Is my heart listening?

"Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." Colossians 4:2.

Isn't it just like God to use your family to bring you to a secret place of prayer? All along He is devoted to us, and just wants us to expand our well being in spirit, soul and body.

The heart is the primary means by which a person seeks and perceives God, and the thoughts of your heart make up your belief system and can dictate what you think, say and do. "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he." Proverbs 23:7.

"The Lord longs to be gracious to you, He rises to show you compassion...." Isaiah 30:18.

Let me out! Let me out!

This is my grand-daughter Alana Jordan. She is now 1 year and 6 months old. And of course, Neo the family pet! My son tells me she tries to ride Neo....maybe she needs a bicycle!

I cannot wait until Alana is old enough to go hiking with us. I can just see her tiny hiking boots and a hat to shade her beautiful brown eyes. Isn't she beautiful? Sorry, just being a grandma!

Tacoma museum of glass

Our Northwest trip concluded with a visit to the Tacoma glass museum.

They had an actual working shop that you could sit and watch the artisians blowing glass. I was fascinated by it.

I have included shots of Dale Chihuly's glass walkway.

Were having a heat wave.....

Wallace Falls State Park.

Yes, we had a heat wave way up here! About 102 degrees during the day, thanks alot. This park is located outside the town of Gold Bar. Gold Bar started as a prospector's camp in 1889 when traces of gold were found on a river gravel bar. Nearby towns have their unusual name too: Index and Sultan. Wallace Falls consists of 3 sets of falls. The walk is fairly steep thru old growth forests. Sunshine filters thru the canopy today, and I hoped the passing clouds would put shade on my shoulder as it was hot as helen's kitchen! We knew we wanted to get in the water to cool down, so... Jim found just the place to wet our toes! The water was cold, and no rangers in sight! We had a little bit of Heaven here, clean and sweet. After a while of this bliss, we dried our feet, put on our shoes and shimmied our way back around the rocks and fence to the trail. I really had fun and I am glad Jim talked me into climbing the rail that said basically, "keep out." Our day was full of excercise and tired muscles, ready for a hot shower and a foot rub!

Vancouver - a city with a classical Chinese garden....

This one is for you Ivory!

Our first visit was at this garden, a hidden jewel in the city of Vancouver. Four main elements, rock, water, plants and architecture comprise the yin and yang. Very relaxing here in the midst of the hustle and bustle of city life. The hand carvings on the woodwork were captivating as you saw the intricate details by the artist. This reminds me that we are fearfully and wonderfully made by my personal artist: The Lord God.

The courtyards contained various patterns of pebbles and stones brought to America from China. Craftsmen were commissioned also to complete the stonework to be one of a kind. This house would have been built for a chinese scholar back home. Soft details, representing woman, and sharper details, representing man.


Vanouver, the city.

What can I say, what a city. It was first founded as a sawmill settlement called Granville. Then incorporated as Vancouver after a british naval captain exploring the area in 1792. The city has over 200 parks, but we will visit Stanley Park which is the most famous.

We stayed at a Holiday Inn near the waters edge. We put our day hikers on and set out to Stanley Park.

The park is about 1,000 acres and a very valuable get away for city dwellers. Set in the middle of an old growth forest featuring cedars, hemlocks and fir trees are dozens of trails and private places to rest and meditate.

The "skirt" of the park consists of about 5 miles of seawall, paved to walk or ride your bicycle to see Siwash Rock, or the totem poles and the Nine O'Clock gun.

You can see the sea wall in this picture at the bottom of the cliff and it runs around the peninsula.

Let's not forget the gardens that we spilled out upon, exiting one of the old growth trails. Out into the sunhine with beds of blooming flowers in every color you can imagine. As each flower is unique in its color and form, I thank God for eyes to see and a nose to smell and fingers to touch His creation.

Our Last Stop: Van Dusen Gardens

This garden was another delightful surprise once you enter and go down the steps. We had the gardens to ourselves for about an hour.

Enjoyment we experienced just for the two of us! A fountain greeted us with a smiling cherub, splashing water at us inviting us to touch!

Shaded walkways invited you further into the garden, not sure which way would be the most alluring....

not wanting to miss anything.....veggie gardens, mazes, beautiful sunflowers along with ponds of beauty. Quite places to ponder and rest, sunshiny spots for evergreens to grow. This place is worth a visit.

I sat a spell, to enjoy the outdoors that are different from our southern gardens, to relish in the difference and be thankful for being able to experience the great northwest. I hope this will not be my last visit ever.

Why Oh Why......

Is it me, but why do they have to man-handle and manipulate the paper?? Now I will tear it off....not touching this girl....:)

This portion starts our journey to the Pacific Northwest in the Seattle area and south to Mount Rainier. I was really excited to be able to see God's mountain and handiwork again.

Bloomin' Beautiful!

Our first stop was at Seattle's Woodland Park rose garden. To stop and smell the roses was our top priority. The air was warm and the sun shone down to high-light the bright white roses with a hint of buttery yellow in the center.

Hey, I was once like the one with the scarf... hee hee hee!

Beautiful fountains and lush gardens, somehow I am always at peace as I smell, admire and breathe in these places......as you grow in relationship with God, what you do will simply reflect who you really are...

Downtown Seattle for a Moment.

We stopped for a few hours downtown as we had time to spare. Drank coffee, people watched and just loved the sign here.

Pikes Market was our destination just to see the flowers, tap our feet on the hardwood floors inside and hustle/bustle our way around.
Downtown has it's own flavor, your choosing whether to sip, snack or lick. I chose to sip! Jim chose to sip, snack and lick!

The thoughts of the righteous are right; but the counsels of the wicked are deceit. Proverbs 12:5.

Deception Falls. How ironic is that?

When you allow yourself to be deceived, the path flow will take you over the edge....but if you follow God's Word, your path will be clear as His light will shine all around your feet so your steps will be ordered by Him.

Deception Falls has such a finite beauty. The loud, deafening roar of the rushing waters, flows downward, over water worn boulders, carving time in the stone for future generations to wonder about.

"To live for the greatness of God is to live the great life." (exerpt from Beth Moore's study of Esther.)

Leavenworth Washington.

This little Bavarian town is reached via Steven's Pass on Route 2. Quite the tourist town with it's shops and eateries fashioned after swiss decor. They even had a Maypole in the center of town! Jim and I took a client, John and his wife, Carol to visit with us. We ate lunch in town and stopped at our favorite bakery for a apple turnover.

A Froo Froo Dinner at Salish Lodge. Kobe beef cooked on hot rocks....

We shared a wonderful meal with our new found friends. But the best part was the artfully presented dessert. I snapped this picture of the huge palate before Jim could take it apart...this portion was made for two I believe!

Relationships are never about power. One way to avoid the will to hold power over another is to choose to limit yourself - to serve.

Paradise Inn, at the foot of Mt. Rainier.

The inn was built in 1916 on the south slope of the mountain. It was constructed from salvaged timber from a fire dating to 1885. Local stone was used also. In 1920 a four story annex was built with 120 rooms.
www.mtrainierguestservices.com/

Check out the history at above site.

There was much snow left and lookie here, we are in shorts! Most trails were open but snow hiking was in fashion still, in July! Our friend from Illinois could not believe how warm they were while hiking in the cold stuff. These two were troopers. We took them close to Panarama Point and on such a clear day, we could see Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Adams and Mt. Baker. You surely needed your sun glasses as the sun was shining brightly and few clouds to shadow your day!

Many flowers were blooming but in a couple of weeks, the sub alpine meadows will be a riot of colors. We were overloaded with Avalanche Lilies, Alpine Lilies and buttercups too.
Avalanche lily is aptly named as you often find huge masses of this beautiful flower seemingly sweeping away everything in their path as they fill a meadow or slope. They bloom shortly after the snow melts. Sometimes they push thru the snow!
Comet Falls to Van Trump Meadow. Sidebar: Mildred Point.

This hike started out to be a piece of cake...we had taken this hike before with family but just made it to the falls. Each step you take in the shadowy depths beneath the trees brought you closer to the clean pine scents of Christmas trees. Up, up we went, one step at a time, resting here and there, waiting, observing the stillness and quietness of the earth.

We found these flowers called:

Jeffery's Shooting Stars on this trail. Did not see them anywhere else. So beautiful.

The hike became very steep as we neared the Van Trump Meadows. Many Avalanche lilies were nodding their heads in the wind to us, coaxing us further up the trail. Slow and

steady will win this race! We met people along the way and a man lent me a walking pole which eased the burden on my knees. Isn't that how God shows us His love in little ways? The views were awe inspiring while we rested and sipped from our water bottles. Many birds were singing and chip-monks played along the trail, hoping for an easy lunch.

Would I do it again? You bet I would! To share this joy with someone you love, is the greatest experience.

We ate lunch at Mildred Point and met a nice couple, Steve and Debbie. They decided to follow us down on the Wonderland Trail to Longmire. We would catch the shuttle bus back to the trailhead of Comet Falls. We treated them to dinner that evening at the Inn. We had buffalo meatloaf! Yum!

I have to say, after 9 miles of hiking, my feet were screaming at me. But I know that after a good foot rub and 3 Aleve, my doggies would be good as new in the morning. And they were!

I hope this will inspire anyone who reads this, to find a new journey, a different road to travel, or explore God's wonderful creation!

An Earfull

Hearing God's voice...ever wonder if what you heard is God? We become a part of God's family by faith in the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. This is the word of faith spoken in Scriptures.

God speaks in many different voices, I think fashioned to our specific needs. God spoke to Elijah with "a still small voice", to the nation of Israel out of smoke and fire, still yet to Jacob, Daniel, Paul, and more by dreams.

How about me?

Three parts of One's being.

Our body, we communicate through our senses, touch, taste, sight, sound and smell.

Our souls, we reason, have feelings, make decisons and communicate with others.

Our spirit, which has the capacity to communicate with God. The Spirit of God "speaks" to our spirits about Who He is and about the basic issues of life.

Practical steps to Hear the Voice of God.

1. Ask God for a "hearing" heart.

The Hebrew word for understand

is shama which means "to hear, listen to."

2. Set aside time to meet with God.

Establish a set time each day and believe God will meet you there.

3. Have a Bible reading plan.

Scripture is given by inspiration of God, He will speak through His word.

4. Memorization of Scripture.

Engraft the Word of God in our Spirits through memorizing portions of

Scripture. See John 14:23-24.

As you intimately draw closer to God's heart, we find Christ as we've never known Him and, pooled in the reflecton of His eyes, we startle to discover that a part of ourselves resemble Him." (exerpt from Beth Moores' study on Esther.)

The Majestic Mt. Rainier, Washington.