Notecard Party May

I’m posting some old photos from previous posts on my blog for Vee’s Notecard Party. They are all from previous trips we took to Great Britain in 2002, 2004, and 2006.

This was taken at the Hailes Abbey (a 13th century Cistercian Abbey) near Winchcombe, Gloucester, England.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 ~ “He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

This photo is from Magdalene College in Oxford, England.

Yorkminster in York, England. Photo taken from stairwell in the minster. The roofing material is sheets of lead.

Hollows Farm in the Borrowdale Valley, Lake District, England.

All of these photos were taken before I had a digital camera. I didn’t turn off the date stamp on some of them, either. Oh how I’m looking forward to our return trip to Great Britain in September with my digital camera.

The middle of May already. Do you have plans for Memorial Day Weekend? We are hanging out at home as Dear leaves for a conference the following week to Chicago. I’m staying home for that conference…

Back to the Beach…

When we were in Huntington Beach for Debbee and Lenny’s wedding we had the chance to walk to the beach and enjoy the sand and surf for a couple hours after a delicious brunch at Nick and Vera’s (Father and Mother of the bride).

My sister Vera lives within walking distance to the beach so we put our flip flops on and started walking…

We had quite the volatile weather on Monday, winds, calm, sunshine, fluffy clouds, dark clouds, downpours, lightning, thunder. How are things in your corner?

Free Them 5K

On Saturday we met up with some of our small group to participate in World Concern’s Free Them 5K, helping build awareness of the worldwide problem with human trafficking.

This year the participants numbered over 2000.

Our son’s company was a large contributor and had a tent on campus with a giveaway. We were sad that Josh could not participate in person this year because of a recreational soccer injury he received earlier in the week that has had him home having to stay off his feet.

Another successful 5K/10K and hopefully our DIL Laura will have a more restful week now that this major responsibility is complete. After the walk Dear and I stopped by Chipotle to order some takeout food to deliver to our injured son and a meal for our DIL to enjoy once she got home from all her responsibilities at the 5K.

Today we are back in a rainy pattern here in the Pacific Northwest. It was fun to get phone calls from my kids one after another today to wish me a Happy Mother’s Day. Flowers showed up at my door today, too.

On another note I got a lead on a high school kid who is trying to earn money for a mission trip so I might get some help with the yard work. I’m happy to pay well for someone earning money for missions. I only have 3 things on my calendar this week…woohoo. How about you?

Heavenly Sunlight ~ Hymn

Heavenly Sunlight

Verse 1
Walking in sunlight, all of my journey;
Over the mountains, thro’ the deep vale;
Jesus has said “I’ll never forsake thee;”
Promise divine that never can fail.

Chorus
Heavenly sunlight, heavenly sunlight,
Flooding my soul with glory divine;
Hallelujah! I am rejoicing,
Singing His praises, Jesus is mine.

Verse 2
Shadows around me, shadows above me,
Never conceal my Saviour and Guide;
He is the light, in Him is no darkness,
Ever I’m walking, close to His side.

Verse 3
In the bright sunlight, ever rejoicing,
Pressing my way to mansions above;
Singing His praises, gladly I’m walking,
Walking in sunlight, sunlight of love.

Happy Mother’s Day to all who wear that title!

And That’s A Wrap!

Another busy day for Lovella and this time Kathy is joining her for an morning interview on Global BC News . Click on the link to see the interview.

Steve Darling will be interviewing them on the 9-10 am hour. Lovella has been on a nonstop schedule for more than a couple weeks now and I’d just like to ask for some prayer for her especially as the week winds down with this interview. So if you are a person of prayer that would be really appreciated.

Anneliese and Lovella just got back from Toronto where they had an interview on 100 Huntley Street that will be aired today. Click on the link to see the interview.

All the B.C. girls were also busy last night doing a presentation at Sardis Fellowship Baptist for their Spring Tea.

I’ve had it easy this week for sure compared to the rest of the girls. But I am missing stuff like this…

I keep looking on the kitchen counter to see if someone left platters of food out for me. These platters were from our Sunday evening Faspa last weekend at Lovella’s where lo and behold these old gals showed up again…

We’re going to have to find out who keeps tipping them off as to where we are celebrating!!

Have a wonderful Friday everyone.

Today I’m headed to a WOW luncheon at my church where I get to hear an old friend from my first church in the Seattle area. She’s speaking on Laughter and Gratitude. Tomorrow Dear and I are participating in  World Concern’s Free them 5K to help raise awareness about Human Trafficking. Our DIL is part of a team that has worked tirelessly this week to make this event a success.

Hope your weekend is filled with laughter and gratitude!!

From the Farm…

…to the Farm Market!

We so enjoy the relationship the Mennonite Girls Can Cook have with Charlotte at Lepp Farm Market. Many of our girls were raised on farms and now live off their farms. We are always treated well at Lepp and Sunday was another great day here. Our day started with a very good and challenging message from Lovella and Anneliese’s pastor on being sacrificially generous. After the service we all headed to Lepp Farm Market to enjoy brunch before our book signings began.

Lots of  delicious options plus ingredients to choose from for the chef to make your own personal omelette.

The weather was gorgeous and Charlotte had tables set beautifully for our outdoor brunch.

While having brunch I looked up and spotted Josh and Laura walking up to the market. I was busting at the seams with joy to see their faces and to know they trekked all the way from Seattle to bless me with their presence. It was so much fun to introduce them to all the girls and the husbands. Joy, Joy, Joy down in my heart.

Our Josh is a real “people person”, can you tell? I’m glad Marg captured these moments! Thank You Marg! Josh and Laura joined the men and Amy on a grand tour of Lepp Farm Market while the girls got busy signing books.

After the farm market tour Josh and Laura picked up their books that were all signed and headed back across the line.

Then we had a another special visitor arrive!

Marg’s 101 year old Father in law arrived to see what we were up to.

I think he is quite pleased with his daughter in law.

We all decided we should take a photo with our oldest supporters that came to Lepp Market. Along with Marg’s Father in law and Helen, Bev’s dad who is 90 drove over for the event, too. What a blessing!

Another sweet moment from the weekend that made me tear up was when Marg’s grandsons came to Wink’s with their personal cookbooks in hand.

They had marked their favorite recipes in the book and wanted us authors to sign on the page where their favorites were pictured.

It seems little Silas really likes my Blintz recipe and requests them at Oma and Opa’s house. For the record Marg and Silas call them crepes. Don’t tell my Russian friends! This little guy made my day!! Thank you to Judy for capturing these moments!

Another guy that’s going to make my day shortly is Dear. He’s on his way home from the airport right now. It’s been a long 5 days without seeing him. Blessings on your day!

Afternoon and Evening…

…on Saturday in Chilliwack and Abbotsford.

Wendy at Winks along with her staff welcomed us with a most beautiful setting for our 2nd book signing of our weekend.

If you haven’t visited her store yet you really need to put it on your list and you won’t be disappointed.

Many books had been pre-sold and were waiting for us to sign so we got busy.

Anneliese’s daughters both played a part in our day here with one sharing cupcakes from her own cupcake business and the other blessing us with her lovely violin serenade.

It was so much fun to meet the “girls” families. Judy’s DIL brought her children to see their grammy. Anneliese’s granddaughter is sitting on the chair watching with interest. I’ll share more in another post of one of my sweetest moments at Winks.

The patio was filled with beautiful flowers.

How Great Thou Art was on my heart and mind all weekend.

Some of us stole away to do a little shopping.

As Anneliese’s daughter played her finale we packed up and headed to our next event.

This is the peaceful drive up to Sweet Dreams Luxury Inn in Abbotsford.

This is where we would wrap up our evening signing books for each other and for our publisher and then having a lovely dinner served to us.

We took some time to take a few more photos donning our new aprons that Julie sewed from material chosen by Lovella and Kathy.

On our way out we noticed that our Betty matched the beautiful flowers that were centerpieces on our tables at dinner.

Another full day complete we headed to our homes and hotels full of good memories of our day. On Sunday we had one more full day starting with a church service.

Today is Tuesday and I’m still trying to get back in my normal groove. Seeing how it’s noon already that groove seems to be escaping me. We started out today in a cloudy pattern instead of our several bright sunny days. The sun is breaking through as I finish this post.  Dear has one more full day in San Diego at a conference and I’m looking forward to him coming home tomorrow. Are you looking forward to anything?

A Year of Preparations…

…calls for more than one post!

Hope you will bear with me as I chronicle the events of this past weekend.

On Friday I packed up my car trying to choose the right clothes for 4 main events that were scheduled for the weekend. Of course there was a little gift for each of the other girls that had to be packed, too. I always wonder if my car will be randomly chosen at the border to be searched. I think the agents would get a kick out of the things I pile into my trunk. When I approached the window and handed off my passport I again had a nice smile and was waved on with no problems.

I arrived to Judy’s Front Porch a little after four in the afternoon. She had planned a nice meal for us before we set off to our first signing of the weekend.

She made her delicious Santa Fe Chicken salad on page 60 of our first cookbook. If you haven’t prepared this dish yet I would highly recommend that you do. I’m sorry to say I didn’t take a photo of Judy’s lovely rustic rhubarb tart that she made for dessert.

Judy and I changed into our dresses and headed to Abbotsford for our first book launch event at House of James bookstore.

Everything was all prepared for us and they even had baked treats from our book that everyone who came was able to enjoy. The ten of us were happy to finally be together again and we took our seats ready to sign our books.  House of James has been on board with us since our first book and we appreciate their promotion of our book and support. They had drawings throughout the evening and we also had opportunities to speak about the mission work our Celebrations’ author royalties will be donated to. This next photo is of the Menno Media staff that has been part of our support team, Russ Eanes the director of Menno Media is in the center flanked by Ben Penner our marketing manager and Amy Gingerich our Editor. We were happy that they could travel to be a part of the weekend.

We left with thankful hearts to rest up for our next full day of activities.

Bright and early Saturday morning Judy and I headed out for a little walk on her country road before the rest of our nonstop day. Elmer, Judy’s husband was concerned that because I was a city girl I might not be able to stand the eau de perfum wafting off the freshly manured fields. I managed just fine by concentrating on the beauty that goes along with it. When in the country it’s good to just enjoy all you get!

After our walk we got cleaned up, donned our next outfit and headed off for the rest of the day starting with an early lunch at Planet Earth in Chilliwack just down the street from Winks where we would have our next signing. I’ll share more about that on another day.

I made it home from Canada later last night and am still just sitting around taking it all in. The lawn is several inches high and asking to be mowed but it will have to wait for another day yet. I wish high school kids were still of the mind to work hard for some pay. I would hire one today! I’m slowly making the rounds on what I missed while in Canada without my usual internet connections. Hope all is well where you are…

Bless the Lord,

…Oh my Soul.

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,
and his righteousness to children’s children,
 to those who keep his covenant
and remember to do his commandments.

The clan…

My siblings.

My cousins on my dad’s side of the family.

Cousins on my mom’s side.

My mom’s nieces and nephews. My mom had one brother and a sister. Her sister did not survive her childhood. My mom is the only survivor of her immediate family and she keeps track of her brother’s kids and prays for them faithfully. At the party my cousins gave testimony about how much that has blessed them in this stage of their lives.

Here are the words to a song we always end up singing when we are together. My mom requested that we sing it again at their party. We also sang Great is Thy Faithfulness and another Russian favorite.

Bless thou the Lord oh my soul

Blessed art thou oh Lord

Bless thou the Lord oh my soul

Bless the Lord and forget not all his benefits

Bless thou the Lord oh my soul

and all that is within me bless His Holy name

He is full of compassion and mercy

Long suffering and great in goodness

He will not always be chiding

Nor keepeth He

His wrath his wrath forever his wrath forever

Bless thou the Lord oh my soul

And all that is within me bless his holy name

 Blessed art thou oh Lord

This link if it works will give you the tune although they use different text in a portion of the song.

My brother Steve had anyone who wanted to stand up and say whatever they wanted to my parents. It really was moving to hear how lives have been touched over the years by my parents. My mom and dad were a little overwhelmed and didn’t like all the attention. Some of the things said were…

“They just show up when you need them”

“They gave up all their comfort in the U.S.A. in their 70’s to go to Russia as missionaries.”

“They were never perfect but they keep open to growth in their lives.”

“They never gave up on us”

“They always had room at their table for one more.”

“My deda taught me a good work ethic”

“Thank you for praying for us and keeping track of us.”

They always tell us they love us.

They always talk about the Lord in every context of their lives.

They love the Word of God and you’ll see them reading their Bibles every morning.

My brother talked about walking past their bedroom and seeing them on their knees praying out loud together.

We have been blessed by good examples from my parents…not perfect but striving.

For the party we had street tacos with rice and beans and for dessert we had a delicious cake with whip cream frosting and fresh strawberry filling and topped with chocolate covered strawberries.

Even though this was a 90th birthday party celebration it morphed into a 70th wedding anniversary party also. One person started that rumor and it just didn’t quit so Happy 70th Anniversary Mom and Pop. (Their anniversary is September 13th)

The Reception…

Debbee and Lenny’s wedding and reception were both in Huntington Beach on opposite sides of Beach Blvd. We met up with my sister Lana at the reception venue before the fact to help Lana facilitate and do whatever we could to get things ready for the event after the event.

We worked with Lana as long as we could before the time we needed to be at the church for the family photos.  Thankfully we had enough time to get it all together.

We had appetizers and drinks while we waited for the newlyweds to arrive. They were taking photos at the beach after the ceremony.

The wedding party and bride and groom arrived with everything set up and ready to go.

The first dance happened as soon as the couple arrived and before dinner was served. The groom worked hard to find a caterer who would prepare gluten free options since his bride has a strong reaction to gluten. The caterer was great with delicious choices for all.

The flower girls being true to their title.

My father gave advice and a blessing on the couple and on the food.

It was so good to have my kids together and to have them catch up with their cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents.

The next family wedding will be in August when Marie (in the middle) marries our nephew Caleb in Santa Barbara, California. Marie is bookmarked by our nieces by marriage and her soon to be SIL’s who she also went to school with at Westmont College in the Santa Barbara area of California.

The father daughter dance left us all in need of a tissue!

We had a great time and headed back to our hotel knowing Saturday would be another full day of organizing and pulling off another milestone family event. More to come…

In the meantime here’s where I’ll be for the next few days!

Mennonite Girls Can Cook Book Launch for our new book Celebrations

The weather promises to be just as fine as this day last July!