Status Report: August

Sitting…on the couch in the living room.

Drinking…nothing, but I did just finish a bowl of vanilla ice cream topped with hot chocolate mint sauce. 

Feeling…tired from the big road trip. We ended up driving for 9 of the 14 days we were gone,  travelling over 6000 miles (9500k). If you ask my son, he’ll say he drove nearly half of those miles. If you ask me, I’ll tell you I drove at least 3/4 of them. We attended my niece’s wedding in Pella, IA and visited with my dad, my sister, and her kids in Minnesota. 

Finding…it hard to get back to regular life. (Do you find it difficult to return to normal after a trip?) There’s so much to catch up on, like mowing the lawn and weeding the garden. And laundry. So much laundry. I wake up wondering where to start!

Listing…a few of the things I learned on the trip: 

• The best food on the Alaska Highway is at the Toad River Lodge.
• There are lots of bears around this year. We saw at least ten, including a mama grizzly with two cubs walking on the side of the highway. 
• Tourists can be dumb when it comes to wildlife viewing. Rule number one is don’t get out of the car to take photos of a mama grizzly.
• In southern Saskatchewan there are still major roads closed due to flooding and one that is open is covered with water 4 inches deep for a 1/4 mile section. 
• You can’t always trust Google Maps directions.
• Pella IA has 9000 people and 11 Reformed Churches, including a First, Second and Third Reformed Church. The Second Reformed Church is across the street from the First Reformed Church. What do you think happened there?
• My son’s dog David is easy and fun to travel with. He ended up doing everything we asked of him except riding an elevator.
• It can get so hot and humid that my glasses fog up when I exit the air-conditioned car. I’ve never had that happen before.
• Minnetonka moccasins are the most comfortable shoes i’ve ever worn. 
• If the front yard doesn’t get mowed for two weeks, it grows twenty or thirty 12 inch saplings. If the backyard doesn’t get mowed for 2 weeks, it turns into a jungle. 

Asking…myself why I bothered to bring books on the trip. When did I think I’d have time to read?

Planning…to make jam: Raspberry-peach jam tomorrow and strawberry-rhubarb jam on Wednesday. I love the steaming kitchen and the popping lids of jam making. 

Also planning…to get back to regular blogging. A status report is perfect for resuming gently. And let’s see, tomorrow is Tuesday, so I need to come up with a theological term. Any ideas?

Anticipating…being a Grandma. 

Forseeing…the end of summer.

Wishing…I lived somewhere with summers just like ours—no heat and humidity, and no dark, either—only twice as long. No, that’s not quite right. I’m wishing the summers right here were twice as long because I’m not going anywhere else.

Copying…Lisa.

Sunday's Hymn: O Splendor of God's Glory Bright

O splendor of God’s glory bright,
From light eternal bringing light,
Thou Light of light, light’s living Spring,
True Day, all days illumining.

Come, very Sun of Heaven’s love,
In lasting radiance from above,
And pour the Holy Spirit’s ray
On all we think or do today.

And now to Thee our pray’rs ascend,
O Father glorious without end;
We plead with Sovereign Grace for pow’r
To conquer in temptation’s hour.

Confirm our will to do the right,
And keep our hearts from envy’s blight;
Let faith her eager fires renew,
And hate the false, and love the true.

O joyful be the passing day
With thoughts as pure as morning’s ray,
With faith like noontide shining bright,
Our souls unshadowed by the night.

Dawn’s glory gilds the earth and skies,
Let Him, our prefect Morn, arise,
The Word in God the Father one,
The Father imaged by the Son.

— Ambrose of Milan, translated by Lou­is F. Ben­son.

Other hymns, worship songs, sermons etc. posted today:

• All Things That On the Earth Do Dwell at Hiraeth
• To the Praise of Mercy Found at Rosemary at Home
• Jesus, Master, Whose I Am at Fieldstone Cottage
• The Lord In Zion Reigns at Tried With Fire
• Lord’s Day 31, 2011 at The Thirsty Theologian
• Voices From the Past - July 31, 2011 at The Upward Call
• Psalm 40 at Daily On My Way to Heaven

Have you posted a hymn (or sermon, sermon notes, prayer, etc.) today and I missed it? Let me know by leaving a link in the comments or by contacting me using the contact form linked above, and I’ll add your post to the list.

Thankful Thursday

Guess what? I’m going on a road trip. My youngest son and I leave Saturday morning, heading to Minnesota first and then to Iowa for my niece’s wedding. I’m thankful that I have a car to make the trip and a son to help me with the driving. I’m thankful for the opportunity to travel the Alaska highway again. 

I just saw some cell phone photos of my neighbors’ new baby girl. She was born last Saturday, several weeks early, and medivacked to Edmonton immediately. Things were touch and go for a while, but she’s doing very well now and will probably be home within a month. It will be fun to have another baby in the neighborhood. I’m very thankful that God gave her and that he protected her. I’m thankful that her parents will have a baby to take home after losing twins in the same sort of circumstances a couple of years ago.

I’m thankful for fresh broccoli, lettuce, and spinach from the garden. 

(This might be the last post from me for a couple of week. I planned to have a post on the last chapter of Christianity and Liberalism up today but things are crazy around here. Maybe I’ll have it up and maybe I won’t. And maybe I’ll post photos of my trip, but I’m not making any promises there, either.)

Throughout this year I’m planning to post a few thoughts of thanksgiving each Thursday along with Kim at the Upward Call and others.