My Mom is With Jesus…

mom home

Nadia Feodorovna Bagdanov  (Nadezhda (Russian: Надежда, “hope”)

April 8, 1924 – September 13, 2013

We received word that my mom passed away as we arrived in London this morning. We are relieved for her that she is not suffering any longer but oh how we’ll miss her.  A lot of you have been praying for all of us so I wanted you to know. The funeral will not be until Josh, Laura, Dear and I return from England. Please pray for our pop who lost his faithful wife on their 70th wedding anniversary…

Black and White…

Thinking of those long gone days and looking forward to my new scanner so I can pull out more oldies but goodies like these…

My mom with what I call the first 4. I was the baby of this first group of kids my parents had. Soon there would be 4 more…

Traveling somewhere with the thermoses of hot tea toted along…

Not quite sure about the curlers in my sister Kathy and Vera’s hair…

Easter fashions!

My mom and me. My mom was very stylish!

Our long labor day weekend has been full of good family events as we were enjoying the days before Andrew flies back to Camp Lejeune for his next deployment. Katie is taking him to the airport tonight which puts a lump in my throat.  We are trusting God for his care and provision for both Katie and Andrew during their time apart. Yesterday we had Swedish pancakes for breakfast with the crew and then Josh, Laura, Katie and Andrew went on a nice hike in the Cascade Mountain range. When they got home from their hike we had a yummy slow roasted rib dinner with my sister Lana and Steve joining us. Playing cards and a Sounders game topped off the day.

ktandrew

School Days Already?

My brother emailed us this photo of our Little Hope walking to kindergarten on the first day of school. Thank you for letting me steal the photo L & M!

Hope first day of KHe said that it was a good first week and an emotional first week. I got emotional just looking at our youngest niece walking the path to her public school! Love the braids!!

Numbers 6:24-26 (ESV) and (The Message)

The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

and from the Message Version…

God bless you and keep you,

25 God smile on you and gift you,

26 God look you full in the face
    and make you prosper.

Beth, If you are reading this post check out the backpack that Hope is toting. Remembering our fun day in Poulsbo…

Has school started in your neck of the woods? I was telling Vee on one of her posts that I’m pretty traditional about school calendars and am always surprised to see school starting before Labor Day Weekend!

Bumper Stickers

My sister Lana calls me when she sees bumper stickers that make her laugh. She just called me to read a bumper sticker on the car in front of her in traffic. It reads: “Do you follow Jesus this close?” Love it. That would make you think.

My mom is still having her ups and downs and food requests. She mentioned she’d enjoy some fried chicken. My sister Lana decided to drive to the place where my parents first experienced fried chicken to pick some up for them, Knott’s Berry Farm. She ordered the whole meal plus a Boysenberry Pie for dessert. I’m hoping to see a photo soon of them enjoying the meal. I do not need to wish any further. This photo just popped up on Facebook!!

mom chicken

Katie and Andrew are enjoying their bittersweet days here before they are separated for 6 to 7 months.  They’ve planned some fun things with family and friends the rest of the week. When God puts our Andrew on your mind please pray for his safety and for the loneliness both he and Katie will be experiencing…Thank you.

The last days of August are ticking away! What do you have going?

Do You Measure Up?

We thought we had measured the inside of our closet well before I headed to Ikea to buy some new storage pieces for our T.V. and a 2nd closet in the guest room.

before and afters 001

The T.V. stand is working perfectly and just how we planned. The storage units for the closet were another matter. I picked up this large square piece and another section that was narrower and taller to put on one end.

more after 015

Seems our measurements were 3/4 of an inch off. I knew my handy dandy Dear would figure something out or we’d just stick the tall unit in the basement. The figuring someway to squeeze it in was the more favorable option because I wanted to maximize the storage in this closet. The solution was to take the support for the upper shelf completely out. See that white upper board at the end of the closet with the hole in it that was a hanger bar?  Of course that also meant we had to take the entire upper shelf out during the process, too. We still had to partially disassemble the tall unit to get it in and then to lift the unit while it was in it’s place to tighten the screws. Are you confused yet? Too bad I didn’t YouTube the process.

Ikea storage 002It’s quite the feeling of accomplishment when you can enjoy the fruits of your labor and know you conquered assemble yourself furniture! That is one snug fit let me tell you. Oh my aching back…

I’m also quite pleased that I have some empty cubbies to add things to in the future. Have you had fun projects go south on you?

My mom and pop are doing well being left alone at night. My mom has had some tough days with her heart feeling very heavy. When I talked to my pop this past week one day he told me my brother had made homilets for them for breakfast. On Tuesday he said my sister Kathy had made something Mexican for them with beans… saucekitos or something. My family loves to document what we call “Moisiisms”.

mom pei wei

My mother and father have never had lobster, scallops or shrimp so my brother Steve made lobster and scallops for them last week and my sister Lana made a shrimp dish for them to try on another evening. My mother really enjoyed the lobster and left the scallops for my brother to enjoy.  I forgot to ask how she liked the shrimp. I really can’t remember having much fish growing up. Maybe once when my pop went deep sea fishing and caught Yellowtail. I do remember camping at San Clemente Beach in California when the Grunion were running and catching some and running up to the campsite to cook them fresh. The Grunion running experience was a great one for me. “The grunion are running, the grunion are running, was chanted down the beach after waiting in the dark for them to appear. You could see little silvery fish emerge from the waves onto the beach and they would start digging into the sand to lay eggs. Wow this post has really gotten away from me.

Here’s a short explanation from Cabrillo Marine Aquarium, “Spend a night sitting on Southern California’s sandy shore waiting for the “grunion run.” Grunion are small sardine-size fish of the silversides family, which are among the few species of fish that actually come ashore to lay their eggs on sandy beaches. They are found from Southern California south to Baja California and arrive at night after the high tide around the new moon and full moon. Cabrillo Beach is one of the better places to observe the fish.”

So you see if you don’t measure properly you will find your mind being random and scattered and full of fond memories of carefree days…

Here’s that Yellowtail I mentioned earlier. This was taken in our backyard in Montebello Gardens (Pico Rivera). That’s me and my brother Tim watching my pop clean the fish.

028_28-001Hope you have a perfectly random day!

It Is Well with My Soul

mom

It Is Well with My Soul

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin—oh, the bliss of this glorious thought—
My sin—not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

Refrain

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so—it is well with my soul.

This was one of the songs my family sang in my mom’s hospital room the last couple days. We sang Great Is Thy Faithfulness, Trust and Obey, Bless Thou the Lord, He Lives and a couple songs in Russian, too. My mom had many ups and downs over the course of her time. The following photos show some of those ups and downs. Tonight she is home in her and my pop’s apartment on Hospice Care.

mom praisingThese photos were taken while singing It is Well with My Soul and praying over my mom.

mom watermelon

The next day my nephew Tim brought this cut up watermelon for us all to share in the hospital room and my mother really brightened up when she saw it.

mom episode

My father is always at my mom’s side. This was another down episode my mom had. She could go from alert and cheery to very difficult periods.

mom blessing

She rallied again and was so intent on my father praying a blessing on Caleb and Marie who will be getting married on August 10th. She wanted my Pop to bless them in Russian and then she spent quite a good chunk of time giving Caleb and Marie some advice and counsel. She told them that they have to forgive each other among other things.

After I left for the airport and my family was waiting for my mom to be discharged my sister shared the following:

Yesterday as we were waiting for mom’s release process we were singing hymns and people were stopping by to listen. We then received a request to sing for a patient. After we sang and prayed with one patient, a nurse asked if we could sing for yet another patient! It was such a wonderful experience to be able to minister to others in their time of need!

I am home again and thankful that I could make a quick trip to Southern California to see my mom and pop and be with them through these hard days. My siblings and I were able to talk through some decisions we have to make soon and talk with my parents about their wishes and resolving to honor those wishes. We had wonderful times of fellowship in my mom’s hospital room praying, singing, reading, laughing, sharing with family and friends. At one point we had 19 of us crammed into her small hospital room. After that the staff moved my mom to a much larger room so we could have more space. The staff at St. Jude Hospital in Fullerton were wonderful and they offered us some great hospitality even when we were clogging their halls!

Now we wait on God’s timing for my mom’s life.

Thank you for your prayers. I appreciate you all…

Hard News…

My father had to call 911 for my mom on Thursday evening. She is in the hospital and her heart is very weak. I’m flying down to California very early Friday morning. If God puts us on your hearts please pray for my dad especially. We all know that our mom’s future is in God’s hands and we wait on Him to reveal whether it’s her time to meet her Savior face to face…

mom july 2013

My sister sent me this photo.

I’ll be away from the computer indefinitely.

 

The Early 1940’s

In our organizing and cleaning we came across a photo album from Dear’s father with photos from Illinois from early days of Rex (Dear’s father) and Verna’s (Dear’s mother) courtship before Rex was called up for service in World War II. Rex and Verna’s granddaughters have a certain photogenic quality with one of them cashing in on modeling opportunities. I found it telling that Verna has some model poses that I think carried down to her granddaughters. Not so much on my side of the family! We have a lot of Russian Baptist modesty that goes deep…

This is my personal favorite!

This is Dear’s father’s mom and dad and a sister.

Dear’s dad after a hunting trip. Another gene handed down to our son’s…hunting. Is that a gene?

More of the modeling genes?…

May is escaping fast. How will you be spending the last couple days of May?

Back to the Beach…

When we were in Huntington Beach for Debbee and Lenny’s wedding we had the chance to walk to the beach and enjoy the sand and surf for a couple hours after a delicious brunch at Nick and Vera’s (Father and Mother of the bride).

My sister Vera lives within walking distance to the beach so we put our flip flops on and started walking…

We had quite the volatile weather on Monday, winds, calm, sunshine, fluffy clouds, dark clouds, downpours, lightning, thunder. How are things in your corner?

Great Is Thy Faithfulness!

IMGP9746

We’ve had many celebrations, an emergency room visit, dinners, breakfasts, lunches, birthday parties, singing, reunions, and there is more to come. It’s Sunday and I’ll be back to my speedier connections Tuesday evening and will share many photos of all our celebrations. Consider yourselves warned. For now I’m just chiming in to say as my dad would say…”we are praizing duh Lorrd for all he does to us” God is good. Blessings on your Sunday!