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The Reason I Have Plenty of Time to Update Today!

Our little boys are here.

Cerwin, Hezekiah, Abigail, and Jere’s family are at a local Christian school benefit auction.

Cerwin and I were able to attend the opening (comedian/singer) last night, however, there was no one available to keep the boys today – while their parents oversee this auction, so I offered to be their caregivers for the day.

I miss participating in the auction of these beautiful items, but it is nice to have a quiet day, following an intensely busy week.  

I was able to get one bargain last night at the opening auction – a gift certificate to the business where I get my counted cross stitch photos framed. 

I am anxious to see what Cerwin brings home today.

~~~

Our Week in the Yard

After much mowing, weed-eating…

…mulching and planting…

…our flower beds went from this…

…to this!

Diane (oldest daughter), I bought two Lupines in honor of Maine – where you first taught me about this pretty flower.

Our memory garden was planted in honor of our parents and grandparents, and others before them who left us a godly heritage.

This little area and Dogwood tree was planted in honor of our grandson, Elijah, who died in 1994 at the age of five months.

Last year I discovered this is the best area in our yard for mint tea.

 I am enjoying some fabulous tea as I make this entry!

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Squirrels & A Groundhog

Target Practice Continued

After a day of work on Memorial Day, the boys decided to try their skills with Hezekiah’s bow and arrows.  (They promised to hold their fire while I took this picture of two of their successful hits. )

Now that is a stupid groundhog!

 While the boys were shooting arrows at this box, a rather naive groundhog sauntered through our yard. 

He was too far away for their arrows, but close enough for Cerwin and his .22 to make an end to another groundhog hole in neighboring fields.

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Encase you are concerned about our squirrel population – it has not been diminished by my mighty hunters!

This was yesterday.

This guy even fits inside my “squirrel-proof” feeder!

I love to watch these guys in our yard ~ but they sure irritate me when they splurge in my bird feeders.

Lots of Pictures from Sunday Afternoon

This has been a busy week in the office – it seems I had my first and second cups of coffee at my desk each morning and even had a few late cups – like 8 PM!  So this morning I am having both morning cups in our living room – with my laptop on lap  and not going to my office until 10 AM.

~~~

We had a relaxing, fun, Sunday afternoon at Jeff and Chris’ place.  I thought you may enjoy seeing some of the highlights.

Notice Diana in the tree. 

It seems that is where she was much of the afternoon!

Jordan enjoyed relaxing and watching the activities of the younger ones.

Gloria and Jenna on the trampoline

Oh no, Hezekiah found a water gun!

It looks like someone is getting him back!  I wonder who that could be?

 ~~~

I notice that Nathan is missing from most of these pictures.  I’m not sure how he avoided my camera!

~~~

The Sheep

Notice the Iris in the upper left of this photo ~ that’s where I am going next.

Jeff and Chris keep a beautiful yard ~ with many interesting small barns, sheds, buildings, and decorations.

I hope you enjoyed the beauty of our afternoon.

Sunday Lunch

Jeff and Chris have a wonderful setting for a doggie roast/picnic.

Enjoy!

Me, Jordan, Nathan, Hezekiah, Jeff, Jenna, Lois

Cerwin, Lois, Jordan, Jeff

Chris, Lois, Jordan, Hezekiah, Cerwin

Still Catching Up On The Weekend.

Sunday Lunch

After church we were invited to Jeff (oldest son) and Chris’ for a hot dog and smoked sausage roast ~ and to reduce the size of their leftovers from a picnic the night before.

I love living close enough to children to be invited for leftovers!

~~~

Everywhere That Gloria Went The Lamb Was Sure To Go!

These pictures are so cute, I have to give them a post of their own.

Those who read my blog on a regular basis may remember that Jeff and Chris’ ewes had a good crop of lambs several weeks ago.  

Hope’s mama had quads and for some reason refused to feed her.  So Gloria has helped in making sure she gets her milk.

Consequently, they have become good friends.

Hope and Gloria ~ Best Friends

Sunday Morning Walk

We awoke to a beautiful day on Sunday, so I asked Hezekiah if he would like to get a head start on going to church by beginning to walk.

I didn’t want to make the entire two-mile trip on foot, but thought it would be nice to get in a relaxing fifteen-minute walk.

We knew that Cerwin would be leaving in the car by the time we had walked a quarter mile or so ~ picking us up so we wouldn’t be tired and sweaty for church.

 ~~~

It was a great way to begin a Sunday morning.

Saturday Evening

Jared’s Third Birthday

John Deere was the theme for his party.

Napkins

Table Setting

A new lawn chair from his other Grandma.  (We will take him to Chuck E. Cheeses in a few weeks.)

A perfect fit.

Jana and Ian remembered their cousin Abigail, but Jared wasn’t sure about having her move into their house.  He watched carefully as Ian showed her one of his “small wounds.”

Abigail won over his heart when she gave him a Maine sip cup for his birthday.

Hezekiah and Josh needed no introductions!  They are just five weeks apart in age. 

Jared played peekaboo with his balloon.

J

Papa John’s pizza was on the dinner menu – since pizza is one of his favorite foods.

He’s still working on showing three fingers when telling his age.

Rubbing noses with Dad.

Mom and Jared are excited about the arrival of his birthday cake.

Daddy said, “Close your eyes.”

Blowing out the #3 candle.

The decorator misspelled his name as Jarod instead of Jared, but that didn’t affect the taste.

Can you tell that he is pleased with the gift from his parents – his own tool box.

Showing Grandpa how each tool works.

Abigail and Jana got kitchen duty.

Jana getting her hair braided for bedtime, after taking her evening bath.

The boys surveying the landscape from the front porch.

What could be this much fun?

Playing basketball on the XBox 360 Josh won in a contest a few weeks ago.

~~~

Cerwin and Jere wanted to show me what they did earlier in the day, so asked me to come to the new barn.

They installed these used cabinets – purchased from a Christian School – and work area for Jere’s tools.

The evening closed with a beautiful sunset.

Saturday Afternoon

Two Maine Grandchildren Are Here!

Our daughter and son-in-law’s friends, Mark and Deb Bucher, were coming to Pennsylvania this weekend, so kindly offered to bring our grandchildren, Abigail and Hezekiah, for their summer visit.

Abigail and Laura

The Bucher’s were staying with Mark’s brother Stan and his wife Cindi, near Lebanon, PA – a twenty-minute drive for me.

Laura and her husband (from York, PA) had been house parents at the BVS Unit in Maine last year, and were also visiting the farm – as well as two of their daughters.  Everyone was in or entering the dairy barn when I got there.

Abigail, Megan (background), Laura, and Anna. 

Part of the reason everyone was in the barn was the imminent birth of a calf.  After observing the situation, we decided the cow still had several hours of labor, so did not stay for the delivery.

The other attraction was watching a few of the Maine men hauling manure and operating farm equipment.

Deb, Cindi, Stan, Rebecca

Either Megan or Anna found this turtle somewhere along the way and planned to take it home.  Notice the white mark on its side.  We all wondered what had happened to it – probably years ago – as it has some serious damage and scars on it’s shell and underbody. 

Hezekiah and Abigail at our house.

Hezekiah is spending the summer with us – just like his older brother and sisters did the year they turned twelve.  Abigail (age 15) is going to live with Jere and Kristen as a nanny to their younger children.

Diane (Hezekiah’s mom and our daughter), you made your father (me too!) happy with the homemade granola.

This bag was marked for Cerwin, however, I also had some of it for breakfast today.

Catching Up On Our Week

Too Many Pictures – Too Little Time to Post Them!

 ~~~

Jere and Kristen’s For Supper On Monday and Tuesday

One of the benefits of living so close (one mile) to our youngest son’s house is that every now and then we get invited for a “leftover meal”.

This week it involved two meals because of lots of leftovers from her brother’s memorial service on Sunday.

On Monday evening I was too exhausted to walk to their place for supper, but Tuesday was a perfect evening for walking.  I can see their place when I am about half a mile away.

One evening as I arrived, I heard Jana calling my name, but couldn’t locate her.  She was hiding up in a tree branch.

Jere and Cerwin are constructing sideboards for Jere’s trailer, so they can pick up mulch for our flower beds next week.

Jared never leaves their side.  He loves anything to do with construction.

Since Monday was Jared’s third birthday, I took a balloon along to help him celebrate – even though we are having his birthday party on Saturday evening.

He was determined to blow it up.

However, he couldn’t figure out how to keep the air from escaping between the balloon and his lips.

He finally gave it to me ~ and was pleased with a balloon to throw and bounce!

Ian had his own story to tell.

It was the day he got his shots in preparation for kindergarten in September.

Jere treated Kristen (7 1/2 months pregnant) to supper on the La-Z-Boy one evening because she was exhausted from overseeing the meal following her brother’s memorial service.

~~~

Jeff and Chris (center) treated us and her mother, Lois, to a meal at Cat’s Meow, a local restaurant, to celebrate life and honor and thank us for being their parents. 

I think they were grateful for a break in a busy week of helping a newly widowed neighbor cut, rake, and bale her hay.  Chris said Jeff is having so much fun.  He used to help our neighboring farmers do the same thing when he was a teenager.  Chris is actually the one throwing the bales, as she is not comfortable driving the tractor.

~~~

Consequently we set Friday evening as the date to work on getting some new pictures.

His wife, Janis, came to our house at 4:30 PM, to go along for the half-hour drive.

A delicious supper in the truck stop.

The tract rack inside the chapel.

Evening is a great time to take pictures of this chapel.

Drivers in this part of the truck stop park facing the chapel. 

A view the drivers get when parked there.

A view from the front of the chapel.

While taking pictures, this driver stopped to drop some trash in a garbage can.  I asked if he would pose for a few pictures with our chaplain. He graciously agreed.  I told him that his reward would be a copy of TFC’s monthly publications Highway News and Good News.

Since the truck was out of Omaha, NE, Cerwin made sure he knew about TFC’s chapel at Sapp Brother’s in Omaha.

I liked the last picture I got before we headed for home.

Believe God

to do mountain-sized tasks in your life.