Family year-end update

Here is a Shedd family year end update to catch you all up on the many months of sparce (or no) posting! 

 Dear friends and family,                                                                                                                    

We hope this Christmas greeting finds you well and excited to celebrate Jesus’ birth in a few short weeks.    As is probably true for many of you, 2022 has been a busy, fun, and also crazy year for us.  In March, we re-homed our German Shepherd (Chula) to my parents’ home in PA.  I simply wasn’t able to take her for walks like she needed, and she needed more freedom to run around.  She is happy, healthy, and THRIVING living on my parents 5 acres. Plus, I think my dad kind of spoils her 😊 

In March, Dan began building a tiny cabin on our “farm”.  

In April we had a renewal conference at church on a Saturday thru Wednesday.  Included in those nights were a men’s night, teen night, and regular services as well.  It was a blessing.  At the end of April, I fell down our library steps (how embarrassing), and didn’t even look around to see if anyone had noticed!  I never went to the doctor, but I couldn’t put any weight on it for over a week.  It still bothers me when it’s cold and rainy.  We went that week for a few days on an anniversary trip with the kiddos.  I hobbled about on crutches and Dan even pushed me around in a wheelchair at Aldi.  Nothing like being reminded that our vows were “in sickness and in health”.  

In May, we did all of our garden planting.  I expanded the garden by about 8 feet this year in order to plant potatoes.  Because we re-homed Chula though, the rabbits and deer went to town on our garden.  In spite of that, we had a great green bean crop, corn, and cantaloupe.  Cucumbers, squash and zucchini, watermelon, carrots, onions, and basil, dill, thyme, and parsley did awesome.  The potatoes were pretty small (probably due to the deer chomping off the flowering tops of the plants in late July), but still tasty! We got some baby chicks as well in May and began raising them out.   Dan completed the tiny cabin and we furnished it, he made an outhouse with composting toilet etc., and then we began renting it out as a short-term rental.  Mostly to city folks who wanted a weekend to “rough it” with no electricity.  

In June, July and August, I kept busy with gardening, managing and cleaning the short-term rental we have, and also was faithfully going running every day.  We went to a conference in NJ in July and returned home refreshed and ready to win some battles for Christ.  It was right after that that we experienced one of the hardest blows in ministry we’ve experienced so far.  Through it all, God has been good though, and we know that God has a plan and a purpose in what He allows.  

Progress on the farm has come along steadily, and though Dan is working solo, he has finished working on the barn roof, re-doing the whole back of the barn, and also, fixing the holes in the house roof(which is slate).  He is now beginning the arduous task of gutting the house.  One friend came over to see the house and skeptically said “I don’t know…I’d probably bulldoze this place and start from the ground up.”  However, I love the history of the place.  It was built in 1810 and while it needs tons (TONS) of work, I believe it will be worth the hassle of fixing.

In September, we did something crazy…and bought 6 pigs- 1 sow and 5 piglets.  The sow we butchered right away.  Now we have been enjoying sausage and hams.  We sold 1 piglet, and still have 4.  

Gwen (4) LOVES school, writing, learning to spell words, and leads her sisters in singing all the time.  She plays the piano quite well for her age, and I’ve already told her that if she keeps it up, she’ll take my spot as church pianist.  😊 She is also very motivated to learn the piano “to proficiency” so that she can begin the violin and trumpet.  Gwen is in kindergarten.

Lucie (3) loves to help with things.  She gets very excited when Dan takes her to work.  She likes to help wash eggs, and make scrambled eggs for breakfast.  Both girls are learning to fold and put away their whole load of laundry.  Lucie also loves school and has already finished 2 sets of preschool books, and is currently in her 3rd.   

Eliza (18 months) is our “joy bell”.  She is happy almost all the time, and we love hearing her say words.  Her favorite words are “candy”, “crackers”, “soup”, and “mommy”.  

We were able to take a trip to Georgia to see family right after Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, we stopped for a night at my parents’ and then had a lovely meal with them.  In our journeying, we toured the Mayfield Dairy, the Jamestown settlement, and visited the church in MD where we worked for 2 years while newlyweds.  Dan was given the opportunity to preach in Spanish at the church plant he assisted in while in his late teens/early 20’s.  

In our church, I have been leading a ladies Bible study now every Wednesday.  We’ve studied verse-by-verse through Galatians, Ephesians, 1 and 2nd Thessalonians, Colossians, and James so far.  It has been such a learning time for all of us, and I love seeing the ladies’ grow in their faith.  I am also currently meeting with 3 different women throughout the week for personal discipleship (a 26-week course).  Dan is currently meeting with 1 man.  

We set up a booth in Granville for our annual tree lighting.  We gave out brownies and hot cider.  It was a great outreach opportunity.  Many people were thankful for both as well as the tracts we were giving out.  We are participating in the Granville lighted tractor parade on the 9th as well.  Dan will be building a float and decking it out all week in preparation for that.  Gwendolyn and Lucie are both playing the piano in my piano students’ Christmas recital on the 10th.  They don’t know it yet, but I’ve gotten them and myself tickets to go see the Nutcracker that evening after the recital.  I think they will enjoy that.  On the 11th, Gwen will be an angel and Lucie will be a shepherd in the church’s Christmas program.

  Dan got his first deer two weeks ago.  We did the whole thing into steaks this time.  We discovered that our creek at “the farm” has a beaver dam in it.  Thankfully, a trapper pointed it out to us and asked if he could trap our beaver for us.  We agreed.  

In June, I was asked to accompany the Granville Area Chorus for their summer concert at the park while their pianist was recovering from an injury.  It was mostly showtunes and patriotic songs, and I had fun with that.  In September I was asked to be the permanent accompanist, so I accepted.  Our Christmas concert is coming up in a few weeks.  We are doing a few of the songs from Handel’s Messiah…and those have required more practicing than I’ve been used to.  Very good for me! 

Well, I had better sign off and let you get back to your Christmas traditions, whatever they may be.  As for me, I’ll need to crack the whip if I expect to have the house decorated before Christmas.  Please have a wonderful Christmas with your family or friends, and don’t forget the real reason why we celebrate this time of the year!  

Much love, 

The Shedd’s 

Grandma's Angel

 As a young person, between 10-13 yrs of age, I have vivid memories of going with my grandma to help her at craft shows.

Grandma was a true artisan and could make doilies, table runners, quilts, angels, dolls… (you name it!). When she needed help setting up the stand, I would accompany her to different high schools and help out.

I recall setting up the booth in such a way that during “dead” times, I could hide under the table amongst the boxes and make fun forts.

I would help set out the Christmas angels and there were tiny baby ones, skinny ones, ones with poofy “robes”, ones with pointy wings, ones with rounded wings…. And this one always was my favorite. The wide, bell skirt was always perfect, and I loved the delicacy of the wings. I remember saying to Grandma one day at the West York HS craft show “Grandma, someday if you don’t sell this angel today, I want to buy her!”

Grandma laughed and said “Virginia, some day you can HAVE her. I have too much junk.”

That’s how Grandma always was. She never indicated that she thought what she did was talented, beautiful, or delicious (she was also an amazing cook).

Well, time went by and I graduated college, got married, and two years ago, I went to visit Grandma when I was in Pennsylvania. She told me she wanted me to follow her upstairs. There, in the room I used to stay in when I’d sleep over at her house, she had boxes of her crafts that were left from the craft sales. She had stopped doing them long before.

She told me that I was the last grandchild to be given the opportunity to look thru everything and pick out anything I wanted.

I picked out snowflakes, Christmas bells, doilies, and potholders. She reached over the bed and pulled out the last box and said “I don’t know if you even want one of these angels, but if you can use them…”

There was my beautiful angel I always said I’d buy.

I told Grandma about that, and she laughed, made the clicking noise she always made, and said “Well, looks like she’s yours.”

I miss Grandma. I love that her handiwork is all over my house so I easily am reminded of her generous nature and hard work.