Category Archives: Family

Blest Be…

…the Tie That Binds.

On Friday we all gathered at Josh and Laura’s and enjoyed some bonding time with aunts, uncles, cousins, grandmas and grandpas. Uncle Andrew finally got to meet Addy in person. Our grandniece was at Katie and Andrew’s wedding (a wee babe) but little grandnephew was not born yet. We all were meeting little “Mister” for the first time.

Addy enjoyed watching “Mister”. He was entertaining the adults with his knowledge of States and Capitals. We yelled out a state and he gave us the capital. He’s three and he knows capitals better than us adults.

Sister-in-law, Christina is married to Dear’s only brother and they have 3 daughters. Jenna was their first daughter born and she has two children that we got to know during their 5+ day visit from New York. Jenna is Dear and my first niece and we spent lots of quality time with her in her early years since we all lived in Southern California. It was nice to see her as a mommy.

“Sky” is five and she got a kick out of little Addy. Addy likes to stare at her, too.

Uncle Josh, Addy, and “Mister” with the cool reflections I didn’t know I was capturing in this photo.

Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds
Is like to that above.

Before our Father’s throne
We pour our ardent prayers;
Our fears, our hopes, our aims are one
Our comforts and our cares.

We share each other’s woes,
Our mutual burdens bear;
And often for each other flows
The sympathizing tear.

When we asunder part,
It gives us inward pain;
But we shall still be joined in heart,
And hope to meet again.

This glorious hope revives
Our courage by the way;
While each in expectation lives,
And longs to see the day.

From sorrow, toil and pain,
And sin, we shall be free,
And perfect love and friendship reign
Through all eternity.

Words: John Fawcett, 1782.

This hymn was sung in the 1940 mo­vie Our Town, which was nom­in­at­ed for sev­er­al Acad­e­my Awards.

And here’s Baba reunited with her sweet grandgirlie, Addy.

I’m busy catching up with many of your posts that I’ve missed over the last several days so I’m not joining memes today since I won’t get a chance to visit other participants. Can you believe we are halfway through 2017 already! Praying for some of our blogging friends, bj at Sweet Nothings who just lost her Mr. Sweet, Cuisine Kathleen who lost her dear husband suddenly the end of May, and others who are suffering from long term illnesses. May you be revived by God’s “glorious hope”.

Cousins

These are the cousins on Dear’s side of our family, missing Jenna’s husband and her two sisters. We had 5 full days of fun and it’s time for our niece Jenna and her 2 little ones of the walking and running variety to head back to New York. Our little Addy was very interested in these smaller humans that moved fast and were interested in her, too. I’ll be posting a bunch soon. This Baba/Great Auntie is a little tired but full of joy with the good fellowship we had.

Picking Berries…

…and other things with my grand nephew and grand niece who are visiting with their mom, our very first niece and their grandmother, Dear’s SIL. I will be scarce on the webs these days. See you next week.

She Was A Happy Girl

When our daughter Katie was in fourth grade she was put into a Gifted program which was housed in a different school from our neighborhood school. After a few months in this program we started noticing some troubling patterns and angry outbursts from her. She did not want to go to school and wasn’t interested in doing any homework. She finally opened up to us and told us about her experiences on the playground from the other “gifted” kids. We decided the best thing to do was to pull her out of the program and try to repair the damage by homeschooling her. This was one of our best parenting decisions and moves. When we told her teacher and the administration we were pulling her out they were shocked and told us we were making a mistake. They felt this program was giving Katie some options she wouldn’t get in a regular classroom or at home. We just smiled and walked away. We home schooled for 4th, 5th and 6th grade and then Katie decided she’d like to try public school again entering junior high/7th grade. This is something I wrote in 1996 after hearing how Katie was treated and after watching how she was shunned at the school bus stop.

She Was a Happy Girl

She was gentle and kind
She liked to pretend and giggle and dream
Her dreams became playground games
She pranced and danced and was a tree fairy
Her imagination smiled inside her head
She was a happy girl

Other children on the playground couldn’t figure her out
She wasn’t like them
She was different in their eyes
Because of her uncommon ways they began to taunt her

She became the playground plague
She was called the germ
No one should touch the germ
or play with the germ
because they would become a germ, too.

She was a happy girl
but their thoughts and their actions
turned her into a sad and angry girl
She couldn’t understand and couldn’t change
what the playground had made her

She was a happy girl

I’m happy and thankful to God that Katie thrived being home schooled and when she re-entered the public school system she continued to do well. She enjoyed drama and art and had some great teachers who recognized her talents and abilities. She made some good friendships along the way at school and at church. She had very impressive SAT scores. She also was a National Merit Scholar. She completed college and now is standing by her husband as he completes his college degree in Aeronautical Engineering. He had a late start because of serving as a U.S. Marine. She still doesn’t fit in anyone’s mold. She is uniquely Katie. That’s one of the trees on one of her elementary playgrounds that she pretended she was a fairy in.

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

Numbers 6:24-26

I found this as we sorted through lots and lots of paperwork and decided to put it on my blog as a reminder of how far we have come and how we were carried through by God’s love and grace in difficult times. There are some other things I might share from time to time. Peace be with you and yours.

Huntington Beach

On Thursday the 25th of May my sister Vera and I had a walk in Huntington Beach and on the pier.

It was fun to see the pelicans. They look so prehistoric, don’t they?

We took the obligatory selfie.

On Friday Kathy joined Vera and me in Huntington Beach for a sister morning. We had breakfast and did some shopping together.Our youngest sister, Lana, is traveling in Scotland right now.

Before Kathy left we took another sister selfie.

On Saturday we are going to have another family gathering with more of our family at my sister Vera’s. It will be nice to see two of my brothers and my sister-in-laws. Vera and I will be baking again on Saturday morning because our dear old pop told us it would be good if we baked another roolyet (nut roll) for our family gathering.

I’ll be posting the recipe of this family favorite on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook on the 31st of May.

Hope you are having a good long weekend and can pause to remember those who have fallen in service to our country.

Baby + House = Love

djs-new-digsWe were happy to help Dan and Jamie celebrate their growing family and their new home with their family and friends.

2017-02-23-1st-walk-djsThis winter their area is experiencing more snow than usual. The above photos were taken from the front porch. When I visit sometime without snow on the ground I’ll be able to take more extensive photos of their property.

2017-02-26-open-house4Their new home has more open space and larger views. One great feature is their Russian Fireplace. You can see the fire glowing on the front of the fireplace. On the right side you see another glass door that can be used for baking or proofing or slow cooking. One of their open house gifts from friends was a cord of wood! Slapping my hand because I did not take a picture of the pantry which is amazing.

2017-02-27-djs-babyroom1Of course I had to show some photos of the nursery again.

2017-03-01-more-snow-colvilleMorning views out the windows at the rear of their home.

2017-03-01-more-snow-colville1Sunset views.

2017-02-26-open-house5Their new place can fit at least 45 people milling about. I got some not so great photos of the crowd while Jamie opened presents.

2017-02-26-open-house2Jamie with her mom and granny.

collages18There’s a story behind that chicken that has been passed around the family as one of “those gifts”. We think we know who is getting it next.

djs-babyroom-003Josh and Laura were able to fly over to make it to the party on Saturday and we enjoyed part of Sunday together before they flew back to Seattle. I’m glad Laura thought to have a picture taken of the four of them.

djs-babyroom-002When we return we hope the path through the garden to the chicken coop will be easier to navigate.

We are home getting things organized at this old house so that we are ready for another quick trip across the mountains to welcome Addy in person. Hope all is well in your corner of the world.

Safely Home

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A funny thing happened while we were in Colville. We weren’t able to drive home on Tuesday as planned because of the conditions on the pass. On Tuesday while doing errands with our daughter in law we stopped at the Toyota dealer and bought a used Rav4(2014). It was a local trade in and well maintained. Our daughter in law even knew the people who traded it in and gave us a thumbs up. We drove home today and are pleased with it’s performance. Since our kids and soon to arrive granddaughter live across a mountain range from us we thought this was a good purchase for future trips. I was even able to drive it up our kids snowy road to their house on the way home from the dealership.

drive-home-001

On Wednesday morning we felt confident in our new ride to make the trek west and over the pass and on to home. One last look at the snowy view on our way down to the road from our kids home.

drive-home-002

The last stretch before reaching the county road that is plowed. We made it home without any problems at three in the afternoon. Our return trip for the birth of Addy will be in just a couple short weeks.

Goodbye to February and hello to March and hello to the days leading up to Easter (Lent). Hope to do some visiting to your blogs the rest of this week.

 

 

Off the Grid

blessings-003 These new areas in our stairwell that head up to our Master Suite warm my mom heart and I can focus on them as I walk up or down the stairs.

blessings-001I’ll be counting my blessings throughout the weekend and into next week.

We are going to be spending lots of time with all our kids and our extended family over the next several days so I’ll be far off my normal grid.

Hope you all have a good Friday and weekend. Here in the U.S.A. we have an extended weekend since Monday is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Our banks, post offices and schools will have Monday off. I hope to catch up with you all next week.