A Gander Through the Garden in Autumn

Swimming in the Salmon Ladders, somewhere near Mt Rainier, Washington

With one last summer adventure playing in the salmon ladders in our nearby forest, uniforms purchased, and school supplies dropped off, our summer break has come to a close, our school and my little piano studio has begun! A heavy haze of smoke from distant wildfires are upon us. Its harvest time in our valley and those who work in the orchards and fields are in their busiest season. In our little garden boxes and flower beds, we too are harvesting our little crop. The strawberries have sent their tendrils out to every corner of the strawberry box; the raspberry box is filled with fresh green shoots and are continuing to produce delicious berries. I can just imagine the bounty next summer when I cut back the stems that produced fruit this year. I want to set it up slightly different next year to accommodate the entire box of stems that are standing up waving in the air with no guidance at the moment shouting to me, “I’m here! What do I do now?”. Among the surrounding area, the weeds are growing like crazy, so more work needs to be done there. 

We have a large pumpkin and some smaller ones, so that is satisfactory for this year. I don’t treat the apple tree with any kind of spray so the chickens have been enjoying all our worm eaten apples that already lay on the ground ready to be scooped up into the bucket and taken to the coop. As the apples begin their process of decay on the ground (and on the branches), the sweet apple scent drifts toward me as I walk past our tired, contented old tree. Maybe that’s like us in old age, will our lives smell their sweetest in our elderly years, Lord willing, filled with wisdom and good, helpful words to serve others?

My dahlia, with a fresh haircut from our Praying Mantis

My sunflower decided to blossom, and another one today! One of my dahlias bloomed. I’m still a novice at caring for dahlias. When it did blossom, I noticed it had gotten a haircut! The tips were gone. I’m thinking our praying mantis was the culprit. My hibiscus was packed too tightly in the container I had for it, and the poor blossoms just shriveled up and died each time they appeared. I transplanted it today into a larger area and gave it more healthy soil and water. Maybe we will still see some hibiscus blossoms this year. There was one I got to enjoy but only for a day before it gave up! There is so much to learn about different varieties of plants. The blueberries did fine. They are still getting established, but I’m happy with them. 

The lavender. 

Oh the lavender! She grew with bounty and gusto this summer! I couldn’t keep up with watering her so the flowers dried up to a crisp early. But nevermind! My youngest decided to make lavender tea! It was delicious! Tonight he harvested more of the lavender. As soon as I walked into the kitchen, I could smell the fragrance of relaxation. His plan is to plant a tea garden next summer in the new garden boxes. Fresh loose leaf tea with a dolop of honey, handed to me in a warm mug? Let’s do it!

Image from Unsplash

Lavender Tea Recipe

Cut a few sprigs of lavender and dry them by tieing a string around them and letting them dry out for a couple days, OR use a dehydrator OR use the oven at a low temperature for about an hour or two. Put the loose leaves into a tea strainer, a tea ball, or a tea infuser (basically all the same thing), and pour boiling water over them. Let the tea steep for 4 minutes and remove the leaves. Sweeten with sugar or honey! 

For Labor Day, we feasted on jalapenos. Of the four plants I bought, I thought there’d be a lot more. However, we will be content with what we were able to grow. We made jalapeno poppers as a Labor Day appetizer, and they were delicious. Below is our jalapeno popper recipe. Tomorrow, I head to the local orchard shop to pick up some fresh peaches. I hope you, too, are enjoying the fruits of your labor, and relishing in the beauty of the journey. 

Jalapeño Poppers Recipe

Supplies & Ingredients:

-vinyl gloves: these are very important when working with jalapenos. We’ve learned the hard way. You don’t want to get any of the seeds or juice of the jalapeno on your hands where you could transfer it to your eyes or other surfaces where it could be transferred to others!

-20 toothpicks

-20 jalapenos

-1 package of 20 slices of bacon

-1 container of whipped cream cheese

Preheat oven to 450.

Cut the jalapeno in half, and discard all the seeds. Do this for each jalapeno.

Lather the cream cheese into the cavity of one half of the jalapeno. Roll it up in a slice of bacon. Secure it with a toothpick and set it on the tray. Its ideal to have a wire rack on top of the cookie sheet/pan so the heat can evenly bake the poppers. Bake in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. 

Enjoy! They might be a little spicy, but much less so than in their raw state. I’ll post another garden update later this Fall when I’m ready to prune and put the garden to sleep for the winter. 

As for gardens of words… I leave with a quote from my summer reading:

“For such was unconsciously the attitude of each of them towards each new phase of each new day; it was not unimportant; it had some new discovery hidden within it for the finding. It was the attitude of the trained mind collecting the evidence; in their case for the Christian thesis that all things, somehow, work together for good. ”

— Elizabeth Goudge, Gentian Hill

A Quiet Note & A Song

I am writing today from what I call my little bear den. It is a cold day in the highlands of central Washington state, frigidly cold to the bones. We are trying to stay warm these days with many blankets, hot water bottles or warm baths before bed. The chicken water is frozen every day, so I make sure to bring fresh water daily to our four hens. The Americana hen has just started laying her blue-green eggs, just in time to give me a glimpse of spring joys in the dry dead of winter. Oh there are reminders everywhere of that resurrection season about to dawn upon us. But first, Lent.

A book that I plan to use for personal devotions this year is titled Bread & Wine: Readings for Lent & Easter. They are short reflections written by a variety of Christian authors such as Saint Augustine, Martin Luther, G.K. Chesterton, Christina Rossetti, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Amy Carmichael, and even, Wendell Berry. It is also time to start pondering which art piece I will feature in our family room above the mantel place. Art for the liturgical seasons brings a focal point to our family times, a reminder that we are living the Christian year, the story of our faith through time. My husband and I find that celebrating the church year is a rich tool the Christian church can use in discipleship, teaching and training our children to love and know Jesus, our Savior, to remember the events of our salvation, and to hold them before us throughout our lifetime as signposts of what God has accomplished.

I remember as a teenager a song that would play on the radio that became my theme song, Knowing You Jesus by British worship singer and songwriter, Graham Kendrick. This song was the cry of my heart… and every word was and is my desire. You can know Jesus.

Read these precious and powerful words from Scripture:

“But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.”

— Philippians 3:7-11 English Standard Version, The Holy Bible

As the music from my teenage years plays, little flecks of snow swirl playfully on the wind, as if they are enjoying their light-hearted descent to the frozen ground of our backyard. I have cushioned the henhouse with extra pine shavings, brought them a treat of dried worms, and am about to start some dinner prep for my family. I hope you are keeping warm in your part of the world, filling your home with good music and joyful song, and making preparations for your heart this upcoming Lenten season, and for the hearts of those in your care. Let them know the most important thing in their life, that they can know their Creator and receive adoption into God’s family by faith in Jesus.

“Knowing you, Jesus, Knowing you, there is no greater thing... you’re my joy, my righteousness, and I love you, Lord.”

— Graham Kendrick

Still the Light Grows...

The Nativity, Gwen Raverat, 1916

I gathered the candy and the graham crackers from our local neighborhood corner store. My son whipped up a batch of frosting for the gingerbread houses, and when the kids finally sat down to do our annual gingerbread creations, I told them the good news of great joy that I would clean the kitchen and they didn’t have to do dinner dishes that night! I happily went into the kitchen to do the mighty work of putting the kitchen back in order for another day. Little did I know what was happening in the other room…

I overheard words here and there, and giggles of course, but when I came out to check on the kids, I had seemed to forget that their current year’s studies in Humanities might highly influence their creativity. No, there were no graham cracker cottages with lightly placed frosting in the form of icicles and carefully crafted rooftops with patterns of colored candy lights. No gummy bear to greet pilgrim gummy bears on their way to the Candycane Forest. No, this year, my kids were creating World War 2 battle scenes.

Gummy bears were stationed on battlements, others were galvanized for winter fighting amidst the powder sugar snow, and toothpicks were thrust through gummy bear soldiers. Thankfully, I did not have any red food coloring on hand!

The traveling is done, the presents have been opened, the food feasted upon. And, on the 6th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me our 18th wedding anniversary! Today, we celebrate New Year’s Eve and the conclusion of a very full and good year. My heart is full, snow is dusting the hills to the west, and we will eat steak and gnocchi tonight. As we are still in Christmastide, I want to share with you one of the most beautiful art pieces for Christmas that I have ever seen. This is our Christmastide art I will put up every year, henceforth, as we celebrate the Twelve Days of Christmas.

As the pages of this year close, as the light continues to grow in the darkness of winter’s beginnings, and as a new year unfolds with beautiful possibilities, may your hope be in Jesus, your anchor in His Word, and your peace be secure as you rest in union with Christ. And may you remember, no matter what this year holds, that still the light grows…

Thanks for reading!

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Sight and Sound: Art For Advent

Mary and Eve, Sister Grace Remington, 2005

This weekend, a gift arrived in the mail from a dear older friend. I was speechless with delightful surprise, wonder, and reverence. Handcrafted in Arizona, my friend created a beautiful wooden nativity scene in a crescent moon. It now sits on our mantlepiece in our “bear den” family room where we most frequently gather, and where our church’s mom ministry gathers once a month, and where piano students sit to wait for their lesson turn. I want this art piece to bless all who enter our home. This piece of art was lovingly crafted by my dear friend, Martha, a true artisan, and a woman after God’s heart, as she took material from His creation, wood from a tree, and fashioned it into something very beautiful with skill and precision.

Nativity, by Martha Copeland, wood engraving

Art is a gift that evokes deep emotional responses and can reach into a person’s heart and mind to add understanding and draw out wonder. I have been curating art lately and let me tell you what I’ve found!

First, how is your Advent going? Although Advent is a time in the church calendar that signifies a theme of waiting, for our family, it has been a very full season. As the children get older, and taller (our 3rd child just passed me in height), we have more activities, fuller schedules, studying for final exams, school projects to complete, “ugly christmas sweaters” to pull out of the closet, christmas parties to attend, secret Santa gifts to purchase for classmates, music recitals, concerts and advent parties to attend. Our Advent is full and bustling as we are hustling. It hasn’t been very quiet or still! However, I’ve been taking a few extra naps, taking quiet moments as they come, however brief, and evening coffee has been a more frequent treat as we gather together with cozy blankets in the den after the early setting sun has disappeared behind Mt Adams.

One thing that I’ve been focusing on this year is gathering a couple of art pieces for our den. One is an Advent piece titled, “Mary and Eve” drawn by Sister Grace Remington, crayon and pencil, 2005. In an interview with Plough Magazine, Sister Grace explains deeper layers of meaning in her art piece:

“One of the things I was pondering as I drew this picture was the question of why Eve said “no” to God and Mary said “yes.” I started to think about how Eve had no idea what it would mean to live in a fallen world, to be separated from God. Whatever purity of soul Mary had, Eve had in her creation too. And yet, whatever innocence Mary had, she was not spared the experience of living in a fallen world. First-century Palestine was no Garden of Eden. I wondered whether Mary was able to give her yes precisely because she knew the pain of life. She knew how desperately we needed God. Her eyes were open. This was part of what I see as her compassion for Eve in this picture. She is not standing with folded hands on a pedestal above Eve: she is standing with Eve, touching Eve, seeing her deeply. She knows the gift she is carrying is for Eve as much as it is for herself. She doesn’t need Eve to get herself together, or to even drop the apple before inviting her in. I also hope the picture communicates the way Christ is present in our encounters even when we cannot see Him. The picture is of Mary and Eve, but Jesus is there too. He is, in fact, at the very center.” https://www.plough.com/en/topics/culture/holidays/christmas-readings/mary-consoles-eve

This first time I encountered this artwork was likely in Advent of 2009, in our little town of Bellingham where we lived and served a church for three and a half years. This beautiful art piece was on the cover of the bulletin. It struck me with meaning as the image plunged itself into my heart and spoke to me in a language of symbols, divine kindness, and consolation. Just like the gift from my friend this weekend, this art piece delighted me with surprise at such an image, wonder at Mary reaching out with consolation to let Eve know that her promised Redeemer has come, and reverence for this is a sacred moment on which all of history pivots. The Kingdom of God has come, the King has arrived.

As I vascillated back and forth on which art print I would order, I finally decided on this one. It is interwoven into our story with meaning and memory. And so, every year from here on, as December rolls around, we will bring it out as a part of living out the church year in our home.

As my sense of sight has been delighted by art and beauty of the season, so too, my ears have been hearing good news of great joy through song. Here are some beautiful ones:

Wendell Kimbrough, Advent

In the Bleak Midwinter, John Van Deusen

Brightest and Best, The Gettys & Ricky Skaggs

Sarah Sparks, Advent Pt. One - 400 Years

Elizabeth, Keith & Kristyn Getty & Ellie Holcomb

May your heart be nestled this Advent in the reality of God with us, God with you.

This photo was taken on our hike through the forest to chop down this year’s Christmas tree!

Homemaking - The Ministry of Vacuuming

I was in my mid-twenties, single, holding a undergrad degree and frankly, not quite sure which direction my life was taking me. My dream jobs were not coming to fruition, and though the “world was my oyster,” I was pondering why this oyster was stuck shut and refusing to open and reveal to me its prized pearl! An oyster that refuses to open, whether by breaking your nails to force it open, throwing it against a rock, or stomping on it, can be quite a frustrating situation. So, like that oyster, I felt tossed aside, forgotten, thrown back into the ocean to settle amidst the silt and darkness of the ocean floor, only to grow algae and be passed over by mudsharks. I jest!

In those years before I met my husband, it was a determined effort to choose to trust God and practice contentment. It took a massive mental assent to make it my project to keep walking forward and ask the Lord to use me in his kingdom, even though my expectations for what my life would look like in that time stamp were not manifesting in reality. With one step forward, day by day, I found the joy and contentment of walking with Him and determining to joyfully and passionately walk with Him in every season the Lord granted me.

I was in between jobs, and I found myself with an opportunity to work at a beloved Christian ranch camp in my neck of the British Columbia woods. Living at my parent’s house at the time, I drove my little blue Toyota Echo down our mountain slopes and out into the countryside until the pavement met the gravel. A few more miles, and I was surrounded by horses at the foot of the mountains. I had taken a seasonal kitchen assistant job. One of the tasks our team had each day was to clean the dining hall after the 200+ campers left for their afternoon activities. As an introvert, this was my opportunity for some much desired quiet time. I volunteered nearly every day to vacuum. That is, until I got carpal tunnel syndrome from vacuuming… too much!

I love to vacuum. I know this is not the case for many people. But to see those little specks of dirt magically disappear and create a clean environment for all to enjoy is deeply satisfying for me. Could there truly be this much joy in the mundane work of vacuuming? For me, there is!

I remember as a kid, discovering the ability to create lines and patterns on the carpet with the vacuum, the realization that one could create dark and light on the carpet depending on which direction the vacuum moved, the determination to get those lines in order and parallel with one another with a slight diagonal to give way for the vacuum to shift and turn. Attention to detail, anyone?

As a newlywed, we didn’t have a good vacuum for our first rental place. My husband loves to search for well engineered products that will last for decades. He told me about a bagless vacuum with cyclonic technology, and though pricey, we decided to purchase one and try it out. It was a game changer. Even though I already took joy in a good vacuum session, now vacuuming became a hobby. Not only did this machine do an  impressive job unlike any other machine, I could also see the dirt it collected in the transparent plastic cannister! I needed more carpet in my life.

A simple definition of ministry is to serve people. To clean a space for the benefit of others is to serve them. The act of vacuuming is to prepare a healthy, clean, orderly space for others to feel at ease, to feel cared for, and to function in a healthy space. Its so sweet when I’ve done a deep-clean of my kids’ rooms and they haven’t been expecting it (because they are at an age to steward their spaces well). They knew I took time out of my day and schedule to help them out. The delight on their faces is so satisfying! Their hugs and thank yous are the reward I treasure in my heart. Knowing they feel loved and seen gives me greater joy. These little mundane tasks fill their hearts with tangible love and care. Each of us needs that from others.

As a Christian, I can pray for those who will benefit from a space being cleaned and vacuumed, whether it is my husband, my children, piano students, or guests. When I vacuum at our church building, I can pray for the families who sit in those pews, the students who come for chapel four days a week, the family who has lost their grandparent, the young couple who have just found out they are pregnant, the absent family who is away because of sickness, etc. Vacuuming brings beauty to a space, and  welcome to those in need of that healing space. Someone’s hands, made in the image of God’s hands, have served them and prepared a place for them. There is beauty and calm in the mundane and monotonous. We just have to choose it.

Gathering In - Heart & Home

I’m sitting in my quiet reading corner in my bedroom, overlooking western hills dusted with freshly fallen snow. Welcome, snow. It will be a while before you reach our place, but to see you in the distance brings a smile, like the arrival of a faraway friend. We are gathering in and winterizing. The in-ground sprinklers have been blown out, the irrigation canals that bring life-giving water to our valley lie empty. The dahlia tuber I’m experimenting with has been dug up, washed and safely stored in peat moss for the winter. I do hope I did that correctly. I had a brief 6 weeks of working at a dahlia farm right before the COVID era lockdowns began in 2020 and mostly worked with post-February dahlia tubers. This is the first time I’ve dug up my own tuber to care for it over winter. The blueberry, strawberry, and raspberry starts are all so young and vulnerable, but they, too, are tucked in with peat moss for a long winter’s nap. I hope to have flourishing crops for my future grandchildren one day, so they can come over to pick the berries and read picture books and make raspberry jam and blueberry pies! Yes, I’m already dreaming of becoming a grandma one day. I must prepare early and begin praying for those precious ones now.

It’s the season of “gathering in”, and I see it now so clearly living in the country. Those who work the land to feed the nation with apples and other summer fruits, who raise the grapes and hops that will ferment and brew into festive wines and ale to adorn the feasting of holiday tables- they depend on the weather, the urgency to bring in the harvest before the cold winter months when all goes silent in the orchards and fields.

In our own home, it’s time to prepare the fireplaces, to button up the chicken coop, and to make sure the older hens are letting the younger hens into the coop on these cold nights. Twice I’ve had to go into their run to catch the younger ones and put them inside the henhouse at night. I’m not sure about this new arrangement! We have massive tree stumps that need to get chopped into firewood, the apple tree needs to have its annual pruning, and I’m delightedly making preparations for my piano studio’s Christmas recital. There is the welcoming of friends in your home, stocking the freezer with pie ingredients, soups, and the coffee corner with an assortment of teas and hot drinks. We gather the blankets, the old ones knitted by great-grandmothers now gone on to Glory, others acquired on missions trips, and the growing Pendleton collection. The slippers are brought out, and the blinds are drawn early as we gather at dusk.

Gathering in is a season when we prepare for the colder months outdoors & inside the home. But there’s also a sense of “gathering in” for our hearts, making preparations for spiritual nourishment, Biblical encouragement from God’s Word, the praying of ancient prayers to bring light in the darkness. We follow the liturgical calendar at home and at church, and we are so cognizant of the symbolism of the physical seasons and the way the ancients used those to put the gospel on display by living out the church year in a repetitive and meaningful way. These habits form us, and we want to be formed for goodness, truth, and beauty.

I want to share just a few resources that are encouraging me this Fall and are a sort of “gathering in” spiritually as I stock my home, my children’s imagination, and continue to seek to be faithful in the formation of their souls.

Kingdom & Culture podcast: My husband, Craig, and our friend and co-worker, David, have just started a podcast discussing the Kingdom of God and how we are to live in this time and place and develop the culture around us as Christians. I invite you to listen in as they have deep conversations with Os Guinness, Uri Brito, Nate Walker, Aaron M. Renn, and others who have a heart to see God’s Kingdom come into all the corners of our civilization and world.

The Daily Grace Co.: I have been continually impressed with the resources from The Daily Grace Co. both for my family and our church. This group of people are passionate about the study of God’s Word and provide tools and inspiration to help others dive into this as well. It is that “gathering in” season of looking forward to which Advent devotionals and readings we will be doing as a family, and their newest study, Just As He Promised, is beautiful. Not only do they include a study through this “lenten-like” season of waiting and preparation for Christmas, they also include their signature charts on the attributes of God, the timeline of redemptive history, historical context into the intertestamental period (the 400 “silent” years) that paved the way and set the stage for the incarnation of the Son of God. They also include a glossary of theological terms in the back, and space for notes, reflection, and prayers. I can’t wait to get into this study with my tweens and teens. (They also have beautiful discipleship resources for teenagers!)

The Daily Joy & Daily Strength Podcasts: This Fall, I have been fed and nourished by listening to the Daily Joy podcast for women. The long passages of Scripture narrated by Irish music artist, Kristyn Getty, sets my heart ablaze to hear from God in His life-giving and life-sustaining Word. The brief devotionals by various authors and read aloud by Lydia Brownbeck, add a short encouraging commentary to help us unpack the Scripture passages in our time. There is also one for men called Daily Strength. The podcasts are basically audio versions of the physical books produced by Crossway.

As you gather in this winter, may you attend to the gathering in of your home, but also of your heart and the hearts of others in your care.

Christ and His Beautiful Bride

Wedding Rehearsal

The string trio set their bows to the strings and began the prelude as a holy hush gathered in the sanctuary of the 98 year old presbyterian church building. Grandparents and parents were seated first, and then bridesmaids and groomsmen. Turning my head toward the back, I caught a glimpse of the bride, the music changed, the congregation stood in awed respect to honor the bride as her father escorted down the aisle and gave her away to the groom.

I have been to countless weddings through the decades, mostly because my dad was a pastor and as a family, my sisters and I were always eager to attend yet another glorious marriage ceremony as we daydreamed of what ours would be like one day. This afternoon, as our dear friend gracefully and gloriously walked down the aisle with her father, the thought that came to mind was how glorious and beautiful Christ sees His Bride, the Church.

His Church, the people the Father has given Him, through no merit or effort of their own, have been chosen by God, before the foundation of the world, before literally anything was created into existence. His Church past, present, future, contains millions and millions of redeemed sinners, saved by His own sacrifice, to make them whole, healed, forgiven, redeemed. He makes His Church beautiful by giving her His own goodness, not of their own doing, but by unmerited favor poured out upon them and in them through the outpouring of His Holy Spirit into them, as He regenerates their souls and makes them a new creation in Christ.

As a congregation, we sang the song, Yet Not I But Through Christ in Me. Entering into this song of worship took this group of people into a moment of musical praise to our Lord Jesus whose presence was honored and invited and felt. A wedding is a picture of Christ and His Bride, the consummation of the ages, the glorious end to which we travel in this world, and yet what lies beyond this is more than we could ask or imagine. It will truly be the beginning of endless days of praise, goodness we have so long waited for, truth that heals all the lies we have believed about ourselves and others, and beauty that shines from the face of Jesus Himself, a beauty that outshines all others.

Will the world learn this? Will they hear these truths and turn to Him who so longs for them to know Him? Now is the time to turn your heart to Jesus and look into His wonderful face. Look at your groom! He comes for you, dear Bride of Christ.

Listen to this beautiful hymn recorded by our sister church in Washington state, by dear friends of ours:

The Church’s One Foundation, by Christ Church Bellingham

Photo from Unsplash