Faith building Friday

Loved this movie, both of them. But then I like most of the songs and the arrangements in both movies. Love Joyful Joyful how it's performed by the St. Mary's choir. It was kinda hard to pick between I will follow Him and Joyful Joyful, but the unconventional way this song was arranged and the joy expressed to this old hymn won out.

Heat wave!!!

The Seattle area is in the midst of a heat wave. On Tuesday we broke a record. The last time we hit the old record of 100 degrees was July 20, 1994, tying a record set in 1941. On that day in 1994 it was hotter in Seattle than in Las Vegas -- literally. Last night it was 105' in Duvall, at 5pm. Our heat builds through the day peaking in the early evening. We just don't get 100' heat. And we aren't prepared for it.

When we were in Redding CA a few weeks back, it got to 112', at 10 am and slowly cooled down through out the day. And everywhere had air conditioning. It was a dry heat so it wasn't nearly as bad. Here we have humidity.

As I was headed to town today I was reminded of our trip to Pocahontas AK last fall. There I experienced heat and humidity unlike I'd ever had before. The Mississippi was still 10' out of it's banks from the flooding that past winter. Did you know that the majority of the rice grown in America is the area around the Mississippi? I finally gave in and put on the AC as I drove. I'd been feeling an atmospheric tension build and the heat and humidity finally broke with a rain storm. Very cool. I sat at the open door of our motel room and watched the rain pound down. I think that is my favorite memory of that trip... other than the fact that Chris was training for the geo-thermal system we purchased, that is currently keeping our house at a lovely 75' while it's in the very high 90's outside.

I was brave and ventured out of my air conditioned house today to met a friend at the Snohomish river in Duvall. Spent an hour along the river. Loved the conversation and the company, but it took me several hours to cool down.

Publish Post

Wordless Wednesday

Hanging with Paul and Mo

We had a wonderful day on Sunday connecting and hanging with Paul and Mo. They know how to have a good time! We sat under their tent and talked and got to know each other better and talked to people passing by. Great day. The view over Commencement bay was beautiful and I kept watching the parasailers and the boaters. Here's a tiny pictorial sample of our day. As usual - there are more pictures on my Flicker photostream.

Kirkland

Caught up with a friend and walked downtown Kirkland and the Marina last night. Got some great shots, to view them visit my photostream on Flickr (for you Facebook readers, the address is under my profile picture on my homepage, or use the above link).

Still haven't updated my Etsy store, but contact me if you are interested in any of these photos or cards.

I've included a little taste of last night for you, 2 very different shots. In the top photo, I was drawn by the geometry created by looking at the boats through the back end of the closer boat. In the floral, the light that was coming through the Petunia really highlighted the white of the flower. Most of the Petunias were purple to the edge, this one was mainly white.

Faith building Friday

Kim Walker singing Sing my love.
There's such joy and freedom in this song. Kick off your shoes and do some dancing!

Alki beach with Bill

Went to visit a friend in West Seattle today. Had a picnic at Alki beach. It's been beautiful all week and today we got the Seattle gray. It was still a good day. Watch for more pictures to be posted on Flicker!

Wordless Wednesday

Finding Mr Right

Reading Finding Mr. Right over at Tova Darling's blog, I was reminded about my own journey to "find" Mr. Right".

The day of my conversion, I had a long talk with Jesus. That day in itself is a whole 'nother story, what's important to this tale is that all I remembered only a few things: that yes I was to be married, that he would be older than me, be balding and comfortable in his baldness.

Me being the impatient 21 year old that I was, hopefully I have become more patient and no longer run ahead, I began looking for someone I knew that fit that description. I found him, married him, and 4 years later divorced him. Again, a whole 'nother story...

Moving back to Seattle, I wrote a 3 page, handwritten, single spaced list of what I wanted in a husband. I still have it somewhere... I'll have to find it to re-read it... The long story short - Chris met all but 2 of those requirements. One of which I knew wasn't what I really wanted but thought I needed to have to be happy. It turns out that not having it is what brought me freedom and happiness. And the other, God graciously gave me. I believe to prepare us for stuff yet to come.

Thinking back on that list, what I remember anyway, is that I was very determined not to repeat the mistakes of my first marriage. I knew that my future husband needed to love God. And I knew that I had to take 2nd place in his life, God comes first. I knew he had to love me, the good, the bad and the ugly. I knew he couldn't demand that I change, but rather that he encourage me to change to grow and to explore. I knew that we need to have a good open line of communication where nothing was off limits and everything was discussed calmly and thoroughly. I knew that he needed to be strong enough to handle my strong personality, yet tender enough to offer me shelter and protection.

Thinking back over the past 21 years was a good reminder today... It made me re-appreciate all that I have, all that we are working towards together, and simply remember how blessed I am.

Faith building Friday

Faith building Friday

Continuing with this months theme of music as faith building. Here is BlueTree's God of this city. There were several versions I could have chosen from but I chose this one with pictures of Northern Belfast, partially because the band hails from Belfast but primarily because when Chris and I visited Belfast and stood at the top of Belfast Castle, we were stunned at how much the view looked like Seattle. So, I'm claiming this song for Belfast, for Seattle, for the city in which the song was written and inspired by, and for your city. Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

Monroe Artwalk

This past week I set up my framed photography at a local business in preparation for Monroe's July's Artwalk. It turned into an all day affair. John, the owner, gave me free rain. He gave me the front window and allowed me to rearrange the furniture within the store so that it was more open and inviting. Chris popped in for a bit and took some photos and I took the finished photos before I left. I will be adding more framed artwork before the walk on Tuesday.

Faith building Friday

This month I'll be posting music videos for faith building Friday. We'll start with this one, we heard the song for the first time at the Kingdom Culture conference late last month. It really caught Chris' attention but it's not yet been recorded. I stumbled upon it this eve, Chris has mastered the cords and words and the house is filled with his playing.

Here are the lyrics for your pleasure:
This is what it sounds like
Brian and Jen Johnson
What does it sound like when you sing out a song
What does it feel like when heaven comes down
What does it look like when God is all around
Let it come
This is what it sounds like when you sing out a song
This is what it feels like when heaven comes down
This is what it looks like when God is all around
Let it come

Turn up your speakers and be encouraged.

Influence...

A while back I talked about who you choose to be influenced by, who you follow after. As I've been working with my photography and learning how to use Photoshop, I have seen that the pictures I have been taking in the past few months have a distinct flavor to them - after Georgia O'Keefe's style. I realized that what I had prayed for has come to pass - that I could see as she sees. My medium may be photography and not painting but I see similarities.

While at the conference, I identified several other people and styles I'd like to be influenced by. One of them was the woman who creates photo montages. She does most of the work for the Bethel conferences and the worship cd's that come out of Bethel. You can view her work here.

May you find people to be influenced by who cause you to stretch and grow in amazing new ways!

Wordless Wednesday

The Prayer chapel at Bethel.

Tasty Tuesday

For the conference I chose to cook as many of our meals as possible. Several things worked out really well but I wanted to share a yummy salad that I created, OK, I stole the idea from Trader Joes but it was yummy and great on a hot day!

Before we left, I had purchased a rotisserie chicken from Costco and cut it up. We ate the drums on the road and had the breast with rice and gravy one night. I took all the yummy little bits and reserved them for this salad.

On a bed of butter baby leaves I put:
The chicken
Mozzarella cheese
Garbanzo beans
Grape tomatoes
Bacon bits
Oil and vinegar dressing
I added some crackers on the side for a bit of crunch.

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture for this post. Trust me, it was quick, easy and refreshing in the 100'+ heat we had.


And I’m linking this to Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlum.
Want some recipe ideas? Head over to this blog carnival. I know you’ll find inspiration!

Catching up...

The end of June Chris and I took a trip to Redding CA. We attended the Kingdom Culture conference at Bethel church. Amazing place... amazing people. There were 34 States and 14 Countries represented at the conference.

This past week I've spent the time recovering and attempting to adjust to new realities and to live guided by faith and hope rather than by being overwhelmed by current circumstances and situations. To speak words of hope, words that speak of a future. To pray from a heart and a Spirit of Thanksgiving.

The first speaker, Steve Thompson, delivered a message called "Unqualified, But Successful". Loved that phrase. And the message. Very empowering. He offered a free (similar) message from Morning Star ministries. You can register for your copy at www.freemorningstargift.com. If you would like to order and watch the conference on line, you can order it here. Each session was worth the price.

As I said in yesterdays post, I've been updating my Flicker photostream. I hope you enjoy the new photos. Do visit my photostream and place it on slideshow, for some reason, the slideshow that pops up on the right only uses the pictures posted on my 1st page. Trust me there are many more pages!

This week I've got (way tooo much) housekeeping to catch up on. And we're watching my sisters dog while they travel back to Ohio to visit my dad and Virginia. Moo was scared by all the fireworks Sat eve. She was climbing the door or huddling next to us, and LuLu barked at everything. She's still barking at everything! And every leftover firecracker that goes off has Moo trying to morph through the door! We ended up having them both sleep in the same kennel because they were happier when they could be touching each other.

Hope your week is pleasant. May your business ventures go smoothly and be prosperous. May you be filled with creativity and love. May you enjoy cool breezes and time with family and friends.

Flicker photostream

I've spent the day updating my Flicker account, adding a ton of pictures. 150 so far! Please feel free to stop by and take a mini vacation. You can watch the slideshow to the right or visit my photostream page and select which set you would like to spend some time with.
My next project is to update my Etsy store. All of these photos are available for purchase in several formats.

Happy Birthday America!

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Faith building Friday

Call2Fall

Wordless Wednesday

Fontana di Trevi Rome, Italy