It’s Guinness Time…

…and time for Kathleen’s St. Patrick’s Day Crawl at Cuisine Kathleen! This is the 7th annual crawl!

It was a March miracle that I actually put together a tablescape and photographed it for the crawl.

Will you be making Corned Beef and Cabbage or Irish Stew or something else that says “Ireland” for St. Patty’s Day?

We saw this at the Crown and Trumpet in the town of Broadway in the Cotswolds.

I hope to get around to see all the St. Patrick’s Day tables joining Kathleen’s crawl!

I is for Iwo Jima

The anniversary of the Flag raising at Mount Suribachi on Iwo Jima is on February 23rd. I visited the monument in D.C. in 1970 for the first time.

Retro Ellen b. , I’m 19 in this photo.

I visited the monument again in May of 2011 on a night tour and took this photo on the opposite side of the monument. We won’t publish how old I was on this visit but you can do the math!

This is a replica of the monument at the MCRD, Parris Island, S.C. (Marine Corps Recruit Depot) when my daughter and I attended her future husband’s India Company graduation in September of 2010.

I is for Iwo Jima for ABC Wednesday. Thank you Mrs. Nesbitt and the ABC team!

I’m a little fuzzy in the brain since all the fun activities from this past weekend and the time change always takes a few days to get oriented to. I am enjoying the longer daylight hours here in the Pacific Northwest.

She Said Yes to the Dress!

Just a quick update on my whirlwind trip to Spokane on Saturday. Thank you for your prayers. The wedding dress shopping couldn’t have been less stressful. We arrived to the wedding dress shop before it opened at 10:00 AM for the appointment and the dress was picked and purchased by 11:20! We all agreed with the bride on her choice of gown. No ordering delays either. She picks up the dress next week and then will make appointments for alterations. Granny even had time to buy her dress for the wedding! After the appointment we went out for lunch to celebrate. The bottom right photo are the mom’s with the bride. So thankful for a very good weekend!

O God, Whose Smile is in the Sky ~ Hymn

O God, Whose Smile Is in the Sky

O God, whose smile is in the sky,
Whose path is in the sea,
Once more from earth’s tumultuous strife
We gladly turn to Thee.

Now all the myriad sounds of earth
In solemn stillness die;
While wind and wave unite to chant
Their anthem to the sky.

We come as those with toil far spent
Who crave Thy rest and peace,
And from the care and fret of life
Would find in Thee release.

O Father, soothe all troubled thought,
Dispel all idle fear,
Purge Thou each heart of secret sin,
And banish ev’ry care.

Until, as shine upon the sea
The silent stars above,
There shines upon our trusting souls
The light of Thine own love.

Words: John H. Holmes, l907.

All Alone…

Dear will be on his own on Saturday to continue on Phase 4 of our yard project. Soon I’ll be able to show all the before and afters.

We are close to finishing what we want to do for now.

I am excited to be heading to Spokane on a short plane hop and shopping with our future daughter in law for her wedding gown. There will be a fun entourage joining in the adventure. I do hope and pray it will be successful and if you are a praying person I’d love it if you joined me in praying that the right dress will be found with as little stress as possible! I return on Sunday morning to see Dear’s progress…

What are you doing this weekend?

Magazine Swap

Isn’t it fun to get a package in the mail with magazines you don’t usually see in your corner of the world? Lorrie at Fabric Paper Thread paired off people who were interested in swapping magazines and I received my name and exchanged addresses with Cornish Cream (Elizabethd). She received the magazines I sent and a few days later I received my package all the way from the Cornwall region in England.

On our September 2013 trip to England with our son Josh and DIL Laura we enjoyed a few days in the Cornwall area which is in the southwestern peninsula of England. It has the longest continuous stretch of coastline in Britain and is one of the sunniest areas in England. We enjoyed our time there staying in Porthtowan. Here are some photos from our time.

And of course we had to have some Cornish Cream!

You live in a beautiful part of our world Elizabethd of Cornish Cream! Thank you so much for the magazines!

I’m going on a short plane trip this Saturday returning on Sunday and I’ll have some time on my own in my hotel room on Saturday night. I’m looking forward to enjoying my magazines.

What are you doing this weekend?

Fences and Signs

Bird on a fence in San Diego, California.

My fence behind my blooming forsythia. Spring has come early to the Pacific Northwest.

Fun sign in a breakfast spot in Oregon.

Such a random assortment of photos from different times and 3 different states. I’m feeling a bit random myself these days. Here we are in March already. March is my birthday month and it is our daughter and son-in-law’s anniversary month. March is also the spring forward month (this weekend!!). I’m headed to Eastern Washington on Saturday for an overnight trip to go Bridal dress shopping with our future daughter in law. This Sunday is the opening game for the Seattle Sounders Soccer team! March has come in like a lamb this year. What are you looking forward to in March?

I’m linking to Signs, signs with Lesley and Good Fences with TexWisGirl at Run*A*Round Ranch Report.

History and Heritage…

I posted this on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog on Sunday for our Bread for the Journey and I’m re-posting here for my own records on The Happy Wonderer. That’s wonder not wander. I’m adding a few more photos from Russia and Persia in this post. Today I’m linking up with ABC Wednesday with thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt, Roger and the ABC Team! I’m also linking up to Testimonial Tuesday #5 at Jerrelea’s Journey.

We are in the middle of a new series on Sundays called “Movement”. As we launched into this series our pastor encouraged us with this statement: “The book of Acts tells the story of a group of first-century, rag-tag followers of the Risen Christ who became the movement that would change the world; it’s God’s movement because He is a God on the move, and He invites us to get on the move with Him.” As a follower of Jesus “I am an integral part of the most powerful, life-changing movement in the history of the world.”

It’s an encouraging exercise to look back over your life and the life of your ancestors to see how God has led and moved you to where you are today.

My father’s family

My mother with her brother and younger sister.

For me part of my story is God moving both sets of my grandparents to flee Russia on foot with their children to Iran in the early 1930’s. Both sets of grandparents settled near Tehran where my parents later met and got married. God moved my father with the desire to come to the United States. One of the things that influenced this desire was how my father was treated while working in an U.S. Army base kitchen in Iran. The soldiers were kind to my father and let him take food home to his family because they knew my father’s family was struggling.

My parents with my oldest sister shortly after arriving to Los Angeles, my mother is pregnant with my sister Vera in this photo.

My parents filed the proper paper work and were granted permission to immigrate to the U.S.A. With my oldest sister they traveled to the U.S.A. settling in Los Angeles shortly after World War II ended. In 1963 my father went to hear Billy Graham at the Los Angeles Coliseum and my father was born again. My father’s decision to follow Jesus turned my family’s world upside down in the right way. That same year I accepted Christ and my new life in the greatest movement of all time began. We won’t know the whole story on how our own lives impact God’s movement till we see Him face to face but we can see part of the story now and be encouraged to carry on and follow Him where he leads us. He doesn’t call us and then leave us alone. He has given us his Spirit, He intercedes for us, He gives us strength. He multiplies the little that we have when we are willing to step out in faith with Him. What an amazing movement to be a part of! You, too, can be a part of this movement. Ask God to reveal Himself to you, to show you the way.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17

Jesus said to them, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6

Here are a few more photos from Russia and Persia that I promised… Sorry about the quality of some of these but after all they have traveled a long distance!

This one was taken in Russia before my father’s family fled to Iran. This is my paternal babushka’s relatives, the Sisoev’s, in Prelestnaya Village in Russia.

This is my mother next to her brother Paul on the right. My mother is standing next to her future sister-in-law, Nina. Nina is to the left of my mom and Nina’s brother Nikolai is next to her on the left.

My mother with her brother Paul.

These are two families, who were close friends in Iran and considered family to each other. There were also marriages that connected these two families together further. This was taken in Persia after my parents had immigrated to the U.S.A. I believe all but two of them made it to the U.S. My maternal grandfather seated on the lower right was killed in Iran and my maternal grandmother seated next to him immigrated to the U.S. as a widow with my Uncle Paul and Aunt Nina (pictured together upper right). Aunt Nina was part of the Katkov family and the others in this photo are her siblings and mother and father. The little boy between my grandmother and grandfather is my cousin Alex. One of the sisters from this family married a U.S. Soldier stationed in Iran and she is not in this photo. I’m not sure if who I lovingly called babushka Manya (seated next to my babushka Vera) came to the U.S. as a widow, also, or if her husband Nikolai was able to immigrate with his family.

Well this post is long enough for now. When I scan more photos that I came across from Russia and Persia I’ll share.

Hope you have a happy day…

Barn Collective

Joining Amy at Rose Street Reflections for the Barn Collective.

This has been another weekend of working on our yard project. It’s been hard work and I’m developing some strong arm and leg muscles from all the shoveling and digging. It’s just too bad that I eat like a football player after we are done so I haven’t lost any weight from all the strenuous work! Working on these yard projects on the weekend also doesn’t give us time for some nice leisurely drives so I can photograph more cool barns, or fences, or anything!

I posted a story about my heritage and the greatest movement in history over at the Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog for Sunday. Click on over if you have the time.

I Could Not Do Without Thee ~ Hymn

I Could Not Do Without Thee

I could not do without Thee
O Savior of the lost,
Whose precious blood redeemed me
At such tremendous cost.
Thy righteousness, Thy pardon
Thy precious blood, must be
My only hope and comfort,
My glory and my plea.

I could not do without Thee,
I cannot stand alone,
I have no strength or goodness,
No wisdom of my own;
But Thou, belovèd Savior,
Art all in all to me,
And weakness will be power
If leaning hard on Thee.

I could not do without Thee,
For, oh, the way is long,
And I am often weary,
And sigh replaces song:
How could I do without Thee?
I do not know the way;
Thou knowest, and Thou leadest,
And wilt not let me stray.

I could not do without Thee,
O Jesus, Savior dear;
E’en when my eyes are holden,
I know that Thou art near.
How dreary and how lonely
This changeful life would be,
Without the sweet communion,
The secret rest with Thee!

I could not do without Thee;
No other friend can read
The spirit’s strange deep longings,
Interpreting its need;
No human heart could enter
Each dim recess of mine,
And soothe, and hush, and calm it,
O blessèd Lord, but Thine.

I could not do without Thee,
For years are fleeting fast,
And soon in solemn oneness
The river must be passed;
But Thou wilt never leave me,
And though the waves roll high,
I know Thou wilt be near me,
And whisper, It is I.

Words: Frances R. Havergal, May 7, 1873.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage