Happy Monday Moments…

It was a perfect May Monday in the weather department here in Portland, Oregon.

Almost 80 degrees, sunny, and beautiful!

I took advantage of it and enjoyed having my morning devotions outside on the patio.

Then I did a bit of yard work.

Things are coming to life around here!

Basil is sprouting in little peat pots all lined up in a zinc chicken feeder set on my dining room window sill.

My old tin watering can is being put to good use.

Peonies!  I’m so excited to finally be growing my own.

More peonies, this time in a little French preserves jar. 

I just love this homey look so much better than the fanciest of vases.

(By the way, interesting imported jams, teas, etc. can be found inexpensively

at Ross, TJ Maxx, Homegoods, and Marshalls.)

Parsley!  It wintered over and is growing like crazy.

In the pot next to it the mint is springing up.

Lavender! Two out of my four plants are doing great and two are doing just ok.

My viburnum is all abloom and the blossoms will soon turn white, hence the nickname “snowball bush.”

There is something good for the soul in being outdoors and puttering around in the yard.

We’re supposed to have sun all week long, something we don’t take for granted in the spring in Oregon!

 

Still following,

Elizabeth

SONshine…

The cool, gray morning gave way to bright, warm sunshine while we were in church this morning.

In all honesty, it was a rather cool, gray week.

Inside, not just outside.

Sometimes in this ministry life we live, people’s problems and brokenness weigh heavy on my soul.

But, sometime during worship in church this morning,

the bright, warm Son broke through.

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I’ve taken the Joy Dare.

I’m counting one thousand thanks in one year.

I hunt for thanksgiving using the prompts Ann gives us each month.

If you are interested in joining in, click the link above or at the bottom of this post.

I continue to count my thanks

piling up gratitude day by day

in my little black journal…

#1888-#1908

a gift given-

-birthday gifts to mail to Ghana for my oldest granddaughter’s birthday, only grandson’s birthday,

and daughter’s birthday, all in the next few weeks

a gift made-

- homemade jam given to us my my sister-in-law

a gift sacrificed-

-Thank You, Father God, for sending Jesus

three gifts tasted-

-fruit smoothie for breakfast…again

-goat cheese on homemade french bread, roasted chicken, fresh grapes

-delicious ginger cookies

3 gifts flat-

-study notes for a newly begun Bible study

-a love note from my oldest granddaughter tucked into my journal

-utility bills ready to mail and the provision to pay them

3 gifts found in difficult people-

-dependence on God’s grace

-His love shed abroad in my heart when my love runs out

-His Word and promises to lean on

3 gifts before 9am-

-fresh, hot coffee…of course!

-waking up on our one day off together…joy!

-frosted Mini-Wheats cereal

a gift in a sign-

-“Expect A Miracle”, the sign that hangs over our front door to be seen each time we leave home

a gift in a smile-

-great niece’s smiles at her 6th birthday party

a gift in a snack-

-goat cheese on crackers…yum!

3 gifts found in Christ-

-forgiveness and the power to be forgiving

-grace and the power to give grace

-love and the power to be loving to others

 

Gratefully yours,

Elizabeth

Out of every tribe and tongue…

The reward of Jesus’ sacrifice is people.

I often think about a teeming ocean of people from every tribe and tongue,

that have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Savior,

all in the bridal garments of their culture,

being presented to the Heavenly Bridegroom.

His Bride, worshipping Him in praise so loud,

it’s like the rolling thunder,

like the crashing waves.

Maybe my theology is wrong,

maybe we will all be dressed alike in the same wedding garment,

(but I kind of hope not).

But, still, while I am sure that we will all be like Him,

(finally! no more struggle with sin and our flesh!),

we will still be known as we are known now,

each in our own beautiful uniqueness.

 

Still following,

Elizabeth

Friday Favs…I’m lovin’ May flowers!

They say

“April showers

bring May flowers”

 

and I’m so glad they do!

Aren’t you?

Every year about this time, it feels like the jungle wants to reclaim our large yard.

When we picked out the lot for our house we chose the largest of the three lots available.

(What were we thinking?)

It was a tangle of blackberry vines and other underbrush

with two huge old growth cedar trees in the midst of it all.

Every spring we have a truck load of debris to haul away due to the cedar trees

as well as the neighbor’s huge fir trees which “shed” over into our yard.

We have almost another whole truck load of weeds, ivy and blackberry shoots that spring up.

Last year I planted two rose bushes and four lavender plants, and thankfully they appear to be surviving.

This year I bought the beautiful peony you see in the photos above.

And, with my lack of gardening skills, this proves that I am ever an optimist!

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Friday’s comin’ my friends!

Have a HAPPY, HAPPY, FRIDAY and a BLESSED WEEKEND!

Elizabeth

(sea shells in photo three collected by me and my grandchildren on the beach at Accra, Ghana, West Africa.)

 

Swimming lessons…

He said that when he came to Jesus, everything in his life changed.

He stopped drinking.  He went to mechanics school.  He learned to drive and he started a business driving others around Ghana.  Now he has other drivers working for him too.

He’s a leader in the church now.  He’s married and has one son that he has put through school.  He had another son that died, and when he tells us this I see the pain in his eyes.

He drives the treacherous Ghanaian roads with the skill of a Nascar driver, weaving in and out among the thousands of cars on the busy city streets, and dodging the potholes the size of ditches and disabled cars left abandoned, on roads winding through jungle and remote villages.

He looked out for us like a mother hen, especially my grandchildren.  He was strong, protective, funny, kind.

We stayed at an American hotel chain on the coast, and not far from the Accra airport, our last night in Ghana.

He said he didn’t know how to swim, as he watched our grandson and granddaughter paddling around like fishes, there in the deep end of the hotel pool.  He’d never been in a swimming pool, he said.  Evidently, this was the case with most of the Africans at the hotel.  It looked like segregation, them all in the shallow end, and us “obruni” the only ones in the deep end.

My son-in-law said he would teach him to swim.  He taught the grandkids before they were old enough to go to school.

When it was just us at the pool, he got in.  This strong African man had fear in his eyes.  My son-in-law tried to explain that he just needed to relax, that if you relax you will float, the water will hold you up.  His muscles stained and time and again his head went underwater as he flailed and fought.  He came up snorting water, grabbing his head for the burning pain of water in his sinuses.   Aloud he cried, “Father, help me.  I want to learn to swim!”  Long after my son-in-law got out of the pool, giving him a few simple things to continue to work on, he stayed there in the shallow end of the pool, straining, struggling, fighting the water.  Relaxing didn’t come naturally to him, and neither did giving up.

My eight year old granddaughter wouldn’t give up on him either.  She stayed right there with him, encouraging him, coaching him along.  That big, strong Ghanaian man laid all pride aside, and let this little eight year old girl help him.  It was one of the most tender, dearest things I’ve ever seen.

He didn’t figure it out, not his very first time ever in a swimming pool.  He told us he wants to find a way to get access to a swimming pool near home, somewhere that my son-in-law can work with him some more. 

Even now, remembering, my heart cries out,  “Father, help him!  He just wants to learn how to swim!”

 

Still following,

Elizabeth

 

An addendum to the post above.  Just received this photo from Ghana.  The swimming lessons continue at a local pool at the university.  Here our dear friend gets a little confidence boost from a yellow inner tube.  Will you remember “K” in your prayers?

Goodwill mantel decor…

 

See that shabby white window frame with the mirrors?

It’s actually a new piece, made to look old.

Home décor store price, $70.

Goodwill price, but brand new with original stickers still on it, $14.99.

Score!

Still following,

Elizabeth