Thursday, September 15, 2022
We arrive in Seattle in the morning and get picked up from the airport by Timothy. We hang out with the kids much of the day, unpack, and settle in.
Friday
Coffee with girlfriends stretches into 4 hours. It's a time to catch up and refresh. Our schedule is firming up and each day we have meetings or planning sessions for the days ahead.
Saturday
After W has coffee with his group, we head to Canada. The roads are empty.
Shawn Vandop brings an encouraging message at Main Street Community Church: Jesus is the subject of Good News. He is God's gift to us, the object of his attention. But we are not the center of the universe - He is.
We meet a family from Pakistan - she's an instant sister of the heart.
Mom's roses are blooming in the heat and sunshine. Her secret is pouring stale coffee and coffee grounds on the soil around the roots.
Her fridge holds the collection of family pictures from years ago.
Monday
We sort cookbooks and papers.
Some old wedding announcements are still hanging around.
The flowers and planters are as beautiful as a park setting.
I head downstairs to collect and sort the last violins. They're being donated to an orphanage in Indonesia. Mom gets a rest.
If you know a luthier who needs braces, clamps, tools ... contact me ASAP. There's plenty.
I cleared out more than half of the workshop last time I was here. But there's more. So much more! My brother asks me to toss the things he wants into a suitcase. Nope - he'll have to sort them so I just leave the boxes in the sauna.
Dad knew what everything was for and loved working on violins. None of us shares that passion.
I find the banner he used to hang at art camps and fairs.
Tuesday
Mom asked me to help her clear out things - but it 's not easy. It takes most of the afternoon just to downsize her silver tourist teaspoons. After, she is exhausted. The house is full of collections and treasures but it's hard for her to let them go. This hanging on a stairwell is 1X2 meters and came from Venezuela in the 1970s.
The kiwis are starting to grow. The day after the first frost, they'll be picked and put into boxes and bags in the garage. There they'll ripen throughout the winter. They last until May.
The Hope Slough near Mom's place is gorgeous. It's a quiet and calming walk, 2X a day.
Mom and I watch the Queen's memorial as it moves through various locations. When the flag goes up, the new king is in place.
I keep thinking what a burden it would be to have every move, every word, every expression analyzed by the world press. I'm glad I'm not a royal.
This moment, when the Lord Chamberlain breaks his reed and lays it on the coffin, signals the end of a reign.
And when the crown is removed from the casket, it brings home the ending of an era.
Read more:
*O Israel, hope in the Lord! For with the Lord there is steadfast love, and with him is great power to redeem. Psalm 130:7
*God is able to provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having enough of everything, you may share abundantly in every good work. 2 Corinthians 9:8
Moravian Prayer: God of steadfast love, have mercy upon us. In gratitude for your care of us, help us to see the needs of others in our community. Out of our abundance, may we bless others, so they know the love of God through us. Amen.
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