Washington State: Climb Every Mountain

The "Mountain" of our Expedition.

Monday morning in Washington found us awake--still on Missouri time and ready for the day before our PST time friends, the Keulens. At Danny's instructions, we drove to the base of the local landmark, the Collville Mountain. We found out later that it was actually the site where Jonathan proposed to Aimee. : )


Every climb has a start.


Out of breath and trying to talk.

As opposed to most other places in Collville, the mountain got great cell reception (we were hiking right near to the cell tower). We took good advantage of this fact to call home and make plans for the rest of the day.


No, Beth and Nathan were not talking to each other on the cell. : )


Collville.

After a very circuitous route traversing all across the whole "face" of the mountain, looking in vain for a well worn path to the top, we ended following the deer tracks up the hill, then finally cut through the trees and found the top. Us girls almost gave up several times, and we were all actually heading back to the car when Nathan finally spotted our destination--what a fearless leader! : ) He was great to encourage and spur us on.


The Three Musketeers.


Coming down, we found, is not necessarily easier than going up.


Sisters.

All in all, our "climb" was about 4 hours or so, and yes, some of us were sore for the next few days. : ) It was a wonderful opportunity to spend time in fellowship with just us three older kids--lots of wonderful conversations and memories.

A Stitch in Time

Guess what I've been doing over the past few days?

Washington State: The Bradley Family

The Bradley family (minus one).

During our Washington travels, we were honored to stay with the Bradley family, a friend of dad's and fellow pastors family. We had stopped by the gracious Bradley's home in 2003 on a tour of the Pacific northwest, but it was a joy to stay for several days, enjoy Christian fellowship, worship with their church on the Lord's day, and share stories of God's providential care.

There is a special camaraderie that exists between families who serve in Christ's church. The joys and sorrows of ministry can be sweet and challenging all at the same time. It is always delightful to have fellow shepherd's families to speak with, encourage, and be ministered unto. It was very refreshing to have "pastors family" conversations with the Bradleys and come away with a renewed vision for Christ's church.


The younger members of The Serven Clan sure missed out!


Beautiful Scenes from the Bradley's back deck.


A scrumptious Mother's day dinner prepared by Emily.


Danny, Emily, Mrs. Bradley (missing one sister).

Danny was quite the tour guide and friendly host. Hearing all his stories made us miss our little brothers even more!

Washington State: Wedding Afterglow

Miscellaneous Keulens, Engells and Gibsons.

After bidding a fond farewell to Jonathan and Aimee, the next few days were spent in wonderful visits with many friends, new and old. In particular it was a delight to connect with many of our California friends, including the Keulens and Kerrs, but also the Gibson family.


Jessica Gibson and Julie Keulen.


California Ladies.


Pictures.

Washington State: The Wedding

The Keulen family.

We were so honored to be able to witness the vows of our good friend Jonathan Keulen to his bride Aimee. We've known the Keulens for 12 years or so, back from our California days. It is such a blessing to have friends with whom one has done a good deal of growing up together. The Keulens are that for us. We miss them greatly, but were overjoyed to see them and be present at such a historic event in their family. : )


What are those girls doing now?


Seven Sisters and One Brother.


The Groom: "I need to get out of here! Aimee will be here soon for pictures."


Show and Tell from Missouri.


The Engell family.


The Bridesmaids were all the ladies from both families.


Dear friends, Beth and Julie.


Walking down the aisle.


Singing.

The entire bridal party (a.k.a. immediate families of the couple) sang A Christian Home to the assembled congregation.


What sweetness. : )


The Entire Clan.


The New Family--Mr. and Mrs. Jonathan Keulen.


Kerr Family.

It was a delight to run into many Californians during our trip to Washington. The Kerrs were our neighbors back in the Geneseo Valley. Mr. Kerr was Nathan's first boss (when Nathan was 13 or so), Celeste, Melissa and Beth used to play horses together (with the famous Breyer toys and with real horses), we had many musical fun things together (choir, piano lessons, violin, singing), and many bonding experiences with this precious family (e.g. Y2K night at our home : ). So many memories.


A Bridesmaid on a Merry-go-round!


Rebecca Serven, Jenny Keulen, and Molly Shultz.


Booher Brothers.

After the Bride and Groom left in a horse drawn carriage, [Editors Note: I took pictures, but they are on Julie's camera so regretfully I don't have any to show you! You can see more pictures of the wedding here if you are curious], we had an informal concert given by the Booher Brothers, friends of the family and musicians extraordinaire. If you think Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, then you can picture the type of music these brothers play--quite fun and beautiful.


Listening to the concert at the end of a rejoicing day.

Washington State: Airplane Craziness

And now for the first post for which you have been waiting . . . : )

As I had intimated in a previous blog post, I am not overly fond of traveling in planes. And furthermore, as I was to be traveling by my self, Nathan and Beth on a different flight, I was all the more dubious.

The Lord was abundantly kind to rest my fears--when I showed up at the gate I smiled to see 20 plus soldiers fresh from Basic, heading home to visit their families before the next phase of their training.

The Lord is so gracious to calm our provide for our good, even when we have doubtful hearts. I ended up sitting in between a young business man around my age and an even younger soldier of 18 or 19 years old. It was interesting talking with the boy-soldier, hearing why he had decided to enter the service and his hopes for the coming years.

When I arrived in Phoenix for my connecting flight (the first plane was running about 15 minutes late), I went straight to my new gate to check in and get my boarding pass. The ticket lady in St. Louis had been unable to print my boarding pass for the second leg of the flight--"The computer was not working, so just check in at the Phoenix gate" were the instructions.

Not a problem. I was excited to have completed the first leg of the trip, my adrenaline was rushing as I ran to the gate with only minutes to spare and accosted (graciously) a young man who was supposed to be working the desk but was just stepping away. The first people were pre-boarding the plane.

"I don't have a boarding pass for this flight, but needed you to select my seat and print one out for me." I stated.

Routine. Not a problem, right? Wrong.

"I am very sorry Ma'am," the attendant calmly apologized, "But we don't have any seats left on this fight."

"No--uh . . . . not really?! Hmmm, so . . . I have a wedding that I need to get to in Spokane tomorrow at noon. Is there any way that I can get on later flight to Spokane?"

He answered that this flight was the last one for the night and the next plane to Spokane would be flying tomorrow night at the same time.

"But that flight would arrive after the wedding is already over! How about another carrier? Or perhaps another city that I could fly to then transfer to Spokane?" I grasped for an alternative.

Negative again. "Well ma'am," the young man instructed,"If I can have you wait right here, we will see what we can do."

I called home and asked them to pray. The minutes ticked by quickly.

Over the loudspeaker a voice called, "Would the passengers from rows 15-20 please board Flight 208!"

Several other people had now joined the little group around the ticket desk. This made for a total of 7 displaced passengers who had all paid good money for their seat. One young mother's father was dying; another grandmother was traveling their to witness the baptism of her grandchild; each person had their own story of why they needed to go to Spokane tonight.

The young mother with her baby in arms was quite overwrought.

"Do you mean to tell me that even if I'm not going to Spokane, my luggage will?" she fumed.

"I'm so sorry ma'am, but there is no way to get your luggage off before the plane takes off," the young man stated.

"I can't believe it! You just can't do this!" and the young mother took off in a huff down the hall.

"Oh well--we are trying to help," the young man remarked.

He then announced over the loudspeaker that the flight was overbooked and he would give free tickets, a rental car, meal vouchers and a night at a hotel for anyone willing to give up their seat. A middle aged couple coming home from vacation gave up their seats--we were so excited and thanked them dearly.

But that was only two seats and we had 7 passengers.

Someone had tracked down the young mother, and escorted the now smiling mother and babe on the plane, plus one additional passenger from our band.

I was still waiting my turn in line for another vacant seat, but no other passengers were volunteering to stay behind. Almost all the passengers had boarded and now there were only a few stragglers who were running from their previous flight, just in the nick of time for this one.

I continued staying right by the desk and watched the young man, now joined by several women attendants who were frantically going through the lists of supposed passengers, the ticket stubs from the boarding passes and attempting to organize them and see if their were any seats left.

I prayed, asking the Lord to do a miracle and get me to Spokane. It would be horrible to miss the wedding, let alone have to stay in a strange city for a night and a day all by myself.

One last late person ran up--"Is this flight 208?! Do I still have time?"

"Quick--get on the plane!" the flight attendant commanded. "It will be taking off any minute".

I kept praying.

The ladies behind the desk exclaimed, "Wait a minute--Did any one check passenger M. Growunski on the flight? No? Oh look--what about a J. McGilacuty?" [Editors Note: Passenger names have been changed to protect the innocent].

All a sudden--"Ok--you three--get on the plane!"

"Do you mean me?!" I startled with hope.

"Yes! Quick! Just get on the plane!"

I rushed over to the bolted door along with two other passengers and realized with a groan that I still did not have my boarding pass. The lady tore off the stub for the person in front of me.

I stammered, "Uh. I'm really sorry, but I don't have a boarding pass, I explained it to the guy over there," pointing to the young man at the desk.

"What do you MEAN you don't have a boarding pass!!! This is not going to work!!"

But then a second lady ran over shouting--"It doesn't matter--just get on the plane!"

So I hurriedly obliged and ran down the tunnel thingy smiling into the plane [Editors Note: Sorry, I don't know the correct term] . Searching out a seat was difficult, but I spotted one.

I looked in vain for a place to put my carry-on luggage (I had decided to not check any baggage since it was such a short trip) but after almost beaming a seated passenger by dropping the rolling suitcase on their head, and cutting my finger in the process, I flopped down in a seat and called home to tell everyone I had made it on the plane.

After taking note of my surroundings, I realized there was still a seat open next to me and two other passengers were out in the terminal, still waiting. Summoning a steward, I showed him the seat.

He reassured me, "Don't worry--if there are any seats left on this flight, we'll make sure to fill them with people".

The last two passengers were escorted onto the plane and we took off into the night, not a second to spare. I was so grateful to the Lord for all of His kindness to me. It had all happened so fast, I almost forgot to be anxious--it seemed like a humorous challenge at the time.

I arrived in Spokane a few minutes after 10PM (of course my body clock was thinking it was midnight) and waited for Nathan and Beth to arrive in a little less than an hour. There were plenty of people still around, but I was glad to have a cell phone and sweet sleepy people from home to whom I could tell the amazing stories of the day.

Washington State: Preparation

Beth doing a flower girl's hair.

What a delight and honor it was to spend time with our friends the Keulens in helping prepare for the wedding of Jonathan Keulen and Aimee Engell.

We had never really been a part of the behind the scene crew of a wedding party but tried to make ourselves useful doing hair, holding bouquets, and liberally documenting the occasion with multiple cameras.


The Bride helps with our friend Julie's hair.


Californians arranging hair in Washington: Jenny K. and Danielle B.


Decorating the Cake.

We ran into so many dear friends from California throughout the trip. It brought many fond remembrances to mind when I saw Mrs. B. decorating the cake. We had taken a cake decorating class from her years ago with our home school group.


Two flower girls all ready for picture time.

Washington Scenes

The scenery around Collville was quite picturesque.

The pictures from our trip are now all resized . . . and most are uploaded, but not all. So here are a few more and you will just have to be patient for all the stories. Not that anyone is waiting with bated breath or anything. : )

The Lord was kind to us though on our trip and we had a wonderful time. I was especially glad to make it to Washington after being told there "just were not any seats available on this flight" on my connecting flight and at the last possible second getting on the plane minus a boarding pass (a long and amazing story which I will look forward to writing later)! We are running out the door though to Sacred Harp--another busy day for the Serven Clan.


Our sporty little car for the weekend. Nathan enjoyed driving it. : )

Mother Dear

Beth giving Mom a sign she made.

The Lord has greatly blessed each of us children by giving us such a loving and wise mother. We are so grateful to our Heavenly Father for lavishing His blessings on us through her. We love you Mom.


Sitting around the table reading poems to our dear mother.

Back Safe to Home Sweet Home

We hiked up the Colville Mountain to a wonderful view.

The Lord blessed us with a wonderful trip and safe return. Full of adventures and treasured times, our journey was well worth it and showered with the Lord's kindness. Expect a full trip report and pictures over the next few days.

Off to Adventure

Nathan, Beth and I are heading off to Washington state tomorrow afternoon. We are looking forward to witnessing the vows of Jonathan Keulen and Aimee Engell. What a delight and privilege to see our friends established in covenant marriage.

In God's providence, Nathan and Beth will be flying in one plane, and I'll be flying separately. I'd appreciate your prayers--I'm a home person, not one too fond of traveling, especially when by my lonesome. The Lord is good though; I trust we will return to home (and all our readers on the blog : ) next Tuesday.

So, until then--may the Lord bless and keep you and make His face to shine upon you.

Kittens

Thelma Lou and Kittens in their new home.

Last night, our garage doormat became a nursery for four sweet orange and white kittens. At 10:15 p.m. while folding laundry and visiting with Mom, I heard report that Beth and Sarah were out in the garage, watching Thelma Lou give birth, so I ran out to join them and watch.

We have seen many kiddings with our goats in California, but this was my first "kittening". : ) Thelma Lou had already birthed the first kitten, but we got to witness the second all-orange kitten take his first breath (about a 30 minute process), then we headed to bed. We woke this morning to find two other kitties joining the first ones, all still snuggling on our garage doorstep. Beth thoughtfully moved them into a nearby cardboard box where they seem quite comfy.


Nursemaid Ruger.

We have been keeping an eye on the dogs, Katie and Ruger. Both are experienced kitten watchers, but Ruger has seemed more excited than he should. Happily, he is cooperating with the program and watching them from a distance. Katie, our golden lab mix, is famous for mothering any stray kittens around our home. She will act just like a mother dog, "suckling" her new little kittens and keeping them cozy and safe.


Aunt Bee.

This batch of kittens was born last week--they look huge in comparison to the newborns. Since we don't really need 10 cats to keep the mice population out of our home, we are in the market for giving away some of these kittens. If you are in the area and would to provide a new home for a sweet kitten, let us know. : )

Double Dutch

Jonathan tries his hand (or rather, feet) at double dutch.

After our last Psalm Sing, we had an impromptu competition of feats of strength and daring. Many thanks to the Ritters for bringing the ropes, supplying the turners, demonstrating the exercises, and for having such a fun idea in the first place! : )


Ryan demonstrates a skipping methodology.


Mr. Saffa gets into the act.


What a fun dad we have!


Push-ups while jumping rope!?


The hands down, most impressive act of the evening.


Visiting time--Nathan, Mark and Mr. Ritter.


Foot Races into the night.

Official Garden Gate Update

Beth has been doing a masterful job planning, planting, and working in the garden. She is a much better delegator than I, so she has put most everyone to work helping her with various aspects of the garden. These are some pictures from several weeks ago . . .


Gardener Beth preparing to plant melons.


Ben digging--we ran out of garden space. : )

This past week, the Lord has blessed us with some wonderful rainy days. The garden has really taken off! It is almost like you can see the plants growing. : ) Peter took these pictures on Saturday . . .


The little beds in the foreground are Ben's handiwork.


We've been enjoying some Lettuce in our daily salads.


The Potatoes have grown SO much over the last week.


Sarah and Lydia strolling in the garden.

You can just make out the arbor on the left top of the picture. The kids made it from young saplings from our woods and bent them to the right shape. It will be fun to have Sarah's morning glories growing over it.


Cooperation.

The squash promises to be much more cooperative than last year's rendition. : )

Tick, tick, tick . . .

The clock is ticking away--or rather, the counter for our blog. I was meaning to watch for the official instant when we reached 200,000 visits . . . but I missed it.

Today we register at 203,398 page loads from when we started keeping track in the last few months of 2005. I guess, that would average out to approximately 11,000 page loads a month.

Many thanks to all our readers out there for your continued kindness and patronage. Don't be shy to say hello and introduce yourselves! : )

Spring Musical Recital

Our crowd for the night's event.

Last Friday night, we had the joyful privilege of hosting a musical recital for some of the children from our church who are learning to play various and sundry instruments. A smashing success, we thought we might show you a few photos of the evening's musical offerings.


Ryan opened the program with a praise song arrangement.


Rebecca and Alana with the "Twinkles".

Sweet Alana (who you have often seen on our blog) dearly wanted to participate in this recital. She and I have been exploring the violin just a little bit, so she demonstrated how to hold the violin, stand with it on her shoulder and played the very first part of "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star". She did a beautiful job and was quite the poised young lady. : )


Luke takes notes from other's performances.


Peter B. playing the Fife.

We always enjoy having a variety of musical instruments. If you are not familiar with the fife, it is like a simply shaped, shrill sounding flute [Editors Note: Try saying that 5 times fast!]. You may recall the sound if you think of yesteryears Colonial days and a Fife and Drum corps marching around in formation.


Lydia plays an arrangement of the hymn "Morning Has Broken".


Watching the Big Kids play their pieces.


Samuel performed with much musicality.


Father and Son Duet.


Serven Sisters.

Whenever possible, we encourage the students to work on duets or ensembles as siblings. We were very happy to have several groups of brothers and sisters playing together.


Part of the five member Bringe String Ensemble.


Smiling.


Ben plays "Rhondo" from Beethoven's Sonata in C minor.


Beth on Celtic Harp and Allison playing Hammered Dulcimer.

In arranging the program, I purposefully mix up the order of the students. From young and old, solos and ensembles, piano and other instruments, this is done to encourage all the students who all bring different aspects to the recital. One is not "better" than another. We are all different parts of the body and each have our gift to share in praise to our King.


Sweet Isabella.


Hymn Improvisation Demonstration.

We decided to do something rather unconventional for a musical recital--give a mini-music appreciation class! The subject of our demonstration was hymn improvisation.

Many people hear their church pianist play without understanding what they are really doing. Are they just playing the notes that are written down in the hymnal? Most likely not. Most accompanists have learned the fine art of improvising, playing what is not written down.

This is one of my favorite things to teach to my students. We walked through the different levels starting out at the most basic (R.H. playing melody, L.H. from chord symbols) to full improvisation with students playing at the different levels.


A Mournful Rebecca. Wow. I need to smile more when I'm playing!

At the end of the demonstration, I played an arrangement I had composed a couple years ago, the same hymn that we used several other times in the music appreciation "class". And what, you ask, is the difference between improvising and an arrangement? When improvising you are still playing close to the ideas in the hymnal (so that people could sing with your playing). On Hymns for Kith and Kin you would find examples of improvising. However, an arrangement is something that is so changed from the hymn (texturally, rhythmically, harmonically) that you could not sing with it--it would be too confusing!--but you can still strongly hear the melodic line of the hymn (eg. one would play an arrangement for a postlude or offertory but not for congregational singing).

It is much easier to demonstrate and hear than read on a blog . . . I wish I could put up sound clips, but I still have yet to figure that out. : )


The whole crew.


Well, how many angles of someone playing the piano can you get?

Many thanks to our photographer for the evening--Peter Serven. You are the best! : )


After Recital Frivolity.


Church pianists of tomorrow.

It is a joy to have so many young men and women who are learning to skillfully praise the Lord through their music. We were so blessed to be able to spend the evening rejoicing in God's gift of music.

-----

An Exciting Post Script:

Guess what!

I uploaded some of these pictures when I was down in the city last week, but in putting together this post, I realized I did not have all the ones up that I needed. As Peter had shown me earlier in the day how to resize a picture to send by e-mail, I thought to myself, "Self, I think I should try to upload a picture from our dinky dial up connection that is resized; just for fun of course, it probably won't work." But surprise of surprises, it did!!! And so did all the other pictures that I attempted.

I can't tell you how exciting this is! It means that if, perchance, one would like to put a picture on a blog post, one does not have to drive an hour to do that. One could do it in the comfort of their own little home! Now that is exciting news. : )

Dear Visitors

Spinning Sarah.

Last week we were overjoyed to host our dear friend, Mrs. Y. She and 3 of her children were able to come through just for a night--always too short. For the brevity of the visit we fit in quite a good amount of crying, laughing, praying, walking around gardens, resting in the Lord's goodness, and talking late into the night.

Mrs. Y. is a very wonderful servant of the Lord and we girls are so honored to hear the things God has faithfully taught her. The Lord, He is good, and His mercies do endure forever. "Though he slay me, I will hope in him; yet I will argue my ways to his face." Job 15:13


A Sweet Baby and a Sweet Lydia.