Josh and Laura arrived to our side of the mountains on Friday afternoon and we enjoyed a belated birthday dinner for Josh in candlelight. After we lit the candles JJ and Addy asked if we could turn off the other lights and just have the candles giving us light. It was a special dinner and weekend together. Friday night after dinner and cake, checkers and Legos and ‘Don’t Break the Ice’ were the entertainment.
On Saturday we gathered on the ‘Mountain’ and had a delicious lunch of Beef Stew with Jamie’s amazing sour dough bread creations. This time she baked regular and one with siracha.
After lunch Addy had her nails done and then wanted to polish our nails, too. She did a fine job.
Saturday late afternoon and early evening it was time for the Awana Grand Prix. Addy was pleased with her car the Silver Star.
We were all there to cheer everyone on. We weren’t winners this year.
On Sunday we filled a row at church. It was good to worship together. We had lunch out and too soon it was time for Josh and Laura to travel back over the mountains home. We love you, We love you, We love you. Thanks for making the trek and spending good times with us!
Thank you, too, for sharing your photos!
Tomorrow I’ll post photos of the Birthday Candlelight Tablescape.
Our weekend was full and I did not spend time on the computer or make any blog visits. I’ll get caught up soon.
A very happy birthday to our firstborn son Josh. He is a wonderful son, husband, brother, uncle, cousin, boss and friend. So thankful to God for Josh and all he means to our family. Praying God blesses your new year with joy, strength, courage and more love for Jesus.
We’ve been enjoying the birds showing up for birdseed.
We had another 5 inches of snow this week and when we looked out the window we thought this looked like a walrus so we are calling him, Wally the One Eyed Walrus Snowman.
On Friday night we enjoyed an early birthday dinner for Dan and Jamie who have birthdays today and tomorrow. Josh has a birthday this week, too, and Laura sent a couple photos of them enjoying an amazing sunset on the other side of our state.
On Friday we served Lovella’s Arroz Con Pollo which was enjoyed by everyone. It’s a dish that Jamie orders most often at any Mexican restaurant. We enjoyed it with brown rice and both corn and flour tortillas. We also enjoyed Pico de Gallo with added chunks of avocado. For dessert we had a family favorite, Applesauce Spice Cake.
We have been below freezing here for a few days. We stayed inside all day Saturday and I worked on my latest puzzle. I’m getting close to finishing.
On the way to church on Sunday our car was registering -5 degrees F outside.
We had a great Vision Sunday with a ministry fair. Our church theme for the year is Take The Next Step.
Colossians 2:6, Therefore as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him.
We are now heading into another week of very cold temps and snow promised from Tuesday evening through Thursday morning. We always wait and see if the predictions are accurate. We have seen that many folks in many parts of the country are experiencing severe cold. How is it where you live?
It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Beatrix Potter and The Tale of Peter Rabbit and all his friends. For Christmas I received the sweet print above and the tea towel below from Josh and Laura.
Right now on our dining room table this puzzle is slowly, very slowly coming together.
It is very tough and I only have me to blame because I ordered it from my year long puzzle club Dan and Jamie gifted me for my birthday last year.
My collection of Beatrix Potter Figurines are here and here.
We had more snow and now we are having some frigid temperatures. We are celebrating our Dan and Jamie’s birthdays tonight. Making something new to me and I hope it turns out good for everyone! I’ll have to move that puzzle since it is on the dining room table at present.
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.
While I was decorating our home and listening to our Christmas CD’s it was fun to get texts and messages about what our kids here and there have been up to so far this Christmas season.
Our oldest were able to fly down to Southern California for a quick trip to enjoy the annual ‘Cousin Christmas’ party and they fit in a day at Disney with several of their cousins, too. Our local kids had their annual Christmas tree hike on their own property and found this year’s tree.
Our youngest and hubby have been trying to keep their cat and kitty out of trouble. The curiosity and skills of the newer kitty have necessitated safety locks on all their cupboards. That sneaky kitty can open the cabinet doors and has even figured out how to work around the basic child proof locks!
We’ve been pondering again the passages about our Emmanuel and the wonder of it all.
In the midst, Greg and I finished this eye straining puzzle of a historic Story Map of Ireland. Thankfully it was only a 500 piece puzzle. It was actually easier than the tea cup puzzle we finished last week. We did have to get out our magnifying glasses for parts of it. Taking the time to put this together while listening to Christmas music is relaxing for us as we ignore other distractions.
I’ll add posts next week of our tree and the rest of the decorations at Our Country Bungalow.
Our travel journal will come to an end with this post, our last several hours in Dublin on Monday, September 25th.
Our tour guide was great and the tour at Jameson was well done and we all enjoyed it.
After our Jameson Tour it was a straight shot along Mary’s Lane to the Church Cafe. We had a great table for the 6 of us right up front in the balcony with the Irish music and dancing right below us.
We had a lovely view of the Stained glass window.
Saint Mary’s (former) Church of Ireland was begun c.1700 to the design of Sir William Robinson and was completed by his successor, Thomas Burgh. It was the first classical parish church in the city and was the site of Arthur Guinness’s marriage in 1761. Wolfe Tone was baptized here and the church also witnessed John Wesley’s first Irish sermon.
The triumphal east window was designed at least in part by Robinson and has a grace and vivacity unusual in a city largely bypassed by Baroque influences. The style is supported by the tracery windows and represents the only extant exterior Baroque flourish in Dublin city. The plan form adds further to the site’s unique identity, with the convex quadrants being a departure from the usual rectilinear shapes found in similar churches, contributing a distinctive design and striking presence.
Lord how I love the habitation of thy house and the place where thine honour dwelleth.
I was glad when they said unto me let us go into the house of the Lord
Holiness becometh thy house O Lord forever.
I felt torn that this church didn’t survive for whatever reason but am pleased that it wasn’t torn down. The Stained glass window still echoes some of God’s truth for those with eyes to see.
We all enjoyed our dinner here and when it came to dessert, Sticky Toffee Pudding was on our minds. The Church Cafe did not have it on the menu so Andrew googled and found a restaurant in the Temple Bar area of Dublin that had it on the menu. We decided we would enjoy that to top off our last full day in Dublin so we walked across the river to the Temple Bar area.
How great it was to see this particular bar that was one of the jigsaw puzzles I completed before we traveled to Dublin.
The restaurant that was serving Sticky Toffee Pudding was packed and getting a seat for six didn’t look promising. With some gentlemanly coaxing, Andrew convinced the staff to fix up two servings for us to enjoy outside around a bench along the way with promises that we would certainly return the plates and utensils. It was a nice way to end our time before we ordered the last Uber of the day to take us back to our hotel for the night. Slainte!
This wraps up my travel journal for our time in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Dublin and England. On Tuesday the 26th of September we had our buffet breakfast in the hotel, checked out and traveled by Uber to the Dublin Airport for our 9-10 hour flight home. We went through customs in Dublin so we did not have to be delayed at all after landing in Seattle. Andrew and Katie drove straight home from the airport in Seattle and we drove back to Josh and Laura’s for the night with a stop for dinner at their local Mexican Restaurant. We settled in for the night to try to sleep before our next day departure by car over the mountains to our home. When we woke up earlier than expected due to Jet Lag we loaded up and drove home. Thankful for God’s providence in reaching our driveway safe and sound or half sound. Jet Lag is real!
We had nine at our Thanksgiving table this year before three more family members made the drive on Friday. My sister and her husband traveled from Texas to be with us locals from Colville. I’m happy to announce that we were pleased with cooking the turkey in the convection oven. It took half the time and the results were good. We’ll make a couple tweaks next year…if we remember.
On Friday, later in the afternoon, this carload of three arrived from their six hour drive and we were eleven for a pulled pork dinner. Our daughter’s hubby unfortunately was under the weather and stayed home.
On Saturday our group split up and spent the morning and afternoon with separate adventures.
The older folk ventured across the line into Canada for some fun in Rossland and Trail, B.C. We had good interactions with the Border Agents again.
The sun was out for another glorious squinty day! Rossland is at a higher elevation and known as a skiing destination. The shaded sidewalks were icy. We tried to walk on the sunny side of the street.
We enjoyed the artwork around town and made some purchases before we traveled a bit further to enjoy lunch in Trail.
Persian food is a favorite in our family and we were happy with the quality of food at Kootenay Kabab in Trail.
Our carload made it back across the border to our Country Bungalow in time to watch the second half of the Cross state rivalry between the University of Washington and the Washington State Cougars, known as the Apple Cup. Having three University of Washington alumni in our family we are Husky fans. We are outnumbered on the side of the state that we live in now. Our Huskies waited until the last second of the game to win! With that win they are undefeated this season.
While we were in Canada our kids enjoyed time in Colville on our local kids’ property.
We all gathered together again for dinner and fun on Saturday evening.
Addy enjoyed time with her aunties and great auntie and JJ enjoyed his Uncle JOSH-SHU-WA. This weekend for JJ, Uncle Joshie was Uncle Josh shu wa.
Ember enjoyed the visiting hands that stroked her head. The large Thanksgiving banner was a great project for everyone to contribute their coloring skills to. Mexican Train was the game of the weekend.
We are thankful to be able to spend extended time together any time of the year but it is always a special time at Thanksgiving. So grateful for all who traveled a long way to get here! We don’t take that for granted.
As you can imagine the last several days have been very busy and I’ve had little time on the computer and for visiting. Hopefully I’ll catch up soon before the next grand adventure the end of this week!
Thank you to all for your visits and your comments. I appreciate every one of you!
Uncle Joshie and Auntie Lolo arrived to Colville on Thursday evening last and we enjoyed a few days together. On Friday October 27th we arrived at the Pumpkin Patch and Corn Maze when they opened at 4pm.
Addy was keen on reading the map and leading us to find the 9 stations of the maze.
JJ was interested in other discoveries.
We mastered the maze in forty minutes and then it was time to pick a few pumpkins to carve.
Carving happened the following day on Saturday after the pumpkins had time to warm up. We’ve been experiencing lows in the teens and 20’s here in Colville.
Saturday evening we enjoyed dinner at our Country Bungalow with nonstop fun and I even got a back massage by my favorite little boy.
Sunday we were all in church for a wonderful service and afterwards enjoyed lunch together at Rancho Chico before Auntie and Uncle hit the road for home.
A special Fall weekend enjoyed and one that will be remembered. Thank you, Joshie and Lolo for taking the time to drive over the mountains to visit us. Loved our time together.
Happy Reformation Day and Halloween to you all. We are looking forward to our two very special trick or treaters to ring our doorbell tonight!
There is no Hodgepodge this week so it’s a good time to go back to our time at the Marcus Cider Fest this past Saturday and get caught up with what’s been happening around here recently.
Every October the little town of Marcus hosts a Cider Fest that is well attended. It starts with a parade on Saturday. This year the weather was so nice it seemed the attendees and cars in the parade doubled!
Granny Great and Jim rode in Jim’s car for the parade.
His car was so shiny that we could see our reflections!
Our kids entered our DIL’s Thunderbird in the car show.
Jamie created all the t-shirts. Dan’s said, It is her car but she lets me drive. Jamie’s shirt said, It is my car but I let him drive and the kids shirts said, What’s the Word? Thunderbird.
We enjoyed the parade with our Grands and then we walked about the craft stalls, bought a caramel apple and headed home for the day.
The last Saturday in September I attended our Women’s Retreat and one of the workshops I attended was on Hospitality and Flower Arranging.
This was my arrangement. Those flowers were spent after a week and I replaced them with these Dahlias I purchased at Trader Joe’s keeping the same filler greens.
Last in this catching up post are photos from our back acres showing some Fall color.
Speaking of Fall, we finally had conditions that allowed us to take care of our burn piles. Branches that fell throughout the year were gathered up and burned. We worked as a team and accomplished a lot on Tuesday.
It’s been good to catch up with many of your blogs.
We are praying for Israel and the conflict on that side of the world. So distressed at how prisoners of war have been treated in such a barbaric and inhumane way. I can’t even imagine the sadness, terror and grief of losing loved ones in this way and the feelings of despair while huddled in a bomb shelter.
Borrowing the verses that Joyce shared on her blog.
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging. There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day” Psalm 46:1-5
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 