7 am. Chris’s alarm went off and he pressed the first snooze, or rather he swiped his phone so it would snooze and we could lay in bed longer. I texted my mother and telling her that I didn’t have a sub job today and I hadn’t gotten any school calls yet. Fun! She told me to have a fun day playing house! And oh, I will, Mama. I love to be home. 

I love playing house. My first thoughts took me to a memory of my four year old self, playing house at the playroom at our home in Anchor Point, AK. This playroom eventually became my bedroom when I got older. Lucky me! My dad built a loft in it, and there was a little window/ledge area in the loft, that I recall pretending to serve food from. Or maybe that’s where my parents would bring me food while I was playing. I’m picturing a plate of sliced apples. 

My siblings are 4, 5, and 7 years older than me, so I played by myself quite a bit, but I played by myself quite well too, even when I was a wee little babe. That’s what Mom tells me. 

I picture myself dressed up, maybe carrying some dolls around, most likely Suzy and Lulu, playing house in the playroom. I loved playing house. “Do you want to play house?” 
   

I love to be home, going through stuff, cleaning up, making things better and more cozy, while listening to music, books, or talks, or with a movie on, and possibly while making some food. I love being home and helping to create a home of love, peace, and harmony. 

When I was a preteen and teenager, I’d spend hours “cleaning my room.” I’d go through all my drawers and all my stuff, find homes for things, dream of things to create… Dad never understood why I’d “clean” or organize for so long without many visible results. But I guess it was my way of playing house. It was my space and that’s where I’d color on the walls before they were painted, I’d rearrange my sponge bob and Disney princess posters, slather glow in the dark stars/animals/feet all over my walls and ceiling, I’d plug in my colorful little disco ball, and I’d display my fun mini things. 

Things haven’t changed too much. Instead of wearing dress up clothes to play house like I used to, I now wear a pair of favorite leggings and a favorite t shirt that belonged to husband. Instead of carrying around dolls, I carry around cats haha, since we don’t have babies yet. And instead of rearranging my posters, I’m rearranging fotos on the wall, snapshots of great moments of our lives. I still like my glow in the dark stars, but I no longer have glow in the dark feet and animals on the wall.  

Sometimes I get frustrated with house work, like when the cats aren’t doing well with toilet training and they go to the bathroom on the floor, which happened twice yesterday and twice the day before. Or when we have to vacuum all the time because our dog and cats leave hair around. Or when the dishes have crunchy food on them. Or when the food storage sits on the counter for two weeks. Or when our “guest room” (that I’ve renamed the “creation room” so they it be a place of creating), becomes the “junk room” and fills with all our (mostly my) random stuff. 

So yes, sometimes house work can be a drag, but playing house is something I love. Always have, always will. 

Yesterday was Wednesday. My question of the day from my perfect Q&A a Day journal was “If your day way an animal, what animal would it be?”

I decided it’d be a camel, not just because it was Wednesday, but because the day had some humps, some good highs and definite lows, but it was steady, kept moving forward. Parts of the day were slow, parts were fast, some parts looked kind of funny, but overall I liked it.

The past few days of work have been enjoyable. I’ve been in the intensive needs classroom at the middle school, where my mom works. She works with great people. 

After school I needed to prepare for our combined activity at church. The young men and young women were having a cake/cupcake wars activity, with a Plan of Salvation theme. They split themselves into groups of 3-4 youth and began creating!

Plan of Salvation graphic
Here’s the creative creations. :) I’m so pleased with how the activity turned out. Sometimes things take a lot of work, time, and preparing, and I get worried that it doesn’t matter, that my thoughts and efforts aren’t good enough. I actually started crying a bit on the way to the church last night, because I was overwhelmed and frustrated with Wednesday activities. Once the kids were all in the groups and working together to make Plan of Salvation creations, it made me really happy and glad. I serve with great people, who are helpful and dedicated, and I’m so glad Christopher serves with the youth too.

Sacrament meeting enlightened me yesterday. Friends and acquaintances bore testimonies that helped mine and strengthened my gratitude for God. I don’t doubt the love or omniscience of Heavenly Father. At times my faith and hope waiver because of my limited vision. And other times I get complacent and comfortable, and I neglect to recognize God’s grace in my life. But the testimonies on Sunday reminded me of how much we need the Lord and each other.

There was one young woman who bore her testimony about personal progress. That is a YW president’s dream! :) Most of the young women in our ward don’t do much with their personal progress, but a couple do, and it makes a big difference in their lives. At the end of the girl’s testimony she said, “I’m grateful for Sister Palmer and her helping guide the young women,” and that made me feel good. I don’t need public shout outs, but they are helpful sometimes. In helping the YW at church, I think too much about what I could be doing and I don’t recognize the good that I do do. (haha, doo doo). There’s always plenty to do in the various callings and positions that we serve in, but the most important thing we do/way to be is to love those we serve.

I’ve been wondering about the organization of the church lately, and wondering why it is the way it is. I’ve heard things like: the organization of the church is perfect, but the people aren’t. On Sunday I got some answers to those wonderings/doubts of mine. The church is like a family, a group, a community, and we strengthen and uplift each other. We all have strengths. We all have weaknesses. And we can help each other grow closer to the savior.

My faith is what is is today for many reasons. One of the big reasons is my family, and how I’ve learned to live the gospel with them. Other reasons are sunday school teachers, seminary teachers, local auxiliary leaders, local and worldwide church leaders. Many many people have helped me learn more about the Godhead and help me have desire to follow God’s plan.

My dear amiga, Sister Taylor Moyes, currently serving a mission in the Philippines, said this in her latest email: “I particularly like the talk given by Elder Dale G. Renlund “Through God’s Eyes”. He states, “to effectively serve others, we must see them through a parent’s eyes, through Heavenly Father’s eyes. Only then can we sense the love Heavenly Father has for all His children. Only then can we sense the Savior’s caring concern for them”.”

Church was great. I love going. And I love when we’re early. And yesterday… I was totally ready for church early! I got plenty done in the morning, got ready quickly, and felt like a beauty, and everyone likes that. :) I wore a vintage polka dot dress, perfect length, great sleeves, with pockets, that I got a thrift store the day before. It has buttons going up the back, and I wore it with my favorite caramel brown belt and shoes. Feeling good in my clothes and skin (even though it grows whiter everyday) usually always make a difference of how I feel during the day. Chris looked equally nifty today so we took a little self timer picture after church. Not the best quality or angle, but it brings good thoughts to mind. 

After church we came home and finished preparations for our annual Super Bowl festa. We had a bunch of friends over. Most were from church since that’s our main social circle, but he had a neighbor family come over too which was really great. I want us to be great neighbors and I want to know all our neighbors, which we currently don’t. We are in dog conflicts with one of our neighbors, which is hard for me, and for her to, I’m sure. Anyway, Super Bowl party, we had lots of food and lots of people and some football too.

We just mmmmmmmm 

Decided to go to temple. Was daughter a lot. So special dealing whole.fr ref for

Getting ready to get  the I T woke in morning. I I skeeptbejertyktu

I wrote that post last night as I was falling asleep. Not sure what most of it means. Typing while sleeping is so hard!

It’s 3 am on Sunday morning. I’ve been house cleaning and organizing the past few hours. I like doing that. Although sleeping would’ve been better so that I’m not a sleepy sloth face tomorrow. Buuuuut that’s okay.

Chris and I spent the past few days in Anchorage. We hadn’t been to the temple or Costco in a while, so we made the trip. We actually hadn’t even been more than 10 miles out of town for two months! Chris did some work related things up there, and we stayed with our good friend Richard. We ate yummy Indian and Mexican food, and experienced some cooler temperatures!

Homer has been so not cold this winter.  We haven’t had much snow and right now, the earth is soggy and brown here. We still see beauty surrounding us, but when I walk through the forest, I can’t help but think of the lone and dreary world haha.

These pictures are from my walk with the animals before we got on the road on Thursday. My mom and also good friend kindly took care of our pets while we were out.

  
As soon as we made it to anchorage, we went to our friend’s apartment and used the bathroom before we went to dinner. Well… Bad news.

I somehow caused the toilet to overflow… That wasn’t very fun but it was a little funny, and embarrassing of course. Fortunately most of the poo flushed down the toilet instead of overflowing onto the floor, with the exception of a piece of corn. Hahahaha sorry if that’s too much information for you, whoever is reading this. Needless to say, I didn’t poo in the toilet again and held it till I could get to Fred Meyer. Thanks Fred!

While Chris worked, I was going to wander around the thrift stores and find treasures, but I decided to use my time better and I went to the temple. How lovely. And I went to a thrift store later, so perfecto. The temple is always a good place to go.  Our Anchorage temple has very limited hours and work, and instead of doing initiatories I did sealings. I hadn’t participated in those in quite a while, and I’d never seen a sealing where more than one child was sealed to their parents, so that was new. I got to be sealed as a proxy daughter many many times and it was so special. There were a good bunch of souls in the room. I love temple work.

We also went a visited some family friends and their precious, premie baby at the hospital. I’m very glad we got to go and I hope we were a joyful visit to them. We’re blessed we got to go and meet the little baby.

Well, I’m sleepy. Chris and I made it home from anchorage. First we went to the temple together and I got to listen to the session in Portuguese! Very special. I love Portuguese. After the temple, I went to my favorite value village and found some treasures. Our drive home had plenty of really beautiful snow!

 It’s always nice to get home! We and the animals were happy to reunite. :) There’s still a lot from our Costco load to put away, which I’m grateful for. Sleepy. Oh! I went on a run tonight! It was nice and starry and only a few cars drove by where I was running. I don’t like when cars drive by as I run so that was good. :) I haven’t gone on a run in months. Anywho, we’re having a super bowl gathering tomorrow after church. Okay, time for bed!

Self love has been on my mind a lot lately, especially now that it’s February: love month! Recently, a friend did a selfie and affirmation challenge on Facebook, and it was very refreshing to see her honest, open, real, and beautiful posts. She encouraged self love and self acceptance. I’ve also sort of been doing a 30 days of yoga camp (but only once or twice a week instead of every day) that has been using simple affirmations which encourage mental and emotional well being. The emails I get for that each day are pretty uplifting, but then I get discouraged and annoyed because I’m just reading the emails and not doing the yoga haha.

I think the people of the world could use more self love, myself included. I think I’m a pretty neato human being, with some great strengths, plenty of weaknesses, and with a very blessed soul, and I want to have more love for myself. Negative thoughts are toxic and dumb and positive thoughts are super super duper!

I was feeling a bit discouraged tonight, maybe because it’s monday blues, or winter blues, or PMS, and so I read some love notes I received from people from my mission in Brazil. Those people gave me so much love! Reading their notes reminded me of the treasured memories and feelings, and of how blessed I really am. I am so grateful to the open, nonjudgemental friendships I have with people from my mission  – companions, friends/family, and people we taught. I can’t express the joy that their love brings me and my gratitude for their Christlike examples.

So for some self love… here’s a few things I love about myself.

I love that I’m happy and cheerful; I believe it’s a God given gift. I love that I usually choose to be happy and I generally make pretty good choices to keep me that way.

I love that I’m a peacemaker. Oh, I love that a lot. I think it is something that first came naturally to me, but is also something I have sought to develop so that I can help bring a little peace to others. I love that I’m not contentious or argumentative, but that I try to keep an open mind and understand what the other people are going through.

I love my body, usually. I want to take better care of my body, for after all, we only get one! But my body is great and takes such good care of my soul. And I take pretty good care of myself, just want to be better, I guess, like eating better and exercising more regularly. But I can do so many wonderful things with my body and I hope to always appreciate its beauty and function.

I love that I make super great cookies, and other tasty food too. But I love being a good cookie maker.

I love that my parrot earnings are Chelsea iconic and that I wear them all the time.

I love that I have bluish-greenish eyes. I love that I tan well. I love that the end of my nose is really squishy and folds in half.

I love that I’m kind.

What do you love about yourself?? Write it down. <3

Just finished watching Downton Abbey. It was soooo good. We love that show and I love watching it cuddled on the couch with Christopher. We’ve had a lot of good memories with Downton Abbey marathons and I’ll miss all my Downton “friends” :). BBC shows are the best. 

This has been such a lovely Sunday. Chris gave a great talk at church, about the happiness we can experience on earth and the eternal happiness we can have through Jesus Christ. He’s a great speaker. After church we helped an older lady move some furniture, then we came home and ate butternut squash soup from last night, and of course some cookies. 

  
Husband and I hung out at home all day together and it was so delightful. We watched movies. He slept. I did a puzzle. We ate. We took Edel on a walk. We laughed at our animals. I ate way too many dried nectarines (which have been nicknamed “bum peaches”). And now we’re going to bed. Lovely day and back to school and work mañana!

Saturday morning! Exclamation point!

I’ve had a long few weeks at middle school and with middle schoolers, and I’ve missed waking up when I want, and doing what I want when I wake up. Today is a day where I can do that and I’m happy happy about it! Naturally, I woke up at 6:55 am hahaha. During the school week I get out of bed about 7:15 am, so it’s funny I woke up earlier. But I feel well rested and it’s so nice to not have to get out of bed and get ready for school though.

Getting up has been especially hard for me lately. Maybe because it’s always dark when I get up, and the bedroom is usually chilly willy. I want to enjoy getting up, so I’m working on that. Any tips? Dancing around like a kook when I wake up is helpful, gets me moving and awake. I don’t do that very often, but I shall.

In 8th grade language arts yesterday, where I subbed for two days, the kids were asking me for some “pearls of wisdom” that they had to write down. One wanted to write what a fellow classmate came up with: “Hope is like pizza, great!” Funny. But they requested some from me because they had to write down some “pearls of wisdom” from an “adult.” :) I had a hard time thinking of any on the spot, but my mind turned to some great peacebuilders: Martin Luther King Jr, Gandhi, Mother Teresa, and David O. McKay.

Dr. MLK: “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

David O. McKay: “No other success can compensate for failure in the home.”

Gandhi: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Mother Teresa: “What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.”

And thinking of peace building always takes me back to President McKay’s prophetic vision for those of BYU-Hawaii (12 Feb. 1955): “Those noble men and women, the world needs them. One man said the world needs men who cannot be bought or sold, men who will scorn to violate truth, genuine gold. That is what this school is going to produce… You mark that word, and from this school, I’ll tell you, will go men and women whose influence will be felt for good towards the establishment of peace internationally.”

Hahaha the cat just jumped on the keyboard, stood on the power button, and turned on some demo beat song.

This morning after laying in bed on my phone, with Chris sleepily cuddling me, I came out in front of the heater and explored pinterest. I don’t use pinterest that much, but it has a lot of beautiful ideas and gets my creative juices flowing. I found I bunch of great quotes that I had previously pinned on there as well, so to continue along with the Pearls of Wisdom, I shall share them.

Now it’s time for a walk outside. It’s light out. And it snowed almost an inch last night… we’ll take what we get! Snow brings beauty and magic!

I’ve been substitute teaching lots lately, which is good, but it made me especially excited about a three day weekend! Thank you Martin Luther King Jr. :) I know his contributions to society are incredibly greater than a simple day off school, and I’m glad we have a day focused on remembering his influence.

I like my Martin Luther King Jr. Day to be one of adventure. It’s tradition. :) Two years ago, Chris and I very spontaneously went to Kauai for a four day weekend (also sort of a honeymoon), and last year we went on a frosty camping trip to Hidden Lake. I don’t remember many Martin Luther King Jr. days before those two, but I decided I want to have a tradition of an MLK day adventure.

Chris and I talked about taking Edel and camping on Captain Cook beach a couple hours away in Nikiski, or walking from Bishop’s Beach to Diamond Creek beach in Homer, which would be roughly 6 miles maybe. Not sure really. Buuuuuut MLK monday morning came around. We slept in. That was sooooo nice. I didn’t wake up in the cold and dark to an annoying alarm sound disturbing my dreams. Gah, waking up is hard to do, for me. Actually it’s just the getting up that is hard for me. But this MLK day wake up and get up delightful.

Chris had some work to do, so I took him in about 11. He later went to lunch with his friend and I went to lunch with my friends, aka my mom and sister. My lunch with them was perfect, just what we all needed.  The food was tasty and the conversation was truthful and deep.

Chris kept working and I hung out at my sister and brother in law’s. I played with my nieces, zoned out watching a bit of Big Bang Theory (so glad I don’t watch much tv, though I definitely get excess screen time with phone and computer), and then the girls and I decided to make a little adventure happen.

  
We went to the beach. It’s not a humongous adventure, but the girls and I can turn simple things into adventures.  Katy, age 7, almost didn’t join us because she got weird at the last minute and decided she didn’t want to come, but I’m so glad she chose to join Natalie and me! The girls’ dog, Cody, was also along for the adventure. We hadn’t taken him to the beach in a while and we were all happy to do it.

Once we got to the beach, we ran into, like 15 other dogs, and some human friends too! And then the girls and I just wandered around. It was perfecto.  

Chris met us down at the beach and we explored together. Natalie brought a jar to catch some sea creatures since it was low tide, and she caught a couple see through tiny fish things. Katy danced around by herself, went to the ocean, threw sand around, and took her gloves and coat off for a bit. Cody, the dog, took the gloves and ran around with them in his mouth playing with them. He’s so funny when he does that. He loves gloves, shoes, and socks, or anything that will get a person to chase after him.  

  
Our beach adventure was simple and rejuvenating.

 The girls and I even stopped at Two Sisters bakery on our way home and got some tasty treats. I had some mini cards in the car so we played war and go fish too. Perfect. Before getting in the car we slid around on the ice in the parking lot. I want to go ice skating. And roller skating. I wish we still had a roller rink here… 
And some MLK quotes to end the day:

“I have decided to stick with love. Hate is too great a burden to bear.”

“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

“I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.”

“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.”

“I have a dream that one day right there in Alabama little black boys and little black girls will be able to join hands with little white boys and white girls as sisters and brothers.”

“Forgiveness is not an occasional act; it is a constant attitude.”

“We must all learn to live together as brothers — or we will all perish together as fools.”

“What is wrong in the world today is that the nations of the world are engaged in a bitter, colossal contest for supremacy.”

“Mankind must put and end to war or war will put an end to mankind.”

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.”

And my current favorite:

“Life’s most persistent and urgent question is, ‘What are you doing for others?’ ”

Christoher and I are trying to go to sleep right meow. Actually, I just fell asleep and twitched and started having some random, mini dream. That’s normal around here. Our sheets are nice and clean, the cats and Edel are running around the house and disturbing the peace, and husband and I are cuddled up. We can hear the rain outside the open window and the room is cooling off. Christopher likes the window open because it gets toasty warm in here at night. I like being warm, but not too warm. And right now I’m not quite ready to sleep so I thought I’d write quickly. I haven’t been very diligent with my paper journal lately, but doing well blogging. 
We went to my mom’s house tonight and met my sister and nieces there too. We are some ice cream and ended up watching all of Willow. That movie creeped me out when I was little, good to watch it now that I’m an adult person.

While we watched Willow, I got on Instagram and came across the account of a girl I met at BYU Hawaii. I didn’t know the girl very well, but where she’s at now is pretty different from where she used to be. Looking through her pictures inspired me to eat better. She talked about how preparing and sharing food is a special thing, not one to always be rushed through. Sit down and eat; don’t just snack all day. And eat in season and eat lots of whole foods.

She had a rule that her kids could eat anything she did. That’d keep me in check to eat better. I usually really enjoy preparing, sharing and consuming food. I really want to garden and grow our own foods. What a dream. When we got home, I made some Thai curry for the first time ever. It didn’t taste like our favorite Thai food truck in Haleiwa, HI, but it was still good. :)

The past couple days have been refreshingly cool, making some beautiful frost and a little snow! Alaska (or Homer at least) has been oddly warm the past few winters, and we haven’t gotten much snow, plenty of rain though. But we’ll take what we get and enjoy the season we’re in. Cheers!

Also, I just watched this little film and enjoyed it. Today I rise.

Thank goodness it’s Friday! I woke up happy this morning knowing a three day weekend was ahead of me. Yesterday I woke up frumpy (oops, I meant to type ‘grumpy’, but frumpy works too) because I was sick of the daily grind – wake up sleepy, work, come home, eat, waste time, go to bed… meh. Okay, now life hasn’t been that much of a grind lately, but I sort of felt like I was stuck in a cycle that I didn’t want to be in. And I had a bad, poopy attitude. In the winter, I’m don’t really work full time and Chris and I seem to leave Alaska plenty and adventure around. And when we’re home, we usually spend a good amount of time together and watch movies and such. And we hang out with my family of course. I guess I just felt like Chris and I hadn’t had good together time lately and it was wearing me out. Maybe I’m just a weenie too, one who doesn’t do well with going to work everyday with a job with regular hours.

I am so glad that it’s friday and especially glad that it’s a three day weekend! Here’s what I’m up to right meow. Chris is playing xbox with some boys some I’m listening to Enya and blogging and planning and such. And hello! Piper is still nursing! 9 months old… so funny. I love these creatures. My phone is filled with  pictures of our animals.

I substitute teach and I love that, because it’s flexible and fluid. Sometimes I don’t know I’m working until I get a call at 7 am (or 5:30 am) and the job changes day by day as I fill in in different classrooms, different subjects, different ages, different teaching. I love substitute teaching. It doesn’t pay millions, but I usually enjoy it, and any extra monies are nice. The job is better when I don’t think about the money that I’m making/not making. I enjoy being in the schools and with the kiddos and helping them learn and feel accepted and loved. I sub at the middle school and the two elementary schools around here. I have a niece at each elementary and my mom works at the middle school, and it’s so nice to see someone I love so much when I’m at school! I love that. And I love being at the middle school and being able to work with my mom sometimes. Two of the schools are just a short walk from my house too, which is delightful.

Anyway, I’m so glad it’s Friday, FRIYAY. And so glad it’s a three day weekend, because I don’t have an extra day off for a while, which is good that I’ll be subbing lots.

I wasn’t very excited about my sub jobs the past three days because they were a bit out of my comfort zone, but they ended up being pretty great. In whatever I do, I just want to be helpful to others, and I was able to do that and I felt appreciated, so it was good good.

I have lots of thoughts about getting my teaching certificate, but so far I’ve not taken much action in that direction. I have lots of encouragement and support in becoming a teacher though. I need to get an internship passed off so I can officially get my bachelor’s degree, and then I’d need to do some prereqs and take the PRAXIS to get into an education program. There’s an online masters program through university of Alaska that a friend is just starting, and that’s what I’ve looked into. Any thoughts or motivating words for me to get my tush in education gear?

Three Kings Day

Epiphany is a Christian feast day that commemorates principally, but not solely, the visit of the Magi, or three wise men, to the Christ child.

About twenty years ago (am I old enough to say things like that??), my sister had a friendly pen pal from Louisiana. His name was Albert and he as like 50 years old or something. How did they become pen pals? No idea.

But I remember that he once sent her a big cake baked with a little toy baby inside. Well, with my recent research on Three Kings Day, I realized that that’s what it was for! But I think King Cakes are something that they do from Epiphany to Mardi Gras, it’s like their Carnival season. But they’re called King Cakes, and the person who finds the baby (or bean) is supposed to provide the next King Cake. They do something pretty similar in Latin American countries I believe. At least that’s what it looked like when I watched the global snapchat stories of Three Kings Day.

I had a great Three Kings Day, even though I didn’t do much Epiphany celebrating. Next time. :) I really enjoyed my creation tool today though! This was formerly Chris’s office, and has turned into a place where we stash stuff, but I also want it to be a room where stuff is created, like fun crafts, yay! And a good place to read and study. It’s a work in progress, but I used it today to create stuff and that was super.

I got up early this morning and that was super too. I love the morning light, when the sun is coming up. I even did yoga this morning! When I do yoga, I feel so productive and on track. :) I think because it’s a goal I have and it’s so good and uplifting when we accomplish our goals. 

We had mutual tonight with the youth, and OMG, like all our young women were there! It was so awesome! We did a great journal focused activity, ate cookies, and had a great time together. I’m so so glad so many girls were there! Does anyone have any good ideas for mutual? That’s always kind of hard for me. CHEERS.

I like playing this song on guitar and singing along. :) I miss Christmas time.

We Three Kings
We three kings of Orient are
Bearing gifts we traverse afar.
Field and fountain, moor and mountain,
Following yonder star.

O star of wonder, star of night,
Star of royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Born a king on Bethlehem’s plain,
Gold I bring to crown Him again,
King forever, ceasing never
Over us all to reign.

O star of wonder, star of night,
Star of royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Frankincense to offer have I.
Incense owns a Deity nigh.
Prayer and praising all men raising,
Worship Him, God on high.

O star of wonder, star of night,
Star of royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.

Myrrh is mine: Its bitter perfume
Breaths a life of gathering gloom.
Sorrow, sighing, bleeding, dying,
Sealed in a stone-cold tomb.

O star of wonder, star of night,
Star of royal beauty bright,
Westward leading, still proceeding,
Guide us to thy perfect light.
Glorious now behold Him arise,
King and God and Sacrifice.
Alleluia, alleluia!
Earth to heav’n replies.