Parents and Kids and Cousins and all the related get-togethers
Tonight…snow enough for snowballs, and cold fingers, and a brisk squeaky walk under the streetlights with lemon snow slushie to follow, compliments of my last baby…
“God thunders with His voice wondrously, Doing great things which we cannot comprehend.
For to the snow He says, ‘Fall on the earth,’ And to the downpour and the rain, ‘Be strong.’” Job 37:5,6
—LS
This was the year to round out my half a century on the planet…and the first year in as long as I can remember that I haven’t (at least not yet) composed a year-end letter…So I’ve been flipping back through old photos to jog my memories…
Another year of many trails and travels—with destinations as close as Scout Mountain and the Ragged Islands and as far away as Alaska and Las Vegas…
January–
![[P1000304[3].jpg]](/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/P10003045B35D.jpg)
We gained a beautiful granddaughter this year. Which has of course necessitated more travels to visit…
February–
And as always, I’ve been out and about capturing the seasons in nature…
March–
April
May
![[P1010420[3].jpg]](/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/P10104205B35D.jpg)
…walking and praying…
![[P1010537%255B4%255D.jpg]](/wp-content/uploads/2011/12/P101053725255B425255D.jpg)
June
…and watching for seeds planted to begin to grow…
…and wonders to appear…
It was a year for a family reunion to celebrate an 80th birthday…
July–
…and the year for losing my most faithful hiking companion of the four-legged variety, reducing markedly the amount of hiking I’ve done since…
Instead, I became an A-1 stoker for my life companion! Oh the miles we did ride and the sweat and smiles we did share…
August–
September ended in Alaska, giving my mom a hand in making plans for my dad…He’s now in a private care facility in the city, far from home and mom most of the time…waiting to go Home.
By October the little tykes had grown so much they needed another visit!
And the rest of the year has found me out and about enjoying the scenery closer to home…
November–
…continually grateful and amazed at this world God has let us inhabit for another year…
Which brings us ‘round to December again…treasuring family near at hand, carrying on with all the family traditions, for who knows if this will be the last year they are home under this one roof… (gulp)
Our present to ourselves this year was a (near)new Tandem to replace our homemade and not-as-strong-as-it-should-be relic…We are stoked to start putting on the miles together!
And that is a smattering of our year here.
Here’s wishing you and yours a God-Blessed New Year!
–LS, for the Skelton crew…
‘Life is the little walk before.’
‘How one takes this walk determines the forever destination…’ (—Ann Voskamp*)
This week is a reminisce of paths I’ve known, in honor of my Dad (pictured above) who walks alone now in the darkening shades of Alzheimer’s disease with the mental confusion and communication disability it brings. We’ve walked many trails together. This one he must walk alone, with the Unseen One as guide. He is in Good hands.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death. Pr.14:12 NKJV
Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it.
For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it. Matt.7:14 NASB
Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jn.14:6 ESV
Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence? Ps.139:7 ESV
When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, Then You knew my path. In the way in which I walk they have secretly set a snare for me. Ps.142:3 NKJV
You know when I sit down and when I rise up; You understand my thought from afar.
You scrutinize my path and my lying down, and are intimately acquainted with all my ways. Ps.139:2,3
NASB
But He knows the way I take; When He has tried me, I shall come forth as gold. Job 23:10 NASB
You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. Ps.16:11 NKJV
But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. Prov.4:18 ESV
May all your trails in 2011 be with God. We walk by faith, not by sight…
–LS
P.S. Way to go Dad! Thank-you for marking out the way of faith for me to follow.
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If you have not yet met Ann Voskamp, I commend to you her writing at http://www.aholyexperience.com
She is an artist with words and photography, reflecting winsomely on her walk with God as a farmer’s wife and mother of a brood of 6.