O Father, You are sovereign
In all the worlds You made;
Your mighty Word was spoken,
And light and life obeyed.
Your voice commands the seasons
And bounds the ocean’s shore,
Sets stars within their courses
And stills the tempests’ roar.
O Father, You are sovereign
In all affairs of man;
No powers of death or darkness
Can thwart Your perfect plan.
All chance and change transcending,
Supreme in time and space,
You hold your trusting children
Secure in Your embrace.
O Father, You are sovereign
The Lord of human pain,
Transmuting earthly sorrows
To gold of heavenly gain,
All evil overruling,
As none but Conqueror could,
Your love pursues its purpose—
Our souls’ eternal good.
O Father, You are sovereign!
We see You dimly now,
But soon before Your triumph
Earth’s every knee shall bow.
With this glad hope before us
Our faith springs forth anew:
Our Sovereign Lord and Savior,
We trust and worship You!
Times like these call for pretty dishes, a good muffin and some tea.
Have a good Saturday and take some time for a little break.
“O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you? You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them.” Psalm 89: 8-9
Happy to show the progress of the shop with the roof now being half done. Not an easy job.
Here’s the hard worker who is happy with the progress and happy to get help from our son Dan in getting those 50# steel panels positioned on the purlins to fasten. Fifty Six screws per panel and 13 panels on each half (26 total). Thankful for my hard working husband.
I’m so happy to confirm that British Airways has given us a full refund yesterday. When I dialed my call went straight through and I was helped quickly and efficiently. Thank you Lord for answering our prayer.
Our sitting area below the back deck/porch is now more defined with a new patio structure that has an adjustable shade cloth/screen. The next photo shows the space wide open before the added structure. The cloth/screen will be taken off the structure for the late fall to late Spring to protect it from any harsh weather.
I’ll take some more photos soon as we have tweaked it a little in it’s position.
The following gif was created several years ago when we lived in Camarillo, California for a few years. The photo is from a walk we took in Santa Barbara along a preserve.
When we made plans to go to England September 13th-27th I wrote on my planning notebook, “If the Lord wills”. Now we know that the Lord does not will for us to go. We didn’t purchase flight insurance or a ticket that was flexible. When I called British Airways and finally got through a week ago the kind gentleman let me know that our dates were not yet included in the Voucher category and we’d lose all our money but the taxes we paid if we cancelled. He said to hold off doing anything until the middle of August or the end of August. The one way we’d be entitled to ask for our money back is if our particular flight was cancelled. I prayed for that to be the case. Well…this morning I had an email letting me know that our flight has been cancelled. Thank you, Lord. I tried calling BA but the lines were way too busy today for me to even be put on hold. I’ll try again and ask for our money back. Hopefully they will be prompt in delivering on that promise.
July is just marching along. We are having temps in the upper 80’s and 90’s. Lots of watering going on. So happy for our oscillating sprinkler. We’ll need to hook up our little cast iron traveling sprinkler soon, too.
Standing tall at almost 500 years-old, the Airlie Oak tree invites guests out to the Oak Lawn. The Airlie Oak is a Southern Live Oak and draped with Spanish moss. This moss does not harm the tree and uses water & nutrients from the air to grow and thrive.
1. Do you think the pandemic has had any kind of positive impact on your mental health? Explain.
Now that’s an interesting question. For me, depending on God more and reading His Word more has been the best positive impact on my mental health during this weird time. Knowing that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever brings stability in my mind when things get crazy.
2. A hot mess, hot under the collar, in hot water, hot button, hot diggity dog!, hot shot, hot seat….choose one and tell us how it applies to your life currently.
I’m choosing hot diggity dog because this song was popular and reached #1 on the “billboard” in 1956. I was five years old then and how it applies to my life now is that it makes me smile to remember it and sing along with Perry!
3. Speaking of the hot seat, do you work well under pressure or do you actively avoid high pressure situations?
I’m really not involved in high pressure situations. Being retired adds to that fact. If I have the choice I’d stay away from high pressure situations.
4. Hotdogs-yay or nay? If you said yay how do you like yours? Did you know July is National hotdog month?
Yes, please. I love a good hot dog. Nathan’s are my favorite. When in Chicago years ago I experienced a Chicago Dog and I would enjoy being able to have one of those when the hot dog craving hits. Haven’t found a good Chicago Dog on the West Coast.
5. I read here a list of America’s coolest Southern towns. They are Marfa Texas, Greenville South Carolina, Abindgon Virginia, Athens Georgia, Bentonville Arkansas, Florence Alabama, Oxford Mississippi, Abita Springs Louisiana, Wilmington North Carolina, Monroeville Alabama, McMinnville Tennessee, Natchez Mississippi. How many on the list have you seen in person? Which town on the list would you most like to see?
The only place on this list I’ve been to is Wilmington, North Carolina, specifically Airlie Gardens. Abingdon, Virginia looks like a nice place to visit.
In 2013 our daughter and I drove from the Seattle area to Jacksonville, North Carolina. Our son in law was stationed at Camp Lejeune and he was returning from a deployment in Afghanistan. We had the task of finding an apartment for the two of them and moving some of their stored possessions into that apartment along with buying some furnishings. When our work was done we took a little side trip to enjoy Airlie Gardens in the Wilmington area. The photo at the top of this post is of our daughter in front of the famous Airlie Oak.
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Here are some more photos from Airlie Gardens.
And…speaking of gardens here are some quotes I want to remember:
“Ever since Satan deceived Eve false teachers following his pattern, have portrayed the truth as error and offered error as truth.”
“The risk of wandering from the truth and becoming confused and disloyal is a constant threat to the church of Jesus Christ.”
“Therefore, absolute loyalty to God, Jesus Christ, the gospel, and biblical truth are nonnegotiable principles for everyone who names the name of Christ.”
MacArthur New Testament Commentary 2 Corinthians, pg. 356 & 360
This was the first full meal we attempted in our new Instant Pot. We made rice previously. If you follow the link you’ll see nicer photos of the end product instead of mine soaked in gravy.
This was a good recipe that I’d use again. Next time around I might add a little extra salt. We followed the recipe with no alterations. I was happy to be able to sear the meat and saute the onions etc. in the pot. A true one pot meal. The new potatoes I bought at our Farmer’s Market were so good. We decided on an instant pot instead of a new Crock Pot. Our son and DIL went with the Fryer Instant Pot combination and they are happy with it.
I’m happy that I attempted this recipe to bond with the pot. It’s always a little scary trying a new multi functioning small appliance. At least for me…
A safe stronghold our God is still,
A trusty shield and weapon;
He’ll help us clear from all the ill
That hath us now o’ertaken.
The ancient prince of hell
Hath risen with purpose fell;
Strong mail of craft and power
He weareth in this hour;
On earth is not his fellow.
With force of arms we nothing can,
Full soon were we down-ridden;
But for us fights the proper Man,
Whom God Himself hath bidden.
Ask ye, who is this same?
Christ Jesus is His name,
The Lord Sabaoth’s Son;
He, and no other one,
Shall conquer in the battle.
And were this world all devils o’er,
And watching to devour us,
We lay it not to heart so sore;
Not they can overpower us.
And let the prince of ill
Look grim as e’er he will,
He harms us not a whit;
For why? his doom is writ;
A word shall quickly slay him.
God’s Word, for all their craft and force,
One moment will not linger,
But, spite of hell, shall have its course;
’Tis written by His finger.
And though they take our life,
Goods, honor, children, wife,
Yet is their profit small;
These things shall vanish all:
The City of God remaineth!
Words: Martin Luther, 1529.
The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever. Isaiah 40:8
These four shots are of the same butterfly, the upper side and the underside.
On Friday afternoon we opened up our patio umbrellas and were surprised to find this visitor. It was asleep but because it’s sleeping spot was disturbed it started moving and after about an hour it flew around the opened umbrella and then flew off into the woods. I don’t mind having a few bats around since they eat mosquitoes.
Jaymison and his sister had some fun in our backyard on Friday evening while Dear and Dan put up two more steel panels on the shop roof. Sprinklers were a delight and we enjoyed some time on the tricycle.
Addy and her daddy spent some time kicking soccer balls into the soccer goal.
We’ll be babysitting these two on Saturday morning so mommy and daddy can have some free time to move about freely for a few hours. That means I won’t be moving about freely visiting blogs. I’ll catch up later.
Not for me, none of you will be seeing me in a bathing suit at the pool. It’s for your own good and then there’s that pride issue that still needs to be mortified in me.
Our two grands are enjoying pool time and need some extra protection from the sun being fair skinned.
This little guy is cutting 3 molars! Yikes. A good night’s rest has not been happening for him or his dear parents.
And this little girl is growing like a weed.
They enjoyed these homemade summer popsicles before their pool time.
This evening we’ll enjoy seeing these 2 with their parents. We’ll have dinner together and then Dear will have some extra help with the a few more steel roof panels. Soon half of the roof of the shop will be completed. Our son has been chipping in whenever he can to help. With the temps warming up it gets harder to work on the roof. I’ll be chasing the two littles!
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 