Father's Day and an Update of our Trip

Its always nice to come home after being away.  I love to go and I love to come home again to my own bed.  We had a great visit with all of our family, and saw some lovely sights along the way.  Steve flew back home from Phoenix and Eddie and I drove on to California together.  We stayed at the Navy Base with Russell, and had a great a visit with him.  The ocean was lovely.... I could look at, smell,  and listen to the ocean forever (I envy you ladies who live near the ocean). From there we drove up to Nevada and visited my Mom, brother and nieces.  We came home by way of Utah... a very pretty route. I am posting the pictures that Eddie and I took along the way.  Unfortunately they are unedited, so I think even the bug slpats on the windshield show up in some of them... sorry.

Today is Father's Day.  Happy Father's Day to my precious Dad and my precious hubby and also to my son Nathan, and my sons in law Jon and Benjamin;  to me the best Dads in the world.  Love you so much.

Dad and I  when Steve and I got married.

From desert to mountains to ocean to desert to canyons  to mountains and home.  My camera did me wrong again.... only half of my pictures downloaded.  I had some great ones of Eddie, Russ, the ocean, some seals and more... oh well. perhaps I will get a new camera one of these days.

Have a lovely week everyone.
Blessings to all,

Pam

Little Hobbit and the Mad Hatter Tea Party

We forged through  mountains and deserts, to get here. At last we  arrived at our destination: Sunny Arizona; Phoenix to be exact.  We arrived just in time to celebrate the birthday of Little Hobbit who is now 2 years old.  It was to be a tea party... a "Mad Hatter Tea Party".  Little Hobbit was dressed adorably; The Mad Hatter himself could have no negative word  to say, and if Alice were here, she would be confused as to who the real Mad Hatter really was.  Mommy/ Himilce was dressed like the  Queen of Hearts (a little variation of the red queen), she looked almost as cute as "Little Hobbit".  Princes and Princesses arrived from other privinces.  It was great fun all around.

Little Hobbit is ready for tea.

He smiles sweetly even though his tea cup is empty.  The day is still young.  Tea will be something to look forward to.

 The Queen of Hearts has been slaving for days to prepare for the party.  None of the servants showed up, so she had to do all the work herself.

Little Hobbit grows slightly weary of waiting for his tea.  So much activity, so little tea.  What is one to think.

 Princess and Princesses from other provinces are still in good humor as they too wait for their tea.


 The situation is improving as more sandwiches are brought out, and tea pots are filled.

The Topsy Turvey Cake  is a delight to all  in the Kingdom.

Little Hobbit examines cake.

All Five senses are applied to determine the quality of the cake.

 Topsy turvey cake is approved above all cakes in the Kingdom.

 A little more careful examination, just to be sure.
Yes.... it is indeed the best.

 "Mommy" I think "Little Hobbit" has had too much cake and too many presents, and way too many festivities, perhaps I should go ahead and open this one for him; I am afraid he might become overwhelmed".

Everything is just a blurr, as they say all good things must come to an end.  Good bye to all good friends.

On Saturday, all Hobbits were exhausted.  So it was decided that we should go fishing.... a cure for everything even overindulgence.

  The big hobbit in the middle was threatened  by fear of bodily harm or (exposure on facebook) if he didn't smile... and so he did.

Little Hobbit is still a little peaky from the previous days activities, but willing to give fishing a try.

 Such a delightful pond to fish in.

 Fishing is such a soothing occupation for all.

Night Song

 I have been hearing a bird singing outside my window all week.  The interesting thing about it, is that it has been singing at night.  It has continually intrigued me when I have woken up to hear it singing in the darkness.  A couple of days ago I researched the "Nightingale Bird", remembering that they got their name because they sing at night; but alas there are no Nightingale birds in America.  I found out that there are several other birds in North America that sometimes sing at night.  So now I have learned something new. There was something very lovely and sweet about it.  It made me think how the Lord's Light shine's in the darkness.  He has given us beauty for ashes and a garment of praise for a spirit of heaviness; He prepares for us a table in the presence of our enemies.  He blesses us even in darkness, and not only that, He watches over us all the time.

 ¹ I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
   where does my help come from?
² My help comes from the LORD,
   the Maker of heaven and earth.

 ³ He will not let your foot slip—
   he who watches over you will not slumber;
⁴ indeed, he who watches over Israel
   will neither slumber nor sleep.

 ⁵ The LORD watches over you—
   the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
⁶ the sun will not harm you by day,
   nor the moon by night.

 ⁷ The LORD will keep you from all harm—
   he will watch over your life;
⁸ the LORD will watch over your coming and going
   both now and forevermore.

Psalm 121

   " But ask the animals, and they will teach you, or the birds of the air, and they will tell you; or speak to the earth, and it will teach you, or let the fish of the sea inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of the LORD has done this? In his hand is the life of every creature and the breath of all mankind." 

Job 12:7‑10

Of everyday things,  Eddie graduated from 8th grade this week; Highschool next year.  Its hard to believe. School is out and we are all glad.  The last few days were spent workinging on the garden like crazy.  We are off tomorrow for our trip... I wanted to have as much of the garden done as  we could.   Luke will be home, holding down the fort, watering the garden and taking care of the critters, so that works out very nice.

Here's Eddie the night of his "graduation ceremony".  It came out a little blurry, but he looked cute I thought.

Have a delightful week everyone.  I will post when I get a chance. 

Many Blessings to all,

Pam

The Busy Season Has Begun

We've been home since last Wednesday, and all my aspirations of posting pictures of our lovely little trip have gone by the wayside.  The busy season of the year has begun.  Between gardens, and school finishing, (and 8th grade graduation for Eddie) returning from a trip and leaving on  another at the end of the week,  it is hard to keep up.  As for the pictures, I have been having trouble downloading them onto the computer, simply because of some weird malfunction when I was taking them.  I think, if I understand it right, the pictures were re-allocated on my phone to a diffierent storarage center... how, which, why it is there, and how it got switched, and how I retrieve pictures from that storage center, I don't know..... (I have tried over and over to download them... they are not cooperating). I can at least look at them on the phone itself.  So I would like to invite you all over to my house for tea and cake (chocolate),  cucumber sandwiches, and a happy visit with a lovely slide show off of my phone so that I can delight in showing you  pictures of the most amazing countryside, and animals of Yellowstone National Park and Jackson Hole Wyoming.  We had a great time.  We saw buffalo everywhere, including in front of the car, beside the car, to the right, to the left....you get the idea.  We saw elk in like manor,  a Mama bear with 2 cubs,  a Grizzly Bear, 2 Moose... or is it Mooses,  or  Meese Ha Ha! We saw a coyote (we see plenty of coyotes around here, but none that are so accommodating as to pause and pose for a close up photo), the amazing Teton Mountain Range, "Old Faithful", the beautiful "Snake River " and the delightful little town of Jackson ... among many other things.  It was a great time, and I would recommend it wholeheartedly for a family vacation to all.

I snagged a couple of freebie pictures very like my own, courtesy of google, so that I could at least show you how pretty it was.  If you google "images" of Jackson Hole, the Tetons, or Yellowstone, you would see some amazing pictures.

I hope to post once  or twice more before we are off at the end of the week.  We are making a visit to Phoenix to visit my son Nathan (who is graduating from Collins College), daughter in law Himilce, and two precious grandson's; one of which is celebrating his second birthday (So excited that we get to be a part of this one Yea!)  We are also going to visit my my Dad and Kathy, and our other son Russell, who is in California now, and my Mom (next state up in Nevada) and brother... it will be a fast and furious couple of weeks, but a highlight of our summer.

Have a blessed week everyone.

Wyoming Road Trip

This time last year, I was on a road trip with Olga, and my friend Roxy.  We had gone up to the Northwest corner of Wyoming to visit  a college that Olga was going to attend.  Now we are here again.  This time  Steve and I are the travelers. A whole year has gone by, and Olga has been through year number 1 of college.  She will be a photography major.  Her work is looking very nice. I might have to post some of  it one day.   She will be staying through the summer taking a couple of classes and working.  She has rented a little house with 3 other friends, and they are settling in.  We came up to bring her some much needed things; Pots, pans, dishes some of her boxes she had packed away etc.  We also brought her a nice start of groceries (amongst which is 20 pounds of potatoes ....ought to hold her over for a few months don't ya think?... that little potato eater... )  It is very pretty country here.  Steve and  I are going to take the scenic way home and come down through Yellowstone National Park, and Jackson Hole.  Can't wait... a long waited for mini vacation for us, even if it is very brief. I 'll post pictures as we go.

Have a Blessed Week Everyone

Pam

The Unseen Army

picture curtesy of google images The Unseen Army Here is a word for you from the Word Psalm 34:7 The angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and he delivers them. NIV     Do you believe in angels? I want to tell you that I do. I believe there are myriads and myriads of good angels who are given charge over God’s people.  Another passage says that God will give His angels charge over us to guard us in all our ways. I tell you, I believe we need the guardianship, the protection and the support of angels. I’m glad to know that wherever I go there’s an angel of God that encamps around about me and he delivers me.  There was a prophet in the Old Testament, the prophet Elisha. At a certain time he was in a city besieged by a large alien army that was there to take him, to capture him. His servant went up on the roof and pointed out to him the tremendous numbers of the opposing army, but Elisha prayed for that young servant and said, “Lord, open this young man’s eyes.” And when He opened his eyes he saw the armies of God around about the prophet, far greater in number and infinitely greater in power than those invading alien armies. And I believe that if God could open our eyes we’d see it’s true today. Those that be with us are more than those that be with them. We have a great unseen army on our side.  Let’s be encouraged, let’s take heart, let’s reckon with the presence of the Lord’s angels encamping round about us to deliver us. - Derek Prince From Derek Prince Ministries... Weekly Devotional When I got this devotional in my e-mail, I  wanted to share it as an encouragement  today.  There is so much going on in the world around us these days, that a spirit of fear often seems louder than the Spirit of the Lord, but His word is a reminder that He cares for us and that He watches over us and that He sends His angels to help us.  I think that is amazing... do we really believe it I wonder... I do, but sometimes I forget.  Nice to remember.

Mother's Day

Eddie made this for me for Mother's Day.  Isn't it sweet.  I just love it.  He made it in wood shop. It is definitely a treasure to me.  He was very proud of it, and so was I .

It is a flower pot holder.   It can hang from a hook in the ceiling, or just stand up right.

He potted the flowers.  He said he had tried to get a yellow flower, but the other kids got to the yellow ones first.  I said I liked the ones he picked for me better than anything else.

This is my Mom and I a couple of Mother's Days ago.  Happy Mother's Day Mom.  I miss you.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Mother's in My life, and to all of my friends who are Mothers, and to my daughters who are Mother's.  Now that is a mouthful.
Many Blessings to you all.

Pam