The Highlight of the month!

The highlight of the month (so far) has been the whirlwind visit of our youngest daughter en route back home to Powell River after almost two adventurous years in the boonies of small-highway-town-Alaska!   Two years ago we sold our Powell River home out from under her and as we moved east eventually landing in Alberta, she flew North to the wilds of Alaska to be near her grandma.  Well she's moving back home to Powell River now to live near her sisters.  And once again she's trusting the Lord to open doors for housing and employment as He did so incredibly these past two years as she got to work at her dream desk job at the Crossroad Medical Clinic.  


So this post is dedicated to Rachel and her effervescent confidence in God, and posted with a prayer for her guidance and success!

 

taking the requisite tourist pictures

The rising steam from Banff's natural hot springs creating hoarfrost.

The discovery of hot springs here would be the grounds for establishing Banff Nat'l Park in 1885

Rachel's travelling companion...

She arrived in time for bracing cold but we still enjoyed a tromp around our neighborhood...

And now she's arrived safely 'home' to Powell River out of reach of hugs but not prayers.

Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations.

Before the mountains were brought forth, 

or ever you had formed the earth and the world,

from everlasting to everlasting you are God.

Let your work be shown to your servants,

and your glorious power to their children.

Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,

and establish the work of our hands...

Ps.90:1,2,16,17

--LS

Thankful

We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving this past weekend with a quick trip out to the prairies

to connect with a multitude of Skelton offspring.

Here are four generations of Skelton men…

The progenitor of them all came along with us!  What a treat, to see the towns along the way through his eyes, including the church where he was married some 60 years ago!

The weather was idyllic for travel and the mountains are festive with their gold trimmings. 

Larch trees are new to us.  They are  deciduous conifers, meaning they resemble a standard evergreen with needles and cones, but they turn yellow and lose all their needles in the fall.  In the process whole monochromatic mountainsides are dramatically transformed. 

 

And of course the other deciduous trees do their part,
bringing glory to even this pine-beetle ravaged swath of mountainside.

For fall color and for family I am grateful, and not to be taken for granted is safe travel.  We made a short detour to take in beautiful Lake Louise

and were reminded of our visit here last November. This was our final sight-seeing stop before the crash  that jolted us into some very big life changes.  It is as though Lake Louise bookmarks in my mind the end of a chapter in our lives.

So much has changed for us in a year’s time.

 

And though we don’t know what this next chapter will bring, we are thankful for all the way the Lord has led and kept us, and for the family he has blessed us with!

--LS

Give thanks to the LORD, call upon His Name, make known HIs deeds among the peoples…Sing praises to the LORD, for he has done gloriously; let this be made known in all the earth. Is.12:4,5

Gone Campin’

We snatched the end of the summer season to do something we’ve never done before—go camping with the grandkids!  And it was grand ( :

There’s something really sweet about seeing your own offspring take up the camping tradition and carry it on in their own ways. The kids loved it!  The parents worked hard to make it a real treat.  And we were the beneficiaries ( :

There were moments of doubt as we had not been here before.  And when the road to the campsites turned to gravel and then just kept going, and going, for 15 miles….well, oh me of little faith.  I was ready to turn back and find something less remote.  Of course we didn’t and what a spectacular spot was in store for us!  This is Alberta camping at its best…

If you didn’t get out camping this year,  please enjoy a few virtual moments here…

 

It was splendid!

--LS

Your righteousness is like the great mountains; Your judgments are a great deep; O LORD, You preserve man and beast. Ps.36:6