FFF ~ Goodbye September!

Gratitude is a very good thing. Every Friday we join Susanne at Living to Tell the Story in sharing 5 good things from our past week. Wow can you believe we are already saying goodbye to September?!

A good friend died this past Sunday. Why would I share that in my 5 good things? I’m so thankful to God that I got to know Kathy and that I learned so much from her struggles and her attitude. She knew she was going home and would be with her Savior. Her husband wrote a beautiful tribute to her on Kathy’s blog that you can read here.

As you can see from the photo above we have had some beautiful sunny days this week after some cloudy rainy days. It was nice to get out and enjoy the weather with my camera.

God worked out timing for me to be able to be part of a lot of important events in October including Kathy’s memorial service in Sacramento.

Completed projects around the house.

We decided instead of just me and Katie going to North Carolina to get her settled in base housing before Andrew returns from Afghanistan that Dear would travel with us, too. It will be great to have a man along with us while we get some basics set up for Andrew’s return.

October is as full as a pumpkin for me. How’s your October shaping up? Hope to come around soon and see what you are up to.

At Times Like These…

…it’s O.K. to take liberties!

After all here we are at the letter X in Alphabe-Thursday. I’m sure teacher Jenny would eXcuse us if we stray a bit on this letter.

For my offering this week I went to Yarrow Bay, oh lookie a Y word for next week. I was hoping to find a huge X marks the spot.

 

This looked promising, an alphabet marina.

 

This was the only X that was to be found on my stroll through the Marina.

Sorry but the X photo is missing through the Photobucket piracy that occurred after 2011. Here are some photos I’ll use for the letter Y.

 

Next week I’ll show the rest of my water shots from Yarrow Bay on Lake Washington in Kirkland, Washington. Yes…that’s the same Kirkland that the Costco Kirkland products are named after.

I’ll be around to see what liberties you all took with the letter X!

A Little Book Tour ~

I’m getting ready for a special road trip on Saturday.

If you live in Washington State come on up to the Bellingham Barnes and Noble on Guide-Meridian and join several of the Mennonite Girls at our book signing.

The girls and I will be there from 10:00 a.m. until 12:00 noon. After that we are hopping in our cars and crossing the border for a book signing at Ten Thousand Villages on Commericial in Vancouver, B.C.

Did you know this year marks the 65th Anniversary for Ten Thousand Villages? Yes, it has been sixty-five years that Ten Thousand Villages has been changing the lives and well-being of disadvantaged producers by linking and promoting Fair Trade organizations and speaking out for greater justice in the world.

To mark this great occasion the staff and volunteers at TEN THOUSAND VILLAGES on COMMERCIAL DRIVE invite you to come and help us celebrate the 65th Anniversary of Ten Thousand Villages this SATURDAY, October 1st. All day, from 10am-9pm, we will have lots of music and cake! Plus, there will be tattoos and balloons for the kids. At 4:00pm some of the authors from Mennonite Girls Can Cook will be at the store to sign copies! How awesome is that?

We hope you will come and celebrate with us! Please help us continue the mission that was started 65 years ago by one woman. Support Ten Thousand Villages this Saturday. Support fair trade. Make a difference.

Count It All Joy…

My friend Kathy B. from Count it all Joy

Kathy B. began her last struggle with her illness on August 2nd.

Since August 2nd many emails and texts have been  going back and forth among friends and family who could not stand watch at the hospital or be with her when she was released to Hospice care in her home. Here is one from Kathy’s sister in law.

“It is truly a blessing to see the many friends who have rallied around Kathy and Bill and who have bathed them in prayer and love. Kathy’s battle is continuing to be epic in her strength during this long illness. She has had this cancer for over 28 years and is the worldwide longest survivor of this form of ugly cancer. My sister-in-law has used this sickness to grow into a “woman after God’s own heart”.  Her witness is evident in the testimony of all the people who have been visiting and posting messages. Our lives have been richly blessed by her strength in her weakness.”
~
Kathy survived her hospital and I.C.U. experience regaining consciousness and being able to be taken off the respirator. She was released for hospice care at home where she was able to communicate and enjoy her own home surrounded by the comforts familiar to her. She helped plan her funeral service and was miraculously able to get out of her bed and enjoy going outside to her garden. The beginning of Fall brought more hurdles for Kathy as her lungs filled with fluids and she had difficulty breathing. Her “Cute Boy” and my dear friend Jeanie were at her side while she struggled through her last hours. She went from the arms of her “Cute Boy” to the arms of Jesus early on Sunday September 25th.

I Am Standing on the Sea Shore

I am standing on the sea shore,
A ship sails in the morning breeze and starts for the ocean.
She is an object of beauty and I stand watching her
Till at last she fades on the horizon and someone at my side says:
“She is gone.”


Gone! Where?
Gone from my sight – that is all.
She is just as large in the masts, hull and spars as she was when I saw her
And just as able to bear her load of living freight to its destination.
The diminished size and total loss of sight is in me,
not in her.

And just at the moment when someone at my side says,
“She is gone”,
There are others who are watching her coming, and other voices take up a glad shout:
“There she comes”
– an that is dying.

    
Bishop Brent
1862 – 1926

Her sister Jeanie married my cousin Jim. Jeanie and Kathy started a blog together called The Matson Sisters – becoming our Mother. I took this photo of Jeanie and Kathy from that blog.

Kathy and Jeanie lived a few hours from each other. They talked everyday on the phone and each morning Kathy would pick a hymn for them to sing together.

Before blogging I only knew Kathy as “Jeanie’s sister”. Over the years we’d see each other at a major family function here and there. After Kathy started her blog “Count it all Joy” and I had my blog we became real good bloggy buddies. I grew to love her and appreciate her just as much as I did my dear friend Jeanie. I thank God that our blogs brought us together in a more intimate way. I learned a lot from Kathy. I got to see her in person at the weddings of her nephews, my cousin’s sons. Two of the photos above are from Ben and Kristin’s wedding. I said on facebook after Kathy went into I.C.U. that when I was with Kathy I felt like I had seen Jesus. Those who suffer much reflect Him more. I’m going to miss my dear bloggy friend Kathy B. and I look forward to seeing her again in heaven.

I stole this photo of Kathy with her Cute Boy from Kathy’s blog…

Kathy B.! I’m looking forward to sitting at the Banqueting Table in heaven with you. Love you dearly…I’ll see you later.

I Won’t Have to Cross Jordan Alone ~ Hymn

I Won’t Have to Cross Jordan Alone

When I come to the river at the ending of day
When the last winds of sorrow have blown
There’ll be somebody waiting to show me the way
I won’t have to cross Jordan alone

I won’t have to cross Jordan alone
Jesus died all my sins to atone
In the darkness I see he’ll be waiting for me
I won’t have to cross Jordan alone

Often times I’m weary and troubled and sad
When it seems that my friends have all flown
There is one thought that cheers me and makes my heart glad
I won’t have to cross Jordan alone

I won’t have to cross Jordan alone
Jesus died all my sins to atone
In the darkness I see he’ll be waiting for me
I won’t have to cross Jordan alone

Though the billows of trouble and sorrow may sweep
Christ the Saviour will care for his own
Till the end of my journey my soul he will
keep and I won’t have to cross Jordan alone

I won’t have to cross Jordan alone
Jesus died all my sins to atone
In the darkness I see he’ll be waiting for me
I won’t have to cross Jordan alone

A dear friend is at death’s door and we are waiting to hear that she is finally in the arms of her Savior.

FFF~ Hello Fall!

Not only is it Friday again but we are officially in our Fall Season. There are some things that do not change with the seasons and one of those things is the need to show our gratitude or to think on the good things in our lives. Thank you to Susanne for hosting Friday’s Fave Five!

1. Last Saturday our son picked me up for the Seattle Sounders Soccer game against D.C. United. Not only did we win big but we managed to get our hands on a couple free Sounders lunch boxes. They were handing these out to all the kids that came to the game. At half-time when they had boxes left over they let us oldies have one, too, until they ran out.

2. On Sunday after a great church service we went to a Welcome to the Family meeting for new members at church. We are so grateful to finally settle into a home church that is a good fit for us and so close to home. This church is the closest to us in 40+ years of church going…

3. Although Dear and Katie passed along a sick bug to me my bug was very mild and I was feeling well after just a couple days.

4. Katie and I went shopping for wedding jewelery and came up with some great pieces to go with her dress and the price was right.

5. I was grateful for the fresh herbs on my deck that added wonderful flavor to dishes this week. It’s great to just go out and snip the herbs rather than go to the store and pay too much for them.

Hope you are all having a great transition to Fall. I still have to get out and about and see if I can find some great fall color.

A Little Slice of Lake Washington…

It’s time for Alphabe-Thursday with our great teacher Jenny! We are on the letter W.

I live in the state of Washington so I’m surrounded by W. I’m just showing a little of the North end of Lake Washington today. There are two floating bridges that cross Lake Washington and lots of beautiful inlets and homes and parks on the shores of the Lake. Bill Gates of Microsoft fame has a home on Lake Washington. The University of Washington is also adjacent to Lake Washington and if you’ve ever watched a football game on T.V. where Washington is playing you’ll see the beautiful backdrop of the Lake from one of the end zones.

Speaking of W, we are also surrounded by water here in our state. Sometimes that water is falling down on us. Our Western boundary is on the Pacific Ocean. Some of our Northwestern boundary is on the Strait of Juan de Fuca. In the Seattle area we are intersected here and there by the Puget Sound. We have the mighty Columbia River running through our state. We have many wonderful Islands.

I took these photos today Wednesday September 21st so you can see we are cloudy again with a chance of rain. It’s not cold, though. We are heading to the upper 70’s today.

Thanks for visiting. Soon I’ll be waltzing over to see what you are sharing for the letter W.

What to do with your Bounty…

When trying to lose some extra pounds put on over the last year for different reasons what is the best approach to using produce from your own fruit trees? We have an apple tree, a pear tree, and blueberry bushes on our property. Property sounds big but truth be told we only have 1/3rd of an acre. I froze much of our blueberry harvest and made applesause that is frozen from our apples but now I’m working on the pears. Everything that sounds good for pears is sweet and yummy and loaded with calories. I saw this great recipe at LazyonLoblolly and it helped me to use up some of my pears. To make your frosting look more like the Southern Living magazine photo you will need to add more powdered sugar than the recipe asks for. The frosting is delicious so I would not exhange it for caramel sauce.

So back to losing weight. If you are going to continue to use the bounty available to you from your property/garden the best remedy to gaining lots of weight is to give some away to your neighbors. I have a neighbor who is a younger widow and she would never bake a whole cake, pie, etc. for herself anymore. She gladly accepts a  piece of cake, or a piece of pie or a couple muffins from me. It’s a win win situation. I took 3 pieces of this cake to another neighbor who works full time and probably doesn’t have the same time I have to bake. Her husband and daughter would enjoy something homemade.  My sister and BIL were the other recipients of a couple pieces of this cake. My sister travels back and forth from California and even though she stills enjoys baking she also appreciates a treat from her big sister.  If you have creative ideas that need to be brought to fruition don’t abandon them. Think of ways you can share your bounty with those in your neighborhood.

Maybe this started out as an all about me and losing weight post but I hope it was warped into a better love your nieghbor as yourself post instead…

Thank you for your get well wishes! I’m feeling a lot better and happy to say I didn’t get the full on ick my husband endured…

 

Ruby Tuesday…

A fun pop of ruby from a wedding we attended at Kayak Point in Washington.

Mary at Work of the Poet is the hostess for Ruby Tuesday!

After a couple days of rain and clouds we’re enjoying a few more days of sunshine this week in the Great Northwest. I’m thinking as soon as I get over the bug my Dear and daughter decided to share I’ll need to get out and about and look for some good signs of Fall.

U.S. Capitol Grounds

This is the Peace Monument on the U.S. Capitol grounds in Washington D.C.

“At the top of the monument, facing west, stand two classically robed female figures. Grief holds her covered face against the shoulder of History and weeps in mourning. History holds a stylus and a tablet that was inscribed “They died that their country might live.” Below Grief and History, another life-size classical female figure represents Victory, holding high a laurel wreath and carrying an oak branch, signifying strength. Below her are the infant Mars, the god of war, and the infant Neptune, god of the sea. The shaft of the monument is decorated with wreaths, ribbons, and scallop shells.”

This next mosaic is of the Ulysses S. Grant Memorial.

“The Ulysses S. Grant Memorial sits at the base of Capitol Hill amidst other important Washington D.C. monuments such as those built to honor Lincoln and Washington. It is currently the largest equestrian statue in the United States and the second largest in the world.”

There is so much to see and document in Washington D.C. You can never exhaust the treasures there in one visit. We were there in May of this year and I’m still pulling up more photos and history to share.

I’m linking up with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday. Thank you Mary for hosting this weekly event and sharing your beautiful photography with us.