Twins 60th~Part 2

First things first here are the twins’ families.

Lana and her husband of thirty five years, Steve.

Leonard, Mandy, Hope and Andrew. Leonard and Mandy have been married 17 years this month.

Lana and Leonard each had words of appreciation and love to share with us before we sang a family favorite, Bless Thou the Lord, O my soul.

Lana was emotional all day long and we cried and laughed with her.

Leonard shared these verses for us from 1 Thessalonians 2:19-20: For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.

A prayer for our meal and then we enjoyed a delicious plateful of barbecue brisket, sausages and all the trimmings.

After dinner, we were called up for Line Dancing.

Getting ready to Line Dance!

After Line Dancing it was time for cake!

It was a wonderful party from beginning to end. After cake we had a chance to speak up and encourage Lana and Leonard with affirmations of their contributions to making our lives better. Both Lana and Leonard have been so generous with their time, advice, prayers, talents and resources over the years to their spouses, children, nieces, nephews, siblings and friends. It was good to hear several speak up and share special memories.

The joy continued on Sunday and that will be another post.

60th Birthday Part 1

This will be the 2nd of a few posts covering our time in Texas the last weekend of July.

We started with photos at the hotel before our drive to the party at Circle R Ranch in Flower Mound.

Josh and Laura above.

My sister Kathy with her daughters and granddaughter.

The twins with their nieces (and my niece’s, too). One of Lana’s nieces is twin Leonard’s daughter. She’s in the white boots. For the record the twins had many nieces and nephews from their other sides of the family at the party, too, along with brothers-in-law and sisters-in-law and Lana’s Mother-in-law. Friends of Steve and Lana’s from Washington and friends from Leonard and Mandy’s church were also in attendance.

Our son, Josh, with his cousin Andrew. Andrew is Leonard and Mandy’s son, one of our nephews.

More niece photos!

Moisi and Nadia would be thrilled to see so many of their people together.

The siblings in order of birth starting with Kathy on the left and ending with twin Leonard who is the youngest by a few minutes. Two of our brothers were not at the party. Our brother Steve planned on being there but got sick at the last minute. Steve would have stood between our brother Tim and our sister Lana. Our other brother would be between me and Vera.

All the sisters with our dear friend Heidi. We all grew up in the same Russian Baptist church. Heidi has been a dear friend for years! She was also the twins Sunday School teacher about 55 years ago!!

My younger brothers, so dear to me.

The youngest and the oldest!

Nephew David and our son Josh, friends since they were toddlers!

Josh, nephews Lenny and David.

Our son with Nikki who is the daughter of Ken and Heidi. Our kids have been friends from birth! Nikki and her brother lived across the street from us in Huntington Beach back in the 80’s.

Our brother Tim and his dear wife Letty.

Dear and me with our forever friends, Ken and Heidi.

A huge thanks to Josh for being our ride the whole weekend and to Laura for so many great photos.

Next post will be as full of more photos including line dancing.

Pre-Party Fun

After our short hop from Spokane to Seattle we met up with two of our kids for our flight to Dallas.

Once in the Dallas area we gathered at Steve and Lana’s just a short drive from our hotel. We had dinner, swimming and catching up with friends and family. A houseful and a pool full.

We gathered again on Saturday morning and for our son’s signature breakfast dish.

We enjoyed a great time of singing some old hymns before the twins opened a few presents.

Addy created some birthday artwork signed by both Addy and JJ for their Great Auntie and Great Uncle. We gifted them each with a podstakannik that our parents brought with them from the old country with glasses from our Aunt Anna.

What is a Russian podstakannik?

Traditional Russian tea-glass holder “podstakannik”, meaning “pod” – under and “stakan” – glass. It has been traditionally used during travel in railroad cars for tea drinking so as not to hold the hot glass with your bare hands.

~Soon it was time to head back to our hotel to get ready for the big event on Saturday evening. I’ll share photos from the party on Monday.

We arrived back home late on Tuesday of this week and are recovering from the great time we had. Laundry is done and now I need to mow our acres! We are still in the middle 90’s for temps here but it feels cool compared to our time in Texas. Morning temps in the upper 50’s and low 60’s have been great for morning chores! We have some smoke in our skies from fires still. Hope all is well in your corner.

While we were away I was saddened to read that our great bloggy friend, Vee at A Haven for Vee had been called home to heaven on July 23rd. Vee was such a wonderful bloggy friend. Her comments always made me smile. She had a way of reading between the lines and leaving such meaningful comments. She noticed things that others missed. The Mennonite Girls Can Cook even credit our name to one of her comments! Vee, we will miss our encounters with you but rejoice that you are with our Savior and LORD!

L & L Yeehaw

So much fun and so much to share. Stay tuned for more than you bargained for…

A Belated Birthday

This was taken a month ago and I didn’t want to miss posting it on my blog. Happy Belated Birthday to Ember. A wonderful dog for our Grands!

Double that Plus Two Hodgepodge

At the age of thirty-five in Ventura with our three kids. Double that thirty-five and add two years and that is where I am today but not in Ventura!

I missed the Hodgepodge last week but am on track for this week. Thank you Joyce From This Side of the Pond!

1. Tell me something you remember (or if you’re not there yet, something you look forward to) about being 35.

In my 35th year, which was 1986, I was nursing our third and last child who was our first daughter. We were living in Ventura, California. Greg was working in a quarry running a front end loader close to our home. He was taking night classes at Ventura College to see if a change of career path was right for him. Our boys were five and seven finishing up Preschool and 1st grade. We were in the busy time of parenting which would last for several years!

2. Last time you ‘burned the candle at both ends’?

Last week was a burn the candle at both ends kind of week. Getting ready for a garage sale is hard work. A good distraction was our bookend overnight company at the beginning of the week and end of the week. It was wonderful to see them and get caught up. Thankfully those guests are the kind that take care of themselves and don’t need fussing. The kind you are ‘real’ with. My brother in law even mowed the lawns for me because he enjoys that. Saturday our 92 foot tree was felled while I was finishing up at the garage sale. Then on Sunday was a tearful send-off of our beloved Pastor Dennis and Miss Lori which made for some emotional tiredness. On Monday Greg started the demolition of our master shower! I’m fine, we’re fine, everyone is fine. LOL!

BTW: We made a significant amount of money at the garage sale which made the hard work acceptable. 🙂

Here is our granddaughter giving a going away picture she drew for Pastor Dennis and her beloved Cubby teacher, Miss Lori during their Going Away Open House. Old and young will miss these two.

3. Are you someone with the ‘gift of gab’? Elaborate (which shouldn’t be a problem if you answered yes teehee).

I have the gift of gab on paper (which you might have noticed when I answer questions here) but not so much in verbal communication.

4. Do you request a special meal on your birthday, and if so tell us what that meal is?

I enjoy going out on my birthday and having a special meal. That special meal depends on the menu offerings. If there is Osso Bucco on the menu I will probably order it.

Do you want the same kind of cake year after year or will any flavor work? Do you want cake at all?

Cake is optional. We might order some dessert off the menu and have bites around the table.

Growing up were birthdays a big deal in your house?

Birthdays were not elaborate at all but they were celebrated. It was hit and miss on how they were celebrated. My older sisters and I got birthstone rings on our 16th birthday from our parents. I honestly don’t remember many of my birthdays growing up.

Are they a big deal now?

Our kids have made our birthdays of late a time to celebrate with a meal out which we have enjoyed. I don’t need a big deal and the best thing is being together enjoying a meal together. Our kids made a very big deal of my 60th birthday and my 70th birthday which was very special.

My 60th birthday with a limousine ride to the restaurant. Our daughter was busy getting married at the Justice of the Peace in Jacksonville, N. C. before Andrew’s first deployment to Afghanistan.

My 70th birthday celebrated in Spokane and Colville. The decade between my 60th and 70th grew our family with a son-in-law and another daughter-in-law and two grandchildren.

5. ‘Age is just a number.’..agree or disagree? Tell us why.

There are some significant numbers when it comes to age all through our lives. Turning one is a big deal and then turning 5 which signified the beginning of public education. Becoming a teenager at 13 is another landmark. Sweet 16 was special in our family and then there is 18, when some of my friends left home and some went to college, the age of independence. Twenty One was a popular age and the legal drinking age here in most of the states. After that the decades were noted, like 30-40-50-60-70! The age of retirement was 65 and now that is more fluid. And then there is that dreaded age when the car keys should be taken away and all ladders removed from our homes!

I’m surprised at how different sixty or seventy looks on different folks. Those who have had a very hard life and made many poor choices in life look older.

I enjoy being around older people who are ‘young at heart’ and who are content and at peace with their age.

Not sure I answered the question but I did prove I have the gift of gab on ‘paper’!

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Photos from when I was thirty five years old and busy with these three gifts from God.

Thanks for reading my ‘gab’.

Old Marcus

Though the original town of Marcus has lain below the waters of Lake Roosevelt for 60 Years, it is not forgotten. Many a Spring, as the lake is drawn down to generate power, the ghost town of Marcus is again visible. Sidewalks and streets and foundations rise from the water for a few days or weeks, reminding us all of Marcus and the other drowned towns of the upper Columbia.

This happened this Spring and we decided to walk out on the exposed lake bottom to see what we could see. We walked the flats on Sunday the 16th of April, 2023. Vast expanses of sand, mud and rocks are being exposed by a deep reservoir drawdown to make room for runoff from snow from surrounding mountains.

As the Grand Coulee Dam grew higher in the 1930s, the water of the Columbia River rose behind it. 150 miles of the free-flowing river was transformed into the placid Lake Roosevelt, drowning hundreds of acres of timber, farmland, Indian villages, and camas meadows. Also below the waters of Lake Roosevelt lie eleven little agricultural towns with names like Peach, Inchelium, and this town, Marcus, Washington.

Lake Roosevelt is a working reservoir. It is the main storage reservoir on the Columbia River for the United States. The reservoir is lowered in the spring, to make room for the spring runoff. This prevents flooding on the lower Columbia River. The water that enters Lake Roosevelt during the spring is stored in the lake and is used later in the year for power generation and to enhance river flows downstream for endangered species of fish when flows on the Columbia River drop later in the summer and fall.

Walking the old sidewalks that are covered by the lake most of the year.

Main Street Old Town Marcus!

Back to the cars and on to lunch.

Here’s what the lake looks like when it is full.

Happy Tuesday. We are looking forward to a major warm-up the rest of the week. I’m going to have to mow the lawn before the week is over.

Thirty Years Older…

After JJ’s 4th birthday party we celebrated this guy who is 30 years older than JJ. He joked about a trapezoid so he got a trapezoid.

Happy Birthday, Andrew. We are all thankful for you and glad God brought you to our family.

While family was in town we enjoyed digging through some very old bins of stuff.

Addy loved twirling in one of Auntie Katie’s dresses from years ago.

JJ gravitated to this infant sized superman t-shirt that he squeezed over his head and onto his body.

Some good conversations transpired.

More bin fun with Katie’s old Barbie and Ken dolls. Clothes and lots of itty bitty things got dumped on the floor!

Scary or Cute?

The plan was hatched between the ‘director’ above and the birthday dinosaur to scare all of us with JJ’s ‘scary’ transformation into a green dinosaur.

She was on the lookout and knew we were all in danger.

He appeared!! Cute or scary?

Fast and roaring!

After we were all sufficiently scared the dinosaur opened his presents.

Last but not least, his big boy fishing pole!

Finishing off the party with photos of his guests.

Don’t miss the dinosaur feet.

The party was a success of dinosaur proportions and we left for home to prepare for another birthday celebration in the evening. The cute 4 year old dinosaur had a nap and was ready for an evening of fun at Baba and Gramps’.

We love you JJ and pray that you will grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. May God keep you and protect you all the days of your life.

So they don’t get lost over time here are the other posts from JJ’s 4th birthday party.

Dino Food and Fun

Were You Invited, T-Rex?

Four-ociously JJ

Dino Food and Fun

At JJ’s 4th birthday party after the T-Rex (AKA Uncle Scott) made his entrance it was time for lunch and before we start Gramps offers up a prayer of blessing for JJ to our heavenly Father.

I didn’t take photos of all the food. We had drumsticks, meatballs, little smokies, raw veggies and fresh fruit.

After lunch we played an outdoor game before we had cake.

We had a green team and orange team and we had to fill the little dinosaurs with water and try to fill a cup up to the line by squeezing the water out of the dinosaur.