Life in general

Spring beauty
May 10? How did we get that far in the year?? The trees are green, the air is clean... or not. Those who suffer from allergies are getting a real hit this year. A white fuzz was coming down around here for a couple days. It looked about like it was snowing and in some places on the ground it resembled snow. Never saw the likes before that I remember.

We were talking about the beauty this spring and how it seems so very beautiful this year. We realized that the winter was not as long and bitter and there haven't been any late frosts to speak of. Fruit trees are loaded with a promising crop.

A view of the front lawn. The weeping peach is just visible behind the dogwood.

Closer view

Garden & illness
The garden has been our focus the last while. It is kind of slow going with just me and the three youngest. They can do a lot but there is so much to do. We need to haul things from afar- compost, hay from the pasture and mulching hay. We nabbed the truck one day and the men took the van to work. Another day we used the older van we have, to haul buckets of compost.

And then we've been fighting illness plus I can't take heat. Not as in, "I don't like to be out here, it's too hot" but I literally get sick. It is very annoying but I realize God has made me this way for a reason. Other sickness that has detained us is Lyme disease (potentially) and earache, the victim being Melvin in both cases.

He was very ill a few weeks ago with a very high fever. Simultaneously I noticed a dark red blotch on his back where he thought a deer fly bit him. Knowing how vicious those bites are explained its bad look but I kept an eye on it and when it widened out into a large "ringworm-looking" circle I immediately took him to our Lyme doctor. Doc said,"I don't know any other rash that looks like that" and put him on Amoxycillin for a month. I presume that is what ran his system down to where he got a bad earache. We fought it with oregano oil and he's up and running once again.

So back to gardening- because I can't take the heat we go outside for a couple hours in the morning and then come in to work on our school work. I know morning is prime brain time but you gotta do what you gotta do sometimes.

Yesterday I bought seeds, plants and seed potatoes. Our big garden space for potatoes, corn and other things deer won't eat got tilled last evening. Now we can lay into that and get it planted. Woo-hoo!

We planted some strawberries that I had little hope for. They came in the mail while we were in PA and sat at the post office until we got home. Then they sat here awhile longer until we prepared a space for them. I prayed over them but not with much faith. Surprisingly a number of them are growing!

One of the boys captured this bee in action

Work
Thomas is finally back into a good work schedule. He has been taking Stephen and Austin with him. The boys also helped another contractor a couple days when he needed help. It is a huge help to me when those giants are profitably employed! After they get so big and so old they are too much for me.

Recent projects have been- cleaning and refinishing a log home exterior; repairing and painting soffit and trim on an old farm house; doing various maintenance projects for an older single lady; repairing a storage unit that was backed into and doing some landscaping maintenance for an older couple. Jack of all trades?

Gorgeous tree peonies

Mother's Day
Special mother things have been on the agenda. The annual mother-daughter banquet was the 3rd of May. We had a fun evening of food, fellowship, games and admonition. Wanda & Heidi Eash were in charge of that. They had a young lady from PA come to speak to us. I don't know how to spell her name so I won't tell you who she is.

Today we were served the special Mother's Day meal that the men prepare for us annually. Ham, potato and carrot roast, lettuce salad, rolls, cake and ice cream (not always the same menu). Thomas made ice cream with Matthew's help. I don't like to see men fumbling around in the kitchen not knowing what to do but it is a tremendous treat to have them do that for us!

We also had a sermon for mothers that was challenging and a bit depressing as I realized I never seem to measure up. A call to keep trying, and work on improvement with the Lord's help.

Another color of tree peony

Lost & found
We had an exciting depressing thing happen here the last couple days. A calf was born to a wild mommy. Turns out baby is wild too. When Matthew got near to it, the calf decided to bolt... through the fence and into the woods. Before Matthew could get over the fence he lost track of the thing. We searched and searched and searched but couldn't find it. My nieces and nephew (Sylvia, Mervin & Jean) were here searching yesterday as it is really their calf. Finally around mid-afternoon Jean spotted the calf and came running in with the exciting news.

The rest of the children leaped up and ran to go with her. I cautioned them to not scare the calf off again. So they quietly and carefully tried to surround the thing. But away it bolted again. This time they kept it in sight and finally Mervin was able to grab its tail and hang on. They then flipped it and sat on it until they got help to haul it out. Baby and mother were joyfully reunited.

We had thought that surely if he was close enough to hear, he would go to his bawling mother. Any ideas why he didn't go? The fruitless search had everyone in low spirits for awhile but then when he was found there was great rejoicing. Joe (my bro-in-law) tied the calf's hind legs together and slung him around his neck. The message had been sent to the church earlier to pray that they could find the calf and then the message was sent, The calf has been found! Doesn't that sound like this parable-

And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.
(Luke 15:3-7)

The lilacs are just loaded 

Baptism
A highlight in April was Austin's baptism. There was one other young man baptized along with him. Thomas' aunt JoAnn and his sister Yvonne & Carl came for that occasion. My parents wanted to come but were not able to. It is exciting and humbling to have our children decide to follow God.

One of a number of azaleas on the place

Correction
In my last post I posted two pictures of weeping cherry and labeled the one as a weeping peach. I realized later when the weeping peach bloomed that I had it wrong. Weeping peach has a bright pink bloom.

A few random photos

The first iris of the year

I don't know what kind of tree this is. Do you?

Broom

Azalea

 Chicken Little
One of the boys who attends the Romney Kid's Club gave us two chicks that his class at school hatched out for a science project. He wasn't allowed to keep them in town. The white one is definitely a chicken but I can't figure the other one out. Do any of my readers recognize it? The three youngest boys and I slapped this cage together. I helped them get the top square put together and then Matthew & Melvin used their imaginations to complete it. I thought they did a great job with what they had to work with!

Our week past

It's another beautiful (!) Lord's Day. I am sitting on the deck listening to the songs of birds, the hum of insects, the mooing of cattle, the pecking of a woodpecker and -oh dear!- the roar of four-wheelers. The scent from the tulip magnolia is heavenly. 

This is the one that was budding in my last post

We had some really gray days this week. Some rain and thunderstorms. We needed moisture so I wouldn't want to complain. Gray days make sunshine so much more appreciated.

The log pile got cleaned up this week. It was a project that was started in February. We had a load of logs delivered this winter and had hoped to get it all cut up and stacked before the Faith Builders project. It didn't happen then but this week it was finished. It is such a good feeling to see it completed.

Completed stacks

Thursday evening we helped with the Kid's Club in Romney. There were 50 children there that evening. I had an interesting little girl that stuck with me all evening. Izzy seemed like the type who might need to fend for herself a lot. She has very decided opinions about life. She received a bracelet as a reward for being at Kid's Club four times. We were discussing the word on her bracelet- Courage. She said, "I know what courage is." I wondered, "What is it?" "You punch 'em good," she responded with clenched fists.

We also baby-sat a 5 yr old boy Thursday for several hours. The boys took him along to school when they went for music class so he could meet his parents there.

Friday we had the great privilege of having Thomas' aunt and husband come to visit. Christ and Lizzie Esh from Juniata County PA. Lizzie is Thomas' father's youngest sister. There were 11 in that family. (Interestingly, my mother came from a family of 12.) 

We were discussing how it is to keep hungry mouths fed. Lizzie said her oldest sister had 16 children and we were imagining how it would be to feed that many. She said she visited her sister once and was helping her butcher chickens. Lizzie thought they were butchering in preparation for preserving the meat. But no, it was just for the next meal(s). 

Christ & Lizzie spent most of the day with Thomas' mother and then all three came to our house for supper. 

Here are some more photos, shot today, of scenery on the place here. Spring is such a gorgeous time.

Another tulip magnolia

Weeping cherry

Forsythia

Weeping peach

I am so excited to see these plants poking up once again. Our family really likes rhubarb.

We also got some flowerbed cleanup done and bushes pruned this week. Ornamental grasses were cut down and hauled off. (That should have been done in the fall.) The compost heap got turned. Old hay was picked up off the pasture. We are getting somewhere! Yea!!

This patch wasn't cleaned up- it's just another photo

Sheep shearing was the event in focus last evening. Our friends who have sheep graciously allowed us to come watch the procedure. They also invited us to dine with them. They furnished grilled burgers and all the fixin's. I took a potato salad. She made a pea salad and some apple pies.

We had the rare privilege of meeting an Olympic skater at our friends' house. She is from Moscow. She showed me some of her performances on You Tube. Wow! She skates as one of a pair. Her male partner and she synchronize very well. Some of the maneuvers they do could be really dangerous if they went wrong. But unfortunately, she is very undressed for the shows. 

What did you enjoy this past week?

What is your favorite spring food?

A verse that came to mind while watching the shearing-


He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.  (Isaiah 53:7)

Springtime and HOME!

Oh, it is good to be home! To be welcomed by warm spring weather, flowers, green grass and spring peepers. Yummy. 

Notice a blue "shine" on the ground

The little blue anemones that cause the blue "shine" in the photo above.

Rows of daffodils with forsythia in the background

The tulip magnolia about to bloom

Ahh! Cattle lying in green pasture. That's the barn where they milk the cow.

I told my sister that I'm sure people around here don't appreciate what they have. (Not like we do anyway.) 

This was the scene from our apartment window last week one morning

I was completed astounded when I woke to this sight. It snowed maybe 4" that day.

The first night we were here I was awake enough to hear wind and I thought, "Wow! That must be some wind to be heard in this building like that." In my half asleep/half awake state I thought I was still in the apartment on campus at Faith Builders. Then I awoke enough to realize I was in my own bed in a double wide with thin walls.

Someone at Faith Builders asked me what will be the first thing I do when I get home. After thinking a bit I said I would probably walk around and see what all is growing in the flower beds, garden and orchard. It didn't turn out that way. 

When we arrived home Friday afternoon the older boys were wanting the truck for a work night with the young folks. So we immediately unloaded and I put things away and did laundry. The house was filthy. At least where people came in and out to chore for 5 weeks. It was appallingly dirty. I spent a good bit of time cleaning and making order out of everything.

Mom Lapp graciously offered to make a meal for us that evening. I accepted as I didn't know what I was going to cook. 

Then yesterday I transplanted the tomatoes that we had started in PA. The boys filled the cells with soil, helped with transplanting and hauled the finished product away. We have over 200 plants. Enough to share -that's certain.

 Now they line every available window space.

The boys are enjoying lots of outdoor time. Of course, it's back to milking cows and tending the animals, cooking, doing dishes and cleaning house too. They got spoiled for the last several weeks. I told them they need to remember that they are needed with housework once again!

Matthew prepares to serve the volleyball. Christopher sits; whittling something.

This morning our church had a different kind of service. There was a a sunrise service at 6:30 for whosoever wanted; at Ken & Heidi Eash's place. Thomas & I would have liked to be there but were too worn out plus someone needed to milk the cow. We opted to stay home. Stephen & Austin planned to go but then Stephen overslept. End of that story.

After that service there was a breakfast at church beginning between 8 & 8:30. We went for that and I took a plate of fresh fruit. Following the breakfast we had a shorter-than-normal service with singing, a share time and a sermon. Austin had instruction class afterwards. We came home for lunch. 

A '"hospitality evening'' is planned. Something new for me. I don't recall ever doing it before but it sounds interesting. Four families are hosting and the rest of the families picked slips of paper from a basket. The papers had the host families' names on them. Whatever name was on your paper is where you are to go for the evening. Each of the hosts have two households coming to their place. We plan to go to Allen & Joanna Stoltzfus' place. The boys are quite happy about that as Allens' boys are their friends.

I walked around the garden a bit yesterday and I think this coming week we will spend a lot of time outdoors. The garden was sadly neglected for a year and needs a lot of attention. I also want to move perennial flowers while they are small. It may not be the right time of year to do it but if I don't do it now it won't get done!

Has spring sprung for you? Or are you still waiting?

What new thing have you recently experienced?

What was Easter like for you? Do you serve a risen Lord?

If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable.  (1 Corinthians 15:19)

What our schoolwork looks like

We are studying animals.

This is called a lapbook- made from a Manila folder

Info can be added to the folder in many interesting ways

We are currently studying mammals

Each boy can choose a mammal to research from the category we study

We are learning the order in which the states joined the Union and what some few particulars of each state are.

The 1st state to join the Union

The 11th state - we did this paper today

We are being introduced to the presidents one by one.

We continue to learn about world history as we study American history.

For Math the two youngest are doing a book in the Life of Fred series. Whenever we come across a highlighted word(s) in the text, I have them illustrate it or write a definition to put in a Math lapbook. Matthew is using an online math - Khan Academy.

We enjoy story books that enlarge on the history of individuals.

What is your favorite animal?

How do you deal with the horrors from history like the Reign of Terror?

Do you have a biography to recommend?