~Thanksgiving Blessings~

Our Thanksgiving wishes for you are a bit early because we won't be spending much time on here this week. Sunday we are looking forward to a Florida guest who spends each Thanksgiving with us. We'll tell you more about her next time.       

Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being,

praise His holy name.  Psalms 103:1

Thanksgiving reminds us of so may blessings and so many memories to cherish.  We pray your Thanksgiving is rich with meaning.

Grandchildren!

It was a deep JOY to have all our

children and grandchildren here October 1-20.

(Barb and her family are 10 minutes away; Brian and his family are in Colorado.)

We tried to fit in a lot of bonding!

     This game you try to get bean bags in others' buckets while protecting your own. The person with the least bean bags is the winner. Yes, Grandpa and Grandma helped!      (Exhausted!!)

     Bradley is designing the train tracks and Grandpa is affirming his creativity.

Kelly played with this kitty day after day!

     One day we made homemade ice cream and I mean - really homemade ice cream! It is sooo good and they had fun doing it! I'm including the recipe if you would like to try it. You can do it over your kitchen sink or it is fun outside on a warm day. As you can see, these little boys' grandparents do not have a picnic table!!!    

ICE CREAM IN A BAG 

(Yields dessert and exercise for the children!)

            1.  Place 3 T. sugar      1 c. light cream (half and half)      1 tsp. vanilla       in a quart-  size heavy zip-top bag. (I used the freezer quart size so the ice cubes  don't  poke  a  hole.)

            2.  Place that bag in a gallon size heavy zip-top bag. Layer ice cubes and sprinkle     2 T. salt in the gallon bag and seal.

            3.  Toss the bag back and forth for approximately 10 minutes  ~  ICE CREAM! The recipe says one bag serves two hot children.......not on a hot day!! Well, only if they are very little! Each of ours ate the contents of one bag...except for Kelly (5) shared her bowl with her Daddy.

            Caution:  When you empty the ice cream into a bowl, salty water tends to drip into your bowl!  Yuck!! So we wiped the bag holding the ice cream, snipped a corner at the bottom and squeezed it into the bowl - worked wonderful! IT IS FUN AND YUMMY if you like homemade ice cream! (Don't count calories today!)

One afternoon we all went miniature golfing! I cherish these memories.

One of the grandchildren noticed this hornet's nest!

     Matthew (our oldest grandson) graciously helped the little ones at their play dough table. It meant a lot to them to have a helper. Darin is 3 and Kelly is 5.

One-on-one time with Tori (our oldest granddaughter) - making memories over hot chocolate!

     It is now nap time; that means story time! We found a quiet spot - on the floor in the bedroom.

     Nevin and I took Brian, Donna and children to Philadelphia airport 5:30 Monday morning. Goodbyes are always hard. Our apples were ready that day so on arriving back home we made six baskets into applesauce. Barb and I agreed - it was good to keep our minds busy. Thank You, Lord, for family....for those near and far for we love them dearly.

     These are MacIntosh apples and it gave a pretty pink sauce. We use a Victoria strainer and Darin enjoys turning the handle! For those of you who may not be familiar with a Victoria strainer, you see the shells coming into the red dish pan and the applesauce going into the bucket. The most we've done was 18 baskets in one day and we were so very thankful for our V.S! When I was little (years ago!!) and Mother made applesauce, we didn't have this option!

I Corinthians 13:4-7

"Love is patient, love is kind.

It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.

It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered,

it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but

rejoices with the truth.

It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

This is what I experience with these dear ones -

my sisters and Mother.

(Dawn, Mother, Connie and myself)

Mother enjoyed planning simple, meaningful surprises while we girls were growing up.....someone to join us for a meal on our birthday, for example. As you can see, she passed that trait onto the three of us!         We are celebrating her birthday along with Daddy's family (Daddy went to be with the Lord 10 years ago on Nov. 4th.)  Mother is on the left and Aunt Jean and Uncle Ray on the right. Creative Connie made up a song which is humoring Mother!!  We went the cheap way with our attire!!

Celebrating Mother's 82nd Birthday

     We celebrated Mother's 82nd birthday earlier in October. What a joy to have all 36 of us together. We gave Mother a Birthday Blessing tree.  Barb mailed the leaves on ahead and that evening everyone brought their leaf with a note written to Mother/Grandma - expressing their love and appreciation to her. (The leaves were scattered nicely on the twigs until we moved it to take this picture!!)

Earlier Mother wanted to take her great grandchildren to Lititz Springs Park. We adults were children-at-heart when it came to feeding the ducks. This duck jumped for her bread...see her feet!

A bunch of happy ducks - and children!

When Mother saw Matthew (her oldest great grandchild) swing across these bars with ease, she thought she could try it!!!

Mother is not in pain; she was just cracking up!  I hope I have that much energy at 82! Ummmm....is it necessary for the oldest child to get permission before posting a picture like this??!!

Starting..........................!!!

     Well, for those of you my age you might remember the story "Leap in the Dark" by Uncle Charlie. It was all about faith! That's what this feels like to me!

     My friends will say they know I enjoy fellowship but that I prefer to listen verses talking.  Maybe that is one reason I haven't started this before. I have been enjoying meeting new friends on here, visiting with you and hearing of your activities and routines (daily blessings.) But I've been thinking "manners might say" I need to do my part! I'll try!

We wanted to celebrate our 39th wedding anniversary and talked about doing something a bit extra special. Well, it was to be more special than we realized when we made our plans. The above picture is friends of ours who own and operate Red Rose Tours http://www.xanga.com/Chearl  They had a mystery trip scheduled for October 10 and 11 and we decided to make this our anniversary celebration!

     On October 10th  Mystery Stop #1 found us at Pa. Grand Canyon in Wellsboro. The colors were awesome; I don't often use that word as I save it for things pertaining to God. There is no other word that I know to use for the beauty we saw before us.

     Mystery Stop #2 found us at Tioga Central Railroad. Did you know the conductor is the boss of the train? It's only when he says to start and stop that it happens!

     Our eyes just soaked in the beauty of God's Autumn creation!

     Saturday morning greeted us with 40 degree temperatures. Mystery stop #3 was the Patterson Farms - makers of Sugar Maple products in Sabinsville. This was extremely interesting as they explained each process. The evaporator above takes the water out of the maple sap which is collected from the trees.  43 gallons of sap makes one gallon of maple syrup.

     The newest food item developed is the Maple Dipping Mustard which the owner's sister is showing above. She worked on this recipe until it met Richard's approval!

     Our last Mystery  surprise was the highlight for all of us...Storm's Mountain Farm. This was not in the boonies; this was  REALLY in the boonies!!   The above building is where the owner's wife served us our family style meal  later in the day.

     Here we were treated to a covered wagon tour powered by two Belgium horses. This is Jack and Candy - 8 and 9 year old horses. Lenny, the owner, said they weigh about 1800 lbs. (He said they are overweight!!)

     This was a picture-perfect day! Two years ago on October 3rd Lenny said they did this in snow!

     This is another part of our group following behind us.

     We arrived at the top of the mountain and are giving the horses a break. We are grateful to Charlene and Earl for this experience!

     1 1/2 hours later we arrived back for our meal made by Lenny's wife, Kim. The appetizer was delicious soup, which is in the kettle above. This was followed by a wonderful down-home country cooking meal!

     Too soon it was time to close the door on this wonderful mystery trip. When we arrived home Saturday evening our daughter welcomed us back by phone. She said, "Mother, on a scale from one to ten how would you rate your trip? 11 was my answer! The experiences we have had with Charlene and Earl have always been a topnotch job wherever they take you....where you eat, where you sleep, and places you visit. I feel like I can't compliment them high enough for their thoroughness in ALL details!

     Along with them we thank the Lord for the wonderful weather He gave us to enjoy.