Author Archives: Ellen

Halloween 2020

Our daughter-in-law is creative and doesn’t shy away from hard work. She came up with this idea for the family for Halloween this year. Aren’t they the cutest S’more Family? Love our little Hershey bar (Jamie made the whole thing!) and our little marshmallow. I think he looks like a Victorian boy ready for his baptismal. Rayna even got into the act by being the campfire! They made the rounds to Uncle & Aunt, Granny, Granny Great and ended up at our house for dinner.

Dear was ready for the trick or treaters at the door with his chainsaw hat on. How’s that for creative!? I had a pirates wig on with an eye patch and the kids were not so sure about me…

One more photo for the books. I took my wig and eye patch off and here’s the response I got from our little marshmallow. How I love this look.

Coming in for his hug! I cherish this look and response from him knowing the time will come when he’ll out grow it. Boohoo…

Happy first Monday in November. Hope the time change doesn’t throw you for a loop.

Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat ~ Hymn

 

Approach, My Soul, the Mercy Seat

Approach, my soul, the mercy seat,
Where Jesus answers prayer;
There humbly fall before His feet,
For none can perish there.

Thy promise is my only plea,
With this I venture nigh;
Thou callest burdened souls to Thee,
And such, O Lord, am I.

Bowed down beneath a load of sin,
By Satan sorely pressed,
By war without and fears within,
I come to Thee for rest.

Be Thou my Shield and hiding Place,
That, sheltered by Thy side,
I may my fierce accuser face,
And tell him Thou hast died!

O wondrous love! to bleed and die,
To bear the cross and shame,
That guilty sinners, such as I,
Might plead Thy gracious name.

Poor tempest tossèd soul, be still;
My promised grace receive;
’Tis Jesus speaks—I must, I will,
I can, I do believe.

Words: John Newton, 1779.

This and That

Thank you to Laura who always remembers the group shot selfie and for taking the next couple photos in the midst.

Me and my favorite eighteen month old. He’s my little guy and I love him so.

Giving a hug to his gramps. Like his daddy when he was little, Jaymison, likes to have his hands full.

Saturday catch up with these photos before I forget them on this last day of October 2020. We have Halloween, a full moon and then before we go to bed we’ll need to turn our clocks back one hour. In the country we have no chance of trick or treaters except for our little grands who will stop by with their parents. They have a costume theme this year that is a fun one and I hope to get a photo tonight to share with y’all on Monday.

Take care everyone!

Corn Maze Snow Version

What a difference a week makes. Sunday the 18th of October my brother and his kids enjoyed the maze with me in sunshine and a bit of mud. On Saturday the 24th of October the patch paths were covered in snow. Our car arrived at the Corn Maze location a little after ten and it was closed. After checking on line we saw that they were due to open at eleven. Jamie and the littles arrived a little before 10:30 and the owner of the maze spotted us and came over to open up early for us. We were the only group on the maze from start to finish. Thank you Colville Corn Maze for a detailed maze experience and for opening early for us!

We never dreamed we’d be trekking through the maze in snow but we were all up for the adventure.

You need a map expert like Katie to make it through with ease and we were so happy she was on point since we were trekking through the snow in below freezing temperatures.

Warning: This is a photo loaded post!

Katie led us to the #1 stop quick and easy. Onward and upward we go.

We supported the Corn Maze People by buying some of their last pumpkins.

The cutest little pumpkins in the patch!

Do you go to a pumpkin patch this time of year? Do you have a Corn Maze in your town? Our snow is melting and we’ve had a nice stretch of dry weather. Very cold starts to the day with warming by mid afternoon. Slow but sure progress on the shop.

Truth from A to Z ~ H is for…

The last Thursday of October and we are on the letter H for our Truth from A to Z Bible Verse Challenge. Choose a verse or verses from the Bible with words beginning with H. Share your choices in the comments and I will add them to this post. Thank you in advance.

Psalm 121 (ESV): H is for Hills, Help, Heaven, Hand, He

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
    From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    who made heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot be moved;
    he who keeps you will not slumber.
4 Behold, he who keeps Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord is your keeper;
    the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
6 The sun shall not strike you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8 The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

Looking forward to seeing your verses!

From Aguene7:

Isaiah 52:7 

7 How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of him who brings good news,
who publishes peace, who brings good news of happiness,
who publishes salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”

From Cheryl:

Hebrews 13:14 

“For here we have no continuing city, but we seek one to come.”

From Maristella:

H is for HOPE :
“But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.
1 Peter 3:15

From Barbara:

My God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:19

From Patricia:

Isaiah 49:15-16

…I will not forget you. I have written your name on the palms of my hands…

From Vera:

H is for he, his, hand, heir, high and having

“Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.”
‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭1:1-4‬ ‭ESV‬‬

From Bethany: H is for Hope

but those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.
Isaiah 40:31
Click over to Bethany’s Blog, Raindrops and Rainbows to read her post.
~
From Martha Ellen: H is for Heart
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“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding ”
Proverbs 3:5
From Willow: H is for Heart
*
And you shall love the LORD your God with all your HEART, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.
Mark 12:30

Orange Has It’s Place Hodgepodge

It’s time for Wednesday Hodgepodge and Jo From This Side of the Pond is carving out the questions for us to answer.
***
1. Boo, boo-hoo, make a boo-boo, boo(ze)…pick one and tell us how it relates to life lately.
***
I’m going with Boo since we play a lot of peekaboo around here these days.
***
2. Do you like the color orange? Would we find this color in your home? Your wardrobe? Peach-pumpkin-tangeringe…your favorite shade of the three listed?
***
The color orange has it’s place but not in my everyday world of house decor or clothing. You’ll find orange in our house in our Fall decor. We have a rug that has rusty orange in it and a couple of rusty orange pillows. Blaze orange is around the house right now because of it being a safety color to wear while hunting. I enjoy seeing orange mixed with green and burgundy in nature! My riding lawn mower is orange!
3. October 28th is National Chocolate Day. What’s the last chocolate something you tasted? On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being out of this world delicious, how would you rate it?
***
Our son and DIL brought a box of Sees Chocolates for our annual family hunting weekend. I’ll give Sees Candy a 10.
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4. Life is like a box of chocolates or so says Forrest Gump’s mama. Would you agree? Aside from the pandemic fallout tell us one way this saying has played out in your life.
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Should I go deep with this question? I suppose we never know what a day will bring but we can prepare ourselves for whatever comes our way by being built up on the solid rock of Jesus Christ. Believing faith in who He is and what He’s done by repenting of our sins and following Him is the beginning. Then continuing in that faith by reinforcing it, reading the truth in the Bible and being obedient to it and staying in fellowship with God. God made this saving faith available to us through Jesus. Ask Him to show you.
***
5. As October winds down tell us three things you loved about the month we’re bidding adieu.
***
We had a rich time of fellowship during the month of October with three groups of family gathered together. My brother’s family arrived to our property in their 5th wheel and we had an extended visit with them here. We gathered on the west side of the Cascades with more family from California along with my brother’s family. My brother’s family departed our place last Thursday and later on that same day our kids from the west side of the mountains arrived for our annual Family Hunting Weekend. Three solid days of enjoying each other. 
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6.  Insert your own random thought here.
We never dreamed we would be enjoying our 4th Annual Corn Maze adventure in the snow. But you never know what a day will bring. We bundled up and I’ll share our Corn Maze experience on my blog on Friday.

Friday Snow Day

On Friday Katie, Laura and Addy built snowmen while JJ napped. They went to the garden to dig up the carrots for the noses!

Daniel put on the snow plow attachment and plowed the mile long drive for our travels to and from their home at the top of their mountain.

Our kids are more than halfway on their journey home expecting arrival before dark. I’ll have a few photo loaded posts to memorialize our 4th Annual Hunting Weekend.

The guys had a new experience this year hunting in the snow…

Last year Josh got his buck and this year it was Dan.

Looking forward to seeing what been going on with your blogs these past few days. I’m way behind…

Catch Up Day

On Friday the twenty third of October we got enough snow for Laura, Katie and Addy to build a couple snowmen while Jaymison napped.

At home the morning after I took this shot of our backyard to document the fact that we got closer to 6 inches instead of the 4-1/2 inches predicted.

A lot has melted already and soon all the white layers will be gone till the next snowfall. Our kids will be on the road heading back West later this morning or early afternoon. It’s a catch up day for me. Hope all is well where you are…

Christ is Thy Light ~ Hymn

Christ is Thy Light

Christ is thy light, O wand’rer, tempest tossed!
The beacon light is pointing to thy rest;
Dark is the night,
And rocky is the coast,
But sure it shines above the billow’s crest;
Christ is thy light!

Christ is thy strength, O faint and weary soul!
Thy strife is vain; embrace without delay
The grace that pleads
With thee To make thee whole;
Who by His blood has washed thy sins away;
Christ is thy strength!

Christ is thy guide, O pilgrim seeking rest!
He gently bids thee open wide the door
For Him to enter
In and be thy guest;
O trust and follow Him forevermore;
Christ is thy guide!

Christ is thy hope! O cling to self no more,
No more to hopes which flatter and decay,
But to the Rock
That stands the tempest’s roar,
On which thy trembling ark will find a stay;
Christ is thy hope!

Christ is thy king! He wore the crown for thee,
A crown of thorns, a diadem so meet;
But bow before
His love that made thee free,
And humbly cast thy crown before His feet;
Christ is thy king!

Words: Richard B. Cadbury

Departure and Arrivals

After being in Washington state for 3 full weeks it was time to put the Washington State sticker on Wholly Rollin’s travel map.

Thursday morning the 22nd of October was departure day for this dear family and their rig.

Thursday was a beautiful Fall day but our grass area under the truck tires was soggy and soft and the back wheels of the truck were spinning in the mud. Oye.

Dear came to the rescue with his 4 wheel drive truck and a heavy duty chain.

Success!

The truck and rig were free to continue on the Wholly Rollin adventure on to Kennewick, Washington and then into Oregon.

It was a privilege to enjoy my brother’s family for an extended period of time.

Until we meet again may God continue to direct your paths and bless your journey.

On this same morning Josh and Laura departed from the west side of the Cascades on their journey to Colville for our annual Hunting weekend, a 5-1/2 hour trip. Little did any of us know that Providence would allow an intersection of our eastward travelers with our westward departed travelers! On their way on I-90 Wholly Rollin pulled off at the Sprague Rest Area just as Josh and Laura were passing Ritzville which is 20 miles west of Sprague. Leonard and Mandy decided to text Josh and Laura to see where they were on their journey and to both traveling groups delight they were able to meet up at the Sprague Rest Area.

A photo op some conversation and then both groups hit the road again for their final destinations.

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, goodbye!

Josh and Laura arrived to our place a little before four and these two couldn’t be happier to see their Uncle and Auntie. And then at 6:30 pm Uncle Andrew and Auntie Katie arrived and there was more excitement. We are anticipating a full weekend of fun and fellowship.

As I type on this Friday morning the snow is gently falling here in Colville. This was a surprise forecast this week and it will make hunting and family photo taking a little more interesting than usual. Our hunting crew were up on the mountain by six thirty AM this Friday morning.

 

I took the above photo yesterday in the morning.

And here’s the view this morning Friday October 23rd!

Happy Friday everyone!