My 58th Birthday

Well, I had a very blessed day today!  Rich and Mary made me an Amish banana cake from scratch and then made chocolate icing to go on top.  It was delicious!

We had fun at the park with our friends..  We played in the park with the kids and visited and then we went had lunch with them at AppleBees.  Was so fun to fellowship with such a wonderful family.  Mary loves interacting with their girls.  They all run after her calling her name and laughing and giggling.  Such sweet little girls.

Little Constance is so cute.  She is 8 months old and has the cutest cheeks!

Bethaya was so proud of her princess dress.  She will be 4 years old tomorrow.

Mary had fun helping Maranatha go down the slide.

Mary and Eliora waiting to get their food at Apple Bees.

 

After lunch, Rich and Mary took me shopping.  I wanted a pair of Birkenstock sandles.  I had not had a pair since I went to college.  I remember just loving them.  These are so comfortable and when you get my age you want comfort most of all!

Valentines

We had a lot of fun and blessing this Valentine's season.  I love this graphic and remember the most wonderful Valentine of all ... for God so loved the world.

We had a fun homeschool Valentine's party.  Here is Mary with the girls her age in the group.

Mary made some Valentine's for her Grandma and Grandpa and helped me make some goodies for them and for us.

There were several crafts set up at the party.  The one Mary is working on here is a decorated box for the other kids to put their Valentines to her in.  So sweet!

Mary also had fun coloring a design for Valentine's Day with Corinthians 13 on it.  Designed by my friend, Terri Foster.

We made a bulletin board with all the Valentine's that she received at the homeschool party.

 

Rich gave me the most beautiful flowers.  He is such a sweetheart.

 

This is all our family cards and candy.  So much fun!

We went to Red Lobster for lunch on Valentine's Day.  Rich loves shrimp just little bit.  lol

Me and Mary.  Mary got to have lobster for the first time and she loved it.

 

Last but not least Mary sewed and red felt heart for her sweet kitty Ellie. 

 

We are so thankful for all the Lord has done in our lives and for His beautiful plan to unfold in the lives of those that love Him.

Homeschool Christmas Party

The homeschool group had a Christmas party.  They had some really great crafts for the kids to do, everybody brought snacks and they had a Santa visit.  The little children loved it.

This little boy, Deacon, loves Mary.  He always runs and gives her a hug good bye when she leaves.

 

Here is the whole gang with Santa.  It was a lovely day.  A little cold but the sun was shinning!

Hanukkah 2017

We celebrated Hanukkah again this year.  We celebrate it with a messianic view.  We read scriptures about Jesus being the light.  Mary in this pictures is lighting the first candle on day one of Hanukkah which lasts 8 days.

On the 7th day of Hanukkah we were blessed to share the celebration with some new friends we have made through the homeschool group.  We had them over for some Hanukkah food.  Hanukkah food are deep fried to commemorate the miracle of the oil that one days supply lasted 8 days.
 

 

Rich deep friend battered chicken and potato wedges.  So yummy!

 

 

Here is Rich hard at work.

 

 

After dinner we turned out the lights and had the children light 7 of the 8 candles.  We read the Hanukkah blessing and scriptures.  We read the story of Hanukkah to everyone and then sang some songs. 

 

We were so blessed by the fellowship and fun of the evening.  They have 4 girls with the oldest being 5 1/2.  They are 20 years younger than us, the age of our nieces and nephews, but Dan and Rich have become close friends and spend lots of time talking about the scriptures together.  They are very close in their beliefs and are an answer to our prayer of fellowship since we left attending traditional church 4 years ago.  We pray for God to increase our numbers and be a blessing to this whole area.

 

Christmas and Homeschool Fun

We started into the holiday season with a bang.  After Thanksgiving we decorated our Christmas tree.  Our new ornament this year is of Mary's kitty, Ellie.  She is such a sweetie!

We went to the poinsettia festival in Ashland.  It was beautiful!  We got so many lovely pictures for our Christmas cards this year.

The homeschool kids got together and made ginger bread houses out of graham crackers.  Mary had a blast constructing a 3 story candy chalet.  It came crashing down on the way home, as the mortar didn't hold.  So we had fun munching on it over the next few days.

 

We went to the Christmas parade in Jacksonville for the first time.  We love how the town is decorated so pretty and the Victorian theme.  As you can see it was really cold, Brrrr!

 

Our friends Dan, Marissa and girls came and watched the parade with us.

 

It was a short and sweet parade.  So much home town fun and feeling.

We walked down California Street and did some shopping for Christmas.  So many cute people and dogs.  Lots of fun and we really got in the Christmas spirit with the cold, the decorations and the shopping!

We hope you all are enjoying this wonderful time of year.  We are so blessed and thankful for what the Lord is doing in our lives.  So thankful for our Lord Jesus Christ coming to earth.  The king of the universe coming as a baby, born in stable, showing us the way and giving his life for us!