At the Center…

Saturday morning Katie and I headed to Seattle Center to attend a Bridal Expo. They handed out those pink heart shaped badges that said BRIDE on them so the exhibitors would know who to smile at. We were happy it was an expo on the smaller side and that we were able to see every booth without mass confusion. The day turned out to be a nice one to walk around the grounds.

Katie decided she’d wear her Bride Badge all day. I’ll be showing more photos from our day and the show later in the week.

Hope your Saturday is going well.

FFF ~ Celebrating, Good News, and Sunshine

It’s time to look back over this last week and share your favorites. Visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in.
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1. Having a good time celebrating our son’s birthday on Saturday and then celebrating a day off with my sister Lana on Monday. Lana and I made our traditional trip to Goodwill on a holiday. It is our tradition, too, that the person who spends the most at Goodwill has to buy lunch. She won again. I bought some exercise pants, a table runner originally from Pier One, a book on the back roads of South Carolina, and some fabric that I’m considering making napkins with.
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We stopped at a restaurant in Bellevue, Wa. called Brief Encounter. They have great food and their potato pancakes are my favorite.
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2. Good news. The best news. My father called to let us know that my 86 year old aunt decided to make peace with God by facing her sinful condition and accepting what Christ did for us on the cross. She is finally at peace and says she’s ready to go and be with Jesus. Remember the Billy Graham Crusades and singing Just As I Am? These are a couple stanzas from the song…

Just as I am, thou wilt receive,
Wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
Because thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

Just a I am; thy love unknown
Has broken every barrier down;
Now to be thine, yea, thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.

3. Reading and studying. I’m reading a couple books right now, a fun entertaining mystery and a heavier book by Philip Yancey. I’m also continuing in a woman’s Bible study in Philippians. Have you ever read these two passages (Philippians 2:5-11 & Isaiah 14:12-15) and considered the contrast in attitudes?
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4. Sunshine in the middle of the week. A full day of sunshine that made me grab my camera and head to Lake Washington to get a good dose of vitamin D.
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5. Seeing a new kind of duck that I don’t think I’ve seen before…on that sunny day.
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Thanks to one of my MGCC girlfriends Bev,  I now know this is a  male Bufflehead Duck.
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Thanks for stopping by. I’ll be around later today and tomorrow to check out your favorites.

It’s a Bird, it’s a Plane, no…

…it’s the sun!

We finally had a full day of sun on Wednesday so I packed my camera and headed out to document the golden orb and it’s effect on some of our landscape.

These photos were taken at Log Boom Park on Lake Washington.

I found out this is a male Bufflehead Duck thanks to Bev. Thank you Bev!

Ahhh…that was nice and it’s enough to get me through our next couple days of rain that are in the forecast.

So Thankful…

…for all our children but in January especially for our sons. Born 2 years apart they’ve been able to enjoy each other through the years.

Psalm 133:1 (The Message)

A Pilgrim Song of David

How wonderful, how beautiful, when brothers and sisters get along!
It’s like costly anointing oil
flowing down head and beard,
Flowing down Aaron’s beard,
flowing down the collar of his priestly robes.
It’s like the dew on Mount Hermon
flowing down the slopes of Zion.

God has been good to us and to our children!

The sun is shining today so I’m going to see about getting out and about in it. I’ve already made a birthday delivery and gone to Zumba so we’ll see what else the day will hold. Hope you are enjoying your day!

Celebrating…

…continues here.

What a wonderful Saturday. We woke up to a nice dry spell. I met up with my walking buddies and we trekked our 5 miles getting caught up on our lives. At noon Josh and Laura joined us to celebrate Joshua’s birthday early.

We had brunch at The Barking Frog in Woodinville. Joshua’s 32nd birthday is on Wednesday.

I thought the parking signs for the restaurant were very clever.

Sunday at church I had to chuckle to see the Seahawk Football team colors lit up on the stage. Sad to say the game didn’t turn out the way Seattleites had hoped.

Even though we lost the game…the turkey chili and cornbread brought some comfort to the day…

Today is our son Dan’s birthday! Happy Birthday Dan! Hope to see you soon.

So thankful to God for our sons and how God has blessed them and kept them these 30 and 32 years!

 

Still Whiter Than Snow ~ Hymn

Isaiah 1:18 (ESV)

“Come now, let us reason together, says the LORD: though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red like crimson,
they shall become like wool.”

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

“The Birds”

Late yesterday afternoon we heard an eerie noise…

We have our resident crows that come visit everyday. They peck on our roof sometimes making me think someone is knocking at the front door. They carry trash around the neighborhood and dump it in the most unlikely spots. It’s weird to see a McDonalds hamburger wrapper on my roof. But yesterday things were different. The crowing was deafening. I grabbed my camera and went outside instead of boarding up the fireplace. You remember “The Birds” don’t you?

If I had a video/sound feature on my camera I could share how loud and weird this was. We have never seen this many crows around our home squawking so loudly. It was also really windy.

I’m glad they finally decided to flock elsewhere or I might have considered boarding up the windows and fireplace.

I’m headed out on an early morning walk with my walking buddies from long ago. After the walk Dear and I are taking our son and his lovely wife out to celebrate his birthday which is next Wednesday. We are having a little dry spell and I’m hoping it lasts through the morning.

A good Saturday to you all!

 

FFF ~ Fun in the Midst of Slumps…

Time to get your favorites together to share. Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is our hostess for this event. Click on over and see what events, products, people, books, made the list!

I shared earlier this week that I’m in a bloggy slump of sorts but even in the midst of slumpiness there are lots of good things around me. The Light always shines, I just need to see it. So here are my favorites from this past week.
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1. Soccer is my favorite sport in general but I have to say that the Seahawk football game against the Saints makes it on my favorites this week. Mostly because of this unbelievable run that you all probably have heard about already. The Seattle fans even made the Seismic charts.
Seattle is all a-buzz and on Sunday they’ll play the Chicago Bulls Bears to see if they keep their amazing run alive.
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2. I’m happy to report that my big toe was not broken last week but just bruised badly so I was able to go to Zumba on Monday morning. I’m really enjoying this form of exercise and have met some fun ladies my age and younger who keep me going. Here’s how Zumba is described: “Zumba Fitness® is the only Latin-inspired dance-fitness program that blends red-hot international music, created by Grammy Award-winning producers, and contagious steps to form a “fitness-party” that is downright addictive”. At first I felt like I had 2 left feet but the routines are the same every time you go and before long you can do the steps automatically.
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3. The blower/fan in our fireplace insert died. Dear had to take the whole thing apart to figure out what part we needed. We ordered it online because it wasn’t available locally. It finally arrived on Wednesday and Dear put it all back together and we now have heat in our living room area again. This is our 2nd major heat source so we were pretty chilly for a few days and cuddled up in the family room where our little cast iron stove kept us warm. I’m happy Dear could fix it for a fraction of the cost to replace it.  $150 instead of $1500. Now Dear thinks he should be able to buy himself something for $1350. There is something suspect in that reasoning…
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4. Dear and I went to our local Mexican Restaurant this week and it was a great relaxing time with good conversation and debriefing on things that were on our minds this week. Sometimes it is just good to get out of the house so you aren’t a slave to your normal routines. We know the waitstaff by name here and they always make us feel welcomed. That’s Carne Asada and I’ll share the recipe closer to summer time on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog.

5. Speaking of the Mennonite Girls, we’ve had fun news about our upcoming cookbook this week. A few weeks ago the cover was released. This is what the cover will look like. Some of the gals have been interviewed by their local papers and this week one of the T.V. stations in Canada is interviewing a couple of the gals on their Sunday show. We keep pinching ourselves. Our Royalties from the sale of the book will be going to an organization in the Ukraine that feeds children. You can click on the cover to see more information on the book.

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Hope you are doing well. I’ll be coming around today or tomorrow to see your Faves…

Fulfilling Promises…

When I showed you the cake for our daughter’s birthday a couple weeks ago I promised to share the recipe. I have shared this recipe on my blog before but I’m posting it again. This cake is a family favorite. When I asked my daughter what she’d like for her birthday cake she requested this one.

 

Applesauce Spice Cake

1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 pkg. 4 serving size Jello instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
1 cup applesauce
1/2 C. water
1/4 C. oil
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. all-spice (optional)
1/2 cup raisins, finely chopped (optional)

Combine all ingredients in large mixing bowl of electric mixer and blend then beat at medium for 4 minutes. Pour into well greased and floured 10 inch tube or fluted tube pan. (I’ve used a bundt cake pan and angel food cake pan). Bake at 350 degrees for 50-55 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean. DO NOT UNDERBAKE. Cool in pan for 15 min. remove and cool on rack. When the cake has cooled and before I serve it I give it a dusting of powdered sugar.

When I went out to purchase ingredients for the cake I forgot to buy applesauce. I didn’t want to make another trip to the store so I checked my cupboard and found a jar of spiced pear butter that my friend Sandy from the Reluctant Entertainer gifted me when we met for dinner earlier this year. Here’s her recipe for Sweet Spiced Apple Butter which looks just like the Pear butter.  Since the pears were already spiced nicely I omitted the spices from the recipe and just added the jar of goodness to the recipe. It turned out very nice and the spices were just right. Thank you Sandy!

For the record, I’ve never added the raisins to this recipe. My family prefers it without.