Of Squirrels, Graduations, Dear Friends, and Sweet Memories

This is the chorus from one of my favorite worship songs EVER. I have so much to be grateful for!

"Bless the Lord oh my soul,
Oh my soul
Worship His holy name
Sing like never before,
Oh my soul
I worship Your holy name."

And this is a hymn that has blessed me tremendously in recent months:

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said—
To you who for refuge to Jesus have fled?

 

Fear not, I am with thee, oh, be not dismayed,
For I am thy God, and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen thee, help thee, and cause thee to stand,
Upheld by My gracious, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of sorrow shall not overflow;
For I will be with thee thy trouble to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not harm thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus doth lean for repose,
I will not, I will not, desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.”


My grandpa has been clearing off our wooded property for the past month or so.  Just last week, he cut down a tree and four baby red squirrels came tumbling out.  He had Elijah and Jeremiah grab them and take them to the house, while mama ran to the pet store and bought some milk formula and a cage.  What cute little bundles of adorableness and sharp (really sharp!) claws.  Love those little guys!  We still can't agree on names for them... :)

Psalm 51:10-13
"Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You."

What a good, glorious, and gracious God we serve!  He has placed so many wonderful people in my life.  Mama and I had the sweet opportunity to visit some of our dearest friends, the Nobles, for Brookie's high school graduation.  I'm so proud of you, Brookie, and so grateful for you! 

I can not express how blessed and refreshed I was by the time we spent together.  We had so many sweet and encouraging conversations, lots and lots of laughter, I met several new friends while we were there, and we made new and beautiful memories.  I will always treasure this time.

Thank you, Noble family, for your sweet hospitality, your encouragement, your love for Jesus and for us, preparing amazing meals, for making me laugh until I nearly cried, and for always, always helping to create incredible, lasting memories.  Y'all are so special to me and I am grateful for each one of you.  Brookie, your friendship is a priceless  treasure, and I am so privileged to call you my sister.   I love all y'all.  :)

I recently purchased a new lens for my camera (!!!!!), an AF-S VR Micro-Nikkor 105mm f/2.8.  I am LOVING it!  I can get great close-up shots as well as beautiful portraits with a shallow depth of field.

Chopping green onions for stuffed mushrooms. Yummy! I used the new lens and my camera's self timer for this one. 

Christian, holding one of the squirrels.

Feeding time!

What an adorable little guy!

Mama and I had a fun date last week and stopped by some antique shops.  My eyes were glued to this teacup when I first saw it and Mama very sweetly bought it for me.  Holland!  It makes me think of the pilgrims, John Howland (who we are actually descended from!) and God's amazing providence through generations.

We went to a nearby nature preserve after dinner on a cool Spring evening and had a lovely time enjoying each other's company and God's beautiful creation.

The guys climbed a huge stump and found this hollow log.  I think Jonnie could have made a home in there!  :)

On Thursday last week, Mama and I drove to Missouri and arrived safely at the Noble's home.  It was so, so good to see them again!  We had a delightful walk through their woods, and played Frisbee until it was too dark to see.  The moon rose in the sky looking like a ball of fire.  It was absolutely incredible!  I wish I could have captured its beauty.  This photo does not even come close.

Oh my!  She's so gorgeous! 

I got to meet Anna, one of the Noble's cousins. She is such a sweet young lady and I look forward to getting to know her better.

Shame on whoever typed this up!  :)  They misspelled her name - oh dear!  :)

She's got her diploma!  Congratulations, sweet Brookie! 

Mmmm!  Look at all of that good food!  :)

A delicious mocha, made by Brookie. 

Coffee, blueberry muffins, and homemade granola for breakfast...perfection!  :) 

Stunning!

Jonathan, playing with his remote-controlled truck. :)

These photos were taken on Sunday afternoon, and I think that this time was definitely one of my favorite memories from the trip.  Wesley, thank you for the great photos of Brookie and me.

The weather was perfect, and the lighting was just gorgeous!

Of the photos I took, this is by far my favorite from the whole trip.

 We got to wear our "joyful" outfits!  Brookie gave me the idea when she bought the yellow top and called it her "joyful shirt".  I found my "joyful skirt" at a thrift store last fall, so, of course, we had to get a picture!  :) Yellow is such a bright, happy color!

Wesley found a tadpole.  :)

Group shot!  Love and miss y'all so much.  May the Lord bless and keep you.  Can't wait until next time!

 

Psalm 63:1, Scotland, and an Evening Walk

Psalm 63:1

"O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water."

 

I was absolutely delighted to find this gorgeous little spot about 5 minutes from our home. This is how I imagine Scotland must look, in a way..... :)

It is just a dream, but, oh I would SO love to visit Scotland someday!

I wanted to go for a walk on a wet, c-o-l-d, windy evening, and Elijah went with me.  He is so, so good to me!  Praise God for the immeasurable blessing of godly, gentlemanly brothers!  I am so undeservedly blessed. 

 

Of Sunsets, Headlights, Wipe-outs, and Amazon Adventures

 I had a full memory card when I went out to take pictures of this glorious sunset, so I had to go back and quickly delete several photos from the previous day. Yeah, that's always real fun! :)

Lovely bubbles! :) 

I made three large venison pot pies for dinner on Saturday.  I love cooking for people I love! :) 

It's time to pull out those wonderful summer skirts again.  That feels sooooo good! 

I must be a terrible photographer! I was lying in the middle of our road (it's not a busy road until I'm lying in the middle of it!) and just finished setting my camera for the *perfect* shot and I look through the viewfinder and see...headlights! They were a lot closer than they look in the picture. Yikes! I moved pretty fast, you may be sure. :) The guy just grinned and waved.  He probably thought I was nuts.  Maybe I am.  :)

Elijah, Jeremiah and I went on a bike ride this past weekend and I wiped out coming around a downhill curve on a gravel road.  I went sailing, so did my bike, and gravel went flying in all directions as I slid across the road.  The boys were waaaay up ahead (that's what I get for being out of shape!) so I was there, sprawled out on the road for several seconds thinking "please come back, please come back" and then they disappeared over the rise ahead.  (please feel sorry for me!)  :) I picked myself up, hobbled over to where my bike was, and proceeded up the road. The whole front of me was absolutely covered in that fine, country-road dust.  Looking back on it now, I suppose I must have been quite a funny sight! :) My hands are pretty beat up, and I have a few scrapes and bruises, but I'm ok.  I told Mama that some people (that means me ;) will do anything to get out of washing dishes.  :)  So that is my epic tale from last week.  :) 

I so enjoyed watching Christian and Jonathan spending some quality time together today, out in God's beautiful creation.  Love that flag! 

So, Archie has a new name.  We re-named her "Marjorie" after Archie's wife and we call her "Marji" for short.  It worked out quite well - I have my Henty character, and the boys have the feminine name they wanted. :)

Sure, let's just hang out here all day....silly cat! 

The mighty adventurers on a noble quest to spear all of the nasty snakes on the Amazon. :) I do believe that this qualifies as a hazardous journey. :) 

I love my brothers!!!!!! Aren't they absolutely adorable!?! How did I get such cute brothers, anyhow? I'm so blessed.

I think he got one!  :)

Some Random Beauty and Cuteness from the Past Week

What a blessed life I have.  I must be honest and confess that I do not always see my life as beautiful, but it is.  I have a gracious God who forgives me, a beautiful Saviour who died for me, and the Holy Spirit working in my life, conforming me more to the image of Christ.  That is the hard part, the sanctification.  But I am grateful for my life, even if it is not what I, in my finite foolishness, would have chosen. God, in His infinite wisdom, had my life planned before He created the world, and He has known me since forever. :)

 

I read Psalm 36 this morning.  Verse 5 "Your mercy, O Lord, is in the heavens, and Your faithfulness reaches to the clouds." struck me and reminded me of Isaiah 55:9 "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts."  I may not understand His ways, because they are infinitely higher than mine, but His faithfulness and mercy reach just as high.  He loves me, He treasures me, and He forgives my weakensses.  What a GLORIOUS thing it is to be a child of the one true God!  This is why life is beautiful!  I am redeemed, and nothing can seperate me from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus (Romans 8:39).

 

I didn't mean to get into all of that, but it just kind of happened.  :)  I'm listening to some gorgeous classical music - Vivaldi's "Four Seasons".  There is something special about having some favorite music playing, windows open to the beautiful, fresh, delicious smelling Spring breeze, thinking grateful thoughts, and watching my little brothers riding their bikes up and down the driveway.   See, I told you my life was blessed!  :)  :)

 

I would like to share a few (a few to me is more than 3 when we are talking about pictures) :) random pictures from the past week.  I love glorious sunsets, my brothers, our dogs, our new pet cat, Archie (who is actually a girl - whoops!), my awesome Mama who did something for me that you will see near the end of this post, and my Papa who works so hard and encourages me especially on the hard days. I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures as much as I loved taking them.

 

I was practicing my puppy cry, and Teddy thought I was nuts! :)

This is "Archie", named after Sir Archie Forbes in G.A. Henty's wonderful book, In Freedom's Cause.  I named the cat, and the boys don't particularly like my choice.  Hmmm.

Jeremiah built a house for Archie and is planning to put metal siding and shingles on it. It has two levels, a bedroom, and a "front porch".  Spoiled cat!  :) Is that not the sweetest thing!?! 

This is one of my favorite expressions! 

Little Mr. Bright Eyes.

A sunset as viewed over our pond earlier this week.  I thought of a line in Matt Redman's 10,000 Reasons as I was photographing it:

"Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, let me be singing when the evening comes!"

Cutie pie!

And here's what my awesome Mama did for me.  She's the best!

Love, love, love sitting on the edge of the dock and dangling my feet over the water below.

Have a blessed and beautiful week, y'all!  Find something to be super grateful for today, like...doing the dishes!  :)

"Being thankful for everything conquers a self-pityig spirit"

~Kim Brenneman (from Large Family Logistics)

GWP Contest!

Hi y'all!
I just wanted to let you know that God's World Photography (a site that Elijah and I contribute to) just closed their March photography contest.  This is a reader judged contest (anyone can vote) and we would love to have your vote. :) Voting closes Tuesday night (April 2nd). Please visit the site and vote for your favorite photo!  Thanks!

http://www.godsworldphotography.com/