SC and Seattle Family visits

Well we had a busy few weeks!! We celebrated more birthdays and family reunions from the East coast to the west coast. I am going to post a ton of pictures ---feel free to skim---I wanted to put quite a few pics for myself to remember! First we celebrated Greatgram's 80th birthday.
She got a nice break from the nursing home and was able to visit with friends and relatives.

She has been having a difficult time and so feel free to ask God to give her grace and peace at this time.

After the birthday celebration my daughter and my granddaughter came for a week visit. Here I shared my approximately 50 year old doll with them. My daughter was showing her how to do diapers, since my daughter is due to have a baby boy in July.

Next we had a little tea party to celebrate a joining of old friends. My daughter's best friend from childhood and my friends as well!

My daughter's friend Heather has a little katelyn ;-) and her mom (my friend) is here taking pictures. We really enjoyed getting caught up on kids and life.

When Greatgrandpa heard we were having tea (and coffee), he stopped in for a nice visit too!

Here you can see that my daughter is pregnant ;-)

Of course Rhianwen (pronounced REE ON' Win) had to treat me with putting her hat on in various angles--she is so much fun.

Then after a very full week my youngest son dropped in for a quick visit with all of us as we were getting ready to depart. He came home for his confirmation at our church (which we unfortunately had to miss!!! Also I don't have a picture of him here---I'll have to post one later).

Here are minkey and Zephir packed and ready for their trip to the Seattle area! Below is their reuniting with their brother and buddy in Redmond at my oldest son's place.

We had a wonderful time in Seattle and experienced all kinds of weather within minutes. Snow , sunshine, clouds, rain---it was really fun and wonderful!!! The thing I really enjoyed was all of the COFFEEEEEE SHOPS---everywhere---I have never seen so many in my life!! I loved the cool cloudy weather. Just watching the clouds and their beautiful movement was enjoyable. (I must admit, I had a hard time adjusting to the warm humid weather when I returned to SC).

I loved watching the morning mist--it was breathtakingly beautiful. OH--YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY OF THE PHOTOS FOR BIG VIEWS.

Walks near my son's home were refreshing--1/2 a mile from him is a lake with a great path that goes for a distance (probably 30 miles or more). We took a walk there and were surprised by the deer.

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We got to take a ferry to Bainbridge Island--That's my oldest son driving ;-)

The ferry ride was enjoyable and very very windy--lots of nice views as we were leaving the harbor of SeattleOf course my hubby had to brink the monkeys!

The two of us enjoying the ride and the wind!
On the island we ate on the water at a nice little restaurant--I had my fill of sauteed shrimp, clams and scallops. It was nice to just relax together. They even had a nice fire going!

We enjoyed going to a tulip festival on our way to Canada. Don't mind the sideway pic--my hubby likes taking them this way--but I didn't bother changing it --ha!

The flowers were so brilliant against the gray skies---really wonderful. There were also some daffadil fields.We also had some opportunities to do some climbing!Below is a partially dry lakebed that was on the start of the climb. This is the climb we did--on Rattlesnake ledge

Moving into the forest was gorgeous with the light filtering through the towering trees--many of which were covered in a greeny mossy type thingy!

Who is that old lady with the weirdo hat?? We had nice views of the lake and mountains around the area.

Oh, and on the way to Canada we stopped at this little park on the bay---and we saw something we had never seen before-

Purple starfish----way tooooooo cooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooool!!!!!!!!!! They were everywhere---tons of them.

My son had some kind of airy sneaker that has air holes on the bottom; needless to say they were not good for walking here!The water had made really pretty holes in the rocks

We spotted this blue jay---I can't remember the name of it--on the way to Raineir/ We saw a beautiful Dam too.

Mt. Rainier was great--we didn't get to actually see the mountain itself while we were on it!! We did see it afterwords!! Funny or what!

Someone else made these--but it made for a photo opportunity!

The snow was awesome and this was only about 1/2 way up the mountain! We ate at a little lodge pictured in this last photo. The pictures above were of a lodge that opens later in the year that is about 1/2 up the mountain. All in all we had a wonderful time visiting with friends and family the past two weeks. Hard to get back to all the things we need to do now!! God surely has blessed our country with much beauty that reflects an awesome God! IF YOU WANT TO MAKE ANY COMMENTS YOU HAVE TO SCROLL WAY DOWN---SORRY--IT IS DOWN THERE!

Back to blogging

Hi--when I get time I will visit you all--my new header is a hint of what I have been up to ;-) I will check you all out soon.

possible blog break

As the fog envelopes--I am on a bit of a break in blogging--due to stuff I will write about later--so if you don't hear from me , don't worry! Blessings!

Beautiful fog

The morning was so beautiful with the fog enveloping the land. I love the feel it gives to an early morning (especially with a cup of coffee in hand). It just seems like a morning for meditation, doesn't it?

Thus I found myself re-reading a few quotes from Brother Lawrence. "God knows very well what we need and that all He does is for our good. If we knew how much He loves us, we would always be ready to face life--both its pleasures and its troubles."
"The difficulties of life do not have to be unbearable. It is the way we look at them--through faith or unbelief--that makes them seem so. We must be convinced that our Father is full of love for us and that He only permits trials to come our way for our own good."

and this:

".....I looked upon God as the beginning and the end of all my thoughts and all the feelings of my soul."

"Is it not much shorter and more direct to do everything for the love of God, to make use of all the labors of one's state in life to show Him that love, and to maintain His presence within us by this communion of our hearts with His."

[I am not so sure about what he says about maintain His presence--I think His presence is always there, but is often much more felt if we maintain a communication with Him}

But I like the focus--the focus on God he had and the focus on doing all for Him and on praying to him constantly in the day.

Thoughts

I love the other worldliness of a sunrise--it is just an awesome display of heavenly beauty. Sunday's sermon included an analogy that I liked. It referred to Alice in Wonderland when she looked through the mirror and got this glimpse of another world. She stepped through and experienced this other world and when she came back she was never quite the same. It is similar in our spiritual life. We see these wonderful glimpses into the life of eternity into the spiritual or heavenly world that awaits us for its fullness and these glimpses transform the way we live in this world now. The book of Revelation always does this for me. The glimpses we get of the heavenly scene and the worship there; the majesty of God and Christ the Lamb etc is always a fresh reminder of the fact that I am an alien--a stranger--on this earth---a pilgrim.

Another thing, kind of along this line. My son sent me a quote--I think by Tim Keller--not sure-

-"If the distance between the earth and the sun, 92 million miles, was reduced to the thickness of a sheet of paper, then the distance from the sun to the nearest star would be a stack of paper 73 feet high, and the diameter of the galaxy would be a stack of paper 310 miles high. Yet, the galaxy is nothing but a speck of dust in the whole universe, and the Bible says that Jesus Christ holds this universe together with the word of his power. His pinky, as it were. Is this the kind of person you ask into your life to be your assistant"

I love that quote and it is good to reflect on because we sometime shrink God to a magician or to someone who is there to just fulfill our desires, or our wishes. Instead we need to view him in His awesome power and seek to find our Great Delight in Him Himself. ...I believe Dr. Piper is correct that our purpose is to glorify God BY enjoying him forever. The old catechisms stated it with an "and" instead of a By. I think we most glorify Him when we are most enjoying Him.

Expelled---Got to see this documentary!!!!!

You must watch this trailer on this documentary--It will be released on April 18 in theaters nation wide. It is about how Science doesn't allow questioning of Darwinist theories---and what happens when you do. Ben Stein has had this film made---sounds fascinating---watch this clip!! I am going to leave this up for a while! If you can't watch it on my post then go here: http://www.expelledthemovie.com/playground.php

Bootso

This is what Boots loves to do for a part of the day. But after my grandchild left he and the fake cats were exhausted ;-)

She kept them all very busy!! The dogwoods, wisteria, azaleas have all been blooming, but we have had a week of rain--so I haven't been able to get a picture. I hope the blooms will last past the time of rain!! But I am so enjoying the rain.

I have been trying to wear some brighter clothing--ie the shirt I have on has this bright green and pink! I find it very difficult to wear bright clothing. It is weird--I feel secure in blacks, browns, and dark blues and dark greens. I really have difficulty wearing things that are bright. I was wondering if anyone else has this problem!! I am trying very hard to force myself to wear some bright colors---I don't know if I will survive. My kids seem to hate bright colors---but well it is a bit fun but it is weird how I have such a hard time with it--I feel insecure, not me! But greatgram at the nursing home seems to enjoy it! If any of you read this let me know how you feel about wearing bright colors. I am wondering what it says about our personalities. It sure is a struggle--sometimes I change clothes!!