Celebrate Today : April 2015

Thursday, April 30, 2015

How old are you?

A friend recently shared about a website where you can upload a picture and the computer will guess how old you are. I am laughing so hard right now. Jason should join the AARP, and Anna needs to get cracking on her grad school applications.

http://how-old.net

April Twenty-Fifteen

spring traditions

no Top Pot doughnuts on the morning of April 1st for breakfast...

just some good vegetables our bunny loved!

"Let no one mourn that he has fallen again and again,

for forgiveness has risen from the grave."

- St. John Chrysostom from his Easter sermon circa 400 A.D.

Have you seen a bottle of Easter?

The bottle smells of hope.

It drips of sunshine.

The flavor is of forgiveness.

The bottle tells the story of freedom.

It is empty.

He is risen.

Hallelujah!

"O God, we thank you for this universe, our great home, for its vastness and its riches, and for the diverse life which teems upon it and of which we are part. We praise you for the arching sky and the blessed winds, for the driving clouds and the constellations on high. We praise you for the salt sea and the running water, for the everlasting hills, for the trees, and for the grass under our feet. We thank you for our senesce by which we can see the splendor of the morning, hear the jubilant songs of love, and smell the breath of the springtime. Grant us, we pray, a heart wide open to all this joy and beauty, and save our souls from being so steeped in care or so darkened by passion that we pass heedless and unseeing when seven the thornbush but he wayside is aflame with the glory of God. Amen."

"Loveliest of trees, the cherry now

Is hung with bloom along the bough

And stands about the woodland ride

Wearing white for Eastertide."

~A. E. Housman

"If we only had eyes to see and ears to hear and wits to understand…we would know that the Kingdom of God is what we, all of us, hunger for above all other things even when we don’t know its name or realize that it’s what we’re starving to death for. The Kingdom of God is where our best dreams come from and our truest prayers." –Frederick Buechner

"What I know for sure: a miracle is seeing the world with light in your eyes."

–Oprah Winfrey

Oprah: “I see so many women around me…just fighting the aging process all the way. Were you ever anxious about it?”

Maya Angelou: “I can’t remember ever being anxious about it… At every age, I’ve been grateful… Get up in the morning. Thank you Lord. Thank you for this day. Thank you for the light coming through that window. Thank you for my breath. Thank you for the phone call that told me I have the job. Thank you even for the phone call that told me I’m not wanted anymore. Thank, because I know you have something better for me lined up.”

"Anyone who says that sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain." –Unknown

"Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven." Matthew 5:14-16 msg

Doughnut Bookends..... we started the month off with the April Fool's Joke with the Top Pot doughnut box and ended the month with a fun Top Pot 5K run around Green Lake carrying gigantic doughnut inner tubes. Sweet memories indeed...

Wednesday, April 29, 2015

old favorite

old favorite picture from 2007

Tuesday, April 28, 2015

cows

At First Pres in Nashville, they call mentors for the youth “COWS” which stands for “cloud of witnesses.” We are so thankful for the "cows" in Anna's life here in Seattle who are loving her and helping her grow into the person God has made her to be. Below is a picture of Macie, a sophomore at SPU who has been Anna's Bible study leader at UPC this year. What a gift she has been to Miss Anna. :)

Monday, April 27, 2015

a heart wide open to joy

O God, we thank you for this universe, our great home, for its vastness and its riches, and for the diverse life which teems upon it and of which we are part. We praise you for the arching sky and the blessed winds, for the driving clouds and the constellations on high. We praise you for the salt sea and the running water, for the everlasting hills, for the trees, and for the grass under our feet. We thank you for our senesce by which we can see the splendor of the morning, hear the jubilant songs of love, and smell the breath of the springtime. Grant us, we pray, a heart wide open to all this joy and beauty, and save our souls from being so steeped in care or so darkened by passion that we pass heedless and unseeing when seven the thornbush but he wayside is aflame with the glory of God. Amen.

Green Lake Saturday evening

Sunday, April 26, 2015

Doughnut Run

April 26, 2015

TOP POT RUN

I ordered some doughnut inner tubes on Amazon and laughed so hard when I blew them up the other day because the were HUGE! I did not quite realize the size when I bought them so we had some good laughs running around Green Lake holding these hilarious doughnuts and trying not to bump into everyone with our wide loads.

waking Anna up this morning for our donut run!

these were so big I had to put the seats down in the car

running in honor of the biggest Top Pot fans we know

We like to think that Heather, Georgia Mae and Ian come to Seattle to visit us and some other friends, but I wonder if it really is all about their tradition of their daily trips to Top Pot when they come! :)