I Was a Wandering Sheep ~ Hymn

I Was a Wandering Sheep

I was a wan­der­ing sheep,
I did not love the fold;
I did not love my Shep­herd’s voice,
I would not be con­trolled.
I was a way­ward child,
I did not love my home;
I did not love my Fa­ther’s voice,
I loved afar to roam.

The Shep­herd sought His sheep,
The Fa­ther sought His child;
They fol­lowed me o’er vale and hill,
O’er des­erts waste and wild;
They found me nigh to death,
Famished and faint and lone;
They bound me with the bands of love,
They saved the wan­d’ring one.

They spoke in ten­der love,
They raised my droop­ing head,
They gent­ly closed my bleed­ing wounds,
My faint­ing soul they fed;
They washed my filth away,
They made me clean and fair;
They brought me to my home in peace,
The long sought wan­der­er.

Jesus my Shep­herd is:
’Twas He that loved my soul;
’Twas He that washed me in His blood,
’Twas He that made me whole.
’Twas He that sought the lost,
That found the wan­d’ring sheep,
’Twas He that brought me to the fold,
’Tis He that still doth keep.

No more a wan­der­ing sheep,
I love to be con­trolled;
I love my ten­der Shep­herd’s voice,
I love the peace­ful fold.
No more a way­ward child,
I seek no more to roam;
I love my heav’n­ly Fa­ther’s voice,
I love, I love His home!

Words: Horatius Bonar, 1843.

Our Father’s World Hodgepodge

Thank you to Joyce for the Wednesday Hodgepodge Questions this week.

1. This week’s Hodgepodge lands on National Clean Out Your Refrigerator Day. Is yours in need of a cleaning? Will you get that done today? How often do you tackle this particular chore?

I would say in particular the freezer sections are in more need of cleaning than the refrigerator sections. We have two Refrigerators. It won’t be done today. No regular schedule for cleaning this appliance.  The question that comes up when I do tackle it is, ‘Why did I buy that only to let it live in my refrigerator past it’s enjoy by date?!’

2. November 15th is also National Philanthropy Day…tell us about a charity (local or otherwise) you like to support when you’re able.  

Our church just had it’s campaign to fill Shoeboxes in support of Samaritan’s Purse Operation Christmas Child. I like to participate in that.

Our local church is generous in it’s support of missionaries world wide and we like to contribute to that effort. Our tithes and offerings to our local church also fund generosity to our local community. Right now in the month of November we have teamed up with Colville Toyota and offered free oil changes to widows and single moms.

3.What in nature inspires you and why? 

So many things I could mention here. We are so grateful to have been able to be out and about in the midst of God’s creation enjoying his handiwork with our oldest son and dear DIL this past September.

“The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork”

On our trip and walks about the United Kingdom this past September our daughter in law would quote that regularly.  Laura has ‘eyes to see’ and we get inspired to see when we are with her. Greg and I would want to sing This is my Father’s World.

1 This is my Father’s world,
And to my listening ears
All nature sings, and round me rings
The music of the spheres.
This is my Father’s world:
I rest me in the thought
Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas–
His hand the wonders wrought.

2 This is my Father’s world:
The birds their carols raise,
The morning light, the lily white,
Declare their Maker’s praise.
This is my Father’s world:
He shines in all that’s fair;
In the rustling grass I hear Him pass,
He speaks to me everywhere.

3 This is my Father’s world:
O let me ne’er forget
That though the wrong seems oft so strong,
God is the Ruler yet.
This is my Father’s world:
Why should my heart be sad?
The Lord is King: let the heavens ring!
God reigns; let earth be glad!

4. What’s something you own that makes you feel cozy? 

Cozy is my happy place! Being in my home with nothing on the agenda makes me feel cozy. Soft comfortable clothing makes me feel cozy. My Ugg slippers make me feel cozy. The older I get the more comfortable clothing I buy. Life is too short for tight underwear!

5. Who did you thank today? Who thanked you? 

My mind went right to ‘Praise God from whom all blessings flow, praise Him all creatures here below, Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts, Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

I thank my dear hubby in the morning because he graciously makes my coffee for me.

A bloggy friend, Dianna, thanked me on Tuesday with this post.

I’m working on the Hodgepodge on Tuesday morning. I’ll wait and see if anyone else thanks me today and add that later.

Our granddaughter Addy thanked me for coming to her basketball practice on Tuesday evening.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I’m very thankful for my hard working husband. He is working most days on completing our master shower renovation. A complete re-do on his own. Demolition, prepping the walls meticulously, cutting when needed and attaching tile on the walls and floor. Cleaning, cleaning, cleaning each day after his days work. All of this with the handicap of his left hand still being numb and having no sensory feeling from his stroke a year ago. Soon I’ll be able to share the before and after of this project.

Thank you, Greg, for your perseverance.

Skipton to Knaresborough ~ Day 8

Friday September 22nd was the eighth day of our travels in the UK. Originally we were going to be driving straight to York from Grassington to return our car and take a train to Liverpool. The reason we were traveling to Liverpool was to attend the Liverpool v. West Ham futbol/soccer match which was scheduled for Saturday the 23rd. After we had made reservations for a hotel and flights back to Dublin based on that date the game was switched to Sunday the 24th. We scrambled to make different plans than we had prior to the game change. Instead of spending an extra night in Liverpool we decided to spend Friday night in Knaresborough. On the way to Knaresborough we stopped in Skipton to see the castle.

Before we packed up and checked out of the Devonshire in Grassington we enjoyed breakfast.

Breakfast was very good each of our mornings here.

On the road to Skipton Laura managed to get snaps of all these great road signs. We don’t see Hedgehog area signs on any roads we travel in the USA.

We had reservations for the castle and the castle car park.

Over 900 years old, Skipton Castle is one of the most complete and best preserved medieval castles in England. If you are interested in the history of this castle follow this link.

The ancient Yew tree in Conduit Court.

Lady Anne Clifford (1590-1676)
Born at Skipton Castle, 30th January, 1590, the daughter of George Clifford, she was the last Clifford to own Skipton Castle. She fought equally tenaciously for her rights and for the King’s cause in the Civil War, when Skipton Castle withstood a three years siege.

Lady Anne was also remarkable for the extensive post Civil War restoration work on her Castles. In 1659 she planted the yew tree in the central courtyard to mark the Castle’s repair from its Civil War damage.

The beautiful Conduit Court where a 350-year old Yew tree planted by Lady Anne Clifford still survives today

We enjoyed our time here especially since we were early enough to enjoy the castle mostly on our own.

This door called out to me at Holy Trinity Church in Skipton. Before we left Skipton we popped into the church.

The window of the Ministry and Ascension of Jesus. Centre-Ascension to his Father in Heaven, whilst his disciples watch from the ground as they receive the gift of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. Left panel: Jesus the Good Shepherd. Right Panel; Jesus walking on water.

Window by; J.B. Cappronnier of Brussels, 1899.

Love the rest of our journey to Knaresborough. That will be another post.

Back to the Present: Greg is working hard to finish up the redo of our Master Bedroom Shower stall. He is almost there. He needed a break from all the hard work so we did a little drive on Friday to some craft fairs. We had breakfast in Chewelah and then took some roads less traveled to see the beautiful larches in our area. Before we left home I put a roast in the slow cooker so dinner would be taken care of while we were out and about.

Saturday was back to work for Greg and he finished the grouting while I did some shopping. We enjoyed leftovers on this day.

We had a wonderful Sunday at church including our annual business meeting. After church we stopped for Mexican food in town. We were happy to see my cousin and her husband at the restaurant and had a good catch up with them. Hope you all had a good weekend.

The Dales Way ~Day 7

On Thursday September 21st, day seven of our travels, the fire alarms went off in the Inn while we were getting ready for breakfast. Yikes. I was happy to be dressed when one of the owners knocked on our door to check our smoke alarm. After a full check of all the rooms in the Inn it was determined that there was a faulty wire somewhere that set off the alarm. The noise stopped and we finished getting ready for our breakfast.

I ordered the American Pancakes on this morning and they were excellent. The coffee was decent, too. After breakfast we headed out from town for a 4 mile walk or so we thought.

 

We learned that the day before our glorious sunshine filled walk there was lots of rain and flooding. Again we were so thankful for Providence in our timing. So thankful for blue skies, fluffy clouds and nice temperatures for walking.

Once we were off the paved road we begin to see what the storm left behind. At this point we could call our walk. Around the puddles and through the Dales.

 

We spotted some grouse ahead…

 

After seeing them we felt like we were going off track so we headed back.

We were confused on which way to go to get to Hebden. We saw another walker and she pointed out the way or the direction we needed to go and we bumbled our way through someone’s field and finally made it to this sign.

Over the Stile we went and continued on.

We were happy to see our first destination in sight.

 

I wanted to call this walk, ‘Sheep Shite and Mud Puddles’, because we had to really work at dodging all three.

We were thrilled when we made it out of the fields.

A few more mud puddles to navigate.

We made it to this Pub just before it opened for the day.

We enjoyed our time here very much. It was nice to sit a spell and enjoy some good food. Josh had the Pheasant Burger and got a chance to compliment the chef on the goodness of it.

 

From here we would make our way to the Dale Way trail along the River Wharf to get back to Grassington. That will be another post.