When God brought the Mennonite Girls Can Cook together little did we know the doors He would open for us to share His love with others and with each other. Yesterday was a day filled with examples of how powerful God’s love and purposes are and what it can do for a small circle of people and extend to the greater community and the world.
My 220 mile round trip drive up to Abbotsford and back was worth my time. Chris Tomlin’s Burning Lights CD kept me company all the way up and back. Some of these lyrics, each from a different song on the CD, made me want to raise my hands in awe and some made me want to do a fist pump!
“I’m alive when you breathe on me.”
“The God of Angel Armies is always by my side.”
“He is a friend of mine.”
“You’ll never give up on us.”
“All hail, Redeemer, hail, for He has died for me.”
“On the altar of our praise, let there be no higher name, Jesus, Son of God.”
“Thank you God for saving me.”
About thirty minutes into my drive I realized I had left my passport at home and was happy that I had gone to the trouble of getting an enhanced license. It worked great going into Canada and coming back. When I walked up to Lovella’s door I was greeted by Anneliese and Lovella with their cameras in hand. Of course I pulled mine out and started taking photos, too. Lovella’s table was set beautifully for us and the aroma of the food she and Anneliese had prepared set the mood for our celebration.
The 4 Chilliwack girls arrived and we sat down for our delicious meal starting off with Anneliese’s Roasted Red Pepper soup (which I forgot to take a photo of). Lovella made a quiche with fresh laid eggs from her farm and an amazing layered salad with greens, papaya, avocado, strawberries, onions cut big enough just in case we wanted to discard them and a tasty home made avocado dressing.
Lovella will be sharing the recipes soon on our blog.
We missed Bev, who is out of the country with her hubby on a business trip and our Winnipeg girls, Charlotte and Betty. I borrowed stole this next photo from Anneliese’s blog.
Judy made a special Valentine’s day dessert treat for us and because 2 of our girls have February birthdays she brought something special to light their desserts up!
Happy February Birthdays to Marg and Lovella!
Aren’t these desserts in a jar sweet! What a fun surprise to have them come out of Judy’s Tupperware tote and placed on Lovella’s plates and her mom’s vintage paper doilies from years ago.
The main reason we got together on this day was for a special tour of Matthew’s House in Abbotsford which was scheduled for 2:30. We’ve played a small part in making this dream come true. I will share more about Matthew’s House tomorrow. The house that love built…
We were going to meet at a restaurant for lunch before our tour. We all appreciated meeting at Lovella’s home instead where we could have a more intimate time together. Thank you Lovella for thinking of that and opening your home and table to us.
I made it to the border close to four for my trip home and had a fun chat with the U.S. Border agent. I wanted to give both the Canadian and U.S. agents I encountered this day a Gold Medal for doing their job cheerfully! I was home by six with just one nasty back up close to home. I’m always thankful for the ease of travel from my home to Canada.
Hello Ellen. I quite agree that Chris Tomlin makes a wonderful travel companion! It’s wonderful to see all of you gathered at Lovella’s table in her newly painted dining room enjoying each other’s company. I’m glad your travel was safe and fairly easy. Looking forward to hearing about Matthew’s House.
I love to sing praises in the car..when driving alone! Your photos are lovely and you ladies certainly eat scrumptious looking food..
Looks like a fun time! And I like traveling with Chris, too! 🙂
And here’s another fan of traveling with Chris T! Thanks for making the long trek north once again to join us, Ellen. It was most special…our time together!
A great recap of your trip.
Hi there! This is my first visit to your blog! We are a group of
volunteers and starting a new initiative in a community in the same niche.
Your blog provided us valuable information to work on. You have done
a wonderful job!
Another great celebration! Looks like you had a wonderful time together again…. Thank you for always sharing these fun times – you’ve described everything so wonderfully. I can just see you happily bopping to the music as you drive along! So great that you could support such a worthy cause as Matthew’s House. Is there some way that we blogger friends could also contribute? I know I’d like to!
So glad to hear of the good company you had! We still look back to that Burning Lights concert in Seattle as one of the best we have been to. Thank you for coming yesterday! It always makes it extra special when one or more of our far away girls joins us.
You gals do have the best celebrations! Your meal looks wonderful…that salad, that dessert. Enhanced license? Hmmm…I must look into that. A great cd sure makes traveling more fun.
This is absolutely the sweetest and most uplifting post, Ellen, friends are one of the most precious gifts to us from our heavenly Father. You girls seem to have so much fun when you get together. the food and flowers are pretty too! Praise and worship while traveling is always te best, I love how our daily steps are ordered by God. Looking forward to your post about Matthew’s House in Abbotsford. Thank you for your condolences for our family!
It’s always great to hear about your get-togethers….the smiles, the food,…it all looks good!
What a lovely time you girls had! Everything looks so delicious.
What is that old saying: The road to a friends house is never far?
And yes, kudos to our excellent border patrol!
I love “us”. Thank you for sharing!
It’s truly special how those songs gave you the inspiration for some special thoughts. A wonderful event shared by some inspirational dreams.