Still Praying…

There were some major events that started fervent prayers in 2015 that will continue into 2016. I’ve shared some of these but have kept some off my blog. Some things we prayed for in 2015 were answered in different ways and the need to pray has ceased.

These we continue to pray about and I’ll share here in hopes that you might want to pray about them, too. I use the word dear a lot in this post!

This little one is David the Warrior. He is near and dear to us.

This photo collage above shows our dear friend Dave and our son Daniel at Daniel’s wedding and then each of them holding little David Daniel at different stages. David Daniel’s dad, Jamie, was suppose to be in our Daniel’s wedding but his wife and unborn son were in crisis in the pregnancy and there was no way he could be away from them. Dan’s wedding was June 27th and little David Daniel was born shortly after. Here are his mother’s words.

…”After being born at just 1 pound 7oz at only 25 weeks. We spent more than 117 days in the nicu, 3 surgeries 2 hospitals and defying all odds with constant prayer. We are beyond blessed to have brought our miracle baby boy David Daniel home this week. Thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for your love, support and prayers. We are beyond grateful and thankful. There are truly no words to describe this moment of bringing our miracle warrior baby home and to be all together as a family. “

They brought him home at the end of October.

Little David Daniel has had one more surgery (early December) since he came home and is now recovering from that. When God puts little David Daniel on your mind please continue to pray for him and the whole family.

Our friend David is David Daniel’s paternal grandfather. Here is a photo of him and his wife Beth. We have become close friends over the years because of the friendship of our Dan and their Jamie starting in 2nd grade. Dave is having struggles of his own fighting lung cancer. When God puts him on your heart please pray for Dave as he continues his struggle.

After the wedding ceremony a message/toast was read by our Josh from Jamie letting Daniel know that his son would be named after his grandfather David and that his middle name would be Daniel after our Daniel. We were all so touched at this honor for both David and our Daniel. The toast also talked about Daniel’s loyalty to his friends over the years. A very meaningful moment at the wedding!

Our Daniel wasn’t able to meet his namesake in person till just last week. So sweet.

It can get confusing when we talk about Dan and Jamie because Dan’s new bride’s name is Jamie, too.

While little David Daniel was at Children’s Hospital in Seattle he had a special visitor, Russell Wilson of the Seahawks Football team. That was an encouragement to everyone.

We have other prayers that are continuing into 2016 but at the top of our list are these two Davids. Grandpa and grandson. Please pray with us as we pray for them.

Such a privilege and joy to meet this little guy that we have been praying for and will continue to pray for in 2016! Can’t wait to see him running after his older sister!

ht: photos from the wedding that I shared here are taken by Jeremy Leffel

Feeding 50 in Style…

What a beautiful cold day we had for Thanksgiving this year. We drove over the freeway and through the burbs to arrive at our dear friends Dave and Jody’s home overlooking the Puget Sound for our Thanksgiving day celebration.

In the main dining room seating for 21 or more…

In the kitchen nook seating for 15.

In the entry seating for up to 14 kids…

We started with appetizers…

We enjoyed meeting new friends and seeing old friends.

Our hosts daughter Jamie with our daughter Katie.

Dear was the master carver. Jody made a turkey in the oven and Dave smoked a turkey in his green egg. Jody also made “Deena’s Potatoes, and stuffing and gravy and her yearly traditional mushroom lasagna. Her soup starter this year was dairy free, roasted butternut soup and she made special potatoes for our son Josh without dairy. She’s a gem in the kitchen and in hosting huge parties!! Others of us contributed some other sides like yams, broccoli salad, spinach salad, corn bread casserole, and rolls.

Andrew and Katie…

Cousins, Jamie and Matt.

Our hosts Canadian nephew with his wife on the right and our son Josh and hosts daughter Lucy in the middle.

My sister Lana with her hubby Steve.

This little sweetie with her parents is the first grand babe of our friends Gregg and Tami.

My brother Tim and wife Letty.

Our host Dave with Dear.

The beautiful Puget Sound.

My friend Jan brought the dessert for our meal. This fun display along with 4 delicious pies.

Apple, Pumpkin, Berry and Banana Cream Pie!

We had a great time exchanging sentiments to each other on why we are thankful for them in our lives. I didn’t get photos of the annual turkey shoot that is such a treat for the children.

Hope you had a wonderful time, too.

It’s the People…

…that are the church of Jesus Christ. Wherever believers are together you will see the love and the light of Christ. This is my people post. These people came together in love to support my sister Vera and her kids. They came to love one another and to serve one another and to comfort one another.

My sister’s family.

The Bagdanov cousins with a few missing.

Many of the grandchildren with our pop.

Our kids all together for the first time since Dan and Jamie’s wedding.

Dear’s SIL Christina and our nieces Kacie and Annie, with our Dan and Jamie.

Katie and Andrew with cousin Kacie.

Kelly, Christina and Lydia.

Svetlana and Irina.

Tanya and Fred. They are cousins.

John with Nick’s brother in law Alex and sister Nadia.

Nick’s sister Janet with her sons George and Victor. I spent some time with George and Victor in the critical care waiting room at Cedar Sinai and was moved by their love and concern for Nick and Vera. They spent hours at the hospital on Saturday and Sunday and made sure Vera had something to eat and drink.

Diane with my cousin Jim and Jeaneen.

Vera and Lee, a friend from our days at Evangelical Free Church Huntington Beach.

My cousin Katrina with Jaydee.

Heidi with my cousins Nina and Helen.

Paul, Diane, Vera, Valia, Christine, and George. Valia is my cousin and Vera is her aunt. Paul is Vera’s son. Diane says she and Vera were my Sunday School teachers when I was in kindergarten at Bethany Baptist Church. Diane and Christine are sisters. George’s parents were good friends of my parents from their time in Iran and after they immigrated to the U.S.A. We were in youth group together, too.

My cousin Tanya and sister Kathy.

Milla with her husband Ron and my girlfriend Shirley’s husband Chuck, friendships that started at Bethany Baptist Church. Milla’s mother and my mom were good friends in Tehran and in the U.S.A.

Cousin and cousin’s of cousins, Milla, Tanya, Manya, Shirley and Vera.

The couple on the left whose names are Nick and Vera met at my sister Vera and Nick’s wedding back in 1969. They started dating and were later married. Fun story. John and my cousin Valia are on the right.

My best friend from Bethany Baptist with her daughter and our son Josh and dil Laura.

Laura, Nicole, me and Heidi.

I missed taking a photo of many others that attended.

There are stories behind the centerpieces Nick’s kids, nieces and nephews came up with for the tables at the reception. Nick was known for his white t-shirts. He was most comfortable in a white t-shirt and shorts. When the weather was colder he enjoyed short sleeved sweatshirts and shorts. If you ever asked Nick for something or thanked him for a meal he prepared at his house for you he would always say “that will be a quarter” or “just give me a quarter”. There was always a small pile of quarters on the kitchen counter. When Lenny asked for Debbee’s hand in marriage he gave Nick a quarter. He had a bag of quarters in his car just in case Nick didn’t think one quarter was enough for permission to marry Debbee. At the wedding when Nick handed Debbee over to Lenny at the end of the aisle Lenny handed him a quarter.

When I walked up to the casket with my sister Vera she placed this quarter in Nick’s hand. Tears were flowing…

There and Back Again…

Yesterday I put a dress on (gasp!) and grabbed my passport and headed to Chilliwack B.C. to attend a tea planned in honor of our own dear Kathy of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook. Kathy’s Mother-in-law Eileen invited us all to her lovely home and treated us to a very special time. What a wonderful example to all of us girls Eileen is as she chose to bless her daughter-in-law in this special way!

We missed our Manitoba girls, Betty and Charlotte!

Every detail was well thought out and chosen. Beautiful china, silver and 100 year old crystal goblets graced the beautiful table.

After we gathered Eileen shared some thoughts about Kathy using the letters of her name to describe some of Kathy’s attributes. Kind, active, thoughtful, honest, and youthful were just some of the words to describe Kathy. We raised our beautiful glasses to toast our dear friend.

Have you ever seen or enjoyed one of these sandwich loaves? This was my first and I was in awe!

I set aside my de-fluffing regiment on this day because it truly was a day for feasting not fasting!

We found our spots at the table and Eileen offered a blessing on our food and time together. Before we filled our plates for our main course Kathy’s father-in-law, who was our gracious butler for the afternoon, served us our soup course which was a lovely cold Raspberry soup…delicious and refreshing. After we filled our plates and enjoyed our main course there was a light and fluffy Pavlova with strawberries for dessert. Did I mention feasting not fasting?

Kathy is in the center of the collage and her mother-in-law Eileen is above her. Lovella, Eileen, Anneliese, Judy, Kathy, Bev, Marg, Ellen and Julie.

We all reflected on how nice it was to be served in such a special way. It was a wonderful time of catching up with each other. A great time of witnessing Bill and Eileen working together as a couple to help and honor each other and to be a great example of hospitality in action. We were all blessed and our cups were filled to overflowing.

I wanted to share this post before I’m in full swing wedding mode! Prayers appreciated for the blessed event coming up!

Make New Friends but Keep the Old…

…One is silver, the other gold.

I’m linking up to ABC Wednesday for O is for Old and for the fact that this post will go on and on! Thank you Denise Nesbitt, Roger, and the ABC team!

One day, four events! I flew from Seattle to Santa Ana (California) on Saturday and had a full day filled with time with old friends!

I arrived at John Wayne Airport at 8:30 A.M. and drove to La Habra, California. My pop and I went to his favorite breakfast spot and I treated him to breakfast. This is what he always orders, 2 sunny side up eggs, hash browns and sausage. He enjoyed every bite of food and each slurp of his coffee.

My pop is now living with my oldest sister and thriving. He lets me know frequently how much he loves the chair Dear and I bought him. Lately he’s occupied with jigsaw puzzles.

At 11:30 A.M. I drove down Whittier Blvd. to our dear friend Alice’s home for a Baby shower in her beautiful back yard!

This is Alice with her son who will be holding his new son soon and this will be Alice’s first grand baby! Alice has always had an open home and is the most hospitable lady. Many of us at the shower have been graced with hours of good times in her home with good food to eat.

The new dad and mom to be with our friend Natalie in the middle praying a blessing on them, the baby and the festivities.

My best friend from college days and beyond, Heidi, with her daughter Nikki.

My nieces Melissa, Michelle and my SIL Kelly.

Heidi, Alice and I had some fun adventures in our college days. Alice lived in San Francisco and we spent time with her there and she came down to L.A. to spend time with us. We hadn’t seen each other for over 35 years!

I caught my sister enjoying her food with my blast from the past friend, Alice.

I took off from the baby shower before gifts were opened to drive on 2 more freeways to get to my high school mini reunion.

We had a great turnout with close to 50 grads from Montebello High School showing up.

I was so happy to see my friend from elementary school days through high school at the reunion. I hadn’t seen her for over 46 years!

Lots of good memories came back to me and I have to admit some of the people that were there didn’t drum up any memories from my dear old brain.

These girls I’ll never forget. Nancy on the left was my good buddy and Anne her cousin is on my right.

I left the reunion after 4 hours and finally headed to my hotel to check in at 6:30.

My dear nephew David and niece Kristin picked me up at the hotel door to take me out to dinner at 7:00. They had been out on a boat with their friends for the afternoon. How sweet of them to take the time and treat me to dinner and catch up conversation.

My hotel experience was good to start with and I fell asleep exhausted since I had been up since 3:15 am. At 1:15 the room next door was visited by some very loud guests who were pounding on the door. I woke from such a deep sleep that I was disoriented and didn’t know where I was for a few moments. My heart was racing. I called the front desk and they said they’d come up and talk to them. It took me a long time to fall back to sleep and then they woke me up again at 5:30 a.m. oye and bother!! When I talked to the front desk in the morning the person behind the desk said they’d take a percentage off my room. When I got back to my room I got a phone call from another person on staff who told me how sorry he was for my experience and that they would comp my room and I didn’t have to pay anything.

One day filled with so many old memories and friends. I’ll put the hotel experience way behind me!

A Whirlwind of Activity!

Bright and early on Saturday morning I’m flying to Southern California for a whirlwind day. The original reason for booking the flight was to attend a high school mini-reunion that my dear friend Nancy is hosting at the clubhouse in the development where she lives.

We from Montebello High School were known as the Oilers.

I enjoyed being a Song Leader for my Junior and Senior years of High School.

We had some fun and crazy times at Montebello Dear Old High.

Our high school was fed by a couple Junior Highs back then. I really loved the old architecture of Montebello Junior High which had to be torn down since my time there.

Time will tell how many of my friends from the class of ’68 I’ll get to see tomorrow.

But…that’s not all I’m doing on Saturday. On Saturday morning I get to see my dear old Pop!

I’m happy to report he is thriving now that he is living with and being cared for by my sister Kathy and her husband Len. I’m so grateful to them and to God for the despair that has been lifted off my pop’s heart.

After a visit with my pop and on the way to my reunion I’m popping in to a baby shower that our dear family friend Alice is giving her daughter in law. This will be Alice’s first grandchild. The timing of the shower works out perfect.

My sister Kathy with our friend Alice.

Stopping in on the shower I’ll be able to see many of my friends from the church I grew up in. Good thing I’m not an introvert! All this people time would be overwhelming.

I’ve got to get organized now for my trip. If you don’t hear from me for a while you’ll know I packed in way too much even for an outgoing person for a day in sunny California!

Joyful, Joyeux, Joy…

…can’t get enough of these great words beginning with J. My weekend was filled with many joyful moments. It was my birthday weekend and I celebrated with friends and family.

That one card I received pictured top left was hilarious. “It’s Birthday!, Blow out candles and make wish for good thing! Won’t get but is fun tradition anyway. Wishing you to have Happy Birthday”

Still going on the Russian theme I received this fabulous apron and kitchen towel from my daughter in law’s mother. Thank you Pat! So sweet that she thought of me when she saw these Matryoshka themed gifts. Things like this from my heritage give me joy.

I was overloaded with gifts including a tasty meal out from our dear friends, Dave and Beth. This Gusla with the beautiful painted Russian Fairy Tale scene was part of the things Beth brought for me or someone in my family to enjoy. It’s a great instrument that is simple to play with cards that slip under the strings showing you the strings to strum playing the tune. I played Happy Birthday to Me on my birthday morning feeling quite accomplished!

On Sunday afternoon we drove to downtown Seattle for dinner and live Irish music at Fado, an Irish pub with our oldest, youngest and their fabulous spouses. Our middle son lives 6 hours away so he couldn’t join us but he sent along a card. The company and music was fabulous. I received such wonderful written notes from each of our children that really brought me so much joy.

The food was good, too. A little Irish and a little Russian made for a nice meeting of two cultures!

And I’ll end this post with my ABC Bible Verse Card for the letter J!

Knowing I have a God who does not change and who is faithful brings me a lot of joy and peace.

Linking up with ABC Wednesday with thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt and her ABC team who keep things going each week.

Here and There…

Here on Friday night we had our nephew Caleb with his wife Marie with us for dinner and dessert and a little catch-up on what’s going on in our lives. Caleb and Marie live in Santa Barbara so we don’t get to see them often. It was fun to have these cousins together in Washington. This might have been the first time that Andrew met them in person.

On Sunday we went “there” to Tacoma to spend a few hours celebrating with our beautiful friends that include our family in many special occasions.

Wonderful food, drink and conversations with these treasured friends celebrating our Savior.

Lucy * Katie * Jamie * Bridget

It was great to see these four beauties together. It’s been a long time. Jamie has just gotten back from a two year trip around the world on her own. Lucy, Jamie and Bridget are sisters and Katie has pretty much grown up with them as her friends. Jamie was Katie’s maid of honor.

Just in case you missed our great news that I posted on Saturday, I’ll repeat it here. Our son Dan asked his girlfriend Jamie to marry him and she said yes. We are looking forward to a wedding in 2015 over there in Dan and Jamie’s neck of the woods.

I’m happy to report I’m headed to the post office on Monday to finally mail off our Christmas cards. We have a few free days until Christmas. We’ll have a quiet Christmas Eve attending a service at church. On Christmas day we’ll have a full day of celebrating. Josh, Laura, Katie and Andrew will spend the night here on Christmas Eve and wake up for stockings and breakfast. Dan and Jamie will arrive from Eastern Washington in time for dinner so we’ll wait to open gifts till after dinner. We are looking forward to seeing the ring in person and hearing about details and plans.

I’ll probably be scarce for a while. How are things coming along at your house?

November Photo a Day Challenge

Since I’m having a hard time posting one photo-a-day I’ve decided to post days 2 through 8 of Kati’s photo challenge in one post. On November 1st I did post the first challenge prompt, my name starts with here.

November 2nd ~ Number

This is a special number for Dear and I this year. We were married in 1974 so on December 6th we celebrate 40 years of marriage. I thought it was fun that the Seattle Sounders are celebrating their 40th anniversary, too. We celebrated already this year with a trip to England but that won’t stop us from celebrating on the actual day, too.

November 3rd ~ Leaf

We had a very blustery, stormy day on Thursday of this week and I tried to catch a leaf falling. I’m glad this one was facing my camera for a second!

November 4th ~ Brown

This photo was taken at the church that was used in Downton Abbey for the weddings. The little town where some of the filming is done is called Bampton and we had a fun quick visit there reliving some of the scenes.

November 5th ~ Cozy

November 6th ~ Pumpkin

November 7th ~ Friend

November 8th ~ Table

Thank you Kati for the November Photo A Day Challenge.

We woke up to beautiful sunshine today. We had such a blustery day yesterday with a mix of brightness and darkness throughout the day. I managed to to fill a yard waste bin full of leaves in between rain showers. The wind gusts are of course made more leaves fall. Hopefully the dryness will last so we can mow the lawn for the last time till Spring. Looking forward to a weekend at home after being away last weekend.

Have a great weekend y’all!

Gatherning the Moments ~ June

Looking back at June and all that took place around this old house and beyond.

I’m joining Cheryl at Thinking About Home for Gathering the Moments.

Trees came down, firewood cut, patio covers went up, peonies bloomed and were enjoyed, hydrangeas just started to color.

Main floor bathroom renovations began with the gutting process, removing everything to the studs and car deck, adding a new window, adding recessed lights and a fan/heater, replacing the ceiling dry wall.

Visitors came from the South and visitors came from the North. Tours commenced. The Market, Kerry Park, the Troll, Ballard Locks, Ste Michelle Winery, Whidbey Island, Queen Mary Tea Room, and University Village just to name a few destinations visited.

Celebrations in June included a retirement, combined Mother’s Day/Father’s Day dinner, and a wedding in the Portland area.

World Cup fever began and continues!

It’s been a while since I shared a photo of my dear old Pop on my blog. Most every week my sister Lana and niece Melissa join him for dinner at his apartment. This last week my niece Debbee and sister Kathy joined in the fun, too. They are getting real good at taking these selfies. My pop still has his ups and downs with his loneliness but he can still move around well and gets out to his church services and a Bible Study weekly. I appreciate seeing the weekly photos on Facebook since I live so far away…

I have to say that June just flew by this year. July holds many new adventures for us. We are looking forward to a trip to England to celebrate our 40 years of marriage, and when we get back the Bathroom renovation will be completed. What are you looking forward to in July?

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Friends