May 2017

Hope ya'll have had a wonderful May! Ours has been a beautiful-weathered and busy month, as usual.

Daddy and Mother planted some flowers in pots one evening.

I bought my first car on May 5th! A 2009 Buick Lacrosse, which I named "Cherriot".

The first Saturday of the month, Mother and I joined other ladies in our church for a ladies' breakfast at a restaurant. We enjoyed the fellowship.

That same day, our pastors the Stetlers, stopped by our house to visit with us for a little bit. It was a sweet surprise! They are such dear people.

Mother with Elizabeth, Jason, and I on Mother's Day 2017, in our backyard after church.

One Sunday, my friend/co-worker Janeane and her daughter came for lunch after church.

On the 13th of May, Mother and I traveled to Bluffton, IN for my friend Lily's highschool graduation.

We were glad to be there to celebrate with Lily and her family and friends. We look forward to getting to know her better when she comes to GBS in the fall.

Lily Rectenwald with her parents

A pretty lake we saw during the drive home.

On May 18th, Elizabeth and I were blessed to get to go canoeing with a group from GBS. This was on the bus on the way there.

This was on the next bus, driving to the actual take off spot. We had our life vests and paddles ready, and we were excited and nervous, because we'd never done anything like this before.

Our time on the water was so so delightful! The beauty around us was breath-taking. We saw some turtles and interesting birds. Some in our group saw snakes, but we were thankful we didn't!

The route was 6 miles long and took us about an hour and a half.

It was so fun! We were also thankful that no one fell out of the canoes or tipped over during our trip.

This is where we landed and had a picnic with the whole group, before heading back to GBS.

That evening, the Symphonic Wind and String Ensemble had their concert at GBS. We went to and enjoyed that.

I got to visit with friends, Bryanna Shirk and Kimberly Dickinson after the service.

Daddy and Mother visiting with Dr. Glick after the service.

A neat sign you see as you leave GBS campus.

That weekend, May 19-21 was Commissioning Weekend and Graduation at GBS.
The choir sang for one service.

On Sunday afternoon, there was a special service to install the new President into his position at GBS. Many of our church people were there for it.

Jason got to speak a part in the service as the Student Government President.

It was a very special service as President Avery gave the place of President of God's Bible School and College to President-Elect Rodney Loper.

President Avery putting the presidential robe on President Loper.

A time of prayer for President Loper and his wife, and for the whole school and future.

It's so green here!

One Sunday we had the Coopers over for dinner after church.

One evening the McKays were traveling through and got to have supper with us and spend the night.

On May 23rd, Elizabeth and I went to our church's young women's 2nd Bible study. We met in a park and played volleyball for awhile.

Then we had a good time studying the lesson.

It was a good group of young women, and it was a beautiful evening!

One evening we saw this neat cloud that makes me think of an elephant's head and trunk.

Me and some girls at work!

Elizabeth and I and Kendra went out for ice-cream one night before Kendra was to leave to go back home for the summer. She's been attending GBS and working some with me at Chick-fil-A.

Beautiful flowers in our neighborhood.

One lady in our neighborhood saw me taking pictures of her flowers and just gave me one to take home! It was so beautiful!

In addition to squirrels, many types of birds, and a racoon, now we have a chipmunk eating bird-food off of our deck.

One Thursday evening, I got to go to my friend Kimberly's violin recital.

Another evening after work, I went to my friend Candace's highschool graduation from GBS's academy.

I got to see my dear aunt Becky there, and my cousins and their kids.

Sunday, May 28th, we had the Byers and Careys over for dinner after church. They are in our Care-n-Connect group at church this season, and we enjoyed getting to know them more.

On Memorial day, I was off work and got to participate with our church people, in Florence's Memorial Day parade.

There were 65 of us in all!

The Harms family made such a cute addition to our section of the parade!

A couple of the cute kids in our church, waiting until time to start.

A bunch of us girls in our red, white, and blue!

April 2017

 April was another very full and busy month!
My dear friend, Ivanna, got to come visit me for 2.5 days at the beginning of April! We went on a walk together the first evening she was here.

Looking at waterfalls near our road.

It was so special to get to spend some time with this girl!

On Sunday, we had the Stroud family over for dinner, as well as Rev. Martin, who was the preacher for revival at our church that week.

Sunday afternoon, we went to GBS to pick up a girl there and go for a walk with her.

We went to Eden Park and enjoyed the beautiful afternoon.

Kendra, Elizabeth, me, and Ivanna

We have some pretty steep hills around here!

Monday morning after Ivanna and I had breakfast on the deck, we headed to the Creation Museum.

We had lunch on the patio there at the CM. It was a beautiful day!

As well as going through the museum, we thoroughly enjoyed walking through the gardens too!

A kind lady offered to take our picture for us.

Then a museum-worker took a picture for us when we were about to leave, too.

That night we had a couple other people at our house for supper and games, as well as Ivanna.

Beautiful spring flowers!

One evening, my dad and I went up an unknown road to see what we could see, and we found these deer crossing the road.

Beautiful blossoms!

Jeffrey and Lesa came to visit us for a few days! We enjoyed some picnics on the deck.

One evening, we had Bro. Hyatt over for supper and then played some dominoes with him. We enjoyed being with him and hearing stories of how God has used him in his prison ministry.

One evening was the last Women of Worth Ladies Meeting till it starts up again next semester.

One Thursday after work, Mother and I drove to Kentucky Mountain Bible College to pick up Lesa's sister Emily, for her to come visit over Easter weekend.

It was a gorgeous drive! So many red-bud trees were blooming!

We really enjoyed having Emily with us for a few days.

We went on a walk in our neighborhood and found a too-beautiful-to-be-real blossoming tree!

It was so so beautiful!!

Our church had an Easter party for the bus and church kids.

The egg toss

Sherilyn and her boys after the egg hunt.

Our family on Easter Sunday - Jason and Karen, me, Daddy and Mother, Elizabeth, and Jeffrey and Lesa

Daddy and Mother

Jeffrey and Lesa

A couple sweet pictures of Jason and Karen

Easter Sunday it rained very hard when we got out of church. I took this picture of our pastor and his wife trying to get to their house without getting soaked. :)

This year we went to IHC in Dayton, OH. This was the first time Daddy, Mother, or I have ever been there in person. We've always watched online from Colorado.

Bro. James Plank and Bro. Sankey

The youth service one day

Prelude music before one of the evening services.

Our assistant pastor and his wife, the Strouds, got to sing.

Chapel of the children on the last day of IHC.

Lesa's family got to come from Iowa for IHC too!

We went out to eat together for lunch at Dewey's pizza.

Two meals, we ate in the Lesa's family's RV with them.

Randy and Joy's family came from South Dakota too! It was so good to see them again.
Here, Joy, Jonathan, and Jewelyn are browsing the booths in between services.

I met a new friend at IHC, Lily, who knows sign language. Here, Lily and I were visiting with our friend Merilee, who also knows sign language. :) We got a chance to all sign together.

Elizabeth visiting with our friend, Mikah.

Jonathan and Jewelyn at IHC.

More visiting in between services.

Me with my arms full of nephews and niece!

After IHC was done, Randy and Joy's family came to spend one night with us and go to the Ark Encounter.

Jason holding our newest nephew Mishael, Karen playing with Jonathan, and Joy's parents in the backround.

Jason and Mishael

April 25th was the first young ladies' Bible study at the Stroud's home.

We look forward to taking part in that once a month!

Honey-suckle bushes in our backyard.

A cardinal hiding in the honey-suckle.

I went on a bike-ride one afternoon after work. We've had some beautiful summer days already this spring! This is what a lot of roads around here are like...

Wildflowers along the road on my bike-ride.

On April 26th, I got to spend part of my off day with the Harms family. The kids and I enjoyed the beautiful day by playing outside for a few hours. We had a delightful time!

The triplets and I

See you next month! Have a blessed May!