Sunday Hymn - Praise the Lord, Ye Heavens Adore Him

Praise the Lord: ye heavens, adore Him;
Praise Him, angels in the height.
Sun and moon, rejoice before Him;
Praise Him, all ye stars of light.
Praise the Lord, for He hath spoken;
Worlds His mighty voice obeyed.
Laws which never shall be broken
For their guidance He hath made.

Praise the Lord, for He is glorious;
Never shall His promise fail.
God hath made His saints victorious;
Sin and death shall not prevail.
Praise the God of our salvation;
Hosts on high, His power proclaim.
Heaven and earth and all creation,
Laud and magnify His Name.

Worship, honor, glory, blessing,
Lord, we offer unto Thee.
Young and old, Thy praise expressing,
In glad homage bend the knee.
All the saints in heaven adore Thee;
We would bow before Thy throne.
As Thine angels serve before Thee,
So on earth Thy will be done.

I'm thankful:

1. that I have a nice warm house because it's -18C and snowing outside.




















2. for the seat warmers in the car. See #1.
3. for my kids. They make me laugh ** and they are generally very good kids.
4. we got a new kitten this week and that she's settling in well. I was starting to wonder that first day if she would ever stop crying
















5. we can go away to the quiz meet this weekend and that everyone is excited about it
6. that we're making contact with an old friend who we have lost touch with
7. for all the blessings God gives us - we really are blessed living here and we don't always remember to thank Him

** See my husband's post. My daughter is the first commenter and it's such a snappy remark!

Thankful Tuesday

I'm thankful for homeschooling sale boards and the fact that God provided, through the boards, a geometry textbook set for us at a very good price - about 25% of what it would cost to buy the new edition.

I'm also thankful for Paypal and other technology, including the internet. Finding the books without the internet would be virtually impossible. Not having to go to the bank to get a money order, mail it, wait for it to get there, etc. etc. is a huge saving of time and effort for me and it makes the transactions quick and easy. I had an experience this summer of having to deal with someone by sending a cheque and I am doubly thankful now to not have to do that anymore!

Herding Deer

Last night I was coming home about 10:15 pm down the back alley. In front of me, I saw three deer. Seeing deer in town isn't uncommon so I just slowed down and expected them bound away.

Instead, they just kept walking forward, a little confused. Our driveway is at a "Y" in the alley so I came to the "Y" and started turning into the driveway. The deer were still confused and didn't know which way to go. They finally went up the driveway. As I pulled up, they went into the back yard. I expected them to immediately run away into the front yard.

I got out of the vehicle and walked up the back sidewalk. One of them figured out how to go to the front yard so it disappeared. The other two kept watching me and moving around the yard. When I got to the back door, I called my husband and son and we stood watching them for a minute or two. They almost seemed curious about us.

I've seen deer around a lot but never that close and I've never herded them before!

Thankful Thursday

I'm thankful I'm feeling better! Yesterday around noon, I swallowed and suddenly realized my throat didn't hurt. I was tired last night but had some energy to do a couple of things. This morning, I woke up at my usual time feeling much better and with lots of energy. I'm sure I'll need a nap today but it's nice to actually look forward to the day!

I'm always reminded when I'm sick how hard it must be to have a chronic illness. I get impatient about being sick after only 2-3 days; how much harder must it be to know that the pain and sickness will not be going away or it could be months until one feels better. It's a good reminder to me to pray for those I know with a chronic illness.

Homeschooling Thanks

Today I'm thankful for the freedom that comes in homeschooling. I was able to let the kids sleep in this morning, as we're all fighting colds, and we also were able to travel last week.

We will need to catch up on what needs to be done but it's nice to have some freedom to decide how to schedule that.

I'm also thankful that I was able to have a couple of naps already today! Hopefully this cold will soon be gone.

Thankful Saturday

I'm thankful to be home! We got home this afternoon, both vehicles. I'm also thankful that we were able to buy a new (to us) car while we were away and that my husband is happy with the way that it drives. Now to sell the old one...

We had bad roads on the way home, and I actually stopped last night and stayed overnight in a small town because of the roads, but I'm so glad that everything went well. My kids were great and we had a very peaceful trip home.

I'm also thankful for audio books, which definitely helped with having a peaceful trip! We listened to Geronimo Stilton, a silly tale about a mouse that the little ones liked but the older ones just endured. We also listened to





When Santa Fell to the Earth by Cornelia Funke. Mrs. Funke is already a favourite writer around our house and this new book is very fun. It does contain a few "do you think that's a good thing to do?" moments (ie, copying a math test to get a good mark) but overall, we enjoyed it.

Our favourite audio book on the way home was Dragon Rider, also by Cornelia Funke.



This book is read by Brendan Fraser ("George, George, George of the Jungle"). I must admit, I was a little sceptical at first when I saw his name but he does one of the best readings I have ever heard. The accents & voices are amazing! We've read the book before but I had forgotten a lot of it. We still have about two cds left and I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the story.

And now that I'm home and in my nice, warm house, I can be thankful for the snow and the coming winter.

Music for Patti...

Or anyone else who might be interested. These are all for piano, violin & cello with the equivalent difficulty being about book 2 of Suzuki.

Chamber Music Sampler by Joanne Haroutounian

Pachelbel Canon arranged by Daniel Dorff. The link is actually not the same book as I got because mine is for any two or three melody instruments and piano. Violin, cello & piano would have been better but I'm just happy to have this.

Trio in D Major by J.C. Bach for violin, cello & piano. I can't find a link for this but it's published by the International Music Company and the number on the front is No. 1516.

A Christmas Tableau of Piano Trios by Eugenie Rocherolle. This contains 9 songs, including The First Noel, Silent Night and What Child is This?. It also contains a couple of more secular pieces - Jingle Bells and A Holly Jolly Christmas.

I'm looking forward to trying these out!

Pictures from the West Coast

It's been raining a lot around this area. Apparently, it's a weather system called "The Pineapple Express" because it's from Hawaii. Today, we were thankful to have sunshine and a relatively warm day so we were able to be outside for the majority of the day.

These are pictures from Lynn Canyon. It's one of our favourite places on the coast. There's a suspension bridge and a nice walk around. My husband & I used to come here fairly often when we were in college and dating.























































Then we went to Stanley Park and had lunch and walked around a bit. We had a friend with us from Nova Scotia who hadn't been out here before so we wanted to show him a variety of sights. Lynn Canyon was nice because it was more of a rain forest and Stanley Park, of course, shows the Pacific ocean.

On our way back to the vehicle, we saw four raccoons. Their reaction to us was not what we expected! Note that there is actually no food in our friend's hand:



































One more thankful part of my day: I'm thankful I got time in a music store that had lots of choices. It's amazing how fast 45 minutes can disappear when I'm looking at music. I was able to find several options for piano, violin and cello and a new piano offertory book, which I am desperately in need of. Now I'm looking forward to learning new music when we get home.

Thankful Tuesday morning

I'm thankful today for my family. I really enjoy travelling with my kids and husband.

We had a good day yesterday. We did some shopping in the morning and then I took the kids skating while my husband went to the convention we came here for.

I'm also thankful for a huge ice complex where we could go skating and there was no one else there! We may try to go back later in the week.

And homeschooling brings its own thankfulness - we can travel with our family and still keep up with our schoolwork.

See Rebecca for her month of thanksgiving.

Warm Temperatures

We're travelling this week and spending most of our time in the Vancouver area. Our Suburban has a temperature recording in the mirror. We excitedly noticed the temperature yesterday - 15 degrees Celcius, even though it was raining.

Where we live, 15 degrees and rain only comes in August!

We also had a little chuckle at the woman pulling her scarf and overcoat close. I guess it doesn't seem quite as balmy to her!

Sunday Hymn - Jesus, Everlasting King

Jesus Everlasting King
© 2003 detuned radio music (ASCAP). Words by Isaac Watts (alt. by Matthew Smith). Music by Matthew Smith

Jesus, everlasting King
Accept the tribute which we bring
Accept the well-deserved renown
And wear our praises as Your crown

1. O send Your Spirit to impart
Rest and repentance to our hearts,
Like the dear hour when from above
We first received Your pledge of love.
Repeat chorus

2. The gladness of redemption’s day,
Our hearts would wish it long to stay,
Nor let our faith forsake its hold,
Nor comforts sink, or love grow cold.
Repeat chorus

3. May every time of worship see
Your grace revealed more rich and free,
Till we are raised to sing Your name
At the great supper of the Lamb.
Repeat chorus

4. O that the months would roll away
And bring the coronation day;
The King of Grace shall fill the throne
With all His Father’s glories on.

Jesus, everlasting King
Accept the tribute which we bring
Accept the well-deserved renown
And wear our praises as Your crown (repeat)

Thankful Saturday

Rebecca is having a month of Thanksgiving. One of the email lists I'm on also has a Thankful Thursday, which I, to my shame, don't always post about. It's more time issues than lack of thanksgiving but still...

Today I'm thankful for
- a husband who is willing to serve and who especially blessed me yesterday by rearranging his day so that he could drive my daughter and me to the city. He had someone in the hospital that he could visit but still, he rearranged things in order to be able to go
- my four children who are growing and maturing all the time
- the opportunity to travel to our denomination's National Convention next week
- the opportunity to see family at the Convention and spend some time with them
- snow so that my kids can play outside
- a church family that is supportive of us

I think I'll stop there for now - I have to save some up for the rest of the month!

Looking for Evidences of Grace

Yesterday we listened to part of a message by CJ Mahaney, presented at Southern Seminary. You can find the links here (scroll down to Oct 24 & 26).

The message was on 1 Cor. 1:1-9. One of his points involves how, even though the Corinthians were in need of correction (the reason why Paul was writing the letter), Paul still saw evidences of God's grace in them. CJ encouraged the listeners to look for evidences of God's grace in others and tell them. He reminds us that it's easier to look for sin then it is to look for grace and that we should be encouraging others by looking for how God is working in their lives, although there are times when exhortation against sin is also appropriate.

As I listened, I thought of my children. How often do I tell them how I see them growing in God and growing in maturity. I need to be actively looking for it more often and then telling them. It was a good reminder.