Baccalaureate

Where should we go after Baccalaureate?

Riding on clouds

“There is no one like the God of Jeshurun,
   who rides across the heavens to help you
   and on the clouds in his majesty.
 The eternal God is your refuge,
   and underneath are the everlasting arms."  Deut 33:26-7

New Fountain

A kayak trip rounded out a happy birthday for John

Wait til you see the fountain Rick has made for us!  He drilled a loooong hole through a beautiful rock that Terry Blair Martin gave us a year or two ago and worked out pipes and tubing to make it work.

Memorial Day Sunday

Flags!

Donut Sunday

There was a cake for the pastor's birthday!

Brady pushing Carson

John, Chad and Rich

John and Tahjere found a ramp works great for bikes

Jessica

eating grapes....

Sunny (at last!) Saturday

The jack-of-all-trades pastor repairs the crumbling cement wall 

"Consider how the wild flowers grow..." Luke 12:27

Fire

Yesterday I finally cut back the old growth from the butterfly bush in front of the Crossroads.  There was so much debris I didn't know how or where I was going to move it, especially with my right foot in a surgical boot.  And wouldn't you know, the Mundells arrive and are mowing, so I need to quickly find a solution.  As I am dragging all the branches onto the sidewalk by the main road, along comes my husband, assesses the problem, goes for our  Charley Barno's truck, and loads the truck and carts off all the mess.  What a blessing.  I never even had to ask for help.  

This morning he and Beth are burning it up as there's too much for the dumpster.  

You can see Beth's job of dragging branches

Housecleaning...

...may not be my forte.  But this spider is doing such a great job I think I better leave her alone to do her bit for the household.

"What they trust in is fragile ; what they rely on is a spider’s web."  Job 8:14

Back in...

...to this fascinating Old City maze- here a bunch of fellows play a game as crowds walk by.

sometimes you were walking in the sunshine, and other times in the dark

Church of the Holy Sepulchre

This church is in the Christian quarter of the Old City.  It is supposed to be over the sites of Golgotha, where Jesus was crucified, and also over the tomb where he was buried.  We went up a small crowded staircase to a small crowded room full of incense and candles and ornateness.  The woman kneeling in the first photo is under an altar that is the supposed spot of the crucifixion.  People were lined up to step under that table for a photo.                                   

We waited in line a long time for a chance to go down into a small room that had a sort of marble casket signifying where Jesus may have been buried.  Priest of several denominations took turns carrying censors down the steps to purify the room or something like that.

There is an alternate site for Golgotha which I will show later.   It was hard for me, in this church, to imagine things happening to Jesus on this spot.

Bizarre Bazaar

We do a little shopping on our walk through the Old City.  Tiny shops line the alleys and finally we are not the only ones getting lost.

The spice displays were beautiful!

I think you could find anything somewhere in the Old City.

tulip poplar...

You can certainly see why it's called a tulip poplar! And it is gloriously in bloom right beside the church.

She's not shy!

Emma is happy to sing for an audience, and we're happy to listen!

Elsa Merry on her baptism day

Nothing like a walk at the National Arboretum

Saturday Evening

Poppy on fire!

John helping the Mundell boys with cleaning the sidewalks

Shannon and Beth, plus dogs, visit with Lonnie

JBC workday for GC Habitat

Rick Bartoletti was one of the dozen or so folks from JBC...

...who helped demolish the inside of this house (Jerry T. and Reno M. pictured)

Tammy Grash inside

John emptying insulation into the trash

Charlie consulting with Rich Long

Jo Anne B. and Tammy G.

Micah, Rich L, Steve Stanko

Checking up on Beth

Anna Lama at work

Janice Blair-Martin