Still in the Sixties!

Happy Birthday to me. Happy to announce I have one more year in my sixties, Lord willing.

The first four of the Bagdanov siblings. Four more were born from 1958 until 1963.

This has been true for me since 1963! Jesus is my Savior and my Lord and my allegiance will always be to Him because of what He has done for me and you. This is a good time to consider the claims of Jesus and where you stand in light of your eternity.

I’ll have a low key celebration this year.

We moved from living next door (Kenmore) to the epicenter (Kirkland) of the Coronavirus here in Washington State in 2018. On the Eastside things are not as stressed as our Western side of the state. Western Washington has larger population bases. Dear and I are in a hotel in the Spokane Valley right now that is, like many hotels, way under capacity in room occupancy. We brought our own bleach wipes to use in our room for our own peace of mind.

We need to be careful as we listen to so many on our news feeds who are just reporting speculation based on possible incidents rate. Not everyone needs to be tested. They make it sound like everyone needs to be tested. This is not the case. Too much mis-information is being fed to us and decisions are being made on this mis-information.

As of Monday all schools will be closed in Washington State. Other states are imposing closures, too.

Check on your elderly friends everyone!!

Hope you are finding peace where you are.

We enjoyed an early birthday celebration meal at Clover in Spokane close to Gonzaga College. We were delighted with the food and service and overall atmosphere. We will return!

This Pot de Creme was on the house because of my birthday. This restaurant has a bakery where they make their own biscotti and other goodies. That chocolate biscotti was so good.

I’ll leave you with this encouragement from our church in Colville:

During a time of uncertainty our prayers should increase, but our anxiety should not. God is in control, and we need to lean on Him, remembering that everything that God allows is for our good and his glory. Philippians 4:6-7 “Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication let your request be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”
We would all do well to follow the admonition in James 4:8 – Cleanse your hands ye sinners!

This sinner saved by grace will continue to cleanse her hands. Thank you already for all your good thoughts on our trying times and for my birthday. I appreciate all my bloggy friends! This will be a birthday to remember for sure!

A Mind at Perfect Peace With God ~ Hymn

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A Mind at Perfect Peace With God

A mind at perfect peace with God;
O what a word is this!
A sinner reconciled through blood;
This, this indeed is peace.

By nature and by practice far,
How very far from God;
Yet now by grace brought nigh to Him,
Through faith in Jesus’ blood.

So nigh, so very nigh to God,
I cannot nearer be;
For in the person of His Son
I am as near as He.

So dear, so very dear to God,
More dear I cannot be;
The love wherewith He loves the Son,
Such is His love to me.

Why should I ever anxious be,
Since such a God is mine?
He watches o’er me night and day,
And tells me “Mine is thine.”

Words: Horatius Bonar or Catesby Paget

Ht: Cyberhymnal

We’ve a Story to Tell ~ Hymn

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We’ve a Story to Tell

We’ve a story to tell to the nations,
That shall turn their hearts to the right,
A story of truth and mercy,
A story of peace and light,
A story of peace and light.

Refrain

For the darkness shall turn to dawning,
And the dawning to noonday bright;
And Christ’s great kingdom shall come on earth,
The kingdom of love and light.

We’ve a song to be sung to the nations,
That shall lift their hearts to the Lord,
A song that shall conquer evil
And shatter the spear and sword,
And shatter the spear and sword.

Refrain

We’ve a message to give to the nations,
That the Lord who reigns up above
Has sent us His Son to save us,
And show us that God is love,
And show us that God is love.

Refrain

We’ve a Savior to show to the nations,
Who the path of sorrow has trod,
That all of the world’s great peoples
Might come to the truth of God,
Might come to the truth of God.

Refrain

Words and Music by H. Ernest Nichol ~ In The Sunday School Hymnary (London: 1896)

HT: Cyberhymnal

History and Heritage…

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I posted this on the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog on Sunday for our Bread for the Journey and I’m re-posting here for my own records on The Happy Wonderer. That’s wonder not wander. I’m adding a few more photos from Russia and Persia in this post. Today I’m linking up with ABC Wednesday with thanks to Mrs. Nesbitt, Roger and the ABC Team! I’m also linking up to Testimonial Tuesday #5 at Jerrelea’s Journey.

We are in the middle of a new series on Sundays called “Movement”. As we launched into this series our pastor encouraged us with this statement: “The book of Acts tells the story of a group of first-century, rag-tag followers of the Risen Christ who became the movement that would change the world; it’s God’s movement because He is a God on the move, and He invites us to get on the move with Him.” As a follower of Jesus “I am an integral part of the most powerful, life-changing movement in the history of the world.”
It’s an encouraging exercise to look back over your life and the life of your ancestors to see how God has led and moved you to where you are today.
 My father’s family
My mother with her brother and younger sister.
 For me part of my story is God moving both sets of my grandparents to flee Russia on foot with their children to Iran in the early 1930’s. Both sets of grandparents settled near Tehran where my parents later met and got married. God moved my father with the desire to come to the United States. One of the things that influenced this desire was how my father was treated while working in an U.S. Army base kitchen in Iran. The soldiers were kind to my father and let him take food home to his family because they knew my father’s family was struggling.
My parents with my oldest sister shortly after arriving to Los Angeles, my mother is pregnant with my sister Vera in this photo.
 My parents filed the proper paper work and were granted permission to immigrate to the U.S.A. With my oldest sister they traveled to the U.S.A. settling in Los Angeles shortly after World War II ended. In 1963 my father went to hear Billy Graham at the Los Angeles Coliseum and my father was born again. My father’s decision to follow Jesus turned my family’s world upside down in the right way. That same year I accepted Christ and my new life in the greatest movement of all time began. We won’t know the whole story on how our own lives impact God’s movement till we see Him face to face but we can see part of the story now and be encouraged to carry on and follow Him where he leads us. He doesn’t call us and then leave us alone. He has given us his Spirit, He intercedes for us, He gives us strength. He multiplies the little that we have when we are willing to step out in faith with Him. What an amazing movement to be a part of! You, too, can be a part of this movement. Ask God to reveal Himself to you, to show you the way.
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. John 3:16-17
Jesus said to them, I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
Here are a few more photos from Russia and Persia that I promised… Sorry about the quality of some of these but after all they have traveled a long distance!
This one was taken in Russia before my father’s family fled to Iran. This is my paternal babushka’s relatives, the Sisoev’s, in Prelestnaya Village in Russia.
This is my mother next to her brother Paul on the right. My mother is standing next to her future sister-in-law, Nina. Nina is to the left of my mom and Nina’s brother Nikolai is next to her on the left.
My mother with her brother Paul.
These are two families, who were close friends in Iran and considered family to each other. There were also marriages that connected these two families together further. This was taken in Persia after my parents had immigrated to the U.S.A. I believe all but two of them made it to the U.S. My maternal grandfather seated on the lower right was killed in Iran and my maternal grandmother seated next to him immigrated to the U.S. as a widow with my Uncle Paul and Aunt Nina (pictured together upper right). Aunt Nina was part of the Katkov family and the others in this photo are her siblings and mother and father. The little boy between my grandmother and grandfather is my cousin Alex. One of the sisters from this family married a U.S. Soldier stationed in Iran and she is not in this photo. I’m not sure if who I lovingly called babushka Manya (seated next to my babushka Vera) came to the U.S. as a widow, also, or if her husband Nikolai was able to immigrate with his family.
Well this post is long enough for now. When I scan more photos that I came across from Russia and Persia I’ll share.
Hope you have a happy day…