Farewell February!

To send you off I’ll share some favorites from your last week. It was a nice mix of busy and quiet. Thank you Susanne for keeping us thinking about things we should be grateful for.

1. Last Friday Katie and I met Dear downtown and enjoyed a Happy Hour meal together and then a short drive to the Seattle Home Show. We had a good time talking to different vendors and seeing some new home products at the show.

2. On Saturday morning we met Judy and Elmer for breakfast at a restaurant close to their travel route. We had a good time enjoying some good food and carefree conversation. We sent them on their way in some sloppy snow.

3. We’ve had some nice dry sunny days in a row this week and I was able to get out and do a little trimming and cleaning up of some beds. I’m always grateful for some extra light in the day!

4. Although this photo isn’t from this past Sunday, this group was together with us for brunch here at our home and we had such a wonderful time getting caught up with each other and sharing the latest greatest. The food was good, too. Dear made his Swedish Pancakes and we had fresh strawberries and bacon to go with the fresh off the griddle pancakes.

5. A new look for our living room windows. Little changes are good every once in a while.

My bonus favorite this week is that our son Dan is arriving on Friday with his girlfriend to spend a couple nights and several meals with us. It’s been fun stocking the refrigerator and making one of Dan’s favorites for his time here this weekend.

What are your plans for the weekend?

Friday Already

Friday has a way of arriving sooner when you have a Monday holiday or at least it seems that way. So many things to be thankful for and I’m joining Susanne and a few of my bloggy friends in sharing Friday’s Fave Five.

1. I’m always grateful for a little sunshine in between the rain showers.

2. A heart shaped box of hand picked candy from See’s. Katie and I went to See’s on Valentines day morning and we hand picked 2 boxes. One of the boxes came home with us for Dear, Katie and me to enjoy and the other box was dropped off at my son’s office for him and my daughter in law to enjoy.

3. Our tax prep appointment is behind us and I always give a sigh of relief when that is done. Hopefully we’ll hear good news when the accountant completes all the forms. Some people don’t mind preparing their returns themselves but I am grateful for someone to do that for me.

4. I’ve been continuing my quest of scanning some of our old photos and as I look at them I’m grateful for my little Russian grandmother who prayed for all of us and prayed for the people we would marry. This grandmother was widowed just before she immigrated to the U.S.A. When she was young she lost one of her arms up to her elbow. She still was able to raise her children and do any housekeeping without modern conveniences. She did more with one hand than many people do with two. She was a great cook and she was a talented embroiderer. We called her our little babushka. I’m the one in the yellow dress with the Buster Brown hair. This was taken at Easter in the 50’s.

5. Today Katie and I are meeting Dear downtown for Happy Hour and then we are going to the Seattle Home Show. Looking forward to the good food and seeing what’s new out there for the home. We are specifically looking for products for a bathroom remodel.

Do you have any favorites from this week? Hope you have a good weekend.

Valentine Favorites

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! It’s time for Friday’s Fave Five with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story. Here are my favorites from this past week.

1. A surprise snowfall last Sunday. Glad it all washed away on Monday. Sorry for those of you that really wish snow was in your past right now.

2. A safe trip back and forth to Canada on Tuesday to enjoy a nice lunch with some of the Mennonite Girls and a tour of Matthew’s House in Abbotsford.

3. Meeting some dear friends for dinner on Thursday at our local haunt. So good to see them and talk to them. I didn’t take a photo boohoo.

4. A beautiful bunch of tulips from Costco that we’ve enjoyed all week. They are similar to these that were growing in Mount Vernon last April.

5. A no pressure Valentine’s Day plan. I bought steaks for Dear to barbecue and we’ll bake some potatoes and have salad. No fighting the crowds.

This is the start of a long weekend here in the states and for some of you in Canada. We celebrate President’s Day on Monday. Hope you all have a great one!

An Electric Week!

What a week we’ve had in Seattle. Here are my favorites in no particular order.

1. Enjoying our home team winning the Super Bowl! There’s something so rich about unbridled joy.

2. Being able to replace our older dishwasher with a new one installed without a hitch.

3. Some clear skies albeit quite chilly for us here in Western Washington. We were in the teens today and we never made it over freezing on our hill. It’s so dry and cold that my first touch on light switches and my computer buttons sends a little shock through my fingers…”electric”.

4. Hearing some good news from Andrew in Afghanistan is always a favorite.

5. Talking to my pop and hearing hope in his voice. We bought him a recliner that he is really enjoying and I found this photo from the late 1960’s of him in a recliner that makes me smile. This photo was taken on Christmas day in the afternoon after our lunch and before we headed back to Sunday night services…

What are your favorites this week?

You can join us at Living to Tell the Story for this weekly event that Susanne hosts.

Five Words

This week for Friday’s Fave Five I’m sharing five words that stood out from my reading in the month of January. Thank you Susanne for hosting this meme each Friday. I’m including random photos with the post.

For this new year I’ve challenged myself to read 5 Psalms a day, One Proverb and concentrate on relearning Romans 12: 1-2. I’ve read around the Romans verses and that’s where the word inscrutable came from.

1. Inscrutable: not readily investigated, interpreted, or understood

Romans 11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

2. Extol: to praise (someone or something) highly

3. Steadfast: firmly fixed in place

4. Redeem, Redeemer, Redeemed: to make (something that is bad, unpleasant, etc.) better or more acceptable, (Ecclesiastical Terms) The Redeemer Jesus Christ as having brought redemption to mankind, saved from the bondage of sin.

5. Refuge: 1. Protection or shelter, as from danger or hardship. 2. A place providing protection or shelter. 3. A source of help, relief, or comfort in times of trouble.

Great Is the Lord

Psalm 145: 1-10 (ESV)

1 I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
²Every day I will bless you
and praise your name forever and ever.
³Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised,
and his greatness is unsearchable.

⁴One generation shall commend your works to another,
and shall declare your mighty acts.
⁵On the glorious splendor of your majesty,
and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
⁶They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds,
and I will declare your greatness.
⁷They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness
and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.

⁸The Lord is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
⁹The Lord is good to all,
and his mercy is over all that he has made.

¹⁰All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord,
and all your saints shall bless you!

I’ll be around to visit your favorites, soon. We are gearing up for game day here. Can’t be avoided when your home team is playing in the Super Bowl. Truth be told watching NFL games is not my favorite thing to do but we will rejoice with Seattle and enjoy the game.

In the Midst of Fog…

…there are still favorites. Things to be thankful for that shine through no matter what. I’m joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story for Friday’s Fave Five.

1. January is a big birthday month at our house. Joshua’s birthday was on Sunday. We celebrated earlier in the month and the photo above was part of our celebration. Our Son Dan’s birthday was on the 16th and his girlfriend’s birthday was on the 15th. This year we celebrated Dan from afar while he celebrated in Eastern Washington. My brother Tim celebrated his birthday and our niece Hope will celebrate her birthday on Saturday. We love to celebrate our loved ones and that’s my first favorite this week.

Our son Dan and his girlfriend Jamie

2. My dear old pop has been having a hard time with a lot of shoulder pain and when he’s in so much pain he misses my mom even more. I was happy to see this photo of him with my niece Melissa enjoying a meal out and looking so alive and pain free. He has been feeling better and the pain with medication has been more manageable. I’m so thankful my father’s pain has been relieved.

3. We’ve been in quite a foggy overcast pattern here in the Puget Sound area. The afternoons where the sun finally broke through were another favorite of mine this week.

4. An early morning walk with Dear on Saturday was a blessing. It’s always good to get out and get some exercise in the Winter when we tend to want to stay inside and be couch potatoes. We were treated to some Eagle sightings.

5. Another favorite is visiting my bloggy friends each week. This week one of my favorite posts was this one from Gumbo Lily. I love seeing how other people live in different environments than my own and thrive “Day by Day”.

What were your favorites this week?

Update: I posted this last night and this morning I woke up to beautiful clear skies and amazing sunshine! Woohoo!

Lots to be Thankful For…

So many blessings to think about and be thankful for. Today I’m joining Susanne at Living to Tell the Story with Friday’s Fave Five . My Favorites for this week will revolve around Katie’s trip to Southern California. For those of you who don’t visit very often our daughter Katie has been living with us since September while our Son-in-Law, Andrew is serving with the Marine Corp in Afghanistan. She will be with us until his return sometime in the Spring. When we get a more definitive return date she and I will drive their car and some belongings across country from Washington to North Carolina and try to set up some type of living arrangement before his arrival. Now I’m ready with the Five…

1. That Katie could spend some time with my dear old pop while she was in Southern California. The photo above is of the two of them from last year at the senior apartment building where he lives.

2. That Katie was able to spend 2 fun packed days at Disneyland with some of her cousins. The goal was to see Disneyland while it was still all decorated for Christmas. Katie’s cousins have Disney year long passes and Katie was able to get a great 3 day pass for a good military discount.

3. I was talking to my pop this morning and he was telling me that he thanks God every day for his children, his grandchildren and his great grandchildren. It is so pleasing to see how well this group of cousins gets along and how much they love each other. The above photo was taken in Southern California in March of 2013.

4. From December 3rd thru January 19th we celebrate the birthdays of four of our children. I’m so thankful for each one of them and how unique they are. I’m also very thankful that they love each other and can talk to each other and laugh at each other! Tonight we will be celebrating Josh about 9 days early but he’ll be gone next weekend serving at Junior High Winter camp so like always we go with the flow and celebrate whenever we can.

This photo is from Laura’s birthday celebration early in December…

5. We are thankful for our son-in-law, Andrew. He is serving all of us in harms way. I like to post this photograph every so often to remind anyone who visits here that many of our young men and women are away from the comforts of home serving our country and to remind us to pray for them that they will return home safe and sound. Semper Fi!

What are you thankful for today?

Fashionably Late…

Here I sit on this Friday after, Black Friday, It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas Friday, still in my robe Friday but still very thankful Friday!

I’m joining in with Susanne at Living to Tell the Story with my favorites from this past week. Five (or so) faves but lots more than five photos!

1. I’m thankful for this leftover photo of when my kids were all together a couple weekends ago.

2. I’m thankful for our Son-in-law, Andrew, serving his country in Afghanistan. He had to have Thanksgiving in what he calls the sandbox.

This photo is from his cold weather training for Afghanistan.

3. I’m thankful for some leisurely shopping the evening before Thanksgiving with Dear and Katie topped off with Happy Hour at Daniel’s Broiler in Bellevue. I know from here on out it will be crazy out there in the stores. I am still sitting here in my robe on this Black Friday with no intentions of going anywhere.

A good meal with a lovely view with people you love…priceless.

We could see all the way across Lake Washington to downtown Seattle.

I’m always grateful to see a glorious sunset!

4. We were invited to our friend’s home for Thanksgiving. There were forty five of us gathered and the food was amazing and oh so plentiful. I made double the amount of yams needed and I could have fed a whole neighborhood with just the yams. Oye. By the time we ate my memory card was full so I can’t show you the ginormous pan of yams with marshmallows on top browned to perfection. You’re going to have to take my word for it.

The cousins table, the kid table and the collective table. The collective table was for those of us who had the most collective Thanksgivings…translation ~ the old people table! We had those of us starting in the 50’s to two matriarchs that are very close to 90 represented.

Some of the younger guests!

When you see a crowd on the deck poised with their phones, quick, grab your camera and fun out there, too!

There was a cloud layer resting above the Puget Sound and at sunset we got a fun view of the Olympic Mountain range peeking out above the fog with the lovely colors of the sunset above. What you see with the naked eye is very hard to capture with a camera or phone. The view with the eyes God gave me was so much more spectacular than this photo.

5. I’m thankful that with our technology we can talk to and communicate with people across the world and in a different hemisphere than us. Our hosts’ youngest daughter is on a 2 year trek around the world living in different countries. We were able to communicate with her and see her on one of the I-phones from Australia.

Hi Jamie!! We love you and miss you! (Jamie was our Katie’s maid of honor)

Did I mention I’m still in my robe? I love the morning after Thanksgiving when there is nothing on the calendar and I can just dilly dally the day away!

Sunday starts another week of celebrations around this old house. Now that Thanksgiving is behind us I’ll start getting serious about Christmas, too. How about you? Have you started on Christmas?

Five of Many!

Whoa! It has been weeks and weeks since I participated in Susanne’s Fave Five at Living to Tell the Story and I have nothing but life to blame. Seasons come and seasons go but one thing never changes and remains and for that I am ever so grateful (Hebrews 13:8). Although I haven’t participated I have visited some of your Fives. Today it will be fun to see what all of you have been up to.

My Five Favorite things that I’m thankful for this past week:

1. That our family could get together for a early Thanksgiving celebration this past Saturday and we all got to meet and enjoy our son’s girlfriend.

2. For times together with the family away from our table. We had a nice time out on Sunday for brunch and a wee stroll around Pike Place Market in downtown Seattle.

3. For my faithful “Dear” who continues to work hard in the market place and at home and provides well for our household.

4. For reports we get from Afghanistan when our Son in law, Andrew , makes it back from “Missions” safe and sound.

5. For my pop’s well being since my mom died this past September. After living with your love for 70 years it’s not easy living alone. I enjoy getting the facebook photos from my sister and niece when they take him dinner on a weekly basis. Here’s another facebook photo my sister sent me that makes me smile. This is the first recliner he has ever called his own or chair for that matter. It took 90 years for him to get his favorite chair and Dear and I are so thankful we could buy it and have it delivered from 1200 miles away (the chair wasn’t delivered from that far but the arrangements were made from afar). He called me after it was delivered and said “lyena, when I sat down in the chair I just laughed, I was so happy.”

I think it still has the tags on it in this photo.

Bonus Fave: I’m so thankful that God loves me and sent His son to die in my place so that I can have so much hope for the future no matter what this life throws at me and for everything that comes and goes His love remains and He is the same.

Happy Thanksgiving and Gobble Gobble y’all!

A bonus question if you want to answer it (or are old enough to answer) as I noticed today is November 22nd and 50 years since the day JFK was assassinated. Where were you on that day when you heard the news? Did you know that C.S. Lewis died on this very day, too?

My answer: I was in 8th grade science class at Montebello Junior High in California. Our science teacher gave us the news. It was such a somber sad day at school. Each class we went to there were tears and disbelief and then we all went home and were glued to our televisions. It wasn’t until years later that I learned C.S. Lewis died on this day, too.

Count Them!

Here are my five blooming blessings for Susanne’s Friday’s Fave Five!

1. I got to enjoy 5 Peony blooms from my plant this year. Last year I only had two! Peonies really delight me.

2. Dear returned safely from his business trip to France and we enjoyed a relaxed Father’s Day weekend.

3. After non-stop activity for a few months we had a very slow uneventful week and that was good as we head into a flurry of prep work to replace all of our floors by the end of July.

4. Last Saturday my sister and I went on a garden tour in a neighboring city and enjoyed lots of wrong turns and laughter. A post is still coming about that morning…

5. Lots of good talks on the phone with our grown children this week. Our daughter and son-in-law are anticipating lots of changes over the next several months and it was good to be able to listen to all the possibilities and help them in the “waiting”. We are starting to get real excited about our plans for our England trip with our oldest son and DIL. We were waiting on the Premier League “Fixtures” to be released and now we can plan in earnest. (Fixtures are the teams schedules for the coming season) Now we are hoping we can actually get some tickets for the game we want to go to. Our son Dan is doing well on the other side of the mountains and that makes us happy.

Yesterday we had a solid day of rain. We are hoping for some dry time this weekend for some of our scheduled projects. Today is the first day of summer and looking out my window it’s hard to believe that. We joke around in the northwest that summer doesn’t really start up here until July 5th! Do you have some fun summer plans?

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Friday’s Fave Five