O Word of God Incarnate ~ Hymn

O Word of God Incarnate

O Word of God incarnate, O wisdom from on high,
O truth unchanged, unchanging, O light of our dark sky:
We praise You for the radiance that from the hallowed page,
A lantern to our footsteps, shines on from age to age.

The Church from You, our Savior, received the gift divine,
And still that light is lifted o’er all the earth to shine.
It is the sacred vessel where gems of truth are stored;
It is the Heav’n drawn picture of Christ, the living Word.

The Scripture is a banner before God’s host unfurled;
It is a shining beacon above the darkling world.
It is the chart and compass that over life’s surging tide,
Mid mists and rocks and quicksands, to You, O Christ, will guide.

O make your Church, dear Savior, a lamp of purest gold,
To bear before the nations Your true light as of old.
O teach your wandering pilgrims by this their path to trace,
Till, clouds and darkness ended, they see You face to face.

Words: William W. How, 1867.

Moms at the Wedding!

For my special Mother’s Day edition for this weekend I’m posting photos that Jeremy Leffel took at Katie and Andrew’s wedding that include mothers. Have we mentioned how much we appreciate Jeremy and his photography?

My Mom

Andrew’s Mother and his sister.

Andrew’s dad and step mom.

My side of our extended family.

This is Dear’s side of the family.

Young moms, older moms, mothers in law, step moms, grandmothers, sisters, sisters in law, nieces, cousins, friends… moms. All important people in our lives.

We are getting a stretch of good weather here in the Pacific Northwest so I’m sure people will be out and about and getting caught up on their gardening. We are participating in a Free Them 5K against human trafficking on Saturday morning. Later in the day we will enjoy a meal with Josh and Laura and from there head to the Sounders soccer game. Hope you enjoy your weekend!

Let’s Dish ~ Mother’s Day…

I was able to use my latest purchases that I showed you a few weeks ago to create a table scape.

I ended up using and changing out 3 different chargers. The bright green, bright purple and pale purple.

My mother is an old world mother. One who sacrifices everything for her husband and children. She has never driven a car to this day and she is 89. She was a stay at home mom her whole married life. Her love was expressed by sharing her faith in God, providing good meals, sewing clothing for her daughters, and putting herself last when it came to needing something new. My mom bore 9 children. Her first daughter died at 2 years old in Iran. Eight of us are all still alive and well in Southern California, Texas, and Washington. Here’s my mom at Katie and Andrew’s wedding in March.

This photo was taken by Jeremy Leffel, I love it! That’s my dear dad behind her making sure she kept steady since she is using a walker these days. It would be nice to serve my mom a meal at this table but traveling is getting very hard for her. She’ll be celebrating at my niece’s home with some of my sister’s families.

I used flowering rosemary and another ground cover in the vases.

I am really enjoying this color combination. I’m still on the lookout for a few more pieces.

I talked to my mom on the phone today and told her I didn’t buy a card, yet. I’m going to have to do something special when I see her the weekend after Mother’s Day weekend.

Happy Mother’s Day to all mothers who visit here…

I’m linking up with Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen for Let’s Dish Mother’s Day edition and with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch for Tablescape Thursday.

Many Hands…

…make light work.

We got the professional photos from the wedding and I’m going to share them in a series. I want to acknowledge our photographer Jeremy Leffel. We’ve known for a few years that we would hire him for Katie’s wedding. When she became engaged we knew the date we chose would have to be a date that Jeremy was available.  So the photos I’ll be sharing are all taken by him. We can’t recommend him enough to anyone needing a wedding photographer.

Here are some pre-wedding shots…

Our hairdresser Sherri was indispensable to us the morning of the wedding. If you can have the hairdresser come to your venue it really makes the whole pre wedding preparations more relaxed.

Our nieces Melissa and Debbee helped the girls with their make-up.

The venue provided a wonderful plate of cheeses, fruit and champagne for us.

The guys found a local spot to the venue to get some sandwiches and drinks to tide them over.

Yep…it took many hands to make the whole celebration light work. We continue to be thankful.

Off With It’s Head…

…or the show and tell of the old and new roof!

The Garage/Shop

The House

We are very pleased with the new roof and the new gutters. The gutters have already gotten a good workout with several downpours over the last couple weeks. The other thing we are pleased with is a ridge vent instead of the old vents we had.

Now all we need to do is finish the siding, pour a driveway, gut the downstairs bathroom, replace all the floor coverings inside, replace the counter tops in the kitchen. Sheesh the fun just never stops!

Finding Spring

We are finally getting a little warm up in our weather and some sunshine. It will be good to have some dry days to be able to get the planter beds weeded.

I’m sure that many of you have been strolling around your local garden shops to see if there is something new to add to you gardens. We bought a new Rhododendron while we were at Meerkerk Rhododendron Garden that we are finding a spot for.

I am not a gardener. I mow the lawn happily but I always have a little skepticism on whether something new that I plant will survive. I am very thankful when our plants revive themselves in the Spring and Summer. I am conscious of the Master Gardener and the beauty He has created for us to enjoy.  Just walking in a beautiful garden causes me to thank God for his creation. Sometimes it even makes me sing… out loud. Gifted earthly gardeners are very much appreciated by me, too.

I’m linking up with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday. I hope to get around to see your mosaics. I’ll be on the road tomorrow so I might be late in visiting.

How Deep the Father’s Love For Us ~ Stuart Townend

How Deep the Father’s Love For Us

How deep the Father’s love for us,
How vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss,
The Father turns His face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One,
Bring many sons to glory

Behold the Man upon a cross,
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed I hear my mocking voice,
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that left Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no power, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom
(REPEAT)

~Stuart Townend

Added note: I posted this wonderful song on Saturday evening on my blog and on Sunday morning during Communion the worship band led us in singing this same song. The prompting to the Holy Spirit and the congruence of the Holy Spirit is an amazing thing…

Saratoga and Beyond…

On Saturday when we checked into our Inn before heading to the wedding the weather was looking up!

You could see the Saratoga Passage  and Camano Island from the Inn.

We had a warm welcome.

After the wedding when we got to our room we had a sweet treat on our turned down bed.

On Sunday morning before breakfast we headed out for a misty walk. I already posted the photos from the Eagle we spied.

There were pretty tulips still blooming around Langley.

We drove north up the Island and after our stop at the Meerkerk Rhododendron gardens we enjoyed a little antique shopping.

We headed south again and saw a sign on the side of the road advertizing that Gerry’s had the best crab cakes around so we decided to see if that was true.

They were still only serving breakfast at 11:45 A.M. so we had our crab cakes in Benedict form. They were very good.

Our last stop in the island before the Ferry landing was this lovely garden store. In a few weeks these arbors will have beautiful blooms hanging down. I can only imagine how breathtaking they will be.

Time to head to the ferry landing.

Adios to Whidbey Island and Happy Cinco de Mayo to all of you.

Favorites Into May!

Attending a wedding of forever friends is special but it’s a double , triple, quadruple blessing when you get to celebrate it with family and more friends, new friends, friends that are yours for eternity.  The fairy tale wedding of Lucy and Kris tops my favorites for this past week.

1. We traveled to Whidbey Island on Saturday, checked into our Inn, had a light lunch in Langley and headed to the wedding at a garden destination minutes from our Inn.

2. The weather held for the bride’s dream of being able to have the wedding outdoors. Our son and daughter in law were in the wedding. Our son is like a brother to the bride who is one of 3 girls in her family. We met the bride and her family in 1984 in Ventura, California and have been good friends since that time. Our boys and daughter and the 3 girls in this family have always gotten along brilliantly.  The bride’s sister was our daughter’s maid of honor a month ago in her wedding.

3. Our son Josh gave a wedding toast to the Bride and Groom at the reception. We were so pleased with his encouraging affirming thoughts and wishes for the new couple. We love to hear a toast that honors instead of demeans or makes fun of the couple.

4. It was so nice to have a short drive to our Inn after the reception looking forward to one more day on the island. We had a restful sleep, a nice early morning walk where we got to observe an Eagle and a whale, a tasty breakfast and a nice drive to some beautiful garden settings. Oops…we had 2nd breakfast, too.

Crab Cake Eggs Benedict!

5. Its always good to come home to all the familiar comforts. My last favorite for the week was a fun evening at Century Link field watching the Seattle Sounders gain a victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy. The weather was good for the game and the drive to the game with my son and daughter in law gave us time to get caught up with life.

So what were your favorites this week? You can link up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to share…

The Eagle

The Eagle

By Alfred, Lord Tennyson

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;
Close to the sun in lonely lands,
Ring’d with the azure world, he stands.
~
The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;
He watches from his mountain walls,
And like a thunderbolt he falls.

We spent the night on Whidbey Island and in the early morning we headed out on a walk along the Saratoga Passage. In the distance we saw a bird with a white crown and knew it was an Eagle. We were hoping it would stay put until we made our way down to the landing.

The Inn where we stayed is up on the bluff.
It always amazes me how feisty crows can be around Eagles. The Eagle gave one screech at the crow and the crow backed off.
Before we headed back for our breakfast at the Inn we were alerted to the fact that a whale was making it’s way along the Saratoga Passage. I couldn’t get a great shot of the spray because it was hard to predict. It was still exciting to see.
~
After breakfast we checked out and had a couple adventures on the Island before we headed to the Ferry Terminal for our ride back to the mainland. I’ll show more photos from our adventures and from the Inn soon.