Flying South With the Birds…

Hoping to see and hear the sights and sounds that come with the Pacific Ocean. That shouldn’t be a problem since we are staying here. My sister Lana flies so much with Alaska Airlines that they let her nominate someone to get automatic MVP status. Bless her heart, she nominated me. When I went to check in I had been upgraded to First Class! Woohoo.  It has already been such a blessing to have this status in having 2 free bag allowance especially for Katie and my trip to North Carolina when we had 7 bags to check. Katie’s military dependent status gives her 5 free bags, but I digress, back to San Diego.  The weather reports say that it will be sunny and 70ish.

On Thursday my brother and his wife are driving down to San Diego to meet us for the day and dinner. Dear has obligations of course with his company but he’ll also get free hours here and there and is free for sure for dinner on Thursday.

Time will tell what you will see from me and our trip. Now I better get packing…

Hospitality…

Even though I put the food out for the birds this furry little guy/girl gets the benefit of my hospitality…

 

It was so good to get out and about today and run all the errands I couldn’t run last week because of our snowy icy roads. It was sunny and dry, too.  Hope your day went well.

Are We There Yet?

Yep…I’m ready to arrive in Spring already. How many miles do we need to go to get to Spring, Washington?  Some of you will think of me as a whiner because you put up with way harsher winters than me. I did enjoy the change of landscape and the photo opportunities. I do not drive in the snow in Seattle because of all our very steep hills. Since I end up staying home till the roads clear I can get a little stir crazy.

After our gazebo collapsed we shoveled all the snow off the deck and it’s still clear. The snow is melting off the roofs and slowly melting off the yards and streets.

We got out and about Saturday and Sunday. We went to our Mexican restaurant down the hill for dinner last night and this morning we went to church. It was great to get out. After church we did a little shopping and now it feels good to be sitting at home again. So far we have been fortunate to have not lost power. Katie and Andrew continue their journey across the U.S. from Salt Lake City to North Carolina tomorrow. Dear goes back to work tomorrow and I have errands to run all over town. Hope you had a nice weekend.

I’m linking up with Mary at Little Red House for Mosaic Monday!

Still Whiter Than Snow ~ Hymn

Still Whiter Than Snow

What can be whiter than beautiful snow,
Coming from Heaven to earth below,
Pure and so white as it falleth light
Over this broad world of sin and of woe?

Refrain

Yes, there is something still whiter;
Hearken ye weary, and know!
Tho’ your sins be as scarlet red,
They shall be whiter than snow.

Jesus has died, and now all men may know
That His rich blood for the world did flow;
Saved we may be, and from sin set free,
Washed and made whiter than beautiful snow.

Refrain

Beautiful souls of His saints here below,
What but His blood could have made them so?
All who believe shall His grace receive,
And be made purer than Heaven-born snow.

Refrain

Come to this Savior! He surely doth know
All of your sorrow and sin and woe,
And when you sigh He will hear your cry,
Wash you more white than the beautiful snow.

Refrain

Words: Miriam Stabler, 1894.

Gnomes…

My disappearing Gnomes. Very soon they will be quite visible again as our snow is slowly melting.

My Sounders Soccer Gnome gets special treatment and he has a spot indoors till Spring when Soccer season starts up again.

I’m also considering some little travels for this special guy…

Well I think I’ve had my limit of staying home because of snow. I’m a little stir crazy. We are having some very gusty winds today and that always makes me wonder if we’ll keep our power. If you don’t see me around or hear from me you can conclude that we are in the dark. Hope the lights are shining bright where you are. There’s always the source of light who never loses power and I hope to let His light shine in my heart!

CRASH!

We were just thinking…we should have taken that gazebo cover down before this storm. As the temps rose the snow and ice started melting and we saw the cover sagging. We went out to try to knock the snow off the cover and the cover crashed down on top of us. Sure wish we had footage of that…

Here’s the cover before it’s demise…

Crash!

Well don’t be sad, we’re not. We’ve been planning to replace our gazebo and cover for a year now and this will light the fire under us to decide on it’s replacement. We need something with more cover area. It’s raining steadily now and the snow is slowly melting. All the ice pack on the trees and bushes has melted and the poor plants and trees are relieved that they can stand straight and tall again.

Happy to Say…

…our power never went out and is still on during this latest tree limb snapping storm! I’m linking up with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story with my favorite blessings of the week!

1. Having all our kids together under our roof for a few days celebrating birthdays and just being together.

2. Dan getting back over Snoqualmie Pass safe and sound before the storms hit. We really have been socked with some snow and ice!

3. Katie and Andrew making it from Seattle to Salt Lake City safely on snowy and icy roads. It took them 2 days to get there. They were so happy whenever they hit some dry miles on the highway.

4. The fact that Dear was able to work from home this week instead of driving the treacherous roads off our hill to the park and ride.

5. So thankful to God for all our kids and kids in law who get along so well and love each other. Priceless!

We are pretty sure we have officially hit the foot mark for our snow levels. This is the most snow we’ve ever experienced at this old house!

I’ll post the rest of my snow shots tomorrow.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods.

Birthdays!

January is a very significant month of birthdays in our family.

Both of our sons were born in January. Katie’s due date was in January, too, but she decided to come at the end of December. All three of our kids were born on a Friday.

Josh was born on January 19, at 7:34 a.m. weighing in at a solid 10 pounds!

Daniel was born on January 16, at 12:30 P.M. weighing in at 8 pounds 1-1/2 ounces.

Daniel loved to have a Choo Choo Train cake. I even made him one for an adult birthday of his.

Brothers and friends, a wonderful blessing!

Today is also my friend Judy’s birthday from the Mennonite Girls Can Cook. You’ll want to click over there and see the ice storm that hit her area on one of her birthdays past…and wish her a happy birthday. It’s one of those “big” birthdays!

Sunday is my brother Tim’s birthday and next Wednesday is Miss Hope’s 4th birthday. Lots of very special people were born in January!

Dear and I are pretty much snowed in. The snow and icy rain just keep falling here in the Seattle area. We have seriously considered the necessity of having at least one snow worthy vehicle at this old house. Something 4WD with some good traction tires is on my new wish list. Just be forewarned you haven’t seen the last of the snow shots from our little part of the world. Thankfully we still have power and Dear is working from home. Our traveling kids have encountered many slick roads but have navigated well. They have one more treacherous pass to cross today. I’m thankful for the facebook updates and the calls that tell me they are doing just fine.

Hope all is well in your corner of the world!

Inches!

Just in time for the letter I we got snow and here in Seattle we measure snow in inches! I’m linking up with Jenny our fearless teacher for Alphabe-Thursday.

Here on our hill we got a total of probably 6-8 inches.

Snow is always big big news in the Seattle area. So far this system hasn’t taken out our power so it’s nice to sit inside where it’s cozy and warm and enjoy our new white world. Igloo creating has been the theme in the neighborhood. Snow is very inconvenient in Seattle because of our very steep hills and streets that go up and down the hills. You would never describe the state of Washington as being flat. They are talking about wind coming in so I hope we continue to keep our power.

Our daughter and her husband are headed to Salt Lake City with the car loaded as full as they could pack it. They are going to take it slow and easy stopping along the way if they have to. From Salt Lake City they have to travel all the way to North Carolina. We of course are praying for traveling mercies along their way. I decided to post the photos I took this morning as the kids headed out with an update on our snow pack.

There she is with my snow boots. She was happy that we can wear the same size. She was also happy to have her husbands down coat. Andrew will be putting those chains on and taking them off a few times on this trip. He’ll be a pro by the time they get to Salt Lake City.

We wonder how many hours it will be for them to make it to Eastern Washington over Snoqualmie Pass.

I think in inches we are now at the 8 inch mark.

Celebrating our Sons…

January 16th is our son Dan’s birthday. We weren’t able to be together for his birthday last year so it was great to be together to celebrate this year.

We are so thankful to God for our sons and that includes our new son-in-law. We celebrated them all tonight at dinner in Seattle. The snow didn’t hinder our journey to the restaurant in Pioneer Square and we had a wonderful time.

Joshua’s birthday is coming up on Thursday. We were also celebrating Andrew’s safe return from Afghanistan.

All the kids with dad!

All the kids with mom!

 

Interesting times in the Puget Sound Area this week. They are predicting a snowstorm on Wednesday that will stop us all in our tracks. Time will tell. Needless to say people will be swamping the stores on Tuesday to stock up on food, batteries and some will be looking for generators. They love to put the fear of the storm in us.

How are things where you are?