The Fires of Home

Sunday, November 20, 2011

Sabbath, November 19

Joanna had the opportunity to play special music at Sunnyside Church this Sabbath. Mrs. R. accompanied her, and though she misses playing with you, Jen, she had a lot of fun. The song was a beautiful arrangement of "Softly and Tenderly." Enjoy!!!

Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling,

Calling for you and for me;

At the heart's portal He's waiting and watching,

Watching for you and for me.

-Chorus-

Come home, come home,

Ye who are weary, come home;

Earnestly, tenderly Jesus is calling,

Calling, O sinner, come home!

Why should we tarry when Jesus is pleading,

Pleading for you and for me?

Why should we linger and heed not His mercies,

Mercies for you and for me?

-Chorus-

Think of the wonderful love He has promised,

Promised for you and for me;

Though we have sinned, He has mercy and pardon,

Pardon for you and for me.

-Chorus-

November 15, 2011: School on Trains

Thanks to the Steinweg family, we had a new, exciting, and first-time school experience (for Jo & I, anyway!) on Tuesday, November 15. We signed up for a homeschooling activity called "School on Trains." We left the Amtrak station in Vancouver, Washington at 8:45 in the morning.

It was foggy, wet, and cold when we arrived at the Amtrak Station in Vancouver.

Joanna and Tiffany worked on schoolwork for most of the trip going north.

Grant kept busy with schoolwork, too.

We saw a lot of beautiful scenery as we traveled. I spent quite a bit of time standing next to the window between train cars, leaning against the wall so that I could see (& take pictures) more easily.

The fog lifted as the day wore on and we got farther north. I was pleasantly surprised to see how much of the trip was down right by the water line when we got up to the Puget Sound area!

photo credit: Joanna

When we arrived in Seattle, we took the city bus to an area a bit north of the University District so that we could try out a new vegan restaurant that Elizabeth had heard about called "Thrive."

My yummy taco salad...

...and Jo's vegeburger in cabbage leaves. Delicious!!!

Everything we ordered was so tasty...

We had a great time together!!!

After lunch the boys headed off to the Nintendo factory in Redmond, while we girls headed over to Pike Place Market...

You've gotta love the fruit stands there!!!

Magical twilight...

We left at dusk to head back to the train station. On the way back to Vancouver, Grant, Tiffany, and Jo sat together in two seats and took all kinds of silly shots of themselves with the camera on Jo's computer. We arrived back home at about 9:30pm, tired but happy. It was a great day!!!

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Jo's Breakfast: October 17, 2011

THE COOK:

Jo has been cooking quite a bit for her Home Ec class. She's done everything from apple muffins to pasta salad to banana bread to wheat bread. This was the day she made breakfast: an omelet, cinnamon-sugar toast, and a blended orange drink. Here she is in the process...

...the final results...

...YUMMY!!! It was delicious... :-)

Mid-September Vancouver Island Vacation

THE FERRY RIDE:

The time on the ferry is always one of my favorite parts of any trip around the Puget Sound area!! It's hard to capture the beauty and openness of the scene, but this gives just a small idea of what it's like.

BUTCHART GARDENS:

Two of the most beautiful faces (by far!) that I saw in the garden that day. :-)

The play of light and shadow always captures my attention...

Lovely lilies lay lazily in a languid lake... (how's that for alliteration?!?)

The "languid lake" from the other side. Everything was reflecting so beautifully!!

We had times of both sunshine and shadow on this day. I caught Jo up on a large rock in the lower gardens, peeking down at me, while the sun was shining merrily upon us.

Smiles all around!!!

This flitting lil' fellow kept daring me to take his picture...

So much beauty!!!

Another critter just begging to have his photo taken. This guy was making quite a mess all over the deep red petals with the yellow pollen he got onto his fuzzy little self!!

There were not only various living creatures, but all kinds of statues scattered throughout the garden as well.

Such whimsical fun looking at our reflections in the glass ball!!! It was mounted on a pedestal in the middle of the rose garden and provided such quirky photo ops.

I love her cap!!!

The light through these green leaves was luminescent...

Shhh... Artist at work!! :-)

Dusk was beginning to fall, but then the lights began to come on, providing their own beauty.

BACK TO VICTORIA:

The harbor at twilight...

The Empress Hotel: site of our taking of afternoon tea (see Jo's blog for fun pics)!!)

Dad and Jo playing in the frontier town at the Royal British Columbia Museum.

Another view of the town in the museum.

SABBATH HIKE AT EAST SOOKE PARK:

We went for a stroll at a beautiful wild park south of Victoria. They had a neat petroglyph on a rock there...

Here it is!!!

Does this look familiar, guys?!? :-)

Ready for anything!!!

We were able to watch about four or five of these guys playing in the ocean. It wasn't long, though, before they were busy watching the watchers!!! After a short time they headed off into the sound.