Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Precious Moments

 We're making precious memories in America.  Josh discovers "the land of opportunity" as many have before him.  In the state of Maine, some plastic bottles and Coke cans can be redeemed for 5 cents each, so Josh has been raking in the big bucks by collecting cans. 
 How precious to meet a new little cousin, Austin, for the very first time.  What a cutie, and he made friends so fast.
 Josh showing off the fruit of the land, so to speak. 
 Paul and I got to visit my high school, Dublin Christian Academy in picturesque Dublin, NH.  It was filled with old memories for me, but we made some sweet new memories too. 
 My Dad turned 87 on Saturday!  Now he's precious.  I'm not sure how many 87 years old there are in the world, but I know they're not a dime a dozen. 
 Time is precious too.  Paul had time to help Josh go fishing off the end of the dock in the peaceful evening. 
 I                                                                I love my guys!
T                                                    They've caught two so far!

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Roots

 I don't know if I've ever taken pictures inside my church before...yes, I did, when Joshua got dedicated, but that was way before blogging started, so here, for your viewing pleasure, is my pretty church in Maine.
The decor is cool, but I just see dear people, some of whom have known me since me since before I was born.  Well, maybe not me before I was born, but my Mom and her suspicious bump. 
My mom is the one on the right, beside my Dad seated with the red shirt.  My sister is the gorgeous blond in the middle with her husband Rick in front of her, and her daughter Kara way in the front by Evangel.  Evangel arranged the camera for this picture, on the picnic table, and managed to catch us all.  The Hartmans were also with us, visiting from New York City, and a little freaked out by all the *Mainiacs, I think.  Josh says my sister told him to do his eyes funny like that.  Ariel, his cousin is right beside him, and the rest of us are Youngs.    *Maniacs is the affectionate term for people from the state of Maine, where we are at the moment. 
After church on Sunday, we came back to the camp for a baptism.  Mom had a brainstorm and bought this swimming pool and filled it with ice for the drinks and salads.  Cool idea!

I took pictures of the baptism on someone else's camera, and then didn't get them off yet.  I hope I do get them.  There were about 75 people here to see 6 people get baptized.  And then 2 more people decided to get born again that same day!  My Darling Paul was the preacher.  It was an ultra special day. 

I found my thrill...

at Blueberry Bend.

 Two years ago, I posted a blog about our last trip to Blueberry Bend.  The kids were all thrilled with the honor system of paying.  We knew we were going to go blue-berrying the first chance we got so the cloudy day invited us out. 
We had a wonderful surprise.  Normally the berries are $1.50 a pound.  They have a scale at their door, and you just weigh your berries yourself, figure out the price, and slide the money in the slot for the mail.  Cool!  Not a system we are used to seeing in Cape Town.
Well this time, the owner arrived while we were picking.  The boys were full of questions for me, which I hadn't been able to answer, so I was quickly trying to remember them all to ask the owner, Mr. Savigny, I think his name was.  He told us these blueberry bushes were planted in 1983, and should live to be 50 or 60 years old!  He told us that he had fertilized late this year and the weeds had loved it.  They were huge but he had a hard time chopping them because the bushes were so laden with berries, he'd be chopping berries and bushes along with the weeds.

It reminds me of the parable of the wheat and the tares.  They got all mixed in together, and Jesus said to just leave the tares because if you try to separate them, some of the good wheat will get hurt.  It's teaching how people are all mixed together, good and bad, and it's only when God judges that we'll be able to tell who is who.

Anyway, the surprise was that Mr. Savigny said that it was the end of blueberry season and from now on, STARTING WITH US  all blueberries are free!  Whoo-hoo!   
So there's my city slickers with their harvest.  We didn't last too long, with the heat and the bugs and all, but we felt like we got a respectable amount of berries. 

Frew Fantasies

One of the highlights of our trip so far was the family conference we attended in Indianapolis.  A family had a stand of beautiful calligraphy of scriptures, mostly, and a few good poems. 

So Tessa, Berdine, and Michelle, this is to inspire you all in your calligraphy endeavors.  I have a goal to have lots of verses on our walls, so these elegant pieces made me want to go on shopping spree, but I had to restrain myself to a few frameless ones so they would be packable. 

Our Lord's decorating instructions:  "And thou shall write them upon the posts of thy house, and on thy gates..."   Deuteronomy 6:9.