Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence ~ Liturgy

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded, For with blessing is His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth, Our full homage to demand.

King of Kings, Yet born of Mary, As of old earth He stood,
Lord of Lords, In human vesture, In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful. His own self for heavenly food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads it’s vanguard on the way,
As Light of light descendeth from the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish as the darkness clears away.

At His feet the six-winged seraph, Cherubim, With sleeples eye,
Veil their faces to His presence as with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Lord Most High!

Words: Liturgy of St. James, 4th Century

R is for Rhododendrons!

Rhododendrons are the Washington State flower. We have five bushes in our yard. I’m linking up with ABC Wednesday started by Denise Nesbitt and maintained by the ABC Team! Thank you!

Four of the five rhododendron bushes we have came with our home and are well established.

This year because of our warm April weather everything is blooming early.

The bees are really enjoying the blooms!

My rhodies are mostly in the pink hues but rhodies come in many more colors, too. These last two photos are from the Meerkerk Rhododendron Garden on Whidbey Island.

Purple and white and yellow and red, oh my. I do have a new little yellow rhody bush but it chose not to bloom this year. These last photos are from the Meerkerk Rhododendron garden on Whidbey Island.

Thanks so much for all the sympathy and advice on my tooth extraction and implant. My extraction did not happen on Monday but will be happening for sure on Wednesday morning. My sweet daughter is going with me to hold my hand. I’m suppose to take it easy after my extraction so I’ll have time to visit your blogs and who knows how weird my comments might be if I’m on pain medication!

How goes it in your corner of the world?

Weekend Work and Play!

We have had some nice dry and warm weather a few days in a row and what does that mean at this old house? It means it’s time to continue our projects. Dear spent much of Saturday taking the old vertical siding off the back of the house. This side of the house is the last side that needs horizontal siding. See that huge Rosemary bush behind Dear?

My job on Saturday morning was to trim it way back so Dear could work around it. The Rosemary scent was so strong we both felt a little woozy from it.

I did a few more chores out in the yard while Dear worked on the prep work for the new siding.

Our kids arranged a meal out for Mother’s Day on Saturday evening. I’ve mentioned before that I’m de-fluffing right now for our son’s wedding the end of June but for Mother’s Day I threw away the calorie counter. It was time to feast. I enjoyed a beet salad and Dear enjoyed a Bleu Cheese salad.

The six of us enjoyed steak, chicken, and halibut with some tasty sides.

Better than the food was the time we had together talking about the recent events in our lives. We missed our son and his fiance who live in the eastern part of our state across the Cascade mountains. We will celebrate with them in a couple of weeks when Dear and I head east to wrap up some details for the wedding.

On Sunday (Mother’s Day) we went to church and then we loaded up the truck bed with things we needed to take to the dump. We dumped about 1400 pounds of old siding, stone pavers, old wood, etc. It was my first time at the dump and it was an interesting experience. I cracked up about my Mother’s Day experience and Dear commented that he is always ready to give me a new experience in life.

Bad news…tomorrow I get to have another fun dental event (sarcasm intended). I’m going to have a tooth extracted that is causing gum infection problems. It’s the same tooth that they put a crown on in January. What a waste. Now I get to decide if I want to go through the trauma (for me) of having an implant. Feel free to share your experiences with similar issues and your advice!

Good news… going back to my de-fluffing plan is that I have dropped 10 pounds! This success keeps me motivated to stay on track and continue losing for the wedding.

If you are a mother I hope you enjoyed the weekend and that you were celebrated. Here’s a prayer for Mothers that I shared on the MGCC blog on Sunday.

Mother’s Prayers Have Followed Me ~ Hymn

Mother’s Prayers Have Followed Me

I grieved my Lord from day to day,
I scorned His love so full and free,
And though I wandered far away,
My mother’s prayers have followed me.

Refrain

I’m coming home, I’m coming home,
To live my wasted life anew,
For mother’s prayers have followed me,
Have followed me, the whole world thro’.

O’er desert wild, o’er mountain high
A wanderer I chose to be,
A wretched soul condemned to die,
Still mother’s prayers have followed me.

Refrain

He turned my darkness into light,
This blessèd Christ of Calvary,
I’ll praise His name both day and night,
That mother’s prayers have followed me.

Refrain

Words: Lizzie DeArmond, 1912.

My mother went to be with her Savior on September 13, 2013. I’m still thankful for her prayers, my father’s prayers to this day and my maternal grandmother’s prayers.

Mother’s Day ~ World War II

This is Dear’s grandfather, his father Rex, one of Rex’s sisters and Rex’s mom, Nettie. Rex honored his parents his whole life and left this great legacy to his two sons. Nettie died 2 months before Rex, who died of complications due to lung cancer in 1985.

This is a Mother’s Day card that Rex sent his mom in the 1940’s. His mom framed it.

On the back of the frame here is some history of what was happening with Rex during World War II and how Nettie felt. We called Nettie, Gommy. Our kids called Nettie, Gommy Gommy.

I’m so happy that she wrote this history on the back of the frame. This last photo is of Dear, Gommy, and Rex.

Hope a happy Mother’s Day weekend is in store for all of you. The weather is supposed to be summery here in the Pacific Northwest. Maybe we’ll even put our patio covers up. We will definitely do some outdoor activities!

Fences and Signs!

This short red, white and blue fence is in the side yard of a house I pass on my way to exercise class.

On our way to Canada last Saturday I spotted these signs.

We have a few choices for border crossings into Canada in our state of Washington but Sumas is the one we choose when we are traveling to Chilliwack or the center of Abbotsford.

This is dairy country!

I’ll add one more fence looking out my basement door. It might be time to trim my Japanese Maple.

Linking to Signs, signs with Lesley and Good Fences with Tex-Wis-Girl!

Quirky-

-strikingly unconventional.

When Dear and I were on Bainbridge Island in March we came across these quirky structures.

Q is for Quirky and I’m adding this post to ABC Wednesday started by Denise Nesbitt and continued by the great ABC Team!

Here’s my Bible Verse for the letter Q!

Speaking of the letter Q, I’m on a quest for the next couple months to drop some of my “fluff” before our son’s wedding the end of June. I feel like I deserve a medal only after two weeks of de-fluffing. I am way more fond of feasting than fasting. In reading Shauna Niequist’s book, Bread and Wine (a love letter to life around the table with recipes), her chapter on feasting and fasting resonated with me and helped me finally get on with a “fasting” time in my life. She uses the term fasting loosely meaning the opposite of feasting not the traditional fasting where for spiritual reasons you have set aside a time where you only have broth and juice. There are times in my life where it’s appropriate to feast and times when it’s appropriate to fast. My fasting consists of only having a certain amount of calories per day. Even in this short two month quest there are events where it’s not appropriate for me to fast, like when my kids take me out for Mother’s day this coming Saturday. Life goes on. I know at the end of this quest I’ll feel more like a Queen for the day in my mother of the groom dress.

Happy Cinco de Mayo! I’m saving my calories for Tequila Tuesday at our local Mexican restaurant tonight.

Drive By Barns…

You know how it goes…when you see something that would be cool to take a photo of you are on a direct mission to your destination. No time for stopping along the way. On our way to and back from our son’s in Eastern Washington I took a lot of shots of barns from the highway. If they are a little blurry it’s because we were going ~~70 and 80 MPH~~ fast!

Close to Ellensburg…

Does covered hay count as a hay barn? These first few I’m sharing are from Central Washington.

Linking up to Rose Street Reflections by Amy for The Barn Collection #30.

We had a great weekend. On Saturday we traveled to Chilliwack, B.C. to attend a wedding. We enjoyed time with seven of the Mennonite Girls and their husbands but we had a total photo fail. None of us got one photo of the eight of us together. Oye! On Sunday after church we enjoyed a pulled pork meal with our Western Washington kids and we watched the Seattle Sounders game together. We had fun cheering loudly together and we won which is always more enjoyable than losing!

Hope you had a good weekend!

Marching to Zion ~ Hymn

Marching to Zion

Come, we that love the Lord,
And let our joys be known;
Join in a song with sweet accord,
Join in a song with sweet accord
And thus surround the throne,
And thus surround the throne.

Refrain

We’re marching to Zion,
Beautiful, beautiful Zion;
We’re marching upward to Zion,
The beautiful city of God.

The sorrows of the mind
Be banished from the place;
Religion never was designed
Religion never was designed,
To make our pleasures less,
To make our pleasures less.

Refrain

Let those refuse to sing,
Who never knew our God;
But favorites of the heavenly King,
But favorites of the heavenly King
May speak their joys abroad,
May speak their joys abroad.

Refrain

The God that rules on high,
And thunders when He please,
Who rides upon the stormy sky,
Who rides upon the stormy sky,
And manages the seas,
And manages the seas.

Refrain

This awful God is ours,
Our Father and our Love;
He will send down his heav’nly powers,
He will send down his heav’nly powers,
To carry us above,
To carry us above.

Refrain

There we shall see His face,
And never, never sin!
There, from the rivers of His grace,
There, from the rivers of His grace,
Drink endless pleasures in,
Drink endless pleasures in.

Refrain

Yea, and before we rise,
To that immortal state,
The thoughts of such amazing bliss,
The thoughts of such amazing bliss,
Should constant joys create,
Should constant joys create.

Refrain

The men of grace have found,
Glory begun below.
Celestial fruits on earthly ground
Celestial fruits on earthly ground
From faith and hope may grow,
From faith and hope may grow.

Refrain

The hill of Zion yields
A thousand sacred sweets
Before we reach the heav’nly fields,
Before we reach the heav’nly fields,
Or walk the golden streets,
Or walk the golden streets.

Refrain

Then let our songs abound,
And every tear be dry;
We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground,
We’re marching through Immanuel’s ground,
To fairer worlds on high,
To fairer worlds on high.

Refrain

Words: Isaac Watts, 1707.

A Year Ago…

For InSPIREd Sunday and Spiritual Sundays I’m going back to a road trip our daughter and I took to get her back to North Carolina to welcome her husband home from his second tour of duty in Afghanistan with the Marine Corps. One of the places we took time to visit was Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri.

The Legend of the Dogwood

There is a legend, that at the time of the Crucifixion the dogwood had been the size of the oak and other forest trees. So firm and strong was the tree that it was chosen as the timber of the cross. To be used thus for such a cruel purpose greatly distressed the tree, and Jesus, nailed upon it, sensed this, and in His gentle pity for all sorrow and suffering said to it: “Because of your regret and pity for My suffering, never again shall the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a cross. Henceforth it shall be slender and bent and twisted and its blossoms shall be in the form of a cross. ..two long and two short petals. And in the center of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints, brown with rust and stained with red, and in the center of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see it will remember.”

I recognize that this is just a legend but I wanted to post this entry because I’ve always loved the Dogwood blooms. If I look at them and think about what my Savior did for me that’s a good thing. He created the tree, the beautiful bloom, and you and me to enjoy it!

We will be taking a short road trip to Canada on Saturday. I’ll share about our time next week. It takes us under two hours to get to the U.S./Canadian border from where we live in Washington State. Hope you have a wonderful first weekend in May!

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence ~ Liturgy