Holy Spirit, Truth Divine ~ Hymn

Holy Spirit, Truth Divine

Holy Spirit, truth divine,
Dawn upon this soul of mine;
Word of God and inward light
Wake my spirit, clear my sight.

Holy Spirit, love divine,
Glow within this heart of mine;
Kindle every high desire;
Perish self in Thy pure fire.

Holy Spirit, power divine
Fill and nerve this will of mine;
Grant that I may strongly live,
Bravely bear, and nobly strive.

Holy Spirit, right divine,
King within my conscience reign;
Be my Lord, and I shall be
Firmly bound, forever free.

Holy Spirit, peace divine,
Still this restless heart of mine;
Speak to calm this tossing sea,
Stayed in Thy tranquility.

Holy Spirit, joy divine,
Gladden Thou this heart of mine;
In the desert ways I sing,
Spring, O well, forever spring.

Now incline me to repent,
Let me now my sins lament,
Now my foul revolt deplore,
Weep, believe, and sin no more.

Words: Samuel Longfellow

God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. John 4:24 (KJV)

Escape from Seattle…

…to the country.

We were greeted by many country creatures upon our arrival.

We’ll be busy being country mice for a few days. I will get caught up with bloggy world here and there. Meanwhile back on the other side of the Cascades these warnings are being issued.

The latest look at the forecast models this morning shows they are still calling for a major windstorm this evening and tonight. This morning would be a good time to do your final preparations in case the power goes out in your area.

Right now a powerful low pressure center carrying the remnants of Typhoon Songda is off the Oregon coast. It’s expected to track inland across the Washington coast into southern British Columbia — a text book scenario to a damaging wind storm in Western Washington.

We have our home prepared and people in place to watch and let us know what’s going on…

Five More in Fall

When we (the MGCC Girls) were in Ohio our publishers brought each of us a gift of these great totes from Lands End with a personalized logo. My bag is hanging on one of our dining room chairs.

Some of the girls were at the airport together in Chicago on their way home and had a photo shoot with our new bags. I stole this photo!

When we were at a book signing at The Gospel Shop in Sugarcreek , Ohio it was fun to see our book in the new release section of the bookstore.

We had a few nice days without rain this week in the Seattle area so Dear and I took a drive to see if we could see some nice fall colors. This road above is off of Highway 20, the North Cascades Highway, near Concrete, Washington.

This week I posted this great cucumber salsa inspired by my daughter in law. You can find the easy recipe by clicking here.

We are always on the lookout for a good burger spot and we found one this past week close to home. This restaurant is called the Tipsy Cow. Good brews and good burgers.

Thankful for Bags, Books, Drives, Salsa, and a good burger.

Last night I had some bonus time with half of our kids. We went to a Sounders Soccer game together and were able to talk and get caught up. It had been awhile that we could see each other face to face with all of us going hither and yon. For the next few days Dear and I will be spending time with two more of our kids, doubly thankful.

Linking up with Foodie Friday and Everything Else at Rattlebridge Farm, Five on Friday at Love Made My Home and Friday’s Fave Five at Living to Tell the Story.

Dear bloggy friends, I’ll be late coming around today as we are traveling across the mountains to our son and daughter in love’s home. See you tonight or early tomorrow morning….

Shipshe Flea Market Signs

When we were in Shipshewana we spent some time at the Flea Market and saw these signs and other merchandise.

The Time Out chairs cracked me up.

“I had a Fit Now I gotta sit” and Time Out ~ “Have Mercy on me O Lord For I’m in Trouble”

There were lots of items I wanted to bring home with me but alas my suitcase wasn’t the size of a pick-up truck.

I bought this Celebrations sign with discs and hearts to add for our family birthdays and anniversaries.

We are being threatened with a mighty wind storm and lots of rain to blow through our region. We have been busy “battening down the hatches” at this old house. We’ve mowed and cleaned out the planters and soon we’ll have more leaves to deal with because of the mighty winds. Hopefully we won’t lose power. Hope y’all are enjoying Fall!

Linking up with Lesley at signs, signs.

Wednesday Washday in Amish Country

I don’t know if every Wednesday is washday but on this particular Wednesday as we drove the country roads we spotted many wash lines filled with clothing drying in the wind. This area has a large population of both Amish and Mennonite folk.

ON A WINDY WASH DAY MORN

Soaked and scrubbed in a round tin tub
with homemade soap
up and down the ribs of a wooden washboard
by hands rubbed red & raw
on a windy wash day morn.

Stiffened with starch, squeezed
and wrung to a twisted laundry rope
then hung on lines to flap
back and forth and snap dry
on a windy wash day morn.

Laid on the lawn like paper cutouts
clean shirts and sheets, towels and skirts
smelling of sun and clouds and wind
wait to be ironed and worn and dirtied
again for another wash day morn.

~ Brenda Seabrooke, American poet and novelist

They really have some great pulley systems and other clothes hanging inventions to make the job more efficient.

Do you have a set day to do laundry?

I’m linking this post to Good Fences with TexWisGirl.

Neigh…

…of a horse.

While driving the country roads in Amish Country Ohio with our friends Bev and Harv we stopped to take a closer look at these noble creatures.

They noticed us and came closer to see if we had a treat for them.

We chose roads less traveled and we were rewarded with these beautiful scenes.

All these photos were taken on Wednesday September 28th in Holmes County, Ohio.

Linking up to ABC Wednesday for N is for Neigh. Thank you Mrs. Nesbitt for starting ABC and Roger and company for your hand in keeping it going.

Head over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook for my Cucumber Salsa Recipe.

Heritage Trail Mosaics…

On Sunday the 25th of September we traveled along the Heritage Trail in Amish/Mennonite Country, Indiana. These shots are from one of our first stops just south of downtown Shipshewana. This reminded me of the Goldilocks story for some reason.

We have had a soggy weekend with some sun breaks here and there. We have been quite lazy here at this old house this weekend. We were in church early Sunday morning where we started a new series on the Holy Spirit. It was a good start with more to come. After church we had breakfast out and stopped at Fred Meyer to buy some ingredients for chicken chili for our second meal of the day and it was real good. These days we are happy with two meals a day.

How was your weekend? It wouldn’t be hard to accomplish more than we did at this old house.

Monday is Thanksgiving in Canada and I wish our good neighbors a very Happy Thanksgiving Day. May God bless Canada today and forever…

Linking to Mosaic Monday with Maggie at Normandy Life. Thank you Maggie for being a great hostess of this meme.

La Grange, Indiana

I tried to get some information on this mural on line and couldn’t really find anything. There were some references to Corn School.

La Grange Methodist Church?

1st Presbyterian Church in La Grange, Indiana.

On our way to Shipshewana, Indiana from the Detroit airport we stopped in La Grange on Highway 20 a few miles from “Shipshe” for dinner and saw these churches and mural while scoping out our dinner options. It didn’t take long to decide on one of the two spots that were open. The barn was spotted on the road before we reached La Grange.

Linking up with Tom the Backroads Traveler for The Barn Collective,

InSPIREd Sunday with Beth and Sally,

and Monday Mural at Oakland Daily Photo

Combining these three memes since all these photos are from La Grange, Indiana.

My God, I Thank Thee ~ Hymn

My God, I Thank Thee

My God, I thank Thee, who hast made
The earth so bright,
So full of splendor and of joy,
Beauty and light;
So many glorious things are here,
Noble and right.

I thank Thee, too, that Thou hast made
Joy to abound;
So many gentle thoughts and deeds
Circling us round,
That in the darkest spot of earth
Some love is found.

I thank Thee more that all our joy
Is touched with pain,
That shadows fall on brightest hours,
That thorns remain;
So that earth’s bliss may be our guide,
And not our chain.

For thou who knowest, Lord, how soon
Our weak heart clings,
Hast given us joys, tender and true,
Yet all with wings;
So that we see gleaming on high
Diviner things.

I thank Thee, Lord, that Thou hast kept
The best in store;
We have enough, yet not too much
To long for more:
A yearning for a deeper peace
Not known before.

I thank Thee, Lord, that here our souls
Though amply blessed,
Can never find, although they seek
A perfect rest;
Nor ever shall, until they lean
On Jesus’ breast.

Words: Adelaide A. Procter, 1858.

I’d like to wish my Canadian friends a very Happy Thanksgiving!

Amazed in Amish Country…

E & S Sales: Come enjoy their unique varieties and wide selection of bulk flour, candy, nuts, snacks, dried fruit, baking ingredients and spices. They have cheese, meat, produce, jams & jellies, salsa, noodles and many other products. You can sit in their deli and enjoy a sandwich, salad, soup, slice of pie and ice cream. Check out their antiques on display while you browse the store and remember they are not open on Sunday!

We just kept pointing and exclaiming to each other as we walked the aisles. This is not your Costco variety bulk.

Me and my fellow shoppers.

The parking lot.

This is my niece’s mother in law. She and her hubby traveled from Michigan for our cooking show and offered to take us around to some of their favorite spots in Shipshe. I’m sorry I didn’t get a photo of the 4 of us together. Besides E & S they took us to their favorite snack spot, JoJo’s Pretzels! JoJo’s is located in the Davis Mercantile, four levels of shops with a carousel on one of the levels.

They have a sense of humor, too.

We finished off our morning at Yoder’s Red Barn Shoppes not to be mistaken for Yoder’s Meat and Cheese. I’ll save that for another post. Thank you Arden and Mary Lou for your hospitality!

We are having a soggy stay inside Saturday here at this old house. The colors are changing nicely in our corner of the world. Our Canadian neighbors are celebrating Thanksgiving all through this weekend with Monday being their official Thanksgiving Day. Here’s a photo of the back of our home with some fall color. I took this photo yesterday morning.

Enjoy your weekend everyone…

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Holy Spirit, Truth Divine ~ Hymn