Taking Flight…

We are flying to Southern California for a wedding on a Blueberry Ranch Northeast of Santa Barbara. We meet up at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport) with our daughter Katie who is flying from North Carolina. Our flights arrive 30 minutes apart. We’ll head north to our hotel and then on Saturday go farther North picking up Josh and Laura who are flying into Santa Barbara and on to the wedding we will go.

On Sunday we will trek across L.A. headed east to visit with my mom and pop before we fly home on Sunday evening. A whirlwind trip covering many miles on the 101 Fwy and interstate 5. It will be nice to be with my family and friends at Caleb and Marie’s wedding and have a visit with my mom and pop before we all head home on Sunday night. Katie will head back to North Carolina just in time for Andrew’s return from a month long training. As a dear friend of mine has coined…”Life is Rich”!

The photo above was taken by my sister Lana on Thursday night at the apartment. My niece Melissa was celebrating her birthday with my mom and enjoying strawberry cupcakes! A very special birthday to remember…

I’ll be sharing lots of photos of the newlyweds soon…

My computer will not be traveling with me so I’ll check in with y’all on Monday! Have a lovely weekend!

Happy Workers…

I love workers that smile and we had 4 of them at our house yesterday.

When the workers arrived the head honcho asked me to come out to the truck and make sure the carpeting was what I ordered. I knew it would be a fun time after he tried to trick me and showed me someone else’s carpeting first. Funny guy!

They put a big tarp down on our front lawn for their cutting center. Good thing the sun was shining all day long and things are very dry around here. Mr. Shadow was smiling, too, at the crazy lady with the camera that kept snapping away.

I didn’t realize we picked carpeting that all the vacuum strokes will show up on. Oh well, at least you’ll know we vacuumed just before you arrived at our door. We also picked darker carpet than we had before with a deeper tone to it for a little contrast to the new wood floors. Or maybe we wanted the color of dirt so you wouldn’t know just how dirty the carpets are after a few years?

Do you vacuum before company arrives or after they leave? Maybe you are really organized and have a special day each week when you vacuum? Or are you like a client of mine that I had in the past that vacuumed everyday because she liked having vacuum lines on her carpet? Do tell…

So yesterday was another day that Dear and I plopped down exhausted at the end of the day with no energy left to burn. After the carpeting install, Dear and I worked very hard to get the two guest rooms set up so we could get the mattress sets out of our kitchen area and we got the master bedroom semi organized.

We also had added emotional strain with news during the day that my mom had 3 near death episodes yesterday. It was a rough day for 3 of my sisters and my pop who were at her bedside for these episodes but this is the progression that is expected. These “episodes” are expected but very hard to experience. Just wanted to give you all an update on my mom and to thank you again and again for thinking and praying for her and my pop and all of us as we wait on God’s timing for her homecoming. I love my bloggy friends!

Almost Hare…

…I mean we’re almost there! Wednesday the carpeting is being installed! Woohoo. All the floors will be new in this old house at the end of the day except for our two bathrooms. I again will be a prisoner in my own home while the installers go in and out with the padding and carpeting.

In the meantime here’s a little visitor to my yard…

At least on this visit he/she decided to eat the clover instead of my pansy. Pretty sure this is a rabbit and not a hare. It was interesting to read up on the differences between the two.

I’m looking forward to my kitchen area being back to normal instead of being a storage area for our spare room mattress sets.

What do you think?

I was out and about on Tuesday and was amazed at the number of traffic accidents and melt downs there were on my routes. One of the accidents I was behind led to a 3 mile back up on the freeway. My main destination was Ikea. I always enjoy shopping there once I get there. We needed a new shelving unit to put in one of our spare rooms and a new TV stand. We didn’t want anything fancy or expensive so Ikea was a good choice. I’ll point out the items I bought when I post my before and after post.

We again are in a dry warm spell here in the Great Northwest. Perfect weather for our carpet installation since they’ll be doing the cutting out on our deck. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods…

Seattle’s All a Buzz!

You could literally feel the excitement coming from people as Laura and I walked into the Century Link Stadium on Saturday night. There was to be a “huge announcement” before the game and they asked everyone to make sure and be in their seats at 7:15. We complied because we heard rumors and wanted to see if what we heard would be true and it was…

Clint Dempsey is now a Seattle Sounder!

“Dempsey, the captain of U.S. national team who was purchased from Tottenham of the English Premier League, joins a Seattle team that is getting healthier, hungrier and hotter.”

“Going into the season, I thought I was going to be at Tottenham,” Dempsey said, “but MLS and the Seattle Sounders, they moved mountains to get me here. I am excited to be back in America.”

OK…I realize not all my bloggy friends are Soccer fans and some of you won’t even recognize his name but this is a huge development for the Sounders team and it was so much fun to witness and especially hear the excitement on Saturday night when Dempsey peeled off his hoody and revealed his new Sounders jersey.

In case you are wondering why it was just Laura and I walking into the stadium, Josh is at Lakeside Bible Camp directing the junior high camp for this week. Laura was busily texting him with the news that the Clint Dempsey signing rumors were true. Josh was very excited about two of his favorite things on Saturday…Soccer and Lakeside Bible Camp.

Home front news:

My mom has decided to go off oxygen and morphine so as of Sunday the oxygen has been removed from my parents apartment. My brother served my mom and pop communion on Sunday evening and several of us were able to google hangout to be part of the evening at the apartment. We sang together and prayed together. My mom is still very alert and she continues to make us laugh with her down to earth comments. The dialogues between her and my pop are priceless. Our nephew Caleb is getting married this coming Saturday in Gaviota, California so mom and pop in their words are “putting off dying till after the wedding” they call the wedding a detour from dying. We have enough material from our dear parents to make a mini-series.

My mom with niece Melissa on Sunday. My mom said “I like this gadget”.

From the eternal to the mundane…our floors are now ready to receive their new padding and carpeting. What interesting room landscapes we are living with for a couple days. 2 queen mattress sets are stacked where our dining table usually sits. Fun times! Even with this configuration we enjoyed a wonderful Copper River Salmon meal last night with my sister and her hubby. Before their softball game Lana asked if she could drop off all the supplies for dinner so Dear and I could cook it for the 4 of us while they fulfilled their team duties. Little sisters can make those kinds of requests. I did reply to her “what do you think I am, a Mennonite?” She replied, “yes, I heard you were adopted in.” So there you have it. And because our garage is full of our other furniture which made our barbecue impossible to retrieve I cooked the salmon on the deck in an electric skillet…if that’s not a Mennonite alternative cooking method I don’t know what is!? We had salmon, black rice, broiled asparagus-zucchini and a cucumber heirloom tomato salad. Delicious. Chunky Monkey Ice Cream for dessert.

How was your weekend?

Days and Moments Quickly Flying ~ Hymn

Days and Moments Quickly Flying

Days and moments quickly flying
Blend the living with the dead;
Soon our bodies will be lying
Each within its narrow bed.

Soon our souls to God who gave them
Will have sped their rapid flight:
Able now by grace to save them,
O that, while we can, we might!

Jesus, infinite Redeemer,
Maker of this mighty frame,
Teach, O teach us to remember
What we are, and whence we came.

Whence we came and whither wending,
Soon we must through darkness go,
To inherit bliss unending,
Or eternity of woe.

Jesus, merciful Redeemer,
Rouse dead souls to hear Thy voice;
Wake, O wake each idle dreamer
Now to make the eternal choice.

As a shadow, life is fleeting;
As a vapor so it flies;
For the old year now retreating
Pardon grant, and make us wise;

Wise that we our days may number,
Strive and wrestle with our sin,
Say not in our work, nor slumber
Till Thy glorious rest we win.

Soon before the Judge all glorious
We with all the dead shall stand:
Savior, over death victorious,
Place us then on Thy right hand.

Words: Edward Caswall, 1858.

Mom & Pop 1950’s!

Love this very old photo of my mom and pop. This was taken at Knott’s Berry Farm in Southern California in the 50’s. Have any of my bloggy friends been to Knott’s Berry Farm? I have very fond memories of the farm/amusement park. The Chicken restaurant at Knott’s was probably the first restaurant I ever ate at until I was in Junior High or High School. Chicken and boysenberry pie for dessert. My family did not eat out at restaurants. We would have take out pizza from Johnny’s once in a while and that was the only time we also would have pop.

Back to the Future: Friday was a frustrating day for the flooring people and for us. Some things were overlooked when the flooring was laid and they had to tear out a section and redo the prep work and install the boards again. Fixing takes so much more time then doing it right the first time. Of course we had vacuumed all the walls, ceiling, etc. etc. after the first go around and now we had to do it again. In the long run we will be happy and we would recommend the flooring people again but not the prep guy!

Happy Weekend everyone!

August…

named after Augustus.

Here’s what’s happening or can be seen around this old house in the beginning of August…

This rug used to be in our living room hiding as much of the old worn carpeting we had in that room. Now that we are replacing the carpeting in the living room this area rug will not work in there. We were happy to see that it would work nicely in the eating area of our kitchen. The dining table will sit on top of it with room for the chairs, too. Until the carpeting is installed we will have to stack all our mattresses here, not the table that is living out in the garage right now. Fun times. Just to show you the reality of it all this last photo is the living room with the mattresses. This weekend we’ll move those mattresses to the kitchen…

I actually am cooking this afternoon trying a new recipe for chicken thighs. I hope to share it in the near future. My apple tree is shedding it’s apples so maybe I should cook up some apple recipes in my kitchen. That won’t be happening until after the mattresses can move back to their own rooms…

A Little Glimpse…

…and once the baseboards are all done and the carpeting is in I’ll make a proper post of the before and afters…

We are happy with the varied light, medium and darker hickory. It has character which we enjoy. The baseboard installing and finishing is taking a back seat to emptying out the rooms that are going to be re-carpeted. Dear is removing the old carpet and padding and dumping it in the back of the pickup for a trip to the Transfer Station.

I talk to my mom and pop everyday. My mom is showing some very typical signs of failing that seasoned Hospice caregivers affirm. She is starting to see people who have gone before her. She had a dream she was sitting around and having a meal with them. She has more periods of disorientation. She still has her humor and cracks us all up with some of her comebacks. One of my sister-in-laws is Mexican/American and after she told my mom that her son Tony was having cravings right along with his pregnant wife my mom raised her hands and said “Aye Dios Mio”! That’s a first for her! Last night my mom coached my brother Steve as he made a birthday meal for my sister Lana at my mom and pop’s apartment. She chose the dishes to make and was pleased with Steve’s expertise in the kitchen. He even made a chocolate mousse for dessert. Lana enjoyed her birthday dinner and then was on board for being the extra care giver last night and through the day today. I’m so thankful for my brothers and sisters and how they are pulling together and taking turns to be with my mom and pop every night. What a blessing for my parents and for them, too!

Someone needs to coach me into making a meal in my own kitchen. That has gone by the wayside. What have you been enjoying from your kitchen these last few days of July?

A Mist…

This is not a complaining post but an observing post. It’s been interesting for me to observe things that happen when my house is upside down and everything is in a different place. When you add the reality that my mom is living out her last days on this earth to the upside down house I can see why I’ve lost my daily rhythm. Things that were such simple tasks that I didn’t even need to think about have to be written down on a list of things that I need to do. At the end of each day I have a nagging feeling that I forgot something. I know that things will fall back to a comfortable everyday new normal again in the future. I know I will enjoy the results of all our hard work and looking at my new fresh floors. I know what the future holds for my mom even though the timing on earth is well out of my hands. “I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that He is able, to keep that which I’ve committed, unto Him against that day”. One of the things that doesn’t change is my slipping into speaking in song lyrics, and I’m glad about that because I enjoy it.

Do you ever find yourself speaking or answering someone with a phrase from a song?

Sunshine & Birthdays!

We’ve had a wonderful streak of sunshine in the Pacific Northwest. It really has been a blessing for all the back and forth trips we’ve been making to the garage to store some of our furniture while we get all our floors redone.

Monday is a big day as we celebrate my youngest siblings turning 50! I remember the day that Leonard and Lana were born in Montebello in 1963. We had just gotten home from a week of family camp at Forest Home. The only way we could afford a week at family camp was through scholarships that Forest Home gave us after I wrote a letter to request some funding so we could go. In 1963 I was 12 and I’m so grateful that my family was afforded a way to be able to spend this time away from home. While at camp my mother hiked around and everyone was so concerned she’d go into labor any minute. We arrived home on the weekend and then on Monday my dad went to work and my mom went into labor. Although my Pop was fully aware my mom was pregnant he did not know that my mom was pregnant with twins. My mom was too upset to let him know that she was having twins. At the time of this pregnancy my parents already had 6 children, 3 boys and 3 girls. She didn’t know how they would be able to afford one more child and then to learn she was having two shocked her into secrecy. On that Monday we were thankful to the Lord that my mom had a good friend close by who could take her to the hospital. A relative of my mom’s sister in law, a wonderful lady we called Aunt Zena came to our rescue and transported my mom to the hospital and then let us all know that my mom had delivered twins, a boy and a girl.

Here’s my mom with Aunt Zena in 2007.

When my dad finally got home from work my little brother Tim ran out to our station wagon and announced to our pop, “Pop! Not one but two babies! We have two babies” My poor father was in shock now, too. He came into the kitchen and asked for a glass of punch!

Here’s a photo of “our twins” taken at Disneyland in 2011. It’s always fun to celebrate with these two! What an adventure it was for the whole family to raise twins.

This year Dear and I were able to celebrate the big 5-0 with Lana, Lana’s husband Steve and Steve’s parents here in the great Northwest. We tried to plan a combined birthday bash for both the twins at our home this summer but it wasn’t to be this year. We plan and God directs what will be.

It was a great treat after a day of hard work at this old house. Have you ever eaten Beef Cheeks? Oh my did they melt in your mouth.

I leave you with this sweet photo of our little twins from 1963!

Happy 50th Birthday Leonard and Lana! What a joy it has been to be your big sister all these years. God bless you both with many more years of celebrating life!

1963 was a landmark year for my family. In September of that year our pop accepted Christ during the Billy Graham Crusade at the Los Angeles Colliseum. This decision changed the course of our family forever. My decision to follow Christ earlier that summer during Hume Lake Junior High Camp at King’s Canyon National Park made attending the Billy Graham Crusade even more meaningful to me and to witness my pop accepting Christ the same year was life changing.

Night after night we filled our station wagon and drove downtown to the coliseum. It was so cool to listen to that many people singing Just As I Am…

We worked very hard at this old house this weekend. We have our living room and 2 bedrooms on our main floor emptied out and ready for the old carpeting to be removed. Our garage is full of furniture and every available space on our new hard floors is being used to also free up the rooms that will be carpeted soon. We managed to take a break to go to dinner to celebrate Lana and a break to attend church on Sunday. How did you spend your weekend?

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage