Just because I couldn't resist...

A short video of Murray's Cake!

Murray's Day...

As I had no photos when I last posted, here are some of my favorite shots taken of Murray's day....

 Here is the cake Murray designed, and Mia help become a reality...

Please take careful note of the solders slogging on...

Love this angle...

 Our resident aircraft expert telling us about this plane...

Couldn't decide which of these photos I liked best, so I posted them both!

 

And finally, the birthday mascot... ;) 

Happy Birthday, Murray.

We are so thankful to have you as ours. We look forward to what the Lord has planned for you and what He has called you to do. We delight in your company, and are fascinated where your interests will take you.  We love you, Brother, forever, and ever, and ever….

What a Lot of Fun We're Having!

This Month will be our 4^th Homemaker’s meeting. Our meetings were established for the purpose of teaching young ladies skills they might not have the time for otherwise. Right now they are all decorative, but useful in their own way.

Thus far we have covered:

sewing a very useful bag (led by our dear friend, Mrs. Radost).

 

icing roses,  (courtesy of Miss Joy)

 

simple embroidery on a felt pincushion – pattern from Pretty Little Pincushions  (led by Miss Lynne - me).

June’s topic will be card making. Miss Ana will be leading and guiding our class. I’ve seen some of her work before and am greatly looking forward this. J

A great many thanks to the two families we’ve been working with to establish these classes and give glory to the Lord! And HUZZAH! to the ladies who come! J

Spring Keeps Peeking Around the Corner...

... smiling on us with her warm sun, gentle breezes, and promise of buds. Only to duck back with a giggle, while Winter sprays us with his snow-blower again. I'm delighting in each twist of the weather, but won't it fun when all the buds open, the flowers smile about, and every morning is full of birdsong?  

 The apartment complex next to my window (also known as a pine tree) is fully of noisy tenants. While I know there are house sparrows rooming in the pine, I'm also fairly certain there are mourning doves and chickadees. A few nests are visible - how fun when the chicks hatch! 

Last week, we had our first Homemakers Meeting. The goal is to encourage and teach young future homemakers in lovely and useful abilities. This time bags of varying difficulties were sewn. Each girl chose her own material, pattern, and embellishments. Such a hive of joyful activity! The brothers, according to Murray, had a marvelous time learning about computers and cables (they made their own Ethernet cable) by one of the fathers. I believe I can say with Joy that it was "a roaring success."  Next time, we're making icing roses - care to join?

This week, a friend should be coming over and staying a few nights.

Spring break is over, so Kate will be recommencing her physics studies.

Our German friend will be returning....Oh! she's not a war bride! Apparently, she was an older school girl during the French occupation. But she did marry an American soldier... She's delightful, has soo many stories, and we trust that we will be rewarding students.

I didn't think I'd like living in a neighborhood, but ours has opened us up to many more opportunities for fellowship and service.

How thankful we are for the Lord kind Providence and tender mercies...

German...

In a few hours, a sweet WWII German war-bride will come to our house and to get to know we Careys and a few other families. We're all hoping, hoping, hoping she'll want to come once a month or so and teach us German...

If I can, I'll take and post some pictures... :)


~ Lynne

The 22nd on the 31st....

The last day of January marked the first day Mia being 22 (can't say 22nd year as, technically, it's the first day of the commencement of her 23rd year). It was an unusual birthday weekend - new home (still settling in), new life (Grammy here - though at that time she was visiting Italian relatives).

As always, we had great deals of fun...

Earlier in the week, Mia and Kate made over 70 chocolate chip cookie dough truffles... Yum (the mocha ones are still my favorite, though)...

Over the weekend, we spent several hours showing our family thousands (literally - I believe we covered over 3,000) photos of our trip with Grandfather and Grandmother (my, how I miss them!).

On Sunday, a dear friend of ours (who's nearly Mia's age and whose birthday is the same as Mia's) had little celebration at lunch - complete with presents and cake! How I wish I'd brought my camera...


Monday afternoon (the OFFICIAL day) found us with another precious friend - Joy.

Before we started out, Joy treated us to lovely hot chocolate (Mia) and coffee (me). YUM!!! 

We had lunch (thank you again, Joy!)...

Then the adventure began....

 


Mia LOVES antiques (some of us maintain she runs an orphanage). What could be better way to celebrate for her than scouring (you guessed it) an antique mall!

 

This place must have operated with transcendental dimensionalization (bigger on the inside than it was on the outside). It just didn't end!!!!
 

 

 'twas true...

 

 

We all made lovely purchases (mostly presents for family not present), and generally had a glorious time of feminine Christian fellowship!




We returned home later than intended (but still light), and commenced the BIRTHDAY PARTY.

Mia and I (Lynne), enjoy artistic style blogs (usually from Europe), so Mia decided to experiment with one the ideas therefrom - cake bunting!

Father found it very funny...

Then, there were the presents - I didn't take pictures of that, but Mia had such fun. We finished up with Gary Cooper and Merle Oberon in The Cowboy and the Lady. Mia enjoyed it. :)

We are sooo very thankful for our MIA! <3

This Weekend...

Isn't this a glorious view? It's from one of my bedroom windows. I thought we'd desperately miss our dear little valley, but the Lord is so very kind. Our new valley is more open and of a higher elevation. The wide valley with the rising hill calls to mind Mia's and my wonderful visit to Yellowstone and the surrounding area...

This weekend is Mia's birthday weekend. Our resident artist and Civil War costume historian, will turn 22 on Monday. As is our custom, Mia will choose the meals and activities. I'm itching to give her her presents!

Usually, our festivities commence the Friday evening of the birthday weekend. Tomorrow, however, we will be taking Grammy to the airport. She's heading to visit her NJ Italian family in honor of her last living aunt's 100th birthday. Her trip as been all arranged for her maximum comfort and safety. Your prayers would be appreciated anyway. :)

As a side note, during my "settling in" I've discarded more than a third, but not quite half of my possessions. Can a room lose weight? It feels so much lighter in here! :)

So Many Changes - So Little Time

When I last posted, Mia and I were about to embark on an incredible adventure - a full month away from home, driving cross-country with Grandfather and Grandmother. What a delight that was!!!

Wanting to share our adventure, but determined to protect our privacy, we posted on an invitation-only blog. I had every intention of copying those posts and posting them here.

BUT...

We were EXHAUSTED

I couldn't figure out how to bulk transfer our previous posts (still working on this...)

We were EXHAUSTED (but you already knew that, didn't you?)

Our Grammy (who has stage 4 Alzheimer's) came to live with us

We moved out of our beloved, picturesque, sunrise-and-sunset-filled valley

So many changes in so little time...


Please pray for us.


I'm not (by any means) finished with posting and I dearly hope to share memorable moments from our adventures. Bear with me, I'll figure out this "timely posting" thing.