Tragedy and Joy

Hey everyone,

May is about over and we're headed into June already. Does anyone else feel like this year is flying by? 

We live on a busy street and a couple weeks ago I had gone to bed around 10:00 when I heard a car fly by our house. The speed limit is 35 but sometimes people go so fast. I laid in bed calculating their speed 'They have to be going at least 60' when I heard 'Bam!!" I thought, 'Oh no! Please don't let that be from the car!' There's a very sharp turn a block or two from us and the street heads up a big hill. Then I heard, "Ka-boom!"

I flew out of bed, grabbed a sweatshirt and headed outside. Chuck had been watching TV but heard the sound too and was right behind me. By that time we could hear the sirens. From the sidewalk in front of our house we could see tons of flashing lights up the street. The article said the driver 'was traveling at an excessive speed.'

We learned the driver didn't survive and now there is a memorial at the corner where the car left the road. I don't think I will ever forget the sounds of that car that night. I keep thinking about that persons last thoughts as they lost control of the car, and about their family members receiving the news. It just breaks my heart. 

On to something a little lighter -

I was out watering the other night and happened to notice this on one of our evergreen trees -

I've been watering these trees for 25 years and this heart has just appeared in about the last 6 months. I just smiled thinking about how God's creation sings it's praises to Him. Isaiah 55:12 "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace, the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." The Lord speaks to us through His word, through others, and through His creation. His love is like no other.

Beth had some lab work done recently. It showed she's slightly anemic so she's now taking iron a few times a week.

Before I got on here, I was going around closing the blinds and noticed a pink hue outside. Our house faces east so I headed to the backyard and sure enough, a gorgeous pink sky! The sunset was beautiful tonight.

And tomorrow... Diana and Peter fly in and we get to see these two!!

Not sure I'll get much sleep tonight! We saw them back in December but when they're this age it seems like forever. They'll be staying with us for a week so Sharaya and Ally will be over a lot, we bought a kids slide, kids patio chairs, lots of new toys, took some extra furniture to storage, our house looks very different than it did a couple weeks ago!  

There's going to be a lot going on at the end of next week too so I'm not sure when I'll be back on here. I'll try to log on and read posts when I can. I hope you all have a wonderful week!

Discovered Five Years Ago - But Still

 "The English language has a few limitations. One such problem is describing size - words like big, humongous and immense don't come close to describing the objects astronomers are discovering in deep space. There are definitely no words to describe their latest find, dubbed the BOSS Great Wall which is a supercluster of galaxies over 1 billion light years across. Making it the largest structure observed in the universe. So far.

Named after the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey - an international effort to map galaxies and quasars in the universe and is like cosmic webbing. This wall is made up of 830 separate galaxies that gravity has corralled into four superclusters connected by massive filaments of hot gas. This creates a twisting structure that resembles a cosmic honeycomb."

Jason Daley - Smithsonian Magazine 2016

This is an artists illustration of what the Wall looks like ~ 

NASA reports, "Astronomers suspect there may be many more BOSS galaxies than the 830 they can see." 

That's eight hundred and thirty galaxies, each one is 1 billion light years across.

All I can say is, what an awesome God we serve! He's the master Creator! He's the maker of heaven and earth and is the only one worthy of all praise, honor and glory! Praise to His glorious Name!!

The Mountain is Out!

Whenever you hear someone from Seattle say 'the mountain is out', they're referring to Mt Rainier. On a clear day, she towers over the city like a momma duck watching over her baby chicks.

We all anticipate this view as we head south on I-5.

It never ceases to amaze us.