Wrapping up 2014—all gift!

As a New Year rolls in I’m looking in the rear-view mirror so to speak, at all that has passed this year…

Week by week I’ve left its traces here in pictures.  But this year looking back is bittersweet.  The remembering is laced with the sadness of loss.

For eleven years these gifts have been ours—the natural beauties of the Pacific Northwest—the water, the trees, the garden, the flowers…I have loved them. Dearly. The freedom to tromp all about in a world akin to a National Park (minus the fees and the people) has been a priceless gift.  But now that we’re moving the pictures that re-cap the year remind me of gifts I must leave behind… I can take only the reminders, these pictures, and a grateful heart for all these blessings.

As we move toward snow country,

we will leave behind rain-forest and ocean with their now predictable seasons…

February’s snow drops and pussy willows…

Spring’s skunk cabbage and wild currant blooms

Fruit trees and rhubarb coming to life…

Summer’s garden time

and familiar hikes to favorite viewpoints…

Fall’s harvest will be different too this year…

 

And snow not so rare and valued…

Looking back I suspect these are things I will miss

but then again, there are other things we may not miss too much 

What I cannot see is what lies just ahead…

Last year at this time we had an empty nest. It was just the two of us at the table not knowing what to expect.

And yet the year has been a good one…

 

 

 

April highlight—a trip to visit my sis

 

 

 

May—our flown away chick returned!

 

June—My mom came to visit!

And we gained a daughter as well!

 

We spent more hours than ever riding together this year—2,200 miles worth of sights and sweat!

 

 

 

 

We hope to see more of these special small fry this year…

But look as we may, only God knows what will transpire in our lives.

 

 

 

Come what may, we can rest in knowing He will be in it with us, just as He has been in the past.

 

 

I can’t think of a better way to close here than with the words of an old hymn a friend reminded me of today. I needed them.

Be still, my Soul

Be still, my soul: the Lord is on thy side.
Bear patiently the cross of grief or pain.
Leave to thy God to order and provide;
In every change, He faithful will remain.
Be still, my soul: thy best, thy heavenly Friend
Through thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

Be still, my soul: thy God doth undertake
To guide the future, as He has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: the waves and winds still know
His voice Who ruled them while He dwelt below.

Be still, my soul: when dearest friends depart,
And all is darkened in the vale of tears,
Then shalt thou better know His love, His heart,
Who comes to soothe thy sorrow and thy fears.
Be still, my soul: thy Jesus can repay
From His own fullness all He takes away.

Be still, my soul: the hour is hastening on
When we shall be forever with the Lord.
When disappointment, grief and fear are gone,
Sorrow forgot, love’s purest joys restored.
Be still, my soul: when change and tears are past
All safe and blessèd we shall meet at last.

Be still, my soul: begin the song of praise
On earth, believing, to Thy Lord on high;
Acknowledge Him in all thy words and ways,
So shall He view thee with a well pleased eye.
Be still, my soul: the Sun of life divine
Through passing clouds shall but more brightly shine.

Words: Katharina Von Schlegel, 1752 Trans­lat­ed from Ger­man to Eng­lish by Jane L. Borthwick, 1855.

[Click to Listen here]

From our house to yours:
We wish for you a New Year blessed in the knowledge of the nearness and sovereignty of God.

–LS