Author Archives: Ellen

Signs, signs ~ Seattle

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This is the main drive entrance to the Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle. The sign on the lamp post says Pike Up. This is where anyone visiting and televising something going on in Seattle goes to take photos of the fish throwing at the market.

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There are lots of one way streets downtown. Here’s a reflection with a One Way sign.

Linking up with Lesley at signs, signs.

This photos were taken last Wednesday. We are having a picture perfect day with blue skies and sunshine today, too. Hope your New Year is going forward in a good way.

Z is for…

…Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah.

Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, zip-a-dee-ay
My, oh, my what a wonderful day
Plenty of sunshine headin my way
Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, Zip-a-dee-ay

Between Christmas and the New Year we had a wonderful day with plenty of sunshine in downtown Seattle. Our plan was to go to the Seattle Art Museum to see their visiting Impressionism exhibit.

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There was a sign that caught my eye and made me happy. It said “please take photos”! Just as long as you didn’t use your flash photo taking was allowed.

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We left the Impressionist exhibit as the crowds began to arrive and we enjoyed some other areas of the museum.

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This painting above is a Monet that was new to me. The painting below is by Renoir.

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Peaches on a Plate…The names of a lot of the paintings made me chuckle.

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On our way to the museum we had more beautiful sunshine blue skies.

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It was a beautiful day to look up at the skyscrapers!

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When we go downtown we enjoy lunch at “The Met” The Metropolitan Grill, a favorite Seattle Steak house.

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There were still some nice Christmas scenes we enjoyed on our walk back to the parking garage. Speaking of the parking garage we scored big time only paying $6.00 for 3 hours!

…My, oh, My what a wonderful day!

I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday started by Mrs. Nesbitt and carried on by Roger and other team members! Looks like we made it to the end of the alphabet already!

Still Praying…

There were some major events that started fervent prayers in 2015 that will continue into 2016. I’ve shared some of these but have kept some off my blog. Some things we prayed for in 2015 were answered in different ways and the need to pray has ceased.

These we continue to pray about and I’ll share here in hopes that you might want to pray about them, too. I use the word dear a lot in this post!

This little one is David the Warrior. He is near and dear to us.

This photo collage above shows our dear friend Dave and our son Daniel at Daniel’s wedding and then each of them holding little David Daniel at different stages. David Daniel’s dad, Jamie, was suppose to be in our Daniel’s wedding but his wife and unborn son were in crisis in the pregnancy and there was no way he could be away from them. Dan’s wedding was June 27th and little David Daniel was born shortly after. Here are his mother’s words.

…”After being born at just 1 pound 7oz at only 25 weeks. We spent more than 117 days in the nicu, 3 surgeries 2 hospitals and defying all odds with constant prayer. We are beyond blessed to have brought our miracle baby boy David Daniel home this week. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your love, support and prayers. We are beyond grateful and thankful. There are truly no words to describe this moment of bringing our miracle warrior baby home and to be all together as a family. “

They brought him home at the end of October.

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Little David Daniel has had one more surgery (early December) since he came home and is now recovering from that. When God puts little David Daniel on your mind please continue to pray for him and the whole family.

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Our friend David is David Daniel’s paternal grandfather. Here is a photo of him and his wife Beth. We have become close friends over the years because of the friendship of our Dan and their Jamie starting in 2nd grade. Dave is having struggles of his own fighting lung cancer. When God puts him on your heart please pray for Dave as he continues his struggle.

i-cJhrWNq-XLAfter the wedding ceremony a message/toast was read by our Josh from Jamie letting Daniel know that his son would be named after his grandfather David and that his middle name would be Daniel after our Daniel. We were all so touched at this honor for both David and our Daniel. The toast also talked about Daniel’s loyalty to his friends over the years. A very meaningful moment at the wedding!

Our Daniel wasn’t able to meet his namesake in person till just last week. So sweet.

It can get confusing when we talk about Dan and Jamie because Dan’s new bride’s name is Jamie, too.

While little David Daniel was at Children’s Hospital in Seattle he had a special visitor, Russell Wilson of the Seahawks Football team. That was an encouragement to everyone.

12065518_516638088511835_192951588999628072_nWe have other prayers that are continuing into 2016 but at the top of our list are these two Davids. Grandpa and grandson. Please pray with us as we pray for them.

Such a privilege and joy to meet this little guy that we have been praying for and will continue to pray for in 2016! Can’t wait to see him running after his older sister!

ht: photos from the wedding that I shared here are taken by Jeremy Leffel

Another Year is Dawning ~ Hymn

Another Year is Dawning

Another year is dawning, dear Father, let it be
In working or in waiting, another year with Thee.
Another year of progress, another year of praise,
Another year of proving Thy presence all the days.

Another year of mercies, of faithfulness and grace,
Another year of gladness in the shining of Thy face;
Another year of leaning upon Thy loving breast;
Another year of trusting, of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of service, of witness for Thy love,
Another year of training for holier work above.
Another year is dawning, dear Father, let it be
On earth, or else in Heaven, another year for Thee.

Words by Frances R. Havergal first written as a poem in her New Year’s greeting cards. Music by Samuel S. Wesley.

New Gifts for the whole Year!

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I was gifted two new devotionals on Christmas from our daughter in love Laura and our niece Debbee. The Songs of Jesus by Timothy Keller with his wife Kathy Keller is a year of daily devotions in the Psalms. Savor by Shauna Niequist 365 devotions with recipes interspersed. The description reads, living Abundantly where you are, as you are. These two devotionals are different in style and I’ll enjoy each one.

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Our daughter gave me a calendar with Bible Verses illustrated for each month of the year.

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True words illustrated beautifully. I won’t get tired of the visuals.

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We bought our favorite waitress at the Mexican Restaurant we frequent the devotional by Sarah Young called Jesus Calling in Spanish called Jesús te llama for Christmas. When we went in last week she mentioned that she had started reading it already but was wondering about the references, wanting to read them, too. We realized she doesn’t own a Bible so we went to the Bible bookstore and bought her a Bible in Spanish so she could look up the references. (The most important part…yes?) We will give her the Bible this week and show her how to find the references. Her first language and the language she still excels in is Spanish. We have fun trying to communicate with her in English.

Do you read devotionals? Are you trying to read the Bible through in one year? Do you have a favorite devotional? For years my favorite was Daily Light. Over the years I’ve preferred reading verses right from the Bible with the same theme as opposed to someone’s thoughts with a verse tacked on. But…I’m not a legalist about it! I do believe wholeheartedly that the Scripture, God’s Word, the Bible is the one book that holds all authority. Period. God’s light and truth will shine!

Out the Old, Ring in the New! Hello 2016!

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Ring Out the Old, Ring in the New
~Alfred Tennyson 1850

Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow;
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true.

Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.

Ring out the grief that saps the mind,
For those that here we see no more;
Ring out the feud of rich and poor,
Ring in redress to all mankind.

Ring out false pride in place and blood,
The civic slander and the spite;
Ring in the love of truth and right,
Ring in the common love of good.

Ring out a slowly dying cause,
And ancient forms of party strife,
Ring in the nobler modes of life,
With sweet manners, purer laws.

Ring out old shapes of foul disease;
Ring out the narrowing lust of gold;
Ring out the thousand wars of old,
Ring in the thousand years of peace.

Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand;
Ring out the darkness of the land,
Ring in the Christ that is to be.

~

Glory to God in highest heaven,
Who unto man His Son hath given;
While angels sing with tender mirth,
A glad new year to all the earth.
~Martin Luther

С новым годом!

Hoping that 2016 is a year with new things that draw us closer to each other and to our Lord! Happy New Year everyone!

The Year of 2015!

A post that will hold the most interest for me and my brain helping me to remember what happened when and in what year. 2015 at this Old House and beyond.

January:

 

Birthday celebration for our sons. A quick trip to California to meet our new nephew Andrew and to celebrate Hope’s birthday. Always a bonus to see my dear old pop when I travel to Southern California.

February:

 

We started a planter and walkway project that had several phases.

March:

 

I flew to Spokane for a day to join in on the wedding dress shopping fun for our soon to be daughter in law.

 

Celebrated my sixty fourth birthday at Fado Irish Pub in Seattle and we sang “When I’m Sixty Four” with some good reviews.

 

I met some of the Mennonite Girls in Mount Vernon to enjoy the tulips!

April:

 

We had a day of making Paska/Kulich (Russian Easter Bread) and Seernaya Paska.(sweet cheese spread)

 

Easter lunch with some nice sunshine and a walk.

 

We all drove to Chewelah for the girls to attend a bridal shower for Jamie. We celebrated Andrew’s birthday while we were there.

 

End of April I flew to California again for one day and attended a baby shower and a mini high school reunion.

May:

 

Mothers day meal, siding work and another trip to Chewelah for pre-wedding projects.

June:

 

Finishing up siding projects and Dear installed a privacy fence.

 

I drove to Canada for a lovely tea in honor of our Kathy of the Mennonite Girls and on Father’s day Katie was matron of honor in her friends wedding.

 

The end of June was Dan and Jamie’s wedding. So many fun memories with friends and extended family. Meow, meow!

July:

 

Post wedding company canoeing, swimming, sight seeing and a 4th of July party. Post company trip to Cape Flattery and Sequim for the lavender fields. Katie and Andrew moved into our basement.

August:

 

We traveled to Canada again for a hike and potluck barbecue with the Mennonite Girls. Our pears ripened early this year and it was a bumper crop. Dear finished up painting on our out building. We attended an event that our son and some partners hosted at a Sounders game. Dear started work on a remodel of Josh and Laura’s Kitchen.

September:

 

Joshua’s open house at his new office space. Greg and Andrew continued work on Josh and Laura’s kitchen remodel with other home improvements thrown in.

October:

 

Tim and Letty fly up so Tim can install the kitchen cabinets at Josh and Laura’s remodel. The girls enjoyed lunch and shopping while the work went on.

 

Two baby showers this month. One for our little David the Warrior (full post coming up soon about our little warrior) and one for our future grand niece. One of the showers was in Washington and the other in Southern California. I flew down to California earlier than expected because my brother in law suffered a massive heart attack and I was anxious to see him and be with my sister. While in California I got to see my pop again and go out to lunch with him.

November:

 

My brother in law did not survive the complications of his heart attack and we all flew down to attend his services on November 10th.

 

Tim and Letty flew up for Thanksgiving and we had some fun outings while they were here for a week. The guys completed another project at Josh and Laura’s while the girls had tea and shopped!

December:

 

December we celebrated all month long with Laura’s birthday, our anniversary, Christmas celebrations at home and in Canada with the Mennonite Girls and Katie’s birthday. We were introduced to Raclette and now have our own grill. Our new grand niece arrived early on Christmas Eve.

It is always amazing to see all that has gone on in a given year. As usual years are filled with joy and sorrow. This year was fuller than others since we had so many wonderful events surrounding Dan and Jamie’s wedding. God is good to us.

Wishing you all a very Happy New Year.

 

Signs, signs…

Sharing the photos we took in October of some great signs on the main drag in the city of Carnation.

 

This is the City of Carnation city hall and council chambers.

 

Miller’s next door to Lazy K’s. There is also a ghost sign on the side of the building.

 

I see Lee Overalls, Union Made, Miller’s Dry Goods

 

 

Later in the middle of November and in December there was a lot of flooding in Carnation. We timed our visit well.

Hope you all had and are still enjoying a wonderful yuletide. Wishing you all a Prosperous New Year!

Linking up with Lesley at signs, signs! Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and that your New Year will be filled with lots of good things!

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site. All my photos that I stored and uploaded from that site are now big ugly black and grey boxes with a message to pay big bucks to get them restored to my blog. It will take me a long time to restore thousands of posts.

Thirty Years!

Our youngest turned thirty today. We started celebrating yesterday.

 

Our daughters and I went to the Queen Mary Tea Room to celebrate birthdays on Boxing day.

 

Laura and Katie have birthdays in December and Jamie, Dan, and Josh have birthdays in January.

 

 

It was Jamie’s first time to enjoy a formal tea. Pinkies up!

 

Later on boxing day Katie had some old friends over to celebrate with a Raclette meal and we had cake!

 

 

 

 

We gave Katie her gifts at breakfast time this morning before she and Andrew headed out to an early showing of the new Star Wars movie. The fun just goes on and on…

We’re enjoying the last few hours with Dan and Jamie before they fly back to Eastern Washington tonight.

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007-2015 hostage on their site. All my photos that I stored and uploaded from that site are now big ugly black and grey boxes with a message to pay big bucks to get them restored to my blog. It will take me a long time to restore thousands of posts.