Category Archives: Addyson May

The Presents

She wanted to put on these camo shoes as soon as she pulled them out of the bag.

It was fun to witness her delight when she pulled out the gifts.

And that’s a wrap! I’m out of here.

High fives!

There were presents for BBB (Baby Boy Bayles) to open, too. He’ll make his appearance soon and we’re looking forward to holding him and to hear what name is picked for him.

Another fun thing our Daughter in law planned for the party was handing out bubble wrap for people to pop!

The baby and baby stroller were a huge hit!

We traveled and arrived safely to the western side of the Cascade Mountain Range. Thank you to everyone who prayed for a safe journey. We have some catch up time planned with friends and family. Hope all is well with all of you and hope the last weekend of March is like a lamb instead of a lion!

So Much Love

My second post from Addy’s Bubble Birthday Party sharing all the love this little one is blessed with.

Psalm 86:15 (ESV)~

But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
    slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.

John 13:34 (ESV)~

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 

1 Peter 4:8 (ESV)~

Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.

Happy Day to all of you! I will be slow in getting around as we are traveling to spend time on the “Coast” with our Western Washington kids and friends.

1st of Spring Favorites

The first of my early Spring favorites is our granddaughter Addy who turned 2 years old on the first day of Spring. We enjoyed a meal out this week with her and the people who love her most in Colville and Kettle Falls. Her birthday bash is on Sunday after the one’s who love her most and live on the other side of the Cascades fly in to celebrate.

Extra space that I’m enjoying with our new counter depth refrigerator is another favorite this week.

On Wednesday after working outside for several hours with Dear, breaking up ice, I came inside to wash some dishes . I heard Dear doing something on the deck and then he came inside and said, “would you like to join me on the terrace for drinks?”. He had brought a couple lawn chairs and side table out of winter hibernation and set them on the deck. It was so nice and refreshing to be in the fresh air enjoying our view. You can see the snow covered landscape in the reflection off the slider.

When we drove into Spokane last Friday we stopped at Sonnenberg’s Market and Deli, “the oldest meat market in town, since 1891”. We picked up some deli items, some house made sausages and one porterhouse steak. Dear and I cooked and split that steak on the first day of Spring and oh my goodness it was the best hunk of meat we’ve enjoyed in a long time. We used a new to us cooking method for it, too, which we’ll continue using when we are only making one steak for the two of us to enjoy. I lightly oiled the steak, seasoned it with Lawry’s Seasoning Salt and Pepper then put it in the oven at 220 degrees  with a meat thermometer probe in it until the meat reached 120 degrees. Took it out of the oven and out of the pan onto a plate and let it rest for 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes I put a little oil in the pan and heated it to smoking and seared the steak on each side and then we enjoyed it. Delicious, melt in your mouth meat!

Even though it hasn’t happened yet another favorite is the fact that we will be driving to the Spokane airport this evening to pick up 3 of our kids flying in for the weekend. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to see them face to face and we are looking forward to lots of time with them this weekend. We have two birthday parties and a baby shower this weekend. One party for a 60 year old and one party for our 2 year old granddaughter and a baby shower for our grandson who will arrive in April.

I am thankful to God for His kindness and generosity to us because of what Jesus Christ sacrificed for us.  I’ve already pulled out my Easter décor anticipating my favorite holiday of the year.

The son of a friend of ours made a drawing about Easter and she shared it on Facebook. It had a cross on a hill and these words written on the bottom of the drawing, “Jesus died on the cross to save us from our sins. 😦 It was a sad three days without him.” then on the bottom right corner of this drawing it says, flip the page. On the other side of the paper he drew the stone rolled away from the tomb and wrote these words,  “It’s the greatest day in history… Death has been beaten and Jesus rose from the grave.”

Out of the mouth of babes! Love this little one sharing the Good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ!

Linking up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

Spring is Coming!

Spring here in Colville starts out as the season of mud from all the snow melting. Hopefully rain showers won’t compound the season of mud.

This is an exciting week with the start of Spring coinciding with our granddaughter’s 2nd birthday. Our little BBB (Baby Boy Bayles) is growing as he should and mommy is healthy. We never take this for granted and we are thankful.

We have a new fun game at our house that Dear and Addy enjoyed while we watched her one evening last week. It’s a mini kind of handball using small bouncy balls in the hall. It caused such joy and belly laughs!

On Saturday evening we enjoyed a meal with Addy and her parents of Corned Beef and Cabbage with Lemon Meringue Pie for dessert. More handball in the hall and the traditional things Addy enjoys when she visits Baba and Gramps were on the agenda, too. We are taking in and enjoying these days with young grandchildren.

We are looking forward to this week and next weekend in particular as all our kids will be here for 2 birthday celebrations and a baby shower for our soon to arrive grandson. Trips to the airport and nonstop fun are on the schedule. I’ll have to get my visiting to your blogs early in the week before all my attention is taken up with the face to face interactions I’ve been missing with our “Coast Kids”.

Joining Angie at Letting Go of the Bay Leaf for Mosaic Monday.

Birthday Week Favorites

My Birthday celebration started early with a Mexican meal on Tuesday that Dan, Jamie, Addy, Linda, Scott and Rhonda were a part of. It was a good time and Jamie brought a special dessert for each of us in little canning jars, blueberry cobbler. Linda is our DIL Jamie’s mother and Scott is Jamie’s Uncle and Rhonda is Scott’s wife and we are all huge fans of Addy.

On my actual birthday morning our dear daughter-in-law brought Addy by with a bouquet of flowers for me. This was such a sweet surprise and I’m so thankful Jamie took a photo of her at the front door before I opened the door with my robe on and wet hair! Addy wasn’t sure about me with wet hair and my glasses off but warmed up when she realized that scary figure was in fact her Baba!

Besides my morning cup of coffee, on my birthday Dear made me his famous Swedish Pancakes with side eggs in between his work obligations. Perks of working from home.

Phone calls and text messages from kids and family and Facebook good wishes were fun to receive and read through the day.

After Dear’s work was done we went into town to run errands and decided to try Chateau Vin, a new spot to us, for early dinner which is not new to us. It was good and we would take any wine enthusiasts there when they visit. We I have a goal of trying every eatery in our area. We’ve tried most already. It’s not a hard goal since our community and the others around us are small. Many of the establishments are closed on Sunday and Monday. Some are closed on Monday and Tuesday. Only a handful are open every day. The only national chains in our town are McDonald’s, Subway, Taco Bell, and KFC. Local chains are Zip’s, Taco Time, and Westside Pizza.

I’m retired and how to use my daily awake hours are mostly up to my discretion. I’m settling in to really enjoy my morning time reading the Bible and some devotionals and books before I continue on with the busyness of the day. In the recent past I lapsed horribly in this good endeavor. Currently I’m on a 5 day a week plan on reading the Bible through in a year. I read my Spurgeon yearly devotional which I’m happy to reread each year. I’ve added Piper’s Taste and See for the first part of the year. Then my two current books, not devotionals, that I try to read a chapter from each morning are Begg’s, Pathway to Freedom, and MacArthur’s, The Gospel According to Jesus. Dear already read these books so we can discuss what we read. I’ve gained from this discipline in my life for sure and it’s not just a discipline but it is worship and it is good even if I don’t “feel” something at the moment. The Holy Spirit uses what gets into my brain and heart and brings it back to me at interesting times, like 2 a.m. in the morning. The key for me is that I don’t turn on my computer until I’m done with this morning time.

My morning view.

Joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

Dear and I are driving south to Spokane today to have a birthday dinner at Churchhill’s Steakhouse. I won’t be around to visit until tomorrow since driving into Spokane is a several hour event for us. Ninety minutes to get there and then we have to shop at some of our favorites that we don’t have in Colville, dinner, and then ninety minutes to get home.

Enjoy your Friday!

Entering the Season Five…

Looking back at the last 7 days and thanking God for all He is doing and allowing in our lives with Friday’s Fave Five. Here are my five.

1. Dear and I really enjoyed watching the eagles soaring and sitting in the trees right in our own backyard. This happened on Saturday.

2. The Right Hand of Fellowship: Many churchgoers are familiar with the term “the right hand of fellowship”. What was the purpose or significance of this act? By giving the right hands of fellowship, believers were agreeing to serve God together. On Sunday we became members of First Baptist Church of Colville. The photo above is of our new church.

3. Lana G! Looking back at her blog and stealing reviving some of my memories with her photos, collages and prayers. Lana used photos from our sister trip to Victoria on Vancouver Island back in 2011 for this collage. Lana is not blogging anymore. Insert sad face. 😦

4. Time spent with Miss Addy. Oh how I love to see what new things she is learning. Last night she showered me with hugs and kisses. Soon she will be 2 and we will be celebrating. On Tuesday she informed her mommy that she would be seeing Baba and Gramps in 2 days and even went to the calendar to count out the 2 days so mommy and daddy invited us over for dinner for Thursday. (Thanks Addy!) We chase each other and play “throw all the stuffed animals in the crib” and rock our babies. No new photos. When I pulled out my cellphone to try to catch a photo of her she let me know that I should put that phone in my pocket. Pocket…pocket…pointing…

5. Entering the season of Lent and preparation for the greatest celebration of the year, Easter. I shared this video yesterday and am reposting it here, too. Our sister in law Kelly, has spent hours developing these videos/art course of a visual walk through the season of Lent. I’ve already learned new things just by watching the first video which is available for free. I’ve signed up for the whole course, too, and am looking forward to completing it and being enriched by it this Easter season.

I’m linking up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

Later this morning we might drive to the Chewelah Golf Course to do some snowshoeing. We found out this week they are offering the golf course for snowshoeing and cross country skiing for free. We think the snow is beginning to melt so we want to get there before that happens. I’ll take my camera and hopefully share some photos of what we see. What are your plans?