Category Archives: Birthday

Seventy

Tomorrow is my 70th birthday, March 14th.

The fifth child of Russian Immigrants to the United States after World War II settling in the Los Angeles Area of California. Raised by parents who sought after God and taught us Christian values. Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior and Lord at twelve, repenting and being born again spiritually. Married to a fellow believer for 46 years. Blessed with two sons and a daughter. Blessed again with two daughters-in-law and a son-in-law. Crowned in our old age with two grandchildren. Thankful to God for all He has done in my life, my husband’s life, our children’s lives and our grandchildren’s lives. Keeping on the straight and narrow until He returns or we are called home.

I’ve been so humbled and joyfully weepy over all the greetings, gifts, and flowers that have been delivered by friends and family via Amazon and USPS with postmarks from the USA and Canada.

The gift and flower senders! Top of the collage my dear friends since the 70’s Jeaneen and Heidi. The bottom of the collage my brother Leonard and his wonderful Mandy.

My brother’s family sent me this Borscht in a container. We are all curious how it will turn out. You just add broth and then meat if you want.

These ‘girls’ (Mennonite Girls Can Cook) are part of my tenship. They’ve only been in my life for a little over a decade. They have become the best of friends. We communicate almost daily and we share life together praying for one another and encouraging one another. We laugh and we weep together. Waiting for that day for the border to open so we can celebrate in person again! It was fun to get birthday cards for my 70th from across the line. Thank you girls!

As with my 60th birthday celebrations my 70th will be going on for as long as I can stretch out the fun. A lot of changes in a decade of life. There will be a photo in the near future with me wearing my Fabulous 70 crown and sash.

Another Milestone Hodgepodge

Another Milestone Birthday is on it’s way (March14th). Boy we’ve aged in 10 years but…that’s the way it is supposed to be. Cheers! The photo above is from one of my 60th birthday celebrations.

Time for Wednesday Hodgepodge and Jo From This Side of the Pond has some deep questions for us this week.

1. March 9th is National Get Over It Day…what’s something you need to ‘just get over already’? 

For years we’ve all been able to live under the radar when it comes to people not holding the same convictions as us. Today there is blatant disagreement on how to live our daily lives. I’m working on how to respond to those who are polar opposites. Most of the time no response is the best response. Sometimes it is good to engage in some dialogue.  Wisdom and discretion are needed.

2. Something you’re currently ‘over the moon’ about? 

I’m looking forward to March 14th through the 22nd when some celebrations will be happening on this side of the mountains. See #5.

3. What’s something you’re ‘chewing over’ these days? (meaning-thinking over carefully)

Christ’s substitutionary atonement for believers; “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him” (2 Cor. 5:21)

And…

“God’s gift of redemption brings salvation from both sin’s oppression and sin’s consequences-and one day from its very existence. Hence, we no longer need to fear our former master; neither should we fear the wrath of God. Christ defeated sin and Satan at the cross, and He also bore the full punishment of God’s wrath for all who believe in Him. His death set us free from sin, condemnation and fear.”

Quote from the book; Slave-The Hidden Truth About Your Identity In Christ by John MacArthur

4. The last thing you cooked or ate that was overdone? 

Can’t think of anything. We have had some under seasoned meals at one of the restaurants in town.

5. In celebration of hitting volume 411 in the weekly Hodgepodge, give us the 411 on something happening in your life in the next 30 days. 

On Sunday, March 14th, I’m hitting a milestone birthday, turning 70! How did that happen? Dear and I will celebrate with a couple nights in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho at a nice Inn and with some nice meals out in open restaurants. On Friday the 19th our Coast kids are flying over and we will meet up in Spokane for a birthday meal with all of us except for Andrew who has to fly somewhere for his job. Then on Saturday we will celebrate little Addy who turns 4 on the first day of Spring. The kids will be around for the whole weekend so there will be lots of fun and frolic. It will be good to be together.

In the next few days we will have a new grand niece join the world. She’s due on my birthday but she’ll probably come sooner.

Also within this time frame Spring arrives! Aren’t we all ready for Spring?

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

These photos are from March of 2011 when we celebrated my 60th birthday. We had a delicious meal in downtown Seattle. Our son Dan hadn’t met his bride to be yet. Our daughter Katie was in North Carolina marrying Andrew at the Justice of the Peace before he was deployed to Afghanistan.

We had a wedding for them a year later on their anniversary in Seattle after Andrew returned from his tour of duty and got a few days leave. Their 10th Anniversary is tomorrow, March 11th!

Happy 10th Anniversary Andrew and Katie!

A Pokemon Party

We had so much fun and laughter at the birthday party for our two sons celebrating 40 and 42!

The Pokemon Choo Choo Train Cake. Our son Dan has had choo choo train cakes starting at his 3rd birthday. He didn’t get one every year but was always happy when they appeared on his day.

Our daughter-in-law put together an epic Pokemon themed party for the brothers while we were in Arizona.

These oreos decorated like Poke Balls were used for one of our games.

Poke Ball themed veggie and fruit trays.

We all got to choose the ears we wanted to adorn our heads with. Jamie made all of them. The different ears have names but I’m clueless.

We were all good sports and entered into all the party games! Not to brag but I won two of the games, move the oreo from your forehead to your mouth without dropping it or using your hands and a poke launch game.

Granny Great and Jim traveled from their snowbird location in Arizona (close to the border with California) to join in on the fun. They live in Colville from March through most of November and then travel down to Arizona for the late fall and winter months.

We tried to reenact this photo from Dan’s 10th birthday party.  Once I get my hands on the original photo from 1991, I’ll add it here.

It was an epic day celebrating our sons and hats off to our daughter-in-law who planned and stealthily managed to create and transport all the goodies to Arizona from Washington.

Birthday brothers…

We ended the party with a swim and some of us kept our ears on.

For my records we enjoyed this birthday celebration on Saturday January 16th, 2021.

Back to the present, we are looking at getting some good snow this week starting on Sunday evening. Time will tell if the predictions are correct. They are talking about an accumulation of 13 inches this week.

Arizona Getaway

We flew away from Washington State to Arizona for a family birthday getaway. For the record we wore masks at the airport and masks on the plane. Here we are flying over the Grand Canyon. So much going on with our family bubble.

Our son and his partners have this fabulous Arizona getaway that we are enjoying.

Our daughter and daughters in law enjoying the poolside.

Today we visited the Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium in Litchfield, Arizona and we got to feed some giraffes! Amazing. More animal photos to follow soon when time permits! Masks were worn at the Wildlife center.

Lunchtime at the Wildlife park.

Today is our daughter-in-law’s birthday, tomorrow is our middle son’s birthday and Tuesday is our oldest son’s birthday. Many celebrations are afoot!

Early Celebration

I set the table, I made the meal, made sure the presents were all ready for them, made the cake, but did I take a photo of the birthday guests? The answer is no. My photo taking has taken quite a hit these past 12 months.

Applesauce Spice Cake baked in a star cake pan this time around.

Presents from near and far were all wrapped and ready.

We had corned beef and cabbage with potatoes and carrots and some yams, too. Pumpernickel bread and a cucumber tomato salad. We made one of the corned beef briskets in the crock pot and the other one in the Insta Pot and we decided the Insta Pot meat was more moist. It also only took 70 minutes in the Insta Pot.

These are our three who have birthdays this month all within 5 days of each other. We’ll be celebrating with all of them later this week and I’m going to make sure to get photos this time around!

Before the New Year

I posted this collage of our daughter Katie on Facebook with this birthday message;

Happiest of Birthdays to our little girl who was a special surprise from God all those years ago in Ventura, California. Your dad and I are so thankful to God for His watch care over you and for the place He has brought you to in your life. We love our beautiful, smart, kind, precise, meticulous, precious girl! We pray that the Lord will guide you continually. From Spurgeon, “There are no dilemmas out of which you will not be delivered if you live near to God and your heart is kept warm with holy love. You will not go astray in the company of God.”

Sunday December 27th was our Katie’s birthday and it was a full day of fun in the snow and then a snowflake taco dinner party with Spice Applesauce birthday cake.

The kids spent the day at Dan and Jamie’s playing in the snow and the guys helped Dan get caught up on chopping wood for their fireplace.

Santa brought JJ a new battery powered tractor.

Some steamed frothy milk to warm up before naps.

And a great finale to the B-I-B-L-E…Bible!

Now for some cuddle winding down time to calm down for his nap…JJ’s not Joshua’s. 🙂

The older crew came back to our place to get ready for the Birthday party.

It was a snowflake table setting for our winter girl. Now here’s the funny story about the candles on the table. The center candle in the table setting was a battery operated candle. All eight of the other candle holders had votives in them that needed to be lit. I asked Dear to please light the candles on the table while I finished up the taco shells for dinner. I heard some belly laughter from the dining room when everyone realized Dear also tried to light the battery operated candle. That candle looks even more authentic now!

Cake first or presents first?

A delightful birthday from beginning to end! We love you Katie!

Praying that God will increase your love and devotion to Him in this next year!

Belated Birthday Celebration

We enjoyed a belated birthday dinner and overnight in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho on Wednesday September 30th. We strolled along Sherman Ave. before our dinner reservation at 4:00.

Our kids gifted us a certificate to eat at Tony’s on the Lake, an Italian restaurant across from Lake Coeur d’Alene.

Filet for Dear and Osso Buco for me and it was oh so good.

We stayed the night at Blackwell Hotel, An old grand house turned into a Boutique Hotel. It is right on Sherman Ave. It has all the creaks and wood banisters to prove it’s old.

When we checked out of this hotel we headed north just a bit to stay in an RV park that my brother’s family rolled into on October 1st. We spent the night and then all of us headed to our country bungalow on Friday. More tales to come.

Celebrating Gramps!

On the morning of Dear’s birthday September 9th our Daughter in law sent a text with these photos of Addy, JJ, and Rayna wishing Gramps a Happy Birthday. Love that Addy is singing in the first photo.

We were invited for dinner at their home on the day and enjoyed Lengua Tacos. Delicious. It wasn’t easy capturing a photo of the three of them.

The day after Dear’s birthday we headed to Chewelah for Mexican and we were treated royally by our favorite waiter.

On 9/11 this was the view of the horrible air quality in Seattle taken by one of the news agencies. Can you find the Space Needle? Our air quality in Northeastern Washington isn’t good either but it is not this bad…yet. They say we are in for the smoke coming our way from California and Oregon. We are all praying the the fires (so many of them) can be extinguished and that we can get some precipitation to clean the air. The West Coast is burning. Good time to consider your eternal destiny.

This morning Dan and the Grands are coming over. Dan will be helping Dear prepare the shop pad for the cement pour by laying the vapor barrier and the re-bar. I’ll be watching Addy and JJ while that work happens.

My Favorite Laborer

Time for Wednesday Hodgepodge where Jo asks the questions and we answer them.

1. Something you’ve done in recent days or months that might be described as a labor of love?

I think my labor of love these days is watching and running after our dear grandchildren.

2. Last time you ‘worked your fingers to the bone’?

The latest is transplanting some peony plants and weeding. My fingers get numb after a while.

3. According to a recent survey people named the following ten jobs as the hardest-nurse, doctor, paramedic, police officer, firefighter, surgeon, healthcare worker, bomb squad, farmer, and prison warden. Of the jobs listed which would you say is the hardest? The one you’d most like to do? Least like to do? What’s one job you would add to the list?

Honestly…I wouldn’t want to do any of these jobs but I’ll play along. The hardest right now is being a Police Officer. The everyday stuff they have to deal with is unbelievable and now they are being attacked by those they are charged to protect. The one I’d most like to do is none of them. The least I’d like to do is farmer because I think a farmer’s work is never done. The one hard job I’d add to the list is being a Pastor.

4. A recipe you make that is labor intensive, but worth it?

I have a easy stroganoff recipe that I can make in a pinch but my Sirloin Stroganoff with buttered noodles is a cut above and worth the extra effort!

5. Last job you did or task you completed that required teamwork?

This past Sunday we had some ladies over after church for brunch. Dear was in charge of the Swedish pancakes and I managed the sides, setting the table, making coffee, etc. Whenever we have company we work as a team to get-er-done.

6.  Insert your own random thought here.

Today is Dear’s birthday. This guy understands hard work and doesn’t shy away from it. God was good to me when He brought us together. 

Happy Birthday Dear!

I appreciate your integrity, work ethic, love for God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Thank you for your faithfulness to me and our marriage. Your steadfastness in the Truth makes today and the future peaceful and joyful. May God continue to build you up!

Colossians 2:6: Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him, rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, abounding in thanksgiving.

This photo is from birthday brunch a few years ago at the Edgewater Hotel in Seattle. Tonight our kids in Colville invited us over to celebrate.

Tomorrow I’m starting a new challenge on my blog which will be a recurring event each Thursday. We will be sharing verses through the alphabet. Tomorrow is the letter A and we’ll be sharing a verse or verses with a key word starting with the letter A at the beginning of the verse or within the verse. More explanation HERE. Join us if you can.

Glory

Glory is the word for the 11th of August.

I’ll need to share this whole rich paragraph from Colossians with glory being the last word.

Colossians 3:1-4

If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

Share your verses in the comments or on your blog and I’ll add them here.

From Maristella:

 “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope.”
Romans 5:3-4 | NIV.

From Linda P. :

Glory: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father”. Amen. Philippians 2. 10-11

From my sister Vera:

“Who is he, this King of glory? The Lord Almighty— he is the King of glory.”
‭‭Psalms‬ ‭24:10‬ ‭NIV‬‬

From Pattystitch:

Galatians 6:14 God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Happy One posted this verse on her blog, Life is Good.

John 11:40  KJV

Jesus saith unto her,
Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe,
thou shouldest see the GLORY of God?

On Sunday we attended a birthday party for our grands’ other granny, Linda. We were greeted with a very excited little 3 year old who wanted to…

…sell us some lemonade or Iced Tea from her stand. 5 cents per cup, what a bargain. She was hilarious and very careful when she poured for each person. She filled Granny Great’s cup half full and Granny said “Is that all I get?” and Addy responded, “that’s enough”. It worked out financially for Addy that most of the adults did not have any loose change so she got a $5 bill and several $1 bills.

You should never leave your stand unattended especially when you have a baby brother!

We had a delicious dinner on the deck.

Linda is on the left with the cup up to her mouth. Happy Birthday Linda! Her friend Jo is next to her. Granny Great and Great Grandpa Jim, Aunt Rhonda, and Uncle Scott with Dan and Addy way in the back.

Jamie and Gramps got into this photo.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world.