Family Visit and House Updates!

I mentioned in my last post that my father-in-law came to visit for a few weeks.  It was so nice to have him here.  Gwendolyn quickly learned how to say "paw paw" and he liked to make her laugh, so it was a nice time. 

Our first few days together were pretty chill. 

 

 

We took a day and showed dad the capitol in all it's glory. 

 

This time, the NY state museum was open, so I enjoyed going there!  My favorite exhibit was the antique carousel on the 4th floor.  All of the horses are original and hand carved and hand painted.  It is free to ride on and the rides begin every fifteen minutes.  Because I love carousels so much, we took two turns on it. 

 

Turns out Gwendolyn is a real fan of them as well.  :D

 

 

 

After that one day chilling in Albany, we put dad right to work on the house.  I felt bad that he worked so much on his visit here, but you can't stop a Shedd from working! 

 

Dan and his dad put new drywall up in the whole upstairs, and patched holes, mudded everything, sanded everything...

 

 

 

Dan is so close to finishing!  We can see the end is near and it's very exciting.  Here in May, we have fun things coming!  A baby will (hopefully) be born, we'll plant the garden, Gwendolyn will have her first birthday, we just celebrated our anniversary, and it's officially Spring, which really makes me feel alive.  I love the winter too, but when Spring does finally come, I'm very ready for it. 

 

 

While dad Shedd was visiting us, we also had a pretty intense Missions Conference.  I mentioned that in my last post.  We had four different missionary families in and really enjoyed getting to know them all.  While the one family was here staying in our prophets chamber, Dan was happy to have an extra hand then, re-doing the church name on the front of the building.  These wooden letters have been rotting off since we arrived two years ago, and recently, the bottom of the I in "Baptist" fell off, so it was really time to do some updating.  We purchased new lettering that won't rot.    

 

 

It's very nice to have that project completed.  Today, I finished planting all of the watermelon, cantaloupe, bell peppers, tomatoes, some kale, and a few pots of squash and zucchini and cucumbers indoor.  I'm slightly late doing it...so hopefully everything grows fine.  The hope is that we'll be able to plant outdoor the last week in May.  Dan already got a truckload of chicken manure and spread it and tilled it into the garden. 

That's what we've been up to!  I have a midwife appointment today, so who knows...maybe I'll be posting an update on baby Shedd #2 someday very soon!

(at least I hope so!)

😃😃😃

Mostly fun updates

I realize that it has been forever since I posted.  Something about spring coming makes me want to be outside.  I have hardly taken any photos lately because my iPhone storage is full...and even though I've deleted every unused app, every photo and video, and every text I get, it still says I have no room to take photos.  I'm ready to step back in time and buy myself a digital camera again.  😄😄😄

 

Our snow is gone!!! I thought at the beginning of April that we were snow-free until winter again, but then it snowed right at the beginning of the month.  But now, I'm pretty sure we're out of the snow season for good. 

 

A lot of this post will probably be pictures of Gwendolyn.  She has been growing so much lately. 

 

 

 

She loves to walk all over and pick up anything and everything and put it in her mouth.

 

A few weeks ago, we were in Albany and decided to stop at the site of the first Shaker settlement in the United States which is right by the airport.  There was a small loom there which I used to weave several rows of a scarf. 

 

They also had sample articles of clothing in the style of that of the Shakers.  There was a sign reading "Try me on", so you can be sure I did.  It mostly didn't fit because I am pregnant... I think.  It could have been because they were meant for a child though haha.😄😄😄

 

 

Since the last of the snow and ice dissipated, we've been doing a lot of door-to-door inviting people to visit our church.  Dan likes to take Gwendolyn with him and she helps hand out the flyers.

Gwennie and I

 

On Palm Sunday, we bought a few palm branches, had the children in the church lay them in the aisle, and then they could take them home after church.  Gwen liked trying to chew on hers.

 

 

We had missionaries stay in the church for two weeks straight during and after missions conference (which I will also post about later), so the downstairs needed a serious deep cleaning. 

 

Dan snapped this photo of us as we were vacuuming the fellowship hall.

 

 

On Saturday, we celebrated our anniversary early (it was actually yesterday) by going to a restaurant to which we had a gift card.  We both had the salad bar, and because it was lunch time, they also had soups, deep fried cheesecake, and some teriyaki stirfry on the salad bar.  My favorite part was that they offer complimentary milk and chocolate milk with the salad bar.  We discovered that Gwendolyn loves chocolate milk....

 

Easter Sunday, after our services, we took a walk down the road to the river.  Last time we went there, it was nearly frozen.  Due to the overabundance of rain we've had lately, the river was VERY high, so the falls were roaring and showering us with a cold mist.  It reminded me of Niagara Falls, but on a much smaller scale of course.  😄😄😄

 

Yes, that is Dan laying on his back on the rock by the river.  Gwendolyn started getting very sleepy and needed a nap, so she was resting on his chest.

 

 

 

 

Other than these small family updates, we had a very busy two months!  My father-in-law came to visit us for two weeks and helped Dan SO MUCH on the house.  Then we had missionaries staying with us and at the church for missions conference.  After that, we had another missionary family in, and then Easter Sunday.  Dan continues to get what he can done at the house.

I mentioned before in a post that I sing with the Adirondack Voices, a community choir.  We finished our regular season's concert in April, but immediately began practicing rigorously to sing Beethoven's 9th Symphony and Chichester Psalms by Leonard Bernstein.  We've had extra practices and of course, they are both in different languages, so they take a little bit longer to learn.  Anyway, I'm very much looking forward to being finished with the concert next week.  After church on Sunday, we drove to Eastern Vermont to visit some friends who recently took over pastoring a small church similar to ours.  They were having a revival meeting, so it was nice to be there for the Sunday night service, and then stay with them the night, visit with them, and then also attend the Monday night service before coming home.  A good friend is coming to visit this weekend with her family, which will be very nice.  And last but not least, our baby is due to come this month!  I'm very grateful for all the visitors (friends, family, and missionaries) we've hosted.  It has helped to keep my mind off of the baby and being anxious about her arrival. 

 

Hopefully my next post will be sooner rather than later, now that I managed to put all of the photos from my phone onto my computer.  Until next time!