Author Archives: Ellen

I Sing the Mighty Power of God

I Sing the Mighty Power of God

I sing the mighty pow’r of God, that made the mountains rise,
That spread the flowing seas abroad, and built the lofty skies.
I sing the wisdom that ordained the sun to rule the day;
The moon shines full at His command, and all the stars obey

I sing the goodness of the Lord, who filled the earth with food,
Who formed the creatures through the Word, and then pronounced them good.
Lord, how Thy wonders are displayed, where’er I turn my eye,
If I survey the ground I tread, or gaze upon the sky.

There’s not a plant or flow’r below, but makes Thy glories known,
And clouds arise, and tempests blow, by order from Thy throne;
While all that borrows life from Thee is ever in Thy care;
And everywhere that we can be, Thou, God, art present there.

Words: Isaac Watts, 1715.

1st of Spring Favorites

The first of my early Spring favorites is our granddaughter Addy who turned 2 years old on the first day of Spring. We enjoyed a meal out this week with her and the people who love her most in Colville and Kettle Falls. Her birthday bash is on Sunday after the one’s who love her most and live on the other side of the Cascades fly in to celebrate.

Extra space that I’m enjoying with our new counter depth refrigerator is another favorite this week.

On Wednesday after working outside for several hours with Dear, breaking up ice, I came inside to wash some dishes . I heard Dear doing something on the deck and then he came inside and said, “would you like to join me on the terrace for drinks?”. He had brought a couple lawn chairs and side table out of winter hibernation and set them on the deck. It was so nice and refreshing to be in the fresh air enjoying our view. You can see the snow covered landscape in the reflection off the slider.

When we drove into Spokane last Friday we stopped at Sonnenberg’s Market and Deli, “the oldest meat market in town, since 1891”. We picked up some deli items, some house made sausages and one porterhouse steak. Dear and I cooked and split that steak on the first day of Spring and oh my goodness it was the best hunk of meat we’ve enjoyed in a long time. We used a new to us cooking method for it, too, which we’ll continue using when we are only making one steak for the two of us to enjoy. I lightly oiled the steak, seasoned it with Lawry’s Seasoning Salt and Pepper then put it in the oven at 220 degrees  with a meat thermometer probe in it until the meat reached 120 degrees. Took it out of the oven and out of the pan onto a plate and let it rest for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes I put a little oil in the pan and heated it to smoking and seared the steak on each side and then we enjoyed it. Delicious, melt in your mouth meat!

Even though it hasn’t happened yet another favorite is the fact that we will be driving to the Spokane airport this evening to pick up 3 of our kids flying in for the weekend. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to see them face to face and we are looking forward to lots of time with them this weekend. We have two birthday parties and a baby shower this weekend. One party for a 60 year old and one party for our 2 year old granddaughter and a baby shower for our grandson who will arrive in April.

I am thankful to God for His kindness and generosity to us because of what Jesus Christ sacrificed for us.  I’ve already pulled out my Easter décor anticipating my favorite holiday of the year.

The son of a friend of ours made a drawing about Easter and she shared it on Facebook. It had a cross on a hill and these words written on the bottom of the drawing, “Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins. 😦 It was a sad three days without him.” then on the bottom right corner of this drawing it says, flip the page. On the other side of the paper he drew the stone rolled away from the tomb and wrote these words,  “It’s the greatest day in history… Death has been beaten and Jesus rose from the grave.”

Out of the mouth of babes! Love this little one sharing the Good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Linking up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

Seven Inches!

Our son helped us out on Saturday by picking up our new refrigerator from the hometown Sears in Colville.

This refrigerator came with our country bungalow. It’s relatively new and in good condition but it’s just too big for our space. I knew during the first walk through of this property that this refrigerator was too big for the space.

We decided to order a counter depth refrigerator to give us much appreciated space between the refrigerator and the island.

If you needed to move in this space you’d appreciate the extra space as much as we do.

We found a good space for the big refrigerator where we can open it’s doors with lots of room to spare. To get the monster refrigerator out of our kitchen Dear and our son Dan had to take the doors and handles off and it was still a very tight squeeze through the doorways. We even had to take the door stop moldings in the door frame to the laundry room off to get the refrigerator through the doorway!

I’m a happy homemaker.

 

Tuesdays With Moisi ~ 305 Los Angeles Avenue

The church youth group plus other cousins at Vera’s birthday party or was it some other occasion, Vera? Maybe graduation? This is the small dining room in this home.

Junior/Senior Prom in the bedroom before my date picked me up. This is the bedroom I shared with 3 of my sisters.

I’ll be adding more photos to this post when I can access them.

In this photo my parents have added a new dining room table and china cabinet to our home and all new drapes.

Historical notes during the time we lived at 305 Los Angeles Ave, Montebello, California from approximately 1960 until 1971.

In November of 1960 my older sisters and I walked the block and a half to Whittier Boulevard in Montebello to watch John F. Kennedy come by in a convertible and we were able to shake his hand. He was campaigning in the Los Angeles area.

In the fifth grade I was running out to the playground and the girl in front of me stopped to tie her shoe and I flipped over her and landed on my wrist ending up with a chipped bone. I went to the nurses office and she called my mom and had to call a taxi for her and me to get to the doctor’s office since our mom never drove. I had a cast for a while.

All of us kids walked to school from this house. Some of us to Fremont Elementary which meant we had to cross Whittier boulevard and there were no crossing guards.  Older sisters walked to Montebello Junior High and Montebello High School. Eventually I walked to the junior high and high school.

1963 Vera graduated from Junior High School and I remember being at Montebello Park for the ceremony with our mom pregnant with the twins.

The photo above is of Montebello Junior High which has since been demolished because of earthquake safety issues and rebuilt into a modern ugly junior high.

In July of 1963 the twins were born. They were a shock to our whole family who were kept in the dark by our mom about the fact that she was having twins.

August of 1963 was the when I became a disciple of Jesus Christ and later in September our Pop became a disciple of Jesus Christ at the Billy Graham Crusades at the Los Angeles Coliseum.

1964, 1966, 1967 and 1968 Kathy, Vera, Fred and I graduated from Montebello high school.

1967 I was baptized.

1969 Pop (Moisi) was baptized.

1969 our sister Vera was married to Nick Titov. The wedding was a few blocks north of our home at Montebello Baptist Church.

The first 4 of us started college while we lived on Los Angeles Avenue.

In 1969 our family left the Molokan church.

In 1971 we moved to 11053 Arroyo Drive in La Mirada, California.

Spring is Coming!

Spring here in Colville starts out as the season of mud from all the snow melting. Hopefully rain showers won’t compound the season of mud.

This is an exciting week with the start of Spring coinciding with our granddaughter’s 2nd birthday. Our little BBB (Baby Boy Bayles) is growing as he should and mommy is healthy. We never take this for granted and we are thankful.

We have a new fun game at our house that Dear and Addy enjoyed while we watched her one evening last week. It’s a mini kind of handball using small bouncy balls in the hall. It caused such joy and belly laughs!

On Saturday evening we enjoyed a meal with Addy and her parents of Corned Beef and Cabbage with Lemon Meringue Pie for dessert. More handball in the hall and the traditional things Addy enjoys when she visits Baba and Gramps were on the agenda, too. We are taking in and enjoying these days with young grandchildren.

We are looking forward to this week and next weekend in particular as all our kids will be here for 2 birthday celebrations and a baby shower for our soon to arrive grandson. Trips to the airport and nonstop fun are on the schedule. I’ll have to get my visiting to your blogs early in the week before all my attention is taken up with the face to face interactions I’ve been missing with our “Coast Kids”.

Joining Angie at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf for Mosaic Monday.

Rock of Ages ~ Hymn

Rock of Ages

Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From Thy wounded side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure;
Save from wrath and make me pure.

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears forever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, and Thou alone.

Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling;
Naked, come to Thee for dress;
Helpless look to Thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain fly;
Wash me, Savior, or I die.

While I draw this fleeting breath,
When mine eyes shall close in death,
When I soar to worlds unknown,
See Thee on Thy judgment throne,
Rock of Ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in Thee.

Words by: Augustus M. Toplady, 1776

Birthday Week Favorites

My Birthday celebration started early with a Mexican meal on Tuesday that Dan, Jamie, Addy, Linda, Scott and Rhonda were a part of. It was a good time and Jamie brought a special dessert for each of us in little canning jars, blueberry cobbler. Linda is our DIL Jamie’s mother and Scott is Jamie’s Uncle and Rhonda is Scott’s wife and we are all huge fans of Addy.

On my actual birthday morning our dear daughter-in-law brought Addy by with a bouquet of flowers for me. This was such a sweet surprise and I’m so thankful Jamie took a photo of her at the front door before I opened the door with my robe on and wet hair! Addy wasn’t sure about me with wet hair and my glasses off but warmed up when she realized that scary figure was in fact her Baba!

Besides my morning cup of coffee, on my birthday Dear made me his famous Swedish Pancakes with side eggs in between his work obligations. Perks of working from home.

Phone calls and text messages from kids and family and Facebook good wishes were fun to receive and read through the day.

After Dear’s work was done we went into town to run errands and decided to try Chateau Vin, a new spot to us, for early dinner which is not new to us. It was good and we would take any wine enthusiasts there when they visit. We I have a goal of trying every eatery in our area. We’ve tried most already. It’s not a hard goal since our community and the others around us are small. Many of the establishments are closed on Sunday and Monday. Some are closed on Monday and Tuesday. Only a handful are open every day. The only national chains in our town are McDonald’s, Subway, Taco Bell, and KFC. Local chains are Zip’s, Taco Time, and Westside Pizza.

I’m retired and how to use my daily awake hours are mostly up to my discretion. I’m settling in to really enjoy my morning time reading the Bible and some devotionals and books before I continue on with the busyness of the day. In the recent past I lapsed horribly in this good endeavor. Currently I’m on a 5 day a week plan on reading the Bible through in a year. I read my Spurgeon yearly devotional which I’m happy to reread each year. I’ve added Piper’s Taste and See for the first part of the year. Then my two current books, not devotionals, that I try to read a chapter from each morning are Begg’s, Pathway to Freedom, and MacArthur’s, The Gospel According to Jesus. Dear already read these books so we can discuss what we read. I’ve gained from this discipline in my life for sure and it’s not just a discipline but it is worship and it is good even if I don’t “feel” something at the moment. The Holy Spirit uses what gets into my brain and heart and brings it back to me at interesting times, like 2 a.m. in the morning. The key for me is that I don’t turn on my computer until I’m done with this morning time.

My morning view.

Joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

Dear and I are driving south to Spokane today to have a birthday dinner at Churchhill’s Steakhouse. I won’t be around to visit until tomorrow since driving into Spokane is a several hour event for us. Ninety minutes to get there and then we have to shop at some of our favorites that we don’t have in Colville, dinner, and then ninety minutes to get home.

Enjoy your Friday!

Thoughtful Thursday

Happy Birthday to Me…

This is a side by side photo of me on my seventh birthday and me in June of 2009 when I was 58. Today is my birthday and I am 10 years older now from when the photo on the right was taken. I’ve been celebrated well and the celebrations will continue throughout today and again tomorrow. I’ve received gifts, too. Dinner out with a special dessert from our kids here in Colville. A wall plaque I’ll share at the end of the post from Josh and Laura. Katie and Andrew sent rechargeable hand warmers which will come in handy for our winters here. Birthday greetings are chiming away in the form of texts from our kids and extended family.

I’m sharing this devotional I read this morning for March 14 from Cheque Book of the Bank of Faith Daily Readings by C.H. Spurgeon. It touched my heart so…

‘As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you’ (Isaiah 66:13)

A mother’s comfort! Ah, this is tenderness itself. How she enters into her child’s grief! How she presses him to her bosom, and tries to take all his sorrow into her own heart! He can tell her all, and she will sympathize as nobody else can. Of all comforters the child loves best his mother, and even full-grown men have found it so.

Does Jehovah condescend to act the mother’s part? This is goodness indeed. We readily perceive how he is a father; but will he be as a mother also? Does not this invite us to holy familiarity, to unreserved confidence, to sacred rest? When God himself becomes ‘the Comforter’ no anguish can long abide. Let us tell out our trouble, even though sobs and sighs should become readiest utterance. He will not despise us for our tears; our mother did not. He will consider our weakness as she did, and he will put away our faults, only in a surer, safer way than our mother could do. We will not try to bear our grief alone: that would be unkind to one so gentle and so kind. Let us begin the day with our loving God, and wherefore should we not finish it in the same company, since mothers weary not of their children?

My kids know I appreciate Charles Spurgeon!

For those of you out there who are as old as I am, do you remember the song by Leslie Gore with this proclamation, “It’s my party and I’ll cry if I want to”? Well I’m changing it to…

“It’s my birthday and I’ll share what I want to, share what I want to, share what I want to. You would share too if good happened to you!”

God has been good to me all my 68 years and I bow the knee in accepting all he has done to me. Many things that did not look good on the surface have worked to draw me to Him, to the True Center. I know life is not and will not always be smooth but I know I will not be left to deal with whatever comes my way alone.

There Is A Redeemer ~ Words and Music by Melody Green

There is a Redeemer
Jesus, God’s own Son
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah
Holy One

Jesus my Redeemer
Name above all names
Precious Lamb of God, Messiah
O for sinners slain

(Chorus)
Thank You oh my Father
For giving us Your Son
And leaving Your Spirit
Til the work on earth is done

When I stand in glory
I will see His face
And there I’ll serve my King forever
In that holy place

Thank you for all who come here to my blog and read and bear with me. I appreciate you all and I hope in some way that I can be an encouragement to you as you walk on this earth. Only because of what Christ has done…

Staying on Course

Last Friday after Dear finished up with some work responsibilities we loaded up our snowshoe gear and headed south about 30 miles to the Chewelah Golf and Country Club. I read on our community page that they had opened up the course for snowshoeing and cross country skiing with no charge. It was turning into a beautiful sunshine filled day.

We found a parking spot inquired in the Bar & Grille about where we should set out from. They were very friendly and gave us a map of the course and rules to abide by.

It was strenuous forging our own trail in the deep snow but so much easier to keep going because our fingers were not freezing this time around. Warmer temperatures and better hand gear.

I caught up to Dear so we could take a selfie. We saw the other kind of deer high stepping (prancing) in the trees some distance from us.

We tried to stay in the tree line to avoid water features and the greens. We went 20 minutes out and then turned back. It was easier on the way back to follow the tracks we had made.  We were the only people on the course that we could see. After getting our gear loaded back in the car we headed into the Rusty Putter for lunch. The workers in the Rusty Putter were happy to see us and were very bored friendly. We were the only customers in the place.

I snapped some of the scenery on our drive back to the highway and north again to Colville.

The heavens are telling of the glory of God; And their expanse is declaring the work of His hands.

Day to Day pours forth speech, And night to night reveals knowledge. Psalms 19:1-2.

We had another snowfall yesterday, 7 inches, and this morning our very kind and industrious neighbor plowed our drive for us again. So many things to be thankful for in purchasing this particular property.