Here’s our Number One Grandson, Jaymison. Today is his first birthday. Sweet boy won’t care that he isn’t getting a birthday party because of the pandemic. All the adults that love him dearly will miss watching him enjoy wrapping paper and and tissue. We’ll miss him enjoying cake and ice cream. Jaymison, Baba and Gramps love you so much. You are showing more and more of your personality and we enjoy seeing you grow. You are very talkative and we can’t wait till you can put into words what you want us to hear. You had a scary glitch in your first few weeks of life and we praise God that you are growing and learning well and on track now.
Jaymison Joshua (JJ). His middle name is given him in honor of his Uncle Joshua (Joshie).
Here is the closest photo I have to your first birthday so far with your mommy. Just 2 days shy. What wonderful smiles!
We enjoyed seeing you from a distance on Easter for a little while.
You can still be close to mommy, daddy and Addy.
Enjoy your in home small celebration with your mommy, daddy, and Addy!
Happy Birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear JJ, happy birthday to you!
We pray that God will bless you and keep you and make His face to shine upon you and give you peace.
I’m combining the A to Z with Wednesday Hodgepodge on this tax day that isn’t really a tax day. Our taxes were filed but we won’t be sending that big fat check until July 15th. How nice to have that delay! Hopefully we won’t have to delay the Hodgepodge and Joyce will have her internet up and running in time. For A to Z we are on the letter M and Music is my M in this Meme.
1. In Monday’s post I mentioned I would incorporate the word I was given for letter K into this week’s questions. That word was karaoke. On a scale of 1-10 how excited would you be to find out there was karaoke happening at your next gathering/outing with friends? 10=gimme that microphone!, and 1=I suddenly remembered there’s somewhere else I need to be. Have you ever actually done karaoke? If you had to perform karaoke what would be your ‘go-to’song?
I’ve only done Karaoke once. I have been on stages singing with a mic right up to my face several times, long ago and far away. If I was on stage doing karaoke with my friends it would be a 10. If it was a solo it would be a 1. The photo above is of the Christian “Rock” group Dear and I were part of in the 70’s. I’m the one on the right and Dear is next to me. I am not a soloist except for in the shower and in the privacy of my own home. I love the idea of Karaoke. My go to song would be…
2. How do you listen to music these days? Favorite app or do you listen the old fashioned way? Do you have music playing often in your home? Is there still a CD player in your car?
This is my old fashioned playlist and my CD changer. I’m so thankful to still have a CD changer that works and is connected to nice speakers so I can hear my music from anywhere in our country bungalow. We have a relatively new 2019 Highlander and I’m also thankful to be able to say it does have a CD player. I know most new vehicles do not have a CD player as standard equipment. On road trips we enjoy listening to books on CD.
3. The HP lands on US tax day this year. Or what used to be tax day before everything including filing your taxes was cancelled, delayed, postponed or extended. FYI- filing your taxes has not been cancelled, only delayed for a bit.
Besides staying away from anyone and everyone, what have you found taxing lately?
I have found it is hard to know what day of the week it is. Concentration has been taxing.
4. You’re without power so no oven, and you can’t open your frig or freezer in order to keep what’s in there from spoiling. And you don’t have access to take out. What will you make us for dinner?
I will go to the outdoor barbecue that is powered with propane and use the side burner to heat up a can of pinto beans, a can of black beans, a can of green chilies, a can of chopped tomatoes all together, add some chili powder and cumin. I’d serve that in a bowl with tortilla chips unless I had a fresh package of flour tortillas that haven’t been opened. I’d toast those tortillas on the grill. If I had an avocado and tomato in my fresh basket I’d cut them up to add on top. It you don’t have a propane powered barbecue you could do this over an open fire.
5. I’ve seen this exercise going around Facebook and thought it would be a good one to include in the HP…what are five things everybody seems to love and go crazy for that you personally don’t care for?
Don’t Judge!
Sushi
Cruises
Protein Drinks
“Facebook Chain Letters” example “If you love your sister copy and paste”
Women in Power (I could explain this better in person)
6. Insert your own random thought here.
Speaking of old school/old fashioned this is an album that some of our family and friends were part of.
The Russian Sacred Singers of Los Angeles are a group of California young people of Russian background. They sing in English and Russian under the inspiring leadership of director Leonard Wozniuk. The unique bi-lingual choir responded to our challenge to record their selections for radio use. Today, their joyful singing is heard world-wide over several short-wave radio stations and over local broadcasts in North and South America.
Hymns of Praise was recorded in stereo in the Lorin Whitney Studios with the creative accompaniment of organist Bill Fasig and pianist John Innes of the Billy Graham Association. Tom Keene on guitar and Paul Stilwell on bass add their distinctive sound to several selections. ~ Andrew Semenchuk, Producer.
The songs sung in Russian include: The Lord is my Light, Like a River Glorious, Jesus Name I Love, Hallelujah What a Saviour, The Good Shepherd, What A Friend, Glory in the Highest, Blessed Assurance, Submission, Let the Beauty of Jesus, Praise Ye the Triune God, Why Not Now, and Peace Perfect Peace.
Five of my cousins and two of my sisters sang on the album along with a future cousin-in-law and the director became my brother-in-law.
We now have the album on CD so we can listen to it more easily. We don’t have a phonograph anymore.
Music has been a big part of my life and it has enriched my life in so many ways. Being part of music groups I met some of the most important people in my life namely my dear husband. Music took me across the pond to Great Britain. I would have never traveled as extensively as I did were it not for music. Music that honors God and is true in lyrics moves me to worship my God and Saviour. I hope to be singing when my time comes to leave this earth. I know I’ll be singing when I get to heaven.
Thank you to Joyce for coming up with the questions! Click here to see more answers.
L is the letter for the day and my bandwith is low, low, low so I can’t upload any new photos right now. I’ll have to look to my archives and decide on a subject for the letter L. I chose my Labors of Love post from 2016.
I love Easter and all that it holds and all that it means. I like the idea of new Life, a resurrected Life. The greatest Love that was demonstrated on Good Friday and the Life that was resurrected on Easter Sunday.
Here are photos of our Easter weekend labors of love and celebrations 2016.
This was the end result of our labors on Easter Saturday 2016. Top left an Russian Easter sweet cheese spread called Seernaya Paska. The X and the B stand for Christ is Risen. On the right is the finished and frosted Russian Easter Bread called Kulich or Paska surrounded by Russian shrink wrapped eggs. The sign in Russian on the bottom left says Christ is Risen so you see where the X and B comes from. Now I’ll show you some of the process of getting here.
First you gather your labor force. This is my sister Lana who arrived early so that we could get the Russian Easter Bread (Kulich/Paska) started.
The rest of the laborers arrived and donned their aprons and head scarves.
At one point in the process of mixing the dough I thought I made a big boo boo so we prayed over the dough and Lana and I laid hands on the KitchenAid. I didn’t want to start over again. All turned out well…
Lana showing how her slippers match her apron.
The other photos in the collage are of kneading the dough and shrink wrapping the boiled eggs. While the dough was rising we enjoyed lunch together. Home made tamales and beans with guacamole, chips, and Dan and Jamie’s home made salsa.
After lunch it was time to prepare the cans and to punch down the dough after it’s first rise. The Peter Rabbit bunting was completed by Katie and hung by Laura and Katie. Josh and Laura gifted me the bunting kit for my birthday last week.
After the second rise we punched again and prepared the dough by hand for the cans pinching off enough or almost enough for each can we picked for this time around. Short, medium and tall.
The guys were busy outside in the sunshine solving several world problems.
The finished eggs and kulich on Easter day. I’ll show more from our Easter table in another post.
When the baking was done and the cheese mold was in the refrigerator setting up for our Easter Sunday meal the kids went out to dinner with their aunt and uncle. Dear and I stayed at home and crashed…
All of our kids together enjoying each other and extended family fills us with joy and not having to make dinner for them after a full day in the kitchen was a bonus!
We love and treasure these traditions and hope to carry them on through the years and pass them on to the next generation. I’m happy to report three of our nephews wives took on this labor of love alone in their homes and had very successful outcomes!
We are on the letter K and I’m choosing Keepsake for my post.
This is a quilt my mother in law made before Alaska and Hawaii were part of the United States. It was in 1959 that Alaska and Hawaii became states so Verna made this quilt well before 1959. Rex and Verna got married in 1945. Verna was a one room school teacher in Kansas during World War II.
Each of the 48 states were represented with the state bird and state flower.
Verna’s children, grandchildren and great grandchildren live in the states of Washington, New York, California and North Carolina as of this date.
Verna with my hubby long before we met. This is probably 1966 or 1967.
Dear’s Parents, Rex and Verna with their 4 grandchildren in 1982. Two more granddaughters were born in 1985 and 1991. Rex passed away in 1985 before they were born.
Rex, Verna, Dear, Josh me and Dan in 1982.
This photo was taken in 1988 or 1989 at our first home in Washington State. Verna was living with us at this time. My folks, sister and her girls were visiting from California.
This collage is of Dear’s only brother and him and Rex and Verna. I put this collage together to show the similarities the two sons have with their parents. Terry with Verna and Dear with Rex.
We had an unusual social distancing gathering on Easter at our kids home to exchange Easter meal goodies and to see JJ and Addy at their Easter egg hunt. It was a different but good Easter celebrating our Risen Savior! Later in the afternoon we had an extended family Zoom meeting sharing our highs, lows and buffaloes with each other. It was so good to see many of the family units from Texas, Indiana, California and Washington and sharing some prayer requests. I trust you all had a good day.
As soon as my broad band lets me upload my photos from yesterday I’ll share them.
We are on the letter J and Jesus Christ is the best choice for me to create a post on this Easter Weekend.
The Old Rugged Cross
On a hill far away stood an old rugged cross,
The emblem of suffering and shame;
And I love that old cross where the dearest and best
For a world of lost sinners was slain.
Refrain
So I’ll cherish the old rugged cross,
Till my trophies at last I lay down;
I will cling to the old rugged cross,
And exchange it some day for a crown.
O that old rugged cross, so despised by the world,
Has a wondrous attraction for me;
For the dear Lamb of God left His glory above
To bear it to dark Calvary.
Refrain
In that old rugged cross, stained with blood so divine,
A wondrous beauty I see,
For ’twas on that old cross Jesus suffered and died,
To pardon and sanctify me.
Refrain
To the old rugged cross I will ever be true;
Its shame and reproach gladly bear;
Then He’ll call me some day to my home far away,
Where His glory forever I’ll share.
Thinking of all our friends and family who will be celebrating alone on this Easter 2020. May God draw you to a closer relationship with Him. Praying that God will wipe out this virus soon so we can meet together again.
We are on the letter I and I’m choosing Important for my theme. This is an important weekend in the history of Christianity. Today we remember Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified on a cross and when he breathed His last was laid in a tomb.
Were the angels looking down from heaven to see all that would transpire?
Growing up there were Good Fridays when we would fast on that day until our church service in the evening with Communion breaking our fast and then having a meal together.
We will miss being able to attend Good Friday services this year but that will not stop us from our reading and contemplating the importance of this event in history and it’s importance today and in our future.
And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “MyGod, myGod, why have you forsaken me?”
From Matthew 27:
The Death of Jesus
45 Now from the sixth hour[f] there was darkness over all the land[g] until the ninth hour.[h]46 And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”47 And some of the bystanders, hearing it, said, “This man is calling Elijah.”48 And one of them at once ran and took a sponge, filled it with sour wine, and put it on a reed and gave it to him to drink.49 But the others said, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to save him.”50 And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his spirit.
51 And behold, the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. And the earth shook, and the rocks were split.52 The tombs also were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised,53 and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many.54 When the centurion and those who were with him, keeping watch over Jesus, saw the earthquake and what took place, they were filled with awe and said, “Truly this was the Son[i] of God!”
55 There were also many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him,56 among whom were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph and the mother of the sons of Zebedee.
Jesus Is Buried
57 When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus.58 He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him.59 And Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud60 and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had cut in the rock. And he rolled a great stone to the entrance of the tomb and went away.61 Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb.
The Guard at the Tomb
62 The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate63 and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’64 Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.”65 Pilate said to them, “You have a guard[j] of soldiers. Go, make it as secure as you can.”66 So they went and made the tomb secure by sealing the stone and setting a guard.
Tomorrow for the letter J my post will be about Jesus and His resurrection including photos from Easters past.
We are on the letter H for the A to Z Challenge and I have a resource to share with any of you who are finding yourselves teaching your kids at home during this COVID-19 stay at home period.
This is a photo of my brother Steve’s family with a link to my sister-in-law Kelly’s website that is a amazing resource for teaching art and homeschooling in general. Kelly home schooled all the young men in the photo above up to when they went to college. They all completed their college degrees and they are all married now and the young ladies are their wives. (There are now two more little grands added to the family). Kelly also was a homeschooling resource for others in her community that were homeschooling offering classes in Science and other subjects. We’ve all probably enjoyed gifted teachers in our lifetime, Kelly is one of the gifted.
Kelly has put together some encouraging videos for those of you who are now trying to teach your children at home.
Don’t miss her YouTube page. You will find her videos on works of art enlightening for yourselves and your students. Hop over and then click on her blog button and enjoy some great lessons to enrich you and your kids.
For A to Z challenge and the letter G scroll down below Wednesday Hodgepodge!
1. How will you celebrate Easter this year?
This will probably be the first Easter in my whole life that I will not be inside a church building celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ with other Believers in a jammed packed auditorium.
This year Dear and I will enjoy our church service online. We plan on delivering Easter goodies around town beginning with our kids and grandchildren staying at a safe distance. We won’t have our traditional meal of lamb or our wonderful Easter Bread (Paska/Kulich) or the delicious cheese spread, Seernaya Paska. Sigh…
My dining room table will not be set for a crowd.
2. Is it easier for you to receive grace offered or extend grace to another? Explain.
Definitely easier to give than to receive. It is a humbling experience to receive grace, to be forgiven. Pride likes to rear it’s ugly head. It’s easier for me to help than to be helped. Sometimes we are laid low and we can learn the lesson of humility in having to receive instead of being able to give.
Acts 20:35
35 In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’”
3. Do you say grace before meals? If so do you have a standard dinnertime grace or is it more ‘off the cuff’ ? Do you say grace when dining out? Do you have a favorite grace? Any special memory associated with ‘saying grace’?
We say grace when we have family around the table. When it’s just Dear and me we usually will say “Thank you Lord for this food!” Our grace changes as the season warrants. If we are having a meal around someone’s birthday we’ll include thanksgiving for them and what they mean to us. We always end our prayers with, In Jesus Name we pray, amen. Sometimes we say grace when dining out but not always. Lately Addy has been interested in saying grace and those are memorable. Our dear Pop’s prayers at special gatherings are very memorable as well.
Our father shared in this video that our mother thought this might be the last year they’d be having Christmas together and that did come to pass as she was ushered into heaven in September of 2013, on their 70th Wedding Anniversary. Our Pop followed our Mom to heaven in June of 2018.
4. What are some challenges you think the next generation will face? (Generation Alpha-born between 2011 and 2025)
Generation Alpha will have a very hard time honoring the purpose for which God created Man, Woman, Sex, Marriage and Family because of the twisted deconstructing of family and marriage that this world is legislating and forcing on us now. Like generations before they will be duped into believing it’s okay to kill a baby in the womb. May God have mercy on us all.
5. Share a favorite quote or lyric featuring the word faith.
Current favorite quote about faith:
Faith is not a power which you possess to create your own future. Faith is a God-given ability to trust the future that God has promised you. ~ John MacArthur
6. Insert your own random thought here.
My sister Lana recorded our Dear Pop answering some questions about prayer and fasting. Note: Our pop has a familiarity with the disciples. He calls John, Jack and Jacob and it might be in this video where he calls Peter, Pete. Our Pop wasn’t perfect by any means but he knew what was important and that his righteousness came from Jesus.
Thank you to Joyce for posing the questions and thank you to all of you who visited my post. The link to the Hodgepodge is HERE.
For Wednesday April 8th we are on the letter G and I’m choosing grandchildren and grandmothers for my theme.
Both of our daughters in law are the cream of the crop. During this distancing time Jamie had Addy and JJ’s hand prints made for the sweetest hugs I could get when hugs are out of the question. This is the note that came with the handprints connected with yarn:
Here is a hug with a handmade touch. Reminding you I love you this much!
So sorry but the internets at this country bungalow are not uploading my photos of my handprints. boohoo. As soon as I can I’ll add them to the post.
In the meantime here are the latest photos of the grands that I have from our DIL.
We’ve had some beautiful sunshiny days and the grands have enjoyed the sunshine. Addy is enjoying painting rocks and JJ is supervising.
The whole family have enjoyed some walks in the sunshine.
Addy received her birthday present from Uncle Andrew and Auntie Katie and this is one of the creations from these magnet blocks.
This little guy is 9 days shy of being a year old! He will not have his epic 1st birthday party on his day or anywhere near his day. It was going to be a lumberjack birthday with ax throwing and log rolling for the adults!
Here’s the latest photo of me, the paternal grandmother/baba of these two…
Here I am in the mask I made from my Beatrix Potter fabric that is from my stash. It’s over 40 years old.
The following photos were posted randomly as they showed up in my media library. They are not in chronological order. With my internet issues right now this is the way it is…
This is a photo of me with my mother and maternal grandmother. We called her our little Babushka. This is in the early 70’s. April 8th was our mom’s birthday. She would have been 97 today.
After our little babushka had an apartment of her own that was just a few doors down from the Russian Baptist church that we attended we’d enjoy Christmas breakfast before church services at her apartment. The photo above is of her with our sister Lana.
Photos from our wedding at the end of 1974.
My paternal grandparents at my sister’s home in Huntington Beach in the 70’s.
Our maternal grandmother with all of her grandchildren in the mid fifties. She would enjoy 5 more grandchildren born in the late fifties and early 60’s. Our mom only had one brother who survived into adulthood. Our mom’s only brother, Uncle Paul and Aunt Nina had 4 children. Our parents had 4 more children after the time of this photo which happens to be an Easter photo.
Our little babushka is in this group. Can you find her? This was taken at our second home in Huntington Beach where our 2 sons were born. Our little Babushka Vera died in March of 1980.
These photos with me and my babushka are at my 9th grade graduation and 12th grade graduation, 1965 and 1968.
Our maternal babushka had a more hands on relationship with all of us but that is not to say we didn’t have a relationship with our paternal grandparents. We honored them and loved them but we didn’t enjoy as close a bond with them as with our dear little Babushka. Since she immigrated as a widow she was more free to spend lots of time with us.
I’m sure all grandmother’s are looking forward to spending hands on time again with their grandchildren. We are missing those sweet hugs and face to face interactions.
The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b. 