An Enchanting Wedding…

…among the Redwoods.

We were expecting to see Legolas, Haldir, Elrond, Arwen, or Galadriel come out from behind a Redwood and join us in celebrating the wedding of Ben and Kristin. Maybe even an Ewok…

 

The wedding was held at the Bride’s grandparents cabin that they’ve owned for years. Both families spent a lot of weekends preparing the grounds for a wedding.

Ben, the groom, laid the stone for the walkway.

The cross was forged at a family foundry.

The trees were created by God!

 

The dance floor was built on site.

 

You can see the setting of the dance floor behind Dear and me!

 

My cousin Jim and Dear

 

My cousin Katrina, her daughter Kristen, and her husband Andy.

 

 

My cousin Katrina, her daughter Kristen, and my cousin Vera.

 

Jeaneen is married to my cousin Jim and this is her sister Kathy.

 

Kathy and me.

 

The groom Ben with his mom and dad.

Jim and Jeanie’s other 2 sons Jeff and Tim escorting their mom.

 

My cousin Jim

Here comes the groom…I mean

Here comes the bride!

So lovely.

The groom fighting back the tears!

 

Married at last.

 

Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Bogdanof!

 

 

 

Kathy B. reminded me that the bride thought to use these tree log rounds as trivets for the cake stands.

It was a creative effort by both families and the bride and groom to create this magical night for their wedding.

I’m glad you made it all the way through this long post. I’m headed to Canada for a few days and won’t be at the computer. I’ll catch up again late Friday or on the weekend. Blessings!

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.

We Ate Cake…

…after an enchanting wedding ceremony surrounded by mighty Redwoods!

 

 

 

I’ll be posting all my wedding photos soon but in the meantime I’ll post these for Mosaic Monday hosted by Mary at The Little Red House. Thank you Mary.

This was the wedding of my cousin Jim and good friend Jeanie’s middle son Ben that Dear and I flew down to California to enjoy.

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.

Enchanting…

…is how I’d describe the wedding we attended on Saturday at the bride’s family cabin in Mt. Hermon, California. We were nestled in amongst some very tall Redwood trees to witness the wedding vows of Ben and Kristin.

 

I’ll share all my photos soon. This was the wedding of my cousin Jim’s middle son.

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.

Do You Know the Way to San Jose…

Do you remember this great oldie from Burt Bacharach? Dear and I fly to San Jose today and I hope to eat some Mexican Food somewhere on the way to a wedding we’re going to in Mt. Hermon.

When we were on our trip to Eastern Washington we had lunch at a Mexican Restaurant in Colville and then we had dinner at a restaurant in Wenatchee that had some Russian food on their menu.

 

We had some of our Mexican favorites and then some Russian favorites,  Spinach Borsch, Pelemeny, Vareniki and stuffed cabbage which BTW my mother makes a whole lot better then this restaurant did.  I think I’ve finally figured out why these foods are my all time favorites…duh. I was born in East Los Angeles and lived in a Immigrant Russian household within a Mexican neighborhood.  Makes sense that I learned to enjoy these foods and they have become my comfort food.

I’ll be away from a computer till we get back on Sunday so I won’t be posting my hymn for Sunday this week. Hope you all have a great weekend!!

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.

FFF ~ Anticipation & Anniversary

Time to ponder the past week and choose 5 favorites that you’d like to share and then link up with the lovely Susanne at Living to Tell the Story so the rest of us can click over and see your favorites.

This has been an interesting week of anticipating things that are happening this weekend and next week. Dear and I are flying to San Jose on Saturday morning for a wedding in Mt. Hermon and flying right back on Sunday. Then next week I’m making a solo trip to Canada for a few days. I’ll tell you more about both of these events next Friday…

The favorite thing we did this week was to celebrate Josh and Laura’s 9th anniversary.

 

Dear barbecued a Pork Butt for a very long time at a low temperature and we served it with coleslaw, barbecued beans and potato buns. It was very tasty.

Here are 5 favorite things about Josh and Laura in no particular order…

1. They give up a week of summer vacation to direct a Junior High Camp at Lakeside Bible Camp and they do an awesome job!

 

2. They love to go to Sounder’s games together and they take me along…

 

3. They cherish their friends and cousins and spend time with them.

 

4. They love their brothers and sisters.

 

5. They honor their parents and grandparents.

 

I told Josh and Laura this week that it makes me smile just to say their names together. We are so thankful to God that he brought them together and has blessed their relationship.

What were your favorites this past week?

Apple Walnut Crisp…

I went out to my apple tree and picked a few apples…

 

Then I tweaked a few apple crisp recipes and I’m happy with the result.

 

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.

Blessed Be His Name ~

Psalm 34:19 ~
Many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

Isaiah 43:1-3

But now, this is what the Lord says-
he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel;
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.
For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior….”

Isaiah 43:18-19~
Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.
See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.

So God promises to bring us through the wilderness. He does not abandon us. We can cling to these next great promises for our future…

Isaiah 35: 9,10 ~
But only the redeemed will walk there,
and the ransomed of the Lord will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away.

Romans 15: 4~
For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us, so that through endurance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.

So I hope these verses encourage you to know that in the midst of our wilderness times, our times in the desert, and times of affliction (which are inevitable here on this earth), our hope, the promise that sustains us and lets us say “blessed be the Lord” is that Jesus has gone before us on this wilderness road and He promises because of his saving grace to bring us through our wilderness to our amazing gift in the future in heaven with Him. We have a future with Him without “sorrow and sighing.”

Romans 15:13 ~
May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Blessed be His Name!

 

More Yard Art from Tonasket!

This made me yell “Stop!” and my husband did so I could get a photo of this. A little nostalgia from days gone by. We really saw some of our best Yard Art in this little city east of the Cascades and just a hop skip and a jump from Canada.

Visit Mary at Work of the Poet for more Yard Art.

Have there been weeks for you when you live a day ahead of yourself anticipating events coming up soon. That has been this week for me. So here it is Wednesday and I’m posting for Thursday already. Better remind myself to live for today.

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.

Republic Cemetery

I enjoy older cemeteries where there are still grave markers/monuments that are above ground. We found this cemetery on our travels to Eastern Washington in the city of Republic.

Republic, Washington is a city with an early 1900s look and a heritage based in the mining and logging industries. Originally named Eureka Gulch, Republic had a population of 954 in 2000. Noted for its fossils, natural beauty and recreational possibilities, it is nestled in a valley between Wauconda and Sherman Passes at the intersection of Washington State Routes 20 and 21 in the north central part of the state.

In 1898 a woman on horse back rode the hills around Republic, Washington looking for a suitable burial place for a man who’d recently died. At the time, Republic was a rough and tumble gold rush town filled to the brim with miners, and as yet hadn’t established a cemetery. That all changed when a man named Patrick Callahan died in Republic’s first mining-related accident.

 

The woman was Mrs. John Stack, and she selected a grassy hillside to the north of town for Callahan’s grave site In 1915, the Republic Cemetery Association was formed, and the location on Klondike Road became the town’s official cemetery. The Republic Cemetery Association’s records now report 1500 burial sites, with 900 more available.

 

Unfortunately a number of early wooden grave markers were lost when well-intentioned citizens attempted to use a controlled burn to remove weeds that had grown up around the edges of the cemetery. The fire burned out of control. Fred Bremnar of the Republic Cemetery Association described it as “…a good deed, gone bad.” Sadly, there are no written records of those grave sites.

The panoramic view of the San Poil River and Curlew Lake valleys and the Kettle Range beyond can only be described as mesmerizing.

 

 

 

 

Dear went back to work this week and I’m trying to get things organized around here before we fly off to a wedding in California this weekend. Today I’m going to mow the weeds! If I didn’t have weeds I wouldn’t have to mow since my grass isn’t growing. We are having another sunny warmer spell here but it still feels like Fall in the air. Blessings!

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.