Labor of Love…

I love Easter and all that it holds and all that it means. I like the idea of new Life, a resurrected Life. The greatest Love that was demonstrated on Good Friday and the Life that was resurrected on Easter Sunday.

Here are photos of our Easter weekend labors of love and celebrations.

This was the end result of our labors on Easter Saturday. Top left an Russian Easter sweet cheese spread called Seernaya Paska. The X and the B stand for Christ is Risen. On the right is the finished and frosted Russian Easter Bread called Kulich or Paska surrounded by Russian shrink wrapped eggs. The sign in Russian on the bottom left says Christ is Risen so you see where the X and B comes from. Now I’ll show you some of the process of getting here.

First you gather your labor force. This is my sister Lana who arrived early so that we could get the Russian Easter Bread (Kulich/Paska) started.

The rest of the laborers arrived and were donned with their aprons and head scarves.

At one point in the process of mixing the dough I thought I made a big boo boo so we prayed over the dough and Lana and I laid hands on the KitchenAid. I didn’t want to start over again. All turned out well…

Lana showing how her slippers match her apron. I am behind in giving a shout out to My Mother’s Apron Strings after I won this Christmas apron giveaway without knowing I even entered the contest. My sister is wearing it on the reverse side since this is Easter and not Christmas. Thank you Susan for sending the apron to me.

The other photos in the collage are of kneading the dough and shrink wrapping the boiled eggs. While the dough was rising we enjoyed lunch together. Home made tamales and beans with guacamole, chips, and Dan and Jamie’s home made salsa.

After lunch it was time to prepare the cans and to punch down the dough after it’s first rise. The Peter Rabbit bunting was completed by Katie and hung by Laura and Katie. Josh and Laura gifted me the bunting kit for my birthday last week.

After the second rise we punched again and prepared the dough by hand for the cans pinching off enough or almost enough for each can we picked for this time around. Short, medium and tall.

The guys were busy outside in the sunshine solving several world problems.

The finished eggs and kulich on Easter day. I’ll show more from our Easter table in another post.

When the baking was done and the cheese mold was in the refrigerator setting up for our Easter Sunday meal the kids went out to dinner with their aunt and uncle. Dear and I stayed at home and crashed…

All of our kids together enjoying each other and extended family fills us with joy and not having to make dinner for them after a full day in the kitchen was a bonus!

We love and treasure these traditions and hope to carry them on through the years and pass them on to the next generation.

I’m linking up with Tuesday’s Treasures hosted by Tom the Backroads Traveler and ABC Wednesday started by Mrs. Nesbitt and carried on by Roger and the ABC team for L is for Labors of Love. I noticed several L’s in this post like Life, Love, Lana, Laura, Lunch, and Labor force.

Hope you all had a good Easter Weekend and some of you got the bonus of Easter Monday holiday which is brilliant!

I’m also linking up to Thoughts of Home #8 with Laura at Decor to Adore.

Easter Monday!

I like that Canada, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand have Easter Monday. Here in the U.S.A. it’s not a holiday. I’m getting my Easter fun posts sorted and hope to have a cohesive way to store them here for my memories. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. Hope all of you who have an extra holiday today will enjoy it to the full!

Here is how our festivities started on Friday…

We decided to hide eggs for our adult kids to find.

The hunt began…

It didn’t take long for them to find all the eggs. There were 6 large plastic eggs with each of their names on them and one large golden egg. Then there were several little plastic eggs filled with candy for them to find, too. The large eggs had cold hard cash in them. The golden egg had cash, too. Our new daughter in love found the golden egg straight away!

For dinner on Friday we enjoyed a Raclette meal together. Our whole little family all together. We don’t take these times for granted since Dan and Jamie live 6 hours away from us with a mountain range between us!

It was a wonderful start to a full and beautiful weekend despite some of us falling into tissue mode because of the head colds going around!

Hope the drip drip drip hasn’t caught up to you! Happy Monday everyone!

In Christ Alone

Happy Easter everyone!

Christ is Risen…He is Risen Indeed!

In Christ Alone

In Christ alone my hope is found,
He is my light, my strength, my song;
This Cornerstone, this solid Ground,
Firm through the fiercest drought and storm.
What heights of love, what depths of peace,
When fears are stilled, when strivings cease!
My Comforter, my All in All,
Here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! – who took on flesh,
Fullness of God in helpless babe.
This gift of love and righteousness,
Scorned by the ones He came to save:
Till on that cross as Jesus died,
The wrath of God was satisfied –
For every sin on Him was laid;
Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,
Light of the world by darkness slain:
Then bursting forth in glorious day
Up from the grave He rose again!
And as He stands in victory
Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me,
For I am His and He is mine –
Bought with the precious blood of Christ.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,
This is the power of Christ in me;
From life’s first cry to final breath,
Jesus commands my destiny.
No power of hell, no scheme of man,
Can ever pluck me from His hand:
Till He returns or calls me home,
Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand.

The Day in Between…

As we wait to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus Christ tomorrow we will be busy all day today baking our Kulich/Paska (Russian Easter Bread). Click over to Mennonite Girls Can Cook for Easter Saturday in Ellen’s kitchen.

Good Friday 2016

From C. J. Mahaney’s, Living the Cross Centered Life

Knowing the hour for His death is fast approaching, Jesus has come here in need as never before of His Father’s comfort and strength. Instead, hell – utter separation from God – is thrust in His face.

We hear Him cry out: Father – is there an alternative? Is there any way to avoid this? If there’s a way this cup could pass from Me, would You please provide that to Me?

Silence. We can see it in His face – Jesus receives no answer to this desperate entreaty.

A second time He pleads for an alternative to that horror of abandonment by His Father. If such an alternative existed, the Father would most surely provide it. But the obedient Son’s plea to his loving Father is met with silence. Why?

Listen to this verse again for the very first time: For God so loved the world…that He is silent to His Son’s agonizing appeal.

This is what bearing our sin means to Him – utter distress of soul as He confronts total abandonment and absolute wrath from His Father on the cross, a distress and an abandonment and a rejection we cannot begin to grasp.

In this, our Savior’s darkest hour…do you recognize His love for you?

~~~~~~~~

The following song by Stuart Townend is so fitting in describing what God has accomplished for us through His beautiful Son, Jesus. May God fill all of us full and fresh with these truths this Easter weekend and let us “recognize His love for us”. Blessings on your thoughts of Him! Unlike Jesus’ disciples on this day many years ago we know that the Resurrection is coming and Jesus conquered death and sin for us and He lives today.

How Deep the Father’s Love for Us

by Stuart Townend

How deep the father’s love for us,
how vast beyond all measure
That He should give His only Son,
To make a wretch His treasure

How great the pain of searing loss
The Father turns his face away
As wounds which mar the chosen One
Bring many sons to glory

Behold a man upon the cross
My sin upon His shoulders
Ashamed, I hear my mocking voice
Call out among the scoffers

It was my sin that held Him there
Until it was accomplished
His dying breath has brought me life
I know that it is finished

I will not boast in anything
No gifts, no powers, no wisdom
But I will boast in Jesus Christ
His death and resurrection

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

Luke 23:44 ~ It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two. Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last.

Luke 23:49 ~ But all those who knew him, including the women who had followed him from Galilee, stood at a distance, watching these things.

Maundy Thursday

The word Maundy is derived from the Latin word for “command.” The “Maundy” in “Maundy Thursday” refers to the command Jesus gave to the disciples at the Last Supper, that they should love and serve one another. I’m posting this early during this Holy Week instead of waiting till Thursday.

I took this photo 3 years ago at the Monumentale Cemetery in Milan, Italy. Today and this whole week Christians around the world remember the events that led up to the crucifixion of Christ and Christ’s resurrection over 2000 years ago. I always look forward to Easter week which is also called Holy week. Celebrating our risen Savior and what he accomplished for us tops my list!

The Last Supper and the Washing of the Disciples Feet are both remarkable events. While in Milan I was also able to see Leonardo da Vinci’s mural of the Last Supper. The original mural is on a wall of the refectory (dining hall) in the Convent of Santa Maria delle Grazie in Milan, Italy. No photos allowed.

While in England in 2014 we saw two amazing paintings of the last supper, one in the Parish Church of St. John the Baptist in Windsor and one in the chapel of Magdalen College.

From the Lectern, look down the centre aisle and observe in the West Gallery a painting of The Last Supper. This is a national treasure. The picture was originally presented to the Royal Chapel c. 1660 by Brian Duppa, Bishop of Winchester, Prelate of the Order of the Garter. It was “bought by him beyond the sea”. Another tradition ascribes it to Franz de Cleyn (1588-1658), Rostock, Mecklenburg, Court painter to James I. It was rolled up and buried “in the plumery” (plumbers workshop?) in the Great Rebellion. It hung over the altar at St George’s, Windsor in 1702, and can be seen there in Sandby’s drawing dated 1786.

Above the stalls in the chapel hangs Giampetrino’s remarkable 15th copy of Leonardo da Vinci’s The Last Supper, on permanent loan from the Royal Academy. In view of the bad condition of the original fresco in Milan, Magdalen’s copy on canvas is a piece of increasing historic and artistic significance.

This next sculpture of Jesus washing Peter’s feet is at the Gardens of the World in Thousand Oaks, California. I took this photo while Dear and I were living in Camarillo.

Excerpts from John chapter 13…

It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

I’m not linking up to memes for the remainder of this week as I concentrate on getting ready for our Easter celebrations and have less time to visit participants.

I was so sorry to see the news reports of the terrorist attack in Belgium and the murder and injuries suffered by so many people by radical Islamic terrorists. People who were just going about their day to day activities were brought down by Isis. Praying the Isis terror cells in Belgium will be found and justice will be dealt. Such a contrast to our Maundy Thursday message.

We Bid Adieu to Great Britain from London…

Wrapping up our 2004 Literary Tour of Great Britain with our daughter Katie with our old fashioned film camera. London was our final stop after a long train ride from Edinburgh and lugging our luggage across the train station to the tube that would take us to our tiny room with 2 beds that covered almost the entire floor minus a 6 inch space between them to walk to the very tiny bathroom. Oh boy! I forgot to mention the 3rd floor we had to haul our luggage up to. We managed to recover from it all and enjoy some great spots in London.

Katie and Dear mastered the tube stations quickly and they always knew the correct trains to catch.

The Tower of London was on the list of places to explore.

We were in London for the Queen’s birthday on the 21st of April we saw and heard the 62 gun salute.

While walking toward Buckingham Palace we were told that a better close up view option of the changing guard would be at the Horse Guards Stables. We enjoyed viewing the Queen’s Horse Guard.

Up close and with a lot fewer crowds around us. I’m thinking by now the word has gotten around and the crowds are probably crazy here, too.

Dear and Katie in Trafalgar Square.

The pigeons decided they were a great perch.

Our favorites in London were the National Gallery and the British Library where so many great literary classics and authors are featured. Katie and Dear toured Westminster Abbey and viewed the small tablet to the memory of Jane Austen in the Poet’s corner of the abbey. We also enjoyed attending the live stage performance of Les Miserables.

Thank you for indulging me as I documented our trip from 12 years ago!

In Honor of Smiling Sally…

I decided to re-post my very first Blue Monday that I participated in back on September 8, 2008 in honor of Smiling Sally and as a tribute to her. Smiling Sally left this earth confident of reaching her eternal home in heaven. We received the news on her Blue Monday post on March 7, 2016. I participated until 2011 but then other things took over my Mondays. The following is my original post.

I’m joining in with Smiling Sally’s new Monday Photo Challenge called Blue Monday. I love the color blue and thought it shouldn’t be difficult coming up with some blue to shoot and post on Mondays. If you want to join in click over here and see the guidelines.

One of the things I like to do besides blogging is to search for treasures at thrift stores. I always complain about the Goodwill’s in Southern California compared to Washington State but I finally found a goody.

This Blue Danube teapot cost me $7.95. Would anyone like a nice cup of Earl Grey?

Choose a cup and I’ll pour…

For more Blue Monday visit Smiling Sally here.

Sally has moved on to her eternal home and she asked a bloggy friend to continue Blue Monday in her absence. Jeanne at Backyard Neighbor is carrying on the meme. Thank you Jeanne.

Here we are on Monday of Easter Week/Holy Week. I love Easter and am looking forward to all that it involves for us and the traditions we carry on. Most importantly worshiping Jesus Christ and being thankful for his sacrifice that has brought reconciliation with God by the forgiveness of our sins. Grace upon grace. So because of that with joy we bake Russian Easter bread (Kulich, Paska). We make our sweet cheese spread, Seernaya Paska. We set an Easter table and enjoy a meal together after an Easter service. At our house the main protein is lamb. This year there will be ten of us around the table. All adults this year so no Easter eggs hunts. But wait…maybe the adults would enjoy a little hunt!? I’m going to reconsider that.

Do you celebrate Easter?

Edinburgh and Monty Python…

This will be my second to the last post on our 2004 literary tour with our daughter Katie. We traveled north by train from York to Edinburgh. We made arrangements at a self catered apartment for our days in the city and beyond.

We walked from the train station to the street where our rental was and found no one there to answer the door. We finally were spotted by some neighbors who happened to have the key to the flat and they let us in. It was nice to have a tea tray waiting for us.

We toured Edinburgh Castle and walked down High Street where St. Giles Cathedral stands.

We ate at the Royal Mcgregor where Katie had her favorite hamburger on our trip.

the-royal

Our main side trip from Edinburgh was by bus to Stirling with a connecting bus to the little town of Doune where you’ll find Castle Doune. Castle Doune is the sight of some of the filming of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. This was a must stop for our daughter Katie. We were the only people at the castle (it was part of our Heritage Pass). To those of you who are familiar with this film you are handed coconut shells to walk around the grounds with. We were throwing out lines from the movie (Run Away, run away!) and making horse clip clop noises (with the coconut shells). They even take a picture of you here and post it on the official web page for Castle Doune and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Hilarious fun.

From Edinburgh we took the train south all the way to London where we would finish off our literary tour.

We are entering a busy week leading up to Easter. I love Easter and all the preparations that it involves.

Palm Sunday ~ Fairest Lord Jesus

Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown.

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

Fair is the sunshine,
Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heaven can boast.

All fairest beauty, heavenly and earthly,
Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;
None can be nearer, fairer or dearer,
Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.

Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forever more be Thine.

Have a wonderful Palm Sunday and beginning of Holy Week worshiping the fairest and only one who can save, Jesus.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Author Archives: Ellen

Labor of Love…

Easter Monday!

In Christ Alone

The Day in Between…

Good Friday 2016

How Deep the Father’s Love for Us

Maundy Thursday

We Bid Adieu to Great Britain from London…

In Honor of Smiling Sally…

Edinburgh and Monty Python…

Palm Sunday ~ Fairest Lord Jesus