Photo tour

One little flower corner

The lemon colored lily

I took this photo because this flower garden looks like such a jungle. Then I went into it and took close-up photos of the beautiful lilies therein. They follow.

This is Stephen's radish patch. I was intrigued by the spiral.

Our corn patch(es). The second planting is obviously not much. :)

The potatoes

Butternut squash

Loaded pear tree

Lily in the orchard

Peaches

Blueberries

Another orchard lily

Lettuce (and weeds!)

Peppers

A volunteer butternut squash. It took over.

Tomatoes

If you've been following you will remember that I started these from seeds of an heirloom tomato 

Rose of Sharon I think

I am fascinated by all the different colors of lilies

Rose

Wildflower. Jewelweed

Thomas and the boys worked together to make a screened in porch/deck combo this summer. Here is a shot before starting and then you will see the progression following. Here are Thomas and Austin. All photo credits from the building go to Stephen.

Thomas and Austin

Thomas

Matthew, Thomas and Austin

Thomas

Austin

Interior of screened in porch

Miss Sellanious

I will post this although it is rather old. I meant to add some photos but am not getting that done. I may give you a "photos only" post sometime.

Troyer Reunion

Right on the heels of finishing up formal school this spring (we continue to be educated throughout the summer but do not have appointed times to sit down and read, write & cipher) we attended the Troyer reunion in Farmville, VA.

This is where my deceased mother’s family migrated to from VA Beach, VA years ago. When we lived there (my parents and siblings), there were my grandmother and three uncles with their families living in that area. About the same time that we moved to WV my one uncle moved to MO and the other to ME. The other stayed there and all his seven children and their children and their children (yes, four generations!) live in the area as well.

It was grand to connect with kin once again. People were there from Maine, Alabama, Texas, West Virginia, Missouri, Pennsylvania, and other places I don’t recollect at the moment. We also had the privilege of briefly connecting with old time neighbors and friends- the Shetlers- where we stayed overnight.

Coming home with us from VA was my cousin’s son Davis. He is about Matthew’s age and doesn’t have many friends his age in his area. I don’t know if we spoiled him with boy company during his two week stay with us or not. I told him I feel for him when he goes home. At his house he is the only male among females and at my house I am the only female among males. I think he understood the predicament I am in.

Lapp Reunion

It so happened that the same weekend Davis’ mother Keren, his sister Emily, and his Aunt Sharon came to pick him up, Thomas’ brother Caleb & wife Olga from Haiti flew in and his sister Yvonne & husband Carl from PA came. So we combined the Lapp family with my cousins and my sister’s family on Sunday and had an enjoyable day. On Monday we had lots of Lapp time and on Tuesday Caleb & Olga went to their cabin in Franklin. On Friday of the same week we packed up and went to OH for the

Miller Reunion

This is Thomas’ mother’s family. The tradition used to be to gather at his Grandfather’s home in Holmes County. Since Grandpa’s passing there have been various attempts to get together. The new tradition forming is to gather at a campground in Warsaw, OH. This was the second time we were there and the first time in years that nearly the entire family was there. I think there was only one of Thomas’ cousins missing and that is miraculous. They come from Florida, Kansas, Indiana, Canada, Haiti, Pennsylvania, and again I’m not sure where all.

An interesting way to pay the cost of the reunion is to have an auction. Bring things to sell and all the money from buying it goes to pay for the cost of the campground. We came home with books, rugs, a puzzle motto, baskets, potholders, doilies and a comforter.

A few weeks later we again hosted Caleb & Olga overnight and drove them to the airport to get their flight back to Haiti.

VBS & Youth

The Monday evening that Caleb and Olga were here the first time Thomas & I had our first meeting with the youth committee. This group consists of two couples and two of the young people. We sat together to plan out the next 3 months of activities. The youth have a Kid’s Club going in Romney where they meet with the kids every Thursday evening. This takes a lot of time and energy so they only want other planned activities every other week. That is helpful!

We were also on the VBS planning committee with the same couple so we stayed a bit late that evening to finish up the plans for that. We had a nice week of Bible School (actually 5 days). Thomas and I taught a class also. A group of 9 & 10 yr olds. Interesting, lively bunch.  

We help occasionally with the Kid’s Club and I really enjoy working with the children. Last week I was asked to help with the older girls. The one girl looked so sad and participated so little all evening that my heart just ached for her. Some of the others were so noisy and “bad” that my heart ached for them too. I just want to mother them all.

The only other youth activity we’ve been involved in so far has been road clean-up.

Gardening

We are having fun gardening again this year. I had no idea how things take over in one year of not gardening. Matthew, Melvin and Christopher have been doing a lot of the work fertilizing, spreading compost, hay and grass clippings, planting and picking things. We have some prolific things and some not so prolific. It has been a super year for gardening though, with all the rain we have gotten! We got a nice crop of blueberries; though not enough to put any away.

Cutting Apron Strings

Recently Stephen & Austin laid all their plans for a trip to Faith Builders in northern PA before I realized what was happening. They made traveling & lodging arrangements and I really had not much idea what was happening. That was a rather strange feeling. They traveled with Thomas’ cousin Gene Schlabach from VA. He just graduated from two years of study this spring.

They were at it again planning a trip to NC a couple weeks ago when we parents realized we need to step in. It involved a little too much. They were planning to use Thomas’ truck and trailer to haul their Aunt Joanna’s things from my parent’s home to hers. Noble ideas but a little much for minors and their father’s (uncovered) trailer. Thomas helped them in this venture, borrowing a covered trailer and making the trip with them in a day and a half.

Peaches

While they were gone on this venture, the younger boys and I got 8 bushels of peaches put in the freezer. I had gotten ten bushels and half of them really needed to be done at once. After we saw the big guys off at noon Friday we set to work. By 8:30 that evening we had done at least four bushels and gotten the cow milked. We quit and I took the boys out for supper.

The next morning we were slow about getting ourselves moving but eventually set to work on the rest of the peaches. They were all ripe but I put about a bushel and three quarters in the fridge and we did the rest. When we had a bushel and a half left, a friend and her daughters showed up to help us. They made things fly. It was so wonderful to have help and be done.

It was around 5:00 PM when we finished and then went to pick beans and cucumbers for friends who were in Canada. We picked a three quarter bushel of cucumbers which made work for us for awhile the next week. We made kosher dills, sweet dills and pickle relish. We also pickled some Hungarian Hot Wax peppers from our garden.

Oh, and now we have 6 bushels of peaches coming this week that need to be canned. Does it seem a ridiculous amount to you? Well, this family does eat a ridiculous amount! We do not serve desserts or bread or much of any grains so it takes more fruit and veggies than what a lot of people use.

Construction

Thomas, Stephen, Austin and sometimes Matthew have been quite busy with construction this summer. They are currently working on a screened in porch/deck combo.

School

is just around the corner! Our church has just in the last week or two finally confirmed with a young man who has agreed to teach the upper grades for us. The school will be larger this year than it has been in awhile. Last year there were eight students and this year there will be 15-16. Four of these are first graders. Two are the youngest in their family and two are the oldest. (Interestingly, I spoke with a teacher in another community who will have 10 first graders of the same sort- firsts and lasts.) Makes for some interesting vibes. School begins August 25. I plan to begin here at our house on the 24^th,  Lord willing. We cleaned the church school house yesterday morning and I’ve been working on cleaning our school room for weeks.

And now school is part of our normal routine again! I hope to fill you in on things before long but we continue to have a just plain crazy schedule. Can anyone relate?

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)