Focus on that

I love the Christmas season.  I always have, and always will.  It's strange how traditions change and the things we look forward to change over the years.  But things that never change are the feelings that Christmas brings inside of myself.  The TRUTH that Christmas commemorates is  vital as to why we celebrate in the first place.  

As a Christian, if I keep forgetting that we celebrate Christ's coming to earth as a baby to one day die for our sins, than the meaning of Christmas is lost.  If my primary (or only) focus is wrapped up in present-wrapping, buying, getting, the fun traditions and decor, than my focus is skewed and sadly, the end of Christmas will be a letdown.  

There have been years in my life when as soon as the big days were done (the day we had a Christmas party, the day we went to Grandma's, the day we had our Christmas and exchanged presents, the day our church had a big program, the candlelight service Christmas Eve etc.), I'd feel majorly depressed and like all the fun had ended.  

If we're honest, that tendency to get so wrapped up is there.  

I've been thinking about this and working on it since that first year I experienced it.  Even at the old age of 29, I still can get caught up buying presents I think people will love, wrapping them, being so frantic about making the batches of Christmas cookies that I don't want to let the toddlers help- because let's be honest...sometimes their help is more work for us in the long run.  

I have to work hard at not being such a Martha (illustration from the bible story in Luke 10), especially at Christmas time.  Sitting at the feet of Jesus, or in our case, focusing on the real wonder of the season (Jesus being born to one day die) is SO much more satisfying.  It isn't exhausting.  After the trees have been put away, cookies have been eaten and presents have been unwrapped, that truth will still be there.  

We have much to be thankful for and God is worthy of our every praise.  Focus on that.  

Vacation 2020

A few weeks ago we were able to use our yearly purchased vacation certificate at a resort in Pennsylvania.  We originally scheduled our vacation for May in Cape Cod which I was very excited about because it was near to Plymouth Plantation.  However, due to the closing of the resort, that vacation was cancelled.  While this place in PA wasn't exactly the cape, it was still a nice place.  The resort itself was nothing like last years' in that the actual "clubhouse" was completely closed to the public- so that meant no dvd or book rentals, no shuttle service, no game rentals, no activities, no boat rentals...etc. But where there's a will, there's definitely a way to have fun.  Surprisingly, the resort was pretty booked, so because our girls are early risers, we spent most of our time in the morning outside when most everyone was asleep.  

The buildings almost look like apartment buildings....because technically they were.  They weren't as nice as last years, but they were clean, and we literally had a lake in our backyard, so that was really nice!

Though the clubhouse was closed, we were given a card that gave us access to the playgrounds which the girls loved, and also a private beach. 

We went to the big state park a few days and went on hikes.  The girls learned to find fun things to find and look at- acorns, leaves, caterpillars, etc.

They could have kept throwing stones in the river all day if we'd let them!

When we finished our hike that day, we drove through a small town called White Haven that we were told was home to the BEST diner ever.  We went to the diner and for sure, the burger they made for me was a big as the plate.  Plus, the waitresses were friendly, down-to-earth and didn't treat us like we carried every germ known to man because we have kids.  So that was Nice!! :-)

The next day, we were to the private beach.  We were the only people there because it was cloudy.  

Dan bought the girls water guns to squirt and they loved them...'til Lucie chewed them up haha!

Our vacation mostly consisted of hiking, and playing on the playground as you can see. :-)

I wasn't about to go buy sand toys for the girls just for a few days, so we improved and used a tupperware.  :-)

Our last day there we filled with lots of fun activities.  We went back to the state park, and saw a waterfall (which was hard to get a good picture of because everyone and their brother was half-naked, playing in it....)

Instead of spending much time at the waterfall, we went upstream and waded in the water and sat on rocks.

Then we went to the Boulder Field in the state park.  

I've never seen anything quite like it on the east coast!

Then when we finished there, we ate a quick lunch of leftovers and drove to Knoebels Grove Amusement Park while the girls napped in the van.  I haven't been to Knoebels since right after we got married, but I used to go yearly with my family as a child.  I never used to understand how my parents were totally cool with not riding any rides themselves except for the ferris wheel.  Now I get it....as a parent, it is SO MUCH MORE FUN to watch your children having fun than to be tossed around in a ride and get headache after headache.  That's how I know I'm getting old! haha!  Rides never used to give me headaches at all. 

We all got on the Ferris Wheel, which was nice.  Of course, I wore my Trump hat there, and got tons of compliments on it by the way.  

The girls had so much fun!

These little ponies were definitely Gwen's favorite.  She still talks about them a few times a week.

Because we were required to wear masks, I was fully expecting to only stay an hour or so, but we ended up staying the full four hours.  There was a christian singing group at the theatre which was near where we were the whole time.  

In general, this area of PA where we went on vacation doesn't have a ton to do, especially with the scamdemic, but we found fun all around us.  We also were able to go to a WONDERFUL church full of amazing, friendly people who encouraged our hearts.  We invited the Pastor and his family over to our place and it was lovely time of fellowship.  As a Christian, it should be second nature to be able to find commonality with other believers and seek to be a blessing.  When we do that, in turn, we are blessed.  More about that subject to come!

Stay posted!! 

2020 Backyard Garden

This year our garden has done well.  Not quite as good as previous years, but still good.  I believe we may need to look into having our soil treated or tested to get the results that we got our first year (three years ago now). 
Our squash and zucchini were prolific this year, but they died much faster than any other year.  This is the first year that the shell peas I planted actually came up and produced.  I got three pickings off of them before they bit the dust.  

Gwendolyn had fun helping me shell them.

I planted more green beans this year than any other year, and they did great.  I tried two rows of pole beans which I will NOT try again next year.  They taste so stringy that they're hard to enjoy while being eaten. 

Our watermelon was good again.  Most of our watermelon were fed to the chickens because we just couldn't eat that many!

The girls enjoyed the ones we had though!

The corn was pretty special this year though.  Most of the corn stalks grew to be about four feet tall and then grew tassles and the smallest. skinniest ears known to man.  The girls and I harvested them all, and discovered that of the two varieties we planted. one was almost definitely a type of field corn.  So the chickens, rabbit, and birds at the birdfeeder enjoyed all of those. 

Gwen and Lucie were very helpful husking the corn.

Most of the ears looked like this:

And a VERY FEW looked like this.

The good ears cooked down to be 6 small bags of corn to freeze.

Dan and Gwendolyn planted sunflowers this year.  Because they were planted late, I didn't think they would amount to much, but they all bloomed beautifully and the girls were very excited to see them!

Three weeks ago, we had our first hard frost and since then, everything in the garden has died.  We pulled out all the plants that still had green on them and fed them to the chickens.  

I didn't plant any big red tomatoes this year, but just left up the volunteer plants that came up from last years seed.  We still had more tomatoes than we could use.  I did plant two sun gold tomato plants and we had more than enough of them for salads and snacking.  Lucinda liked to pick the green ones.  

So that is our garden this year! We only got a few cantaloupe and we did pick TONS of bell peppers, but I forgot to get a picture of them.  The kale did well again as usual.  We are having special meetings this week at the church, so though we're busy with those, I've taken it easier on some of my weekly chores.  I finally was able to sit down and make a post on the old blog! This morning we walked to the nursing home and got to see (through the windows) the residents who used to attend our service when we were allowed to have it.  We miss them very much.  
Keep your eyes peeled for another post soon!

Camping with Toddlers

August!  It's already half way through the summer! Hard to believe, I know. 

We enjoyed going on a short camping trip to hear one of our college professors preach a revival meeting in Vermont.  The meetings were about 1 hour and 45 minutes from our house, but I thought it would be so much nicer and more relaxing if we could stay in the area those three nights instead of rushing home and the girls not getting a good rest.  

When we first moved here to the parsonage, there were 2 tents left in the garage.  We got one out and cleaned it, set it up, and made sure we had a queen air mattress and a small blow up toddler mattress and headed off on our adventure!

Our campsite was right by the Connecticut river and the bathhouse was only a short walk away, which is always great with two little kids.  

We did the whole camping experience; breakfast in a cast iron skillet, lunch was sandwiches each day, and dinner was in the skillet again and dessert was smores.  

It was great!  Gwendolyn loved sleeping in her little blue bed and in the "tenty tent" as she called it. And Lucie, well, she had to be in the pack and play.  Maybe next time she'll be big enough to not roll around and walk out of bed  :) 

Here is our campsite:

 

We ate a lot of ice cream from Wade's place while we were there- one time we even drove there while the girls were napping and Dan and I ate our ice cream in peace without them begging for some :) 

We went on several walks and hikes each day.

We also went to a lake called Plymouth that had a sandy beach.  That was the girls' first experience with sand.  They had fun after they got over their fears.  :)

We also found a playground that was open!  First one in about a year that we've been on.  The girls had so much fun on the sliding boards and swings

Though our trip was during a reallllllly humid time, we didn't get too many bug bites!  The only thing that suffered slightly was the girls' sleeping schedule.  They didn't take their naps unless we happened to be driving. 

On our last day camping, we hiked up Mount Ascutney.  The view from the top was really great!  

 And of course, the way up with these kids was a blast too...

We went to a local farm and went raspberry picking.  Gwendolyn did a good job picking them, but Lucie's attention span was pretty short.  

On the last night of the meetings, we took a picture of Dan, his friend from college (who is now a pastor in Vermont), and our former professor from college.

It was a great little trip, and we're already talking about doing something like it again.  There are so many tenting places here in the Adirondacks, that it'd be easy to stay within a half hour drive so we could still take care of the chickens, dog and bunny, but still have a great time.  

Hope you enjoyed this long past-due update!