Joys and Trials…

Our kids are getting together for a siblings weekend. This brings me joy. There are 5 hours or so of distance between Dan and Jamie and our kids that live on this side of the mountains so they are meeting about halfway.

My dear old Pop is doing pretty good. He has pain in his legs and back and is losing strength but in general his outlook has been so much better since he moved in with my sister and brother-in-law. I’m thankful for my Pop’s living arrangements and thankful for Len and Kathy who are housing him and taking care of him. Working on jigsaw puzzles help his days go by faster.

We have dear friends through the friendship of our son Dan with their son. This son of theirs has a new wee baby boy who was born very early at just 1#7ounces. He has had such a struggle as you can only imagine. He is now 3# and is a little fighter, beating many odds thrown at him. We rejoice for his weight gain. We pray for him without ceasing. He needs our prayers. We pray for his parents who must be exhausted with the ups and downs that come with the intense cares and concerns for their little boy. We pray for the grandparents that are doing all they can to lessen the load. We are making our requests to God.

We pray for Dan and Jamie’s little flower girl who is fighting leukemia and in intense treatments against this illness. We rejoice with every step forward made in her bodies fight against leukemia and pray for healing.

We also pray for a blogging friend’s son who is fighting disease and is in intense treatments, too.

The Lord is near, be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” ~ Philippians 4:5b-7

We pray for the firefighters and the homeowner’s in all the wild fire areas of Washington, Oregon, Idaho and California. We rejoice that Dan’s friend’s home was spared. We grieve for the 3 firefighters who lost their lives in the fires near Twisp, Washington. In California the Bible Camp where I received Christ as my Savior is being threatened by a wildfire, too. We rejoice for the wonderful work that opened the door for salvation to so many who went to camp at Hume Lake.

We rejoice with my brother and his family because he has a new job after being let go from his job of over 20 years due to his company’s downsizing.

We are still in the waiting room on a new job for Dear.

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. ~1 Thessalonians 5: 16-18 (ESV)

With everything that is going on it’s hard not to pray without ceasing. There are lots of things that I didn’t list that require prayer, too.

This weekend we are having a barbecue with our small group. We haven’t met since June so it will be good to catch up. On Sunday our church is closing it’s doors and we are headed to schools in our community to spruce them up for the new year. Community Serve Day is a great event every year that 6 local churches take part in.

What do you have planned for the weekend?

Make New Friends but Keep the Old…

…One is silver, the other gold.

I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday for O is for Old and for the fact that this post will go on and on! Thank you Denise Nesbitt, Roger, and the ABC team!

One day, four events! I flew from Seattle to Santa Ana (California) on Saturday and had a full day filled with time with old friends!

I arrived at John Wayne Airport at 8:30 A.M. and drove to La Habra, California. My pop and I went to his favorite breakfast spot and I treated him to breakfast. This is what he always orders, 2 sunny side up eggs, hash browns and sausage. He enjoyed every bite of food and each slurp of his coffee.

My pop is now living with my oldest sister and thriving. He lets me know frequently how much he loves the chair Dear and I bought him. Lately he’s occupied with jigsaw puzzles.

At 11:30 A.M. I drove down Whittier Blvd. to our dear friend Alice’s home for a Baby shower in her beautiful back yard!

This is Alice with her son who will be holding his new son soon and this will be Alice’s first grand baby! Alice has always had an open home and is the most hospitable lady. Many of us at the shower have been graced with hours of good times in her home with good food to eat.

The new dad and mom to be with our friend Natalie in the middle praying a blessing on them, the baby and the festivities.

My best friend from college days and beyond, Heidi, with her daughter Nikki.

My nieces Melissa, Michelle and my SIL Kelly.

Heidi, Alice and I had some fun adventures in our college days. Alice lived in San Francisco and we spent time with her there and she came down to L.A. to spend time with us. We hadn’t seen each other for over 35 years!

I caught my sister enjoying her food with my blast from the past friend, Alice.

I took off from the baby shower before gifts were opened to drive on 2 more freeways to get to my high school mini reunion.

We had a great turnout with close to 50 grads from Montebello High School showing up.

I was so happy to see my friend from elementary school days through high school at the reunion. I hadn’t seen her for over 46 years!

Lots of good memories came back to me and I have to admit some of the people that were there didn’t drum up any memories from my dear old brain.

These girls I’ll never forget. Nancy on the left was my good buddy and Anne her cousin is on my right.

I left the reunion after 4 hours and finally headed to my hotel to check in at 6:30.

My dear nephew David and niece Kristin picked me up at the hotel door to take me out to dinner at 7:00. They had been out on a boat with their friends for the afternoon. How sweet of them to take the time and treat me to dinner and catch up conversation.

My hotel experience was good to start with and I fell asleep exhausted since I had been up since 3:15 am. At 1:15 the room next door was visited by some very loud guests who were pounding on the door. I woke from such a deep sleep that I was disoriented and didn’t know where I was for a few moments. My heart was racing. I called the front desk and they said they’d come up and talk to them. It took me a long time to fall back to sleep and then they woke me up again at 5:30 a.m. oye and bother!! When I talked to the front desk in the morning the person behind the desk said they’d take a percentage off my room. When I got back to my room I got a phone call from another person on staff who told me how sorry he was for my experience and that they would comp my room and I didn’t have to pay anything.

One day filled with so many old memories and friends. I’ll put the hotel experience way behind me!

The Boston Marathon!

Our niece Debbee is running the Boston Marathon today! Her husband Lenny is from Boston and they are enjoying lots of pre-marathon fun there.

We are all cheering Debbee on from afar and happy that Lenny and some of his Boston family and my sister Vera and brother-in-law Nick are there to cheer her on, too! An epic experience for all of them!

We are proud of you Debbee. You’ve worked hard and we are all behind you! Go Debbee, Go!

And…here she is at the finish line!

She’s amazing! Way to finish strong, Debbee!

History and Heritage…

I posted this on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog on Sunday for our Bread for the Journey and I’m re-posting here for my own records on The Happy Wonderer. That’s wonder not wander. I’m adding a few more photos from Russia and Persia in this post. Today I’m linking up with ABC Wednesday with thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt, Roger and the ABC Team! I’m also linking up to Testimonial Tuesday #5 at Jerrelea’s Journey.

We are in the middle of a new series on Sundays called “Movement”. As we launched into this series our pastor encouraged us with this statement: “The book of Acts tells the story of a group of first-century, rag-tag followers of the Risen Christ who became the movement that would change the world; it’s God’s movement because He is a God on the move, and He invites us to get on the move with Him.” As a follower of Jesus “I am an integral part of the most powerful, life-changing movement in the history of the world.”

It’s an encouraging exercise to look back over your life and the life of your ancestors to see how God has led and moved you to where you are today.

My father’s family

My mother with her brother and younger sister.

For me part of my story is God moving both sets of my grandparents to flee Russia on foot with their children to Iran in the early 1930’s. Both sets of grandparents settled near Tehran where my parents later met and got married. God moved my father with the desire to come to the United States. One of the things that influenced this desire was how my father was treated while working in an U.S. Army base kitchen in Iran. The soldiers were kind to my father and let him take food home to his family because they knew my father’s family was struggling.

My parents with my oldest sister shortly after arriving to Los Angeles, my mother is pregnant with my sister Vera in this photo.

My parents filed the proper paper work and were granted permission to immigrate to the U.S.A. With my oldest sister they traveled to the U.S.A. settling in Los Angeles shortly after World War II ended. In 1963 my father went to hear Billy Graham at the Los Angeles Coliseum and my father was born again. My father’s decision to follow Jesus turned my family’s world upside down in the right way. That same year I accepted Christ and my new life in the greatest movement of all time began. We won’t know the whole story on how our own lives impact God’s movement till we see Him face to face but we can see part of the story now and be encouraged to carry on and follow Him where he leads us. He doesn’t call us and then leave us alone. He has given us his Spirit, He intercedes for us, He gives us strength. He multiplies the little that we have when we are willing to step out in faith with Him. What an amazing movement to be a part of! You, too, can be a part of this movement. Ask God to reveal Himself to you, to show you the way.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17

Jesus said to them, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Here are a few more photos from Russia and Persia that I promised… Sorry about the quality of some of these but after all they have traveled a long distance!

This one was taken in Russia before my father’s family fled to Iran. This is my paternal babushka’s relatives, the Sisoev’s, in Prelestnaya Village in Russia.

This is my mother next to her brother Paul on the right. My mother is standing next to her future sister-in-law, Nina. Nina is to the left of my mom and Nina’s brother Nikolai is next to her on the left.

My mother with her brother Paul.

These are two families, who were close friends in Iran and considered family to each other. There were also marriages that connected these two families together further. This was taken in Persia after my parents had immigrated to the U.S.A. I believe all but two of them made it to the U.S. My maternal grandfather seated on the lower right was killed in Iran and my maternal grandmother seated next to him immigrated to the U.S. as a widow with my Uncle Paul and Aunt Nina (pictured together upper right). Aunt Nina was part of the Katkov family and the others in this photo are her siblings and mother and father. The little boy between my grandmother and grandfather is my cousin Alex. One of the sisters from this family married a U.S. Soldier stationed in Iran and she is not in this photo. I’m not sure if who I lovingly called babushka Manya (seated next to my babushka Vera) came to the U.S. as a widow, also, or if her husband Nikolai was able to immigrate with his family.

Well this post is long enough for now. When I scan more photos that I came across from Russia and Persia I’ll share.

Hope you have a happy day…

A Thankful Rebel

It’s been ages since I joined in with Susanne’s Friday’s Fave Five but this morning I’m going to post some favorites from my time with family last Thursday thru Saturday in Southern California. And because I’m overwhelmingly blessed with a wonderful family there will be more than Five photos! I’m a rebel that way…

The reason for my trip down was to meet my new little nephew Andrew (he’s 5). My brother’s family lives in Texas and they were flying to California for Miss Hope’s 7th birthday and a trip to Disneyland and my extended family filled in all the edges of their trip with parties and fun. Andrew became a part of their forever family last August and is already a U.S. Citizen. He was adopted from the Ukraine. He now sings God bless America! So cute. I’ll share more photos from Miss Hope’s birthday party later.

Fresh off the plane last week I met up with Dear’s SIL, Christina, and my best friend from college days Heidi. Heidi, Christina, Dear, Dear’s brother and I were all in a Christian Rock Band in the seventies. Heidi and I attended the same Russian Baptist Church in Los Angeles and had lots of adventures together! We caught up as much as we could in our couple hours together.

What a blessing to spend some time with my soon to be 92 year old pop. He’s a sad guy without my mom by his side.

He was surrounded by some of his grandchildren at Hope’s birthday party.

Josh and Laura took the long way home to Seattle from their trip to Kaui through Southern California so they could meet Andrew, too, and visit with my pop and their cousins.

All my pop’s kids except for one were together in one spot so we took some photos.

Our youngest siblings, the twins, are flanking my father on the couch.

I love this photo of my older sisters and I love them, too.

Andrew is fitting right in and it’s so much fun to listen to his half Ukrainian and half English sentences!

When we all got together this time my Father prayed a blessing over his new grandson Andrew and over his great grandson Thomas. My brother thanked all his friends and family for praying them through the adoption process and helping financially to bring Andrew to the U.S.A. We all sang Great is Thy Faithfulness and another of our Russian favorites together acknowledging the fact that God is the faithful one in our lives. Of course we had lots of good food and good conversation and laughter.

So I’m thankful for my Faithful God, my faithful pop, my family, my friends, and all our fun times together! We’re not perfect, mind you, but we have practiced forgiving each other and keeping our relationships going. We try not to neglect each other. What are you thankful for?

Good News!

I finally got the go ahead to tell you our good news!

Our son Dan asked Jamie to marry him and she said yes! We are having a wedding in June of 2015 and look forward to all the fun plans these two country kids come up with!

Quality Time Together…

Last Thursday Dear and I loaded up the car and headed East to enjoy some quality time with our kids. Our son-in-law Andrew wasn’t given time off of work to be able to join us and we missed him dearly.

On Friday (Halloween) we had a great hike on and above our son Dan’s property.

Our sons, Dan and Josh.

A Selfie from Josh and Laura.

Our daughter Katie and daughter-in-love, Laura.

Laura took this photo of Katie on our hike with her phone.

We had some great views and enjoyed lots of fall color.

My son shared some apples from his trees with the deer.

We enjoyed hiking, shooting, shopping, eating, and playing games together. We marvel at the world God created for us to enjoy and the people He has put in our lives to love and encourage us on our journey.

Dear and I stayed at a farmhouse close to our son’s home so the kids could enjoy staying up late and sleeping in while Dear and I tucked in earlier and woke up early each day. On Saturday morning all the kids came over to the farmhouse to enjoy a meal that Dear and I prepared for them. We bought some local made sausages and Dear made his fabulous Swedish pancakes and we added eggs to round off the meal.

Later on Saturday Dan and Jamie made us their famous fish tacos with their home made cabbage salsa. Dinner was so delicious. I’ll share the salsa recipe soon on Mennonite Girls Can cook. I’m so sad I didn’t take one photo of all the good eats we had.

We enjoyed three sunsets in Eastern Washington.

Dan and his girlfriend, Jamie.

Before we headed back over the Cascades to Western Washington we enjoyed brunch together.

We consider any time we are able to spend with our kids quality time.

I’m linking this post to ABC Wednesday for the letter Q. Thank you to Denise Nesbitt and the ABC crew.

Q is for Quality time spent together with family.

Gathering the Moments ~ September

It’s time to take a look back at September…

September was a wonderful month of gatherings, homecomings, reunions, birthdays, and completed projects.

Early in September we met up with a dear long time family friend Timi and her daughter for coffee while she was visiting in Seattle.

We so enjoyed hearing the news that our new little nephew from the Ukraine was home in the U.S.A. with his forever family.

We celebrated Dear’s birthday with our kids on the Western side of the Cascades.

I flew to Southern California to spend time with my pop and extended family on the anniversary of my mom’s death.

I got to see Timi again with her sister Milla when they came to an open house at my sisters home. The bottom of this collage is of my mom and Timi and Milla’s mom together in Persia.

We celebrated this little ones birthday at the open house, too. Fun cupcake times!

While in California I picked up my pop and sister to head to the small Russian cemetery where my grandparents and other relatives are buried. I wanted to see my grandparents headstone.

Before I flew home two of my sisters and my niece met up for a dinner together with me. Delicious.

The long anticipated main floor bathroom renovation was finally completed. Sigh…

Other projects are well on their way at this old house. The siding and upper window are new as of September. Rows of cedar will finish off the top.

I read two Inspector Gamache books by Louise Penny, How the Light gets In and The Long Way Home. I splurged and bought this one instead of waiting for it to be available from the library. I now have read all the books in this series. I feel like some of the characters are my friends…

Some other things that happened this September were soccer games, small group start up, and a new eating and exercise program. I’ll share more about the last two when I see some good results!

I’m thanking the Lord for another full and fruitful month. Thank you Cheryl for hosting Gathering the Moments.

Linking with Cheryl at Thinking About Home for Gathering the Moments.

Catsup or Ketchup?

This is a little catch-up post from my weekend doings but I thought I’d ask this question. Which spelling of that red accompaniment to french fries or hamburgers or scrambled eggs do you prefer or do you use both? On to my catch up weekend!

On Saturday I arrived to John Wayne Airport in Santa Ana and commandeered my sister’s car and headed to my Pop’s apartment. To be honest he wasn’t doing well on Saturday at all. We sat with him and cried with him and encouraged him to eat some of the food my sister Vera provided for all of us. After several hours we left the apartment. I checked into my hotel. On Sunday all of us who could gathered at my sister Kathy’s house through the afternoon and into the evening. The above photo is of all the grandchildren of my pop’s who were able to make it to the open house. My father was doing a lot better on Sunday.

There was lots of good food. I didn’t get photos of all the amazing desserts but I did get photos of my niece Melissa’s cup cake creations for our little Miss Avery’s 5th birthday celebration that we enjoyed during the open house, too.

She was so so cute and delighted with each and every gift running to give a hug to whoever bought the gift! Today is Avery’s actual birthday. Happy Birthday dear Avery. Now you are five!!!!!

My Pop was happy to see all of us but it was a special treat when these next two gals arrived.

Tamara and Milla are the daughters of my mom’s best friend in Persia, Aunt Zena. My mom and Aunt Zena took this photo with lipstick on in Persia and got in big trouble from their parents for wearing that lipstick! We were close enough to Zena to call her our “Aunt”. What a treat for Pop to be able to talk to Tamara and Milla in Russian and to talk about some of the good ole times our families enjoyed together. Tender moments were shared.

On Monday I picked up Pop and my sister Kathy and we drove to Slauson Avenue in Commerce to find my grandparents grave site. We spent lots of time at this cemetery in our youth. Funerals were always just another part of our experience. As children we were never shielded from death and we attended every funeral that our parents did. Some of my father’s brothers and sister-in-laws are buried here, too.

I took a lot of photos before I saw the sign in this next collage.

Because of where this sign was positioned I think it refers to taking photos at an actual funeral procession, etc. That’s my explanation and I’m sticking to it!

I recognized a lot of common names from growing up but I was really surprised to see the family name Tolstoy in the Molokan Cemetery.

This is my Uncle Pete’s grave waiting for my Aunt to be buried beside him. My aunt Anna is the only surviving sibling of our Pop. She is ill and her days are numbered. She’d like to be buried here in her plot that is paid for but since she became a believer she hasn’t obtained permission to be buried here. We are doubtful that she will get permission. Since this is a “Molokan” Cemetery I do not challenge them not permitting non-Molokans to be buried here. I do have questions about the Molokan church, though. I wonder if a true follower of Jesus can remain a Molokan? Can the Molokan church truly be classified as a Christian church? You know me…I’m always wondering.

A close-up of my grandparents marker. We see that they got my grandmother’s birth year wrong…she died at age 93, not 98. That means she was born in 1893 not 1888. My mom was not buried in this cemetery and my pop will not be buried here because he left the Molokan church in the late 1960’s. Most of our friends and family members from the Los Angeles area are buried at Rose Hills Cemetery. Our former Molokan friends who were ostracized from the Molokan church when they decided to follow Jesus wholeheartedly and separated from the Molokan religion are buried at Rose Hills or elsewhere.

After the cemetery we tried to go to a favorite restaurant in Montebello called Golden Skewers that specializes in Armenian food but they are closed on Monday. My sister remembered another Armenian restaurant that is in Montebello and we were happy they were open. Hye Cuisine was a hit with me. The food was delicious. After lunch I dropped my sister off at home and my pop off at his apartment saying our goodbyes till next time. We had worn him out really good over the three days I was there.

I headed to Newport Beach to check into the next hotel I’d stay the night in before heading to the airport on Tuesday morning.

One last hurrah! On Monday night two of my sisters and my niece met up for dinner at Seasons 52 at South Coast Plaza. We had a wonderful time.

The first two nights in Orange County I stayed at the Tustin Fairfield Inn which was very nice with a complimentary breakfast. The location was great for going back and forth to my pop’s part of town. Dear had enough points for me to stay free at the Hyatt in Newport beach for one night and that’s why I switched over. No free breakfast here but I enjoyed room service breakfast.

The oppressive heat that we all experienced in Southern California over the weekend and that they are still experiencing today really takes a toll on your activity. The only time we were outdoors was at the cemetery. That lovely deck off my room in Newport Beach was not used. Even the beach towns were too hot to enjoy out of doors. I’m enjoying being back in the Seattle area sitting in my home in temperatures that are very comfortable.

Some Painless Therapy…

Dear and I have decided to “cut our losses” and give up on the bathroom renovation being made right by the company we hired. It is better for our peace of mind to give it up and let Dear fix things that need to be done better. After several tries to get them to do things right we’ve decided no more. When you see the photos of the bathroom you will wonder what we are complaining about because you will see the beautiful cosmetic fixes. Unfortunately we had to live with the process and it will take some time for me to bond with the beauty of it all. When Dear finishes the painting and the rest of the window parts come in I promise to show you the before and after. Until then here is a sneaky photo of some wall art that is going to go up that I bought at Hobby Lobby today.

Yes, a little shopping therapy was in order for today so I made stops at Hobby Lobby, Goodwill, and Trader Joe’s. Hobby Lobby had a 50% off sale going for all their wall art so I bought that metal piece to mount on one of the walls of the bathroom. A tree branch with birds.

Their fall decor was on sale for 40% off so I bought these Place Cards that I’ll enjoy using at Thanksgiving.

These Le Creuset ramekins were in the collector section of Goodwill marked at $14.95 for all 6. Because Wednesday is Senior discount day I got 20% off and paid $12.50 for all 6. I saw them at Williams Sonoma for $13.00 each. Now I’ll need to come up with a fun recipe to use them for. If you click on these smaller photos you can see them in their larger format. Speaking of Senior Discount day the employee at Goodwill who came on the sound system to remind us what discounts were available on Wednesday said “If you are 62 or Better you get 20% off” I love that and when I went to the register I told them I was better!!

We had a very nice evening on Tuesday celebrating Dear at a restaurant in Bellevue called Lot #3. They had the most interesting names for their drinks. I had a Left Turn at Albuquerque.

After dinner we took a couple family shots outside the restaurant.

Our son Dan is off hunting in the wilderness so he couldn’t join us.

Tomorrow is the 13th anniversary of 9/11, I’m praying that God protects us against evil…but that prayer is nothing new at this old house!

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Category Archives: Family