Joy Overflowing, Majesty Abundant

From the joy of our niece Heidi’s wedding to the beauty of the North Cascades, our travels continue to bless us beyond our expectations!

Leaving our rig in Washington, we boarded our flight to Boston at SEA TAC. Now that’s a crazy busy airport! We met up with Skip’s brother Phil and his wife Lynn who arrived at about the same time from MSP. Our Uber driver dodged rush hour traffic, taking us through the back streets of Boston—a short 90 minutes—to the North Shore of Massachusetts for the wedding weekend.

Skip and I needed a stretch after a long travel day. We strolled through the beautiful and very hilly campus of Gordon Conwell Theological Seminary where Heidi is earning her Masters degree. As dusk settled in, we joined a marvelous family campfire and sang a few worship songs together. Best of all, we met lots of people from the groom’s family as well as many of the bride’s friends from around the world. People came from China, Australia, and all across the US to celebrate Peter and Heidi’s nuptials.

One unexpected joy occurred while I was out walking on Saturday morning. I happened upon the Myopia Hunt Club, established in 1882, preparing for an upcoming event. What a hoot to see the hounds loose leading the horses to the fox.

I had the joy and privilege of singing with a small choir as Heidi processed with her father down the center isle of the church. She was radiant! While I don’t have any pictures of the actual wedding yet, this picture from Heidi and Peter’s first dance conveys their love and joy. How wonderful it was to watch the father of the bride, Dave Olson, dancing with his daughter who has waited all these years to marry the man God had for her. Skip and I joined one dance as well. This wedding weekend was a joy-filled expression of love.

Sunday afternoon afforded some down time after the final wedding event – a lovely Sunday brunch. We ventured to Rockport, MA where we meandered the quaint streets with Erik and Haley, popping in and out of shops and enjoying a bit of ice cream. The grey skies and occasional showers accentuated the feeling of a New England coastal town. We capped our day with a lobster dinner in Gloucester. Yum!

We returned to Washington, hitched up our rig, and headed into the North Cascade National Park for three full days to explore and restore. The mountains here are jagged, rising up with steep rock walls. These mountains boast the most glaciers of anywhere in North America. This picture sums it up. There aren’t enough adjectives to describe what we beheld at the peak of our hike… majestic, glorious, spectacular, awe-inspiring, stunning beauty. Oh how blessed we feel!

Next up – the town of Anacortes where will have the privilege of joining our friends, Joan and Dave Carlson for a day. They’ve invited us out on their boat for a trip through the San Juan islands in the Rosario Strait of Washington. We can’t wait. Hope you’ll come along for the float!