Great Britain 2003, 2004 and 2006

Ever since our first trips ‘Across the Pond’ before we were married we had a tugging to return and enjoy these lands that held great memories for us. It took twenty nine years for us to book a trip in February of 2003. It was a short trip to London with a day trip out to Cambridge. We stayed in South Kensington and used the Tube and Trains for our sightseeing. Our children were all able to care for themselves at this stage which made travel easy for us. Seems the travel bug took hold.

In April of 2004 we took our daughter to Great Britain for a graduation gift. Our itinerary included tracking down her favorite author’s haunts in Oxford, The Cotswolds, Bath, Devonshire, York, Edinburgh, and ended our trip in London. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Jane Austen, and Monty Python thrown in for fun.

In 2006 we traveled with best of friends in May to Wales, The Lake District, Oban, The Isle of Iona, Edinburgh, and York.

We left our fellow travelers in York and took a train back to Manchester Airport and on home. Our friends traveled on to Bath and London.

The next time we traveled to England was with our oldest and his bride and with a digital Camera!

We traveled in 2013, 2014 and in 2022 and those trips are well documented on my blog.

On this trip in 2023 we will return to York but none of the other locations we’ve been to before.

Today, Friday the 15th of September we land in Dublin with four of our family for a new adventure.

I’ll try to post a photo a day if possible while we are traveling. Cheers and Sláinte!

Common Book of Prayer

“God,
you see your children growing up
in an unsteady and confusing world;
Show them that your ways
give more life than the ways of the world,
and that following you is better
than chasing after selfish goals.
Help them to take failure,
not as a measure of their worth,
but as a chance for a new start.
Give them strength to hold their faith in you,
and to keep alive their joy in your creation;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.”
(from the Common Book of Prayer)

Father and Children

This is another tribute to Dear/Greg upon his 70th birthday. Some photos with our children in their growing up years. Some are out of order and I haven’t transferred all the photos from when our kids were young onto the computer so these are limited but more than you might be interested in. 🙂

Joshua’s baby dedication at Huntington Beach E.V. Free church with pastor Bob Thune.

Daniel’s baby dedication at Huntington Beach E.V. Free church with Pastor Bob Thune.

For those who don’t miss a trick there isn’t a photo from Katie’s dedication but it did happen.

Our kids appreciate their dad and his wisdom, integrity and faithfulness.

Celebration #1

We gathered in Colville with our local family and friends to celebrate Greg on his actual birthday.

Our kids made fish tacos and delicious salsas and guacamole to enjoy. We had bread pudding for dessert.

The ‘Grands’ enjoyed watching Gramps open his gifts.

Requests were sent out to friends and family to send a greeting to Greg and to send those greetings to our kids’ home so they could surprise him with a stack on his birthday. It worked and what a great stack of cards he received from siblings, nieces, nephews, friends and his own kids and grands.

A very special surprise gift from Canada arrived, too.

So thoughtful and generous. Thank you Terry and Lovella!

After we got home and were able to read each card I decided to display them so we could enjoy them all.

We loved the special artwork created by Addy and JJ.

Our sister-in-law, Kelly, is becoming quite the artist, too.

Several verses from the Bible were shared in the cards that Greg received from friends and family near and far.

Romans 15:13

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Isaiah 41:10

fear not, for I am with you;
    be not dismayed, for I am your God;
I will strengthen you, I will help you,
    I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Funny cards and serious cards were all appreciated!

Isaiah 40:31

but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
    they shall walk and not faint.

Jeremiah 17:7-8

“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord,
    whose trust is the Lord.
 He is like a tree planted by water,
    that sends out its roots by the stream,
and does not fear when heat comes,
    for its leaves remain green,
and is not anxious in the year of drought,
    for it does not cease to bear fruit.”

This next card made both of us laugh out loud!

It was quite a wonderful gift to receive all of these cards and to read the special greetings and memories in each of them. If any of you who sent cards are reading this post, thank you so much for taking time to write and send Greg these encouraging greetings!

We will celebrate with our ‘Coast Kids’ in Ireland!

The Nineteen Seventies

Continuing a Happy 70th Birthday Tribute to my dear husband.

We had a nice small celebration with our Colville kids and in-laws for Greg’s 70th on Saturday evening. Our kids called out to friends and family to mail cards to our Colville kids’ home to surprise him with greetings near and far. It was a surprise and so enjoyable to hear from so many. Thank you to any of you who are reading here for your wonderful greetings.

Now back to the Nineteen Seventies!

My birthday tribute for Greg continues with photos from the years we dated, toured England, were engaged, married, our honeymoon, setting up our first apartment, then two houses and our first major road trip from Southern California with stops in Colorado, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, and Niagara Falls.

 

My sister Kathy’s wedding about 4 months before our wedding.

Bottom right is the two of us with our first niece, Jenna.

Road Trip 19761

The little yellow Honda was the first vehicle we purchased together as a couple. It is the vehicle we made our road trip across the U.S.A. and into Canada in.

Road Trip 19763

Road Trip 19764

By the late nineteen seventies we were in our second home in Huntington Beach.

Next tribute will be after we had children which started in the late nineteen seventies.

Remembering the fact that today is the 22nd anniversary of the 9/11 attacks on the United States. We honor all those who’s lives were taken away so tragically on that day and the survivors who were forever changed by their experience on that day and the days that followed.

On 9-11-2001 We were living in Kenmore, Washington. We lived in this house until 2018. Never Forget!

Redemption ~ Hymn

 

Redemption

O wonderful words of the Gospel!
O wonderful message they bring,
Proclaiming a blessèd redemption
Thro’ Jesus, our Savior and king.

Refrain

Believe, oh, believe, in His mercy
That flows like a fountain so free;
Believe, and receive the redemption
He offers to you and to me.

He came from the throne of His glory,
And left the bright mansions above,
The world to redeem from its bondage;
So great His compassion and love.

Refrain

O come to this wonderful Savior,
Come, weary and sorrow oppressed;
Behold on the cross how He suffered,
That you in His kingdom might rest.

Refrain

There’s no other refuge but Jesus,
No shelter where lost ones may fly;
And now, while He’s tenderly calling:
O turn ye, for why will ye die?

Refrain

Words: Fanny Crosby, 1887.

70 Strong!

A very Happy Birthday to my dear husband. He finally has entered my decade. Since this is his big 7-0, there will be lots of photos and memories of many of the seven decades of his life so far. He started out his life in the fifties. His only brother is four years older than him. He was raised in a Christian home in Southern California. His father was called up to heaven in 1985 and his mother joined his father in 1997.

Early years living on Cattaraugus in Culver City.

The bottom left photo has a description written on the back of the photo by his mom.

His maternal relatives lived in Colorado and came for visits.

Great Aunt Matilda from Kansas. She never forgot the birthdays of her nieces, nephews, grandnieces and grandnephews and sent a card on time. She even sent birthday greetings to the spouses of all. I was the recipient of many birthday greetings from her.

‘

Uncle from Denver and Greg’s dad in the background.

Maternal grandparents and an uncle from Denver.

They moved to a house on Centinela and this was the house they lived in until after we were married.

When this photo was taken, he had no idea he’d end up marrying a Russian girl from the eastside of Los Angeles.

G-enerous with his time and talents and tools

R-eliable

E-xcellent work ethic

G-rounded in God’s Word

O-perating Engineer

R-esourceful

Y-ounger than me. 🙂

There will be much more to share in celebration posts to follow this one.

Happy Birthday, Greg. I’m so glad God created you and brought the two of us together to celebrate many birthdays together.

Truth for Today #71

Thursday September 7th

On Thursdays my posts will include verses that stood out in my readings from the Bible during the week. One, two, three or maybe more. If you have a verse/verses that you read during the week and would like to share, leave it/them in the comments and I will add it/them to the post. Let’s dig deep in God’s Truth again this year!

Notice: Truth for Today will resume in October.

Ephesians 4:29-32

Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

From Vera:

“Therefore David blessed the Lord in the presence of all the assembly. And David said: “Blessed are you, O Lord, the God of Israel our father, forever and ever. Yours, O Lord, is the greatness and the power and the glory and the victory and the majesty, for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom, O Lord, and you are exalted as head above all. Both riches and honor come from you, and you rule over all. In your hand are power and might, and in your hand it is to make great and to give strength to all. And now we thank you, our God, and praise your glorious name.”

‭‭1 Chronicles‬ ‭29‬:‭10‬-‭13‬ ‭ESV‬‬

From Mrstnh:

“He maketh the storm a calm, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad because they are quiet; so He bringeth them into their desired haven.” (Psalm 107:29-30)

 

We Love our Books Hodgepodge

Jo From This Side of the Pond has a new batch of questions for us to mull over and answer for Wednesday Hodgepodge. Thanks, Jo!

1. It’s National Read A Book Day…whatcha’ reading? What’s a book you want to read?

We have books in many rooms in our home.  Our study books and cookbooks and resource books are in our office. Greg and I both have desks that face each other in our office and we each have bookshelves behind our desks. In the playroom we have a bookshelf full of good children’s and young adult books.  In the ‘blue’ room we have some of our favorite literature and other books by C.S. Lewis, Tolkien, MacDonald, and a lot of classics. We have full sets of Beatrix Potter’s The World of Peter Rabbit series. We have the full set of Anne books by L.M. Montgomery. Other authors we enjoy are Elizabeth Goudge, Dorothy Sayers, Walter Brooks~(Freddy the Pig series), Brian Jacques delightful Redwall series, the Dune series in the world of Science Fiction and more from that genre. For more serious reading we enjoy John Piper, R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, Alistair Begg, Charles Spurgeon, and Martin Lloyd Jones.

Currently I’ve been concentrating on reading Ephesians in the New Testament of the Bible this summer alongside a commentary of Ephesians by John MacArthur. Daily I like to springboard into my morning reading by a short devotional by Alistair Begg, a living preacher and writer, and Charles Spurgeon, a dead ‘Prince of Preachers’.

I have a couple of books on my desk right now that I’d like to read. All That Jesus Commanded, The Christian Life According to the Gospels, by John Piper and a short book, The 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith in Modern English.

2. Which is better…having high expectations or low expectations? Explain why. 

I’m going to say it’s better to have high expectations with a clause thrown in. Reach higher but don’t beat yourself up when you don’t quite reach the height. Keep pressing on. Encourage and don’t discourage someone who is trying to reach something higher than themselves.

You have to be careful about YOUR expectations for other people.

3. Serenity is________________________. 

Being at peace with God and the people around you. Another clause thrown in…as much as it is up to you, be at peace with those around you. Sometimes those you would like to be at peace with don’t want to cooperate.

4. What’s  the most interesting thing in your purse or pocket right now? 

Things are pretty standard and boring right now. I do have an overabundance of 1 dollar bills at the moment.

5. What helps you calm down? 

Knowing that ultimately I AM NOT IN CHARGE!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I will be missing from Wednesday Hodgepodge the next 3 Wednesdays because I’ll be enjoying some new scenery across the pond. Dublin, Belfast, York, Yorkshire Dales and Liverpool are all on the schedule for us. Liverpool for a soccer game, Liverpool v. West Ham at Anfield stadium. Cheers and Sláinte to you all. 

See you in October when Fall/Autumn are just beginning.