September 2016


It's been another eventful month!  

The apples needed to be picked and the littles were already asking when I would make caramel apples again.  Since their pictures were part of the Caramel apple recipe in the Celebrations book (page 63), they have had a private contract with me for a lifetime (mine, not theirs) supply of Caramel Apples.  


Our Italian plum tree also gave us an amazing harvest.  I recruited help from the littles to remove the pits after I sliced them in half.  


I figured out really quickly that this Miss M is a quick worker.  She realized that laying the plums in trays could be a challenge and raced me and always beat me in filling the trays for the dehydrator. 


Miss N is very capable of peeling apples with the peeler.  We made pots of applesauce together.


This year we had our first grape harvest.  We had very little grapes but they were sweet.
Next year we'll be on the ball and do some pruning and hopefully, we'll have bigger grapes! 



On the day before school started, I baked up cinnamon buns and delivered them before the kids went to bed. 

They are all in school!  

Sigh...


I have enlisted the help from Mom this year to help me help the Moms.  

We have done a few days of baking for school lunches.

One day we did Bev's ham and cheese pinwheels.


On another day we made pizza pretzels which will be posted on MGCC soon. 


There were a few weeks of outdoor BMX left and so we joined the family and brought along a picnic. 



On one lovely sunny day, we pulled out onions and let them dry off before storing them away.  


We went to our church kickoff and got a kick out of watching the kids enjoy the bouncy castles!

They thought it was very funny that they were coming out of the caterpillars bum!


This fella goes to part time kindergarten Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays.

He came over one Tuesday to help harvest apples....


and helped with gathering eggs.  

PS... we are looking for a part time egg collector.  It would be so great for a mom with kids in school or someone semi-retired that wants to have some cash in their pocket.

I love how he is concentrating on doing the pattern.   
The side with the bumps go to the top, and then the side with the bumps go to the side.
He can do it! 


Apples...
apples and more apples.

The second tree now needs to be picked.
I'll get right on that.


Early September we all go to the MCC sale and everyone enjoyed Wareneki and Farmer Sausage. 

This year, MGCC donated a cooking class that was auctioned off for $600.

  

It seems to me that this Abraham Darby rose is pinker in summer and oranger in autumn.  =)


This summer when we built onto the back of barn 1, the manure storage had to be moved as well.  

I walk around the farm and found that at the end of the retaining wall, there was a slope that  needed some stairs.


A few days later, I went for my walk and was surprised to find him hard at work, moving pieces of the old barn foundation into place. 


I now have stairs for my walking path!

What a guy!


We babysat one evening.

He was delighted to find the letters that match his name! 


And then...

we went to see the play.


What an amazing experience to have all ten of us MGCC girls and 8 husbands together in Shipshewana, Indiana and Sugar Creek, Ohio. 


What an amazing time we had together.
The area was just so beautiful.  


What seemed unusual when we first arrived,
seemed completely normal and expected when we left a week later. 


I love these dear friends. 


We were guests of Bluegate Theatre.  Their Inns are so beautiful.  I would recommend them in a heartbeat.  The atmosphere is so peaceful.  Inspirational music plays throughout the hotel as well as all the stores in that area.  


We saw the play! 

It was very funny and we laughed a lot.

We are not those girls but they were inspired by us.





We were treated to the most amazing dinners. 




At both venues we had opportunity to eat dinner and share our story.   Here is the table we sat at.  We sat with these ladies that had come quite a distance to see the cooking show and have dinner with us.  The room was full and we mingled!


We had a lot of fun at the cooking show and were so grateful for the opportunity to tell our story.



Blue Gate generously donated the proceeds of the cooking show and the Dinner package to Music Mission Kiev. 



How often do we get a chance to have a flip card like this on a table at a restaurant?


We toured the area in Shipshewana.

Such a simple lifestyle that we loved to see.



On Sunday morning we opted out of church since that was our only free day.

We found this house church yard full of buggies and a Dad with his little girl getting something from their buggy. 



On Tuesday afternoon after our book signings were finished in Shipshewana we went to Sugar Creek where our events were organized starting on Wednesday.  


We signed lots of books for people we had never met.  

There were a few people that felt that they knew us and we were so delighted to chat with them and this dear lady named Marilyn blessed us all. 



Again, Bluegate Theatre treated us with such kindness and hospitality.

Their generosity was overwhelming.
It was a once in a lifetime experience that we won't soon forget.





On Saturday 5 of us and our husbands drove back to the Chicago airport.  Kathy and Julie  had left earlier in the week,  Greg and Ellen were travelling to the Detroit airport and Charlotte and Betty and their husbands took the long road home by car.  


When we checked in the day before going home,  my most wonderful husband told me that I was going home, first class.   

And what you see is the face of someone flying home first class for the first time in her life! 

I hope you all have a most wonderful October! 

Comments

  1. Wonderful re-cap of September and of our time in Indiana and Ohio! Yeah for first class. I'm stealing a couple of your photos.

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  2. How exciting!!!! What a blessing you are to so many, many people.

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  3. Oh how I wish I would have been able to travel to IND.
    to see and meet all of you....I am so happy that you had
    a blessed trip. Love the pictures....Oh my, first class!!
    How special....
    Love from NC

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  4. Your garden has produced brilliantly this year. What a pleasure for you to share the "fruits" with your wonderful family. Lovella, I just love how you intentionally do things to help the young moms - what a blessing and example you are. You have a very thoughtful and loving hubby! The cooking show you gals did in Indiana looked like a hoot! The audio on mine wasn't very good so I'll have to watch it again with my earphones - looked like you were having so much fun. Take care dear lady and have a wonderful month of October!

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  5. Another wonderful month for the memory books. What a kick to be honored so well. Not everyone gets a play written about her! Your sweet husband did a wonderful thing...a first class thing. Course he could spoil you! =D

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  6. What a fun month all around! I love all the help in your kitchen...from the grand and their great grandmother too. And those caramel apples make my mouth water!

    Good reflections on our time in Indiana and Ohio...loved every minute of our time together!

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  7. I too am still in awe of the month that was... the anticipation and then to share in such a trip! Now that I'm done babysitting, I hope to find time to get to my reflections too. It will be much the same. Your kitchen is full of warmth, work and family love shared. What you see on the blog comes from your heart.

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  8. We've been home how long? Beautiful review of September...I didn't count...but maybe a photo per day? Many wonderful reminders of God's love poured into your family and beautiful reflections on our time together back East. I"m thankful you did not show that 'one photo' It makes me laugh and laugh!

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  9. September and October never looked so good as they did here this morning! You added so much beauty to my morning! Thank you so much! It was like opening one of my favorite new magazines, and drinking my coffee while doing it! Thank you for continuing to blog, even if I was away for a very long time.

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