Ten thousand times ten thousand
In sparkling raiment bright,
The armies of the ransomed saints
Throng up the steeps of light;
’Tis finished, all is finished,
Their fight with death and sin;
Fling open wide the golden gates,
And let the victors in.
What rush of alleluias
Fills all the earth and sky!
What ringing of a thousand harps
Bespeaks the triumph nigh!
O day, for which creation
And all its tribes were made;
O joy, for all its former woes
A thousandfold repaid!
O then what raptured greetings
On Canaan’s happy shore;
What knitting severed friendships up,
Where partings are no more!
Then eyes with joy shall sparkle,
That brimmed with tears of late;
Orphans no longer fatherless,
Nor widows desolate.
Bring near Thy great salvation,
Thou Lamb for sinners slain;
Fill up the roll of Thine elect,
Then take Thy power, and reign;
Appear, Desire of nations,
Thine exiles long for home;
Show in the heav’n Thy promised sign;
Thou Prince and Savior, come.
Ken’s Memorial Service was held on May 8th, 2026. We traveled to Southern California for the service.
Ken and Heidi’s son, son in law, daughter and grandsons all spoke, read scripture, in honor of their dad’s, pop pop’s, memory. They spoke much of Ken’s love for his Savior, Jesus Christ.
Old Testament Readings:
Isaiah 40:31 ~ …but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.
Isaiah 45:22 ~Turn to me and be saved, all the ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
Isaiah 12:2 ~ Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation.
Psalm 56:3-4 ~ When I am afraid, I put my trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I shall not be afraid. What can flesh do to me?
Joshua 1:9 ~ Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.
New Testament Readings:
John 14:1~ Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
1 Peter 5:7 ~ …casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
Philippians 3:20-21 ~ But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself.
My brother-in-law led the congregation in singing. We sang, How Great Thou Art, It is Well with my Soul, and “God be with you till we meet again”.
God be with you till we meet again; By His counsels guide, uphold you, With His sheep securely fold you; God be with you till we meet again.
Refrain
Till we meet, till we meet, Till we meet at Jesus’ feet; Till we meet, till we meet, God be with you till we meet again.
Our kids and our nieces with Ken’s daughter.
After the beautiful service we had time to catch up with friends and family at a reception at the church. It was so good to see old friends we haven’t seen for ages. I should have taken more photos.
All my sisters in order of birth.
My college bestie who was married to my cousin.
My dear friend, Ken’s beloved wife, Heidi.
The memorial for Ken was held at the same church that Ken and Heidi got married in back in November of 1978. I was the matron of honor, pregnant with our firstborn son. Greg and I were both in the wedding. We met Ken when he started dating Heidi.
The photo above is after the wedding reception at our home in Huntington Beach. Ken and Heidi opened wedding gifts and then changed and headed off for their honeymoon. That’s my dear old Pop watching on. Heidi and I spent so much time together that she was part of the family.
The upper photo in the collage was Christmas 1979 when they were expecting their first baby and the two lower photos were of our last time together as couples in November of 2025. Ken and Heidi traveled to our home to visit. It was a precious time of catching up and of also understanding that these were Ken’s final months on this earth. We had a glimpse of the suffering that they were in the midst of. It helped us to know how to pray for them in the months after this visit and leading up to Ken’s death.
This next song was one that Ken listened to the last months of his struggle and one that comforted him. He shared it with his dear family. It was played at the end of his memorial service.
It is such a comfort to know that Ken is with his Savior, Jesus Christ and that his suffering on earth is over.
This is personal and for my memory here on my blog. Our Daughter-in-love, Laura, put requests out to my friends and family to make a little video greeting for my 70th. She gathered them all and put them together in this 26 minute video and then surprised me with it after our family dinner in Spokane back in 2021. We all watched it together at Dan and Jamie’s house cast onto their TV. It is so meaningful to me and brings tears to my eyes as I recount the goodness of the Lord to me by giving me loving family and friends.
I’m finally adding it on my blog 5 years later!
Thank you, Laura and thank you to each one of you who took the time to deal with the internets and the recording and sending your clips to Laura!
My extended family will often sing when we are together and two of our favorites to sing are Great is Thy Faithfulness and Bless Thou the Lord. You’ll hear those songs at the beginning and at the end of the video.
But wait…that’s not all. This is another video put together from a very old reel to reel from Greg and my church wedding shower. My brother in law, Nick filmed it. It took place in 1974 at Bethany Baptist Church in Los Angeles. No one will love this video as much as I do. Our kids showed it to us at our Family 50th wedding anniversary weekend in Walla Walla in 2024. There is no sound and the quality is poor but the memories are priceless. Both my maternal and paternal grandmothers are in the footage and they both gave us their blessing and how I wish there was audio for those words. It was our little Russian Baptist church tradition to have this church shower with both the Bride and Groom present. This is where the wedding gifts were given, not brought to the wedding. Greg’s parents and my parents were present along with Greg’s Brother and his family. A few other men were present like my uncle Paul because they were the chauffeurs. My brothers were there and brother in laws. You’ll see them in the kitchen helping with the dishes.
So many of the people in this footage have passed away. The church is still in existence in Los Angeles.
Note: It was so much fun to watch this with our kids and to fill in some commentary on our own. Hilarious with belly laughs. Thank you, Josh and Laura, for sending off the reel to get it in a visible format.
Here are some stills from our shower which aren’t the best quality either.
My paternal grandmother in the background with the pink and my maternal grandmother in the blue.
Thanks for going down this rabbit hole with me.
I’m working on my posts from our trip to California and will share them soon.
Sing to the Lord with joyful voice,
Let every land His name adore;
Let every isle send forth the noise
Across the ocean to the shore.
Let nations stand before His throne
With solemn fear, with sacred joy;
Know that the Lord is God alone;
He can create and He destroy.
His sovereign power, without our aid,
Made us of clay and formed us men;
And when, like wandering sheep, we strayed,
He brought us to His fold again.
We are His people, we His care,
Our souls and all our mortal frame:
What lasting honors shall we rear,
Almighty Maker, to Thy name?
We’ll crowd Thy gates with thankful songs,
High as the heav’ns our voices raise;
And earth with her ten thousand tongues
Shall fill Thy courts with sounding praise.
Wide as the world is Thy command,
Vast as eternity Thy love!
Firm as a rock Thy truth must stand,
When rolling years shall cease to move.
What wonderful words in the Gospel of grace Our loving Redeemer has giv’n! How happy are they who in spirit are pure, For theirs is the kingdom of Heav’n!
Refrain
Tho’ all that is earthly will fade, And vanish away from our view, We know that as sure as the Savior lives, The words He has spoken are true.
He maketh the lilies to bloom in the field, And shelters the bird in its nest; He calleth the weary to come unto Him, And find the sweet blessing of rest.
Refrain
To those that are thirsting and longing for Him, The water of life He will give; And they that with patience endure to the end, Forever in glory shall live.
Refrain
Then why are we fearful, and where is our faith? His own He will never forsake; And tho’ He may lead them where waters are deep, His promise He never will break.
When morning gilds the skies
My heart awaking cries:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Alike at work and prayer,
To Jesus I repair:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Does sadness fill my mind?
A solace here I find,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Or fades my earthly bliss?
My comfort still is this,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
To God, the Word, on high,
The host of angels cry,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let mortals, too, upraise
Their voice in hymns of praise,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
The night becomes as day
When from the heart we say:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
The powers of darkness fear
When this sweet chant they hear:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Sing, suns and stars of space,
Sing, ye that see His face,
Sing, Jesus Christ be praised!
God’s whole creation o’er,
For aye and evermore
Shall Jesus Christ be praised!
In Heav’n’s eternal bliss
The loveliest strain is this,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Let earth, and sea and sky
From depth to height reply,
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Be this, while life is mine,
My canticle divine:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Sing this eternal song
Through all the ages long:
May Jesus Christ be praised!
Jesus, who bought us with His blood,
And makes our souls His care,
Was known of old as Israel’s God,
And answered Jabez’ prayer.
Jabez! a child of grief! the name
Befits poor sinners well;
For Jesus bore the cross and shame,
To save our souls from hell.
Teach us, O Lord, like him, to plead
For mercies from above;
O come, and bless our souls indeed,
With light, and joy, and love.
The Gospel’s promised land is wide,
We fain would enter in;
But we are pressed, on every side,
With unbelief and sin.
Arise, O Lord, enlarge our coast,
Let us possess the whole;
That Satan may no longer boast
He can Thy work control.
Oh, may Thine hand be with us still,
Our guide and guardian be;
To keep us safe from every ill,
Till death shall set us free.
Help us on Thee to cast our care,
And on Thy Word to rest;
That Israel’s God, who heareth prayer,
Will grant us our request.
Words: John Newton, 1779.
‘The Prayer of Jabez’
1 Chronicles 4:10
Jabez called upon the God of Israel, saying, “Oh that you would bless me and enlarge my border, and that your hand might be with me, and that you would keep me from harm so that it might not bring me pain!” And God granted what he asked.
Jesus lives! O day of days!
Glad we bring our grateful praise;
He is risen! Gone the gloom,
Angels sit within the tomb.
Vain the taunt of Jew denying,
Vain the vaunt o’er Jesus dying,
Heav’nly voices, from the grave,
Now proclaim His power to save.
Refrain
He is risen! Come and see,
How He triumphed mightily!
Conqueror thus o’er all His foes,
Jesus from the dead arose.
Lord and Prophet, spake He not?
Have ye His own words forgot,
Telling, while in Galilee,
Thus the victory should be?
How through scorn and dire affliction,
Thorny way and crucifixion,
Vanquished death, and rent the grave—
Christ the King should live to save.
Refrain
Tearful to the sepulcher
Mary comes in grief and fear;
Sees the stone now rolled away,
Hears the waiting angels say: Why the dead among the living
Seek ye? Lo! The Lord life-giving
Rises, vain the watch, the grave:
Prince of Life, He lives to save!
Refrain
Welcome then, the day of days!
Lord, ’tis Thine our tuneful praise;
Thine, for us, the Tempted, Tried,
Thine, for us, the Crucified;
Thine for us the Resurrection,
Thine the Life, the Sure Protection.
Savior! Sovereign over the grave,
May we know Thy power to save.
He is risen! joyfully,
Lord! we raise our song to Thee,
Conqueror thus o’er all His foes,
Jesus from the dead arose.
Easter visits earth again,
In the solemn spring;
Blossoms brighten hill and glen,
Notes of joy sweetly ring.
Refrain
Hail Him, victorious,
King of love, throned above;
Tell the news o’er and o’er,
While the years go by:
Make His praise glorious;
Sing again, earth and sky;
Tell the news evermore,
Our Jesus lives on high.
Every flower that lifts its head,
Breathes a message bright;
He is risen from the dead;
Happy day, day of light!
Refrain
Tell the story of the spring
With triumphant voice:
Jesus reigns, exalted King,
In His grace, we rejoice.
Lamb of God! Our souls adore Thee
While upon Thy face we gaze;
There the Father’s love and glory
Shine in all their brightest rays;
Thine almighty power and wisdom
All creation’s works proclaim;
Heaven and earth alike confess Thee
As the ever great I AM.
Lamb of God! Thy Father’s bosom
Ever was Thy dwelling place;
His delight, in Him rejoicing,
One with Him in power and grace;
Oh, that wondrous love and mercy—
Thou didst lay Thy glory by,
And for us didst come from Heaven,
As the Lamb of God, to die!
Lamb of God! When we behold Thee
Lowly in the manger laid,
Wandering as a homeless stranger
In the world Thy hands had made;
When we see Thee in the garden,
In Thine agony of blood,
At Thy grace we are confounded,
Holy, spotless, Lamb of God!
When we see Thee, as the victim,
Bound for us upon the tree,
For our guilt and folly stricken,
All our judgment born by Thee—
Lord, we own, with hearts adoring,
Thou hast loved us unto blood:
Glory, glory everlasting,
Be to Thee, Thou Lamb of God!
Lamb of God, Thou soon in glory
Will to this sad earth return;
All Thy foes shall quake before Thee,
All that now despise Thee mourn;
Then Thy saints all gathered to Thee,
With Thee in Thy kingdom reign;
Thine the praise and Thine the glory,
Lamb of God, for sinners slain.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 