Category Archives: Count Your Blessings

A Grand Birthday

Both Addy and JJ created happy birthday greetings for me with a candy cane treat attached. JJ also included a finger knitting bracelet and necklace. Addy got creative with a musical greeting, ‘It is well with my soul’.

A very lovely birthday celebration with our Colville Kids and Grands. Addy nailed it, It is well with my soul. Thank you, LORD!

On Friday, my actual birthday, I received these greetings from near and far.

Thank you to all my friends and family for your sweet birthday greetings, yesterday.

A Love-ly Recap

On Valentine’s day we had a surprise delivery of flowers from Josh and Laura. It was unexpected. We were thankful for the thoughtful gift. Addy and JJ came over in the afternoon for a movie and dinner while their folks enjoyed some time on their own. We watched Milo and Otis and then enjoyed tacos for dinner. JJ made guacamole out of the one avocado we had on hand. Ice Cream Cones for dessert and then we had some story time and just got started watching Davy Crockett and their folks came to pick them up.

Earlier in the day these photos were texted to the family.

Sending love across the miles!

Before Valentine’s day Katie and Laura met up for nail day getting ready with just the right color for Valentine’s day.

We are grateful for technology that allows us to see and enjoy what our loved ones are doing miles away and closer to home!

We had a nice dump of snow on Sunday. We couldn’t see our mountains and hills on the way to church.

After church the Grands had fun in the snow.

Don’t shake those limbs!

A targeted snow shower.

My Monday and Tuesday will be full of activity from morning to night as our church is having a Going Away plus 10 Year celebration for our Youth Pastor’s Family. I’m overseeing the food preparations for that event. My computer/blog time will be scarce over the next couple of days.

Happy President’s Day if you live in the states and if you live in Canada, Happy Family Day.

Black Friday

JJ took our group selfie with a little help from his mom.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal together with most of our family and Jamie’s family.

Andrew and Katie drove over the mountains and through the woods on Thanksgiving day and Josh and Laura are doing the same today.

I’m adding some great Thanksgiving quotes from Spurgeon’s Thanksgiving Gems.

“Our thanksgiving is measured by the depth of our awareness of what we’ve been delivered from, and of the glorious blessings which we shall soon partake of.”

“We are debtors to God’s saving grace, and the very least we can do is to give Him endless thanks.”

“He who has been forgiven much–loves much and thanks much. True gratitude springs from a deep sense of what God has done for us in Christ.”

So grateful for God’s love, mercy and saving grace.  Thankful for all of our loved ones!

Are any of you shopping today? I’m waiting till tomorrow to shop small local businesses. Have a great weekend!

On the Water

On Saturday the 17th of August an afternoon boat adventure became reality. The younger set filled up all the seats on the boat for a cruise and landing on a beach. Gramps and Baba relaxed and recuperated at home.

Enjoying the best that summer offers in our own backyard! The weekend and Uncle Joshie and Auntie Lolo’s visit was coming to an end.

We all gathered at church on Sunday morning and Josh and Laura hit the road for home right after the service ended. Till next time, adieu!

April Birthday Weekend

We all gathered on Friday afternoon and evening when all our family arrived from Colville and across the mountains for the beginning of a big weekend to celebrate JJ’s 5th birthday and Addy’s first Irish dance recital. We were able to celebrate Andrew’s birthday, too!

I will post the photos from JJ”s Bowling party tomorrow. Addy’s recital photos will come later in the week. A full happy weekend.

On Friday evening we enjoyed Thai food and desserts which included Andrew’s favorite Pecan birthday pie!

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

The rest of these photos are from Saturday and Sunday between the other major happenings. Thank you so much to Laura for all these wonderful captures!

Addy was very excited to show Auntie Lolo the frog or whatever they are called when they are this small. They may be small but they fill the night air with their songs in Spring. It can be deafening.

Addy and JJ are also excited to show us all their small chicks that they hatched from an incubator.

The weather was amazing with sunshine and temps up into the 70’s.

What is that and where are you going with it?

All too soon the weekend was over and our ‘coast’ kids headed home.

We again have happy thoughts and full hearts as we recuperate from all the fun!

Happy U.S. tax day to all of my friends in the USA. Happy Monday to my friends from other parts of the world!

Early Spring at Our Country Bungalow

We are seeing more green around our country bungalow and the first pop of color are the Daffodils and the sweet Johnny Jump Ups.

I brought a bouquet in for the table and will be bringing in a second bouquet today for our weekend festivities.

On this past Tuesday we had our 2024 inaugural walk on the Rotary Trail. Speaking of inaugural, I mowed our acreage on Tuesday, also. This was an early start to mowing.

From a distance we thought this was a real heron but when I zoomed in it looks more like a statue.

There were lots of real birds chirping and singing as we walked.

This eagle was soaring.

This trail loop walk takes us just under an hour to complete.

Our glass fishing float was reflecting the clouds this past week and I zoomed in for a photo.

“This glass fishing float is one of the historical, handblown floats used for nautical buoyancy and fishing gear.”

We also have a basket full of smaller floats. This next photo of the floats was taken in the summer with our pest ‘Alvin’.

We have two car loads arriving at our Country Bungalow for the weekend and another Colville carload here for the late afternoon and evening. Today is Andrew’s birthday and we will celebrate him. Tomorrow we will celebrate JJ’s 5th birthday with a bowling party. His actual birthday is in the middle of this coming week. Tomorrow evening and Sunday afternoon Addy has a dance recital with her Irish dancing group. Fun times are afoot! I will be scarce here but busy in the kitchen and elsewhere.

Here’s todays birthday boy!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Full to the Brim

Our kids from the ‘Coast’ arrived this past Thursday and Friday for a weekend of celebrations. The title of this post is accurate and be forewarned that this is a loaded post, full of photos. These days I don’t put together photo albums anymore. I use my blog as my photo album. This is a special birthday album.

On Friday we worked on potato and beef filled piroshky using Jamie’s sour dough, delicious! Our Grands have a presentation coming up at their Homeschool Co-op on Russia and these goodies will be part of the International pot-luck. A labor of love.

We gathered on the mountain on Saturday morning to create a heart filled atmosphere for Addy’s 7th birthday celebration. She chose the theme of hearts.

Addy’s mommy baked and decorated the three tiered heart cake which was so good!

Addy’s daddy made these heart shaped macarons, delicious!

Chillin with uncle until the festivities begin.

Addy loves her Aunties!

 

Auntie Lolo and Uncle Joshie

Auntie Katie and Uncle Andrew

Granny

Granny Great

Four generations!

Great Uncle Scott and Aunt Rhonda

Lifetime friends

Baba and Gramps

Mommy, Daddy, Addy and JJ.

Gramps prayed over our meal and said a special prayer for the birthday girl.

Hooray for presents!

 

She received wonderful presents and was so excited when her special wish for a pair of roller skates came true!

Auntie Katie and Uncle Andrew were in on the surprise present from Addy’s mommy and daddy and bought her all the safety pads for her wrists elbows and knees!

Time for Cake!

 

Let the games begin. We had a quiz on Addy’s 10 favorites. Afterwards we had to create some critters with our eyes closed.

Addy got to choose the winners.

I’m sure by now I’ve lost several of you dear readers out there, but there is more! When all the guests departed we drove back to our country bungalow to chill a bit before all the family arrived at our place to make dinner and dessert to celebrate me. We had to take advantage of all of us being together.

The kids prepared a wonderful stir fry with chicken and veggies with a sauce from scratch. I sat in my recliner and listened and enjoyed the aromas coming from the kitchen. Strawberries were prepped for Strawberry Shortcake dessert. Happy Birthday to me! I received lovely gifts, too. My favorite gift is being together.

Our weekend was not over yet. We had one more surprise in store for us at our church service on Sunday.

Addy had been practicing a piece on the piano to play at church on this Sunday. Our church has a place for special numbers from the congregation from time to time.

Addy was announced and went up to the Baby Grand and played the piece she had prepared, O How I Love Jesus. She is so brave and confident and played sweetly in front of 300+. It brought tears to my eyes.

A perfect song to play on Palm Sunday and the beginning of Holy Week. It is all about Jesus and His love and sacrifice for us!

The sermon on this Sunday was a continuation of our series in Colossians. From Colossians 3:18-21 we heard about Home~Where we live like Jesus. Christ changes the home and how we live in it.

Katie and Andrew had to hit the road for home right from church. The rest of us enjoyed another meal on the mountain before Josh and Laura headed back home. Greg and I headed home to put our feet up. Our local kids had one more party to go to for Great Uncle Scott. Full to the brim is what this weekend was. I’ll save the Elk herd we saw on the way home for another day and post. I will post the words from the hymn Addy played a stanza from here for the sake of context.

O How I Love Jesus

There is a name I love to hear,
I love to speak its worth;
It sounds like mu­sic in mine ear,
The sweet­est name on earth.

Refrain

O how I love Je­sus,
O how I love Je­sus,
O how I love Je­sus,
Because He first loved me!

It tells me of a Sav­ior’s love,
Who died to set me free;
It tells me of His pre­cious blood,
The sin­ner’s per­fect plea.

Refrain

It tells me of a Fa­ther’s smile
Beaming up­on His child;
It cheers me through this lit­tle while,
Through de­sert, waste, and wild.

Refrain

It tells me what my Fa­ther hath
In store for ev­ery day,
And though I tread a dark­some path,
Yields sun­shine all the way.

Refrain

It tells of One whose lov­ing heart
Can feel my deep­est woe;
Who in my sor­row bears a part,
That none can bear be­low.

Refrain

It bids my tremb­ling heart re­joice;
It dries each ris­ing tear;
It tells me, in a still small voice,
To trust and ne­ver fear.

Refrain

Jesus, the name I love so well,
The name I love to hear!
No saint on earth its worth can tell,
No heart con­ceive how dear.

Refrain

This name shall shed its frag­rance still
Along this thor­ny road,
Shall sweet­ly smooth the rug­ged hill
That leads me up to God.

Refrain

And there, with all the blood-bought throng,
From sin and sor­row free,
I’ll sing the new eter­nal song
Of Je­sus’ love to me.

Refrain

God bless you with knowing and believing in what Jesus has done for you as we begin Holy Week 2024!

 

Doing the Math Hodgepodge

It’s time for Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you, Jo, for the questions!

1. Thursday is National Pi Day…are you good at math? What was the last thing you had to calculate? Did you use your head or technology? Last slice of pie you ate? 

I am good at basic math but not in the advanced stuff like algebra, trigonometry, calculus and such. My brain remembers numbers for some reason. I can still remember birthdays of some of my classmates in high school. On Monday I had to make a simple calculation of how long I’ve been blogging so I took 2024, minus 2007 to come up with 17. I used my desk calculator to come up with that. That comes out to Seventeen years of blogging. The last slice of pie was at Thanksgiving.

2. What makes a house a home? 

The easy answer is love. For me, a home is a comfortable peaceful place where I can be real and enjoy loving others and being loved. Cozy furniture helps. Too much formality in decor makes me stiff unless you throw in an overstuffed chair with an ottoman.

3. Your current favorite green thing? 

We bought some new wall art with blue flowers and mossy green leaves for our Master Bedroom and added some mossy green to the bed with pillows. It was nice to freshen up the Master Bedroom. Did you know that it’s not kosher to call a Master Bedroom a Master Bedroom anymore? Oye Vey! It is still the Master Bedroom at our house.

4. How do you define achievement? How does your personal definition look similar to, or different than, society’s definition? What’s something you think is worth achieving in life? 

Achievement is being able to accept who you are and what your talents are and using those talents everyday in big and small ways. Achievement can happen everyday without applause from the world. Society would add fame and money as the benchmark to achievement. If your talents and hard work reap a monetary gain, that is a bonus. As a mom, raising children is a worthwhile achievement.  Contentment is worth achieving in life.

5. What song is a good soundtrack for your life right now? 

This is hubby and my song for last year and pretty much always. I’ll share a stanza and the refrain…

My Worth is not in What I Own…

My worth is not in what I ownNot in the strength of flesh and boneBut in the costly wounds of loveAt the cross

And I rejoice in my RedeemerGreatest Treasure,Wellspring of my soulAnd I will trust in Him, no other.My soul is satisfied in Him alone.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Not only is tomorrow Pi day but it is my birthday. If I take the current year and subtract my birth year from it, I calculate that I will be 73 on Pi day! A blast from my past for your enjoyment. Sheriff John was a favorite!

It Was Merry and Bright

On Christmas morning Katie, Andrew, Greg and I enjoyed Eggs Benedict for breakfast before the rest of our crew arrived for our Christmas Day festivities. Josh and Laura left the Seattle area 8ish in the morning for their trek across the mountains to our country bungalow. We were so thankful it was clear sailing for them all the way to our place. After they arrived our Colville kids packed up their truck and headed over.

Before we opened gifts, Greg (Gramps) read from from Hebrews 1 which speaks of who Jesus Christ is and Luke 2 in the Bible which speaks of the birth of Christ in Bethlehem.

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed the heir of all things, through whom also he created the world. 3 He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. Hebrews 1:1-3a


Addy and JJ made the wrapping paper for some of the gifts they gave.

 

This little guy was impersonating a Bah-bush-ka!

The Yorkshire pudding popped up well!

The meal (which I didn’t photo) was Prime Rib roasted to perfection, Yorkshire Pudding, Creamed Corn, roasted brussels sprouts and asparagus. After the meal was enjoyed we popped the poppers and enjoyed the crowns and gifts and jokes!

Since Andrew and Katie had to leave early on Boxing Day, Katie shared a cake with Jesus. Our Grands mommy made a two tiered cake that was chocolate and vanilla for Katie and Jesus. Addy requested both flavors. After we sang happy birthday to Katie and she blew out her candles, we closed our eyes while Addy and Jamie redecorated the top of the cake.

We all marveled at the wonderful cake topper for our celebration of the birth of Jesus. Great creativity Jamie and Addy!

 

What a wonderful treat to be able to be together on this special day to celebrate the birth of our Savior. We are thankful for the joy we can share with one another.

Katie and Andrew’s sleigh left on Tuesday, Boxing day. Josh and Laura are here for a few more days of fun and adventures.

Today is Katie’s actual birthday. Happy Birthday dear Katie. Dad and I love you and are so thankful for you and what you mean to our family.

 

JOY!

 JOY

Joy is a recurring theme and response to Jesus and what he has done for us. Look at the joy in these verses from the Bible. Take a moment to read through them.

Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” declares the LORD.
Zechariah 2:9-11
When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.
Matthew 2:9-11
You will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.
Luke 1:13-15
For behold, when the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby leaped in my womb for joy.
Luke 1:43-45
And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Luke 2:9-11
Be glad in that day and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven.
Luke 6:22-24
At that time Jesus, full of joy through the Holy Spirit, said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.
Luke 10:20-22
In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Luke 15:9-11
These things I have spoken to you so that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.
John 15:10-12
“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them.
John 17:12-14
And the disciples were continually filled with joy and with the Holy Spirit.
Acts 13:51-52
Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.
Romans 12:11-13
Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:12-14
…fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith, who for the joy set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.
Hebrews 12:1-3
and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory,
1 Peter 1:7-9

Remember this Christmas season when you see a star, man made or God made, pause to rejoice.
When you see a babe think of our Savior and rejoice.
When you see gifts beautifully wrapped think of the very best gift of all we have been given from God through Jesus and rejoice.
REJOICE with the angels.
REJOICE with the shepherds.
REJOICE with Mary and Joseph.
REJOICE and again I say REJOICE!
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This post is replacing Truth for Today this week. Truth for Today will resume next week. Praying you all will have reason to Rejoice this Christmas.