Sunday Strength

raise the LORD.
Blessed is the man who fears the LORD,
who finds great delight in his commands.

His children will be mighty in the land;
the generation of the upright will be blessed.

Wealth and riches are in his house,
and his righteousness endures forever.

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright,
for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man.

Good will come to him who is generous and lends freely,
who conducts his affairs with justice.

Surely he will never be shaken;
a righteous man will be remembered forever.

He will have no fear of bad news;
his heart is steadfast, trusting in the LORD.

His heart is secure, he will have no fear;
in the end he will look in triumph on his foes.

He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor,
his righteousness endures forever;
his horn will be lifted high in honor.

The wicked man will see and be vexed,
he will gnash his teeth and waste away;
the longings of the wicked will come to nothing.

~Psalm 112



Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische

A Rush to Conclusion

rawing conclusions is a human trait people have fought against, probably forever. I know it's a weakness I have and you would think, after numerous humiliating situations, I would learn to keep my mouth shut until I have heard ALL of the facts, researched as much information as I could and received wise counsel.

Alas...that isn't always the case. As I get older, I am getting better but it seems the same can't be said for a couple of the biggest offices in this country. The NAACP, the Department of Agriculture and the White House. For shame all of them.

How, in the age where information on the internet is constantly manipulated to suit the needs of whomever has their hands on it, do these three offices do what they did, say what they said and firmly hold to positions WITHOUT taking the few minutes needed to do a very small amount of research. 5-10 minutes watching the entire tape could have saved massive amounts of embarrassment, kept a woman in the career she has dedicated her entire life to and wouldn't have left us shaking our heads wondering just whose salary we're paying & why they didn't do their job.

Perhaps, though, it will mean something "better" for Shirley Sherrod. Perhaps, just perhaps, she will end up in a place where she can do more, help more, challenge herself again. One thing I do know, God does use those things we consider "bad" for His glory. Ms. Sherrod, while very understandably upset at was has happened, seems to be conducting herself with dignity and grace. She, at least, seems to be gathering all of her facts before speaking out too much...

Perhaps there are a few of us who could learn by her example. Can common sense - crossing all of your t's and dotting all of your i's (remember that saying?) - make a comeback? Anytime? Anywhere? I know I'm all for it.



Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische

UP Canvas Giveaway

andy at Reluctant Entertainer is hosting an UP Canvas giveaway. Two people will win a 16 x 20 wrapped canvas print of the picture of their choice.

What picture do you have you'd love to see turned into a true work of art to hang on your walls at home? Family? Pets? Favorite scenery picture from a great vacation trip? Head on over to Sandy's and enter for your chance to win. Oh the options...



Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische

Trip to Idaho

hile I never made it to Idaho, I did manage to snap a few pictures "out my van window" that remind me why I love living in Washington State. Of course, in a place like this, you can't blink without seeing something so incredibly beautiful it can almost make you cry. Honestly, I thank God all of the time for providing so much in the way of majesty and beauty. You can't help but think of His glory when you view it all. Amazing...

The Columbia River at Vantage:

A wind farm:

Traveling eastbound (I loved this little building. I don't know how old it is or what it was used for when it was being used but I loved to imagine a pioneer family using it for something. It's probably not quite that old, though. :) ):

Same building when I was traveling back home (about an hour & a half later...)

Mt. Rainier as seen from the east side of Snoqualmie Pass (ok.. and a few miles east of that):

If you do want to visit Washington, I suggest you do it after the 4th of July. It's when summer truly begins...and sticks around for more than a day.

Daily Drop Cap by Jessica Hische

Butterfly Genes and Tassels

Have I ever talked about my blog friend Heather? I don't recall where I read about her first but learning about her has been one of the best things that has happened to me in the blogosphere.

Never having met her in person, there are a few assumptions I have to make. Those assumptions are gleened from reading her sweet blog and interacting with her via email. I know - you never really "know" someone you meet online but I often think that 95% of the people online are the same - or pretty close to the same - as they are in person. With that assumption in mind and from everything I've seen, Heather is one of those people I wish I could meet in person. Hang out with, drink coffee with, chat up a storm...and we would...

In addition to coming across as warm, funny, sweet, giving, caring and kind, Heather loves her husband and son and adores her puppies. Even more so, she respects her husband and whenever I come across that in a woman, I KNOW I've met a good one.

She is a follower of Jesus, a Christian woman living her life as Christ has called her to live it and I am really enjoying learning more about her, getting to know her and... oh yeah... buying her tassels!
Did I mention she makes tassels?

Oh... she makes tassels. And I have had the privilege of purchasing four of them. Three of them I've kept, one is going to be part of a gift. Have you discovered tassels yet? Let me tell you...until I purchased my first one (from the Nester... this was Before Heather or "BH") I had absolutely no idea I needed tassels. Not an inkling.

Now? Now I can't imagine my home without one of these fluffy, fringe adorned beauties. Not all of my tassels are bird related but they are my favorites so far. Enough talk. Click on over to Heather's Etsy shop and get shopping.

Sunday Strength

"Ah, Sovereign LORD, you have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and outstretched arm. Nothing is too hard for you. You show love to thousands but bring the punishment for the fathers' sins into the laps of their children after them. O great and powerful God, whose name is the LORD Almighty, great are your purposes and mighty are your deeds. Your eyes are open to all the ways of men; you reward everyone according to his conduct and as his deeds deserve. You performed miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and have continued them to this day, both in Israel and among all mankind, and have gained the renown that is still yours.

~Jeremiah 32:17-20


According to my Oriental Trading calendar, today is National Ice Cream Day! Make sure you celebrate THIS day for all it's worth!

Friday Follies

Yesterday morning I was up before the birds. I have a friend who likes to say there is no oxygen at that hour. One thing I can say - there is oxygen but you have to work pretty hard to find it. You're not awake. For those of you who make it a regular habit to get up at 5AM and earlier? My hat is off to you. I couldn't do it and remain human.

What was I doing up so early? Heading out the door to make the 6 hour drive to Lewiston, Idaho. What could be in Lewiston? Why...Beamers' Hells Canyon Tours, of course. My office holds a meeting every other month and we move it around the State. In July we try to do something "fun" with the meeting. We've gone whale watching (if you ever get the chance... do it!) a couple of times, golfing (which I skipped), a boat trip on Lake Chelan and in Pasco (which I also skipped so I don't know which river they were on) and this Beamers' trip. I've been with the company for 16 years and we've done the Beamers' trip every four years. This would have been my fifth time on the river but trust me - the scenery never gets old. I was really hoping to blog about that trip, share a lot of pictures and just stun you with the beauty that is the Snake River.

Alas... a phone call and a broken water main ended my dreams of blogging glory.

The puddle I had noticed on our sidewalk on the way to the driveway was not the result of a freakishly centered rainstorm. No - it was, instead, water leaking from a broken pipe that had already pumped about 2 inches of rain in our crawl space and saturated the ground between the house and our water meter.

Ugh.

When my husband called to tell me, I was in Othello. That's about 2 1/2 hours east of my house. Then he told me the only plumber he could get out to our house was, at the earliest, 3PM yesterday afternoon. There was the chance they'd have to be here at the house on Saturday. I needed to turn around.

Now...to be honest...I wasn't looking forward to the drive home from Idaho today. I don't know why, there was just something in me that knew it was going to be a tough one. While it is going to cost us about $3,000 to get this fixed and I wouldn't have minded a cheaper "go home" message, I listened. There is some reason I'm not supposed to be on I-90 westbound today. I don't know what it is but I'm ok not knowing.

Instead...I'm here. A Saturday free. And trust me, I am not complaining about that in the least. Despite looking at having to hand over $3000 next week when the work is finished, the blessings in this mess are too numerous to list. God is so good - even through disaster.

Now...what do I do with my free Saturday? With this in my front yard, the promise of the plumber returning in a week to dig a trench (more of my flower garden gone...) and place a new water main to our house and a dog who is so worn out from barking at the "intruder" yesterday, all he can do is:

At the meter:


The hole...in my garden...in front of my bench...right outside my living room window:

Sunday Strength

Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,
your justice like the great deep.
O LORD, you preserve both man and beast.

How priceless is your unfailing love!
Both high and low among men
find refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house;
you give them drink from your river of delights.

~Psalm 36:6-8

Heat Wave

We're coming up on the end of that "one week" of summer we seem to have every year. Temperatures climb above 90 for more than a day, the sun slows everyone down to about 1 thought per hour and we do almost nothing. You know...our northwest summer.

Rumor is it's supposed to cool off again a bit starting tomorrow. We'll get back to some semblance of normalcy. We won't need the air conditioner that really only keeps one room cool and it's NOT the room that holds the computer...

I may feel like posting again.

In the meantime? I hope y'all are enjoying your summer. I'm melting. I'm not a "super hot" kind of gal, apparently. I prefer my mid-70's. I know...I'd never survive the South. I can barely survive this Northwest week.

Go figure.

French Larkspur... Beautiful Giveaway

I do so love it when I stumble across an amazing giveaway. Rummaging around & catching up on reading some of my favorites, I learned about this giveaway. And this blog. French Larkspur is simply beautiful! I'm looking forward to checking back in with it often as I've added it to my favorites.

Head on over and check it out. Deadline for entry is this upcoming Saturday. You don't want to miss your chance!

Sunday Strength

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus,because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit.

~Romans 8:1-4

Have a safe, fun & very happy Independence Day!

400 Posts

I figured for such a milestone, I should do something. But...I'm not really in a creative mode right now so nothing exciting or interesting is coming to mind. I think, though, what I will do is start planning for post #500. I have an idea... I'll see if I can make it work.

In the meantime, for post #400, I thought I'd share a few pictures of the decorations floating around my home for 4th of July. I realized, as I was snapping these photos, that I need to do some picking up around this place. Not cleaning, per se but... picking up. We have a tendency to pile in this house and we also have the tendency to do 1/2 of a job and then get distracted by something and then come back, etc. A few of these pictures had to be cropped to leave out the "in process" topiary I'm making, the ironing board and the scissors & glue on the coffee table...

It's almost as if we live each day as if there wasn't going to be some sort of impromptu photo shoot. Weird.

Anyhow... hope you enjoy the decorations. I know I enjoyed decorating for the 4th. Always have loved the red/white/blue color combination.