Half Way

It’s the middle of June already. We have the furniture on the deck and it’s raining again. We really haven’t had a let’s go sit on the deck day yet. Soon we can enjoy drinking coffee in the morning out there and have a meal or two.

I wanted to show you something I didn’t walk away from at Goodwill this week. I’ve mentioned before on my blog that I am a fan of Beatrix Potter. I’m not a Barbie doll kind of person but this one caught my attention.

It cost me under twelve dollars. Maybe I’ll have to have a Barbie/Peter Rabbit tea party with Addy in a few years.

Hope you all have a nice Father’s Day Weekend. We will be spending some time with our Western Washington kids on Saturday. Hopefully the weather will improve for the weekend.

She Was A Happy Girl

When our daughter Katie was in fourth grade she was put into a Gifted program which was housed in a different school from our neighborhood school. After a few months in this program we started noticing some troubling patterns and angry outbursts from her. She did not want to go to school and wasn’t interested in doing any homework. She finally opened up to us and told us about her experiences on the playground from the other “gifted” kids. We decided the best thing to do was to pull her out of the program and try to repair the damage by homeschooling her. This was one of our best parenting decisions and moves. When we told her teacher and the administration we were pulling her out they were shocked and told us we were making a mistake. They felt this program was giving Katie some options she wouldn’t get in a regular classroom or at home. We just smiled and walked away. We home schooled for 4th, 5th and 6th grade and then Katie decided she’d like to try public school again entering junior high/7th grade. This is something I wrote in 1996 after hearing how Katie was treated and after watching how she was shunned at the school bus stop.

She Was a Happy Girl

She was gentle and kind
She liked to pretend and giggle and dream
Her dreams became playground games
She pranced and danced and was a tree fairy
Her imagination smiled inside her head
She was a happy girl

Other children on the playground couldn’t figure her out
She wasn’t like them
She was different in their eyes
Because of her uncommon ways they began to taunt her

She became the playground plague
She was called the germ
No one should touch the germ
or play with the germ
because they would become a germ, too.

She was a happy girl
but their thoughts and their actions
turned her into a sad and angry girl
She couldn’t understand and couldn’t change
what the playground had made her

She was a happy girl

I’m happy and thankful to God that Katie thrived being home schooled and when she re-entered the public school system she continued to do well. She enjoyed drama and art and had some great teachers who recognized her talents and abilities. She made some good friendships along the way at school and at church. She had very impressive SAT scores. She also was a National Merit Scholar. She completed college and now is standing by her husband as he completes his college degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He had a late start because of serving as a U.S. Marine. She still doesn’t fit in anyone’s mold. She is uniquely Katie. That’s one of the trees on one of her elementary playgrounds that she pretended she was a fairy in.

The Lord bless you and keep you;
 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Numbers 6:24-26

I found this as we sorted through lots and lots of paperwork and decided to put it on my blog as a reminder of how far we have come and how we were carried through by God’s love and grace in difficult times. There are some other things I might share from time to time. Peace be with you and yours.

Flying Proud Hodgepodge

Welcome to Wednesday Hodgepodge where Joyce asks the questions and we come up with some answers.

1. The Hodgepodge lands on June 14th this week, Flag Day in the US of A.

Do you fly your country’s flag at home?

We fly the U.S. flag and the Marine Corps flag at our house. They will be flying proudly on Flag Day.Sometimes, often, or every single day?

When Andrew, our son-in-law, was in Afghanistan and serving in other parts of the U.S. we flew the flags more often. Now we fly them on special days like Flag Day, Memorial Day, Marine Corps birthday, Fourth of July, Armed Services Day, 9/11, Veteran’s Day and Election day.

This is a blue service star flag/banner. It is issued to families who’s sons or daughters are deployed in harms way. Both times when Andrew was in Afghanistan we kept it in our window until he came home safely.

Have you ever visited the city of Brotherly Love (Philadelphia)? Did you make a point of seeing The Betsy Ross House?

No and No but if I did visit I’d want to see her house.

Have you ever made a trip to Baltimore? If so, was Fort McHenry on your itinerary? (where Francis Scott Key was inspired to write The Star Spangled Banner)

No but I enjoy singing the The Star Spangled Banner at every Sounders home game with 40,000 other people and I always am thankful for the Marines and others from different military branches who hold the flag and wave the flag with respect.

2. Red flag or white flag? Which have you encountered most recently? Explain.

Do you mean Red flag warning or white flag of surrender or parley? I see danger, it’s part of my makeup. This makes me very uncomfortable at pool parties or watching little ones at the beach. I might as well have a red flag flying from my head at these venues. I’m sure we’ll be seeing red flag fire danger warnings in Eastern Washington this year. And as far as the white flag goes I don’t surrender easy except for when it comes to sticking to a diet.

3. Are you a stay in the car listen to the end of a song kind of person? What kind of person is that?

No and I don’t know.

4. What are some of the traits or qualities you think a good dad possesses? In other words, what makes a good dad?

I think a good dad cares for, supports, guides and prays for his children.

What’s an expression you associate with your father?

“I praying for you, pray for me. I’m thanking God for everything.” My pop who is 94 still gets down on his knees every night and prays for all his kids, grandkids and great grandkids. Every time I call him on the phone he reminds me he’s praying for me and asks me to pray for him. His English is still sketchy.

5. What’s one rule you always disagreed with while growing up?

My mom was a somewhat legalistic Russian Baptist. Somewhat to say she wasn’t as legalistic as many of my relatives and other Russian Baptists. No drinking, no dancing, no smoking, no playing cards, no going to movies. My parents let us go to movies.

I disagreed with the no dancing and no playing cards. I wore my parents down on a lot of the rules. I went to school dances. One other rule we had growing up was no whistling in the house. Did you know that whistling invites evil spirits into your home? And no, I don’t believe that but it was something passed down to my mother and father.

Is that rule somehow still part of your adult life? Is that a good or bad thing?

I’m still adhering to the no smoking rule and it’s a good thing.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

In about 2 weeks we’ll be seeing our little granddaughter in person again. Our Son and DIL text us photos that we really enjoy. Here are the latest. Addy was 12 weeks old on Monday. The first year of life has so many leaps of development.

Getting so strong and holding herself up.

Sitting pretty with her mommy’s baby shoes on.

Just can’t get enough of these. Sweet Addy May. Looks like she can give you a good left punch.

Click over to From This Side of the Pond on Wednesday to see more Hodgepodge answers.

Mid June Mosaics

Good Monday morning to you. We spent a little time outside tidying up the yard on Saturday and I snapped a few photos. I was reminded that this flower above is a Delphinium. I love it’s soft color.

These wild ferns are taking over our far side yard. It’s a more wild part of our grounds. I pulled a few out as they were choking out some other wild plants.

These Snapdragons are a surprise since we didn’t plant them. Their seeds must have been carried over to this part of our planter by the wind or a bird. I’m happy to see them.

These are three of our hydrangeas in different parts of our yard. The one behind our Pink Dogwood is a white more delicate variety. The large bush in the upper right blooms purplish blue. When we planted it from a pot it had been deep pink. The newest hydrangea that we planted last year in the lower right might be bluish purple, too. We’ll see what influence the soil we planted it in has on it.

We are fortunate in the Puget Sound area of Washington state to have a great variety of plants and trees that grow well. This time of year the grass and weeds grow so it’s time for me to go out and mow! I’m thanking God that I can still manage to mow while Dear does the weed whacking. My best exercise of the week.

I’m joining  Maggie’s Mosaic Monday.

Colville Barns

When we were in Colville in May we took a drive along Artman-Gibson Road to Highway 20 in Colville where we saw these barns.

Linking up with Tom for The Barn Collective.

We have had a nice weekend. On Saturday we brought down our patio furniture from the loft of the garage and now we are set for time on the deck when the weather is right. On Sunday we put a pork shoulder in the crock pot before church and enjoyed an afternoon meal of carnitas tacos with our kids that live on this side of the mountains. It’s good to catch up. Hope you had a good weekend.

I Cannot Tell ~ Hymn

I Cannot Tell

I cannot tell why He whom angels worship,
Should set His love upon the sons of men,
Or why, as shepherd, He should seek the wanderers,
To bring them back, they know not how or when.
But this I know, that He was born of Mary
When Bethlehem’s manger was His only home,
And that He lived at Nazareth and labored,
And so the Savior, Savior of the world is come.

I cannot tell how silently He suffered,
As with His peace He graced this place of tears,
Or how His heart upon the cross was broken,
The crown of pain to three and thirty years.
But this I know, He heals the brokenhearted,
And stays our sin, and calms our lurking fear,
And lifts the burden from the heavy laden,
For yet the Savior, Savior of the world is here.

I cannot tell how He will win the nations,
How He will claim His earthly heritage,
How satisfy the needs and aspirations
Of East and West, of sinner and of sage.
But this I know, all flesh shall see His glory,
And He shall reap the harvest He has sown,
And some glad day His sun shall shine in splendor
When He the Savior, Savior of the world is known.

I cannot tell how all the lands shall worship,
When, at His bidding, every storm is stilled,
Or who can say how great the jubilation
When all the hearts of men with love are filled.
But this I know, the skies will thrill with rapture,
And myriad, myriad human voices sing,
And earth to Heaven, and Heaven to earth, will answer:
At last the Savior, Savior of the world is king!

Words: William Y. Fullerton, 1929.

Peonies Plus

Our peony plant had more blooms this year than ever before.

Thankfully the blooms don’t open all at once but when they do I grab the scissors and clip them and bring them inside to fill a couple vases. We now enjoy their beauty and their scent inside our living area.

Something lovely to look at while we are still in the midst of boxes and file drawers of paperwork. Looking, laughing, shredding, recycling and saving what needs to be saved or what we want to see again and smile. Some things have made me cry. Maybe I’ll share some of those things in the future.

We have the system down now and things are going faster.

One quote we came upon today that made us smile and wonder where we originally saw it, “You don’t have to be dead to move toward the Light!” I hope you have moved toward the light.

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Happy Weekend to you!

 

Sweet Addy

Addy was such a good sport as we dressed her in her mommy’s baby coming home outfit from 30 some years ago.

A sweet little white knit with pink embellishments.

We had one more change of outfits and photo shoot after this one that I will share later. These photos were taken on May 22nd.

We got some recent photos in June of Addy via text. They make me smile.

Addy was a trooper on her first long road trip to be with Jamie’s extended family in Oregon the first weekend in June.

After she came home from her road trip this little one was so pleased with herself after she rolled over for the first time at 11 weeks. Now more safety measures will be needed. I will never tire of looking at this photo! This photo is my new wallpaper on my phone.

Thank you for your comments about my dental trauma. All went well. They tried to put a dam in my mouth and I didn’t react well so  they had to do things the old fashioned way without a mouth dam. Thank you very much. I have a beautiful new filling to replace my old one from 55 years ago. I also have a referral to a hand/wrist specialist to check on whether I have carpal tunnel issues. You know you are getting older when you share these kinds of news events!

Here’s another sweet bonus on this post, Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog today.

Today I get my long overdue haircut which is an appointment that doesn’t cause me any anxiety. Hope you have an anxious free day.

Green, green,

…it’s green they say on the far side of the hill…

Everything is so nice and green in Spring. Some of the green will fade in the summer.

Pears are starting to grow.

Blueberries are forming in their clusters.

Tomorrow I’m posting a recipe on Mennonite Girls Can Cook for a Blueberry Sour Cream Coffee Cake that would be good with pears, too. Later this summer when my blueberries and pears are nice and ripe I’ll have to do a redo of the coffee cake.

Today is a busy torture day for me as I go to the dentist this morning and the doctor in the afternoon. I tend to have panic attacks at the dentist when they want to put a block in my mouth to keep it open. I feel like I’m going to choke and die. Yep…I’m praying already that I don’t panic. The good news is that Dear came home safe and sound from Chicago last night and he brought home some famous Garrett Mix popcorn/Chicago mix. Have you ever had it?

V is for Volcanoes

On my recent trip (May 24, 2017) flying from Seattle to Southern California I had a window seat with some nice views of the Cascades Volcanoes of the Pacific Northwest. This first one is of Mount St. Helens which erupted in 1980. This is visible shortly after taking off from Seattle and heading south. If you want to read more information on these volcanoes you can click over to the USGS here.

This might be Mount Hood in Oregon just across the border from Washington State. “The familiar snow-clad peaks of the Cascade Range are part of a 1,300 km (800 mi) chain of volcanoes, which extends from northern California to southern British Columbia. The volcanoes are the result of the slow slide of dense oceanic crust as it sinks beneath North America (subduction), which releases water and melts overlying rock. This rich volcanic zone contains the well-known landmark volcanoes and approximately 2,900 other known volcanic features ranging from small cinder cones to substantial shield volcanoes.”

Over Oregon I saw these that I believe are the Three Sisters. “As population increases in the Pacific Northwest, areas near the volcanoes are becoming developed and more people and property are at risk. The principal hazards to people in the Pacific Northwest are from lahars and ash fall. Lahars (volcanic mudflows) can destroy buildings and infrastructure. Eruptions that include volcanic ash can be especially dangerous for aircraft, even at long distances from the volcano, because volcanic ash can clog and shut down their engines.” Not a cheery thought while flying over these volcanoes.

This is a zoom in on Crater Lake in Southern Oregon.

This last one is over Northern California and I think it’s Mount Shasta.

I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday which was started by Mrs. Nesbitt and is now administered by a few great bloggers.

I’m slowly catching up after my travels with viewing and commenting on blogs. Doesn’t take much to throw me off my game these days. We are promised some nice warmer temps today and tomorrow in the Seattle area and then we get another bout of rain and cooler temps just in time for the weekend. Dear comes home from Chicago tonight and I’m looking forward to that. I usually don’t have to brew my own coffee in the morning. That’s not the only reason I enjoy having him home. Have a good Tuesday!