Tag Archives: personal

And the Fun Begins…

The fun has just begun! This will be a week of festivities that I’m sure will prove to me that I’m not getting any younger! Warning: This post is going to to be packed full with photo collages. Get your scroll fingers ready!

My kids sent me this lovely bouquet of flowers for Mother’s Day. I also received a phone call from each of them which always makes my day! After church on Mother’s Day we headed to Whittier for lunch at my sister Kathy’s house. We managed to have 6 of us siblings, our parents, 4 nieces, 3 nephews, 3 SIL’s, 3 BIL’s, and our grandnephew all together.

My parents were thrilled when Miss Hope arrived. She lives in Dallas and we don’t see her as often as we’d like.

Miss Hope’s parents were there, too! Isn’t it funny how the youngest one always seems to steal the show? I mean Hope not my brother Leonard, although…come to think of it, he’s the youngest sibling and he steals the show, too!!

Before we head into Hope overload here are a few shots of some other family members :0). My sister Kathy, my brother Tim and Dear, my brother Leonard and Mandy, my sil Letty, and nieces Melissa and Debbee.

My dad followed Hope around till he ran out of energy.

Hope enjoyed following our Grand nephew Jackson around.

Hope sat still for about 20 seconds while she opened this gift from Baba and Deda. Then she was off …

…. to do some shopping…

It was warm on Sunday and what a treat these homemade tangerine popsicles were! My sister and BIL Len have a tangerine tree in their backyard.

We are trying to see as much of Leonard, Mandy and Hope as we can while they are in Southern California. Tuesday we are celebrating our niece Debbee’s birthday in Laguna Beach and then on Wednesday some of us are headed to Disneyland. If I’m absent from Blog Land you’ll know why..

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

Should I stay or should I go…

So this is part of the beautiful resort in Cancun we are suppose to be at this weekend for our niece’s wedding…Cancun, Mexico. We are praying and consulting before making a final decision on whether we will be cancelling our travel plans. We are praying for the young couple who have to make the decision to carry on with the plans or cancel the event that has been planned for so long. Praying for wisdom and comfort in the decisions and praying about disappointments and concerns…

Also praying that the State Department and CDC get good information and give out good advice in regards to the Swine Flu and travel.

Photobucket is holding all my photos that I stored on their site from 2007-2015 hostage replacing them with ugly grey and black boxes and asking for a large ransom to retrieve them. It is a slow process to go through all my posts deleting the ugly boxes.

My Mom~

I wanted to give you all an update on my mom. She’s doing a lot better and is healing nicely. She even answered the phone when I called last night and sounded upbeat. So again thank you so much for your concern and your prayers. It means a lot. Oh and today is her actual birthday! I’m driving out to see her today to wish her a Happy Birthday in person and see for myself how her face is doing!

Happy 85th Birthday Mom!

My other update is that Dear and I will be flying to Seattle tomorrow for 10 days to celebrate Easter with our Northwest loved ones. I hope to continue posting but if I’m a bit slow you’ll understand why.

58 Years Ago Today!

Today we are taking a walk on the beach at Dawn.

After our early walk we’ll stop at Allison’s in Ventura for breakfast.

Later in the day we have dinner reservations at Tam O’Shanter in Los Angeles.

I’m thankful to God for his hand on my life all these 58 years. He is good to ellen b.  I love Him in return and hope to learn to love and appreciate my God and Savior more this new year he is giving me…

Blessings on your Saturday!

It’s An Edmonds Kind of Day…

 

What an absolutely glorious day in the Pacific Northwest. This shot is taken in Edmonds, Washington looking out over the Puget Sound to the Olympic Peninsula.

 

I was in Edmonds on Friday morning for my yearly exam. So why am I showing you this collage with our good friends and traveling companions Bob, Jan, Dave and Jody? Jan is not only my Northwest walking buddy along with Jody but she’s my doctor’s nurse. Whenever I go to the doctor’s office she greats me and weighs me (curses), takes my blood pressure and settles me in the exam room. Dave is my doctor and he’s married to my other Northwest walking buddy Jody. We’ve been friends since 1984. We met Dave and Jody at our church in Ventura, California while Dave was completing his residency at the County Hospital there. Dave delivered our daughter Katie 23 years ago in Ventura, Ca. He is still my doctor. We met Bob and Jan on a bicycling trip in the wine country in 1986. After we moved to Seattle in 1988 we attended church with Dave, Jody, Jan, and Bob. Bob was our pastor for 19 years. Oh and Dave and Bob are brothers. So when I went for my doctor appointment I got to see my friends. What a privilege it is to be brothers and sisters in the Lord. Saturday the 3 walking buddies will meet at 9:00 am for our 6 mile walk on the Burke Gilman Trail. When I lived in the Seattle area we would meet to do this walk most every Saturday rain or shine or even snow sometimes.

 

After I was done at the doctor’s office I decided to drive down into the “Edmonds Bowl” and see what I could see. And boy did I get an eyeful. There’s Mount Baker that is very close to the Canadian Border. Hi Lovella!

 

It’s always such a great treat to see the snow covered Olympics across the Sound.

 

This is the Edmonds side of the Edmonds/Kingston Ferry run. This ferry takes you across the Sound to the Kitsap Peninsula.

 

Hope you all have a wonderful Saturday! I’m headed back to Southern California on Sunday…

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Leaving on A Jet Plane…

But I know I’m coming back to Southern California a week from Sunday!

 

My plane leaves early Saturday morning from LAX to SeaTac airport. I’m looking forward to some face to face time with my kids. I also get to take care of some yearly obligations with my doctor and the tax man. Thank goodness my favorite hairdresser was able to fit me in and I’ll finally get the cut and color I so desperately need. Now if I could only get a massage from Rebecca I’d be in hog heaven for sure. I don’t know what will happen with my computer time so if you don’t see me around you’ll know why. Have a great weekend everyone…

Happy Birthday to my sister Vera. She was born on LeapYear but we celebrate her birthday every non-leap year on the 28th of February.

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Aren’t They Cute?

 

Our drive to and home from the funeral on Saturday was quite treacherous at times with rain squalls that turned the freeways into rivers. We saw a few cars that had hydroplaned and ended up in the medians or in accidents with other vehicles.

 

But we made it there and home again just fine and it was worth it to see these cuties, my mom and dad.

 

Here are the song sheets from the funeral with the same songs in Russian and English side by side.

 

A closer look at the same song here in English and below in Russian…

 

I was pleased that I understood most of the Russian message at the funeral service. The English message delivered by my brother Steve was challenging…

Welcome to my bi-lingual world…

Some of you asked if Dear is Russian and the answer is no. He took Russian in college and he can read Russian. He sang with our Russian choir when we were dating. Dear is half Swedish and half English, Welsh and Cherokee. :0)

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

Angels?

 

Things that make me wonder!

Have you ever wondered why so many images of angels are so gentle looking and non threatening? I’m thinking our images of angels are a little too feminine and nice. The Bible speaks of angels appearing, angels speaking to someone in a dream, angels fighting in the Spiritual Realm, us being unaware of angels in our midst, angels ministering to Jesus during the temptation, angels with the Israelites in the Exodus. An angel is a messenger of God. Sometimes angels are seen, sometimes they are not seen. Sometimes they have swords in their hands. They are supernatural messengers. The angel Gabriel and the angel Michael are the only two angels named in the Bible. Gabriel stands in God’s presence. Gabriel brought the announcement of John the Baptist being conceived and he brought the good news of the conception of Jesus. He is someone to be believed. If I’m ever in real trouble I’d love to have Michael in front of me. An angel with a sword in his hand and not flowers…

Luke 2:8-13 ~ “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying,
“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.”

I’d really like to find a strong, masculine, mighty looking angel to go with my Nativity set. I wonder how long it will take me to find one?

Photobucket is holding all my photos I stored with them from 2007-2015 hostage unless I pay them a lot of money. I’m slowly cleaning up many posts from this time period and deleting their ugly grey and black boxes with a ransom request. Such a time consuming bother.

The 1967 Rose Bowl Game

I have been to two Rose Bowl games in my life. The first one was in 1967. A boyfriend I had broken up with invited me to go to the USC vs. Purdue game and I said yes. I was and am a big sports fan. Sad for the young man, it was the game I was interested in and not him. Some of us in Southern California are not huge USC fans in fact we always cheer on whoever is playing them. I was pleased as punch at the exciting close game and that Purdue won! These days I’m a huge soccer fan!

1967 Rose Bowl
(Purdue 14 – USC 13)

Purdue capped its first nine-win season with a hard-fought 14-13 victory over USC. A pair of touchdowns by fullback Perry Williams and a last-second interception of an attempted two-point conversion by defensive back George Catavolos secured the victory for the Boilermakers. Purdue finished the season 9-2 and tied for 1st place in the Big Ten.

 

The last Rose Bowl game I attended was in 1992. Dear was finishing up his mid-life career change in Pharmacy School at the University of Washington so we scored some student tickets to the Washington ~ Michigan game. Those were wonderful football years for the Huskies and it was fun to be able to attend several of the games. It was a little odd for us older folks to be sitting in the middle of the student section, though. We’d always ask the kids behind us if they could hold their liquor. We didn’t want them losing their alcohol on our heads :0)! They would always look at us and with slurred speech say “Oh don’t worry ma’am, we can hold our liquor”

What a dismal year in sports good ole Washington has endured this year. We are looking ahead to better years. I’m so excited that Seattle now has their very own MLS team, The Seattle Sounders. Here’s hoping they’ll pull us out of the humdrums…

Photobucket is holding all my photos from 2007 to 2015 hostage and has replaced them all with ugly black and grey boxes asking for a ransom to have them re-published. Such a frustrating bother as I go through each post to delete the ugly boxes.