Happy Day, Happy Week, Happy Life

The greatest day in history
Death is beaten, You have rescued me
Sing it out, Jesus is alive

The empty cross, the empty grave
Life eternal, You have won the day
Shout it out, Jesus is alive
He's alive

Oh, happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh, happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed

When I stand in that place
Free at last, meeting face to face
I am yours, Jesus, You are mine

Endless joy, perfect peace
Earthly pain finally will cease
Celebrate, Jesus is alive
He's alive

Oh, happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh, happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed

Oh, what a glorious day
What a glorious way
That You have saved me
Oh, what a glorious day
What a glorious name

Oh, happy day, happy day
You washed my sin away
Oh, happy day, happy day
I'll never be the same
Forever I am changed

Songwriters: Timothy David Hughes;Ben Cantelon

Published by: THANKYOU MUSIC, LTD.

Earlier this week, we brought Grace back to our house to spend some one-on-one time with Grammy and Pop-pop. It's a tradition we started the year she turned 7, then every year after that on or near her birthday. The first number of years, she would make up a list of the things she wanted to do while she was with us, but this was her 8th time and by now we know what she likes to do. Her favorite meal is barbeque chicken pizza,

 

with ice cream for dessert while watching a movie.

 

 

For breakfast, there's blueberry pancakes, then playing lots of games, all of which she wins. Maybe I don't try hard enough, but honestly, I really don't "let" her win. We went shopping for an new spring outfit and found a good deal because of a coupon I had.

 

She helped us finish the puzzle we were currently working on. This one was quite a challenge because there were a number of pieces missing including all of the border pieces. That's right...was this someone's idea of a joke?!

 

After lunch, we had to fit in a hike. This time we took her to Palmyra Cove Nature Preserve under the Tacony Palmyra Bridge. Andy and I have been there several times now and we love it every time. There are "tons" of deer and they're almost tame. They are more curious than frightened of us.

 

And there's the beaver dam. We sat and watched for a while but no beavers showed themselves.

 I love having the grandkids over one at a time. Even though I also love having them all at once to watch them enjoy playing together as cousins, it's hard to zero in on them and get to know them when they're all together. So I hope they enjoy it as much as I do, coming over to our house and doing fun things together.

We took her back Tuesday evening, then had dinner together with the rest of the family. Claire is quite the entertainment. She keeps us all in stitches, laughing at her constant chatter. At one point during the meal, she turned to me and said, "Grammy, let's play the quiet game!" I think I was the winner of that game!

I had a holiday off from work on Good Friday but kept it low key, staying home and having a day of rest. It rained pretty much all day so we didn't do any hiking. 

On Saturday, Dawn had play practice but needed a baby sitter for Kasey so Andy and I helped out - gladly. She is such a little doll and was happy being with us.

 When Dawn returned to the house, she had Kira with her and they stayed the rest of the day. They had lunch with us, then Dawn put Kasey down for her nap. I started working on the baked ziti for everyone who would be joining us later. I know ziti is not a traditional Easter dish, but everyone loves it.

Everyone arrived a little after 2:00 pm. Amy brought lots of the plastic Easter eggs that we filled with candy and some money (1 $10, 1 $5 and 5 $1's). Then the guys went out in the yard to hide them. We lined the kids up at the door, youngest and littlest in the first row, then the bigger kids at the rear.

 

 Get ready...

And go...

It was a houseful and loads of fun, but all too soon they all packed up and were gone again.

Today is Easter Sunday. A glorious day. It was such a wonderful worship service at church this morning, singing victorious songs and hearing the message again of the hope we enjoy because of Christ's sacrifice on the cross and resurrection from the dead.

Andy and I were tired today, maybe because of all the activity yesterday. But we decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather and go hiking. (I know - surprise, surprise!)

We had heard of the Rancocas State Park that is very close to us but we had never been there. So we had to go check it out. What a find! We took the 3.2 mile loop. Part of the trail ran along the bank of the Rancocas Creek.

 

 

In a lot of the parks we've been recently, I've been surprised at how close we are to civilization, even in the middle of the pinelands and state parks. That's the beauty of living in the Garden State, that in spite of the congestion and dense population, there are still many places to enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

 

 Case in point...there's the NJ turnpike and Interstate 295 in the distance.

Some time ago, I read in a book by Paul Tripp that trials often do much to reveal what's in our hearts. Unfortunately, I don't remember where I read it in which book, but I've been thinking on this. I am tending to agree with him because I have seen my impatience and frustration in all its ugliness. One of the idols of my heart is to "be right." I feel the need to prove my rightness when someone disagrees or says something "wrong." This has especially come to the forefront since Andy is no longer able to make good judgments. He is often confused and I am so tempted to set him straight. And I usually give in to that temptation. Poor Andy. But he is so patient with me. I have had to ask for his forgiveness so often lately and he freely gives it. 

Another book I am currently reading is  Comforts from Romans by Elyse Fitzpatrick. 

 

She is so good at explaining the good news of the gospel. Jesus not only died for all my sin (pride, self righteousness, anger, etc.), he lived a perfect, righteous life that is imputed to me. It sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? What a good and awesome God.

Oh, happy day, he washed my sins away!

Wurst Preserve and Piper's Corner

Andy had an appointment with his neuropsychologist on Tuesday and we came away encouraged. The doctor said Andy's symptoms are still fairly minimal and he is still on the lowest dosage of meds with room to increase if needed. 

Even though we're encouraged by Andy's seemingly stable condition, we are not ignorant or minimizing the fact that he is still "sick." I've noticed that he is sometimes having trouble finishing a thought. Right in the middle of a sentence, he'll forget where he was going with it. If I repeat what he just said, though, he can usually bring the thought back to continue the conversation. I've also noticed that he seems to be more anxious about things that we normally take for granted. For instance, he notices little inconsequential noises and wonders what they are. We have to investigate and I have to assure him it's nothing to worry about. Sometimes in the morning, he'll say he heard something in the night like water dripping. He thinks maybe we have a leak in the basement so we go down and check it out until he's assured that everything is ok. Perhaps he's still feeling responsible for taking care of me and our house, and I really appreciate that. It's not something I worry about or even think about. I think if it was something obvious, I'd be concerned, but he seems to be worried about things that are non-existent. The funny thing to me is that he seems to be more susceptible to hearing noises when he doesn't have his hearing aids in. So it's more imagination than anything else. But I try not to lose patience or even minimize his concern. I work at dialoging and explaining and helping him to understand what's going on. Also, because of his forgetfulness, sometimes it's just as easy to change the subject or not make a big deal of trying to ease his concern. In a day or two (and not even that long sometimes), he will have forgotten and it will be a non-issue.

Yesterday and today we were able to investigate two more parks in our Pine Barrens & Beyond brochure.  The weather is still chilly but the sun is shining, and we're excited to be outside and exploring nature. 

We decided to try to find Melvin & Miriam Wurst Wildlife Preserve yesterday. And try we did. It was really a difficult park to find. We drove and drove on a dirt road through the pinelands. The road was majorly potholed and the going was slow. The brochure said there was a sign but we didn't see it. When we backtracked and looked more carefully, we finally found it, but the sign was well off the road.

I thought it was a very nice trail, but Andy was somewhat worried because there were no markings on the trees. I didn't think it needed to be marked because it was obvious to me where the trail was. It was nice and wide in most spots and very comfortable walking on the sandy trails with a blanket of pine needles.

And surprise, surprise, we came across this lake back there in the woods.

It was interesting to note how anxious Andy was over the trail not being marked. Before his illness, he would have loved the "adventure" of blazing the trail.

So today's hike was more to his liking. We had a little bit of backtracking to find this one, too. Piper's Corner is right next to a residential development where one of our friends lives. I've been to her house numerous times and never knew how close to the woods she lived, although she often complains about all the deer that are always in her yard.

The first thing we saw as we started on this hike was a trail marker. I let Andy take the picture which explains why he only has half of me. (ha, ha) Well, he does as well as I do. I'm no professional photographer either.

We both really liked this trail. There were sections of walking through greenery, then also areas of openness.
 

 Then off on a little side trail, we found this stream.
 

This trail was really easy walking with lots of squishy moss and sandy soil. And the best thing of all - the sun was shining. So we were able to check off two more parks that we've explored.

We have a couple of fun things planned for this coming week. 

Here's a hint:

All Kinds of Weather

Only seventeen days ago, March 5, we had a huge snowstorm. So when the kids and grandkids came down two days later, they were able to build an impressive snow fort in the back yard.

  

All that next week the weather was nice and warm, relatively speaking of course.  It is still March. But it was warm enough to melt the snow. And in only a week that impressive fort was nothing but a speck in the lawn.

 

Then this past week we had a whole day on Tuesday with no doctor, hair cut or any other kind of appointment so we planned a trip to the shore to the Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge.  It's mid-March, after all, just the time when the migratory birds are making their way to their summer homes, stopping along the way at different protected refuges.

The weather forecast for Tuesday was predicting cold with high winds. So we went prepared with our L.L.Bean Maine-manufactured winter coats, hats, gloves and scarves. What a surprise when we got there. The sun was shining brightly and the car temperature registered in the 60's. Huh? What a wonderful surprise and gift of a day spent in the beautiful outdoors, enjoying God's creation. There were many trails and we estimated that we hiked nearly five miles. It was not cold at all. In fact, we actually got warm from walking in the sun. We didn't wear our coats at all, and I even took off my fleece, wearing only my turtleneck.

 
The trails were so well maintained, back through pinelands, through native holly and rhododendron and laurel bushes on soft sandy soil. 

 

After hiking the five miles, we got in the car and drove the eight mile loop through the salt marshes along the Jersey shore. We saw snow geese which was what I was hoping for. There were other birds, too, but I couldn't identify them, and they were too far away to take their pictures.

 I believe this might be a tundra swan. They usually migrate along with the snow geese.

 We didn't see any turtles. I guess we'll have to go back in the right season. All in all, though, this was just an amazing day. 

Then another weather surprise on Friday. We got more snow. Ironically enough, it was the first day of spring. The meteorologists were predicting one to three inches, but it snowed all day without stopping. During the course of the day, the predictions changed to two to four inches, but I really think we got even more than four inches of snow. Before I could drive home from work, I had to spend quite a bit of time cleaning off my car. 

We had been hoping to go hiking again on Saturday, but with all that snow, I didn't think the trails would be conducive for a good time. Thankfully, the weather was warm and the sun was shining all day, so a lot of the snow was gone by the end of the day. In the morning, though, I got a beautiful picture out our back door onto the deck.

 Is there anything more beautiful than white snow on bare branches against a bright blue sky?  Actually, as picturesque as this is, I'll be glad to see those branches covered in pink magnolia blossoms against that blue sky. It won't be long now.

Today was colder again, but the sun was shining. So off we went to the Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge. I had been there years before with our girls when I was still homeschooling them. It's a place where people can take injured animals to be cared for. We walked around and looked at the animals...

Bald Eagle

Mute Swans

There were other animals: a gray fox, a red tailed hawk, racoon,a couple kinds of crows, gulls, etc. but they were in cages which made the lighting difficult for taking pictures.

Then we took to the trail. There was still snow in spots, but it was a nice trail and we were the only ones on it.

We are checking off the parks on our Pine Barrens and Beyond, Birding & Wildlife Trails in Burlington County brochure. Out of 40 parks in that brochure, we checked off our 21st today. So we're over halfway! Only 19 more to go!

I was reading A God for All Seasons by Patti Tingen this morning. Each chapter is a devotional about each month of the year. In her chapter on March, she notes how changeable the weather is in March: "back and forth, temperate and chilly, every shifting and changing period of transition."

But God doesn't change.  He is the same, yesterday, today and forever. But I love how she then takes that thought and says that though God never changes, "God is change.  He embodies change. His character is multi-faceted like a diamond cut into an immeasurable number of surfaces, each side reflecting its own unique color as the light illuminates it. As God reveals different facets of Himself, it appears to us as if He is changing. And He is. He is showing us more and more of Himself, allowing us to understand His nature in fuller and fuller measure. However, the total, complete picture and package of who our Lord is remains intact."

I love that thought. God doesn't change but our concept and understanding of him does as we grow and mature in our walk with him.