Lost in wonder, love, and praise

When all Thy mercies, O my God, my rising soul surveys,

Transported with the view, I'm lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Unnumbered comforts to my soul Thy tender care bestowed,

Before my infant heart conceived from whom those comforts flowed.

When worn with sickness, oft hast Thou with health renewed my face;

And, when in sins and sorrows bowed, revived my soul with grace.

Thru ev'ry period of my life Thy goodness I'll pursue,

And after death, in distant worlds, the glorious theme renew.

One of my new favorite hymns, "When all Thy Mercies, O my God," accurately expresses my feelings from this weekend.  I am lost in wonder, love, and praise because of His unending mercies.  I have felt unnumbered comforts from my Comforter.  He has revived my worn soul.  And His goodness is too good not to pursue!

It's funny (ok, maybe that's not the right description!) how unexpectedly and quickly your plans and life can change.  Maybe frightening is the word.

This weekend was planned out way ahead of time: Mom was going to Alaska for a few days while Tirzah and I stayed home with Dad and a few friends come for a sleepover.  On Thursday morning (or would it qualify for night still?), we all took Mom up to the airport and said farewell for her 5 day trip. When we returned home, we got a few winks of sleep before getting up again, guilty for having nearly slept away the morning, and got to school.

By mid-afternoon, Tirzah and I were anxiously driving Dad to the hospital...the ER, no less.  His cold, which had turned into high fever, completely took him down.  Not only was he desperately overheated, but also having difficulty breathing.  All signs of pneumonia.

In the ER, we waited....and waited.  It was a very painful wait.  While there, I made a couple calls and alerted family and close friends of the situation.  After waiting for 5 hours, we finally got admitted for the night, with Dad on oxygen and an IV.  Around that time, we also called Mom and told her all that was going on.  (Yes, she was almost the last one to know.)  

The night was restless, but I was very grateful to have my brother, Caleb, join the 3 of us in the room until early morning.  Mom returned on Friday morning to be with us, and from then on things started looking up.

I am still in awe and great thanksgiving that Dad has returned home today, looking and doing so much better!  I have witnessed such amazing answers to prayer.  I am also so very thankful for the extremely kind nurses in St. Peter's and for so many friends who prayed earnestly with us.  It was such a comfort to know you all were there for us!

Their mission statement matched their service

Finally getting an overnight room!

Back to the airport

Friday was so warm and we had a great view from the hospital windows.

In addition to those blessings, our weekend plans were not entirely abandoned.  Tirzah and I returned home on Friday afternoon, and our friends, Abigail, Isarai, and Shoshannah Thieme, still got to come up.  We had a wonderful time together, playing games, talking, laughing, and simply distracting our minds.  They also got to stay a night longer than planned to be with us at home while we waited for Dad to be released.  (Doesn't it sound like prison?)

Shoshannah, Abigail, and Isarai

Isarai, me, Shoshannah, Tirzah, and Abigail

Shoshannah, me, Abigail, Tirzah, and Isarai

Yes, this picture involved running, climbing, and balancing to catch the timer. ;)

No broken ankles

There had to be a recovery after every jump, which involved laying around on the ground groaning.

Then we moved on to less dangerous settings.

Yes, this ended in a hilarious fall nearly on top of each other.

Shoshannah, Tirzah, Isarai, and Abigail

Poor Abigail may have felt a little crushed

Tirzah and Abigail

me and Tirzah

Tirzah and Shoshannah

me and Abigail

me and Isarai

me and Shoshannah...how did I manage to get in so many pictures? =)

The 3 sisters, and 3 amazing friends of ours!

Abigail, Tirzah, Isarai, and Shoshannah

Climbing trees also means falling out of trees.  Notice how Abigail is now on the ground.

Nothing like some good pain and laughter for a picture crammed into the slide.

Maybe the getting out was most complicated.

Shoshannah...

Recovering from falling on their heads.  Abigail looks like she kicked someone on her way down.

And I couldn't leave out the little bug I took so much time to capture. :)

God and self

"Christian spirituality involves a transformation of the self that occurs only when God and self are both deeply known...Both God and self are most fully known in relationships to each other."  

~The Gift of Being Yourself

Signs of spring

This is my Father's world, and to my list-'ning ears

All nature sings, and round me rings the music of the spheres.

This is my Father's world!  I rest me in the thought 

Of rocks and trees, of skies and seas--His hand the wonders wrought.

This is my Father's world--the birds their carols raise;

The morning light, the lily white, declare their Maker's praise.

This is my Father's world!  He shines in all that's fair;

In the rustling grass I hear Him pass--He speaks to me everywhere.

This is my Father's world--O let me ne'er forget

That tho the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.

This is my Father's world!  The battle is not done;

Jesus who died shall be satisfied, and earth and heav'n to one.

In case the past few weeks of bright sun has not been evidence enough (yes, I'll admit it finally rained a little this week), spring has come and everything is growing early.  This week, as I went out for my photography practice, I saw in so many places that He shines in all that's fair.  I have never watched spring's growing so closely, so it's given me new awe for how God made everything work just the way it's supposed to in each season.  

It was fun playing around with the object of focus this week:

Watching the green leaves push their ways back out was twice as interesting
after having just studied it in Biology

I found where the melanerpes erythocephalus has been doing his work.

This butterfly was not very excited to get his picture taken,
but I finally got him to behave long enough.

While I don't like mushrooms on the table, they are rather fascinating in the ground

The grass is GREEN and long again...it's about time to pull out the mower.