A Birthday hug and tea

My Bible Study girls , that's what I call
them , who are dear friends, gave me
a surprise today before we started
on our lesson: True Repentance.
We always have tea, but this was a bit
more . You can see here.
Scones, lemon curd, clotted cream, cheese
and crackers , strawberries ( delicious with
a dab of clotted cream)......out on the porch.
Heaven. I was deeply blessed my friends!
Thank YOU!
Two more days until I am a year older.

April Showers

Neither flowers nor tomato plants got
planted. Late afternoon rains after
the trip to the Farmer's Market and
Renfrow's Hardware. They have the best
plants. A book got read . A children's
Newberry Award Winner of 1957:
Miracle on Maple Hill. Emma will catch
up with me, so we can talk about it.
Got some cards written to be mailed
tomorrow. Great Sabbath rest. Plus
some knitting of a felted handbag. Yarn
given to me by my sister. My only sister.
(among 6 brothers!)



The Bedtime Book, illustration by Jessica Wilcox Smith

Need to plant some!

She was always picking flowers
by Edmund Dulac

Could not put it down

That's what happened today to Emma
( almost 11) with a book we have been
reading together: The Journey of a
Princess. We spent the afternoon at
Winghaven Gardens with a friend.
( She's the Supper of the Lamb friend)
It's a tradition to pack a picnic lunch
and go be inspired by the beauty.
On the way, Emma finished the book
because the story was so good and near
the end and you know....you have to keep
reading! I had to read it right after dinner.
AND she is right. Even her older brother
heard all about King Alfred's daughter ,
Estrid (Ælfthryth) , and what happened to
her. Actually, she told anyone who talked
to her after finishing. I'm thinking of books
that I've done that ....just couldn't stop
talking about them.
How about you?

Lift High

I've not been in church for 3 weeks,
except last weekend was Grace Highlands
( isn't that a wonderful name for a church
in the mts) in Boone. A church plant , very
young, where the pastor is akin to Father Tim,
though younger. He has the college students to
his house over and over again....extending
home and conversation. This morning was
back in our church with violins, trumpets,
organ, even a harp. I felt lifted up in singing.
Everyone sang. They sang loudly, clapping
hands, moving to worship the Lord.We
didn't sing this song but as I left , I thought
about being lifted up and
"Lift High the Cross" to me:

Lift high the cross,
the love of Christ proclaim
till all the world adore
his sacred Name.

And I can't get this out of my mind from
my readings this morning with tea:

"The Amen" Rev. 3:14

The word Amen solemnly confirms that which
went before; and Jesus is the great Confirmer;
immutable, forever is “the Amen” in all his promises.

Jesus is Yea and Amen in all his offices. He was a
Priest to pardon and cleanse once, he is Amen as
Priest still. He was a King to rule and reign for his
people, and to defend them with his mighty arm,
he is an Amen King, the same still. He was a Prophet
of old, to foretell good things to come, his lips are
most sweet, and drop with honey still—he is an
Amen Prophet. He is Amen as to the merit of his blood;
he is Amen as to his righteousness. That sacred robe
shall remain most fair and glorious when nature
shall decay. He is Amen in every single title which
he bears; your Husband, never seeking a divorce;
your Friend, sticking closer than a brother; your
Shepherd, with you in death’s dark vale; your Help
and your Deliverer; your Castle and your High Tower;
the Horn of your strength, your confidence, your joy,
your all in all, and your Yea and Amen in all.

Spurgeon, Evening, April 19th.

I wrote in my journal all those NAMES ,
sort of like a family tree .
Bow down . I will lift you up!
AMEN.

Another try

Listen here

Things are not perfect

Great new song by HEM, Brooklyn group.
It will lift you up to smile!
Take a listen here.

Then go to their main page.

Can't wait to get their new album.
I keep listening to this song over and over
again. It grows on you. And you smile.
Didn't I already say that!
It does.
True truth as number 3 son always says!

and then James

Listening to the Best of James
Taylor ~~ while cooking tortillas for the
girls who are polar bears in the green murky
lake water in our pool. The pump is on
and one day we'll wake up to crystal blue
water! Being lifted up............

You know "Carolina on My Mind"...he'll
be in town in May. He'll be with his original
band. My second son is going.
I heard him back in the 70's in Chapel Hill.
Those were the days...........

Being lifted up........walking on a country road,
la la la ....!


You've got a friend. Winter, Spring , summer or
fall. All you have to do is call~!

Lifted up

The weather is gorgeous but the spirit
is a bit weighed ~
I read this a few days ago and it
lifted me up from Spurgeon. Here are bits
of that day's devotion:



God’s people need lifting up. They are very heavy
by nature. They have no wings, or, if they have,
they are like the dove of old which lay among the
pots; and they need divine grace to make them
mount on wings covered with silver, and with
feathers of yellow gold.

The world’s people are looking after silver and gold,
seeking their own pleasures, and the gratification
of their lusts; but, Lord, lift thy people up above all this;


In the battle, if they seem to fall, O Lord, be pleased
to give them the victory.Suffer not the adversary to
vex them sore, and make them fret; but if they have been,
like Hannah, persecuted, let them sing of the mercy of a
delivering God.

Lifting up. ......sometimes seeing a place we love
will do it too:

Malachi 2:5

This morning's reading:

"My covenant with him (Levi) was
one of life and peace, and I gave them
to him. It was a covenant of fear,
and he feared me. He stood in awe
of my name."

Thus saith the Lord.

Magical Day in the Mailbox

An English fairy ( friend of my dear friend of
the Supper Blog) sent Emma a package today.
It took us by surprise because it was posted in
Ontario! Who do we know in Ontario , Canada
who knows Emma and would send her a package?!!!
When we figured out WHO it was
(an English friend of the above friend )
we knew it was a fairy gift. She's a kindred
spirit and has made it so magical coming from
England. Wouldn't you like to have a fairy send
you presents!?

She sent it on a recent trip to Canada and was
heading back to Worthing."It will be Spring
there , so perhaps I will see more fairies."
It was a Rose Fairy plate!


(Rose Fairy, Cecily Mary Barker)



Then my friend of the Supper blog sent me a
get well note. Neither of them knew their
mail would arrive to Emma and to me on the same
day.....the grace of God! Her card was an English one
too ~~ of Snowhill in Cotswold. It looks like a fairy
place to me! This is similar:



Snowshill Manor has several doors! Here's looking out
of one:




Thank you to both of you.
What an enchanting day.
And by the way, HI from your
Worthing friend ~~

More of The Supper

Take a look at our meal , from my dear

friend's blog.

Cloudy Monday

Still healing from the accident and that
has born fruit. Spring cleaning! Always
good and unexpected for me right now.
Not what I had planned for these days,
but it is so good to clean out things!
Sometimes the unexpected comes
when you find something lost and in
the wrong place. It was a photo
of my mom in the hospital three months
before she died. We're looking eye to eye
and I could swear I felt her glance.

What an Evening

We Give Thanks

Wonderful Lamb dinner with courses of
hor d'oeuvres, clam soup, salad, lamb
and fingerlings andcarrots, and then
a piece of Apple tart!
We were still at the table after 10:00!
Thank you my dear friend Cass. If you
haven't read The Supper of the Lamb,
get a copy. Here's a quote:

"If an hour can be spent on one onion,
think how much regarding it took that
old Russian who looked at onions and
church spires long enough to come up
with St. Basil's Cathedral."

You will be transformed!

The Pleasure of Cooking

Tonight is a lamb dinner with
courses cooked by my friend who
has a mirror of my family's birth order.
We both have 4 sons and 1 girl. Mine are
younger and none the same age, but
God has knit our hearts together for
a special friendship. More later on the
meal. It's an event for my Book Club!
The Supper of the Lamb:

Van Eyck's ADORATION OF THE LAMB:
( front of Schaeffer's How Should WE
Then Live)