Light In The Wednesday Thursday Medley

Today is National Lighthouse Day. Who knew?

Actually it was yesterday, and I did write my answers yesterday but then it all got away from me and I never made it back to my blog to hit publish. Also, the only reason I know yesterday was National Lighthouse Day is because that's the theme in this week's Wednesday Medley hosted by Terri over at Your Friend From Florida. The questions didn't sound like a brain strain so thought I'd play along.

Here we go-

1. Let's start with a number-how many lighthouses have you visited?

Hmmm...maybe this will strain my brain? We have lived mostly on the East Coast which I'm pretty sure is where you'll find a fair chunk of the lighthouses in America. I'm sure there's more but the ones that popped into my head are Cape Hatteras, Portland Head, Mystic Seaport, the Baltimore Harbor Light, Point Lookout, and Thomas Point all in Maryland, Point Arena and Heceta Head in California, and Cape Blanco on the Oregon coast. I guess about ten, but there are probably some I'm forgetting. 

Portland Head Light

2. Have you been inside a lighthouse and did you walk to the top?

I have been inside a lighthouse, the most recent being Cape Blanco on the Oregon Coast. 

Cape Blanco Lighthouse

3. Do you seek them out when you're traveling or are you not that big of a fan?

I wouldn't say we seek them out, but if there's a lighthouse along a route we're traveling then we'll definitely make a stop. 

Point Arena

4. Do you have a favorite scripture or another reference to share with us concerning a guiding light in your life?

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Psalm 119:105

5. If you don't collect lighthouses when you travel is there something else tangible you tend to collect as a souvenir when on vacation or a road trip?

I don't collect lighthouses but I do try to purchase a Christmas ornament wherever we roam. It's one of my favorite things about our tree each year, the lovely reminders of places we've been all around the world. 

6. Please share something with us about your week.

On Monday I met daughter2 in her classroom to help with some of the cutting-taping-gluing-that needs doing prior to a  new school year starting. Technically she doesn't need to report until sometime next week, but she's already been in her classroom working on set up because that's how most teachers roll. 

Anyone who still thinks teachers have summers 'off' hasn't been around a good teacher in recent years. Sure there are a few who might do nearly nothing over the summer, but most of the teachers I know are hard at work preparing for the next school year in some form or fashion all summer long. 

My daughter took an online class that lasted most of the summer. She also took an in-person class, wrote curriculum for the county, read several new books on classroom discipline and related topics, attended tech in-services and assorted other meetings, and spent many an hour and dollar at Michael's-Target-Dollar Store-The Teacher Store searching for interesting, new, and necessary items for her classroom. 

Thinking of all the great teachers out there as they return to the classroom and the noble, often thankless, still honorable, hard work they do every day. 

"Teaching is the greatest act of optimism" Colleen Wilcox

About Those Mysterious Ways

Sixteen years ago we moved to England. We spent six mostly glorious, sometimes challenging, oftentimes edifying, ever so memorable years living in a small village not far from London.

People moved in and out of the country on a regular basis which meant every single year you were forced to bid tearful goodbyes to once-upon-a-time strangers who had quickly become dear friends. And every single year you learned to re-open your heart and home and welcome the new strangers who in the blink of an eye would also become cherished friends.

For five years I hosted a women's bible study in my home, and the women who walked in and out of my great big front door, the one with no handle and the old fashioned bell, were some of the most extraordinary women I've ever had the privilege to know.

One of those women I'll call K. Her husband was in the Air Force so they left the UK around the same time we did and have moved several times since because that's the nature of the Air Force. We've also moved several times because that's just what we do. ahem I haven't seen my friend K since we left England ten years ago.

On Saturday night my daughter, son-in-law, and grandson had dinner in her home.

In South Korea.

Because she too is currently residing there with her family, and because God is so incredibly good to remind us He goes before us in the hard things. The not so hard things too but maybe we look for Him a little more in the hard.

I can never get over the smallness of this great big world.

The 'kids' are doing great as they settle in to their new life on the other side of the globe, but knowing someone is there to 'welcome the new strangers' is such a gift, and one for which I feel tremendous gratitude.

When I started this blog we lived across the pond and I had this verse in my header-

"If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there Your hand will guide me, Your right hand will hold me fast." Psalm 139:9-10

It was a verse I took great comfort in and one that came to the top of my brain as my daughter talked about having dinner in their home.

Even on the far side of the sea He remembers us.
He guides us.
He holds us fast.