Give Thanks and Make Known

Yesterday I reported that we weren’t slated to get snow but when I walked down the stairs this morning at “oh dark thirty” I noticed that we did get a dusting in the wee hours. Once it’s light I’ll take a photo before it all melts off with the rain that is falling.

Waking this morning my mind was singing these lyrics off an old Acapella cd.

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name
Make known among the nations what he has done
Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name
Make known among the nations what he has done

Chorus:
Sing to him sing praise to him
Tell of all his wonderful acts
Glory in his holy name
Glory in his holy name
Glory in his name
Glory in his name

Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name
Let the hearts of those who seek the Lord rejoice

I rejoice and give thanks for God’s beautiful creation. I so love autumn, the weather, the colors, the start of something fresh and new.

We live in an area with easy access to walking trails and parks that show off God’s creation.

There’s an old public golf course along the Burke Gilman Trail that the city of Bothell sold off and it is sitting and waiting for developers to change it’s landscape. There was lots of controversy over this sale and I’m sure the folks whose homes have enjoyed the green views are disappointed. In the interim they are allowing the public to walk on the course. We enjoyed our first time doing this last Sunday. The many hazards on the course were left there by Canadian Geese, wink wink.

Old and young golfers are mourning the loss of this course. We met one of them who wasn’t golfing this day but walking his old dog on the course instead.

I’m thankful to God for this guy and all the years we’ve had together so far.

Not linking up today with any memes because it snowed and I have to make potato salad to go with the pork butt that has been in the smoker already for 5 hours and the Sounders won last night and I was at the game and didn’t get home till after 10:30 PM…way late for this early to bed, early to rise person. I hope no grammar police are out today to critique my run-on paragraph! Our Sounders are off to the Western Conference Finals!

Go Sounders!

This is what it looks like here this morning. Yikes! It’s melting fast.

Also…to to Mennonite Girls Can Cook for a yummy white chili recipe.

Sky of Blue, Sea of Green…

This is another one of those posts that is all about the history of my soccer enjoyment. For a Seattle Sounders Soccer fan and season ticket holder our 2016 season ended with our boys capturing the Gold Cup. The thing that makes it amazing is that we were in last place in the middle of the season with any hope of making the playoffs questionable. Then from the bottom we had a turn around, a new coach, a new player, a new inspiration. Injured players recuperated and came back strong. The team had a strong determination and new vision. On Tuesday December 13th Josh, Laura and I drove downtown to be a part of this history and enjoy the parade and rally. Josh and Laura just got back from Toronto on Sunday and were able to be at the final game and cheer on the Sounders with 2000 or so fans. It was now time for the Washington State Fans to come out and give the team the thunderous appreciation we wished they could hear in Toronto!

15492219_10154179358653589_437076264013511389_n This photo above is from their victory celebration in Toronto, Canada.

We found our spot close to Seattle Center and waited for the parade to come to us. Josh bought this flag to take to Toronto with him and Laura since it has a likeness to the U.S.A. flag.

I turned around at one point and saw some of our friends from Northshore Community Church.

This little guy was so cute. By the way Stefan Frei, our goalie, was the MVP of the game with his save of year that will go down in soccer history, too.

Finally the trolleys with the players approached with all the fans along the route joining in the procession.

Nicolas Lodeiro holding the MLS Cup out the window for all of us to see. The added flag is from his home country of Uruguay. Lodeiro is a player who came to our team at our lowest point and with his playing ethic and spirit helped our team make a turn around.

Some past players that the Sounders fans always enjoy seeing, Kasey Keller (former goalie) and Roger Levesque, a fan favorite for many years who is now retired from soccer.

We met up with more friends and joined the throng headed to the Seattle Center for the rally.

Look at that green beard! This is part of the Sounders band.

Walking under the monorail tracks to the center.

The Trolleys stopped and our team captain Osvoldo Alonso raised the MLS Cup Champions flag next to the statue of Chief Sealth (Chief Seattle), whom the city of Seattle is named after with historical controversy. Alonso is a Cuban born soccer player who defected to the U.S.A. and is now a citizen of the United States.

Our group selfie amongst the sea of green! You might be wondering how all these people were able to get off work to attend this parade and rally in the middle of a work day. Brad Evans issued this for all the Sounders fans…

Our daughter in law actually submitted this to her boss to fly to Toronto last Friday. He said it was a very compelling reason to miss work. This excuse form was used by some for the parade and rally, too.

This is Zach Scott, another fan favorite who has been with the team from the beginning. He led the crowd in the Jingle Bells Song the team has always sung in the locker room after an away victory. This was Zach’s last season with the Sounders. He will be missed.

Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle all the way, Oh what fun it is to see Seattle win away, hey! It was fun to hear a crowd of thousands sing along.

15401060_1200744436629254_9196882971506577376_n 2016 Seattle Sounders MLS Cup Champions! Look at that sea of supporters behind them!

15390679_10154194292473589_572307301539503003_n The following day the Sounders flag was raised by Coach Schmetzer and Governor Inslee at the capitol building in Olympia, Washington.

It was a fun event to attend and we were happy to brave the crowds and the cold to be a part of history. For the record and in case anyone out there is concerned, I do not worship soccer or soccer players but I enjoy soccer and have an appreciation for the skill and stamina it takes to play this sport. Since watching our sons and daughter play soccer in the 90’s I’ve grown in the understanding of the game and have learned to appreciate the development of play between the players on the field.

Now I’m headed to the kitchen table to finish my Christmas cards so I can get them in the mail tomorrow! We are below freezing in temps here on our hill in the Seattle suburbs. Brrr. Good day to stay inside and work on our Christmas greetings. Hope you all are cozy and warm.

Autumn Mosaics

We took a drive a couple of Mondays ago to see what we could see along Hwy 9 and Hwy 20 north of Seattle in Washington state.

We saw some lakes we hadn’t seen before like Big Lake.

It was a beautiful drive for the hours we had until the rain came in.

Along the Skagit River in Rockport.

This afternoon Josh, Laura, and I attended the final season game of the Sounders Soccer Team and said goodbye to a fan favorite player Zach Scott. Winning this game means we are now headed to the playoffs. We are happy fans. We also had a wee visit from our dear daughter in law and her Granny who were on this side of the mountains for a memorial service for Granny’s brother. It was a great afternoon from start to finish.

Linking up to Mosaic Monday hosted with Maggie at Normandy Life.

New Space…

Our son Josh and his two partners have recently acquired new office space and were ready to invite clients and friends to celebrate with an open house. Josh and his partners are branch managers of Capstone Home Loans.

This is our son, Josh.

His new office.

A wonderful spread of good eats.

This was a great cascade of veggies that I’d like to recreate at a future event!

Everyone we spoke to at the open house had such good things to say about Josh and his work ethic. Dear and I were happy to hear these reports and we are so thankful to God for how he has blessed Josh and his work.

While I’m on the subject of Josh and his company I’ll share some photos from a Client Appreciation Event he had at Sounders game the last Sunday of August.

Josh is a huge soccer fan and this was an event he really enjoyed hosting.

Free tickets for the game and a pre-game buffet in the Coach’s Loft with VIP entrance. A fun way to show appreciation. And the cherry on the top was the fact that we beat the Portland Timbers!

Wednesday already and September is half over! Hope your week is going well.

Week and Weekend Reflections

I’m doing a double themed post today,

Five Favorites of the week with Susanne and

Weekend Reflections with James.

This is from MOHAI, the museum of history and industry in Seattle, Washington. Dear’s Company Christmas party was held here. It was the last party the company had before they were sold to the highest bidder. The company will retain it’s name but it has a new owner and we hope that reflects in Dear still having a job in a months time. This exhibit is in the True Northwest: The Seattle Journey section.

Here are five favorites from this past week. My favorites are a reflection of another kind.

1. Weather cooperating so we could complete phase one of a yard project that you can see before and afters of here. It was helpful to have a Monday holiday for this project. Thank you to President Lincoln and Washington for that!

2. A nice meal out with Dear to celebrate Valentines Day.

3. A nice extended time over a meal with our first born and our lovely daughter in law.

4. The arrival of my season ticket for the 2015 Seattle Sounders Soccer season!

5. Having the visit to the tax accountant behind us which is a very relaxing feeling.

I’ll leave you with a few quotes from President Lincoln:

“When I hear a man preach, I like to see him act as if he were fighting bees.”

“Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.”

“When you have got an elephant by the hind leg, and he is trying to run away, its best to let him run.”

What were your favorites or reflections from this past week?

The Happy Wonderer ~ ellen b.

To honor and encourage

Tag Archives: Seattle Sounders Soccer