The Patriot’s Prayer ~ Hymn

The Patriot’s Prayer

God of our sires that joyful sang,
While forest shades triumphant rang,
When on the wild New England shore,
Their sails were furled, their voyage o’er.
O Lord, defend Thy children yet,
Nor let our hearts Thy name forget;
O Lord, defend Thy children yet,
Nor let our hearts Thy name forget.

God of the brave that sought Thy aid,
And in Thy robe of strength arrayed,
They won for us beneath Thy care,
The flag we prize, the peace we share,
O Lord, defend our nation yet,
Nor let our hearts Thy name forget;
O Lord, defend our nation yet,
Nor let our hearts Thy name forget.

And when the call to arms again
Was heard afar o’er hill and plain,
Thy mighty hand upheld the right,
Thy love restored Thy banner bright,
O Lord, defend our nation yet,
Nor let our hearts Thy name forget;
O Lord, defend our nation yet,
Nor let our hearts Thy name forget.

God of our land, Thy gift so free,
O hear the prayer we breathe to Thee;
Let union’s bond our souls entwine,
And guard alike the palm and pine.
O Lord, defend our nation yet,
Nor let our hearts Thy name forget;
O Lord, defend our nation yet,
Nor let our hearts Thy name forget.

Words: Fanny Crosby, 1905.

Besides Sightseeing…

…we are tasting.

El Salvadorian, Turkish, Italian, Seafood, Irish, and homemade granola and yogurt.

What day is it? The whole downtown area of D.C. is filled with police officers from all over the country so I feel a little safer walking around. I figure if I need help all I have to do is scream and there will be a policeman from somewhere nearby…

Today I’m going to brave a taxi ride to a destination I can’t get to by public transit. Hmm… I’ll let you know how that goes.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

D.C. Photo of the Day…

Thomas Jefferson Memorial

We saw this on our first day here from the D.C. Trolley.

I spent some time at the Portrait Gallery today. Then I checked out the Postal Museum and Union Station. Tonight I’m just taking it easy in the hotel room while Dear is attending some meetings. I’m so glad Blogger got things and is getting things fixed. Happy weekend to all of you!

D.C. Photo of the Day…

For the rest of my stay in Washington D.C. I’ll try to post at least one photo a day…

This was taken inside the Washington National Cathedral. Beautiful rays of light were cast on this statue of George Washington inside the Cathedral. Here’s a different view.

Wondering what is up with blogger. I can’t leave comments on any of your Blogger Pages. Hope they fix the glitch soon!

District of Columbia

Dear and I are enjoying the sights in Washington D.C. but not so much the internet at our first hotel. We are moving to our new hotel today and hopefully the internet access will be more cooperative for me. I haven’t been able to load pictures onto my blog like usual. At the end of the day after seeing so much my brain goes into a very uncreative mode so I’ll save most of my D.C. posts for when I get back to Washington State. Yesterday we visited the Washington National Cathedral and did a drive by all the major D.C. stand outs. Today we are going to Arlington National Cemetery. We’ll do indoor stuff like museums after today because the weather is threatening to turn on us with rain and thunderstorms. The photo above was taken from the Tour Trolley as we passed the Capitol.

Hope all is well…

Persian Kotlety

One of our favorites growing up were Kotlety. We used to call them Russian hamburgers. A recipe for a more Russian version of these is in our cookbook but I wanted to share this recipe that has a Persian twist.

Head over to the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog to see the recipe today.

Between B.C. and D.C.

We celebrated Mother’s Day with a brunch prepared for us by our Daughter In Love.

The roses are from Josh and Laura and they also gave me a book by an author I haven’t read before. The fruit bouquet is from our daughter Katie. The past 5 days have been packed full with a trip to B.C. (British Columbia), Mother’s Day, and now we are in D.C. (Washington D.C.).

On the way we saw this and now we’ll be seeing more things like this…

Tonight we are just settling in. We walked to dinner and on our way back we saw this pretty sight…

Tomorrow we’ll jump start our Historic site watch by visiting the Washington National Cathedral.

Hope all is well where you are…

Forty Years Ago…

…was the last time I was in Washington D.C.

My girlfriend Heidi and I took a trip to Michigan and the East Coast staying with friends and family along the way.

In Michigan we stayed with our former pastor’s family. Their daughter Faye was Heidi’s best friend while Faye’s dad was the pastor at our Russian Baptist church in L.A. From Michigan we also visited Heidi’s grandmother and aunts and uncles in New Jersey. We were in Buffalo, New York and stayed with Russian friends there. We got to see Niagara Falls. We went to a Russian Christian Camp in Connecticut and then got to see parts of Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and made a quick drive through Washington D.C. We were also treated to a day trip to New York City with some other Russian Missionary friends.

Because Dear has a conference to attend we decided to go a couple days early and take in some sight seeing together. When his conference starts I’ll be poking around on my own. It will be interesting to see how much time I’ll end up on the computer. If you don’t hear from me you’ll know what’s up.

I’m hoping to get some before and after photos of these same scenes.

Mennonite Girls…

…not only can we cook but we can eat!

For the 2nd time the 10 authors from Mennonite Girls Can Cook got together in Canada last Friday. This time 9 of our husbands were able to join us.

The reason for our get together was to celebrate the release of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Cookbook. What better way to celebrate a cookbook than to have a meal together.

What a great evening. We prayed in High and Low German then in Russian and sang Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow together before our meal. After our meal we signed cookbooks for each other and for our publisher.

On Saturday we split up in shifts to sign books at Winks Gift Shop and Lepp Farm Market.

A huge thank you to Lovella and her great husband who treated us to a wonderful meal at their home and to all the girls who added to the meal and showered us with gifts! What fun we had with each other and meeting many people who have purchased our book!

I’m linking up at Mary’s Little Red House for Mosaic Monday.

Happy Mother’s Day! Hymn…

Mother’s Prayers Have Followed Me

I grieved my Lord from day to day,
I scorned His love so full and free,
And though I wandered far away,
My mother’s prayers have followed me.

Refrain

I’m coming home, I’m coming home,
To live my wasted life anew,
For mother’s prayers have followed me,
Have followed me, the whole world thro’.

O’er desert wild, o’er mountain high
A wanderer I chose to be,
A wretched soul condemned to die,
Still mother’s prayers have followed me.

Refrain

He turned my darkness into light,
This blessèd Christ of Calvary,
I’ll praise His name both day and night,
That mother’s prayers have followed me.

Refrain

Words: Lizzie DeArmond, 1912.

I am so blessed to have a Mother that prays and a Grandmother who prayed for me. A very Happy Mother’s Day to all the mothers that come by here!

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

The Patriot’s Prayer ~ Hymn