FFF ~ Cornucopia

My life has been filled to the brim, a type of cornucopia…

cor·nu·co·pi·a [kawr-nuh-koh-pee-uh, -nyuh-]

noun

1. Classical Mythology. a horn containing food, drink, etc., in endless supply, said to have been a horn of the goat Amalthaea.
2. a representation of this horn, used as a symbol of abundance.
3. an abundant, overflowing supply.
4. a horn-shaped or conical receptacle or ornament.
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Susanne at Living to Tell the Story helps us join together in highlighting our blessings (favorites) from this past week. I was missing in action last week so my favorites are from the last couple of weeks.
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My horn of plenty has been filled with family, friends, food, travel, and good fellowship.
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1. I traveled to Sacramento for my friend Kathy’s memorial service and was blessed with time with loved ones and new friends. We cried, laughed, remembered, and ate good food together. I did some homework before I left for Sacramento because I knew I’d be on my own for a few meals. I was pleased with the spots I found online and that I could find them navigating by myself in the rental car.
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2. We’ve been blessed with free hotel stays because of previous paid hotel stays. This really has come in handy. Because of a business trip earlier in the year I was able to get my hotel room in Sacramento for free. For an upcoming  trip in North Carolina our son Dan is sharing his points to give us 5 free nights. Since my daughter and I have to travel on the Monday after Thanksgiving which is costing a fortune, getting the free hotel nights lightens the blow!
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3. Last Friday I was traveling to Canada and that’s why I missed FFF. The Mennonite Girls were participating at the West Coast Women’s Show in the Winks booth and on the Kitchen stage. I was blessed again and again the two days I was there. Anneliese shared her home and kitchen with me…such a blessing. Wendy from Winks gave us a lovely spot to sign books. We were well received by the ladies that paid for the show and watched our kitchen stage presentations.
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4. When I got home from Canada my family room was full of family! Our son from across the mountains traveled to spend a few days with us. We had lots of good times together eating some of our favorite foods and enjoying each others company.
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5. Our daughter Katie got the “phone call” telling her when she needed to be in North Carolina to sign for her and Andrew’s housing. After we all freaked out for several hours we made our travel arrangements and were able to breathe again and relax in knowing that God is always there helping us through the big and small things in our lives. It was a “reality” moment making it clear that soon our nest will really be empty. All the wrap up stuff before Katie leaves is happening. Dear and Katie had a few dancing lessons for the Father and Bride dance. They practiced in our family room last night and I totally teared up. Oye! Life marches on…
I want to be perfectly honest here and let you all know that there was a lot of freaking out stressful moments before God’s calm hit our hearts last Thursday in hearing the “let’s go to North Carolina news!” Thankfully the panic lasted just a couple hours!
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Hope you had a week of knowing you are loved by God and He has his eye on you… “His eye is on the Sparrow and I know he watches me”

The Joys of Autumn…

A walk about the yard revealed some lovely fall color this week. Jenny at Alphabe-Thursday threw down the Fall challenge. This is the last Thursday to join in the fun so click over and leave a link.

One of the things that brings me joy in Autumn are the changing brilliant color on bushes and trees. The photos above are of our Dogwood tree and our blueberry bush.

Our Asian Maple which is more of a bush than a tree.

Sadly I forgot the name of this tree. It looks like a Golden Rain Tree. Part of the year its a brilliant green and at other parts of the year it has crackly pods on it. It really is flaming nicely right now.

Do you enjoy raking leaves? I usually vacuum them up with the lawnmower! I enjoy watching the leaves fall.

Papa Murphy’s is selling this Jack O’ Lantern pizza right now and I caved and bought one. Isn’t it cute?

Comfort foods and wonderful soups are way up there on my I like Autumn list. I also enjoy sweaters and coats.

What are some of your Autumn favorites?

Old Town Sacramento…

When I was in the Sacramento area for my friend Kathy’s Memorial service I had time before and after her services to explore some of the area. One of the stops I made was in Old Town Sacramento. The unique 28-acre National Historic Landmark District and State Historic Park is located along the beautiful Sacramento River.

I do not do real well walking around in heat and this day in Sacramento was in the 90’s. I would have explored more if it was cooler. I noticed this guy who looks like he was escaping the heat, too.

I was happy to finally see Old Town Sacramento. I can’t tell you how many times we have driven by the signs for this part of Sacramento traveling from Seattle to Los Angeles and never being able to stop. We are always in such a hurry to make our destination. If we ever travel that road again by car I’ll know about the great restaurants in this area and how easy the exit and re-entry onto I-5 is.

Ruby Tuesday ~ From Sacramento

There’s a new terminal at the Sacramento Airport with a lot of interesting “art”, like this Spider Man Rabbit…

I’m not sure what this big red rabbit is called but it just reminded me of Spider Man… I can see why some people think it’s kind of creepy.

While walking in Old Town Sacramento I spotted this t-shirt…

Thankfully my week is starting out slow. It was great to have a lot of good family time on Saturday and Sunday.  Monday was a day of just sitting around with son #2 before he took off for home which is 6 hours away. It’s Tuesday (I have to remind myself what day of the week it is) so I’m headed to Bible Study this morning.  Hope you are having a good start to your week…

West Coast Women’s Show

On Friday I traveled North to British Columbia to meet up with some of the Mennonite Girls for the West Coast Women’s Show. Anneliese offered me a room for the night so I headed to her house after I crossed the border. She showed me to my comfortable quarters for the night where I changed into my show clothes and we headed to Tradex next to the Abbotsford Airport.

The Mennonite Girls Can Cook authors were invited to be a part of the Winks’ booth at the West Coast Women’s Show in Abbotsford, B.C. Wendy the owner of Winks has a very generous approach to her business and her customers. Besides all her fabulous wares she decided to feature our book. We divided up the time to be at the booth between the girls that were available this weekend. Anneliese and I were on duty from 5 till 10 P.M. on Friday night.

Saturday we were on again from 10:00 A.M. till Noon. We met a lot of great ladies throughout the show and we signed a lot of books.

Part of our time there was spent on the cooking stage. We had 2 presentations. One on Saturday and one on Sunday. At noon on Saturday we headed to the kitchen stage to prep before our presentation.

We were happy to see a lot of friendly faces in the crowd.

Judy, Lovella, Anneliese, Julie, Marg and I were part of the kitchen crew on Saturday. We made Anneliese’s Waffles with Vanilla Custard Sauce and Mixed Berry topping. We also made Judy’s Ham and Egg cups. Chef Dez introduced us and joined us on stage.

After we were done I headed back home to the U.S.A. I drove for two hours in pouring rain. It was wonderful to finally pull into my garage and even better to walk into my family room to see our son Dan. He lives 6 hours away and I hadn’t seen him for several months. We all went out for dinner and came home again for some Rock Band and then we watched the Sounders Soccer Team play their last season game against Chivas on T.V.

Dear, Me, Dan, Katie, Laura, and Josh. (The only family member not in this photo is Andrew who is serving in Afghanistan right now)

It made me smile to see that Dan has really acclimated to his new surroundings out in the country. He’s really enjoying riding horses out into the wilderness and now he’s wearing these…

So another weekend filled to the brim with friends and family. Life is rich. How’s life treating you?

O Christ, Who Hast Prepared A Place ~ Hymn

John 14: 1-6 ~ “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus answererd, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

O Christ, Who Hast Prepared A Place

O Christ, who hast prepared a place
For us around Thy throne of grace,
We pray Thee, lift our hearts above,
And draw them with the cords of love.

Source of all good, Thou, gracious Lord,
Art our exceeding great reward;
How transient is our present pain,
How boundless our eternal gain!

With open face and joyful heart,
We then shall see Thee as Thou art:
Our love shall never cease to glow,
Our praise shall never cease to flow.

Thy never-failing grace to prove,
A surety of Thine endless love,
Send down Thy Holy Ghost, to be
The raiser of our souls to Thee.

Words: Jean B. de San­teüil, in the Par­is Bre­vi­a­ry, 1686, p. 503 (No­bis, Olym­po red­di­tus); trans­lat­ed from La­tin to Eng­lish by John Chandler, Hymns of the Prim­i­tive Church, 1837, p. 86.

ht: cyberhymnal

Pumpkin Patch…

It’s Autumn, the season of orange, brown, and yellow. A wonderful time for hearty soup and hot drinks. The scents of wood burning, cinnamon, pumpkin, and hot apple cider fill the air. I love this season of cozy blankets and nice wooly sweaters. Instead of Alphabe-Thursday Teacher Jenny is asking for some Fall photos to share for the rest of October. Katie and I stopped at a local small pumpkin farm and took these shots…

It seems like the colors are finally changing here in the Northwest. On Friday I’ll be headed out again on an overnight to British Columbia. I’m joining several of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook for the Westcoast Women’s Show in Abbotsford, Canada. We will be signing books at the Winks Home Garden and Gifts booth at the show. We will be at booth #490.  On Saturday and Sunday we will be on the kitchen stage with special recipe demonstrations.

Special Delivery…

If we could send letters to heaven here’s one I’d send…

Dear Kathy,

How are things going in heaven? What was it like to see our Savior face to face? While you are basking in His presence we are still down here figuring out life without you, especially Bill and Jeaneen.

I wanted to share that your memorial service was really a great celebration of your contagious joy and love for our Savior. Friends and family testified to the encouragement you gave them in life and how you made them laugh time and time again. Your sister-in-law Donna read tributes from Bill, Jeaneen and several other family members and friends. Bill wrote a beautiful tribute to you called “Going Home” that was printed in the bulletin. Your friend Katie read another tribute. Bill put together a slide show with some of your favorite hymns that showed your life over the years. I was so humbled to have a shot of you and me included in the show. Many of your friends and extended family came to say goodbye including cousins from Whittier and Santa Rosa. Your long time friend Judy came from San Diego and Randy gave the message. After the service there was a nice spread provided by the church and people lingered long to talk. The next part of this day was a little surreal for me…

After your service I drove over to your house for the evening. You know this was my first time ever at your house and it was just weird stepping into your house for the first time without you physically present. Thankfully I could see you in every comfy corner and in all the decorator touches in your home. I went outside to your garden and you know who was laying out there? Yes, you guessed, Soloman. The one you so lovingly called the knucklehead cat! He must sense a bit of your presence out there.

We had some great conversations around your dining room table with – count them…4 Home Economics Majors. I didn’t realize there were so many of us out there and that you had majored in Home Economics, too. Your cousin from Whittier really made us laugh and she also made us blush a few times! So many fun and funny memories were shared. By the way…I have no idea why Bill looked at me when he asked if he should open a 2nd bottle of wine?! :0) It was a long day and I had to call it a night and head back to the hotel. We had one more event in your honor coming on Monday morning.

It was great spending time with Jeaneen and being able to give her hugs and let her express her emotions about losing you. She really misses her big sister.

On Monday morning we got together at Fair Oaks Cemetery for one more goodbye.

Your friends and family were a great support to both Bill and Jeaneen.

We were able to pray together and we sang a song together, too.

This world is not my home, I’m just passing through.
My treasures are laid up
somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door
And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

Chorus

    • O Lord you know I have no friend like you
    • If Heaven’s not my home, then Lord what will I do
    • The angels beckon me from Heaven’s open door
    • And I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.
    • Now that everyone has gone home and the busyness of preparing for your services are over your friends and family are committed to keep Bill and Jeaneen in our prayers as reality hits them in the face everyday. Even though you were physically small your presence was very large in a lot of people’s life and there is a void that will not be replaced. We are praying that Bill and Jeaneen and the rest of those of us who were close to you will accept the comfort God will give and spread your infectious joy to those God puts in our paths.
    • See you later Kathy!
    • With Love,
    • ellen b.