cautiously friendly with the dogs. One day she "helped" Saidy who was barking at a squirrel in our walnut tree by climbing up after it. I held my breath, as she was not much bigger than the squirrel. However, the nervous squirrel bailed out of the tree from on high, and Saidy chased it to the fence.

Andrew finally conquers the BIG slide.

The tide was out at Haystack rock.

Saw this old truck while out working one day and thought it was picturesque.












Rockaway Beach from a customer's deck.

In September, I rode with Bryan and Crystal to the Lake Tahoe area for a cousin's wedding. All beautiful, the wedding, the scenery, and the trip. With all my roaming, I have continued to build a photo library of Oregon's weeds, and collected a few specimens for the state herbarium.

The bride, with her sister and neice.

The flower girl playing in the lake at the rehearsal BBQ.

The beautiful outdoor wedding

The reception dinner

Cabrillo Point Lighthouse

We drove up the California coast - nice and cloudy and cool, and hot everywhere else - and spent the night in the redwoods.

The house next door has been vacant this year, and I have been caring for the yard, and sometimes giving a bit of attention to the house as well. It appears like a deal is finally in process, and we may soon have new neighbors.


Unique is "helping" me put away the Thanksgiving decorations.

The night passed since I started this letter. This morning Unique was sitting by the window at the head of the bed, staring facinated at the snow flakes. The Portland area has pretty much shut down with a little bit of snow - it usually does, and Carlton and Bryan are both sitting by the fire puttering with that computer, Unique is up at the top of the cat tower enjoying the heat wafting her way, Common is snoozing on the bed, and the duck and the dogs are out romping in the inch or two of snow that has accumulated so far.

Unique is inspecting - and removing ornaments, while Common is trying - unsuccessfully - to catnap under the tree.

This is a week after this letter was begun, and it has been delightfully wintry - notice the snow on the deck rail outside. There were 9 1/2 inches of powder in the yard last night, then we got a little freezing rain which put a crust on all of it.

Usually winter weather manages to happen while we are gone to California on vacation, so we are pleased to get to enjoy it this year.

We look forward to hearing your news. Drop us a line, send us an email, hook up with me on Facebook, whatever works for you. Carlton's email is carltons at netzero.net and Ruth's email is hoo_t_owl at juno.com. To use these addresses, replace the word "at" with @ and eliminate the spaces. They are written in here that way to prevent those nasty programs that crawl through web sites picking up email addresses from finding and picking them.


Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and a Blessed New Year

Carlton & Ruth Smith