We take time to stop and remember the sacrifices that have been made for our freedom. Some gave all. This is Memorial Day. This weekend we remember those who served our country and died in combat. The following photo was taken at the Arlington National Cemetery.
Blades of grass and pure white stones
Shelter those who’ve come and gone.
Just below the emerald sod
Are those who reached the arms of God.
Buried here with dignity
Endless rows for all to see,
Freedom’s seeds in sorrow sown,
‘Neath blades of grass and pure white stones.
Blades of grass and pure white stones
Cover those who left their homes
To rest in fields here, side by side,
Lest we forget their sacrifice.
Buried here with dignity
Endless rows for all to see,
Freedom’s seeds in sorrow sown,
‘Neath blades of grass and pure white stones.
Written by Lowell Alexander, Orrin Hatch, and Philip Naish.
Pay to all what is due them—taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due. Romans 13:7 (NRSV)
This is the Veterans Memorial at the Riverside National Cemetery in Southern California.
There were many sobering monuments at Riverside National Cemetery.
May we all take some time to remember those who died in service to our country.
Some day the silver cord will break,
And I no more as now shall sing;
But oh, the joy when I shall wake
Within the palace of the King!
Refrain
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story—Saved by grace;
And I shall see Him face to face,
And tell the story—Saved by grace.
Some day my earthly house will fall.
I cannot tell how soon ’twill be;
But this I know—my All in All
Has now a place in Heav’n for me.
Refrain
Some day, when fades the golden sun
Beneath the rosy tinted west,
My blessèd Lord will say, Well done!
And I shall enter into rest.
Refrain
Some day: till then I’ll watch and wait,
My lamp all trimmed and burning bright,
That when my Savior opens the gate,
My soul to Him may take its flight.
Refrain
Words: Fanny Crosby, 1891.
The hymn…was called into being through…a sermon preached by Dr. Howard Crosby who was a distant relative and dear friend of mine. He said that no Christian should fear death, for if each of us was faithful to the grace given us by Christ, the same grace that teaches us how to live would also teach us how to die. His remarks were afterward published in a newspaper, and they were read to me by Mr. Biglow. Not many hours after I heard them I began to write the hymn.
Crosby
However, these words almost didn’t see light of day. They came to public notice by accident, during a conference Fanny attended in Northfield, Massachusetts. During the meeting, the great evangelist, Dwight Moody, asked if Fanny—like so many others—would give a personal testimony to the audience. Not wanting to draw attention to herself, she almost declined, but finally got up to speak, and said:
There is one hymn I have written which has never been published. I call it my soul’s poem. Sometimes when I am troubled, I repeat it to myself, for it brings comfort to my heart.
It’s been fun to watch the robins enjoying the bird bath.
Lately when I go out into the world I come home and need a good bath (shower) and change of clothes to make sure I’ve left all those ugly germs we are warned against. There are other dangers to be aware of…
“If we don’t know the Bible, if we don’t know Doctrine, if we don’t know theology, it is virtually impossible for us to identify false prophets.” Voddie Baucham
“Discernment is not a mystical process where you ask God for discernment and He magically drops ideas into your mind. We receive discernment from studying the Bible and understanding what it says, by the guidance that the Holy Spirit provides.”
“Never trust a faith healer who has to wear glasses.” Justin Peters
“Settle out of court with God because when you stand before Him it will be too late. You have a mediator who will settle your debt, the Lord Jesus Christ”~ Riccardi
Hope you all have a meaningful Memorial Day Weekend. I’ll save my Memorial Day post for Monday.
Mother’s Day weekend was such a treat with not only weather but a chance for some of our family to finally be together again. We soaked up every minute! After tea time and brunch we had some sunshine playtime.
This collage above was from Saturday evening not Mother’s Day.
All hands on deck to entertain the little ones!
All the family but two were able to gather on Mother’s Day Weekend. Such a good sweet time for all.
On Mother’s Day while the guys prepared breakfast and Jaymison was sleeping the girls had a little tea party using the tea set that Josh and Laura purchased for Addy for her 1st or 2nd birthay.
When we were ready to drink our “tea” we showed Addy how we extend our pinkie finger for some classic tea time photos. She watched carefully and then…
…her version of the pinkie.
We all had a joyful chuckle. One day she’ll get a chuckle out of this, too.
The pinkie!
We are all looking forward to a proper “High Tea” with Addy in the future but this first one with water was a special treat to enjoy.
Addyson loves her auntie Lolo!
We had a very successful trip to Spokane and home again on Wednesday. My eye exam revealed that I am developing a cataract in my right eye which is no surprise and the eye surgeon said it was most likely to occur. I’ll need cataract surgery in a year or two. I got a fresh prescription for my eye glasses because of the change in my right eye. To get into the eye clinic I had to have my temperature taken, answer a few questions and I had to be wearing a mask. They had the waiting area staged to have the minimum of 6 feet between those waiting. I wore the mask the whole time I was being examined, too. The clinic was across the street from the center where Trader Joe’s is so that was our second stop.
We filled up the cart with some things our kids were in want of and added a few new choices for meals for us. On to Hobby Lobby which has just re-opened and I added several Easter items to the cart at 80% off the original price. We found another jigsaw puzzle that I used my 40% coupon on. After each customer transaction the cashier sprayed and wiped off the counter and the credit card terminal. Our last stop in Spokane was Costco where we filled up the gas tank for $1.97 a gallon and loaded up the cart with some things the kids needed and a few items for us. With my new eye glass prescription in hand I was able to choose and order two pairs of glasses, regular and sunglasses. The new COVID-19 guidelines meant I had my temperature taken again and then an attendant pulled frames off the wall for me to try. After trying on the frames they had to be disinfected before they went back on the wall. No one allowed by the wall of frames unless being assisted by one of the worker bees. A few hundred dollars later and a couple weeks wait and I’ll be able to see better. I was wiped out by this time. It was an extra strain to shop with dilated eyes and a mask. I find my shopping skills with a mask on are not organized and efficient.
On the way home from Spokane we called our favorite Mexican restaurant in Chewelah to see about ordering some food for our “Linner”. Lo and behold Hector recognized my number and said come on in we are open 24-7. (Actually 11-8) It was such a great feeling to be able to walk into the restaurant and be served a meal there instead of hauling it home. It was fun to interact with Hector face to face again and to have our little toast of celebration! They only have 6 tables that they can seat at 50% capacity and maintaining the Social Distancing required. We left full and thankful with twenty more miles to go…
About 12 miles in we stopped at the kids to drop off their goodies. A quick hug with the grands before they went down for their naps and then 8 more miles and we were home for the rest of the afternoon and evening.
Hopeful for more normalcy to come back to all of us…
1. In a single sentence tell us something about your 40’s. If you haven’t reached that milestone yet tell us (in a single sentence) something about whatever decade you’re in now.
The decade in my 40’s (1991-2001) was the most tumultuous of my life.
(Photo above taken at 2nd rental home 1998ish)
2. Life begins at forty. Agree or disagree? Tell us why. And if not at forty, when?
I don’t agree. I’m too black and white. Life began for me in my mother’s womb. From birth on life has been shaping who I am now. I was born again in 1963 so I’ve been in the sanctification process for 57 years. I wish I had been more obedient in this process.
Sanctification: When you were justified, you were declared righteous by God. Now that you are justified, there is a process of growth and transformation in which you are enabled more and more to grasp the reality that you are dead to your old sinful life and that you actually become more and more like Christ. There are three aspects to our sanctification: definitive sanctification, progressive sanctification, and ultimate sanctification.
3. Share a favorite book, song, or quote with a number featured in it somewhere.
I didn’t remember this great song with a number in the title but Theresa posted it on her post and it really has meant a lot to me over the past several years so I’m adding it in here. Thank you, Theresa!
This quote from the Bible is one I wrote down after reading it.
Jeremiah 32:39 ~I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever for their own good and the good of their children after them.
~
And this quote that I forget who said it…maybe Steve Lawson: “Don’t let your feelings get captured. Your feelings can suffocate your understanding of God. Gaze on the Lord 10x more than you concentrate on your feelings.”
4. A picture’s worth a thousand words, a stitch in time saves nine, back to square one, catch-22, on cloud nine, my two cents…pick a number phrase and tell us how it applies to your life currently.
I will pick “A picture’s worth a thousand words” or 1,000 pieces and 500 pieces. One of our COVID-19 stay at home activities has been putting together jigsaw puzzles. Some of these puzzles we’ve had for years and others were acquired before COVID at garage sales. The Fireside Embroidery one was a purchase during COVID-19. I was happy to see our local grocery store had a rack of puzzles a couple weeks ago and I grabbed this one.
Buying a threefold poster board has really aided our puzzling endeavors. We can move it off the dining room table easily if we are having the kids over for a meal. It also gives a nice flat surface.
5. Last time you drove more than 40 miles from home? More than 400 miles from home? Where were you going? Was it before or after this current season of social distancing?
Today bright and early we are driving to Spokane for a follow-up eye appointment. My surgery was last August. This will be a 70 mile drive from home. This one is during social distancing and Dear will have to wait in the car when I go in for my appointment.
The last time we drove closer to 400 miles from home was December 2019 when we drove to the Seattle area to stay overnight with our “Coast Kids” and then continue on to Chilliwack, British Columbia for our annual MGCC Christmas Party. This was before we knew about this Pandemic.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
I’m going to go deeper into that decade in my forties. Dear’s mother was living with us in a Mother-in-law apartment in our basement. In that decade Dear completed his Pharmacy degree at the University of Washington, had a year of residency, got a job at Immunex Corporation in Seattle Washington. While he was in school I started a house cleaning business and added a medical clinic and dental clinic at night as part of the job. Dear and I worked together in the evenings at those clinics. Because Dear’s mother was living with us we could leave at night after the kids were in bed. I was the skinniest I had ever been with all that aerobic scrubbing.
When Dear’s new career was going well I retired my cleaning business just in time to pull our daughter out of public school and home school her for 4th, 5th and 6th grade. She was experiencing heart wrenching persecution at school. During those homeschooling years with our sons in high school we had a major landslide on our back slope and long story short we walked away from our dream home and started the very new to us need to rent homes while still having all of Dear’s mother’s stuff in our possession. When the major slide forced us to walk away from our home, Dear’s mother moved out of our home to Yuba City, California to live close to her younger sister.
In May before our oldest son graduated from high school, Dear’s mother passed away and we were in Yuba City for the funeral and then having to divide up her stuff between Dear and his older brother and haul it back to our place. In August I drove Josh to Westmont College in Montecito , Califonia. (Santa Barbara), on my own. An emotional time for this mom. We were in our 2nd rental home at this time.
In Dan’s senior year we moved to our third rental home in October of 1998. In November of 1998 just one month after moving all our stuff to this third rental home the owner of the home told us he had to sell the home. We were devastated with this news not knowing where we could move next. We decided to try to buy this rental and were amazed to find out that there was nothing on our record showing we had defaulted on our landslide house loan! We bought our home in Kenmore not because we chose it but because we couldn’t face moving again. We enjoyed 20 years in that home and made some amazing upgrades to the property. Dan graduated from high school in 1999. We had Josh and Laura’s rehearsal dinner at this home in August of 2001 and then in September of 200l life changed for all of us because of 9-11. And that my friends was my decade in my forties.
That’s just a little of the story of my 40’s! I’m happy to say my fifties and sixties have been less tumultuous and filled with some wonderful adventures and travel. In my late fifties I was connected to the Mennonite Girls. In my sixties we enjoyed the weddings of our daughter Katie and our son Dan. We made a major move again this time to the country from the city. Blessed with two grandchildren in our sixties. And now Dear is officially retired.
But…we press on to the upward call…
Philippians 3:13-14 (ESV)
13 Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,14 I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Thank you to Joyce for coming up with the questions for Hodgepodge!
This photo of our parents with grandchildren was taken at our sister Kathy’s house in Whittier. Our sons, Kathy’s daughters and Vera’s daughter and son.
On the deck of our first home in Washington state. My parents came to visit with my sister Kathy and her daughters. Dear’s mom, Verna, was living with us.
Neither of my parents were formally educated. When they came to the USA they had to learn the English language and they also had to pick up reading skills and writing skills. For much of my early childhood my parents used cash for everything. Bills were paid at a store in Montebello that took care of those types of transactions. Water, gas, electricity, phone, etc. all paid with cash. Other payments were made at a bank.
When my parents finally got a checking account to help our pop out I wrote out every transaction he would need to know that he could keep inside his checkbook. I showed him how to fill out a check.
Ten dollars and 50/100
Four hunderd fifty and 00/100 etc. etc.
All in cursive.
It was a long list of possible check amounts that he might need to write.
A long time after I did this he showed me that he still had that sheet where I had written out all those possible check amounts for him. Over the years he learned how this all worked and didn’t need my list anymore but he kept it.
Love the fact that he was known for having his checkbook in his shirt pocket!
This is the Veterans Memorial at the Riverside National Cemetery in Southern California.
There were many sobering monuments at Riverside National Cemetery.
