Author Archives: Ellen

Wildlife

I wanted to add the rest of the animals we enjoyed during our zoo and aquarium experience while we were in Arizona in the middle of January.

We did see a very majestic Lion but it’s hard to get a good photo through a fence.

We all had a good time at the zoo. The fact that it was a short ten minute ride from the house we were staying in was a plus. This was our first full day in Arizona and while the kids napped some of us made a trip to Costco to buy food for dinner and to stock up the fridge. We enjoyed Costco Rotisserie Chickens, their macaroni and cheese, Caesar saIads and fresh bread. We had enough chicken leftover to enjoy chicken Caesar salads for lunch the next day. I still have some catch-up posts from Arizona that I’ll add soon.

A Pokemon Party

We had so much fun and laughter at the birthday party for our two sons celebrating 40 and 42!

The Pokemon Choo Choo Train Cake. Our son Dan has had choo choo train cakes starting at his 3rd birthday. He didn’t get one every year but was always happy when they appeared on his day.

Our daughter-in-law put together an epic Pokemon themed party for the brothers while we were in Arizona.

These oreos decorated like Poke Balls were used for one of our games.

Poke Ball themed veggie and fruit trays.

We all got to choose the ears we wanted to adorn our heads with. Jamie made all of them. The different ears have names but I’m clueless.

We were all good sports and entered into all the party games! Not to brag but I won two of the games, move the oreo from your forehead to your mouth without dropping it or using your hands and a poke launch game.

Granny Great and Jim traveled from their snowbird location in Arizona (close to the border with California) to join in on the fun. They live in Colville from March through most of November and then travel down to Arizona for the late fall and winter months.

We tried to reenact this photo from Dan’s 10th birthday party.  Once I get my hands on the original photo from 1991, I’ll add it here.

It was an epic day celebrating our sons and hats off to our daughter-in-law who planned and stealthily managed to create and transport all the goodies to Arizona from Washington.

Birthday brothers…

We ended the party with a swim and some of us kept our ears on.

For my records we enjoyed this birthday celebration on Saturday January 16th, 2021.

Back to the present, we are looking at getting some good snow this week starting on Sunday evening. Time will tell if the predictions are correct. They are talking about an accumulation of 13 inches this week.

Behold, He Comes, The Glorious King ~ Hymn

Behold, He Comes, The Glorious King

Behold He comes! the glorious King
Whom once a cross upbore;
Let saints redeemed His praises sing,
And angels hosts adore.

The reed, the purple, and the thorn,
Are lost in triumph now;
His person robes of light adorn,
And crowns of gold His brow.

Dear Lord, no more despised, disowned,
A victim bound and slain;
But in the power of God enthroned,
Thou dost return to reign.

To Thee the world its treasure brings;
To Thee its mighty bow;
To Thee the Church exulting springs;
Her Sovereign, Savior Thou!

Beneath Thy touch, beneath Thy smile,
New heavens and earth appear;
No sin their beauty to defile,
Nor dim them with a tear.

Thrice happy hour! and those thrice-blest
That gather round Thy throne!
They share the honors of Thy rest,
Who have Thy conflict known.

Words: Joseph Tritton

Round and Round We Go

The Wildlife Zoo called this ride their Carousel. Addy chose this horse to ride and JJ chose the dog.

Carousels and Merry-Go-Rounds, whatever you call them, kids of all ages enjoy them. I think this was JJ’s first ride on one.

Addy was cold and her coat was in the car so she borrowed Auntie Katie’s sweatshirt.

Our family of 10 were in Arizona from January 13th until January 19th. Our trip to the Wildlife park was on Thursday January 14th. I enjoy the desert in winter, how about you? Escaping a snowy winter with freezing temps to a desert winter in the 60’s and 70’s is a treat.

Back here in Colville we have had sunshine but our temps have been in the teens. We are promised some new snow showers on Sunday.

The Best of the Birds

When our family of ten were in Arizona we enjoyed our time at the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium.

Not a problem for our time at the park.

Addy did not appreciate some of the animal odors.

Posting all our Arizona adventures for our family archives.

On Thursday we drove south to Spokane to buy a new toilet for our Master Bath. Besides the Home Depot we shopped at Hobby Lobby, Total Wine and Costco. On our trip south we listened to a sermon from Grace Community Church by John MacArthur. 2020 Clarity. We found it encouraging. We returned home and our new toilet was installed before 6 PM! Thank you Dear!! Friday evening and Saturday morning Dear and I are attending a marriage seminar at our church here in Colville.

Hope you all have a great weekend.

Truth from A to Z Bible Verse Challenge ~ Q

January is moving along and we have come to the letter Q. Choices might seem easier this week as the letter Q has a shorter quantity of words in our Concordances! Enjoy your search and thank you very much for sharing your verse or verses in the comments here and I’ll add them to this post as soon as I can.

Q is for Quarrelsome:

Proverbs 21:9 (ESV) 

It is better to live in a corner of the housetop than in a house shared with a quarrelsome wife. 

From Cheryl: Q is for Quicken:

“Quicken me after thy lovingkindness; so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth” Psalms 119:88

From Vera:

Q is for QUALITIES:

“For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.”
‭‭2 Peter‬ ‭1:5-9‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Visit Bethany at her blog by clicking here https://raindropsrainbows.blogspot.com/

Her word is quieted with some inspirational thoughts, too.

From Maristella:

Q is for QUIET:
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside *quiet* waters.”
Psalm 23:1-2
And
“Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and *quiet* spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”
1 Peter 3:3-4

From Happyone:

Q is for Quench:

Ephesians 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to QUENCH all the fiery darts of the wicked.

From Patsystitch:

Q is for Quarrelsome:

2 Timothy 2:24
And the Lord’s servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil,

Family Hodgepodge

Thank you to Jo for coming up with questions this week even though her daughter’s wedding was this past weekend!

For Hodgepodge Wednesday questions we were with all our kids and grands in Arizona, flying out later on Tuesday afternoon. I posed  some of these questions to them for fun.

1. What’s something we’d find you doing most afternoons?

Dear and I eat dinner most afternoons, not in the evening.

2. Who do you take after? In what way(s)?

I’m more like my mother, snarky but willing to feed a crowd.

Joshua takes more after me, more of a people person and more adventurous and willing to spend money. Dan is a mix of me and his dad, jumps in to get things done more introverted like his dad with the best one liners coming out of nowhere. Katie is mostly her dad, more introverted, the brightest in the bunch and smart cracking.

3. ‘After every storm comes a rainbow’ or ‘the calm before the storm’...which phrase do you relate to more right now? Tell us why?

Most of the group was ‘after every storm comes a rainbow’. I tend toward looking on the bright side and knowing things will turn out in the end. Because Jesus is our Savior and Lord we know who holds the future and that Hope brings us through the storms of life.

Our daughter says…”how about in the eye of the hurricane?”

4.What are your plans for the day after tomorrow?

We will be back home after a week in the sun trying to catch up with laundry and mail and bills, etc.

5. Complete this sentence-“After all is said and done_____________________.”

From Andrew: …naptime.

Laura: …it’s over.

Joshua: …atta boy.

Jamie: …,satisfied.

Ellen: …time to relax.

Greg: …I wouldn’t change a thing.

Katie: …the best is yet to come.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

The parties are over and it’s time to come back home to Winter…

Arizona Log Ride

We had planned on a family trip to Disneyland this year but plans changed and it worked out to have a family week in Arizona instead. This isn’t the log ride at Disneyland but it was just right for our almost 4 year old, Addy. This ride was at the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium.

 

It was a fun way to end our time at the Wildlife park…being a little wild!

Running Nonstop!

Busy, busy, chasing these two! I’ll be back to normal living on Wednesday. Hope y’all are doing well.

We’ve been enjoying lots of family time in the home our son is part owner of here in Arizona. A nice large space with a pool for us all to enjoy! Each couple has their own room, too, along with a room for Addy. An amazing property. Two birthday celebrations down with one more to go!

I’ll be visiting blogs again later this week!

Those Who Love the Lord ~ Hymn

2014-07-13 hereford2Jesus said, All who want to be followers of mine must re-nounce self, take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

Those Who Love the Lord

Follow Jesus all the way,
Let Him ever be your stay;
Trust in His grace for keeping,
Trust while awake or sleeping,
Trust though in sadness weeping,
If you love the Lord.
All that receive holy calling
Face bitter trials appalling,
He will protect from falling—
Those who love the Lord.

Follow in the path of good,
Walking humbly as you should;
What is there that can harm thee?
Satan with all his army
Shall nevermore alarm thee,
Hiding in the Lord.
Jesus the light of the nation,
The living God of creation,
Keeps by His great salvation
Those who love the Lord.

Follow Christ as children dear,
Soon in glory He’ll appear;
Then you’ll admire His coming,
Fear and confusion shunning,
Joy in your heart o’errunning,
If you love the Lord.
Courage is strongly abiding,
If in His name you are hiding,
Meekly in Christ confiding,
If you love the Lord.

Words: Abbie L. Meyers, 1900.