Great Is Thy Faithfulness ~ Hymn

 

Great Is Thy Faithfulness

Great is Thy faithfulness, O God my Father;
There is no shadow of turning with Thee;
Thou changest not, Thy compassions, they fail not;
As Thou hast been, Thou forever will be.

Refrain

Great is Thy faithfulness!
Great is Thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed Thy hand hath provided;
Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Refrain

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Refrain

Words: Thomas O. Chisholm, 1923

During our Mennonite Girls Can Cook Summit we enjoyed some hymn singing together. We sang this great hymn and Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow before each of our meals. We found out that 9 out of 10 of us were altos!

Praise God, from Whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heavenly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Words: Thomas Ken, 1674

We Met in Abbotsford…

The Mennonite Girls Can Cook came together for the first time at the Abbotsford Airport in British Columbia with quite a splash. These gals added a little color and extra historical meaning to our get together. Oh the fun and laughter these two generated.

It took me 2 hours to drive to Lovella’s house with an easy border crossing. Lovella, Anneliese and I drove to Abbotsford Airport together to meet the other girls and wait for Betty and Charlotte to arrive from Manitoba.

From the airport the ten of us headed to Lovella’s for High Tea.

She put on a beautiful spread for us and we had a great time getting acquainted.

On our way off to visit our farm store advertisers we received these great business cards for MGCC from Lovella.

Lovella’s High Tea set the stage for 3 wonderful days of eating, laughing and praying together.

 

Oh Canada!

Growing up I was immersed in a Russian Community that used cousin, aunt and uncle loosely. We always had more “relatives” then a proper genealogy record would prove. I just inherited 9 girl cousins from Canada. Our cousin connection comes from our love for each other, similar upbringing, blogging, and recipes that our ancestors brought out of Russia and Germany. I will be sharing the wonderful bonding experiences we had during our 3 days together soon.

Here are the Mennonite Girls (MGCC) and I now know first hand they really can cook! Starting in the back, Judy from My Front Porch, Marg from Home Again, Lovella from What Matters Most, Julie from Pearls in A Nutshell, Betty, Me, The Happy Wonderer,  Anneliese from For Everything a Season, Bev from Kaleidoscopes, Kathy, and Charlotte.

Thank you girls for all the good food, laughter, prayers, and fun we had! Till we meet again…

 

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!

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.

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.

 

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!!

 

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.

Apple Walnut Crisp

Ingredient:

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1-1/4 cups rolled oats
  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup melted butter
  • 1/3 cup chopped walnuts
  • 3 cups apples – peeled, cored, then sliced or chopped
  • 1/3 cup white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Lightly grease an 8 inch square pan.
  3. Combine brown sugar, oats, flour, nuts, and butter in large bowl.
  4. Place half of this crumb mixture into pan and press down.
  5. Cover this layer evenly with apples.
  6. Sprinkle the apples with the white sugar and cinnamon.
  7. Top with remaining crumb mixture.
  8. Bake in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream and enjoy!