Rosella

 It's been a while since I posted about social events in our MGCC group, 

but this is one I wanted to post ...

 in honor of Rosella, who has become a wonderful blog friend!

She's been travelling with her husband

across the continent in her little house on wheels

and she brought us all something from her province over yonder.

We have all been so blessed by online friendships

and every meeting has always been a confirmation of true friendship.

 When Kathy found out that Rosella would be in town,

she set about making some plans for coffee.

She packed up a tablecloth, dishes, coffee, scones, jams, cheese and fruit

and prepared a pretty table near her house at Gwynn Vaughan Park.

Those of us who were able to come, just needed to show up.

For Ellen it was a long drive, but there were no complaints!

 The park is a large heritage orchard and garden surrounding 

a home built in the late 1800's and a popular site for

picnics, wedding ceremonies and garden parties.

 We walked the rose lined paths

 admiring and poking our noses into some of these beauties.

 This was obviously my favotite!

 Makes you wonder why we don't take time to do this more often.

Leaving the rose garden, we walked the trail under a canopy of  dogwood blooms.

These were new to Rosella - but to us they are the BC Flower.

And to me they are the flowers on my china set.

Thank you, Rosella, for your visit

and, Kathy, for making it special!

Home Again!

To those who have not missed the day to day experiences, it may seem like they just left, 

but to those of us who had to say the difficult goodbyes, 

the pick up day at the airport is a highlight of excitement that cannot be easily expressed!

We watched the screen showing a preview of visitors coming out of security
 for about an hour until finally, 

way back in the long line of Hong Kong arrivals, 

we saw a hand waving above the crowd. 

It had to be one of ours!

Soon Paeton came running - squeezing past tired travelers -

with Tehya and Makenna unashamedly pushing by from right behind him.

Dad and Mom took up the rear with the luggage!

There were hugs and tears of joy

some I saw, some I missed.

When we got home, there were more!

Burgers got put on the grill as quick as possible . . .

 The swings were tried and the tree got climbed . . .

 the tree that was  lit with ten candle jars for this night.

It was loud and crazy

but so good!

This love is a special gift we will treasure in real time for the next few months.

Bread for the Journey

So it seems that in this season of my life there is always something to look forward to!
Fourteen years ago we were looking forward to our first grandchild.
Now there are ten.
And in the more recent years, each year when there was no baby,
there was a book.
Either way it always took about nine months.

What am I getting at?
Last fall our publisher approached us about doing another book.
However . . .
they took us by surprise when they wanted to put out a devotional.
It was not something we had thought about,
but soon we were busy reading and re-writing.
We had the joy of working with a wonderful editor on their end
who did a lot of work making us sound our best.

It's been about six months of planning,
writing, reading
talking about titles, colors,
editing . . . more editing . . . and more
and finally we are almost ready!
Deciding to stop reading is hard
because we know that as soon as it's printed
something will jump out at us.

Anyways, we are looking forward to welcoming this new arrival
due to be released on August 2 . . .
. . .
a book that's been titled by the same name as our blog devotionals.
It includes thoughts on the meaning of physical and spiritual bread,
stories of our grandparents/parents leaving Russia as refugees,
and favorite recipes dispersed among daily readings
for wisdom and strength along the journey.

We pray God's blessing on the writing and reading of this book,
Our desire is that through the royalties
we can bless some of today's orphans and widows.

Skirting Around (nine ways)

There is something ordinary and sensible about this skirt that makes me feel (a bit too much) like Madam Secretary - but what I do appreciate about it is that you can wear basically any top with it, making it the formal version of jeans. In fact, if you add a pair of jeans, your options just doubled. I'm revolving around my winter color palette, but you can well imagine that the combination of colors that happen work well for you will make you feel and look your best.



On the collage you will find three basic tops - a fine patterned black blouse, a cream with a bit of stamped applique and a sleeveless navy top.

Two bright cardigans and a soft lace jacket round up the seven pieces in total.

I go for comfort; sleeveless tops, button sweaters, flats . . .

and a jacket - only if it feels soft like a sweater.

Just Because

A photo . . .

 because yesterday was mother's day

and I am so proud to be her daughter!

I love that she still has a sparkle in her eyes

and loves me even when I keep telling her,

"Remember?" or "I told you . . ."

Words she likely repeated to me so long ago.

And words I want to stop saying

because that smile

and that sparkle is worth more than what she forgot.

There She Goes!

She's quick!

And someone else better be quick too,
because the way down will not feel like an accomplishment.