Hello Clematis.
The first of three Clematis bushes that have shown it’s colors. It’s so exotic. Happy June to all of you!
Author Archives: Ellen
Mine Eyes Shall Behold Him ~ Hymn
Mine Eyes Shall Behold Him
I know not the hour of His coming,
Nor how He will speak to my heart;
Or whether at morning or mid-day,
My spirit to Him will depart.
Refrain
But I know I shall wake in the likeness
Of Him I am longing to see;
I know that mine eyes shall behold Him,
And that is enough for me.
I know not the bliss that awaits me,
At rest with my Savior above;
I know not how soon I shall enter,
And bathe in the ocean of love.
But I know I shall wake in the likeness
Of Him I am longing to see;
I know that mine eyes shall behold Him,
And that is enough for me.
Perhaps in the midst of my labor,
A voice from the Lord I shall hear;
Perhaps in the slumber of midnight,
Its message may fall on my ear.
But I know I shall wake in the likeness
Of Him I am longing to see;
I know that mine eyes shall behold Him,
And that is enough for me.
I know not, but O I am watching,
My lamp ever burning and bright,
I know not if Jesus will call me
At morning, at noon or at night.
But I know I shall wake in the likeness
Of Him I am longing to see;
I know that mine eyes shall behold Him,
And that is enough for me.
Words: Fanny Crosby
Front and Back and the Shop Pad
I took some photos while Dear was removing part of our fence to get ready for the work force that would be prepping the area for his future shop.
The equipment arrived bright and early on Tuesday the 28th of May.
The pad is ready for further preparations for Dear’s shop. The structure will be next and the concrete floor is the last thing you do. We are really open now to the street on this side of our property. We haven’t seen any deer in the back acres yet with this new open invitation. They are creatures of habit and coming into our backyard hasn’t been part of their habit…yet.
I’ll be linking up later this weekend to Mosaic Monday with Angie at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf.
Quotes of the Week
A little thorn can cause much suffering. A small cloud may hide the sun. Tiny foxes spoil the vineyards; and little sins do mischief to the tender heart. These small sins burrow in the soul and fill it with what is hateful to Christ, and thus our comfortable fellowship and communion with Him is spoiled. A great sin cannot destroy a Christian, but a little sin can make him miserable.
~Spurgeon
They are not seeking truth but seeking to put forth their own point of view ~ Linda
It cannot end there for a true believer. One with genuine faith cannot hear the Lord’s words and walk away without acting on them. The faithful will be more than shocked, more than amazed, more than admiring–they will be obedient. They are building a structure on solid rock.
* Obeying the words of Christ is equivalent to building on solid rock.
Obedience is the inevitable manifestation of true faith.
The state of mind that refuses obedience is pure and simple unbelief.
Faith obeys. Unbelief rebels.
~Excerpts from The Gospel According to Jesus by John MacArthur
Becoming a Christian is waging a war against yourself.
Are you willing to abandon the sovereignty you exercise over your own life and confess Jesus as Lord?
~From a sermon on Matthew 7:13-17 by John MacArthur
One man with God is a majority though there be a thousand on the other side. ~ Spurgeon
All these quotes came from my readings and what I listened to these past couple weeks. They are for my own benefit and hopefully yours, too.
We drove to Spokane yesterday to do some shopping and when we arrived at the kids house to drop off their items we enjoyed quite the noisy thunderstorm. Every time the thunder rumbled, Addy asked, “What’s that?” One of the times she wanted me to hide with her on the couch with a pillow in front of our faces. It seems JJ can’t sleep well when it’s too quiet. Jamie tried to have him sleep in his own room with the monitor on. He kept waking up. She finally brought him into the living area with music going, Addy making noise and the vacuum going and he fell right to sleep and stayed asleep. Hmm. I got some extra cuddle time with JJ while we were there, too. When we arrived home our power was out but came back on shortly after 9 PM. Glad that was a short outage. Hope you all have a good weekend.
Little brother content and asleep with all the noise a busy family produces!
The State of our Yard
I took all the photos in the collages on Memorial Day.
The magic of digital photography in avoiding the weeds and making spaces look better. Oh me oh my, we do have weeds galore.
On Tuesday we had the pad for Dear’s shop prepped and what a lot of work it is to get the ground ready for the cement slab. We had excavators, dump trucks and a huge roller on the property working from 7:30 am until 3:30 pm. The material that they dug up to begin with was dumped into our empty pond shell. Win, win. They also took some of our rock away for another family at church who can use it. A very productive day! I’ll feature a whole post on the beginning of this project but here is one photo from Tuesday.
The roller was huge and the vibrations from it shook the whole house.
Hope the last week of May is filled with good things for all of you!
Hello and Shoo!
Last Friday we were mowing the lawns in the morning and were in a rush to finish up before the rains came. We put all the equipment away and later in the evening we noticed a deer in the yard. We have never had deer in the backyard because it is totally fenced off. We realized we had forgotten to close the gate in the back where we have started a compost pile on the other side of the fence.
The deer seemed quite delighted with all the new things in our yard that it could nibble on.
When the deer began to eat our clematis it was time to shoo it away.
My Dear had to go out and scare the unwelcome deer back to the gate and out of the yard.
We secured the gate again and the deer went off to wherever the deer go in the evening.
It’s been nice having a relatively secured back area but today Dear took down 40 feet of our fence in the front because we are having a space prepared for his future shop to be built on. I might be chasing more unwelcome deer away from our clematis, soon.
If you look through the tree you’ll see the fence sections Dear has taken down already. Our backyard is free range now.
On Monday I got to enjoy both our grandchildren. Addy is getting more and more articulate and it’s fun to hear her full sentences. Jaymison is still having some digestive and elimination issues but he’s gaining weight and doing better. We’ve had some periods of heavy rain through the weekend. We are warming up and expected to go up 10 degrees tomorrow. I’m sure we’ll be putting our Heat Pump to good use. Hope you all have a good week.
Memorial Day 2019
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.
Our Sunday service at First Baptist Colville was a moving service with tribute given to those who died serving our country. We even stood and recited the Pledge of Allegiance together. My Country Tis of Thee was one of the songs we sang. We thanked God for the freedom we have to come to church and to openly worship Jesus Christ who is the way, the truth and the life and through His sacrifice for our sins made the only way possible for us to have a relationship with God. There are countries where Christians are being imprisoned or martyred for their faith right now. That’s a sobering reality, too.
Hope you all are having a meaningful weekend.
The Lily of the Valley ~ Hymn
Charles W. Fry (1838-1882)
Words: Charles W. Fry, 1881; first appeared in the Salvation Army’s The War Cry, December 29, 1881. Fry wrote the lyrics in Lincoln, England, while working with the Salvation Army.
The Lily of the Valley
I have found a friend in Jesus, He’s everything to me,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul;
The Lily of the Valley, in Him alone I see
All I need to cleanse and make me fully whole.
In sorrow He’s my comfort, in trouble He’s my stay;
He tells me every care on Him to roll.
Refrain
He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
He all my grief has taken, and all my sorrows borne;
In temptation He’s my strong and mighty tower;
I have all for Him forsaken, and all my idols torn
From my heart and now He keeps me by His power.
Though all the world forsake me, and Satan tempt me sore,
Through Jesus I shall safely reach the goal.
He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
He will never, never leave me, nor yet forsake me here,
While I live by faith and do His blessèd will;
A wall of fire about me, I’ve nothing now to fear,
From His manna He my hungry soul shall fill.
Then sweeping up to glory to see His blessèd face,
Where the rivers of delight shall ever roll.
He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star,
He’s the fairest of ten thousand to my soul.
Ht: Cyberhymnal
Happy Memorial Day Weekend
I need to pull out my red-white-and blue bin but for now I put up this new star piece I purchased at Wal-Mart this week. Hope all of you in the U.S.A. have a meaningful Memorial Day Weekend.
Meanwhile we are still being surprised by flowers popping up on our property.
Angie from Letting Go of the Bay Leaf let me know that this plant is a Columbine. Here are some of the color varieties we’ve enjoyed this week.
Such a pretty delicate flower. This combination above might be my favorite.
White Bleeding Heart.
We are still waiting on the peonies to burst forth and we have a nice little patch of irises that should burst forth soon.
We had some storms pass through this afternoon and we are expecting more rain tomorrow. When the skies clear I’ll head out and take photos of more surprises on our property.
“He’s Soooo Cute”
“Addy told me today that she LOVES her baby brother and he is just soooooo cute!”
Jamie posted this on Facebook yesterday and I had to steal borrow the photo and share. Addy is articulating whole sentences and her vocabulary grows every day.
And drum roll please….Jaymison pooped yesterday! That was on day 10 people, so we are thrilled with the news and pray that things will get a bit more regular now. Thank you for all of you who pray for big things and little things and in between things.
The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. Philippians 4:6 (ESV)
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 