Rejoice!

Hello!  It's sunny and exceedingly windy here at Willow's Cottage today.  Oh, I'm loving the sunshine (the wind not so much).  And I'm rejoicing in my abundant blessings which I am sharing via Friday Fave Fives hosted by Susanne.  HERE is the link to how you can participate and choose to be thankful and be encouraged by others.

1.  My church has a regular women's event called Rejoice during which we celebrate achievements and milestones for all the women in our congregation ages middle school and up. (Yes, we include our middle school young women!)  Last Sunday we celebrated two weddings, a college graduation, two babies, and a (very sadly) moving military family.  I love how our people celebrate together.

2.  How can a fever be a favorite thing of the week?  The fave part was that I could rest, drink lots of herbal tea and heal quickly.

3.  March 14. Or 3.14.  Or Pi Day.  We celebrated 𝛑 day by--- eating pie.  Pumpkin Pie because it is almost my birthday and I prefer pumpkin pie to cake.

4.  March 15.  It's the Ides of March, that infamous day in history when Julius Caesar met his end by traitorous means.  Why is this a fave with me?  Long story made short--in college I had a marvelous professor who taught me so much about life, Biblical history and Biblical apologetics.  On March 15th, I took an exam in his class and wrote at the top of the page by the date, "Beware the Ides of March".  When he returned the paper to me, he had written on it by my A grade, "The Ides of March treated you better than it did Caesar."  I still have that exam because I still value all that he taught me (and yes, I do refer to my notes from the classes).  Every March 15th, I rejoice and think of him and thank God for that man's influence on my life.

5.  When March arrives, I always wear my shamrock necklace and earrings all month because it is my birthday month and St. Patrick's Day is my actual birthday.  My mother gifted the necklace to me when I was visiting her in Boston on my birthday.  It makes me remember my mom and rejoice that I had a loving, godly mother.

I want to let you all know that I will be off the blog for awhile.  You might think that I am backing away because of the Lent season.  No, actually, The Professor and I have plans to travel to places where I will not be carrying my computer, so I won't be online much except when I have wifi connections to use my phone.  We are leaving on Thursday.  I will do my best to write a post next week. However, I don't have any guarantee of having wifi available to allow me to post.  After that, I will be silent (mostly) for three weeks while we are traveling.  Where in the world will Willow be?

Land of the Free

Because of the Brave

Independence

Happy Independence Day!

July 4th, 2009

When they put their signatures on 'the line', the signers of the American Declaration of Independence did not know whether they were actually signing their death notices or an historic document that would change the course of Old and New World history. We know, and we thank them today for their courage, their audacity, their determination.

Celebrate thoughtfully.

Celebrations

Saint Patrick's Day is here and with the celebrations of green beer, leprechauns, corned beef and cabbage and maybe even talk of the blarney stone, I also celebrate my birthday.

Today in first grade we failed to trap a single leprechaun but we did write limericks about them:

There once was a sneaky leprechaun named Lucky,

who danced on the bookshelf and sang haha hee hee!

That tiny tricky leprechaun named Lucky.

My birthday extravaganza started on Sunday when all the family assembled at The Block in Santa Ana (for non Californians, we'll just say, slightly south of Disneyland) for lunch, coffee and dinner. When the children asked what Mama wanted, I said, TIME. And that's what they gave me (along with a few little gifties). I loved it so much I didn't take a single minute away from the day to photograph it.

Then on Monday, which for some reason unknown to me was a school holiday (not that I minded), Ellen and I drove down Highway 1 along the Pacific Coastline to Santa Monica. On the way we spotted dolphins splashing, playing, feeding, swimming near the shoreline.

The purpose of our visit was to check out this place:

Tudor House is located on 2nd Street near Santa Monica Blvd in Santa Monica. We are happy to recommend this truly authentic tea room.

We chose to sample the traditional tea with salad, sandwiches, scones and petit fours. Our tea choice was Earl Grey.

After tea we walked the one block to Ocean Blvd, crossed the street and strolled along the park on the bluff that overlooks Santa Monica beach~

Santa Monica Pier was just a few blocks south, stretching its wooden planks out in to the Pacific Ocean.

This evening, after tutoring and a quick drop-by my lys, The Professor served me barbequed salmon, asparagus, mashed potatoes and green salad. I think we'll end the night on a green and chocolate note. I noticed some mint chip ice cream in the freezer.

This day is not just leprechauns, beer, Willow's birthday. It is also a day to remember Saint Patrick, the man who brought Christianity to Ireland. I've always loved sharing my day with Saint Patrick. He wasn't actually Irish himself; he was from Cumbria and lived for years as a slave in Ireland. After escaping and returning to his home, he was compelled to return to Ireland as a missionary to teach his former captors about the love of Christ.

The God of life with guarding hold you,

The loving Christ with guarding fold you,

The Holy Spirit, guarding, mould you,

Each night of life to aid, enfold you,

Each day and night of life uphold you.

May God shield me,

May God fill me,

May God keep me,

May God watch me,

May God bring me this night,

To the nearness of his love.

Fourth of July

All four of us tourists, The Professor, Chaplain Dan, The Princess and I, love history. In fact, we're all kinda geeky about learning as much as we can about the past.

One of the first evenings we were in London, we were walking along a street on our way to Hard Rock Cafe London and suddenly The Guys, who were walking ahead of us Ladies, stopped, turned, and stared.

They pointed to these plaques.

The top plaque is easier to read in my photos. The lower plaque makes similar statements from the British perspective.

I find it ironic that today, July 4th, we are celebrating our independence from a country that has been for the past two hundred years (since the close of the War of 1812, in 1814, just before the Battle of New Orleans) our closest ally in war and friend in peace. May both these countries continue to stand and fight for freedom from tyranny and justice for the oppressed.

I send a special thanks to my family members who have fought in war times--my father, my father-in-law, The Professor, our uncles, our son and son-in-law and their many friends--THANK YOU!