Author Archives: Ellen

Trickling In…

It was the calm before the storm as our wedding guests trickled in from New York, Texas, California, and Western Washington.

We drove to Eastern Washington on Wednesday before the wedding picking up my brother Tim at the Spokane Airport. We enjoyed a few quiet meals supporting the local businesses in Chewelah before more of our guests arrived. Flowery Trail Coffee Shop was a nice spot for one of our breakfasts.

We had the most delicious hamburgers at Sporty’s in Chewelah.

Main Street Chewelah was lined with beautiful full flower baskets all along the way.

This was our rustic cabin during our time surrounding the wedding. It worked out well since we had our own kitchen to prepare some of the food for the rehearsal dinner and wedding.

On Thursday more of our family and guests arrived so we met at the local Mexican Restaurant to enjoy dinner together. These are 2 of our nieces on Dear’s side of the family along with our Josh and Laura. What a joy it was to see these two. Jenna lives in New York and Annie lives in Southern California. Their sister Kacie was not able to come.

My heart was full to have this bunch together! There were a total of 15 of us for dinner at El Ranchito in Chewelah. The staff kept us laughing all night, meow meow!

After dinner we stopped at Dan’s home so our guests could check out the lay of his land!

A little calm relaxation before we all started working hard on Friday!

I managed to take a few photos at the rehearsal dinner where the majority of the guests from out of town arrived and enjoyed a casual meal. It was fun to see each family pop in as they arrived from Spokane or from a 6 hour drive from the Seattle area.

Three of my brothers.

Our kids and my sister Vera’s son and daughter-in-law.

Our sister-in-law Mandy with our new nephew Andrew and grand nephew Jack!

Dear getting to know Dan and Jamie’s pastor and his wife. My cousin Jim and his wife Jeanie are in the background.

Jenna and Mandy at the buffet table.

Our beautiful nieces.

My brother gathered up the wedding party and ran through some things they should know for the main event and then they gathered in a circle for my brother to pray for the wedding and for Dan and Jamie. The best way to end our evening! On the way home we were blessed with a gorgeous sunset!

We were so glad we rented the Senior Hub in Colville for the rehearsal dinner. It’s new and air conditioned and had the perfect amount of space for our group.  As usual my family and friends helped with all the prep work and setting up and tearing down the tables and chairs. The temps kept rising and rising as we counted down to the wedding. We were headed for temps over 100!

I’m beginning to feel a little more like myself at this old house. We are down to 6 guests at our home. My brother Tim and niece Melissa flew home last night. My brother Leonard’s family is still here and they are staying at my sister Lana’s house that is walking distance from us. My brother Steve has been making breakfast for the crew each morning. Yesterday it was Blueberry Pancakes with the fresh blueberries from our bushes. Today is making omelettes. Last night my brother and sister-in-law barbecued hamburgers and hot dogs at my sister’s house for the crew. It’s nice to have guests that serve you when you are spent and exhausted!

Hope all is well in your corner of the world!

 

Shine Thou Upon Us Lord ~ Hymn

D & J rehearsal 015

Shine Thou Upon Us Lord

Shine Thou upon us, Lord, true Light of men, today,
And through the written Word Thy very self display,
That so from hearts which burn with gazing on Thy face
Thy little ones may learn the wonders of Thy grace.

Breathe Thou upon us, Lord, Thy Spirit’s living flame,
That so with one accord our lips may tell Thy Name.
Give Thou the hearing ear, fix Thou the wandering thought,
That those we teach may hear the great things Thou hast wrought.

Speak Thou for us, O Lord, in all we say of Thee;
According to Thy Word let all our teaching be,
That so Thy lambs may know their own true Shepherd’s voice,
Where’er He leads them go, and in His love rejoice.

Live Thou within us, Lord, Thy mind and will be ours;
Be Thou beloved, adored, and served with all our powers,
That so our lives may teach Thy children what Thou art,
And plead, by more than speech, for Thee with every heart.

Words: John Ellerton, 1889.

Helpful Views…

Views like these are helping us to find some quiet relaxing moments amidst all the hustle and bustle of getting everything ready for the wedding. Since they are predicting very high temps, over 100 degrees, we are trying to keep our cool. It’s been fun for my extended family to be able to see the area that Dan lives in and to enjoy the acres that he owns. On Thursday some more guests arrive and then on Friday most of our friends and family who can travel here will arrive. We are hosting a very casual dinner on Friday evening. It’s time to put my new memory card in my camera!

Thanks so much for all your prayers and good thoughts on my previous post.

Summer ~ Hymn

Summer

The long, long days of summer,
The sunny days are here;
The ripening grain is bending,
The air is soft and clear.

Refrain

O God, Thy tender mercies
Like evening dews descend;
Thou givest rain and sunshine,
On Thee our hopes depend.

The glowing heat at noontide,
The hush of evening’s calm,
Remind us of Thy presence,
To Thee we raise our psalm.

Refrain

In life’s fair summer weather,
Oh, may we look to Thee;
And when the storms o’ertake us,
Our refuge Thou shalt be.

Refrain

Words: Julia H. Johnston, 1899.

Happy Father’s Day!

There and Back Again…

Yesterday I put a dress on (gasp!) and grabbed my passport and headed to Chilliwack B.C. to attend a tea planned in honor of our own dear Kathy of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook. Kathy’s Mother-in-law Eileen invited us all to her lovely home and treated us to a very special time. What a wonderful example to all of us girls Eileen is as she chose to bless her daughter-in-law in this special way!

We missed our Manitoba girls, Betty and Charlotte!

Every detail was well thought out and chosen. Beautiful china, silver and 100 year old crystal goblets graced the beautiful table.

After we gathered Eileen shared some thoughts about Kathy using the letters of her name to describe some of Kathy’s attributes. Kind, active, thoughtful, honest, and youthful were just some of the words to describe Kathy. We raised our beautiful glasses to toast our dear friend.

Have you ever seen or enjoyed one of these sandwich loaves? This was my first and I was in awe!

I set aside my de-fluffing regiment on this day because it truly was a day for feasting not fasting!

We found our spots at the table and Eileen offered a blessing on our food and time together. Before we filled our plates for our main course Kathy’s father-in-law, who was our gracious butler for the afternoon, served us our soup course which was a lovely cold Raspberry soup…delicious and refreshing. After we filled our plates and enjoyed our main course there was a light and fluffy Pavlova with strawberries for dessert. Did I mention feasting not fasting?

Kathy is in the center of the collage and her mother-in-law Eileen is above her. Lovella, Eileen, Anneliese, Judy, Kathy, Bev, Marg, Ellen and Julie.

We all reflected on how nice it was to be served in such a special way. It was a wonderful time of catching up with each other. A great time of witnessing Bill and Eileen working together as a couple to help and honor each other and to be a great example of hospitality in action. We were all blessed and our cups were filled to overflowing.

I wanted to share this post before I’m in full swing wedding mode! Prayers appreciated for the blessed event coming up!

 

Wondering…

The name I chose for my blog waaaayyyy back in 2007 is The Happy Wonderer.

Wonder:

noun  1. a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration, caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable.

verb 1. desire or be curious to know something. 2. feel admiration and amazement; marvel.

Wonder is something I experience a lot in both the noun form and verb form. I’m happy to be a Wonderer.

Right now I’m wondering how everything will fit together for the upcoming wedding in just 11 day! We are waiting for the good times we’ll have with friends and family around this wonderful event.

Waiting for good meals and time together out on our deck after the wedding when company from hither and yon will linger on.

Soon this view is going to change as we are into another project at this old house to give us a little more privacy when we are on the deck. It won’t be until after the wedding that I’ll be able to share the photos of the latest do it yourself project!

Linking up with ABC Wednesday which was started by Mrs. Nesbitt and carried on by Roger and the ABC team! Thank you.

W is for wonder, wonderer, wondering, wonderful, waiting, and the wedding. Oh I should have showed you the Western boots that will play a huge part in the wedding, too.

Flag Day Barns

Before I show you my barns for this week I just wanted to wish everyone in the U.S. of A. a very happy Flag Day! We are flying our flags in a nice breeze here in the Seattle area today!

The photos of the barns this week were taken in April when we were at our son’s home in Eastern Washington. This was a nice fresh barn type structure for horses in Chewelah, Washington. The next photo was down the road a bit and not so fresh!

I’m linking up with The Barn Collective started by Amy and hosted now by Tom The Backroads Traveller.

O Perfect Love ~ Hymn

O Perfect Love

O perfect Love, all human thought transcending,
Lowly we kneel in prayer before Thy throne,
That theirs may be the love which knows no ending,
Whom Thou forevermore dost join in one.

O perfect Life, be Thou their full assurance,
Of tender charity and steadfast faith,
Of patient hope and quiet, brave endurance,
With childlike trust that fears nor pain nor death.

Grant them the joy which brightens earthly sorrow;
Grant them the peace which calms all earthly strife,
And to life’s day the glorious unknown morrow
That dawns upon eternal love and life.

Hear us, O Father, gracious and forgiving,
Through Jesus Christ, Thy coeternal Word,
Who, with the Holy Ghost, by all things living
Now and to endless ages art adored.

Words: Dorothy F. Gurney, 1883.