beer's a brewin'

that's right...travis has been brewing beer in the moore household...and he's having a lot of fun with it. last weekend he made the beer and this weekend he "racked" it...it is in the fermentation process. soon he will bottle it. it's quite the process!

ash wednesday

i went to the ash wednesday service at our church tonight. and it was so good...good for me...good for me as i enter the beginning of lent. it gave me such great perspective and came at such a good time...in the middle of this hectic and rough week. it was solace for me and a way for me to let go of the things that I hold onto so tightly...i feel like i have so much to think through. so many things to let go. and i actually think i'll take these 40 days of lent and meditate over these things and really focus myself on God and try to hear his voice.

i've never really practiced lent. I grew up in a church where on easter they went on with the normal series and said "every sunday we celebrate easter"...they didn't do a special easter service for all those that came that one time a year. and i see their point...kinda'...but i've learned to appreciate the church calendar over the last several years...and would love to understand it even more...the last few years i've celebrated different aspects of the liturgical calendar...and now it is time to give lent a try...after many years of thinking about it...here i go...

my measley efforts to save the earth...

I'm sitting in a starbucks and i'm watching them take loads of trash out to the garbage. (mind you that the "garbage" is full of milk cartons that they could recycle.) i'm watching gobs of people receive throw away cups, when they are enjoying their beverage in the coffee shop and they could have gotten a "for here" cup, but no barista asked them "for here or to go?" they just gave them a paper cup to throw away...

and i'm thinking...it would take me a year to recycle as many milk cartons as what one starbucks throws away in one day. and i feel that my individual choices to conserve can't make a difference. it is almost like saving the environment can't just happen with my choice to consolidate my trips and use a porcelain cup when i go to a coffee shop. i feel like i need to write corporations like starbucks and beg them to do more than than have 10% post consumer recycled cups. i feel like i should write every corporate office and urge them to recycle, even if it is more work.

this has to happen on a grander scale. and i know that things are happening, things are getting better. but they aren't good enough. we have to do more.

and to top it off...i hear that people think this whole global warming thing is a political conspiracy theory! ha! yeh, right!

here are some of the things travis and i have started doing:

- unplugging appliances we aren't using
- energy saver lights
- refusing bags at stores when we only have a few items (and now we have clothe bags that we put our groceries in)
- ride MAX as much as we can.
- turn the shower off when we suds up (okay, just travis does this)
- make sure our soaps are phosphate free
- checking the labels of what we buy to see where it comes from and chose local as much as we can (thinklocalportland.org)
- ride our bikes to the store
- conservation in whatever form we can: turning off lights, turning down the heat at night
- not just recycle, but buy recycled things
- use a dry cleaner that is enviromentally friendly
- we're also looking into passive solar heating and cooling
- alternative energy from windpower from our energy company

supposedly 50% of the CO2s are from our house...so it isn't just our cars that are the issue.

it's a beginning and we hope to keep adding things to our list!

1 year in the Northwest!!

yep, that's right. it was one year ago today that we finished the last leg of our journey and drove into the beautiful northwest. it's been a gradual settling process, but we are finally settling in...and it is starting to feel like home!!

This is just a great place to be...and i love the weather!! the winters aren't bad at all and i don't mind the rain and the summers are amazing...i just can't imagine a better climate...i think it was made for me. the people are wonderul...this place makes my heart smile!

and oregon is rubbing off on us!
no, we haven't bought a subaru outback, which seems to be the car of choice around here...but we are drooling over a jetta we can run on biodiesel. we are becoming very green and we love it! when you are in such a beautiful place, you can't help but want to save the environment!

so, here's to oregon. may we be here a long, long time!! (fingers crossed)