Tag Archives: Friends

Our God Cares for His Children…

My dear friend from Count it all Joy and The Matson Sisters has been having the struggle of her life this past week. Some of you may have visited her blog. She’s been in I.C.U. on a ventilator and unconscious. Kathy B. is my cousin Jim’s sister in law, my good college friend Jeanie’s sister. I introduced Jim and Jeanie to each other in college and they got married!  We’ve had a wonderful friendship over the years and through blogging Kathy B. has become my dear friend. Kathy B. has struggled with her form of cancer for 28 years. Our family and friends have been praying for consciousness and for Bill and Jeanie to be able to communicate with Kathy. We received amazing news on how God has been answering our prayers and Kathy regained consciousness and has been able to speak and give input on her care.  She was released from I.C.U. today. She will be released soon from the hospital to hospice care. We love you Kathy B. and thank God for your life and the impact you have had on ours! May God continue to prepare you and all of us for what he has for us…

If Death My Friend and Me Divide ~ Hymn

If Death My Friend and Me Divide

If death my friend and me divide,
Thou dost not, Lord, my sorrow chide,
Or frown my tears to see;
Restrained from passionate excess,
Thou bidst me mourn in calm distress
For them that rest in Thee.

I feel a strong immortal hope,
Which bears my mournful spirit up
Beneath its mountain load;
Redeemed from death, and grief, and pain,
I soon shall find my friend again
Within the arms of God.

Pass a few fleeting moments more
And death the blessing shall restore
Which death has snatched away;
For me Thou wilt the summons send,
And give me back my parted friend
In that eternal day.

Words: Charles Wesley, 1762.

Showers of Blessings…

My mom (Baba) and Katie

My sister-in-law from Dallas with mom.

Niece Melissa with Katie

Sisters by marriage, Katie and Laura. The sweetest sister Katie could ever ask for.

The nieces with Katie and Laura. We are missing 5 nieces in this photo.

My cousin Kathy (Katrina), my mom and my sister Kathy.

My sisters Kathy and Vera flanking my sister-in-laws Mandy and Letty.

Katie with our dear lifelong friend Alice.

My cousin Valia with her daughter Michelle.

Somebody told a great story here. I love the reaction. If I had to guess I’d say my sister Lana is the culprit!

The oldest to youngest sister photo. Kathy, Vera, Ellen, and Lana.

My sister Kathy gave a short devotional about being a married woman. She’s a great teacher!

My mother gave Katie some heirloom linens and other gifts.

Katie got everyone laughing when she whipped out her pocket knife to cut away wrappings. And I do mean whipped as in whipped it open in the air.

These are shoes Katie hung on to from her Grandmother Verna. Verna lived with us when Katie was little and they had a very special bond.

Melissa and Lana…partners in crime.

Michelle and Deb Deb taking a breather…

The girls frosted an all white cupcake for Katie.

My sister Kathy with her two daughters.

My Sister-in-law Christina and our niece Kacie with Katie.

Katie and me with our friends Alice and Svetlana.

The shower committee at the end of the night!…Just kidding….

It was such a blessing to be able to have so many of our family members and friends all together in one place for this event. Thank you all for coming.

A special thank you to Michelle for letting me use some of her photos from the shower. Thank you to all my family members who worked hard to pull it all together. We love you and appreciate you!

A Wonderful 4th of July Celebration…

When you have a loved one serving his country your 4th of July celebration takes on new meaning. Our daughter is able to skype with her Marine husband serving in Afghanistan when he is available and I’ve tried to capture the distinct smile she gets on her face when they are communicating miles apart from each other. This is a close capture but she caught me with my camera so the “look” is a little off…

We love to display the red, white, and blue here at our old house. I always hope to find some new red, white and blue treasures on clearance after the 4th!

Our pulled pork ready to be sauced up for our sandwiches!

Dear was ready to serve up some special red, white and blue drinks!

The best part of our celebrations are the people who join us to eat and enjoy fellowship together.

My sister Lana and her husband Steve were able to walk over and join us.

My dear friends of 26 years and walking buddies here in the Northwest Jody and Jan…

I always love to capture our daughter Katie in photos to post so her husband Andrew can enjoy them from miles away in Afghanistan!

Sisters!

Our dear Northwest friends and family. Thank you for joining us and making our celebration a special treat!

Roses from Jody’s garden…

Now I hope to be able to fall asleep with all the loud fireworks exploding in the skies around us…

Hope you all had a wonderful Independence Day celebration! Blessings!

FFF ~ I’m Hungry!

It’s time again to think about our favorites from this last week. Susanne at Living to Tell the Story is our hostess for this weekly event.

I cannot tell a lie but I can hardly wait till Friday afternoon when I can finally eat again. I’m having one of those procedures Friday morning that most of us dread so I’ve had to fast all day on Thursday and drink all that stuff they give you to get your innerds ready for them to poke around in. Ugh! Anyways seems the only favorites I can come up with all revolve around food.

 

1. Top of the list this week is meeting our dear friends on Tuesday for Happy Hour together. We ordered lots of great 1/2 price appetizers and enjoyed each other over food and drink. Good times.

2. Lunch with my daughter Katie on our way to start a registry for her and Andrew at Bed, Bath, and Beyond.

3. Dinner with Dear and Katie after we got back from D.C. at our favorite Mexican Restaurant in town.

4. Making breakfast Sunday after church for us all. The classic eggs, hashbrowns, and bacon with toast.

5. Going to a birthday/house warming party for a young friend and seeing lots of old friends we haven’t seen for quite a while. The food was good, too.

I’ll be gone very early Friday morning and don’t know when I’ll be back or how loopy I’ll be but I’ll try to get around after Dear takes me out to dinner on Friday night. How pathetic am I?

Oh and while I’m on the subject of food my recipe for this dish is on The Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog today.

 

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

A Lighter Spring Table…

…set for dinner with good friends of ours.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s fun to set a pretty table but it’s even better to enjoy a meal with our dear friends around the table.

I’m linking to Tablescape Thursday with Susan at Between Naps on the Porch.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with blurred out versions and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

My Cup Was Filled…

…to overflowing yesterday!

I keep thanking God for his goodness to me expressed in so many ways yesterday through family and friends. Truly it was a day full of joy and gladness for me from start to finish and I still get to celebrate today!

 

Our day started out with an invitation for brunch at Josh and Laura’s. What I didn’t know was that Dan had taken an extra day off so he could drive over the Cascades to help celebrate my birthday. I was so overjoyed to see him when he walked in the room. I just had to keep saying his name. Thank you Josh, Laura and Dear for surprising me! Thanks Dan for driving the 6 hours one way to celebrate my birthday. The last time we had seen Dan was at Christmas. Tonight the 5 of us are going out to dinner downtown.

From brunch Dear and I headed North to meet up with 5 of the Mennonite girls and their guys for dinner at the Chuckanut Manor.

 

We had a room to ourselves overlooking the Chuckanut Bay.

 

What fun to meet all the husbands. Thank you Anneliese, Marg, Lovella, Judy and Kathy for driving across the line with your husbands to join Dear and me for a wonderful evening. I’ll never forget it…unless old age messes with my brain.

 

The food was delicious and the conversations were lively.

 

There were songs sung and candles silenced. And if that wasn’t enough I got showered with cards and gifts from Canada and Africa. I also got showered with Loonies and Toonies to send to Willow for a classroom assignment. You might be wondering about that loaf of bread. It’s the Mennonite Girls Can Cook traveling loaf that began it’s journey the day the Mennonite Girls all met for the first time at the Abbotsford airport. Yep! It’s harder than a rock but it is traveling on…

 

The rain subsided for our dinner time and we were afforded some beautiful views.

 

 

 

Seriously I was overwhelmed in a good way and I don’t take for granted the gift of family and friends that God has blessed me with!

Sixty is looking real good!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ Friends, Food, Felicity…

Looking back over this last week again reminds me that I have so much to be thankful for. On Fridays we join Susanne at Living to Tell the Story with our 5 favorites.

1. Last Friday we went to our son’s open house for his new business. Dave, Jody, Bob and Jan were at the Open House the same time we were so Dave and Jody invited us all over for an impromptu dinner along with my sister Lana and her husband Steve. We had a wonderful time. The photo is from our trip to England in 2006 with Dave, Jody, Bob and Jan. Bob is taking the photo.

 

2. On Sunday night Dear and I met Bev and Harv for dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant. Bev is part of our Mennonite Girls Can Cook blog. Bev and Harv hosted me while the Mennonite Girls had their summit in Canada. They were in Seattle for the weekend. It was fun to have our husbands meet each other. During the evening we found out that our lives intersected more then we thought with Bev, Harv, one of their sons and DIL and our good old friends Dave and Jody that we had dinner with in #1.

 

3. Bev was very thoughtful to give me two bundles of beautiful hand made cards that she created. I will really enjoy using them. Thank you Bev!

‘

 

4. Valentine’s Day was a very nice day around here. I got beautiful red tulips from Dear with a card that really touched my heart. He also decided to cook a Valentine’s Day dinner for us which was wonderful. Steak & asparagus with a Bearnaise sauce, baked potato, and salad with a Persian dressing were on the menu. Katie helped with the salad dressing and sauce. It was all very yummy. After dinner the power went out for a few hours and we enjoyed each others company in the dark with candles and Katie reading to us.

5. All of a sudden it seems too many of my favorite shows are on T.V. again. Survivor started last night and the fun new twist with this show is that my sister Lana knows one of the contestants! We’ll be watching just to see how he does. He’s the nice looking older guy, Steve. Amazing Race starts on Sunday and I’m still watching Top Chef which is down to 6 contestants. Then there’s American Idol. Sheesh! Good thing some of the shows are on demand and we can watch at our convenience.

I’ve started a house cleaning routine on Fridays so I’ll be around to see your favorites later today when I’m sitting with my feet up after my cleaning workout!!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Dinner for Forty!

We’ve been sharing a Thanksgiving meal at the Spiro house for many years. They have always generously included any Thanksgiving company we might have. This year with their extended family, friends, and our group there were 40 for the meal.

 

This is the young adult table in the kitchen area of the home with places for 14. You can see the Puget Sound out the window. The older adult table is in the dining area and seated 20 this time around. The kids table was in the foyer with places for 6.

 

My brother Tim and his wife Letty are staying with us for the holiday.

My BIL Steve, Tim, Letty, and my sister Lana.

My friend Jan with my sister Lana.

Two of the 3 Spiro girls, Lucy and Bridget with Bridget’s youngest little guy Oliver.

I missed getting photos of our host and hostess and lots of the other 40 people. Some years I’m on, some years not so much.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ Family, Friends, Food!

Time to look back and remember your favorites from this past week. Visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in this worthwhile experience.

My favorites from this past week revolve around our immediate family being reunited for a few days.

 

Here are the guys, my husband with our sons. I love this photo of the three of them.

 

Our girls Katie and Laura with their special aunt Lana.

 

We took advantage of my sister being here so she could take a photo of all of us together. This will probably end up being our Christmas photo this year.

 

Our Thanksgiving gathering on Sunday is definitely a favorite from this past week.

Last but not least our son Dan made it safe over the passes to his new digs in Eastern Washington. He started his job at his new location and is pleased with his surroundings. We are looking forward to my brother and SIL coming to spend Thanksgiving weekend with us. So much to be thankful for.

Psalm 40:16 (ESV)

But may all who seek you
rejoice and be glad in you;
may those who love your salvation
say continually, “Great is the LORD!”

What are your favorites from this past week?

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.