Doubly Thankful

We've had a wonderful weekend with all the kids home to celebrate Thanksgiving.  Wayne has been a bit under the weather, but we were able to take a family walk around Buck Horn Lake after our Thanksgiving dinner, which has become a family tradition.

Yesterday we picked up Matthew's "new" (used car) so he was happy to have his own wheels again.  Notice that I wrote "was".  This afternoon while driving home from Oneonta he didn't have brakes and front ended an oncoming car.  His "new" car is definitely totaled, and I wouldn't be surprised if the other car will be, too.  The other driver was taken to the hospital with a bloody nose and difficulty breathing, but they told Matt that she may have been hyperventilating from the shock of the accident.  He walked away from a badly mangled car without a scratch--though he's very sore from the seatbelt.  We have SO MUCH to be thankful for!   The accident could have been so much worse since it was on a very sharp 's' curve at the bottom of a hill.  If he had gone off the road, he would have ended up in the river and would have probably flipped it in the process.  Thirty minutes earlier he had a carload of his friends with him.  God is so good!  How thankful I am to be able to hug my eldest this evening.  Please be in prayer for "Sarah" the 17-year old driver of the other car--that her injuries are minor and that she'll be fine.

Go hug your loved ones just because they're there!

Matthew On Stage

One of the benefits of working at Family Life Ministries is being able to take part in their Christmas musical production.  Matthew (2nd from left)  is happily singing in Four Tickets to Christmas for the next 2 months of dinner theater productions.  This weekend began the season with 3 shows in the Erie, PA area.  Wayne, Marc, Rachael, Katelyn and I are supposed to go see the musical December 13th at the Family Life Center in Bath.  I'm really looking forward to attending and seeing Matt perform in person.

October = Rhinebeck!

Fall brings fiber festivals and October brings Rhinebeck!  I forgot the camera, but today was the Dutchess County Wool and Fiber Festival in Rhinebeck, NY.  The weather was perfect (sunny and in the 60's) and the fiber items were abundant.  To top it off I got to go with another woman from the Unadilla Artisan Guild (it was her first time, which is always fun--seeing someone witness all that fiber and fiber folk in one place).  My feet are aching, but I'm relaxing with a bundle of back issues of "SPIN OFF" magazines tonight and dreaming of what I'll create first with my stash of fleece.

A Weekend with All the Kids Home

Now that Matthew has moved to Bath and Nathanial is soon to be in Maryland, getting all the kids home at once is a special blessing.  This past weekend was one such time.  By looking at the photos I think you'll see that there's never a dull moment.  Just imagine what wasn't caught in pictures...such things as the 2 youngest 'washing chickens' in a bucket! (No chickens perished in the process, but the boys have been duly warned not to do that again!)

Jon and Raven 'morphed'...

I wonder who left this message...(Jon)

 Jon making faces at his little brother...

 Marc was baptized on Sunday.  We took the opportunity to get a family picture.

 Just hanging out on a Sunday afternoon...

Ian and Rachael ...




Ian in a wig that Katelyn found...


Just your ordinary family, right?

Colorful September 'Gifts'

Jonathan has become our resident "Butterfly Farmer" in that he finds butterfly eggs, puts them in a jar and awaits their hatching into caterpillars.  He faithfully feeds the caterpillars their favorite food (dill for swallowtails and milkweed for monarchs) until they enter the chrysallis.  We all keep checking the jars to see if there is any sign of movement from those little pods and call everyone to witness the miracle of the butterfly emerging.  So far we've had 6 butterflies emerge.  This picture is a black eastern swallowtail drying its wings shortly after emerging from the chrysallis.

A local woman has seen some of the items I've made for the Artisan Guild and decided that I might be able to use some antique grain sacks and handkerchiefs that were her grandmothers.  She also blessed me with antique laces and an antique quilt top that her great-great-grandmother had made.  The handstitching is beautiful! (unfortunately, the photo doesn't show the detail)

September brings lots of changes... School schedules return, sweaters need to be pulled out, and fall festivals start.  I attended my first fall fiber festival in early September.  The Endless Mountain Fiber Festival is a small festival that started just a few years ago, but has become a great place to start the fiber festival season.

Whenever I attend a fiber event, I'm re-energized to create using all the wonderful materials available.  (Like the bags full of alpaca and wool waiting in the garage to be washed!)





It's so fun to see what others are doing in the 'fiber world'.  I thought I'd share a few of the ones that caught my eye...

The teapot covers on display were really neat.  I loved this one with the mice (the only kind of mice that I can tolerate!)




This handsome rabbit is needle felted.  It was displayed in a real rabbit cage so I had just passed by it thinking it was another fiber animal for sale. (We don't need anymore of those!)  I heard someone exclaim, "It looks so real!"  I took a second look and had to get a picture to share with the kids.  The artist did an amazing job.

Revisiting August...A Special Surprise

    

When I posted in August I didn't write what was brewing in the wings.  Several months earlier my sisters had called and asked if we could make a trip up to Maine this summer to surprise our parents with a belated 80th birthday party and early 60th wedding anniversary celebration.  Somehow I didn't slip any of the surprise to Mom and Dad during our weekly phone visits and Wayne, Rachael, Katelyn, Jonathan, Ian, and myself made the trip to Maine without them finding out until the party. 

Our dear friends Ed & Sue Walsh blessed us with the use of a camp on the lake in Acton, ME

The 2 boys loved being in the water and we had a challenge getting them out of the lake in order to do other things.










On Friday, Sue and the kids hung out on Sue's farm to have some horse time while Wayne and I took time for a lunch date at Ted's Clams (neither of us had clams, but the shrimp and fish were delicious!).  The boys got to sit on top of Sue's very big Percheron and helped sisters groom the horses.

 Silver is a very special horse to Rachael.  Several years ago Sue and Ed hosted Rachael for a week of horse time in Maine.  Rachael rode Silver and bonded with the dear old boy.  We have a very similar photo of these two taken at that time--they've both aged quite a bit since then!

Friday evening Sue, her daughter Sadie, and granddaughter Abbie, the girls, Jonathan, and I made our way to York Beach to get a taste of the ocean (no trip home to Maine is complete until I have a good inhale of ocean air!).  It was a beautiful summer evening and the beach wasn't very crowded.  The 3 'tourists' had a great time in the c-o-l-d ocean water.  The sunset was beautiful.  The ride back to Acton was quite an adventure because we had to drive through a very strong thunderstorm.  We were glad to get back to our cottage by the lake and find Wayne and Ian waiting for us.

Saturday we headed to Bradbury Mountain State Park--Pownal, Maine's claim to fame.  The family had rented the pavilion at the park so there would be plenty of room for our now very large family (around 45-50 of us!) to hold the celebration.  Family members trickled in and we prepared for the guests of honor...

What a blessing to have our parents here celebrating their 80 (and 1/2) birthdays and their soon to be 60th wedding anniversary! (in January)
 
There were children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren everywhere and a wonderful time followed.  What a blessing to be with the whole family (minus our 3 eldest who had to stay in NY due to jobs and animal care responsibilities).  Cousins that had never met became great playmates.  New family members were introduced to us and we caught up with those we hadn't seen for such a long time.
 
Pictures were taken (I'm waiting to get copies of others since my camera had a shadow on the lens),
but here is one that shows Mom and Dad with most of their great-grandchildren (Seamus joined us later and will be 'photo-shopped' into the 'professional' pics).

The girls joined Aunt Sherrie, and their cousins for a hike up Bradbury Mtn.  It may not be very tall, but there is a beautiful view from the top.

After the party Wayne, the kids, and I went to Dad's & Mom's to visit a bit longer before heading back to Acton.  Dad & I went to South Freeport to buy some lobsters.  I love the view here at the wharf. 

Our time with Mom and Dad flew by.  We knew we had to head back to NY the next day so as evening started to settle in, we said our good-byes and headed back to Acton.

The sky was beautiful as we followed the coast south.  Pictures can never do justice to reality...











This was the scene awaiting us at the lake...a sunset on a wonderful trip to Maine.

Summer Artistic Pursuits

Here are the front and back views of the quilt I made for the woman out of her late husband's t-shirts.  The colors are much brighter than the pictures show, which were very similar to her husbands paintings.

 Because of Jonathan's interest in butterflies (We currently have several caterpillars in various stages of development in jars to watch the transformation process), I had to make a butterfly quilt when I found these batik blocks in a local quilt shop.

This is Jonathan with a rug that Wayne made using a school assignment Jon did when he was younger.  Wayne loved the way Jon wrote the alphabet, squeezing in letters when he realized he was running out of room on the paper.  Wayne decided a rug would be a neat way to preserve Jon's early writings and he incorporated a bit of symbolism in the background color scheme.  All those changing colors are symbolic for Jonathan's attention span--some thoughts run on and on, while others are very brief.  Ah-h-h the joys of Asperger's Syndrome and the blessings of our boy Jonathan!

Long awaited photos

 Here are some pics of Kate's and my trip to Niagara Falls wa-a-ay back in August.

Katelyn bought the hat at the gift shop and told me that maybe I should wear it to cover up the 'wet' look.  The mist from the falls was like walking through clouds so by the end of our walk we were both pretty damp.  Katelyn wears it better! (smile)

Where to Begin?

I've been reminded that I've neglected the blog for far too long...  Our computer is giving us fits but I'll go ahead and do an update without pictures.

We've survived the birthday season!  Matthew celebrated his 25th and Katelyn her 13th birthday on June 25th.  Nathanial celebrated his 22nd birthday on July 26th.  And Rachael finished out the season with her 17th on July 27th.

Matthew wasn't supposed to start at his new job until July 2nd, but was called out to Bath early for some training and then started 'officially' at the radio station the last week of June.  He still is without a car so there have been a couple of trips out to Bath and back to bring him home for a couple of weekends.  He has found a car, but is saving up for the down payment...hopefully, he'll have that done by the end of this month.

Matthew loves his job at the Family Life Network.  He has been given an additional duty of writing and producing the "Kid's Korner" segment which airs on Saturday mornings.  They are still in the production phase of his scripts, but they will be aired starting in September.  He's also been working on promotional spots which air throughout the day on the regular radio broadcasts.  It's really neat to be at work listening to the radio and hearing our son's work (and sometimes voice) come over the airwaves.

Nathanial and I made a trip to Lanham, MD to visit the school where he plans on getting his master's degree.  After talking with school representatives and viewing the campus once again, Nathanial is certain that this is the school he wants to attend.  Due to financing he's decided to do one class via the internet and another via module (40 hour intensive course done in one week on campus) course for the fall semester.  He'll be living here at home during this semester and hopes to be able to attend on campus classes starting in January.  He's looking for a part-time job closer to home (than Binghamton, which is a 45 minute commute) to help pay for his schooling so he doesn't have to take out loans.  We're in the process of making a quiet, study room in the attic for him to do his coursework, which will someday become either Wayne or my work studio.

Wayne continues to deal with new and puzzling medical symptoms.  He underwent a CT scan of the brain this week and we should be getting the results within the next few days.  His oncologist/hematologist says that his blood work doesn't reveal any issues that would explain his symptoms, but he is concerned and wants the neurologist to examine Wayne asap.  That appointment is scheduled for Monday.

We've both been busy trying to make items for the Unadilla Artisan Guild.  Wayne has done several glass pieces, a couple of hooked rug projects, and he's written and submitted an article for a rug-hooking magazine.  I've also finished 3 quilts--one of them a special commissioned piece which was a memory quilt made out of t-shirts of a lady's deceased husband.  I've been spinning yarn when not quilting, but there is never enough time to tackle all that I have on my 'to do' list.

Last week Marc and Rachael went on a week long bike trip with a local Youth For Christ group.  They biked from Oneonta, New York to Lake Ontario.   Thankfully, the heat wave decreased somewhat for the week and they had good cycling weather for the most part.

As a special trip for Katelyn (during the week without her big sister) we went to Niagara Falls.  The last time she had been there was when she was 3 years old.  We had a great day of 'hanging out together' and toured a bit of the neighboring towns.  Lewiston, NY is a pretty little village right on the Niagara River and has quite a history.  (When I get our computer to cooperate, I'll download the pictures to the story)

Jonathan found a butterfly egg on a dill plant several weeks ago.  He determined to hatch the egg and raise the caterpillar to become a butterfly.  Last weekend "Louie Bob" went from the caterpillar stage into the pupa stage.  Our butterfly farmer excitedly examines the jar every day for any changes and is sure to inform the rest of the household if there is ANYthing to report.

The garden is producing well.  We've put up all the corn, the beans are just beginning to produce, and the broccoli, carrots, cukes, peppers, and zucchini have kept us well fed.  The tomatoes are loaded, but have yet to ripen.  We've also robbed a potato plant for some new potatoes.  It's wonderful eating fresh veggies again!

For the past 4 years I have tried to grow luffa gourds.  This is the 1st year that I've been successful.  I have a wonderful trellis full of developing luffa.  Once mature, the inner part of the gourd is dried and cured and can be used as a sponge.  I plan to pour some of our goat milk soap into the sponges so we'll have a new item to sell at the shop--pre-soaped luffa sponges.  (Pictures to come!)

Thanks for your patience with my negligent blog updates.  Pray that our computer starts mending its ways!

 

 

1/2 Way Through The Birthday Season

Today Marc turns 19.  He has come so-o-o far from the little boy who stopped talking at 18 months and had to learn all over again how to communicate and deal with sensory issues.  He's a wonderful young man and it's exciting to see how God is using him.

Tonight he is celebrating his birthday by attending the Drive-In movies with Matthew, Rachael, and Katelyn.  (Nathanial had to work).  Happy, happy birthday, Marc!

Graduation(s) Celebration

June 16th we held an open house for a combined graduation party for all 3 of the eldest.  Marc received his high school diploma from Dad...







Pastor Dave Steensma gave a few words of congratulations and encouragement.

The boys surprised me with a dozen roses.  They then presented Wayne and I with wall plaques thanking us for being their Dad & Mom and for home schooling them over the years.













Then it was time to enjoy friends, food, and beautiful weather...

Friends came from near and far...(John is our neighbor & Rich traveled from Connecticut to attend the festivities)

 It's amazing to see these two young men all grown up.  They've been friends for at least 12 years.  Jacob will graduate next spring.

Horsin' Around

The two girls have been helping clean out stalls and caring for the horses at a local stable.  They love being around the horses and having the extra blessing of riding occasionally.  We like the fact that they can get their 'horse fix' without having one on the farm!

Rachael and Katelyn keep us updated on the comings and goings of the horses by taking pictures and putting faces with the names  as they tell of each horse's antics.