Author Archives: Ellen

Five Amazing Things…

I have time this Friday to join in with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five! It’s been awhile and it will probably be a couple weeks before I can join in again.

This is a post about amazing things. The most amazing thing is that Jesus Christ laid down his perfect life to save all who are lost in their own sin. I was lost in myself and now I see how big my God is and how he saved me with His perfection…Jesus Christ.

Our son Dan sent me this photo from his yard over the internet. Amazing things…beautiful lilac, a lovely butterfly and the internet where I can enjoy this photo minutes after our son took it from 6 hours driving distance away!

Amazing how time flies! Weren’t we just celebrating Christmas!? Here we are on the brink of June!

It’s amazing to me that we are planning a trip to Great Britain in September with our son and his dear wife. Their first time, Dear and my 6th time together. Very excited to see England on our son and daughter in law’s terms. Each of our children are different and England holds so much to see to cover each of their particular interests. With Katie it was mostly literary, Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Jane Austen. With Josh it has to include Soccer! Laura and I will push for the quaint and lovely and probably a play or musical to enjoy…

Last amazing thing is related to our daughter’s literary interests. We found this Christmas card/offer from Dear to our Katie to read a book out loud to her when she was 3. She turned 4 just after Christmas that year and asked Dear to read her The Hobbit. He read it out loud to her and she recalls the fact that he used several different voices for the different characters in the book. Dear bought this copy of The Hobbit on one of his trips to England in the early 70’s. Our Katie to this day is the most interested in reading and enjoys several literary styles. The card had an expiration date on it added by her dad and Katie crossed it out and added the “Not expirable”. Katie is quite amazing as she was reading and understanding a wide vocabulary at a very early age.

I’m so looking forward to catching up with all the FFF participants and seeing what’s new in your worlds…

The Early 1940’s

In our organizing and cleaning we came across a photo album from Dear’s father with photos from Illinois from early days of Rex (Dear’s father) and Verna’s (Dear’s mother) courtship before Rex was called up for service in World War II. Rex and Verna’s granddaughters have a certain photogenic quality with one of them cashing in on modeling opportunities. I found it telling that Verna has some model poses that I think carried down to her granddaughters. Not so much on my side of the family! We have a lot of Russian Baptist modesty that goes deep…

This is my personal favorite!

This is Dear’s father’s mom and dad and a sister.

Dear’s dad after a hunting trip. Another gene handed down to our son’s…hunting. Is that a gene?

More of the modeling genes?…

May is escaping fast. How will you be spending the last couple days of May?

Nesting at 60 Something…

Is there such a thing as menopausal nesting? This Memorial weekend seemed like a non stop nesting event for both myself and Dear. We organized, trashed and reorganized a lot of our junk. We made trips to the metal recycling sight and now have more piles of stuff to get rid of. Good times. We had some sunshine, some mist, some rain, cold mornings, warm afternoons. We enjoyed good company and our time with each other. Some of our motivation to clean out is the fact that we are getting ready to finally replace our well worn floors in this old house.

All of these spaces will be hardwood by the end of July. Once the hardwood is added we will choose and plan the timing to have carpeting replaced in our bedrooms and living room. Makes me tired just thinking about it. I took some time to walk about the yard with my camera for some relaxing distraction.

The Camellias are at the end of their glory.

I’m excited to see my 5 Peonies that will soon burst forth into their full bloom. Last year I only had one.

My Rhoddies are dropping their blooms.

As some blooms are fading we have the promise of more blooms to come.

I ended my walk about the yard by looking up. It’s good to remember to keep looking up!

Psalm 121: 1-8 (ESV)

I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth.

 He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
  Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

 The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
  The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.

 The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
  The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.

Hope you had time to look up, too. Blessings.

Remembering…

We are taking time to remember the fallen and to also remember our Veterans and those serving our country right now. This is a photo of Dear’s father who served during WWII. This is Rex and Verna’s wedding photo. Dear’s father passed away in 1985. Dear’s mother passed away in 1997. Verna’s father and brothers served in WWII also.

I’m going to start with today and then backtrack to yesterday to share our weekend events so far. Today after church we had a couple over who have a son serving in Afghanistan right now in the Army. We talked about his service now in Afghanistan and his past service in Iraq.

We had this dish I used to make years ago and was happy to revive. I’ll be posting it on MGCC in the near future.

Our lives with this couple have intersected in different ways over the years. The wife we knew first years ago. Her new husband we just met a few months ago. He and his first wife were our daughter’s camp leaders for a special training of young leaders in the late 90’s. His wife died and over the course of time our friend from years ago ended up marrying this man. Are you tracking here? Anyway it has been nice to catch up with them as a new couple and enjoy talking about the intersection of our lives.

Both of our “boys” have been in Afghanistan and we pray for the safety of the one there now and for our son in laws future deployment.

Too bad I didn’t have an army flag to add to our centerpiece.

On Saturday we got lots done around this old house. We cleared out and organized in our basement which included shredding a lot of old papers we do not need to save anymore. Dear cleaned out and rearranged a few vehicles in his shop and he’s happy with the results so far. We planted 3 large bushes. There were a few neighborhood garage sales going on so we took advantage of the constant traffic by putting out some items we wanted to get rid of with a FREE sign on them. Boy did that stuff disappear fast! We barbecued hamburgers and corn on the cob for a late afternoon meal with Josh and Laura. We also had barbecued beans and watermelon. A nice time of catching up.

The weather on Saturday was nice enough for us to be able to eat outside so this table setting was put on hold for our Sunday company.

I had to share this photo that I blatantly nabbed off my niece from facebook. This is my dad and oldest sister Kathy. They are celebrating their May birthdays today together at a family favorite restaurant in Montebello called Golden Skewers. Yum! My dad’s birthday was the 25th and my sister’s birthday was the 23rd. Wish I could have been there with them but I’m happy to have this photo I could steal to see their celebration! They both look fabulous for their perspective ages! My dad is now officially 90!

What a nice feeling to know we still have one full day left with nothing on the schedule. Wonder what projects we’ll come up with for the observed Memorial Day on Monday the 27th? What have you been up to?

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and with fear and trembling stand;
Ponder nothing earthly minded, For with blessing is His hand,
Christ our God to earth descendeth, Our full homage to demand.

King of Kings, Yet born of Mary, As of old earth He stood,
Lord of Lords, In human vesture, In the body and the blood;
He will give to all the faithful. His own self for heavenly food.

Rank on rank the host of heaven spreads it’s vanguard on the way,
As Light of light descendeth from the realms of endless day,
That the powers of hell may vanish as the darkness clears away.

At His feet the six-winged seraph, Cherubim, With sleeples eye,
Veil their faces to His presence as with ceaseless voice they cry:
Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Lord Most High!

Words: Li­tur­gy of St. James, 4th Cen­tu­ry

Mind the Gap…

There was a gap today between cloudy spitting weather and more cloudy spitting skies. When the beautiful gap of sunshine appeared I was still in my robe and slippers but decided to head out to get some new photos of our May yard. If my neighbors had blogs they would have some fun posts catching me outside in my indoor garb!

I really like this variety of pink azalea. I couldn’t tell you what the variety is but it’s buds and blooms are sweet.

After our Bible Study last night I turned on the T.V. before going to bed to some news that made the title of this post just a wee bit prophetic. A bridge that is part of our Interstate 5 between me and Canada had a section collapse. As Judy in her comment says I’ll have to mind that Gap as I travel to Canada early in June. 70,000 travelers a day will have to mind that gap.

This is a photo from google images. This is the road I’ve driven on time and time again to go to the northern part of our state or to head to the Canadian border. This is going to slow down lots of travelers who will be re-routed to other roads to get north or south. We are all so thankful the people in the cars that plunged into the very cold Skagit River were rescued in a timely manner and were not seriously hurt.

And to the more mundane…Friday I have 2 appointments in the morning and then Dear and I will start enjoying our 3 day weekend with him hopefully getting off early from work. We are going to stick close to home this weekend. How about you? Are you traveling or staying home?

More Questions Than Answers…

What’s behind door number 12?

Aren’t you curious to know what lies behind doors like these?

Sometimes in life there are events that cause many questions and few answers. For many of us it’s hard not to have the answer to a problem. At times like these we have to exhibit the faith and trust we are called to. When an answer comes it might not be an easy one to live with but again we live by faith not by sight. I’m a tap your foot kind of person who wants to know what to do and just do it. I’m learning sometimes better than other times to just be still and know that God is sovereign and does things as He wills. As I read the Bible and recall my own history I’m amazed again that the God of the universe was always there and is still here doing what He will for His ultimate purpose. He has never left us or forsaken us no matter how hard or good our situations have been.

So the theme of this post is I don’t understand everything but I’m learning to love the one who knows and holds me and sends me off to do what He wants me to do.

I’m posting random shots today that cause me to wonder and to marvel and have no clear theme. This whole post has no clear theme.


St. Giorgios Parish Church in Varenna, Italay. A small basilica with a nave and 2 aisles, consecrated in 1313. 14th and 15th century frescoes and polyptychs (paintings divided in sections or panels)  in the church were painted by Como based artists. I’m amazed these have been preserved over the years. That’s a lot of years…

Now come with me down another rabbit trail closer to home. It’s time for me to get my Red, White and Blue bin down from the attic. We are moving into the Patriotic season at this old house with Memorial Day Weekend, Flag Day, and the 4th of July coming soon.

The little twist to these events is the fact that we are waiting for the scheduling of our next big project at this old house. We are finally going to start on the floors that needed replacing when we moved in over 12 years ago. We’ve chosen the materials for the first phase of the project. Adding wood floors where vinyl and carpet exist and lots of furniture exists is a mind boggling task. Where do we put everything while the floors are being done? OYE! The second phase will be replacing carpeting (which we haven’t chosen) in the 3 bedrooms, the living room, and stairs which again will mean moving all the furniture around or out. Double Oye!

Thank you for making it through my deep and not so deep thoughts. That’s life isn’t it? The random and mundane along with the amazing and mind boggling events that swirl around us.

What’s swirling around your head or place?

Moore, Oklahoma

Praying for the families who have lost loved ones in the latest devastating tornado in Oklahoma. Praying, too, for all those working tirelessly to uncover victims. I cannot imagine what those in the path of this tornado have gone through and continue to go through.
May God comfort and provide for all who have lived through this.

Catching Up…

Saturday was a great day of catching up and getting things done. We started the day hoisting our U.S. and Marine Flags in honor of Armed Forces Day here in the states.

Right after raising the flags we jumped in the car to head to Cabella’s for Dear to find some good walking shoes. We were there when it opened and back on the road for home by 10 a.m. We switched vehicles and headed to the Home Depot for some shrubs. We wanted to add some privacy to our patio area that the shrubs should provide. After some clean up work in the shop we got ready to meet Josh and Laura downtown for a bite to eat before the Seattle Sounders game against Dallas.

This was our postponed celebration of Mother’s Day. We cancelled Mother’s day celebrations last weekend because of a soccer injury Josh got that grounded him with pain and because Laura had an overtime week of work, events and care for Josh. We had a great time catching up over some small bites. Even though we didn’t get together last Sunday I was treated royally with flowers from all three of my kids.

There were 3 sweet little birds tucked into this floral arrangement because of the 3 babies that gave me the title of Mom.

After eating Dear headed home and I joined Josh and Laura to head to the stadium. Josh is still suffering from deep tissue and bone bruising in his lower leg from his injury so we walked slowly to our seats. There were some special pre-game festivities to honor all branches of the Military for Armed Forces Day. The Sounders club is great in honoring our military and our country.

Of course it’s pretty evident that I’m a wee bit partial to one particular branch of the military.

The Marines!

I’m happy to report the evening ended beautifully with a huge win for the Sounders over Dallas. It’s fun when your team wins.

Sunday is quiet compared to our Saturday. We had a challenging church service. We are in a series called The Big Picture. Today we talked about God’s Mission. We were challenged to open our mouth, to have the courage to use words in sharing what Christ has done for us and the saving grace he offers all. Lord, open my heart, open a door and open my mouth.

For our friends to the North a very happy Victoria Day to you! For all of you I hope you have a very good week ending with our long Memorial Weekend here in the States.  As you flit away here’s one more little birdie to see you off…

Bye Bye Birdie!

When Christ Our Lord Had Passed Once More ~ Hymn

When Christ Our Lord Had Passed Once More

When Christ our Lord had passed once more
Into the heaven He left before,
He sent a Comforter below
The Father’s promise to bestow.

The solemn time was soon to fall
Which told the number mystical
For since the resurrection day
A week of weeks had passed away.

At the third hour a rushing noise
Came like the tempest’s sudden voice,
And mingled with the apostles’ prayer,
Proclaiming loud that God was there.

From out the Father’s light it came,
That beautiful and kindly flame,
To kindle every Christian heart,
And fervor of the Word impart.

As then, O Lord, Thou didst fulfill,
Each holy heart to do Thy will,
So now do Thou our sins forgive
And make the world in peace to live.

To God the Father, God the Son,
And God the Spirit, praise be done;
May Christ the Lord upon us pour
The Spirit’s gift forevermore.

Words: Unknown, circa 4th century.