Wedding video

Lee and I made a video to show during our reception of us growing up through the years and eventually finding our way to each other. I'm going to put this video up here. Enjoy!

Starting A New Life

About 2 weeks ago, Lee and I got married. We had a wonderful ceremony in Chambersburg, Pa with our family and friends. We had many friends and family participate in the wedding. Lee's dad was his Best Man. My Maid of Honor was my closest friend from my time in Memphis, Brittany. The readers were close friends of mine from college. One was Megan, whom I affectionately refer to as my Jesus Buddy and the other was my suitemate from my senior year of college, BJ. We had two little boys at the Guest Book. Both were named David. One David is our "nephew" and the other David is our Godson.

My Maid of Honor, Brittany, and my suitie from college, BJ, helped me get dressed.One more kiss for Dad and I was down the aisle to marry Lee.

Dad walked me down the aisle like he had done this before. I'm so proud of him. He didn't cry at all before walking me down the aisle and that's a good thing because he kept me from crying. 

 I meet Lee at the altar and also met the woman who married us, Pastor Tara, there. Tara is a very special person to Lee and me. This wedding wouldn't have happened without her. See, Tara is married to a man named Jeremy. Jeremy and Lee were roommates is college. Tara is that pastor at the church I went to during college. It's because of the friendship that I made with Tara and Jeremy continuing his friendship with Lee that Lee and I met. There isn't any other way that we would have met.

Looking back on our wedding day, the thing that Lee and I remember the most is feeling like the only people in the room were Tara, Lee, and me. It was so intimate and personable. It was wonderful to have someone who knows both of us so well unite us in marriage.

This is the first picture of us as husband and wife. It's also our first kiss as husband and wife. I love this picture! From here, Lee and I presented our parents with roses in hopes of showing them how much we love them and care about them.

Then we were back down the aisle! I can't tell you how much joy I was filled with as I got to walk out holding my husband's hand.


From here, we took a lot of pictures. I'm going to show them in order here and try to put captions on them.

Our wedding rings

Our families seeing us kiss. My father-in-law didn't want to look. 

Brittany and I having a good time taking a bunch of pictures for the wedding.

This is a very special picture to me. I have 3 important Davids in my life. The David in the suit is my older brother, David. The little boy doing his best Jay Leno impression is my "nephew" David. The other little boy is my Godson, David. I'm almost positive that I will never get all 3 of them together again so I just had to have a picture with all of my Davids.

Cutting the cake.

This is 4 generations of my mom's side of the family. It's really cool that I had 4 generations of my family at my wedding.

The picture above and the picture to the right were taken outside Riddle Hall. This is where it all started for Lee and me. We have some wonderful memories in that building!

We went to my college after the reception to take pictures. I loved taking this picture. I've never seen another bride in a tree for her wedding pictures.

The color for the wedding was purple. I got my shoes dyed to match Brittany's dress and Lee wore these awesome socks. Who would have known that I would marry a man that loves purple just like me?

We had a wonderful wedding day! Lee and I are settling into married life now. 

Soon, we'll be heading out on our honeymoon.

So far, there hasn't been a day that's gone by without me getting all excited to the point of jumping up and down giggling about actually marrying my best friend in the world. I'm so happy to be married to Lee. I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with him and watch the turns that our lives will take together.

All photography done by Kimberly Paulson

There will always be firsts

Yesterday, I discovered that I will be having yet another first within this line of work called youth ministry. I will get to experience a funeral here at St. Luke. Sadly, it's not for one of the older members. It's for one of my own.

One of my youth was shot and passed away Sunday night. She was hanging out with a friend of her's when the friend checked to see if a pistol was loaded when she was shot and killed. According to her parents, she didn't feel any pain. She was 17 years old and was just starting her senior year of high school. I never had the pleasure of meeting her but I did have the pleasure of meeting her mother. If she was anything like her mother, she will be greatly missed.

I ask that you lift up the Galbraith family as well as the St. Luke family as we grieve this young woman's passing. This has awakened all of us to really take every day with loved ones as something precious and special.

Thank you for your prayers, love and support as we deal with this shocking and sad event.

A Day At The Beach

I was very blessed with the chance to get away this past weekend to spend some time with Lee. For the first time since I was 15, I got to go to the beach. Lee took me to a beautiful beach that's pictured above called Atlantic Beach. This particular beach is in eastern North Carolina. The weather was perfect. It wasn't too hot. It wasn't too cold. If you got a little too hot, you went into the water to cool down. When you got to cold, you got out of the water and laid out on the beach to improve your tan.

It was so wonderful being at the beach. The only bad thing that came out of that was my very very foolish mistake of taking my ipod down to the water with me the last time I stuck my feet in the water. I was being my creative little self.....listening to music and kinda dancing in the sand and waves. I must have made the wrong move and dropped my ipod into the ocean. I quickly scooped it back up and it was still working when I laid it out on my blanket to dry. Sadly, That was a short lived glimmer of hope. My ipod died sometime between Friday and this morning when I tried to use it on my flight back to Memphis. (If anyone has any idea of how to bring my ipod back to life, please let me know. I'd love to have it back to functioning again.)

I really need to have more days at the beach more often. I love the beach. It's so freeing and I felt at peace for the first time in a couple of months just standing there letting the water just rush over my feet when it felt like it and just soaking in all the beauty (and people watching) that I could while I remained nameless except to one person on that beach. It was wonderful. I really need to make an effort to go to the beach more often.

Hiding in plane sight

When you move, you generally get a new address. That was the case for me when I moved here to being my work with St. Luke. As I began to settle in, I had to give out my address to a few different people and companies in order to establish myself as a resident here. Somehow, my address never made it into the church directory. I believe that's because I'm not a member of St. Luke. However, there's something satisfying and sad about that.

It's sad that no one has my address because I can't get awesome mail. For example, my youth can't send me their graduation announcements because they just don't have my address. One of them got creative and sent me his announcement via the church office. My other youth just asked me for my address since she couldn't find it anywhere.

It's also sad because Google doesn't even have my address. You can't go to Google maps, punch in my address, and find out where I live or get directions to my apartment. That makes it really difficult for people who are coming to visit me. I have to give them my complex's address and directions to my apartment after they're on the complex grounds.

The reason why it's satisfying is because no one can find me. I can't have my youth just drive to my apartment in the middle of the night, stick a bunch a flamingos in my every so tiny lawn, and drive away. I feel like I'm hiding in plane sight that way too. It's almost like I have control over who knows where I live. There can't be any surprise visitors. I almost have the convenience of living in a gated community without actually having a gate and code to allow people in.

Maybe, it's wrong of me to think of my lack of address disbursement as something to be proud of. It's almost a security blanket for me.  Oh well.......

Friends!!!!!!!!

As I said in the posting before this, my friends Suzanne and Aliyah came up for a visit. This was the first time that I've gotten to see them and just hang out with them since my graduation from Wilson almost a year ago. I was very excited to have them here and for them to meet Ross. They are also the first friends of mine to come visit me in Memphis (Yes, my parents and Lee have been to visit.....but they're different than college friends.).

First, I have to tell you all about Aliyah's love and reaction to Ross. I really think that Aliyah fell in love with Ross as soon as she met him.....cone of shame and all! She loved running him in the street (when no cars were coming of course!) and just spoiling him with all her attention. Hearing the story of Aliyah trying to crate Ross before going out to see a movie was priceless. She tried to trick Ross into going into his crate....being all sweet and playful to do so. I later showed her how to crate him and not have any problems.  Suzanne also enjoyed Ross because of his little quirkes. Suzanne did make the comment that Ross is the perfect dog for me......because he's basically me in dog form and well.....a boy! They got to see Ross without his cone of shame and how much cutter he is without the cone. I think that both of them loved Ross just a little bit more once he was allowed to loose the cone.

We did a lot of things together while they were here. Suzanne and Aliyah made me dinner Monday night which was just wonderful! Who knew that eggs, spinach, and pasta would make a wonderful dish! It was also a very nice change of pace to not have to worry about what to make for dinner.....or figure out if I had the engery to make what I was actually hungry for.  We took a trip to the Memphis Zoo on Tuesday to show Aliyah what a "real" zoo is like. For those of you who don't know Aliyah, Aliyah grew up in Trindad and is convinced that the zoo she went to growing up wasn't a real zoo. She thinks that the guniea pig exhibit was used to feed the snake exhibit. She'd also never seen a polar bear in person.....or any bear for that matter. I will put the pictures from the Memphis Zoo up when I get them from Aliyah and do an entire posting about my first trip to the Memphis Zoo. There's a lot to be said about that visit. They also came to St. Luke last night to meet some of my members and be a part of the Confirmation class. It was awesome, wonderful, and slightly scarey to have that happen. It literally was my past merging with my present and forseeable future. That's a huge deal! If that doesn't go well, then you're kinda left at a loss as to where to go from there. In my case, it was wonderful merger and something that I'll remember for many years to come.

I'm so thankful for their visit. For the first time in a while, I felt free. Allow me to explain. Suzanne and Aliyah knew me before I became (for lack of better term) a youth pastor. They know my back story. They remember certain events in my life that shaped me into who I am today. I don't have to watch what I say around them because they know where I'm coming from. I can make references to past events and they get it. Without knowing all of that, I can't make the same references and share as much as I can with them. Also, I don't have to be filtered with them. I don't have to watch my words with Suzanne and Aliyah because my words are representing St. Luke. My words are represnting me and my journey. Since I haven't made as many friends here yet as I would like to have by now, I'm constantly the youth pastor. I meet new people via my members and I'm introduced as Karen the youth pastor.While there isn't anything wrong with that, there's more to me than just being a youth pastor. I'm a twenty something too. It was wonderful not to be the youth pastor and to just be Karen......and have the title of youth pastor be my job and not my identity.

I'm very anxious to have Suzanne and Aliyah back. I'm so thankful for their visit and a chance to share my life here with some of my closest friends from college.

The Suzanne!

So.......as most of my members know, my friends Suzanne and Aliyah have come to visit. We've done a lot since their arrival on Sunday afternoon. This is one of the funniest pictures that's been taken during their visit. I already miss them and they haven't even been gone for a hour yet.

You must come back very soon, Suzanne and Aliyah, because I really enjoy having you here and reminding me of my Wilson days. I love you both very VERY much and can't wait until our next get together!

The Ross Report

It all started on Tuesday last week. Ross was having some digestive issues. He'd constantly have to go to the bathroom and didn't have much of an appetite. He'd be bad one day and the next day he's be fine. That was until Thursday. Thursday, the flood gates opened. He couldn't keep anything down. This prompted a trip to the vet to find out what was going on with Ross. After the vet examed Ross, she decided that she wanted to take some x rays to make sure that there wasn't anything in Ross' stomach that wasn't suppose to be there. After a few x rays and me getting very nervous, she came back and told me that there was something in there and that Ross needed to have surgery the next morning.  I was to take him home with me that night and not give him anything.....no food and no water. He needed to be back the next morning by 7:30 so they could have him on the operating table at 8 am sharp.

After staying up all night to watch the Royal Wedding with my friend, Jodi, I drove Ross to the vet and was meet there by my other friend and member, Ruth. I asked her to come with me when I dropped him off because I knew that it would be too hard on me to do it alone. I did all of the paperwork that needed to be done and took off Ross' colar because they asked me to. I felt really bad about taking his colar home with me but I knew that I would feel a little better having a piece of him with me at home.  I said my goodbyes to Ross and they took him back to prep him for surgery.

To my surprise, they brought Ross out to see me while trying on his cone that he'd have to wear for the next two weeks. They updated me telling me that they repeated the x ray from the day before and there was still something in there. Ross still needed surgery.

They took Ross back again and I went home. I couldn't sit in the vet's office all day waiting to hear something. That would just be too hard on me. Just as I walked in the door of my apartment, my cell phone rang. It was the vet. She said that after looking at that morning's x ray that whatever was in Ross' stomach had moved. She suggested shooting him up with dye and taking x rays for the next several hours to see if there would be a chance for whatever this thing was to pass on it's own. I agreed thinking that that was a much better option that cutting Ross open.

Around noon, I got another phone call from the vet. The dye just sat in Ross' stomach for hours and didn't really move. She said the he needed surgery. I gave her permission to operate on Ross. She told me that I would get a phone call when he was out of surgery and awake. That phone call came around 2:30 Friday afternoon. She said that there wasn't anything in there and that his intestines weren't acting the way that they should have been acting. She said that sometimes they have to open dogs up to "let the evil spirits out" and that the dogs would be fine after that. The vet went on to say that I could come out and see him around 4:30 but I should call first to make sure she was around so she could explain everything to me when I got there.

 Ross was happy to see me when I got there. He looked really confused as to what was going on.....as you can tell by the picture above.

 This is the only picture of his incision that I could get. It's pretty big for a dog like him but at least it took care of what needed to be taken care of. The vet, after kindly letting me take these pictures, showed me the x rays they took before hand and told me about the kind of care that Ross would need once he came home. I asked all the questions that I could think of so I could be as informed as possible. The one question I did ask was what could have caused all of this. She said that she definately thinks that he ate something that he shouldn't have. Whatever it was called all of his digestive system to play the evacuation game in hopes of getting it out. That did the trick but his body didn't know when to stop. This caused his stomach and intestines to become irritated as well as inflamed causing them to basically stop working. Providing he had a good night that night and a good morning, he'd be allowed to come home the next day.

Saturday morning came and I was very excited to go get Ross. I hadn't heard from the vet so I knew that he had a good night. Once I arrived at the vet's, I recieved all of the food that Ross is suppose to eat for about the next week, medication for him to take several times a day, and directions for the care that he'd need so I wouldn't forget. Once I asked all the questions that I needed to and made sure that I understood everything, it was time to take Ross home!

Ross walked right into my apartment like he never left. He did his standard exploring and began to adjust to life in my apartment wearing the cone of shame. He wanted one thing and one thing only.....to eat.

So that's exactly what he did. I've never seen Ross eat so fast! I knew that he had to have been feeling better because of how quickly he ate his food.

For the rest of that night, we continued to follow the vet's orders including giving Ross the medication that he needed. However, one of the medications didn't sit right with him. Apparently, one of the antibodics that they gave Ross has a side effect of vomiting. This is one of the things that the vet told me to look out for because that might mean that there's something else wrong. I quickly called the vet's office and got the beeper number for the vet on call. The vet on call happened to be the same vet that operated on Ross the day before. I told her what was going on. She explained the side effect of that particular antibodic and told me not to give it to him anymore but that I should continue with the rest of the medication just like she perscribed.

Ross had a steller day yesterday including weathering another bout of severe weather for our area. He's always the calm one in a tornado warning.

Today, Ross is being a good little church dog. With all of the care that he'll need with feeding in the new few days, he's come into the office with me so I can make sure he gets what he needs while I work. He walks to my doof where I have a baby gate up so greet the members and people that walk by. He's also sat in my lap a few times and just stared out the window at the rain. He's also rested next to my desk almost as if he's keeping watch over me when it's really the other way around. We've also reached the last major hurdle to Ross' recovery. As of this morning, I can now confidently say that everything is back in working order. It's a huge relief for me!

Needless to say, Ross is on the mends. I'm so thankful that he's feeling better and couldn't be happier to see him acting like himself again!

Never thought I'd see the day

This news has made it all across the world by now.  The US killed and captured the body of Osama Bin Laden. That name became one burned into my mind as a 13 year old girl because of September 11, 2001. That was the day that the US changed forever. Pretty much from that day on, the US wanted to capture or kill Bin Laden for ordering the attacks on our country. I have two very different frames of mind about this long awaited goal.

On 9/11....I remember exactly where I was when I found out about it. I was in 8th grade at Northgate Middle/Senior High School in Pittsburgh, Pa. I was in my third period class computer class standing next to the printer waiting for a project of mine to print. Then, my principal came over the loud speaker announcing that our country was under attack. He didn't say where or any more details than that. I remember looking up at the clock to see what time it was........I can't remember now for the life of me what time it actually was. I knew though that I would always remember that while looking at that clock that the world that I lived in would completely change.  I later came to find out that New York was hit as well as the Pentagon and that a plane went down not too far away from Pittsburgh. My main concern was for my brother. At the time, my brother was a sophomore in college. He went to school in New Jersey and on any day could have taken the half a hour train ride to New York City. I had no idea if he was in the city that day or not. Since I didn't have a cell phone then, I couldn't find out if he was alright. I had to wait until I got home from school that day to find out that he was fine. He would later tell us how he could hear the towers of the World Trade Center fall about 10 seconds after he saw them fall on TV. For that reason....as well as several others, I wanted our soldiers to find this man and bring him to justice. Now that we have killed him, I feel a sense of relief because we don't have to worry about his man ordering anymore death in our direction.

On the other hand, I'm sad to find out that he had to go in that manner. He was a child of God just as much as I am. Whether he did good things or bad things in his life, doesn't change that he was a beloved child of God. For this reason, I'm sad to see one of the children of God passing in a violent way.

I know that there are many that are glad to hear that Bin Laden is gone. I know that this will be a topic of conversation for days, weeks, and years to come. I also know that there are people who are being like Doubting Thomas right now.....just waiting to see the proof that he's actually gone. We will all have that proof eventually. I also know that I will always remember what I was doing and where I was, just as I remember from 9/11, when I heard the news that Osama Bin Laden was dead. I had just walked back into my bedroom where the TV had been left on from storm coverage earlier in the day to see the breaking news box on the bottom of the screen announcing that Bin Laden was dead. That was roughly 13 hours ago......and the first thought I remember coming through my mind was that I never thought I'd see the day where we'd actually get him. I honestly thought that he would die of old age before we'd get him.....but now I can tell my children and grandchildren (I've told Ross but he doesn't seem to care.) that I remember the day that the US caught and killed Osama Bin Laden......the man that changed the world into the world that we currently live in.

Drop off

I know I haven't been writing for the past few days. There has been a lot of things going on with Ross. I'll write a full post soon about what has all taken place.

Graduation presents

Some of my youth are graduating high school this year. I want to get them something small but meaningful. Have any suggestions?

My First Easter as a church worker

This past Easter was my first Easter as a church worker. It certainly was a busy day. We had 3 worship services at St. Luke (8 am, 9:30 am and 11 am) and they seemed to almost run right into each other. As soon as one service was done, we literally had only a few minutes to turn around and get ready for the next service. We had a little drama as well. Normally, we have some sort of multimedia for our worship services. This generally is powerpoint and had the words for the hymns as well as the readings and other things like that. Well, for some reason the powerpoint that was made for the worship services at 8 am and 11 am just wouldn't work. It wouldn't run on the CUP that we have in the worship space it would run on another laptop that we have in the building. We couldn't figure out how to hook up the laptop to the system that we already have in place and we couldn't fix the powerpoint so that it could be used. We just had to go without.

It was such a buzz of activity that I've never seen before. It was crazy how quickly everything happened on Sunday. When the 11 am worship service was over, I felt like I could finally breathe. It took the rest of the day and a few shrimp to come down off my worship high. I actually might still be on a worship high but I don't know. I can't tell.

Happy belated Easter everyone! I hope you got to spend time with your family or with those whom you consider family!

Thankful

I will be thankful when tornado season is over.............whenever that may be.

Ross' first Easter

This is Ross' first Easter and in this picture is his first Easter bone. Tomorrow, I'll write about my first Easter as a church worker.

Until then: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!

Excitement unlike before

There's a real excitement for me this year as Easter approaches tomorrow morning. I'm not really sure what it is or why I haven't felt this excitement about Easter before. It's almost like Christmas as a little kid only on steroids dressed as Richard Simmons.  It's bold. It's right in your face. It's honestly making me giddy. If I had to guess, I would say that this excitement is stemming from having my own youth this year.

Easter is so exciting this year! He is almost risen!

Good Friday

This is a the finale from the Broadway revival of Godspell. This particular presentation of Christ's passion as always given me chillls. I hope you enjoy it on this Good Friday.

Godspell 2000 Broadway cast - Finale

Full Moon effect?

So, today is Maundy Thursday.....I'm thinking that this is roughly the time when church workers start to go a little crazy or start acting silly. At least that's what I think the case is for us at St. Luke. Allow me to give you an example. This morning in the office, Becky and I were having a hard time getting out words that we normally have no trouble with. This landed us in a giggle fit. For some reason, we couldn't get out the words packing tape.....I don't know why that was so tough but it was!

So, I'm wondering if the business of Holy Week plus the crazy weather we've been having has led us to what teachers refer to as the Full Moon Effect. This is when students act a little different (most of the time being silly and hard to focus) right around the time of a full moon. Is this what's happening to us?

Tornado, tornado go away

So... last night, my area was under a tornado watch....then a tornado warning. As a girl from up North, tornadoes still strike fear into my heart. However, I've gotten better with them since I moved here in September. Before I would just freak out at a watch. Now, I'm calmer during a watch and start to prepare just in case it turns into a warning. Generally, my bathroom gets turned into a bunker with everything that I could possibly need or would be really upset about if it got destroyed. However, last night freaked me out.

We've had a lot of this weather the past couple of weeks. Each time it seems to be worse than the time before. This time, the storm was so bad that I lost power for about two and a half hours. That was the first time that I lost power in my apartment.......and the first time that happens, it scares you. Not only did I have to find candles in my apartment to be able to see where Ross was but there was this annoying beeping that was driving Ross nuts! I thought it was the smoke detector but......it wasn't. It was the security system that's in my apartment. So, I decided that I'd continue to check the weather via my phone and when the coast was clear that I'd relocate to the church. I've been told that the church would most likely have power if I lost power. I got everything together that I could need to crash at the church for the night and loaded it into Ella. Then it dawned on me that Ella was in my garage.......and the power was out......how was I going to get her out so I could drive her to the church? Apparently, there's a rope you can pull on your garage door that will detach it from the motor so you can open it yourself. I got the garage door open and walked back into my apartment to get Ross when......the power came back on!!!! All that work for nothing! I unloaded Ella and crashed on the couch. I thought I was done and that I could finally rest......and the power went off again causing my security system to start beeping again. By this point, I'd had it. It was almost 1 am and I wasn't about to move. When I had the TV on while I had power, they said that the main part of the storm was past us.....translation in my mind: You can go to bed. You'll be fine. I dug out my ipod, dragged Ross into my bedroom, lit another candle so I could see where I was going, and went to bed. Normally, I would care about Ross not being crated during the night. Last night, I didn't care. If he chewed something up, he chewed something up. I was too tired to care. Once in bed, I tried really hard to listen to my ipod and make the beeping sound go away and it worked for a little bit.....until I heard voices.....This meant one of two things:
1. I had gone crazy and I was hearing voices in my head.
2. My power came back and that the voices were really coming from my TV in the living room.
I turned over and looked at the cable box in my bedroom to discover that the power had indeed come back on! I got up, fixed the TV in my bedroom, went and turned off the TV in the living room, and crawled right back in bed. I was finally able to fall asleep around 2 am.

I know that I'll get better at dealing with this kind of weather the longer that I live here. It just takes some getting used to. Each time this kind of weather rolls around, I do better than I did the time before. However, I have the sneaking suspicion that I'll still freak out when this kind of weather comes in......Like I tell all of my members: You're reaction to snow is my reaction to tornadoes. You get scared by any amount of snow fall and decide to hunker down in your houses for days after making a run to the grocery store for the essentials. I will most likely have a scared reaction to tornadoes by begin extremely cautious and living in my bathroom for several hours.

It is what it is......Thank you, Lord, for keeping all of us safe last night and bringing us to a new day today. Amen.

Easter Weekend

So some of you have heard the song "Friday" by Rebecca Black if you wanted to or not. Well....a couple of weeks ago, I came across a parody of it for Easter. A church that has several locations in the Chicago area made this video with one of their youth and it's awesome. Click on the link below and enjoy!

Sunday parody of "Friday"

All Glory, Laud and Honor

Ever since I can remember, each Palm Sunday at church was marked with the song "All Glory, Laud, and Honor". We'd march around the worship space singing all the verses holding our palm branches. I love hearing this song on Palm Sunday so much that I would get up early in college and go to the traditional service at 8:30 am and go to my regular service at 11 am just to make sure I got to hear it. So, for today's posting, as Holy Week begins, I'm posting the lyrics to "All Glory, Laud, and Honor" to pay tribute to one of my favorite hymns of all time as well as remind us all of the suffering that is yet to come.

All Glory, Laud, and Honor
Text: Theodulph of Orleans, 760-821 and John Mason Neale, 1818-1866
Music: Melchior Teschner, 1584-1635

Refrain:
All glory laud and honor to you redeemer, king,
To whom the lips of children made sweet hosannas ring

You are the kind of Israel and David's royal Son
Now in the Lord's name coming, our King and Blesses One

Refrain

The company of angels are praising you on high;
Creation and all mortals in chorus make reply

Refrain

The mulitide of pilgrims with palms before you went;
Our praise and prayer and anthems before you we present.

Refrain

To you, before your passion, they sang their hymns of praise.
To you, now high exalted, our melody we raise.

Refrain

Their praises you accepted; accept the prayer we bring,
Great author of all goodness, O good and gracious King.

Refrain