Tuesday April 20, 2010

Gabriel loves playing in our backyard! He plays with everything: buckets, balls, bubbles, sticks, stones, pinecones, Dilly, Mommy, trees, the gardening benches, watering can… and {today especially} his little red wagon. 🙂


Sunday April 4, 2010

CHRIST IS RISEN!
HE IS RISEN, INDEED!

Praise to the Lord, our Father, our Savior, our indwelling Spirit ~ He alone has triumphed over sin and death, conquering even the grave. Rejoice, for He and His people are free of bondage to death, free to eternal life and perfect resurrection. Amen!

~~~~~~~~~~

Now let the vault of Heav’n resound
In praise of love that doth abound,
“Christ hath triumphed, alleluia!”
Sing, choirs of angels, loud and clear,
Repeat their song of glory here,
“Christ hath triumphed, Christ hath triumphed!”
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Eternal is the gift He brings,
Wherefore our heart with rapture sings,
“Christ hath triumphed, Jesus liveth!”
Now doth He come and give us life,
Now doth His presence still all strife
Through His triumph; Jesus reigneth!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

O fill us, Lord, with dauntless love;
Set heart and will on things above
That we conquer through Thy triumph,
Grant grace sufficient for life’s day
That by our life we ever say,
“Christ hath triumphed, and He liveth!”
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia.

Adoring praises now we bring
And with the heavenly blessèd sing,
“Christ hath triumphed, Alleluia!”
Be to the Father, and our Lord,
To Spirit blest, most holy God,
Thine the glory, never ending!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia!

~Paul Strodach (1876-1947)~

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The promise of the resurrection is especially precious to us this Easter, as we have more children in heaven this year than we had ever previously imagined. While the worship service this morning was beautiful (complete with trumpets, trombone, organ, piano, choir, singing, Scripture, Lord’s Supper…), it was also cutting. Speaking of resurrection is always bittersweet for us. It reminds us of our children. It reminds us of future hope. And hope is just so hard right now that it is hard to pretend anymore. I am thankful for Christ’s death, because it lead to resurrection ~ and because it is a reminder that my children, who are ultimately His children, have also triumphed over death. And someday I too will succumb to the dust of the earth, and I too will overcome death for life.

Resurrection.

Anastasis.

Today I am especially thankful.

Praise the Lord! Alleluia! Amen!

~~~~~~~~~~

1 Peter 1:3
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ!
In His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead…!”

Thursday April 1, 2010

I will try to be selective and not post too many pictures… but there are so many good ones from our trip! 🙂

We’d just landed in CA, so I was able to smile – hehe. 🙂

Driving around…

Lover’s Point in Monterey.

Carmel Beach.

Hanging out at Great Grandma’s house.


San Francisco (where I was born).
Golden Gate Bridge.

Golden Gate Park.

Lunch at Scoma’s.

Fisherman’s Wharf and Pier 39.

Ghirardelli Square.

Having a low-key day while Steven worked at a conference.

Took my little boy on a date to the donut shop where my dad used to take me.

After visiting one of our sister churches (which was so great), we went to Big Basin to see the Redwoods.

A nap, a bath, and picking lemons about wrapped up our trip. 🙂

There… was that selective enough? 🙂

Thursday October 8, 2009

He cut 1 tooth two weeks ago.
Then he cut 4 more this week.
And on top of that, he has a cold and an ear infection.
Imagine taking this little boy on an airplane. Hmmm.
Poor sweet boy. We are loving on him lots right now.

Tuesday October 6, 2009

Grandmama with the two grandsons.

Isn’t Hannah’s smile absolutely contagious?!

And Noah is probably the most smiley baby I have ever met. Yes, ever.

This picture strikes me: something about the dark green, clear blue, and bright orange. Oh yeah, and purple lips, lol.

I asked him to come over and smile for the camera. This is what I got.

And, lastly, this is where Gabriel hung out today. On Mommy’s back. I can’t post about what we were  making yet, because it’s a gift — but hopefully I will next week. I am pleased with the results. 🙂

Tuesday October 6, 2009

Gabriel was playing in the backyard with Mommy and Grandmama — we had a jolly time!

I love this shot. The blurred parts are great, and I love his face. Hehehe. *mwah!*

So then we dampened his fun be sticking him in Mommy’s pumpkin patch.

Which pumpkin shall I choose? Hmm, I think my first choice is the one with legs! lol.

Mommy showing Gabriel that pumpkins are actually pretty nifty creations.

Umm, okay. He trusts me on that one.

Finally a pumpkin smile! It’s not his best smile ever, but I’ll take it. 🙂

This boy loves sticks, and for some reason his favorite thing to do with them is tap the trees. 🙂
The End — obviously. lol.

Tuesday October 6, 2009

from Keep a Quiet Heart, by Elisabeth Elliot

“Moonless Trust,” p 57

 

Some of you are perhaps feeling that you are voyaging just now on a moonless sea. Uncertainty surrounds you. There seem to be no signs to follow. Perhaps you feel about to be engulfed by loneliness. There is no one to whom you can speak of your need. Amy Carmichael wrote of such a feeling when, as a missionary of twenty-six, she had to leave Japan because of poor health, then travel to China for recuperation, but then realized God was telling her to go to Ceylon. (All this preceded her going to India, where she stayed for fifty-three years.) I have on my desk her original handwritten letter of August 25, 1894, as she was en route to Colombo. “All along, let us remember, we are not asked to understand, but simply to obey… On July 28, Saturday, I sailed. We had to come on board on Friday night, and just as the tender (a small boat) where were the dear friends who had come to say goodbye was moving off, and the chill of loneliness shivered through me, like a warm love-clasp came the long-loved lines—‘And only Heaven is better than to walk with Christ at midnight, over moonless seas.’ I couldn’t feel frightened then. Praise Him for the moonless seas—all the better the opportunity for proving Him to be indeed the El Shaddai, ‘the God who is Enough.’”

Let me add my own word of witness to hers and to that of the tens of thousands who have learned that He is indeed enough. He is not all we would ask for (if we were honest), but it is precisely when we do not have what we would ask for and only then, that we can clearly perceive His all-sufficiency. It is when the sea is moonless that the Lord has become my Light.

Friday October 2, 2009

Is it a Farmer’s Market???
Nope! Just the produce I harvested this afternoon from my backyard garden! 🙂
Love it.


I love this shot. So much edible goodness!

Delicious carrots.


Yes, I realize some of these are not at their ripest — but we’re freezing at night and I’m sick of covering my tomatoes with flannel sheets! lol. 🙂 We’ve had plenty of huge, juicy, deep red tomatoes for at least a month.


Sweet, tender beets.


My almost-completely-harvested garden! A lovely first attempt.

Along with squash (ummm, yes, we learned 27 squash plants was tooooooo many!) and lettuce, my pumpkins are remaining to be harvested. I think I’ll give them another week or two. They are beautiful: all different sizes and different colors. I think there are about 18 of them, but 2 of them are on the other side of our fence in the neighbor’s yard! 🙂


Friday October 2, 2009

Yes, he runs so fast that this is what it always looks like! lol.

Did you have this “corn popper” toy when you were little? We had one at Grandma’s house growing up. And now Gabriel has one of his very own!

I think my precious little boy looks just like his handsome daddy in this picture!

He also brings me book after book after book during the day — or sometimes it’s the same book 12 times. 🙂

It’s so sad this is blurry, because I like this one. You can see  his teeth — and his swollen gums where the molars are trying to pop through! Ouchies.

Friday October 2, 2009

October

O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow.
Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!
For the grapes’ sake, if the were all,
Whose elaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost–
For the grapes’ sake along the all.

~Robert Frost


Nature XXVII, Autumn

The morns are meeker than they were,
The nuts are getting brown;
The berry’s cheek is plumper,
The rose is out of town.

The maple wears a gayer scarf,
The field a scarlet gown.
Lest I should be old-fashioned,
I’ll put a trinket on.

~Emily Dickinson


Sonnet 73

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou see’st the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west;
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death’s second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see’st the glowing of such fire,
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the deathbed whereon it must expire,
Consumed with that which it was nourished by.
This thou perceiv’st, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

~William Shakespeare