Hello October

Update: So so sad and sorry to wake up to the horrible news about the shooting in Las Vegas last night. May God comfort those who lost loved ones and may He heal those who are injured. May he also heal those who have been traumatized even though they survived the carnage.

The trees and plants at this old house are beginning to show their autumn colors.

The blueberry bush…

The Forsythia

I saved the best for last. Our little Addy is enjoying new things this fall. She’s enjoying some solids like rice cereal, applesauce and just this past week she tried zucchini and gave it a thumbs up. She did not like banana. It made her gag. She is 6-1/2 months old and getting some good use out of her many bibs. She soon will be too big for her current car seat.

We had a quiet weekend. Our new senior pastor preached his first sermon this morning. We are looking forward to this new chapter in the life of our church. Our church will be celebrating it’s 50th anniversary in 2018 and in almost 50 years this is only our fourth pastor. That’s an impressive pastor history.

Speaking of 50 years, my graduating class from high school will be celebrating 50 years next October. A committee is planning the event and trying to locate as many Montebello High School class of 1968 graduates as possible. If you are reading this post and are a MHS class of 68 graduate there is a special email address for our reunion and you can give them your contact information there. mhs50.1968@gmail.com

 I’ll be linking up to Mosaic Monday with Maggie from Normandy Life.

O Precious Word ~ Hymn

O Precious Word

O precious word that Jesus said!
The soul that comes to Me,
I will in no wise cast him out,
Whoever he may be.
Whoever he may be,
Whoever he may be,
I will in no wise cast him out,
Whoever he may be.

O precious word that Jesus said!
Behold, I am the door;
And all who enter in by Me
Have life forevermore.
Have life forevermore,
Have life forevermore,
And all who enter in by Me
Have life forevermore.

O precious word that Jesus said!
Come, weary souls oppressed,
Come take My yoke and learn of Me,
And I will give you rest.
And I will give you rest,
And I will give you rest,
Come take my yoke and learn of Me,
And I will give you rest.

O precious word that Jesus said!
The world I overcame;
And they who follow where I lead
Shall conquer in My name.
Shall conquer in My name,
Shall conquer in My name,
And they who follow where I lead
Shall conquer in My name.

Words: Fanny Crosby, 1886.

The Art of Flora Forager

Our friend Bridget, well known as Flora Forager is an artist who uses petals and other natural elements to create her works of art.

Last Thursday evening I drove to Seward Park Audubon Center in Seattle for a book release celebration for Bridget’s second book, The Art of Flora Forager.

Our family and her family have been dear friends since 1984 when Bridget was a toddler. These are Bridget’s sisters.

The Audubon Center was the perfect venue for the book launch party. They have had her artwork on display for a while and were thrilled to host this event. Both her editor from Sasquatch Books and the directors of the Audubon Center expressed their delight that Bridget is a local Seattle artist which gave them access to her and her work.

The walls were covered with her creative foraged work.

Bridget put together her head wreath in the same way she creates her artwork.

Some of the Audubon’s taxidermy birds were part of the event.

This redbreasted sapsucker died and was found by Bridget’s sister Lucy on her property and the Audubon Center asked her to bring it in so they could preserve the body and mount it for educational purposes.

This collage is a small example of some of Bridget’s work. When Bridget is out and about in nature by herself or with her three young sons, she’ll “grab anything and everything I fancy, put it into my foraging sack, and bring it home to play around with.”

Bridget photographs her own work, too.

She and her husband call their urban cottage The Burrow because it feels like a hobbit hole. Much of my days are spent foraging for wildflowers in green areas of Seattle and playing with flowers on my kitchen table.

“Many of my Flora Forager pieces have come from my own garden, those of my dear friends, and my mother’s luscious old-world roses that she still cares for, though they now tower over her head.”

Our family is happy that Bridget has found a beautiful way to express her creativity and the world is noticing and enjoying it, too. Congratulations Flora Forager!

To see more of Bridget’s work, visit FloraForager.com or connect with her on Instagram @flora.forager.

I’ll link up with Eileen for Saturday’s Critters.

Thankful Thursday

I have two new recipes up on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog this week. The Rustic Potato Salad has been enjoyed already on three separate occasions at this old house and the Chicken Tetrazzini Soup is also a new favorite. It has just the right amount of creaminess and the lemon zest adds a wonderful finish.

Last night my son, daughter in love and I enjoyed a beautiful shirt sleeve night at Century Link field in Seattle at the Seattle Sounders Soccer game. It was especially fun for us since our Sounders finally won a game with a 3-0 shutout. We’ve been on a tying streak and then we lost our last game in Salt Lake City. Winning is a treat and spending time with these two brings joy to me.

In 2007 and 2008 I participated in a weekly meme called Thankful Thursday. Here’s one of my posts from October 17, 2007.

I Will Always Love Your Name

Here I am and I have come

To thank You, Lord, for all You’ve done

Thank You, Lord

You paid the price at Calvary

You shed Your blood, You set me free

Thank You, Lord

No greater love was ever shown

No better life ever was laid down

And I will always love Your name

And I will always sing Your praise

You took my sin, You took my shame

You drank my cup, You bore my pain

Thank You, Lord

You broke the curse, You broke the chains

In victory from death You rose again

Thank You Lord

and not by works, but by Your grace

You clothe me now in Your righteousness

You bid me come, You make me whole

You give me peace, You restore my soul

Thank you, Lord

You’re making me to be like You

To do the works of the Father, too.

written by Paul Oakley (copyright 1997 Kingsway Thankyou Music/PRs/EMI Christian Music Publishing

I’m still thankful and always will be thankful for Jesus and what he’s done for me.

I’m thankful for Dear and the family God has given us to love and enjoy and grow alongside.

I’m thankful for good food and the Mennonite Girls Can Cook who have become some of my nearest and dearest friends.

I’m thankful for good bloggy friends. Some of you I have met and some I haven’t met in person but I cherish you nonetheless. You have encouraged me, prayed for me and my family, entertained me, taught me, inspired me and made me laugh out loud. I’ve traveled to places I’ll never be able to go through your posts and I’ve enjoyed your adventures. I’ve grieved with some of you as you’ve said goodbye to your spouses ad other loved ones. I’ve also grieved the loss and miss posts from bloggers who have died. Blogging has been a good thing in my life, thank you Lord!

And on the lighter side of thankfulness. Thank you Lord for my enjoyment of soccer! 🙂

Linking up with Michelle at It’s a Small Town Life for Thankful Thursday and tomorrow I’ll link up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

Ode to a Pigeon Hodgepodge

1. What pets did you have while growing up? Tell us a little something about them.

When I was little my father decided to build a pigeon coupe in our back yard and he acquired several pigeons. Back then there were only four of us siblings and we each chose a pigeon for our pet. My pigeon was Green Neck because it had a lovely iridescent green neck. Creative name…not so much. We frequently fell on lean times back in the 50’s and during an exceptionally hard time my mother and father killed some of the pigeons to make soup. Oh the trauma the four of us siblings felt when we realized our pets were the base of the soup we were suppose to eat for dinner. We rebelled and would not eat that soup! My poor parents, it must have been hard for them to be forced to take such drastic measures to feed us. I’m not fond of pigeons anymore. We now call them rats with wings.

Other then these pigeons we really did not have pets growing up. It was hard enough to feed 8 children without adding a dog or cat to be fed.

The photo above is of me and my siblings before four more were added. These are the four whose pigeons were sacrificed for broth.  I was seven and the youngest when my next sibling was born and then another, rounding up to 8 when twin siblings were born when I was 12.

2. What is one thing you absolutely must accomplish today?

Putting the clean sheets, duvet cover and pillow cases back on the bed!

3. Where were you ten years ago? What were you doing there?

Ten years ago Dear and I were living in Camarillo, California while Dear was working for a company in Thousand Oaks. It was during the time that we lived in Camarillo that I started my blog.  Here’s my blog post from that day where I asked for prayer for our eldest who was in an emergency room in Tacoma after he became disoriented and had slurred speech. It was so hard being 1200 miles away.

4. September 26th is National Dumpling Day. Did you celebrate? Apple dumpling, xiao long bao (steamed Chinese dumpling), chicken and dumplings, pirogi, matzoh balls, or gnocchi…which dumpling on this list would be your dumpling of choice? Have you ever made homemade dumplings of any kind?

We did not celebrate dumpling day…

…But I have made Pelemeny with my family which I call Russian dumplings.

These are filled with a combination of ground chicken, lamb or beef. Recipe here.

5. ‘There are two kinds of adventurers: those who go truly hoping to find an adventure and those who go secretly hoping they don’t.’ William Trogdon

So which kind are you? I’m all for an adventure!

6. Insert your own random thought here.

Here’s a little color from the beginning of Autumn around this old house. This is our Forsythia Bush.

Linking up to Wednesday Hodgepodge with Joyce From This Side of the Pond. Thanks Joyce for coming up with the questions.

A Baker’s Dozen of Love…

11 Collages and 2 singles equals 13, a baker’s dozen.

On Thursday September 21st I left our home at 4pm to head to the airport to pick up our precious cargo from Seatac airport. Our usual 30-35 minute trip to the airport took 2 hours on this evening with traffic and then a major collision just a few miles from the airport. I left in plenty of time because I’m Moisi’s daughter and I had time to park and find the baggage carousel that our kids luggage would arrive on a few minutes before we met up.

I’m so happy to report that Addy May seemed to recognize me and she smiled and giggled when we made eye contact. I held her while we waited for the luggage and everyone that walked past her got a smile and she got lots of compliments. She seems to be pretty social. It took a lot less time to get home from the airport and Dear had his famous Tomato Rice Soup ready for our travelers. Addy enjoyed her new Baby Einstein Walker that Baba and Gramps bought for her, sitting in it and standing outside of it. We all learned colors and numbers in English, Spanish and French!

Addy is enjoying some soft food these days and she had her rice cereal mixed with homemade no sugar applesauce and a little of mommy’s milk for her meal. Uncle Andrew and Aunt Katie joined us on Thursday night for dinner and some Addy time.

On Friday morning Uncle Josh, Aunt Katie and Uncle Andrew arrived in time for some breakfast, a walk and then lunch at our local Mexican restaurant so Addy could meet our favorite waitress who has been seeing weekly photos of Addy since she was born. Auntie Laura had to work on Friday and was wrapping up two weeks with International workers at World Concern, the non profit she works for.

Addy lights up for her uncle’s and auntie’s and here she only has eyes for Josh.

Auntie Katie is making sure Addy doesn’t fall over as she lifts herself up to stand next to the couch and give it a taste.

Saturday morning jammy time and once again the uncles and aunties are over for meals and hands on with Addy May.

Auntie Laura got some looks of love from Addy in the collage above.

The reason the kids flew over for these few days were all about tickets for a concert that were purchased a year ago. This crew above all had seats together at Century Link field for a Coldplay concert on Saturday night. Jamie and Sarly are dear friends of both our boys and their wives. Jamie and Dan have been best friends since 2nd grade. Who could have guessed Dan would marry a Jamie, too. Josh came up with a vehicle that the six of them could travel in together. They had a wonderful time and little Addy May survived her first full night away from mommy and daddy. Not saying there weren’t any tears but we all survived and she did take a bottle from me successfully.

The morning after she was still smiling at me and was happy to come to me. I’m glad I remembered to snap a shot of the these three before they headed back to the airport Sunday morning.

Addy was a great little traveler, granted the flight was only one hour long, but it was still a good start for her traveling memories.

Our time was rich and now Gramps and Baba are recuperating from all the fun, bending down, lifting, chasing and feeding the ones nearest and dearest to us! Thanking the good Lord for all that we enjoyed.

Family Time

I’ll be getting around to reading your posts now that our kids are back home with little Addy. We had good times with yummy food and lots of laughs. Addy was the center of attention. I’m kicking myself for not getting a photo of the nine of us while we were all together. Addy survived her evening alone with Baba and Gramps and her parents had a wonderful evening out.

Break Thou the Bread of Life

Break Thou the Bread of Life

Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me,
As Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea;
Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord;
My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word!

Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord, to me, to me,
As Thou didst bless the bread by Galilee;
Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall;
And I shall find my peace, my all in all.

Thou art the bread of life, O Lord, to me,
Thy holy Word the truth that saveth me;
Give me to eat and live with Thee above;
Teach me to love Thy truth, for Thou art love.

O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now unto me,
That He may touch my eyes, and make me see:
Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word,
And in Thy Book revealed I see the Lord.

Words: Mary A. Lathbury, 1877. Verses 3-4, Alexander Groves

Moving Stuff Around

We’ve been doing some reorganizing at this old house and moving stuff around to better fit spaces. Before I could grab my camera for some before shots Dear was already moving stuff. The table that is under the mirror in these shots that used to hold the stereo equipment got moved up to our sitting area off our master bedroom to hold our printer that came out of the spare oom.

This is our living room. We put the matching black short bookshelves under the windows on either side of the fireplace. These cabinets were in two separate rooms in our house before. The large mirror got moved kitty corner from where it was before. The antique library table was moved under the mirror and now has our stereo equipment on top of it. The bookshelves remained in place as did the china secretary that you can almost see in this next photo.

Since our little crawler is arriving today we moved a lot of stuff out of the living room like the tea cart, coffee table and small side tables into the Blue room so Addy has more room to roam safely. We bought a safety gate to block off the stairs that lead down to the front door and the basement. These items will return after the weekend.

We put that antique white cabinet in the garage for now because it just didn’t make sense to have it in this spare bedroom. The two tall bookshelves were in two separate rooms before and we decided to put them in here on either side of the little desk. We also moved the big office chair out and brought in a small folding chair that fits the desk better. We call this room the Spare Oom. You can see the printer that got moved out of here next to the desk in the before photo.

The small bookcase that was between these two tall bookcases in our second guest room that we call Katie’s room or the Blue room is now in the living room with it’s match on either side of the fireplace. The black dresser was moved from our master suite to finish off the look in this bedroom.

We’re happy with the changes. If and when we decide to sell this old house there will be more changes to fake buyers into thinking there’s more room, I mean staging.

Right now the pilot lights are on again and we’ve even had the heat on for the last couple mornings. Fall has arrived a few days early. We are hearing we’ll have another warm spell next week, though.

I’ll be scarce around blog land the next few days. Hope you all have a good weekend. I’m off and running!