Written explanation of the graphic collage-quilt on Dave

CAKE/RINGS: Dave and I were married on July 19, 1975; 25 years ago as of the summer of 2000! The little cake graphic even looks a lot like ours, and our colors were pink and green! I'll eventually have a picture here of us at our wedding (we were babes! :-D ) as well as a tape of our testimony, as God has done an awesome work in our marriage! It's a story that has given many couples hope. "What the enemy intended for evil, God has turned for good!"	TRIKE, BEARS, AND BLOCKS: Here is a "bear" version of Dave with our three children, Sharnessa, now 22; Tory, 21 in March, and Carlianne 13, who came along 7 years after Tory! They are our pride and joy! And Dave is an awesome father! He has a wonderful blend of humor, authority and love. Here is a poem Sharnessa wrote to Dave which gives a very good picture of his many fatherly qualities in the eyes of one of the 3 people in this world who call him "My Daddy".	STEELHEAD FISH: Although Dave would consider himself just an "above-average" fisherman, he's known among his peers as an expert. And the many dinners on our table each year with fish he caught confirm that! Dave not only catches and cleans them, he also cooks them, and is an expert at that too! He has turned many a fish hater into fish lovers! My Mom told me "We had fish the other night, and it was 'all right,' but if Dave had fixed it, it would have been a LOT better!
MUGS & SUNSHINE: One of Dave's and my favorite things to do is have coffee together early in the morning before he leaves for work. We talk over the day, what's happenin', and pray. It's a precious time! (unless I can't get up. :-( ) By the way, this sunny picture (above) is accurate for only part of the year; it is more commonly pitch-black outside when we get up! In fact, I have to turn on the porch light to see Dave get in the truck and wave good-bye to him!	POLICEMAN: Early on in our marriage, Dave went into police work, starting out just "riding" with a policeman/friend 12 hours each month for two years as a "reserve officer." During that time he came to realize that police work was what he wanted to do for his career! He tested, was hired, and then went to a three-month Police Academy - where he received the honor of placing "Number One" in his class!	BASEBALL: Dave loves baseball, both playing it and going to professional baseball games. He and Tory are both avid Seattle Mariners fans and both play on local softball teams during the season. I am their best fan and usually have a hoarse voice the day after a game. ;-D Our family has attended games at the Seattle Kingdome, which has now been "retired", and at the new Safeco Field, which we watched being built, and which is amazing! (And I'm not even into baseball!) Here's a photo of Us and Sam there!
TAPE MEASURE: Dave taught himself how to do carpentry work, one inch, one nail, one wire at a time, starting out with absolutely no skills in that area whatsoever! He had some help from my dad at times, but he actually prefers to figure it out himself, the hard way! And he has done a very expert job on many difficult projects around the house. (Specific projects coming up in the next 2 boxes!)	HAMMER: Some of Dave's earlier projects included fences, shelves (which got better each time he made new ones), and installing kitchen linoleum. He progressed to converting a two-car garage into a bedroom, storage room and workroom, then a bedroom into an office for me, with wood-trimmed Formica-topped counters and many adjustable shelves! (I'm very good at supplying ample reason to make the shelves!)	TOOL BOX: One of Dave's latest building projects was to turn his work area into an office for himself, a much-needed expansion with the growth of our business. This is where he stores all the alphabetized books we sell and handles orders. He also built an insulated, heated room in our shed to house and protect the hundreds of books that we self-publish. (The shed is famous for mildewing everything that goes in it.)
D.A.R.E.: After 20 years of being a police officer, Dave was asked to train to be the D.A.R.E. officer for his department. (Kelso Police Dept. in Kelso, WA.) At first he cringed at the idea, dreading the thought of speaking in front of people, even if they were "only" sixth graders. This had been a life-long fear. But God used his two-week training as a breakthrough in his life to free him from his fear of speaking in front of people! A new-found talent!	FOODS: These are just a few of Dave's favorite foods, but let me tell you a few "inside tid-bits": He's very much a "meat 'n' potatoes" man; he never buys grapes or apples (or much of ANYthing, come to think of it!) unless they're on sale; he makes the best tacos, and his chocolate chip cookies have to be milk chocolate (not semi-sweet!), and they must be baked to "still doughy in the middle" (with no traces of brown!) when they come out of the oven!	FIREPLACE: Our family loves a cozy evening by a nice glowing fire in the fireplace! In fact, our fireplace even looks a lot like this one above! And we are privileged to have Dave as our Resident Fire-building Expert! (a title I'm happy to let him have!) Getting a bit poetic, though, the fireplace is really very symbolic of Dave's role in our home as he, with his big warm heart, is very adept at keeping our "home fires" burning! He takes wonderful care of us!
FILING CABINET: This is where all the originals for my books and handouts (that go with my audio taped seminars) are kept safe 'n' secure.. Dave keeps them all neatly filed away in alphabetical order, and then when we run low on something, he whips out the originals and makes a trip to Mail Boxes Etc. where he does all the copying himself. He also comb-binds the books himself and packages up the tape sets! He sends the originals of the two we have professionally done to the printer.	FLYING BOX: I write the books and get the originals camera-ready, but it's Dave who takes the "baton" from there! He produces what I write (and speak), and then sends out the orders for my books - as well as the ones we carry that I didn't write - to individual private orders and also to our homeschool wholesale companies. In fact, without Dave, what we do just plain wouldn't happen! I couldn't do it all even if I wanted to! (And I don't want to! All the details of it are overwhelming!) He is truly the wind beneath MY wings, the wings of our business, and the wings of the hundreds of boxes he sends each year!	HUNTER: Dave has been into hunting (and guns) ever since I've known him. Our freezer is always full of the meat he "bagged" and put there. He is amazingly capable of taking an animal - deer or elk - all the way from field to freezer! He even does the butchering and packaging, with a little help from us. :-) This last year was the first he got skunked in the whole time I've known him! So he's now taken up "bargain meat hunting" and brings his "kills" home and seal-a-meals them! (Click here to see a photo of Dave and Tory with a deer Tory had just murd- I mean kil- I mean gotten. ;-D )