Author Archives: Ellen

Come Down, O Love Divine ~ Hymn

Come Down, O Love Divine

Come down, O love divine,
Seek Thou this soul of mine,
And visit it with Thine
Own ardor glowing.
O Comforter, draw near,
Within my heart appear,
And kindle it,
Thy holy flame bestowing.

O let it freely burn,
Til earthly passions turn
To dust and ashes
In its heat consuming;
And let Thy glorious light
Shine ever on my sight,
And clothe me round,
The while my path illuming.

Let holy charity mine
Outward vesture be,
And lowliness become
Mine inner clothing;
True lowliness of heart,
Which takes the humbler part,
And o’er its own shortcomings
Weeps with loathing.

And so the yearning strong,
With which the soul will long,
Shall far outpass the power
Of human telling;
For none can guess its grace,
Till he become the place
Wherein the Holy Spirit
Makes His dwelling.

Words: Bianco of Sienna, 1434.

Seventy

Tomorrow is my 70th birthday, March 14th.

The fifth child of Russian Immigrants to the United States after World War II settling in the Los Angeles Area of California. Raised by parents who sought after God and taught us Christian values. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord at twelve, repenting and being born again spiritually. Married to a fellow believer for 46 years. Blessed with two sons and a daughter. Blessed again with two daughters-in-law and a son-in-law. Crowned in our old age with two grandchildren. Thankful to God for all He has done in my life, my husband’s life, our children’s lives and our grandchildren’s lives. Keeping on the straight and narrow until He returns or we are called home.

I’ve been so humbled and joyfully weepy over all the greetings, gifts, and flowers that have been delivered by friends and family via Amazon and USPS with postmarks from the USA and Canada.

The gift and flower senders! Top of the collage my dear friends since the 70’s Jeaneen and Heidi. The bottom of the collage my brother Leonard and his wonderful Mandy.

My brother’s family sent me this Borscht in a container. We are all curious how it will turn out. You just add broth and then meat if you want.

These ‘girls’ (Mennonite Girls Can Cook) are part of my tenship. They’ve only been in my life for a little over a decade. They have become the best of friends. We communicate almost daily and we share life together praying for one another and encouraging one another. We laugh and we weep together. Waiting for that day for the border to open so we can celebrate in person again! It was fun to get birthday cards for my 70th from across the line. Thank you girls!

As with my 60th birthday celebrations my 70th will be going on for as long as I can stretch out the fun. A lot of changes in a decade of life. There will be a photo in the near future with me wearing my Fabulous 70 crown and sash.

Happy 10th Anniversary!

These four were able to go out together to celebrate Katie and Andrew’s 10th wedding anniversary. They sent the photos via text. I wanted to memorialize ‘as they were’ on their 10th!

Lots to celebrate this month in person or from afar. I’m thankful to enjoy these moments!

Our little grandniece (close to 9 pounds) was born on March 9th and mother and baby are doing well. Looking forward to meeting her in person later this year.

Truth from A to Z ~ X is for…

This Thursday we are on that tricky letter X. Remember you can pick any word that has an X anywhere within the word. After you choose your Bible verse or verses add it in the comments and I’ll post it below. Thank you all for your excellent contributions each week.

X is for Examine:

Lamentations 3:40 ~ Let us test and examine our ways, and return to the Lord.

2 Corinthians 13:5 ~ Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? -unless indeed you fail to meet the test.

From Vera:

X is for eXact

“And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high,”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭1:3‬ ‭NASB

From Patricia:  X is for Examine:

Lamentations 3:40 Let us examine and probe our ways,
And let us return to the Lord.

1 Corinthians 11:27-31 Therefore whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner, shall be guilty of the body and the blood of the Lord. But a man must examine himself, and in so doing he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks, eats and drinks judgment to himself if he does not judge the body rightly.

From Ruthie: X is for Exalt.

Exalt the Lord our God and worship at his footstool. Psalm 99:5

From Bethany: X is for Exalt.

Click over to Bethany’s Blog Raindrops and Rainbows to see her post.

From Happy One (Karen): X is for Exceedingly

Mark 4:41 And they feared EXCEEDINGLY, and said one to another, what manner of man is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?

From Cheryl:

“Exalt” is a repeat, but this is the verse that came to mind, and I love this invitation to His people!

Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.

Another Milestone Hodgepodge

Another Milestone Birthday is on it’s way (March14th). Boy we’ve aged in 10 years but…that’s the way it is supposed to be. Cheers! The photo above is from one of my 60th birthday celebrations.

Time for Wednesday Hodgepodge and Jo From This Side of the Pond has some deep questions for us this week.

1. March 9th is National Get Over It Day…what’s something you need to ‘just get over already’? 

For years we’ve all been able to live under the radar when it comes to people not holding the same convictions as us. Today there is blatant disagreement on how to live our daily lives. I’m working on how to respond to those who are polar opposites. Most of the time no response is the best response. Sometimes it is good to engage in some dialogue.  Wisdom and discretion are needed.

2. Something you’re currently ‘over the moon’ about? 

I’m looking forward to March 14th through the 22nd when some celebrations will be happening on this side of the mountains. See #5.

3. What’s something you’re ‘chewing over’ these days? (meaning-thinking over carefully)

Christ’s substitutionary atonement for believers; “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21)

And…

“God’s gift of redemption brings salvation from both sin’s oppression and sin’s consequences-and one day from its very existence. Hence, we no longer need to fear our former master; neither should we fear the wrath of God. Christ defeated sin and Satan at the cross, and He also bore the full punishment of God’s wrath for all who believe in Him. His death set us free from sin, condemnation and fear.”

Quote from the book; Slave-The Hidden Truth About Your Identity In Christ by John MacArthur

4. The last thing you cooked or ate that was overdone? 

Can’t think of anything. We have had some under seasoned meals at one of the restaurants in town.

5. In celebration of hitting volume 411 in the weekly Hodgepodge, give us the 411 on something happening in your life in the next 30 days. 

On Sunday, March 14th, I’m hitting a milestone birthday, turning 70! How did that happen? Dear and I will celebrate with a couple nights in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho at a nice Inn and with some nice meals out in open restaurants. On Friday the 19th our Coast kids are flying over and we will meet up in Spokane for a birthday meal with all of us except for Andrew who has to fly somewhere for his job. Then on Saturday we will celebrate little Addy who turns 4 on the first day of Spring. The kids will be around for the whole weekend so there will be lots of fun and frolic. It will be good to be together.

In the next few days we will have a new grand niece join the world. She’s due on my birthday but she’ll probably come sooner.

Also within this time frame Spring arrives! Aren’t we all ready for Spring?

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

These photos are from March of 2011 when we celebrated my 60th birthday. We had a delicious meal in downtown Seattle. Our son Dan hadn’t met his bride to be yet. Our daughter Katie was in North Carolina marrying Andrew at the Justice of the Peace before he was deployed to Afghanistan.

We had a wedding for them a year later on their anniversary in Seattle after Andrew returned from his tour of duty and got a few days leave. Their 10th Anniversary is tomorrow, March 11th!

Happy 10th Anniversary Andrew and Katie!

Tuesdays With Moisi ~ Fedot

This bit of family history was shared by our brother Steve when he visited our Pop (Moisi) in 2014, February 28th.

“Spent some time with my Dad today (while my house was being inundated by a mudslide), and we talked about his oldest brother Fedot who died in WW2 after stepping on a land mine. He is buried in this mass grave in Rostov. Another one of his brothers (Mike) was in Siberia mining coal during WW2. This brother was in Siberia for 18 years (the joke being he had a two year sentence but it took 16 years for the paperwork for his release to go through). This brother, Mikhail, forever held a grudge against Americans whom he claimed stole Russia’s gold. He witnessed them loading it onto ships.”

Putting together the bits and pieces of history we’ve learned here and there.

The Weekend

On Saturday we arrived to watch our grands at 8:00am and said goodbye to their mommy and daddy at 8:30. After playing for awhile boredom set in and since it was still drizzly outside we pulled out the Play Dough for some creative endeavors.

The sun broke through so after cleaning up the dough we bundled up for some outdoor time.

Our son rigged up a way to add a second swing so JJ and Addy could swing at the same time. It’s ingenious and we enjoyed singing lots of songs like Old MacDonald, Twinkle Twinkle Little Star, Jesus Loves the Little Children, 6 Little Ducks, The Wiseman Built His House Upon the Rock, The B-I-B-L-E, The Muffin Man, This Little Light of Mine.

Off the swings and into the sand.

Sand is nice but mud is muddy.

We played until it was time for lunch so we kicked off as much mud as we could, washed up our hands and got lunch ready.

Hide and Seek, A non Easter Egg Hunt, pretend play in Addy’s room and then it was time for a relaxing time watching Pippa the Pig until Mommy and Daddy arrived just before nap time. We said our goodbyes and headed home with our trailer.

We decided to have an early dinner at our non-favorite Mexican Restaurant in Colville. It was fun to see a couple of our friends there and my cousin with her family. It was good to catch up with them.

Later in the day our Daughter-in-law on the Coast sent these beautiful images with the snow geese congregating in Mount Vernon, Washington State.

Thank you Laura for sharing these amazing captures with me and letting me share them.

Our Sunday was quiet. We had a guest speaker at church and then we bumped into a couple from church and had lunch with them in Kettle Falls. Home again for more quiet looking out the window at hail, snow, hail and rain. Very undecided weather. Looks like we’ll have a lot more mud to deal with for a while.

Hope your weekend was good.

When Morning Gilds the Skies ~ Hymn

Sunrise january 003

When Morning Gilds the Skies

When morning gilds the skies
My heart awaking cries:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Alike at work and prayer,
To Jesus I repair:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Does sadness fill my mind?
A solace here I find,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Or fades my earthly bliss?
My comfort still is this,
May Jesus Christ be praised!

To God, the Word, on high,
The host of angels cry,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let mortals, too, upraise
Their voice in hymns of praise,
May Jesus Christ be praised!

The night becomes as day
When from the heart we say:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
The powers of darkness fear
When this sweet chant they hear:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Sing, suns and stars of space,
Sing, ye that see His face,
Sing, Jesus Christ be praised!
God’s whole creation o’er,
For aye and evermore
Shall Jesus Christ be praised!

In Heav’n’s eternal bliss
The loveliest strain is this,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let earth, and sea and sky
From depth to height reply,
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Be this, while life is mine,
My canticle divine:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Sing this eternal song
Through all the ages long:
May Jesus Christ be praised!

Daffodils from the Past

Back in 2010 Dear and I drove north from our former home in Kenmore Washington to see the daffodils. Neighboring fields will be full of tulips come April.

I didn’t find any daffodils in the stores yesterday. I did find a bunch of tulips but instead of bringing them home they found a different home.

We are off to grand sit. There will be lots of round and round today. Have a good Saturday.

Daffodils

Like sunflowers daffodils make me smile. I have yet to track some down this year to brighten up the house.

Maybe I’ll find some today.

March has been calm around here so far but plans are afoot for the middle of the month and beyond. Tomorrow we will be watching the grands while D & J help a friend in Spokane with a move.

I’m enjoying the senior workouts by Yes2next on Monday, Wednesdays and Fridays and I’m looking to add something different by them for Tuesdays and Thursdays. I like that the daughter\mom team have voices that are easy to listen to. I’m not a fan of loud screeching instructions.

The owl jigsaw puzzle is still on the dining room table and I’ve made some progress but it continues to be a tough one.

The electrical is mostly done in the shop and Dear has lights, lots of them. Soon he’ll start in on drywalling the ceiling. The temps have been above freezing which makes it easier to work in the shop without heat. Toe warmers and battery warming gloves also add to the comfort of working in the cold.

Other than watching our grands we will have a quiet weekend. How about you?