Happy Days in December…

So happy to report that with the help of our son, Dan, the siding on the front of the shop was completed this past Saturday and Sunday. Now all that is left of the siding is the back end.

When he wasn’t helping his dad Dan was taking his kids on a little snow hike.

This next photo is of a snow hike they took at the end of January 2020.

What a difference a year makes. Jaymison can ride in the sled now!

Earlier last week Dan had some helpers in putting up the Christmas lights.

Our temps have been below freezing for several days in a row which makes these outdoor projects a challenge. We are supposed to have a round of snow blow in tomorrow. I have a luncheon to attend and I’ll have to take the roads slow and steady. Thankful for good snow tires and all wheel drive!

No Place Like Home #4

It’s time again for No Place Like Home with our hostess Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage. This is the 4th Monday.

This year we stumbled on a good deal for a pre-lit artificial tree so we surrendered to the idea for the convenience. The Angel topper has been with us for most of our Christmases.

Our first Christmas ornament in the upper left corner was a wedding gift back in 1974. We were married in December. Many old ornaments and some new ones mixed in.

I have a college friend who sends these pop up cards every year. We’ve saved most of them and like to display them. There are several more of them not pictured.

From our home to your home we hope that you have a melody in your heart during this joy filled time of year!

“O Come, Let Us Adore Him”

Let the Earth Now Praise the Lord ~ Hymn

Let the Earth Now Praise the Lord

Let the earth now praise the Lord.
Who hath truly kept His word
And the sinners’ help and friend
Now at last to us doth send.

What the fathers most desired,
What the prophet’s heart inspired,
What they longed for many a year,
Stands fulfilled in glory here.

Abram’s promised great reward,
Zion’s helper, Jacob’s Lord,
Him of twofold race behold,
Truly came, as long foretold.

Welcome, O my Savior, now!
Hail! My portion, Lord, art Thou.
Here, too, in my heart, I pray,
Oh, prepare Thyself a way!

King of Glory, enter in;
Cleanse it from the filth of sin,
As Thou hast so often done;
It belongs to Thee alone.

As Thy coming was in peace,
Quiet, full of gentleness,
Let the same mind dwell in me
That was ever found in Thee.

Comfort my desponding heart:
Thou my strength and refuge art.
I am weak, and cunningly
Satan lays his snares for me.

Bruise for me the serpent’s head,
That, set free from doubt and dread,
I may cleave to Thee in faith,
Safely kept through life and death.

And when Thou dost come again
As a glorious king to reign,
I with joy may see Thy face,
Freely ransomed by Thy grace.

All is Calm…

…and with grandchildren, all is bright!

Here is Addy pleased that she’s earned another badge from Awana. Are you familiar with Awana?

With an unwavering commitment to the gospel, Awana is being used to reach over 4 million kids every week in 120 countries, giving children and youth from every background an opportunity to know, love and serve Jesus for a lifetime.

Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed
In 1950, Latham and Rorheim founded Awana as a parachurch organization. The name is derived from the first letters of “Approved Workmen Are Not Ashamed” as taken from 2 Timothy 2:15.

Our DIL messaged the fam these photos of Addy who earned a new badge at Awana and then Addy and JJ enjoying the great outdoors. All our past snow has melted and we have more snow in the forecast for Friday, Sunday, Tuesday and Wednesday. That forecast shows sunny days on Saturday and Monday. Time will tell if the forecast is correct.

On Wednesday I was able to take our Christmas cards to the post office and send them off. Two other packages were mailed off for two babies that will be born to our extended family early next year.

Dear has made some progress on the shop with all the trims around the overhead garage doors and man door. Our local son will come over on Saturday to make some more progress on the siding.

Since this photo was taken the wrap is up in this front end of the shop, all ready for the siding now!

Soon I’ll wrap presents. This past Tuesday when Addy and JJ came for a short visit Addy asked, “Baba, do you have a present for me under the tree?” I said, “no, but there will be presents for you under that tree soon.”

I hope all is calm and all is bright at your home!

Truth from A to Z, M is for…

Today is Thursday December 10th and we are on the letter M. So many verses, so little time.

Besides the Gospel of John I’m reading a Psalm a day and Psalm 8 is a wonderful Psalm filled with these words, majestic, mouth, moon, man, mindful and made. The key word is majestic.

M is for Majestic:

How Majestic is Your Name

O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory above the heavens.
2     Out of the mouth of babies and infants,
you have established strength because of your foes,
    to still the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,
    the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,
4 what is man that you are mindful of him,
    and the son of man that you care for him?

5 Yet you have made him a little lower than the heavenly beings
    and crowned him with glory and honor.
6 You have given him dominion over the works of your hands;
    you have put all things under his feet,
7 all sheep and oxen,
    and also the beasts of the field,
8 the birds of the heavens, and the fish of the sea,
    whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

9 O Lord, our Lord,
    how majestic is your name in all the earth!

From Patsystitch:

Psalm 76:4. You are radiant with light, more majestic than mountains rich with game.

From Maristella: M is for MOUTH:

“A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.
Luke 6:45

Visit Bethany at her blog for her Bible Verse Post for the letter M.

We are both fans of Psalm 8!

From Vera: M is for Mercy

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,”
‭‭1 Peter‬ ‭1:3‬ ‭ESV‬‬

I’m looking forward to the verse/verses you decided to share for the letter M. As usual I will add your verses or link to you blog when you leave a comment with your verse or blog information. Thank you so much in advance for your participation. Keep digging in God’s Truth!

Christmas Spirit Hodgepodge

Wednesday Hodgepodge questions that Joyce From This Side of the Pond asks each week are not surprisingly Christmas themed in December. Here we go…

1. What do you think it means to have the holiday spirit?

Going deep on this one and deferring to my hubby:

“It’s having the Spirit of Christ, who convicts of sin and enables faith in that Jesus is who He says He is and has done what He has says He has done. Without the work of the Spirit of Christ we would have no hope for forgiveness, for eternity with Him, for glory.

Romans 5:1 (ESV)

“Therefore, since we have been justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through Him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

2. What’s one thing you’ve baked this month?

I baked a Chocolate Decadent Bundt cake last week for our card night.

Have you eaten the finished product?

Yes, at the card night last Friday night. It got very good reviews from those who ate it.

How much baking do you do around the holidays?

This varies from year to year. Some years I don’t make any cookies…shock!

What baked sweet something does your family insist is on the menu during this season of the year?

Roolyet is a Russian treat our mom would make every Christmas. A yeast dough rolled with a  walnut filling (walnuts, sugar, egg whites and vanilla). Now that my sister and I perfected the recipe I should make it every Christmas, too.

3. Your most recent ‘half-baked’ idea?

How about thoroughly baked. In January I clicked on the buy button for plane tickets from Seattle to London for September of this year. Then COVID-19 struck us all. Plane tickets, Air BnB deposits and many plans made that had to all be cancelled. Thankfully all was refunded.

4. Where were you the last time you ‘baked’ in the sun?

In my own backyard pulling weeds.

The top ten sunniest destinations in the world (most sun from January-December according to this site) are Dubai, Bali Indonesia, Los Angeles CA, Miami FL, Barbados, Dominican Republic, St. Lucia, Mauritius, Antiqua, and the Canary Islands Spain. Have you been to any of the cities listed?

I was born in East Los Angeles and raised in the “burbs” of Los Angeles and spent many summers baking on Southern California beaches slathered in Coconut Butter. Craziness!

Which one on the list appeals to you the most?

We do not choose sunny destinations these days. We do not lay in the sun. We look for shade and head straight to an umbrella when the sun is out and the air is hot. The only reason L.A. is appealing these days is because of our loved ones who live there and who we enjoy spending time with.

If the world were not upside down crazy and you could lie on a beach anywhere right now where would you go?

Never mind lying on the beaches, I would choose Jolly Old England any time of the year, walking down a lane instead of lying on a beach!

Now that said, we do enjoy walking on the beach at dawn in the summer and any time of day in the Winter.

5. Today I wish I had more _____________________.

Options for shopping in my little town of Colville.

6. Insert your own random thought here.

This past Sunday to Monday we enjoyed a 46th Anniversary night at the Coeur d’Alene Resort in Idaho on Lake Coeur d’Alene. Dinner at Beverly’s on the 7th floor made us feel like normal before all this craziness came upon us all.

Our complimentary Anniversary dessert! Vanilla ice cream wrapped in cotton candy with some fruit and dessert bark.

When the Christmas cards are all signed, sealed and delivered to the Post Office I feel like I should get an award. Do you still send cards?

Coeur D’Alene Resort

When we checked into the resort we were informed that they had given us an upgrade to a room with a partial lake view. This was our partial view and we enjoyed it. Our room was on the 17th floor with only the Penthouse above us. Sunday was a beautiful day.

As the sun was setting…

We enjoyed our restaurant experience at Beverly’s on the 7th floor of the resort. We started with Calamari. I ordered a salad and French Onion Soup and Dear ordered the Rib-Eye and shared some of the meat with me.

 

This over the top ice cream surrounded by cotton candy arrived at our table with Happy Anniversary wishes.

After my dessert drink arrived our server informed us that our meal had been paid for by our children. They had called the restaurant ahead of time to arrange that. We were so surprised and grateful for their thoughtfulness. Brought tears to my eyes.

After dinner we got our coats and gloves on to go out and walk along the docks to enjoy the extensive Christmas lights that the Resort puts up. It was well below freezing so we kept walking with few pauses.

The following collages will give you an idea of what we saw.

The interior of the hotel was nicely decorated as well.

This could be a good alternative for a Santa photo in this year of no sitting on Santa’s lap.

On Tuesday morning we watched the sun come up or tried to see the sunrise but soon the fog rolled in and socked us in. These two shots of the water taxi and looking east toward Montana were the clearest shots of the morning.

The hotel staff and restaurant staff all wore masks. Overall our Anniversary was wonderful and it was refreshing to get a night away and to be served a delicious meal in a fine restaurant.

On our drive home we made a few stops at HomeGoods, Harbor Freight, and TJMaxx.

Thank you to everyone for all your kind Anniversary wishes.

No Place Like Home #3

This Monday the 7th of December for No Place Like Home hosted by Sandi at Rose Chintz Cottage, I’m sharing some of our Christmas decorations. Thank you Sandi!

Our front door and the entry to our home.

We have a variety of nativity sets in different areas in our home.

This mini wooden set was the first one we bought at Disneyland in the early 80’s. I bought it so our little ones could play with it with no fear of breakage.

This one is for our grands, Addy and JJ to play with.

Can you see the white metal nativity up at the top above the door on the entry window ledge?

All the decorations that are going up at our place are up now. I’ll share the tree and ornaments next week.

Today we are in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho and we’ll be driving back to Colville in Washington State. I won’t be able to come around to visit blogs until tomorrow.

Himself ~ Hymn

Himself

Once it was the blessing,
Now it is the Lord;
Once it was the feeling,
Now it is His Word;
Once His gift I wanted,
Now, the Giver own;
Once I sought for healing,
Now Himself alone.

Refrain

All in all forever,
Jesus will I sing;
Everything in Jesus,
And Jesus everything.

Once ’twas painful trying,
Now ’tis perfect trust;
Once a half salvation,
Now the uttermost;
Once ’twas ceaseless holding,
Now He holds me fast;
Once ’twas constant drifting,
Now my anchor’s cast.

Refrain

Once ’twas busy planning,
Now ’tis trustful prayer;
Once ’twas anxious caring,
Now He has the care;
Once ’twas what I wanted,
Now what Jesus says;
Once ’twas constant asking,
Now ’tis ceaseless praise.

Refrain

Once it was my working,
His it hence shall be;
Once I tried to use Him,
Now He uses me;
Once the pow’r I wanted,
Now the Mighty One;
Once for self I labored,
Now for Him alone.

Refrain

Once I hoped in Jesus,
Now I know He’s mine;
Once my lamps were dying,
Now they brightly shine;
Once for death I waited,
Now His coming hail;
And my hopes are anchored
Safe within the veil.

Refrain

Words: Albert B. Simpson, 1904.

46th Anniversary Weekend

Forty Six years ago on December 6, 1974 we were married on a Friday night in Southern California.

img079After our wedding we went to my parents home and got ready to leave on our honeymoon. Our family and closest friends were there, too, and we opened gifts before we changed into our get away clothes and left for our honeymoon. Did any of you do that after your wedding or did you take off and go straight to your honeymoon from the wedding site? We were pretty beat when we finally arrived to our first destination, the Pierpont Inn in Ventura, California.

img080The Pierpont Inn, Ventura, California. Little did we know that 10 years later we would move to Ventura.

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img084From the Pierpont we continued north along the coast of California.

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img092This little log cabin somewhere in Central California was a nice little spot to stop. I can’t find it online anymore but it was called Butterfly Trees Lodge.

img093This was Dear’s car, a 1971 Datsun 510.

img094We went as far north as San Francisco and then headed back home along the 101 highway to our apartment in West Los Angeles. We stopped in Solvang on our way home.

We have had our ups and downs, broke years and rich years, fun years and tough years, apartment years and house years, traveling years and stay at home years, lots of kid sports years (baseball and soccer), college expense years, wedding years, and grand baby years. We’ve had sanctifying spiritual growth that for some years plateaued and other years flourished. We are in a flourishing stage right now that we are thankful for in our retirement years. God has sustained and protected our marriage through thick and thin and we are grateful. He has tried us, kept us and blessed us. Thank you, Lord. May we love you more and each other more in our 47th year!

Back to 2020 and how we plan to celebrate our anniversary. Because of current COVID closures in Washington state we are heading to Idaho to the Coeur d’Alene Resort on Sunday for an overnight and dinner at Beverly’s. We are looking forward to sitting down and eating in a nice restaurant. This will only be about a 2 hour drive for us.

On our way home on Monday we will do some shopping in Spokane.

We haven’t changed much…right?