Bridal Tea 2

This is a photo overload post with all the people who gathered and made this beautiful Bridal Tea event possible.

The bride to be, Delaney and her future Mother-in-law, Michelle, the hostess and visionary for the event.

Soon to be family on the groom’s side.

Laney and Avery, Jack’s only sibling.

Some of my tribe with Laney

Showered with family from Jack’s side of the family (AKA: my nieces and daughters)

Jack’s Maternal Grandmother and Great Auntie’s

Me with my two older sisters

Delaney and our Laura

Our Laura with Jack’s Auntie Meem

Our sister Vera’s ‘girls’ and our Laura

Cousins through thick and thin!

Michelle’s very special friend ‘tribe’ and ladies that have been in Jack’s life for many years!

One of the bride’s sisters and some of her bridal party.

Friends from our Russian Baptist Church days

My sisters and our sister-in-law Kelly and friend Svetlana

Hooray! Jack showed up at the very end of the event just in time to load up all the presents and to take them to their future apartment.

Some of us got a sneak peek to how the apartment is shaping up!

It was a full and glorious Saturday with more fun planned for Sunday!

Bridal Tea 1

When someone puts so much thought and energy in making an event so special it needs to be documented. I choose to document it here on my blog. I was blown away at the vision our niece had for showering her soon to be daughter-in-law and for the tribe of helpers who came along side her to make it all come to life. As guests we were treated to a very special time at Delaney’s Bridal Tea. Our niece’s ‘tribe’ were there before the event and well into the night when the event was over cleaning up and washing tea cups and tea pots. What a wonderful community!

The shower was held in Ryan and Michelle’s yard in Newhall. Michelle is our sister Kathy’s oldest daughter. The groom, Jack, is Ryan and Michelle’s son.

Jack’s grandmother (my sister Kathy) and Jack’s auntie (my niece Melissa) gathered flowers at the L.A. Flower Mart the day before the event. They brought the flowers to Michelle’s the day before the event and many hands arranged the bouquets in the tea pots.

Kathy baked the meat filled piroshky and they were delicious and transported those of us with Russian heritage back to our Mother’s kitchens.

The father of the groom was the scone chef!

Cousins of Michelle’s came early and assembled the tea sandwiches.

Another cousin made Gluten Free tea goodies for those who are gluten intolerant.

A dear friend made these melt in your mouth meringue kisses!

Michelle’s ‘tribe’ helped from before the shower began through and to the end with all the details that help create an celebration to remember.

Lemon curd and Clotted cream were added to each table for the scones.

Our daughter-in-love, Laura, flew in early to be a support and helper for Michelle.

Another lovely detail were the shower favors that were on each guests place setting.

It was a love filled event from beginning to end.

My Bridal Tea II post will feature all the guests and the ‘tribe’ that made it all come together.

The Bride to Be…

I’m still in Southern California and it has been such a rich time with more to experience on this Monday and my last full day here. I have so much to share and hundreds of photos to go through. As per usual there is joy and sorrow that goes hand in hand in our community of believers. But for now the joy…

We gathered to celebrate the bride of our great nephew. Their wedding will be in October. What a special time we enjoyed with all these beautiful people!!

Our niece and her soon to be Daughter-in-law!

I will hopefully catch up with all of you soon.

Sweet ‘Little’ Memories Hodgepodge

Our first Wednesday Hodgepodge in February is bringing back special memories of our dear Babushka Vera. We also called her our ‘little babushka’. The photo above was taken at Greg and my wedding in December of 1974.

Thank you to Jo From This Side of the Pond for her questions this week.

1. Something you’ve waited for recently?

Dependable hot water.

2. What’s something you loved to do as a child?

So many things: Hide n Seek, Jacks, Tetherball

One of the best family memories is stopping at 31 Flavors (Ice Cream shop) on Beverly Blvd. after a church event for our two or three scoops! I chose orange sherbet and chocolate chip. One of my brothers always chose vanilla.

3. Something you learned from a grandparent?

From our little babushka Vera we learned you could still do amazing things with only one hand. Her left arm was amputated at the elbow when she was very young. With one arm and hand, she managed raising children, cooking blintzes, baking piroshky and creating beautiful embroidery just to name a few. The photo of her above was taken at Greg and my wedding shower at Bethany Baptist Church in Los Angeles.

She made all those goodies on her kitchen table for Christmas breakfast before we walked a few doors down for church. All her ‘people’ would stop into her apartment before church for a treat and the most Merry Christmas start to the day.

This embroidered tablecloth and napkins was my little babushka’s wedding gift to us.

4. The most visited cities in the world last year (according to this site) were-Bangkok, Paris, London, Dubai, and Singapore. Have you been to any of the cities mentioned? Which would you most like to see? How do you feel about international travel in general these days?

Of these cities, I’ve only been to London and would choose London to see again from this list of cities. Still hopeful for travel to the United Kingdom. I’m a comfort traveler so I’d avoid any country where I wouldn’t feel comfortable about language barriers, etc. There are enough wonderful International adventures for me in the UK.

5. February is the perfect month to ______________________.

February is the perfect month to be loving and kind to one another.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Our Babushka Vera was promoted to heaven to be with her Savior in March of 1980. She was a Godly woman who prayed for all her grandchildren and for all her grandchildren’s future spouses. She prayed for our Pop’s salvation and for the salvation of her own husband. After they were married and he became a follower of Christ, our Dzedushka Fedot became a Baptist Minister. He was killed in Iran just after our parents immigrated to the USA after World War II. Our little Babushka immigrated to the USA with my Uncle and his family without her husband. I am so looking forward to seeing Babushka in heaven and seeing Dzedushka for the first time in heaven.

A long post about our Little Babushka is here.

I’m way behind this week after a busy full and wonderful weekend and then our Hot Water Tank repair job that took our son Dan and Greg all morning into the afternoon on Monday to fix. Hey…but we have some hot reliable water now and it will hopefully last a while.

Shower of Blessings!

Our whole family was together in Eastern Washington this past weekend to celebrate our son and future DIL’s wedding shower and we worked in some other fun events together, too.

The Bridal shower for Jamie was hosted at her Granny’s home.

Granny has quite a view out her kitchen window.

It was fun to get to meet many of Jamie’s friends.

Tami and our daughter Katie are two of the bridesmaids. Tami on the left hosted the shower.

We enjoyed watching Jamie open her many gifts. Her matron of honor was by her side recording each item.

Jamie with her mom and granny.

Jamie with her mom, granny, and dear family friend Sylvia.

Mom and daughter.

Our girls, dil Laura, future dil Jamie and our daughter Katie.

When the shower was over and most of the guests were gone we helped get a couple things done for the wedding reception. Many hands make light work!

After the work was done we made a trip out to the venue so we could be able to visualize the route and site.

Beautiful views on the road to the venue.

It was good to make the trip out and to know what to expect. We then traveled back to Dan’s house to see what the guys had been up to while we were partying. I’ll share our evening together in my next post.

Sweet Marie…

On Saturday Lana, Laura and I were able to attend a bridal shower for our nephew Caleb’s bride to be, Marie. The shower was given by her aunt and cousins. Marie has a large supportive family and it was nice to meet a lot of them.

You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day in the greater Seattle area for a shower. Marie’s side of the family hails from this area and we were happy to be able to join in the fun. Our nephew Caleb and many of our family live in Southern California. The wedding is going to take place in Southern California.

Our sweet Marie with her aunt and cousins who collaborated to host the shower.

It was fun to watch Marie open each gift.

Marie with her mom and with her great grandmother and her paternal grandmother.

Cousins on the top and Marie with both grandmother’s, her mom, and great grandmother.

We loved meeting Great Grandmother! She is a fabulous 95!

Sweet Marie! We are looking forward to seeing her walk down the aisle at the Blueberry Farm/Ranch in Southern California to be married to our nephew Caleb. Our side of the family is having a shower for Marie the later part of July in Southern California.

After the shower Lana, Laura and I headed back to our house and met up with our hubbies to head out to dinner and celebrate a belated Father’s Day meal.

Another relatively quiet week ahead for me…sigh of relief. We are narrowing down the choices for our new carpeting. We are still overwhelmed with the idea that we have to empty out the rooms that will be re-carpeted. What’s ahead for you this week?

Of Showers and Blessings…

Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps
covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,
to a thousand generations, (Deuteronomy 7:9, ESV)

The next bride in our family, Debbee.

Our family had a bridal shower for our niece Debbee this past Sunday in California. The shower was at our niece Michelle’s home. This first photo is of my mom with all the granddaughters that could attend the shower.

Debbee with her Baba.

My sister Vera is Debbee’s mom.

Deb with her mom and future mom in law

My three sisters with our mom. Lana, Kathy, Nadia (mom), Ellen and Vera.

Our cousins on my mom’s side of the family were able to attend the shower. My mom only had one brother who had 2 sons and 2 daughters. His two daughters are in this photo along with one of his DIL’s.

This one also has 2 of my mom’s DIL’s in the photo (my SIL’s). Top row Letty, Lana, Kathy, Kelly, Debbie, Tanya. Seated are Valia, Vera, Nadia, and Ellen.

My sister Vera has 2 children. David is married to Kristin on Vera’s left. Kristin, Vera, Vera, Debbee, Debbee, Lenny’s mom Linda, and Lenny’s sister Tina.

Debbee’s Bridesmaids

The cousins at the shower…Melissa, Michelle, Kristin, Debbee, Jess, Katie, and Laura.

My niece Melissa and my niece Debbee were roommates for 10 years! They are both adjusting to a new place to live until their next chapter begins.

My girls and my sister Kathy’s girls.

Debbee and me.

My family does not take lightly the blessings that God has showered us with. The times we have together filled with love, fun, and laughter will always be cherished and enjoyed.

I will share photos of the food and table settings at another time.

Tomorrow Dear and I are headed to Milan, Italy. Time will tell how much I can keep up with all the happenings online. Blessings.

A Mermaid Bridal Shower…

We are blessed this year with weddings in March, April and May! Saturday past I was honored to attend the Mermaid Bridal Shower for our dear friend Lucy. Lucy’s sister Bridget carried out the theme beautifully as you will see in my photos. Lucy’s youngest sister Jamie was our Katie’s Maid of Honor.

Dear and I became friends with Lucy’s parents when we all lived in Ventura, California. Lucy’s father delivered our daughter Katie in Ventura in 1985. Lucy’s mom Jody has been a really good friend and walking buddy to me for many years. We thank God for our friendship.

The mermaid/sea theme was great with shrimp and sushi and a sand castle cake.

See the little mermaids dangling on the champagne flutes?

Bridget made these seashell tiaras to use for photos with all the guests.

How wonderful to take the time to pray over the bride for her and her groom at the bridal shower.

Lucy with our DIL Laura

Our hostess Bridget with the guest of honor Lucy and our DIL Laura. Our son Josh and our DIL Laura are standing on Lucy’s side at the wedding along with Bridget and her husband and Lucy’s youngest sister Jamie. I really like that idea of having people that are close to you as couples or singles standing with you.

I’m linking up with Kathleen at Cuisine Kathleen for Let’s Dish. Let’s Dish comes on line at 7:00 P.M. on Wednesday nights.

And That’s A Wrap…

or…the rest of the story. These are Polaroids taken mostly by Jamie, Katie’s Maid of Honor, at the shower. Before I show the rest of the photos here’s what’s happening around here and we’ll title it Yes, it’s possible to accomplish anything while feeling like a Zombie…

Thanksgiving: We had a wonderful celebration at Dave and Jody’s house with about 50 or so people. Pictures coming some time in the future.

Black Friday: My sister Lana and I continued our tradition of going to Goodwill on Black Friday. We had no problem finding a parking spot and we got some really good bargains. Everything was 50% off. My best purchase was a Tumi computer backpack (when new $260) used for $25. I’ll be using it for travels to North Carolina on Monday. Lana bought a beautiful Tommy Bahama linen jacket with the tags still on it ($160) for $20.

Packing: After Goodwill Lana started the daunting task of trying to pack 6 suitcases with all of Katie’s clothes, coats, shoes, hats, scarves, gloves, makeup, jewelery, etc. etc. My sister is a master at packing. We were able to get those cases as close to 50# each as we could. We have one more suitcase to go that I can put some of my stuff in, too. One of the 6 cases also has Andrew’s civilian clothes. Now we just have to figure out how Katie and I will be able to manage 7 large suitcases, 2 carry-ons, and 2 backpacks. I’ll be stuffing my pockets with cash to tip Porters!!

Mailing: Today we are mailing all Katie’s media to North Carolina. She doesn’t want to be without her favorite books 4 large boxes worth and her favorite DVD’s and CD’s 4 boxes worth.

Family: We are getting in as much family time as we can before Katie and I take off on Monday.

Cookbook: So much great cookbook news. If you’d like to enter to win a cookbook click on the link and leave a comment at Mennonite Girls Can Cook. Lovella and Anneliese are demonstrating the Hazelnut Roll today at noon on Global T.V. in B.C. If you live in B.C. tune in!

Offline: I’ll probably be scarce around here for a couple weeks. I’ll try to visit and see how you all are doing…

Myself and Lana showing our guests where the food is…hilarious.

Katie with her brother, Josh.

Katie with our Daughter in law’s mother and grandmother.

Girlfriends since forever…Katy K., Jamie, Katie, Kristen, and Heidi.

Blessings on all your preparations for the “Most Wonderful Time of the Year”

I’m looking forward to preparing a place in my home to honor the King of Glory when I get back from North Carolina!

Photos Shared…

The following photos from Katie’s bridal shower were taken by her long time friend Christie. Christie was one of Katie’s friends from our church here in Seattle that we attended for 20 years. Christie now lives in Alaska with her husband and 2 little girls. She was in Seattle visiting family just in time for Katie’s shower. What a fun treat it was to have all Katie’s Sunrise girlfriends together with her on this special day.

Kristin, Christie, and Heidi. Jamie is the 4th girlfriend from Sunrise and she’s taking the photo. I’ll share more photos from the shower that Katie’s Maid of Honor Jamie took soon.