Thursday, December 19, 2019

November 2019!

Hello again! Here's what happened during our blessed and busy November!

November 2nd, SWSE and GBS's choir had the opportunity to play/sing a few songs at the Answers Center at the Ark Encounter for the college expo that was going on.
Getting set up and ready!
My friend Jenny and I with the Ark in the background.
Ms. Esther does a wonderful job with the children in our church as she is in charge of Jr. church. She recently did a series about the Race of Life. The kids loved it!
A quick snapshot one Saturday with a few coworkers as we were braving the chilliness outside.
We got our first snow at GBS and some of us were excited! :)
My brother and I going on a quick walk in the snow...
Studying with my sister and a couple of friends...
My friend and a teacher at GBS, Mrs. C. took me to the Coffee Emporium one afternoon for some good coffee and conversation. She is so sweet!
Dear little Daniel Harms is growing like a weed and is just as precious as could be!
Going to lunch in the rain one day...
Matching with my sister and friend Rebecca
Our fall family photo in our backyard
Sunday dinner with Danette and our friend Kashleigh
November 3rd the GBS choir came to our church!
God helped them and they did a wonderful job and were a blessing in their singing for Jesus!
Cousins - my friends Melanie and Brittany
Nov. 9th we were blessed to have the Manners come visit us for a day while they were passing by. We went out to eat at Cracker Barrel...
Playing Chickenfoot back at home with the Manners
Sunday dinner with Rebecca, the Manners, Danette, and Caleb
Nov. 16th we attended a surprise birthday party for a couple of our college friends...
Luz and Abi!
They were surprised and happy!
Nov. 17th our Sunday dinner guests were Eli and Thelma Albring, Jimmy, Danette
Nov. 24th our Sunday dinner guests were just "our kids", Rebecca, Jimmy, and Danette
A sweet picture of Sis. Cooper and little Ellisyn after church.
Elizabeth and I got to help some ladies in our church make homemade donuts - a first for us. We had a good time together making them.
Icing them...
Serving donuts to the church people after the evening service. These ladies are just the sweetest - even sweeter than the donuts they were serving!
Pastor Stetler and his little granddaughter, Karilee
Nov. 26th and 27th our friend from CO, Natalie came to spend a bit of time with us while she was on Thanksgiving break from her college. We had a sweet time together catching up!
Teaching Natalie how to play Chickenfoot.
Love this sweet friend of mine - we were so glad to see each other!
We both enjoy the game Settlers of Catan, but had never gotten to play it together! Finally we did.
Chai on the way to take her to the airport...
For Thanksgiving Day this year, we had an assortment of people in our home and had a lovely time with everyone. Doing a puzzle before lunch...
Prayer time of thanksgiving for the day, people, and meal...
Abi, Gaby, Tsion, Wesley, and Jeffrey - all students of the college or academy at GBS.
My parents, Chris, the Mitchells, the Coopers, and Retha
Playing Chickenfoot (yes, this is the 3rd time I am mentioning that game in this post. That's cause it's easy to play with a small group, easy to learn, and good for all ages) . . .
Playing Apples to Apples
The girls and I played Monopoly after our other guests left.
The day after Thanksgiving, Jason and Karen came over for supper and playing Things!
A beautiful sunset one evening in November!

That's about it, folks! Merry Christmas!!

Tuesday, December 17, 2019

October 2019

Hello, ya'll! The last few months of the semester have just been crazy and have flown by, so I am going to attempt to do some catching up on my blog. Here are pictures from what happened in October. :)

Fall mums on the GBS campus
Our friend Dessi came for a couple days to visit!
While the weather was warm enough, we enjoyed some meals on the patio.
Dessi took Elizabeth and I out to eat one day she was with us.
Sunday dinner guests on Oct. 6th.
The Witts, Coopers, and Hodnetts are all sweet couples from our church that we enjoyed visiting with and getting to know better.
The Collingsworth family had a concert at GBS on Oct. 12th.
Sunday, the 13th, the 18-30-year-olds in our church sang the special song.
After church we had Caleb, Jimmy, and Danette over for dinner.
Oct. 14th was Sisters Meeting at church. We had a fun evening together with a meal, devotional, and craft.
One weekend in October, our friend (my brother's sister-in-love) got to spend the weekend with us while she was on break from her college. We share names, which is so fun, and this day we accidentally matched clothes! We had a fun and sweet time with her.
She got to go to GBS with us for a couple of the days and go to classes with us.
One evening we had overnight guests, our friends the Kinnamans. It was good to see them again!
That same weekend SWSE went out for a whole Sunday (Oct. 20). Our first service was at a church in Findlay, OH.
On the bus
We had a good service there and then the church people fed us a delicious lunch.
The non-college-student adults who were with SWSE.
Some friends and I trying to take a picture together after lunch - not as easy as it looks!
There we go! Thankful for these ladies!
My amiga, Gaby and I
In the afternoon we had a bit of extra time before heading to the second service, so some people went on walks, others just read or rested.
Our second service was in Decatur, IN.

Every church SWSE goes to feeds us so well. We are very spoiled and thankful.
Jonathan and Meagan Valentine - Jonathan was our bus driver that day.
Meanwhile, back at the ol' homestead, my family were having an odd assortment of guests over for Sunday dinner. 
Oct. 23rd, Mother, Elizabeth, and I had supper with our pastor and his wife, the Stetlers, our friend Retha, and the Blacks, missionaries to Taiwan who Elizabeth worked with during her internship.
The Blacks had a mission service at our church that evening and then we got to visit more after church.
Elizabeth with David and Christina Black
A snapshot between classes with a few dear friends at GBS - Jenny, Melanie, and Renee
There was one day that we had a study day away from school, but I felt like I needed to go to work to connect with some of my coworkers. I was so glad I did that!

After our shift a few of us went out for ice-cream. I was so sad to be saying goodbye to this sweet coworker, Cassie. She and her family are moving to NJ to open a Chick-fil-A there.
We will miss them being part of our team very much, but happy for them at the same time!
One day at GBS someone pointed at the sky and said, "There's a fire-rainbow!" I had never heard of it before. Then I heard that other people call them "Sun-dogs".
Thankful for these kiddos! They are growing up so fast, but I enjoy spending time with them when I can.
One day my friend Gaby and I decided to go on a bikeride together, so we rode to Eden Park, which is nearby GBS but is all up and down hills to get there. We spent some time at this pond, taking pictures and enjoying the rainbows in the mist.
One Sunday afternoon I went to a Chick-fil-A leaders meeting. Here are just a few of the people with whom I'm blessed to work and lead!
For our meeting we had to come up with name tags that included an adjective that started with our initial.
A beautiful fall morning on campus...
Around-the-fire time for Mrs. Frederick's interest group one evening.
We had a beautiful fall on campus!
A quick snapshot with some classmates before an afternoon class.
Oct. 25-27, our family went on a quick trip to PA for Daddy and Mother's anniversary.
Eating lunch at a picnic place along the way.
We traveled through West Virginia and Maryland to get there and we enjoyed the beautiful colors the whole way there! It was so gorgeous and was the best weekend to go, regarding fall/colors.
This was really just a trip to rest and see new things, so we were willing to stop some along the way.
Thankful to be on a trip together!
Very interesting natural scenes...
We stayed in a nice and cozy Air-B&B in Jonestown, PA.
A popcorn snack before bed. ;)
Breakfast the next morning.
This place is called The Red Barn Retreat, owned by the Englands.
We went several places in PA on Saturday, just exploring the place. First we went to the Mennonite Info Center in Lancaster, where they had a little museum.
They also had a replica of the tabernacle that the Bible describes, and a man gave a tour and detailed description of it based carefully off of the what the Bible says it was like.
There we were pleasantly surprised to run into some of the England family, who own the place we were staying. It was nice to meet them!
We went through several shops - here Daddy is trying on an Amish hat.
We briefly saw this mill with a waterwheel. It looked neat, but we couldn't get any closer.
We tried to find some covered bridges and finally found this one! I was so excited, because I'd never seen one before, other than in pictures.
We got out to look closer, even though it was raining.
PA country. . .
On Sunday morning we left the Red Barn Retreat and headed a couple hours away to go to our friends' church. It was a beautiful fall and rainy drive.
I promise, neither I nor my camera were injured in the attempt of taking these pictures.
Finally we arrived in time for the morning service at the church in Millmont, PA, where our friend, Brent Susan pastors.
After church we went to the Susan's home for dinner. We were thrilled to get to know their sweet children better for the couple hours that we were with them.
Visiting before dinner
They fed us such a yummy lunch. It was so sweet and so special to get to see our friends again!
Tirzah, me, and Kohen
Daddy and Mother with Azariah.
Atarah, Brent, and Chanan
Tirzah and I played a few songs together before we had to leave.

We were so thankful that we got to go on that short trip! We were blessed to see new things and places, beautiful nature, and friends.