Our Amish friends the Smucker’s came to visit on Saturday.

We planned to eat and visit at the pavilion, but there was a period between noon and 3 pm when thunderstorms were predicted, so we prepared the garage for seating 46 people for lunch.

A storm never did arrive, but it worked out nice to be in our garage and yard. Our family prepared the hot food and the Smucker’s brought salads and desserts. I was busy during lunch and didn’t think about taking pictures.

I took just one picture to document the day – knowing that photos are not a favorite of the Amish. In this picture Jere and Kristen were teaching some of the children how to play yard Jenga and another game with balls in a cage – similar to Jenga. Jere and Kristen designed these games.

We had a fabulous day with them. Amos and Linda have 7 children we have 4. We began visiting 48 years ago when Anna and Diane were 2. Our Diane turned 50 on January 1 and their Anna will be 50 in a few days. In those early days there were 15 of us. Today we probably number more than 70. I think there were 46 or 47 here on Saturday, and 12 of ours were missing. I expect those missing from the Smucker’s were twice that number. We each have married grandchildren and there are several great-grandchildren.

Drivers brought them from New Holland, Millersburg, Loysville, and Holtwood – all in Pennsylvania.

We missed Amos (the father) who died several years ago. He and Cerwin met when they were in their late teens or early 20s. The next generation – our children and theirs – shared some fun memories on Saturday from summers spent at each others house when they were young children.

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On Sunday evening we prepared the pavilion for our Sunday school class picnic.

It was a calm, warm, pleasant evening.

Members of our class signed up for specific food items.

There were 26 of us – which included one of our teachers and his family.

This little guy was contemplating having dessert first. 🙂

It was nice to visit and catch up on each others lives.