Category Archives: Family

If the Shoe Fits Hodgepodge

On the Kirkland waterfront at Carillon Point for dinner on Friday night the 17th of May.

Another Wednesday has rolled around and Joyce has a new set of questions for Hodgepodge.

1. What are you currently juggling in your life? 

I’m juggling exercise, eating, yard care, trip planning, garage sale preparations and understanding apps and catching up with events on my blog now that I have a way to post photos again.

2. How often do you buy new clothes?

When I see something that I know will work on my current body size and is a reasonably priced item I purchase it.

What was the last piece of clothing you purchased? 

This past weekend was all about shoes! We were visiting our kids on the Westside of the mountains. There is a Brooks Shoe outlet that is convenient to where our kids live. I like a particular Brooks brand that works well on my feet. I bought a pair, Dear bought a pair, and a pair was purchased for each of our Colville kids. They gave Laura their sizes and pictures were sent back and forth and purchases made. I found a pair of Merrill waterproof shoes in my size at REI on the clearance table so those were purchased, too. Dear found a pair of dressier/casual Clark shoes at Nordstrom Rack. We had lots of shoe boxes to juggle! 🙂

I’m defaulting to shoes as a form of clothing. 🙂

3. What food festival would you most like to attend? If you need help here are links to some of the bigger and more popular food events around the world-

For many reasons food festivals do not call out to me.

4. May is the 5th month of the year. Tell us something you remember about your 5th grade year. 

Oh boy…fifth grade was a can of worms for me. There are only two teachers in my schooling experience that I had reasons to believe did not like me. One of those was my Junior High Geometry teacher (he’s the one that gave me a D even though my tests, etc. were a solid C) When I questioned him and tried to show him my test results, etc., he blew up in front of the whole class and said quote, “Are you calling me a liar?”. Then he sent me to the girls vice principal. She was sympathetic but I still received the D.

My fifth grade teacher, Mrs. Helm, was the other teacher that gave me the impression that she did not like me. I was an avid reader in my elementary years and beyond and a quote that came into my head one day in her class when she told me to sit down was, “I might be sitting down on the outside but I’m standing up on the inside.” 

In 5th grade running out to the playground the girl right in front of me stopped and bent down to tie her shoe abruptly. I fell over her and ended up chipping a bone in my wrist. The office called my mother and they had to order a cab to take us to our doctor who x-rayed and put my wrist in a cast. Our mother never learned to drive. Our father was unreachable when he worked on different sites around the Los Angeles area.

The good thing I remember about 5th grade is that a girl from Scotland moved to our school and came to our class later in the year. I was fascinated by her and struck a friendship with her and enjoyed her friendship.

5. What are your favorite five words right now? 

Jesus ~ Truth ~ Lovingkindness ~ Rescued ~ Maranatha

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

We enjoyed a long weekend on the Westside of the mountains with our ‘Coast Kids’. I’ll be posting about that and the other events I couldn’t add photos for in the month of May. Blog catch-up including this event…

A Rebel Hodgepodge

Joyce From This Side of the Pond has come up with an impressive group of questions for our hodgepodge this week. Click over to join in on the fun.

1. What impresses you? 

Well behaved children. Considerate people. A good meal. Old architecture. Stained glass windows. Cozy pubs. Good singing voices. Old hymns. Beautiful Worship music. Gardeners. Men with integrity. Faithful mothers. Marriages that stand the test of time. Spring. A good old cemetery. Law enforcement officers. The Military.

2.  Where are you in your family birth order? Do you fit the stereotype of that particular slot? In what way?

I was the baby (number 4) of the family for seven years and then our family grew with four more siblings. Supposedly that means I might be more adventurous and rebellious than the three older than me. I was called the black sheep at times and I made my parents worry more than my older sisters did even though unlike one of them I never tried smoking. Some of my teachers in junior high made comments like, ‘you aren’t like your sisters’. I was the first one in my family to bring home a D on my report card. There is a story that goes along with that. I was the first one in my family to ‘marry out’. I married a non-Russian. Such a rebel! I do love a good adventure.

3. What motivates you more-a reward or a consequence? Elaborate. 

I think a reward, like walking three miles to a bakery. We had a good discussion over this question. There are bad consequences in doing certain things that motivate me not to do them. I am very motivated not to break the law. I’m also motivated to do things that have a good outcome like mowing the lawn and then enjoying the beauty of it or cleaning the house and sitting down to enjoy the peacefulness of it. Right now I’m motivated to do a walking workout every day (except Sunday) so I’m in good enough shape to do a lot of walking. We are in the planning stages for a trip to Scotland in September, Lord willing. That’s what I call good motivation for a future reward.

4. May 14th is National Buttermilk Biscuit Day. Who thinks biscuits deserve their own day? Do you like biscuits? Make your own? Grab one for breakfast at a drive-through now and then? Which drive-through makes the one you like best? What do you like to put on a biscuit? What’s your favorite food or dish that calls for buttermilk? 

Biscuits weren’t a thing in my Russian heritage growing up. The first biscuit I had was probably at Knott’s Berry Farm with their Fried Chicken meal.  I’ve made biscuits using Bisquick and maybe from scratch once. I have never had one in a drive through. I have had them at breakfast at a restaurant if I knew the restaurant was known for having great biscuits. Butter and berry jam would be my choice to put on a biscuit. Dear would choose biscuits and sausage gravy. I have made biscuits and gravy at home but not with homemade biscuits. Buttermilk pancakes would be my favorite food that calls for buttermilk.

5. Are there any weddings on your summer calendar? What’s your favorite part of a wedding/wedding reception? 

No summer weddings on our calendar. I love a good traditional wedding with the traditional Biblical vows and not made up ones. My favorite part is when the bride enters and everyone stands up. At the reception I enjoy getting to chat with folks I haven’t seen in a long time. I have to admit that I dread the toasts by the Best man and maid of honor  because we’ve been subjected to some really strange ones. That said, I appreciate the toasts when they are well thought out and appropriate and short.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

Speaking of weddings, our home will host some special guests for a wedding this weekend at our church. We will be on the other side of the mountains enjoying time with our ‘Coast kids’.

Monday at the Bungalow

Looking back on our busy weekend before we are full swing into a new busy week. I still can’t upload any new photos but I have many photos that show the state of the yard from years past and things look quite similar for this time of year.

Friday May 10th: On Friday evening we had our Princess Pajama Party at church and it was a hit! I joined Jamie, Addy and Granny at church and we were all in our comfy jammies. I had my Ugg slippers on, too. There was a hair braiding station, coloring stations, nail polish stations, animal face masks that were facials, wonderful snacks and then an hour long movie where the littles plopped down on their blankies and pillows with popcorn and licorice! Those adults who were still young enough to plop down easily and get up again got comfy with the littles, too. I stayed in a chair.

Friday night into the wee hours of Saturday we had a wonderful treat of the aurora borealis. I wish I could show you my photos. Amazing pinks and greens and blues looking straight up and for a time more on the horizon view we got the typical green frosty views. Those were clearer to the naked eye but the views right above were visible from camera photos which was very strange. You could see swaths of something looking up but no color until you looked at the images you snapped! A bucket list item to check off without flying to Iceland!

Saturday May 11th: On Saturday morning I met up with these two along with their mommy and granny and we walked the Rotary trail with an added loop to make it a 5k Strong Mom Walk that the City parks put on.

Saturday afternoon our now not as new Pastor and his creative wife had an open house for our church body to show us how things have shaped up at their new to them home. Many of our church body helped them move their stuff into the garage and get flooring pulled out and new flooring in etc, etc. and they wanted to have a little thank you for helping gathering. Our Pastor’s wife painted most of the walls in the home, used their stuff and gathered new stuff and decorated the whole home in such a lovely way. It was fun to have seen the before so we could really enjoy the ‘after’!

Sunday May 12th, Mother’s Day:

Sunday service was full with moms and their kids and our service was God honoring as usual with some very nice tributes to moms as well.

Sunday evening our Colville family came over for a Mother’s day meal and we had a good time catching up with them. JJ was eager to fill us in on all the things his dad and he did while the girls were at the mother daughter event at church.

As I type I hear the washing machine going. I’m putting fresh linens in both of our guest rooms.  Our guest rooms will be used this weekend by our former Pastor’s parents and brother who are traveling here for the wedding of our former pastor’s son on Saturday. We will miss the wedding since we are leaving for a long weekend on the other side of the mountains with this lovely crew below.

Planning: Laundry, a little dusting, mowing and packing is on my agenda for the week.

Organizing:

Things for our guests who will arrive while we are gone and leave before we return.

Continuing: 

With the missions prayer challenge.

I didn’t mention it last week but I’ve been doing a workout with a video daily except for Sundays. Today will be my 31st day!

Weeding out photos from past blog posts. Tedious and a little frustrating.

Reading:

Our church handed out a 31 day devotional for Women on Mother’s Day. All ladies 18 and up received one if they wanted one. Gospel Meditations for Women.

My daily Bible readings this week are in 2 Samuel, 1 Chronicles, Psalms and Acts.

I’m still reading through the Discipline of Grace by Jerry Bridges.

Quotable:

John Owen: “If you have any regard to the constancy of your faith, to the comfort of your life, the honor of God, for the salvation of your own soul, labor immediately to get your belief of the Word better founded.

Read the scripture constantly, study it seriously, search it diligently, hear it explained and applied by others, meditate on it yourself, and beg of God an understanding of it and a right faith in it.”

Thankful:

So thankful for all the love showered on me by our children and grandchildren. God is good to me.

Have a great week ahead everyone!

“How Can Elsie Run?”

From my readings in a devotional by John Piper called Taste and See -Savoring the Supremacy of God in All of Life – 140 Meditations. I’m sharing part of Meditation 50 (How Can Elsie Run? How to Run and Box when You are over 80) I’ve highlighted in bold parts that really spoke to me…

…”Are running and boxing only for the fit and hardy?
The answer is that we all must run, whether old or young, whether sick or healthy. And this is possible for the sick and senile because the race is run with the heart, not the legs, and the fight is fought with the heart, not the fists. It is a race and a fight not against other athletes, but against unbelief. It is possible for the aged and weak to win this fight because the fight is a fight against lost hope, not against lost health.
Here’s the biblical evidence for this. In 1 Timothy 6:12 Paul says to Timothy: “Fight the good fight of faith; take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made the good confession” The fight is a “fight of faith.” It is not a fight to get out of bed, but to rest in God.It is not a fight to keep all the powers of youth, but to trust in the power of God. The race is run against temptations that would make us doubt God’s goodness. It is a fight to stay satisfied in God through broken hips and lost sight and failed memory. The race can and may be run flat on your back. In fact, it may be run and fought better by the paralyzed than by the able and seemingly self-sufficient.

…Finishing the race means not giving up the hope of the gospel. It is a race against hopelessness, not against flawlessness.

When we cheer on the diseased or aging runners who run their final laps in hospital beds, what we are really saying is, “Do not throw away your confidence which has a great reward” (Hebrews 10:35) The finish line is crossed in the end, not by a burst of human energy, but by collapsing into the arms of God. And let us not forget: In the Christian race, we do not finish alone. We finish together. It is part of the rules. “Encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called Today, so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13)”

My mother finished her race and “collapsed into the arms of God at the age of 90 on September 13th, 2013. This happened to be her and my pop’s 70th wedding anniversary. Her family came around her in her last days and she did not finish her race alone. I wanted to share this short excerpt from my mom’s eulogy that my youngest brother gave at my mom’s funeral services on the 27th of September.

“Thank you for coming today to help us honor and celebrate the life of our Mother,
Grandmother, Great Grandmother, Aunt and friend, to support her Husband, our Pop –
but most of all to thank the Lord for a life redeemed and well lived and to be reminded
that eternal life means that there is more life to come after we die, a life characterized
by the resurrection life and body of Jesus Christ. God has not abandoned Mom, but He
promises because of the resurrection of Jesus Christ that she will be made like Him,
forever experiencing the fullness of life that is called eternal life and is available to all of
us through faith in Christ. Our Mom is in the hands of God and there is no better place
for her to be.

Until we see her again, we mourn our great loss but celebrate her GREAT gain. As
Proverbs 31:31 says “Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her
praise at the city gates.”

I hope this will encourage someone out there who is having a hard time running. Keep the faith. Keep looking ahead to the Hope we have in Christ. Keep acknowledging God’s goodness to you every day. Blessings on you…

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!

Oh Glorious Day!

Far too busy setting up our Church Coffee Fellowship on Easter morning to think about taking some photos of the tables of goodies. Coffee, pastries and fruit were the order of the morning and many strolled through the buffet of goodies and had good visits with one another. Good help made the work light and good.

And then we had our Resurrection Sunday Worship service. It was glorious from the Choir number that started off the service to the sermon full of the Gospel. Jesus, Our Lord and Savior, was the theme from beginning to end.

After church we traveled the short distance to our Colville Kids’ home for lunch and an Easter Egg Hunt.

Jamie’s special Easter Sourdough bread.

Our Seernaya Paska took on a different form this year. I used my coeur à la crème molds that are heart shaped. Addy colored the cross to place on the completed sweet cheese heart.

We enjoyed Zuppa Toscana, sourdough bread, cornbread, deviled eggs, dried apples, an Easter Colomba panettone with our Seernaya Paska and strawberries for dessert. I was not on top of my photo game!

Addy and JJ’s Easter outfits were gifts from Auntie Lolo and Uncle Josh.

Empty baskets…time to fill them up with eggs from this years Easter Egg hunt.

Success!

It was so nice to have a sunny dry day.

Our kids on the ‘Coast’ had a glorious Resurrection Sunday, too!

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter.

And just like that April has arrived!

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!

 

Hello Spring Hodgepodge

We are doing the happy dance because it is officially Spring!

Our local ‘kids’ treated me to a birthday meal on their mountain last Friday. It was fun to be together and enjoy some vitamin D outside watching the Grands on their bikes! We’ve been enjoying the glorious sunshine and temps above 60 the last several days.

Time for Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thank you, Joyce for hosting!

1. Spring is officially upon us, no matter what the weather may be in your neck of the woods. Is there any ‘spring cleaning’ on your to-do list? What’s your most dreaded task? 

I would say washing windows inside and out. But…I don’t have to dread it because the window washer is only a phone call away and he’s efficient and inexpensive.

2. What’s something many people seem to love, but to you feels like ‘watching the grass grow’? 

Nine innings of major league baseball.

3. Mint grows in abundance during the spring season. Are you a fan? What’s your favorite food with a ‘minty’ flavor? 
I am a fan of mint.
Ina Garten’s recipe for Tabbouleh is a favorite food that uses fresh mint. Here’s a link to the recipe.

4. It’s been said, ‘Absence makes the heart grow fonder.’ Agree or disagree? Explain. 

I suppose I agree. When something you enjoy isn’t available anymore you miss it and add an extra layer of fond memories to it that can make it seem even more important in your mind.

5. Are there any festive spring events in your city or town? If so, will you take advantage of them? 

Our best Spring events are celebrating Easter and the birthdays of our Grands. Today is Addy’s birthday and we’ll all be together to celebrate her birthday this weekend. JJ’s birthday is in the April, so we’ll gather again to celebrate him. I’ll say a lot about Easter next week.

Happy Birthday, Addy! Baba and Gramps can’t wait to celebrate you!!

The one in town event that starts back up in the Spring is our Farmer’s Market and I do take advantage of that.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

Greg and I are having a little escape in Idaho doing many things that I’m fond like good restaurants and a large variety of shopping. The photo below is from a High Tea that I was able to enjoy in Idaho.

We are traveling home today so I will be late in coming around to see how you feel about mint.