O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus ~ Hymn

O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus

O the deep, deep love of Jesus

Vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!

Rolling as a mighty ocean

In its fullness over me.

Underneath me, all around me,

Is the current of His love

Leading onward leading homeward,

To Thy glorious rest above

O the deep, deep love of Jesus

Spread His praise from shore to shore.

How he loveth ever loveth

changeth never, nevermore.

How He watcheth o’er His loved ones,

Died to call them all His own;

How for them He intercedeth,

Watcheth o’er them from the throne!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus

Love of ev’ry, love the best!

‘Tis an ocean vast of blessing,

‘Tis a haven sweet of rest.

O the deep, deep love of Jesus

‘Tis a heav’n of heav’ns to me;

And it lifts me up to glory,

For it lifts me, Lord, to Thee!

Samuel Francis (1834 – 1925)

This is one of my favorite hymns. The words are so rich and the minor key that it is written in takes me back to my Russian heritage.

These photos were taken in St.Ives, England in Cornwall on our trip with Josh and Laura September of 2013.

This weekend I am in Southern California visiting my dear old pop who is so ready to be “lifted to Jesus”. Our mom died on September 13, 2013 and Saturday was the 1st anniversary of her death. Every day is hard for my pop without my mom. Sunday we are joining friends and family with food and good memories of our mom and we will try to encourage each other in the truths we know and are sung in this beautiful hymn. He never changes, He lifts us, He intercedeth, He watches over us from His throne, His blessings are as vast as an ocean. So much to be thankful for. My Father wants His Savior to call him home. We pray he will have peace and joy as he waits for God’s will…

I Love This Time of Year…

The beginning of the traditional school year is a favorite time for me. I’ve been absent from Susanne’s Friday’s Fave Five for a while but I wanted to chime in with some things this week that make my favorite’s list.

My exercise regiment has been totally non-existent for quite a while. It’s been hit and miss at best. Today I hope I’ve found some things to remedy this problem in my life. So here are my five…

1. I’ve had a hard time finding a regular walking buddy since I’ve come back to Washington. If you are part of Susanne’s weekly fave five you know who Willow is. Well…she used to be my walking buddy when we lived in the same city in Southern California but since I moved back to Washington in the Spring of 2010 I’ve been without a regular walking buddy. Boo hoo. Today I joined up with a group from the Senior Center who walk every Tuesday and Thursday rain or shine on a great walking trail close to my home.

What a beautiful day it was to walk and a nice bunch of ladies. We saw this wonderful view of Mt. Rainier at our turning point on the trail.

2. After being encouraged with being out of doors and walking, I showered and headed to the Senior center to sign up for an exercise class that meets Monday, Wednesday and Fridays. I’m excited about my daily exercise commitment.

3. I’m happy to be done, done, done, with the Bathroom Renovation company. I’m looking forward to Dear finishing up the bathroom and sharing it with you all in the near future.

4. This new expanded family will be my favorite for a long time. I am really looking forward to meeting my new little nephew from the Ukraine.

5. Celebrating Dear’s birthday with most of our kids was another favorite for sure. It is so good to be together and enjoy each other.

I found a photo I took on September 11, 2001 and wanted to share it here, too. We can never take for granted the freedoms we are afforded here in our country and we can never forget that there are those who would love to destroy those freedoms. So thankful to God for his protection over us and that no matter what, we have a hope in our future that cannot be taken away!

What makes your thankful list this week?

Some Painless Therapy…

Dear and I have decided to “cut our losses” and give up on the bathroom renovation being made right by the company we hired. It is better for our peace of mind to give it up and let Dear fix things that need to be done better. After several tries to get them to do things right we’ve decided no more. When you see the photos of the bathroom you will wonder what we are complaining about because you will see the beautiful cosmetic fixes. Unfortunately we had to live with the process and it will take some time for me to bond with the beauty of it all. When Dear finishes the painting and the rest of the window parts come in I promise to show you the before and after. Until then here is a sneaky photo of some wall art that is going to go up that I bought at Hobby Lobby today.

Yes, a little shopping therapy was in order for today so I made stops at Hobby Lobby, Goodwill, and Trader Joe’s. Hobby Lobby had a 50% off sale going for all their wall art so I bought that metal piece to mount on one of the walls of the bathroom. A tree branch with birds.

Their fall decor was on sale for 40% off so I bought these Place Cards that I’ll enjoy using at Thanksgiving.

These Le Creuset ramekins were in the collector section of Goodwill marked at $14.95 for all 6. Because Wednesday is Senior discount day I got 20% off and paid $12.50 for all 6. I saw them at Williams Sonoma for $13.00 each. Now I’ll need to come up with a fun recipe to use them for. If you click on these smaller photos you can see them in their larger format. Speaking of Senior Discount day the employee at Goodwill who came on the sound system to remind us what discounts were available on Wednesday said “If you are 62 or Better you get 20% off” I love that and when I went to the register I told them I was better!!

We had a very nice evening on Tuesday celebrating Dear at a restaurant in Bellevue called Lot #3. They had the most interesting names for their drinks. I had a Left Turn at Albuquerque.

After dinner we took a couple family shots outside the restaurant.

Our son Dan is off hunting in the wilderness so he couldn’t join us.

Tomorrow is the 13th anniversary of 9/11, I’m praying that God protects us against evil…but that prayer is nothing new at this old house!

Family News…

I’m so happy to finally be able to show you our new little nephew from the Ukraine with love. Andrew arrived with Mandy to be reunited with my brother Leonard and niece Hope last Friday. Our niece Hope is happy to have a little brother. I literally gasped for joy when I finally saw a photo of Andrew and Mandy back in the U.S.A. It’s hard to imagine all the adjustments this little guy and his new family have to make over the next few months and years. The nice thing is that my brother can communicate with Andrew in Russian but they are also transitioning Andrew into speaking and understanding English. Little Andrew has already skyped with our pop in Russian. If God brings this sweet family to your mind please pray for them.

It’s been a while since I showed you a photo of my dear old pop. My nieces and nephews visited him on Grandparents day this past Sunday.

We are fast approaching the one year anniversary of my mom’s death. I will be flying down to Orange County to spend a few days with my pop and some of my family.

Today is Dear’s birthday and I’m so thankful to God for him. Tonight we will celebrate Dear with our kids on this side of the Cascades.

How’s September shaping up for you?

The Tailor of Gloucester

I started my Beatrix Potter Figurine collection on my first trip to England in 1973. I also bought a complete set of the books that Beatrix Potter wrote and illustrated. We knew about this shop in Gloucester and were determined to visit it while we were in Gloucester 41 years after I started my collection.

There are lots of shops relating to Beatrix Potter and Peter Rabbit in England.

This shop had a lot of fun displays filled with memorabilia.

Here is my “Tailor” and the books I purchased in 1973. Some of them are a little worn. I have 27 figurines. I’m just going to share a couple more for this post.

Here is Pigling Bland. The book to the right of Pigling Bland is Little Pig Robinson and when Josh was a little guy he figured out that this book was one of the longest in the series so he’d ask to have that one as his bedtime story knowing sleep would be delayed just a tad longer.

Mrs. Tiggy-Winkle is one of my favorites.

Of course Peter Rabbit is the most recognized of Beatrix Potter’s beloved characters.

Have you read Beatrix Potter’s books? Who is your favorite character?

What a Friend We Have in Jesus ~ Hymn

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

What a Friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
All because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge, take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do your friends despise, forsake you? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In His arms He’ll take and shield you; you will find a solace there.

Blessed Savior, Thou hast promised Thou wilt all our burdens bear
May we ever, Lord, be bringing all to Thee in earnest prayer.
Soon in glory bright unclouded there will be no need for prayer
Rapture, praise and endless worship will be our sweet portion there.

Words: Joseph M. Scriven, 1855.

Reminiscing…

We have always called my mom’s friend Zena, Aunt Zena.

This photo of my mom and Aunt Zena was taken in Tehran, Iran in the 1940’s. In the late 1940’s our families immigrated to the United States.

These immigrant families got together often in the 1950’s in the Los Angeles area. My mom upper left next to Aunt Zena, Mrs. Hamzieff, my aunt Nina, my aunt Anna, Mrs. Katkov and Mrs. Titov. I’m not even going to try to explain the fact that all but one of these ladies are sister-in-laws to one or more of each other. There was also a photo taken of the “guys” on this occasion. I’m wondering why there are so many more guys than gals…

This photo of my “Aunt” Zena and my mom was taken in 2007.

Aunt Zena’s daughter Tamara, who we called Timi, is in Seattle visiting her daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. We connected via email and planned to meet for coffee on Thursday morning. Timi came with her daughter Tamara and Katie came with me for our coffee date.

Tamara, Tamara (Timi), Ellen, and Katie.

So much history and good memories between our families. We had a lot to talk about and the time flew by quickly. Thank you, Timi, for contacting me and making time to meet.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. I John 4:7 (ESV)

The Chapel of St. Andrew ~ Gloucester Cathedral

Gloucester Cathedral is so full of amazing things to see. This first photo is a small view of the Nave of the cathedral. The other photos will be of The Chapel of St. Andrew.

“The frescoes and the decorations in this chapel of Saint Andrew were a labour of love on the part of Thomas Gambier Parry of Highnam Court and were erected by him to the Glory of God”

I will give thee a Crown of Life

Behold the Lamb of God ~ Master Where Dwelleth Thou

The Path of the Just is as the Shining Light which shineth more and more unto the Perfect Day.

You really need some time to take in the beauty and history of a cathedral like Gloucester. You start getting redundant with your adjectives when you walk through all the grandeur.

Back here in the state of Washington we are working hard at keeping our days straight because of the Monday holiday. We hope that Thursday is the last day that the bathroom renovators will be in our bathroom. Time will tell.

The Cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral

We were so happy to be able to go inside Gloucester Cathedral this visit. We visited in 2004 with our daughter Katie for her “graduation gift trip” but we arrived to Gloucester when it was closed. This will also serve as my ABC Wednesday Post for the letter H since these beautiful halls were filmed as part of Hogwarts School. If you haven’t read or watched the Harry Potter books or movies you won’t know what I’m talking about but you can still enjoy these beautiful Cloisters and for ABC Wednesday you can call them hallways!

The cloisters were used in filming a couple of the Harry Potter films. You can read about it here. I know some of my friends have avoided reading the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. My family has enjoyed J.K. Rowling’s writing and the battle between good and evil.

We were amazed with this part of the cathedral and there was still so much more to see.

Thank you to the ABC Team and to Denise Nesbitt for ABC Wednesday!

Have a good first week of September!

Laboring…

Embracing the good ole American way by laboring on Labor Day Weekend. Happy Labor Day to the U.S. of A. and to our Canadian neighbors!

The beginning of the project on this side of the house involved cutting down a great old juniper tree that was being used as a ladder for racoons to get on our roof. This is probably the best photo I could find of the vertical siding that Dear has slowly been changing out for horizontal siding.

This was the beginning of the siding project.

This is a photo of I took on Sunday after church, the day after the work began on the siding. Katie, Andrew and I said goodbye to Dear and we went to a World Concern Food Truck event to raise money to feed the hungry around the world. We promised Dear we’d bring him home a treat from one of the food trucks.

We arrived at the Crista Campus in Shoreline, Washington for the food truck event. Now we had to choose which truck to order from.

Katie and Andrew chose the Cheese Wizard and had some gourmet cheese sandwiches that they raved about.

I had the Cod tacos from another truck. I didn’t take a photo of the crepe we shared for dessert with fresh strawberries and lemon curd.

For Dear I chose a Shawarhma sandwich wrapped in pita bread. When we got home Dear had made a lot of progress.

This was the stopping point for Sunday. Dear will continue laboring on Monday. The area above the large header board and flashing will be filled with shingles, like the shingles you can almost see on the peak above the large window.

Are you laboring, camping, or just taking it easy this last long weekend of summer?

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus ~ Hymn