Who is on the Lord’s Side? ~ Hymn

Who is on the Lord’s Side?

Who is on the Lord’s side? Who will serve the King?
Who will be His helpers, other lives to bring?
Who will leave the world’s side? Who will face the foe?
Who is on the Lord’s side? Who for Him will go?
By Thy call of mercy, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Savior, we are Thine!

Not for weight of glory, nor for crown and palm,
Enter we the army, raise the warrior psalm;
But for love that claimeth lives for whom He died:
He whom Jesus nameth must be on His side.
By Thy love constraining, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Savior, we are Thine!

Jesus, Thou hast bought us, not with gold or gem,
But with Thine own life blood, for Thy diadem;
With Thy blessing filling each who comes to Thee,
Thou hast made us willing, Thou hast made us free.
By Thy grand redemption, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Savior, we are Thine!

Fierce may be the conflict, strong may be the foe,
But the King’s own army none can overthrow;
’Round His standard ranging, victory is secure,
For His truth unchanging makes the triumph sure.
Joyfully enlisting, by Thy grace divine,
We are on the Lord’s side—Savior, we are Thine!

Chosen to be soldiers, in an alien land,
Chosen, called, and faithful, for our Captain’s band,
In the service royal, let us not grow cold;
Let us be right loyal, noble, true and bold.
Master, Thou wilt keep us, by Thy grace divine,
Always on the Lord’s side—Savior, always Thine!

Words: Francis R. Havergal, 1877.

All 60 Things…

I’m consolidating all my 60 things in my 60th year in one post so I can access them easier.

Right now me and my sisters are in on our way to Victoria, B.C. for the weekend fulfilling #5 on my 60 things list. I also decided to check the completed items off instead of crossing them out…

1. Finally make it to the top of the Space Needle. Completed on Wednesday January 26th!

2. Dinner with the Mennonite Girls and their husbands. Met for dinner at the Chuckanut Manor on March 13th!

3. East Coast Trip. Things are shaping up for a trip to Washington D.C. (Any suggestions about what to see and where to eat would be highly appreciated) We were there from May 10th-18th. We saw more than our brains could take in!

4. Apply for my enhanced license so my trips to Canada will be easier. Completed in January!

5. Birthday getaway with my 3 sisters. Plans are afoot. Victoria B.C., April 1-3, 2011

6. Try one new restaurant every month of this year. Looks like this one is really going to be easy especially with trips planned. Eastlake Bar and Grill~ Lake Union. The Hitching Post~ Monroe. Racha Thai ~Seattle. Bishops Alehouse ~ Juanita. Chuckanut Manor-Bow. Barolo ~ Seattle. The Cabbage Patch ~ Snohomish. Pescatores ~ Victoria, B.C.

7. Send my parents a bouquet of flowers on my 60th birthday thanking them for loving me all these years. Sent on March 14th and my parents were thrilled.

8. Visiting a a new garden. Hillwood Garden in Washington D.C., Bishop’s Garden in Washington D.C. and Botanical Gardens in D.C.

9. Plant something new in my yard. I planted some Sweet Peas and 2 Top Hat blueberry bushes.

10. Have my flagpole installed. Installed on my birthday March 14th.

11. Lose 10 pounds. Oh Nellie! I should have said gain 10 pounds!

12. Enjoy a book by an author I haven’t read before.

13. Explore 6 cities/towns in Washington. Lake Union~ Monroe~ Snohomish~ Olympia ~ Lynden ~

14. Try 2 new recipes every month.

15. Go on a easy day hike.

16. Walk more.

17. Go to a new Tea Room. White Heather Tea Room in Victoria, B.C. (Oak Bay)

18. Purge 60 books off my bookshelves.

19. Begin going through old boxes in the garage loft.

20. Go on an adventure with my daughter Katie. I’ve had many adventures. One fun one is going with her to register for her wedding!

21. Re-arrange some things that have been the same for 13 years in this old house. Moved antique hutch around and changed some wall hangings.

22. Buy a Welsh Sideboard. I’ve wanted one for years. Instead of a Welsh cabinet we found an Indonesian cabinet that fits our space perfectly.

23. Make and serve our Russian favorite recipes for family gatherings. Golubtsi

24. Find a couple new blogs to add to my favorites.

25. Clean out my closet.

26. Take some time to journal.

27. Invite someone new over for a meal.

28. Invite old friends over for a meal. Had our dear friends over on April 8th for dinner.

29. Meet Dear downtown for lunch.

30. Do some volunteer work. Fulfilled on March 28th although I’d like to do more. United We Serve

31. Try baking a pie including the crust.

32. Bake cinnamon rolls from scratch.

33. Write some letters and mail them.

34. Surprise someone. Sent cookbooks to Dear’s Aunts and to a dear lady who encouraged me in college.

35. Get a manicure and pedicure.

36. Have more than one hour long massage.

37. Use my sewing machine.

38. Be brave enough to get a new generation phone.

39. Call Dear’s Aunts on their birthdays. Called Aunt Audrey on April 14th ~

40. Try something new with my camera.

Now here are the final 20 of my list of 60 things to do in my 60th year!

41. Take a ride in a limousine with people she loves. Completed on my birthday March 14th with our sons, DIL, and Dear.

42. Treat people for her birthday. Bought drinks for all our season ticket neighbors at the opening game which was the day after my 60th birthday.

43. Find a purse that will accommodate my stuff plus my camera with a long enough strap to fit over my shoulder. Completed, I’ll share it soon.

44. Meet bloggy friends in person that she has never met in person before. Met the lovely Pondside in Victoria B.C. and she treated my sisters and I to a fine tour of her town.

45. Reorganize cabinets and purge some Chotskies.

46. Make those every so many year appointments you dread but need to do. Yearly-check, The Squeeze – check, 2 more to go.

47. Write a Psalm to God.

48. Find a dress for our daughter’s wedding.

50. Learn to put the flagpole up and take it down. It’s not as hard as I thought and I’ve done it several times already.

51. Back up the files on my computer.

52. Create some photo books.

53. Mail a box of goodies to Katie’s Andrew while he is deployed.

54. Order a DVR. Got one March 24th!

55. Get a new modem that might actually make her internet work well. Got one and things have improved but we need more improvement! Finally got some good service and much improvement the week of May 23rd!

56. Send flowers to some unsuspecting person.

57. Detail my car.

58. Write poetic tribute of my history as seen on Debora’s blog.

59. Take a canoe ride on Lake Washington this summer with Dear. Him rowing, me taking photos.

60. Do a blog tribute to some of my favorite blog posts on other people’s blogs.

Coming up with 60 things was not an easy task. Maybe there will be some modifications along the way. It was a good exercise and I’ve already enjoyed the benefits of completing many of the 60.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes 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.

Sisters!

My sisters and I are embarking on a weekend getaway to Victoria on Vancouver Island in Canada. The four of us have never had a weekend away or an overnight for that matter and I’m hoping we have lots of laughing moments like this next photo shows.

Vera ~ Lana ~ Kathy ~ Ellen

Kathy is the oldest, Vera next, Ellen next and then Lana. We also have 4 brothers. Fred was born after Vera. Tim was born 7 years after me and then Steve. Lana and Leonard (twins) were the last two born.

We had a sister Kathy who was the first born in our family that died when she was 2 in Persia. My parents decided to name their second daughter Kathy, too. The Kathy we know was also born in Persia.

Both of these photos were taken a good while ago. Vera is several sizes smaller and I’m a few sizes larger. I think Lana and Kathy are about the same. I told my Southern California sisters to leave their flip-flops at home and to bring lots of layers. I’m providing them with rain coats with a hood. Whatever the weather we will persevere and delight in what God has in store for us!

We leave early Friday morning on the Victoria Clipper for a 2-1/2 hour ride to Victoria. We have gardens, castles, walks, and having a proper tea planned. Next week after I catch my breath I will post about our adventures.

Before I get swept away I wanted to share my plate of Baby Back ribs from our dinner on Sunday. So delicious!

Maybe plates like this are why I’m a couple sizes larger. You won’t be hearing from me till next week. Hope all is well in your neck of the woods!

An Eyeful…

…on a 2 mile walk.

In lovely weather with the sun shining, my camera and I walked from the Pyramid Alehouse restaurant to Harbor steps across the street from the Seattle Art Museum. I love the details on many of the buildings downtown.

Occidental Park in Pioneer Square

Look closely and you’ll see the Space Needle.

The side of the Seattle Art Museum. The higher building beyond will soon be where Dear will be spending his days.

The Hammering Man at the Seattle Art Museum.

Dear’s future home away from home.

Harbor Steps across the street from the Art Museum. This is where I turn around and head the mile back to Qwest field for a Sounders game.

We call this building the ban roll-on building. Dear worked in that building back in the 90’s.

The Totem Pole in Pioneer Square. There is such an interesting history behind this pole and the original pole that you can read here.

The Pergola in Pioneer Square. Interesting facts about the Pergola can be read here.

The Pergola had to be replaced after a truck plowed into it in 2001!

There’s nothing quite like downtown Seattle on a nice day.

I’m linking up with Susan for Outdoor Wednesday.

United We Serve ~

Ellen b. with Michael Tetteh who came to the Seattle Sounders from Ghana via College in Santa Barbara.

Today I joined many volunteers to work side by side Sounders Soccer players at Hopelink Food Bank in Redmond, Wa. The Sounders Soccer F.C. in partnership with Seattle Bank host United We Serve Events each month. At the March Event at Hopelink Food Bank in Redmond – we joined Sounders FC players Mike Seamon, Michael Tetteh, Josh Ford and Servando Carrasco as they volunteered from 2:30-4:00pm. All of us volunteers portioned out servings of rice and oats which will be distributed to hungry families in East King County and will supplement Hopelink’s Emergency Feeding Services program.

Servando Carrasco, Michael Tetteh, Josh Ford, and Mike Seaman.

The 90 minutes flew by and there was a lot of friendly banter going back and forth. I ended up working with someone we have season tickets next to so it was fun to get to know him a little better.

I get to check one more thing off my 60 things to do in my 6oth year list! This was #30.

Ruby Tuesday ~ Window Shopping…

Spotted all this ruby in a store window in Pioneer Square Downtown Seattle on Friday afternoon.

Ooh la la that’s a lot of fun ruby.

To see more ruby visit Mary at Work of the Poet.

A Walk Downtown

Last Friday I had a few hours by myself downtown with my camera. The weather was sunny with a few puffy clouds but cold.

The walk from the Pyramid Alehouse Restaurant across from Safeco Field to Harbor Steps across from the Art Museum was 2 miles round trip. I got a good dose of vitamin D. Later in the evening at the Sounders Soccer game at Qwest field the weather turned to rain. I’ll show the rest of my photos from my downtown Seattle walk during this coming week.

Hope your Sunday is going well. We are enjoying the aroma of Baby Back ribs that have been smoked for several hours and are now in the oven continuing to cook smothered in barbecue sauce. I’M HUNGRY. We’ll eat when Josh and Laura stop by shortly.

I’m linking to Mosaic Monday hosted by Mary at Little Red House.

Count Your Blessings ~ Hymn

Count Your Blessings

When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Refrain

Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.

Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.

Refrain

When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.

Refrain

So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.

Refrain

Words: Johnson Oatman, Jr., in Songs for Young People, by Edwin Excell (Chicago, Illinois: Curts & Jennings, 1897).

FFF ~ Announcements, Announcements, Announcements!

Time to choose our favorites from this past week and to link up at Susanne’s Living to Tell the Story to share them with our friends in bloggy world.

March has proved to be a month of wonderful experiences at our house. While we were in Seattle enjoying and celebrating my 60th birthday with our sons and daughter in law, our daughter Katie and Andrew were in North Carolina with our blessing on their plans to be married! This was going to be a secret until their wedding next winter but yesterday they decided to go public! I’m so happy to be able to share this and not keep it a secret for a year! So my #1 favorite for this week is …

1. …the announcement that we have a new son Lance Corporal Andrew and that our daughter Katie has changed her last name. We are still planning an official wedding with my brother who is a pastor officiating and our family, Andrew’s family, and friends witnessing their vows and covenant promise to each other.

These are their temporary rings which will be replaced at their wedding.

2. Katie and I have spent a lot of time together this week at the different government agencies that need her new information. We have made sure to enjoy nice lunches together after spending lots of time in waiting rooms people watching.

3. On Saturday Dear and I spent a day in Snohomish eating and shopping and buying a new piece of furniture that was delivered on Sunday.

4. Josh and Laura came over for brunch on Sunday and we enjoyed their company. Waffles, ham, and strawberries were on the menu.

5. Finding out our cookbook Mennonite Girls Can Cook is now available on Amazon for pre-order! It’s due for release on May 1st!

Our household is thankful for all God’s goodness to us. My cup continues to overflow.

What were your favorites this past week.

The Final 20 & My New Cabinet!

In which she cheats and puts things on the final 20 list that happened before they appeared on the list and she knows will happen in the near future!

#22 was… Buy a Welsh Sideboard. I’ve wanted one for years. This isn’t a Welsh Sideboard but it fulfills it’s purpose and fits in my space well. It’s an Indonesian solid wood piece and we are pleased with it’s function.

Now here are the final 20 of my list of 60 things to do in my 60th year!

41. Take a ride in a limousine with people she loves. Completed on my birthday March 14th with our sons, DIL, and Dear.

42. Treat people for her birthday. Bought drinks for all our season ticket neighbors at the opening game which was the day after my 60th birthday.

43. Find a purse that will accommodate my stuff plus my camera with a long enough strap to fit over my shoulder.

44. Meet bloggy friends in person that she has never met in person before.

45. Reorganize cabinets and purge some Chotskies.

46. Make those every so many year appointments you dread but need to do.

47. Write a Psalm to God.

48. Find a dress for our daughter’s wedding.

50. Learn to put the flagpole up and take it down.

51. Back up the files on my computer.

52. Create some photo books.

53. Mail a box of goodies to Katie’s Andrew while he is deployed.

54. Order a DVR

55. Get a new modem that might actually make her internet work well.

56. Send flowers to some unsuspecting person.

57. Detail my car.

58. Write poetic tribute of my history as seen on Debora’s blog.

59. Take a canoe ride on Lake Washington this summer with Dear. Him rowing, me taking photos.

60. Do a blog tribute to some of my favorite blog posts on other people’s blogs.

Coming up with 60 things was not an easy task. Maybe there will be some modifications along the way. It was a good exercise and I’ve already enjoyed the benefits of completing many of the 60.

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Who is on the Lord’s Side? ~ Hymn