Author Archives: Ellen

Happy to Say…

…our power never went out and is still on during this latest tree limb snapping storm! I’m linking up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story with my favorite blessings of the week!

1. Having all our kids together under our roof for a few days celebrating birthdays and just being together.

2. Dan getting back over Snoqualmie Pass safe and sound before the storms hit. We really have been socked with some snow and ice!

3. Katie and Andrew making it from Seattle to Salt Lake City safely on snowy and icy roads. It took them 2 days to get there. They were so happy whenever they hit some dry miles on the highway.

4. The fact that Dear was able to work from home this week instead of driving the treacherous roads off our hill to the park and ride.

5. So thankful to God for all our kids and kids in law who get along so well and love each other. Priceless!

We are pretty sure we have officially hit the foot mark for our snow levels. This is the most snow we’ve ever experienced at this old house!

I’ll post the rest of my snow shots tomorrow.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

Birthdays!

January is a very significant month of birthdays in our family.

Both of our sons were born in January. Katie’s due date was in January, too, but she decided to come at the end of December. All three of our kids were born on a Friday.

Josh was born on January 19, at 7:34 a.m. weighing in at a solid 10 pounds!

Daniel was born on January 16, at 12:30 P.M. weighing in at 8 pounds 1-1/2 ounces.

Daniel loved to have a Choo Choo Train cake. I even made him one for an adult birthday of his.

Brothers and friends, a wonderful blessing!

Today is also my friend Judy’s birthday from the Mennonite Girls Can Cook. You’ll want to click over there and see the ice storm that hit her area on one of her birthdays past…and wish her a happy birthday. It’s one of those “big” birthdays!

Sunday is my brother Tim’s birthday and next Wednesday is Miss Hope’s 4th birthday. Lots of very special people were born in January!

Dear and I are pretty much snowed in. The snow and icy rain just keep falling here in the Seattle area. We have seriously considered the necessity of having at least one snow worthy vehicle at this old house. Something 4WD with some good traction tires is on my new wish list. Just be forewarned you haven’t seen the last of the snow shots from our little part of the world. Thankfully we still have power and Dear is working from home. Our traveling kids have encountered many slick roads but have navigated well. They have one more treacherous pass to cross today. I’m thankful for the facebook updates and the calls that tell me they are doing just fine.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world!

Inches!

Just in time for the letter I we got snow and here in Seattle we measure snow in inches! I’m linking up with Jenny our fearless teacher for Alphabe-Thursday.

Here on our hill we got a total of probably 6-8 inches.

Snow is always big big news in the Seattle area. So far this system hasn’t taken out our power so it’s nice to sit inside where it’s cozy and warm and enjoy our new white world. Igloo creating has been the theme in the neighborhood. Snow is very inconvenient in Seattle because of our very steep hills and streets that go up and down the hills. You would never describe the state of Washington as being flat. They are talking about wind coming in so I hope we continue to keep our power.

Our daughter and her husband are headed to Salt Lake City with the car loaded as full as they could pack it. They are going to take it slow and easy stopping along the way if they have to. From Salt Lake City they have to travel all the way to North Carolina. We of course are praying for traveling mercies along their way. I decided to post the photos I took this morning as the kids headed out with an update on our snow pack.

There she is with my snow boots. She was happy that we can wear the same size. She was also happy to have her husbands down coat. Andrew will be putting those chains on and taking them off a few times on this trip. He’ll be a pro by the time they get to Salt Lake City.

We wonder how many hours it will be for them to make it to Eastern Washington over Snoqualmie Pass.

I think in inches we are now at the 8 inch mark.

Celebrating our Sons…

January 16th is our son Dan’s birthday. We weren’t able to be together for his birthday last year so it was great to be together to celebrate this year.

We are so thankful to God for our sons and that includes our new son-in-law. We celebrated them all tonight at dinner in Seattle. The snow didn’t hinder our journey to the restaurant in Pioneer Square and we had a wonderful time.

Joshua’s birthday is coming up on Thursday. We were also celebrating Andrew’s safe return from Afghanistan.

All the kids with dad!

All the kids with mom!

Interesting times in the Puget Sound Area this week. They are predicting a snowstorm on Wednesday that will stop us all in our tracks. Time will tell. Needless to say people will be swamping the stores on Tuesday to stock up on food, batteries and some will be looking for generators. They love to put the fear of the storm in us.

How are things where you are?

Surprises!

There have been so many surprises this weekend but the best surprise of all was all my kids together at our house for the first time in over 7 months.

Katie and Andrew flew in from North Carolina arriving just before 11 a.m. today and no one knew they were coming but Dear and I. Dan arrived from Eastern Washington at 4 a.m. driving for 6 hours after his work shift and went straight to bed. When Dan woke up he was very surprised to see his sister and Andrew. He had no idea they were traveling to Washington. When Josh and Laura arrived to have lunch with us and to see their brother Dan they were surprised to see Katie and Andrew! The last surprise was when Aunt Lana and Uncle Steve came for lunch and were surprised to see Katie and Andrew, too. Dan’s birthday is tomorrow and Joshua’s birthday is on Thursday so we going out to dinner tomorrow night. Table for 7 please! I’ll take some photos of all of us when we are a little more dolled up for our dinner out…

We’ve had a very lovely day enjoying food together and hearing about Andrew’s experience in Afghanistan and just being able to see each other face to face.

We’ve also enjoyed looking out on our new white world.

Last but not least…the votes are in. I tried on the two dresses and the shoes to go with them and the unanimous vote from the bride, my DIL and my sister Lana is the dress that goes with the silver shoes! I’ll show the full look when I post photos from the wedding day…

Hope you all have a wonderful week and to those of you in the U.S. hope your Martin Luther King day is a good one.

Before the Lord We Bow ~ Hymn

Before the Lord We Bow

Before the Lord we bow, the God who reigns above,
And rules the world below, boundless in power and love.
Our thanks we bring in joy and praise, our hearts we raise
To Heaven’s high King.

The nation Thou hast blest may well Thy love declare,
From foes and fears at rest, protected by Thy care.
For this fair land, for this bright day, our thanks we pay,
Gifts of Thy hand.

May every mountain height, each vale and forest green,
Shine in Thy Word’s pure light, and its rich fruits be seen!
May every tongue be tuned to praise, and join to raise
A grateful song.

Earth, hear thy Maker’s voice, thy great Redeemer own;
Believe, obey, rejoice, and worship Him alone.
Cast down thy pride, thy sin deplore and bow before
The Crucified.

And when in power He comes, O may our native land,
From all its rending tombs, send forth a glorious band.
A countless throng, ever to sing to Heaven’s high King
Salvation’s song.

Words: Francis S. Key, 1832.

FFF ~ Moving Forward…

Oh so much to be thankful for. It’s nice to link up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to share our favorite blessings of the past week.

1. With the help of our DIL’s grandmother we were able to book this space for the rehearsal dinner for Katie and Andrew’s wedding. It really is the right place at the right price for our needs. Yippee!

2. After meeting my DIL and her grandmother at the clubhouse we came home just before the new queen mattress set was brought in by Josh and Dear. Laura and I put all the linens on the bed and then we had lunch with my sister Lana and  BIL Steve joining us. The bedroom is still in transition and once it’s complete I’ll post some before and after photos.

3. On Sunday we had a new sermon series start at church and on Tuesday our Women’s Bible Study resumed.

4. I shocked myself by taking the plunge and finally trying on Mother of the Bride dresses. I picked two dresses and 2 pairs of shoes and I’ll have the girls give me their opinions on which if any of the two I should choose.

So…do you think I should keep the dress that goes with the black shoes or the dress that goes with the silver shoes?

5. Thursday night our small group from church joined other volunteers to cook a meal and make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to take downtown to a location under the interstate where meals are served Monday thru Thursday nights to anyone who shows up there. We made a taco rice dish with salads, bread and dessert to serve along with coffee, hot chocolate, water and tea. The taco rice dish stayed nice and hot for the whole duration of serving. We served at least 150 people and they were very appreciative and pleasant. Several young men looked like they could have been my sons…  It was a good time for all of us. The ministry is called The Lord’s Table.

I’m getting a late start this morning. Because we didn’t start serving food till after 8 P.M. last night I got home late and got into bed way later than usual. I was surprised when the phone woke me up at 8:23 A.M. Sheesh! The sun is shining bright with clear skies so we are in for a nice chilly day. Hope you all have a nice weekend.

Black & Gold

It’s been a long time since I’ve joined in with Susan’s Tablescape Thursday. This week I have a table set ready to go for some weekend celebrations so I’m joining in.

It was fun to finally be able to use these goblets. They are a shade of green/blue that hasn’t been easy to decorate around. I bought this April Cornell tablecloth at Marshall’s in North Carolina while helping Katie get settled in her military housing. This new cloth works well with the goblets.

The black and gold dishes are from Target holiday line a few years ago. The gold goblets (which are huge) and the blue/green goblets are from Goodwill.

I’m keeping this table set for our Birthday celebrations this coming weekend. I think it is less girly than most of my scapes and our 2 birthday boys can appreciate the setting.

Honoring Our Heritage…

…and since we are on the letter H this week for Alphabe-Thursday I decided to share. Thank you Miss Jenny for keeping us on track.

It’s hard to take a photo of photos especially when they are framed under glass. This grouping of happy photos makes me smile. It was one of those gifts that came together so well. When I saw the photo of my mother and me (photo on top) I remembered I had a similar photo with our daughter Katie (middle photo). Then I remembered I had a similar photo of Dear with his mother (bottom photo). I set out to find the right frame so I could have them all together in one grouping. A family heritage gift for Katie. Hope you are all have a harbor full of  happy thoughts today. I’ll come to hover over your H posts soon…