Author Archives: Ellen

Addy is Three!

She’s happy to hold up three fingers to show you just how old she is!

Here she is with Gramps this past weekend in Spokane Valley where we braved some time in a hotel.

Back home and in the fresh sunshine air on Wednesday.

Such a good helper prepping seeds for starts for the garden.

On St. Patrick’s Day she and her family came to Baba and Gramps’ for our traditional Corned Beef and Cabbage meal.

She won’t understand the scope of what’s going on during her 3rd birthday this year. The following photos were taken by her mommy and daddy at her birthday celebration in isolation with her immediate family. The COVAD-19 rules of social distancing warranted a no party birthday.

Thankful for social media so we can share in these moments from a distance.

Happy Birthday dear Addy. You are such a joy to Gramps and me. You are always ready to help. You love gymnastics. You love the outdoors and a good hike. You have an amazing memory. You seem to be very visual. We look forward to enjoying your antics in this new year! You are a special Spring gift to us all! We love you dearly.

11 Months Old!

This little guy reached the 11 month old benchmark on Monday the 16th of March. The photo above was taken at our hotel room this past Sunday when he was 1 day shy of 11 Months.

Baba and Gramps love you dear Jaymison!!

He was over Tuesday evening and is working on mastering his walking skills. From standing he can bend over to pick something up off the floor and get upright and continue walking! Thursday morning I was able to add more photos to this post since my broadband service let me! This sporadic problem is a mystery to me.

Hope all is well with my bloggy friends!

Tuesdays With Moisi ~ Katie and Andrew’s Wedding 2012

This last week our daughter and her husband celebrated 9 years of marriage. Katie and Andrew were legally married at the magistrates office in Jacksonville, North Carolina before Andrew’s 1st deployment to Afghanistan. We planned a marriage ceremony and celebration one year later in Seattle. That weekend in March of 2012 was packed with gatherings of family and friends who came from near and far to celebrate. We were so grateful to God that Katie’s Babushka and Dzedushka could travel to be at her wedding and that Andrew got back in time to get leave to come to his wedding ceremony!

It was a lovely wedding on a cold clear windy March 11th in Seattle on Lake Union.

Moisi, Katie’s Dzeda (grandfather), prayed a blessing over Katie and Andrew.

These were all of Moisi’s people at the wedding.

Did I mention it was really windy?

Katie and her Dzeda (Moisi) at her first Christmas and birthday.

Moisi and Nadia were able to attend our niece Debbee and Lenny’s wedding in 2013 and that would be the last grandchild’s wedding the two of them could attend before our mom was ushered into Heaven in September of 2013. They watched some of grandson Caleb’s wedding in August of 2013 from their apartment via the internets. It was too far for Moisi to attend our son Daniel’s wedding in 2015. Moisi was able to attend grandson Joseph’s wedding in January of 2017 since the wedding was in California.

A good word from Spurgeon during these trying days of the COVID-19 Pandemic:

God is with the true, the just, the holy, to deliver them; and he will deliver you. Remember how Daniel came out of the lions’ den, and the three holy children out of the furnace. Yours, is not so desperate a case as theirs; but if it were, the Lord would bear you through, and make you more than a conqueror. Fear to fear. Be afraid to be afraid. Your worst enemy is within your own bosom. Get to your knees and cry for help, and then rise up saying, ‘I will trust, and not be afraid’.

HT: Jeremy Leffel Photography

St. Patrick’s Day 2020

Celti

It’s time to get ready for our annual Corned Beef and Cabbage meal for St. Patrick’s Day.

We got all the ingredients on our way home from Spokane Valley on Sunday. Do you make a Corned Beef meal on St. Patrick’s day or any day?

An Old Celtic Blessing

May the blessing of light be on you –
light without and light within.
May the blessed sunlight shine on you
and warm your heart
till it glows like a great peat fire.

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I was not able to upload any new photos today from our weekend away. I hope to be able to do that on Monday. On Monday I’m having a massage which was a Christmas gift to me from my Colville kids. Looking forward to that even though it doesn’t qualify as social distancing.

Glory To His Name ~ Hymn

Glory To His Name!

Down at the cross where my Savior died,
Down where for cleansing from sin I cried,
There to my heart was the blood applied;
Glory to His name!

Refrain

Glory to His name, glory to His name:
There to my heart was the blood applied;
Glory to His name!

I am so wondrously saved from sin,
Jesus so sweetly abides within;
There at the cross where He took me in;
Glory to His name!

Refrain

Oh, precious fountain that saves from sin,
I am so glad I have entered in;
There Jesus saves me and keeps me clean;
Glory to His name!

Refrain

Come to this fountain so rich and sweet,
Cast thy poor soul at the Savior’s feet;
Plunge in today, and be made complete;
Glory to His name!

Refrain

Words: Elisha A. Hoffman, 1878.

The President of the United States has declared today a National Day of Prayer over the COVID-19 Virus Pandemic. This is something all believers can do from the comfort and safety of their homes. Call out to our God of mercy and grace together for safety, protection, healing with hope for stopping the rapid spread of this virus. May God allow us to be able to help in practical ways and with our encouragement and joy in the midst of these trying times. Glory to His name!

Still in the Sixties!

Happy Birthday to me. Happy to announce I have one more year in my sixties, Lord willing.

The first four of the Bagdanov siblings. Four more were born from 1958 until 1963.

This has been true for me since 1963! Jesus is my Savior and my Lord and my allegiance will always be to Him because of what He has done for me and you. This is a good time to consider the claims of Jesus and where you stand in light of your eternity.

I’ll have a low key celebration this year.

We moved from living next door (Kenmore) to the epicenter (Kirkland) of the Coronavirus here in Washington State in 2018. On the Eastside things are not as stressed as our Western side of the state. Western Washington has larger population bases. Dear and I are in a hotel in the Spokane Valley right now that is, like many hotels, way under capacity in room occupancy. We brought our own bleach wipes to use in our room for our own peace of mind.

We need to be careful as we listen to so many on our news feeds who are just reporting speculation based on possible incidents rate. Not everyone needs to be tested. They make it sound like everyone needs to be tested. This is not the case. Too much mis-information is being fed to us and decisions are being made on this mis-information.

As of Monday all schools will be closed in Washington State. Other states are imposing closures, too.

Check on your elderly friends everyone!!

Hope you are finding peace where you are.

We enjoyed an early birthday celebration meal at Clover in Spokane close to Gonzaga College. We were delighted with the food and service and overall atmosphere. We will return!

This Pot de Creme was on the house because of my birthday. This restaurant has a bakery where they make their own biscotti and other goodies. That chocolate biscotti was so good.

I’ll leave you with this encouragement from our church in Colville:

During a time of uncertainty our prayers should increase, but our anxiety should not. God is in control, and we need to lean on Him, remembering that everything that God allows is for our good and his glory. Philippians 4:6-7 “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
We would all do well to follow the admonition in James 4:8 – Cleanse your hands ye sinners!

This sinner saved by grace will continue to cleanse her hands. Thank you already for all your good thoughts on our trying times and for my birthday. I appreciate all my bloggy friends! This will be a birthday to remember for sure!

Spring Forward

Our little grands brought their folks over for dinner last Friday and I tried to capture some photos of the two. Evening is not the best time for photos. At the time of these photos Addy was 2 weeks shy of turning 3 years old. Jaymison was about 5-1/2 weeks shy of turning 1. Jaymison has no idea about what his birthday means but Addy is counting the days till Auntie Lolo, Uncle Joshie, Auntie Katie and Uncle Andrew arrive from the Coast to celebrate her birthday.

We are helping the economy of Spokane Valley for a few days staying in a very uncrowded hotel and eating at empty restaurants and shopping in stores we don’t have in Colville. We are being cautious and the hotel has initiated extra care, too.

We had the Pandemic Costco shopping experience on Thursday morning in Spokane Valley. Costco opens at 10:00 am. We arrived at 9:30 and the parking lot was filling up fast. Crowds of folks were outside the doors with their carts waiting for the doors to open. They opened 15 minutes early and the great majority of people rushed to the section of the store where the toilet paper is usually stocked. Because of what has been happening in all the Costco stores they were inventive and stacked all the toilet paper in the freezer food case aisles and the employees were pulling the packages off the piles and handing them to people. I got one, just one, package of the Kirkland brand of TP for our kids (they were out, not hoarding) Then I headed to diapers and baby wipes. Dear had the cart and walked leisurely to where I was to load the diapers and wipes and he had gotten a package of our brand of TP. We decided to throw in a case of bottled water, too. A bottle of Vitamin C tablets for good measure and we were in line ready to leave this crazy scene. We made it out in time to avoid the checkout lines that extended back to the middle of the store. Sheesh. It was busier than Christmas or Black Friday.

So we all are wondering what the deal is with the run on toilet paper? Do you know?

Praying that the virus will be able to be contained soon and that the deaths will decrease soon, too. It’s a trying time for many with so many hardships to bear. One thing that is sure is that we are all in this together and wherever we can help or encourage and shine God’s light is good.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9 (ESV)

Huntington Beach Civic Center

I’m glad I had my camera with me while I waited for my sister to get her one year beach parking pass at the Huntington Beach Civic Center. As a senior who lives in Huntington Beach she can purchase a year long parking pass for $75.00. What a bargain and a good way to benefit city residents who have to put up with all the incoming traffic that tourists and day trippers pose. This pass is good at the City Beach not the State Beach.

 

Tuesday was a good day at Bible Study Fellowship and then I had a few hours of baby sitting my dear grands. We are getting ready for some birthday celebrations here in Colville. Addy is nearing her 3rd birthday and I’m nearing my 69th birthday. One more year in my 60’s! Now we need to watch a couple episodes of Daniel the Tiger since that is the theme this year for Addy’s 3rd birthday party.

We are heading to Spokane on Thursday for a few days in the Spokane Valley. We are now getting news of a forecast of up to 3 inches of snow so we’ll be walking less outdoors and shopping more indoors. Hope to have some adventures to share.