It Is Well with My Soul

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought—
My sin—not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

Refrain

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so—it is well with my soul.

This was one of the songs my family sang in my mom’s hospital room the last couple days. We sang Great Is Thy Faithfulness, Trust and Obey, Bless Thou the Lord, He Lives and a couple songs in Russian, too. My mom had many ups and downs over the course of her time. The following photos show some of those ups and downs. Tonight she is home in her and my pop’s apartment on Hospice Care.

These photos were taken while singing It is Well with My Soul and praying over my mom.

The next day my nephew Tim brought this cut up watermelon for us all to share in the hospital room and my mother really brightened up when she saw it.

My father is always at my mom’s side. This was another down episode my mom had. She could go from alert and cheery to very difficult periods.

She rallied again and was so intent on my father praying a blessing on Caleb and Marie who will be getting married on August 10th. She wanted my Pop to bless them in Russian and then she spent quite a good chunk of time giving Caleb and Marie some advice and counsel. She told them that they have to forgive each other among other things.

After I left for the airport and my family was waiting for my mom to be discharged my sister shared the following:

Yesterday as we were waiting for mom’s release process we were singing hymns and people were stopping by to listen. We then received a request to sing for a patient. After we sang and prayed with one patient, a nurse asked if we could sing for yet another patient! It was such a wonderful experience to be able to minister to others in their time of need!

I am home again and thankful that I could make a quick trip to Southern California to see my mom and pop and be with them through these hard days. My siblings and I were able to talk through some decisions we have to make soon and talk with my parents about their wishes and resolving to honor those wishes. We had wonderful times of fellowship in my mom’s hospital room praying, singing, reading, laughing, sharing with family and friends. At one point we had 19 of us crammed into her small hospital room. After that the staff moved my mom to a much larger room so we could have more space. The staff at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton were wonderful and they offered us some great hospitality even when we were clogging their halls!

Now we wait on God’s timing for my mom’s life.

Thank you for your prayers. I appreciate you all…

Hard News…

My father had to call 911 for my mom on Thursday evening. She is in the hospital and her heart is very weak. I’m flying down to California very early Friday morning. If God puts us on your hearts please pray for my dad especially. We all know that our mom’s future is in God’s hands and we wait on Him to reveal whether it’s her time to meet her Savior face to face…

My sister sent me this photo.

I’ll be away from the computer indefinitely.

Preview…

I will dedicate a full post of our floor projects when they are completely done but here is a small preview of some differences already.

The hard floors are 90% complete with just the stairs and a landing to be installed. We had a few glitches but that’s normal for major projects. The trim and baseboards still need to be replaced. On August 1st our new carpeting will be installed and hopefully we can breathe a big sigh of relief come August 4th after we move everything back into it’s proper place.

We are very pleased with the character of Hickory. I have to admit that this project has really taken a lot out of me and it’s not done yet. I’m looking forward to recovering in August.

What’s happening in your hood?

Father & Daughter Notecards

It’s almost time for Vee’s Notecard Party and I picked a theme so my choices would be easier. All of these photos are from North Carolina on Emerald Isle in early December of 2011.

This trip came about because Katie was moving into Base housing a month before Andrew would be returning from Afghanistan on his first deployment there.

Katie and I traveled together with 11 suitcases right after Thanksgiving of that year and Dear joined us the Saturday after and stayed a week. We got the house all moved in and organized and then had time for some little adventures. Andrew arrived home that year on Christmas Day. A wonderful Christmas gift for Katie and Andrew.

We will have Katie and Andrew visiting most likely the end of August or early September and then Katie will stay on with us as Andrew is deployed again sometime in the Fall. They are moving out of their Base housing before his deployment.

Oops! After visiting many of the Notecard participants I noticed I blew it and posted 5 instead of 4. I’m blaming it on hormonies…

Escaping the Chaos…

All is good at this old house in the midst of the chaos. Dear had a minor injury during the work over the weekend so he’s taking the next couple days off to recuperate which means happily for me he’ll be here to supervise the work as the new floors go in on Tuesday. Josh and Laura rescued us and especially Dear bringing food and helping put the new patio door in. I washed all the window inside and out in the family room and washed the mini blinds. Now I really understand people having them professionally cleaned. What a job!

On Saturday I had another escape to a fun tea sponsored by a Girl Scout friend’s troop to raise money. She and her troop did a wonderful job of serving all of us and also making conversation as we sipped our tea. The 3 girls who were on the Tea Committee earned their Social Butterfly badges. How cute is that!

Here’s my DIL Laura with our little friend Sarah. Sarah was on the Tea Committee so she earned her badge. Sarah’s older sister Anna is in the top right photo. This last photo is of the views from the home where the tea was held. Such a beautiful day in the Puget Sound area of Washington.

I zoomed in on the Ferry doing the Edmonds/Kingston voyage.

Hope you all had a nice weekend.

‘Twixt Gleams of Joy and Clouds of Doubt ~ Hymn

‘Twixt Gleams of Joy and Clouds of Doubt

‘Twixt gleams of joy and clouds of doubt our feelings come and go;
Our daily state is tossed about in ceaseless ebb and flow.
No mood of feeling, form of thought, is constant for a day;
But Thou, O Lord, Thou changest not, the same Thou art alway.

Out of the weak, unquiet drift that comes but to depart,
To that pure heaven my spirit lift where Thou unchanging art.
Lay hold of me with Thy strong grasp, let Thine almighty arm
In its embrace my weakness clasp, and I shall fear no harm.

Thy purpose of eternal good let me but surely know,
On this I’ll lean—let changing mood and feeling come or go
Glad when Thy sunshine fills my soul, nor sad when clouds overcast,
Since Thou within Thy sure control of love dost hold me fast.

Words: John C. Shairp, 1871.

A Trail Walk…

Almost a month ago Dear and I drove to the river trail close to us to have a very early Saturday morning walk.

The mist was lying low.

It was so peaceful.

Finally it was late enough in the morning to see other humans. This was the first time I’ve seen policemen on bicycles on the trail. I was happy to see them. I hesitate to walk this trail by myself because there are so many secluded parts of the trail. When we walk this trail we do a quick one hour walk which ends up being about 3 miles or so. A good start to our Saturday morning. Hope we didn’t spoil the good of the walk with this next stop we made on the way home…

Someone did say that it’s good to have a goal for your walk to motivate you. I don’t think this is what they had in mind, though.

When our floors are done I hope to drag Dear out to the trail again on a Saturday morning. He is a willing victim when we start very early. During the week it would only work for us to walk in the evening since Dear is out the door by 4:30 A.M. on weekdays. Do you prefer to walk in the morning or the evening?

Refresh

What do you find that refreshes you each day?

I know from experience that it’s good for me to start each day thanking God and expressing my gratitude to Him for the new day.

I also know a little exercise each day is refreshing, too. I’m wondering what is going to kick start me into my habit of walking which has fallen by the wayside the last few years. I don’t want to be that American that Yeats speaks about who doesn’t walk in the winter because it’s too cold or walk in the summer because it’s too hot. Maybe each morning after I talk to God and express my gratitude I’ll start asking for Him to help me put one foot in front of the other and walk a mile or two.

Do you walk regularly and what helps you get out the door?

Nests

Not only has our nest seen some upheaval but the nest a little bird built in one of our arborvitae was upturned by something. So sad for the bird. Our upheaval will have a good result.

Our floors are stripped down to the car decking in our kitchen area.

On Thursday our wood flooring will be delivered. On Friday we’ll move the refrigerator to our living room and the island to our deck. On Saturday major prep work will be done and then next Tuesday the new floors are scheduled to go in over a 3 day period. Then we’ll move everything back in place on the wood floor areas before we have to move everything out of our bedrooms for the new carpeting. August is really going to be a lovely month of new calm with everything back in place on new floors!

So that’s life isn’t it? The calm, the storm, the recovery and on it goes…

What stage are you in?

She Scores…

My trips to my favorite Goodwill store in the area have been very infrequent the last couple of years. Lately I need to have something specific that I’m looking for to hit the thrifts or be right in the neighborhood doing something else. This last week I was looking for a book by a certain author and saw this in the collectibles section.

This is Lomonosov Golden Garden china made in Russia.

I bought these pieces for $29.95. When I looked online for prices just the cup and saucer was going for $75.00.

I need another tea set like a hole in the head but since this was a Russian set I wanted it. I am going to release one of my other sets for this one. I figure that’s a good trade off.

We had a productive weekend at this old house. I’m looking forward to a week where I’ll not be confused on what day it is. Holidays in the middle of the week throw my day compass off.

I’m joining in with Mary at Little Red House for her weekly meme, Mosaic Monday.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

It Is Well with My Soul