Truth for Today #200

Friday August 21st

On Fridays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during the week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like to share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s continue to dig deep into God’s truth.

The verses that you share are appreciated and so encouraging, I’m thankful for them and for each of you.

1 Timothy 6:20

O Timothy, guard the deposit entrusted to you. Avoid the irreverent babble and contradictions of what is falsely called knowledge, for by professing it some have swerved from the faith. Grace be with you.

1 Peter 1:8-9

Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Psalm 18:1

I love you, O LORD, my strength.

From Vera:

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭148‬:‭1‬-‭14‬ ‭ESV‬‬

“Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord from the heavens; praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels; praise him, all his hosts! Praise him, sun and moon, praise him, all you shining stars! Praise him, you highest heavens, and you waters above the heavens! Let them praise the name of the Lord! For he commanded and they were created. And he established them forever and ever; he gave a decree, and it shall not pass away. Praise the Lord from the earth, you great sea creatures and all deeps, fire and hail, snow and mist, stormy wind fulfilling his word! Mountains and all hills, fruit trees and all cedars! Beasts and all livestock, creeping things and flying birds! Kings of the earth and all peoples, princes and all rulers of the earth! Young men and maidens together, old men and children! Let them praise the name of the Lord, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven. He has raised up a horn for his people, praise for all his saints, for the people of Israel who are near to him. Praise the Lord!”

Prayer

A quote about prayer from John MacArthur who was Greg and my first pastor after we were married in 1974. He got his promotion to heaven July 25th of 2025. Even though we moved far away from our first church and have been active members under other pastors since 1976, we’ve continued to learn and grow from Johnny Mac’s sermons (available at Grace to You) and his books.

“Far from being merely a wish list, godly prayer is fundamentally and inescapably an act of worship. It is an expression of our praise, our unworthiness, our desire to see God’s will fulfilled, and our utter dependence on Him for all our needs. Thus, every aspect of prayer is an act of worship. That includes the petitions we make, because when we properly make our requests known to God–without anxiety, through prayer and supplication, and with thanksgiving (Phil. 4:6)–we are acknowledging His sovereignty, confessing our own total reliance on His grace and power, and looking to Him as Lord, provider, and ruler of the universe–not some kind of celestial Santa. Even when we are making requests, proper prayer is pure worship.”

The stained glass window and photo from the cellars are from Dunfermline Abbey and Palace in Scotland. The window depicts Jesus on the Mount of Olives praying the night he was betrayed with some of his Disciples sleeping nearby.

The cellars afforded Josh, Laura, Greg and me our own mini praise and worship time to our Lord God singing Praise God from Whom all Blessings Flow.

Summer is Flying Hodgepodge

Another Summertime Hodgepodge is here with thanks to Joyce From This Side of the Pond.

1. August 19th is National Aviation Day…do you like to fly?

I do enjoy reaching special destinations by plane.

Last time you were on an airplane?

We flew to Southern California in May for our dear friend’s Memorial Service.

The date is chosen in honor of the history and development of aviation, and celebrated on the birthday of Orville Wright. Have you ever been to the Kitty Hawk area of North Carolina? The city of Dayton in Ohio (their birthplace)

No to both.

2. In what area of your life do you tend to ‘wing it’? Is this an area you should be winging?

Lately I’ve been in winging mode for meals at our country bungalow. I don’t know about should be, it is a phase.

3. A favorite book, song, or movie that relates to flight in some way?

I do still enjoy Leaving on a Jet Plane by John Denver.

This video was from August 19th, 1972!

4. Soft serve, gelato, sherbet, frozen yogurt, or good old fashioned ice cream…what’s your pleasure? Your favorite flavor? How often do you indulge?

Orange sherbet is a favorite. As far as old fashioned Ice Cream goes, Häagen-Dazs Coffee chip is a favorite.

5. I never get tired of______________________.

I never get tired of seeing our family and spending time with them.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Tried and True

I’m linking up to Talking About it Tuesday with Slices of Life for this post.

It’s hot and muggy outside and there is not much to share here. We have a family wedding of a Grand Nephew coming up in October and I’ve been checking out their registry to see what we’ll pick to gift them. My thoughts went back to our wedding registry.

We were married in December of 1974 and these were some shower and wedding gifts we received. They are still serving us well. These high quality stainless steel bowls have been used over and over again for mixing anything from cookies to cakes and brownies and for savory things like egg scrambles. Fifty two years old and it is accurate to say, ‘they don’t make them like they used to’.

My tried and true stand mixer has been a faithful friend over all these years beating up ingredients for me and saving my hands and wrists and arms a lot of wear and tear.

My aluminum pans have made so many cakes, crumbles, breads, brownies, and other wonderful treats.

We don’t have all the Pfaltzgraff Yorktowne dishes anymore. I did keep a couple of the teapots, the sugar and creamer and the cookie jar. I use the cookie jar as decor. We do have a full set of Moss Rose by Royal Albert that we collected after we were married. I purchased the Moss Rose Tea Set in Oxford in 1973 on our summer music tour before we were married and that inspired us to buy the dinner set, too. My parents purchased service for 8 of our sterling. Since our wedding we added 4 more place settings.

In walking about the house to see what other wedding gifts are still visible this pewter oil lamp came into view.

We both enjoyed and enjoy pewter. This gift was from friends from my Bethany Russian Baptist days. And these pewter gifts below were from mutual friends.

Looks like I have some silver polishing to do on those sugar tongs!

This sent me way down a rabbit hole that I’ll continue closer to our anniversary in December.

Are you still using gifts from your wedding showers and wedding day?

Along the Road

On Saturday we made a trip to Spokane for some big store shopping. On our way home we stopped in Deer Park for a meal at Master’s Brewhouse. We had their Teriyaki Rice Bowl and their soup of the day. The rice bowl was delicious and especially the fresh Asian spiced coleslaw. It’s hiding under the chicken. The soup of the day was a Mexican corn chowder. We always enjoy their soup of the day.

Along the highway from our lunch stop there were some sunflower fields and we pulled off to enjoy some closer views. The fields were a little past their prime but it was a nice sight nevertheless.

From the fields we continued north into Chewelah. We are still basking in the views without smoke.

This mural honoring Veteran’s is on the front of the American Legion building in Chewelah right on the highway. We get a good view when stopped at the one signal in the whole town.

We continued home and enjoyed a quiet evening.

On Sunday we had a great morning church service and then a relaxing afternoon and evening at home.

Happy Monday to you all.

Lord Jesus Christ, All Praise to Thee ~ Hymn

Lord Jesus Christ, All Praise to Thee

Lord Jesus Christ, all praise to Thee,
That Thou wast pleased a man to be;
Our low estate Thou didst not scorn;
And angels sang to see Thee born.

The heavenly Father’s only Son,
He left His rightful glorious throne;
The Lord through whom the worlds were made
Is in the humble manger laid.

The brightness of the light divine
Doth now into our darkness shine;
It breaks upon sin’s gloomy night
And makes us children of the light.

The Father’s Son, for ever blest,
Becomes in His own world a guest,
To lead us from this vale of strife
Into the everlasting life.

Words: Martin Luther, 1523.

Good Things

I started another thrift store puzzle and it’s a tough one.

I’m making slow but good progress.

Josh and Laura surprised me with this puzzle in the mail. They chose this one because our VBS theme this year was centered around Psalm 23. I’m looking forward to starting it soon. Thank you, Laura and Josh for your thoughtfulness!

On Thursday Addy and JJ were over in the afternoon so we made Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with walnuts. They are at an age where all I have to do is watch while they mix and load the cookie sheets. They are experienced in the kitchen. We threw caution to the wind and enjoyed a little cookie dough, too.

The big news is that the skies were not smoky on Thursday because of our rain. That meant that soccer games were not cancelled and we could finally watch Addy and JJ play soccer. There games were on adjoining fields. It was a cool evening on the soccer fields.

The skies continue to be glorious and the air is good to breath. We are over the top grateful. It is exhilarating to say the least to have our clear skies again.

Have a great Saturday!

Truth for Today #199

Friday August 14th

The verses that you share are appreciated and so encouraging, I’m thankful for them and for each of you.

Psalm 9:1-2

I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. I will be glad and exult in you; I will sing praise to your name, O Most High.

Isaiah 45:8 (ESV)

“Shower, O heavens, from above,

and let the clouds rain down righteousness;

let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;

let the earth cause them both to sprout;

I the Lord have created it.”

From Vera:

‭‭Psalm‬ ‭148‬:‭1‬-‭5‬ ‭ESV‬‬

At Last Rain

We had quite the thunderstorm roll in last evening, a heavy downpour. We hope the lightning was not an issue anywhere. It was so good to hear the patter of the rain, though. We hope it washes away the smoke filled skies and especially that it aides in fire containment.

I’ll add a photo during the day tomorrow to see how our skies look.

Thank you, Lord, for the rain!

These next photos are from 6:30 am on the 13th of August.

The atmosphere has improved. Can you see our morning visitor enjoying the berries off our Aronia Bush?

Hopefully our storm that lasted for several hours through the night and into the wee hours of the morning did good even though the lightning put on quite the show!

We are so thankful for this good soaking!

A DIY Hodgepodge

This Hodgepodge Volume that will not be numbered is coming our way thanks to Joyce.

1. I saw a meme on Instagram that went like this-‘The movie Dirty Dancing came out in 1987 and was set in 1963, so if remade in 2026 it would be set in 2002. Now I need a little lie down in a dark room for a while.”

Time is crazy isn’t it? So…what were you up to in the year 2002?

(Apologies up front, this question sent me down a rabbit hole and all of these projects and photos are from our old home in Kenmore. We moved to our current home on the other side of Washington in 2018)

2002 was a quieter in between year with less major happenings in our family. Our oldest got married in August of 2001 after graduating college in May of 2001. Those events made for a lot of activities and planning and the building of a deck. In 2002, our second born son was working and living at home and our daughter was still in high school. The major house project this year was the enclosing of our covered porch and making it our family room. Greg did the work himself with help here and there from friends and our sons. It was a great project that made our home more functional.

Some outside before and afters…

There already was a room above the porch which made it a covered porch.

Before August of 2001, Greg built stairs and a deck off the porch on this side of the house in preparation for a rehearsal dinner for Josh and Laura. It was great motivation for this project.

The 2002 project started in earnest in July. Greg with our dear friend Dave who is with Jesus now.

The next outdoor photos are several years later with many more improvements made.

Some inside before and afters…

Behind the vertical blinds was a slider onto the out door porch.

In the photo above you can see the doorway that used to be a slider to the outside porch transitioned into the doorway into the family room.

I don’t have many great photos of the family room. This one above shows the transition from the kitchen dining area into the family room.

2. “Me? I’m scared of everything…” What’s something that scares you that you’d like to try anyway?

Honestly, I can’t think of anything. I’ll probably get some good ideas from the rest of you Hodgepodgers.

There are things I’m scared to do but I’m not interested in trying anyway like sky diving or deep sea diving or jumping over a crevice.

3. Watermelon-yay or nay? Which melon is your favorite-watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew. Of the watermelon food/beverages listed which would you say yes to…

Yes to watermelon!

watermelon salsa~watermelon feta salad~watermelon sorbet~

a watermelon Jolly Rancher~a watermelon margarita

Of these items the one that sounds best to me is watermelon feta salad.

4. August 12th is National Middle Child Day. Are you a middle child?

Not technically.

If not, where do you fall in the birth order in your family of origin?

Top row and on the right, that is me in my younger days. Two older sisters, an older brother and four younger siblings.

I was the baby of the family for 7 years before the last 4 arrived spaced out over the next 6 years. Siblings 7 and 8 are twins.

Do you think this has influenced your personality? Elaborate.

Possibly, my junior high teachers kept telling me I was different from my older sisters. I was a little more carefree. They were less talkative and more compliant than me.

5. Would you rather talk to everyone at a crowded party for a short time, or have a significant conversation with two people? Explain.

After leaving a crowded party, I feel dissatisfied about good connections with folk because I don’t settle down with anyone in particular. It’s more of flitting about like a hummingbird. I’d prefer to have a significant conversation with two people but not in the middle of a crowded party. That conversation would be good in a comfy chair and in a comfortable quiet setting. Does that make sense?

Another thought is when at a large noisy function standing or sitting around a reception table it is really hard to hear anyone well especially if there is also music being played.