Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above ~ Hymn

Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above

Sing praise to God Who reigns above, the God of all creation,
The God of power, the God of love, the God of our salvation.
With healing balm my soul is filled and every faithless murmur stilled:
To God all praise and glory.

What God’s almighty power hath made His gracious mercy keepeth,
By morning glow or evening shade His watchful eye ne’er sleepeth;
Within the kingdom of His might, Lo! all is just and all is right:
To God all praise and glory.

The Lord is never far away, but through all grief distressing,
An ever present help and stay, our peace and joy and blessing.
As with a mother’s tender hand, God gently leads the chosen band:
To God all praise and glory.

Thus, all my toilsome way along, I sing aloud Thy praises,
That earth may hear the grateful song my voice unwearied raises.
Be joyful in the Lord, my heart, both soul and body bear your part:
To God all praise and glory.

Let all who name Christ’s holy Name give God all praise and glory;
Let all who own His power proclaim aloud the wondrous story!
Cast each false idol from its throne, for Christ is Lord, and Christ alone:
To God all praise and glory.

Words by Johann J. Schutz 1675

ht: Cyberhymnal

The Birds! The Birds!

Even though our 6:00 AM beach walk was socked in with a marine layer we were very happy because this change in our weather is helping out the fire fighters who are battling the Jesusita Fire in Santa Barbara. The fire was 30% contained the last we heard and 38,000 people have been evacuated so far. Our nephews college, Westmont, has been evacuated for the second time this school year. There is some optimism today that things are getting better. They estimate containment on May 13th. Our nephew won’t be able to move his personal belongings out of his college dorm room until the evacuation orders are lifted. The last day of school was Friday.

 

Our walk today was all about the birds!

Can you see all the holes in the sand that these little birds have made looking for breakfast?

It is so much fun to see these birds move up and down the sand as a group.

I was practicing catching birds in flight today.

Enjoy your weekend everyone. For all the mothers out there, a very Happy Mother’s Day to you with all God’s blessings!

Our Niece’s Wedding…

I was able to pirate these photos off my niece Annie from the wedding in Orlando. The wedding was supposed to be in Cancun this last Saturday but because of the Swine flu it was cancelled in Cancun and within 24 hours rescheduled in Orlando for the same Saturday. Truly amazing what they were able to pull off  changing the venue in 24 hours time!!

Jenna is our oldest niece. She is the daughter of Dear’s brother Terry who is married to Christina. They have two other daughters. Annie was born the same year our first son Josh was born and Kacie just turned 18!

The bride, our beautiful niece Jenna…

The three sisters…

The parents of the bride, Dear’s brother Terry and Christina…

The new family…

Our son Josh and his beautiful wife Laura. They were the only ones in our family who could attend the wedding.

Cousins minus the bride…

Cousins Annie and Josh both born in 1979! Josh already had his birthday in January and Annie will be celebrating hers on May 16th!

 

Friday’s Fave Five ~

Our first full week of May is complete already! Boy time flies when you’re gaining weight. Oops that just slipped out…

It’s time to join Susanne at Living to Tell the Story and post our 5 favorites from this past week. Here we go…

These early Saturday morning walks on the beach always make it into my favorites. Last Saturday was a breezy cold morning with threats of rain.

On Saturday afternoon Dear and I drove south to attend a mini high school reunion from my class of 1968. I was so thrilled when my friend Bet walked in. We hadn’t seen each other since my wedding…

Early in the week I drove out to Pt. Mugu to practice using my big camera. I had a good time and have posted several photos already from my time there.

I really enjoy thrift store shopping and I get excited when I find goodies like this.

I almost made it through this week without mentioning food but here I go again! I enjoyed baking this for my Women’s Friday Bible Study group. I got the recipe from the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog here.

Hope everyone is doing well and found lots to be thankful for this week. Blessings…

 

Foodie Friday ~ Cherry Platz

It’s time to get your cooking on for Foodie Friday. Gollum at Designs by Gollum is our trusty hostess for this event. Oh I forgot the theme this week is cakes but this can qualify as a big sheet cake or we’ll call it coffee cake!

I decided to try Betty R.’s recipe for Cookie Sheet Cherry Platz for my treat for our Women’s Bible Study this Friday. To see the whole recipe and Betty’s pretty Platz click on over to the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog. Here are my collages from my prep and the results…

I should have followed Betty’s lead and used a can and a half of the filling. I felt mine was a little short.

This recipe makes a nice large cookie sheet of Platz to cut up and serve a crowd. I hope the ladies like it. It sure looks good enough to eat!

For more Foodies visit Gollum at Designs by Gollum.

National Day of Prayer ~ 2009

From 12:00 to 1:00 today several churches in the Conejo Valley got together to pray with one another on this National Day of Prayer. Our gathering was at the Thousand Oaks Civic Center Lawn. It was great to pray with people from other churches in the valley that I had never met before but who were united in one purpose. After a time of singing the crowd broke off into small groups around the grounds with an area pastor to pray for our nation, leaders, community, churches and families. I broke off with the group that met in a shady spot! Praise God He encourages us to pray and listens to the prayers of His people! We ended our time together singing God Bless America!

ABC’s of the Word ~ Mustard Seed

The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches. Matthew 13:31-32 (ESV)

To see more ABC’s of the Word for the letter M visit Pam at Grey Like Snuffie!

Tablescape Thursday ~ Simply Meat & Potatoes!

It’s time for Tablescapes from Bloggy world. Susan is the brain child for this weekly event and it really is fun to see the creativity out there. My confession this week (I haven’t confessed in a while) is that I’ve had to give myself the restriction of only buying a bargain plate that I find at my thrift stores if it is made in England! My condo cannot accommodate many more plates people!!

When I was home in Washington in March I set this simple table for a dinner I made for my kids. This was the first time I tried fanning the napkins and I like how that looked. We had lamb loin chops, baked potatoes, salad with Persian dressing, and then an apple strudel for dessert that I purchased from a local bakery…

 

To see more Tablescapes visit …

 

Window Views

Well Mary the Professor has come up with another fun weekly photo challenge meme. Here’s what she says…

“I’ve always been fascinated by all kinds of windows. And photographing them from the outside or the inside has been fun for me. Will you join me?”

You can post:

house windows,
castle windows,
stained glass windows,
old windows,
new windows,
animals or people looking out of windows,
views through windows

Here are the rules:

Post your own photographs
Describe your photographs and the circumstances of taking your pictures if you want to
You may post as early as Wednesday at 4 o’clock EST (that’s when I will post)

Have fun!

These shots were taken in Ventura, California. This used to be a church and then it was a Wedding Chapel and then a Bed and Breakfast. It was for sale when I took these photos.

For more Window Views visit Mary at her Window Views Blog.

WFW ~ Luke 12: 23-26

For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens; they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Oh how much more value are you than the birds! And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest?

To see more verses from the Word of God illustrated visit Amydeanne at the 160 Acre Woods.