Memorial Day 2014 (and still moving)

We've been moving for two weeks now. By Memorial Day we were ready for a break, so after a morning of work, we ran away to the creek for a very relaxing picnic.


On Tuesday a passel of very kind friends helped us haul the biggest, heaviest things. Now we are living and sleeping at the new house, and it is starting to feel normal. Sadly, my dryer didn't fit into the second floor laundry room. Even sadder, we didn't figure this out until it was up on the second story.




This is our smokehouse. It might be perfect for smoking things, but I suspect we will never actually discover that for ourselves.  I did find out that it holds three little girl bikes very nicely. 

Our family will be joining us for Ruby's baptism this Sunday. The service starts at 9:45 in the old church, but it will be crowded, so arrive early!

porch number 3 got some red paint this week

Still Moving

Our church family has had some fantastic Saturday plans these last weeks. The final one in the string was the church Fishing Derby. I probably could not have kept three girls in worms, but we had some very kind preteen helpers.


We only caught one fish between us, but the two smaller girls seemed to enjoy hanging out by the pond, donuts in hand, fishing pole laying by their side.

The move has been going well. One retired couple stopped by to give us invaluable help, and another church family loaned us a truck. As a result, we have many of our small furniture already in place, and boxes everywhere!

Our ducks do not seem to want to bond with us. I'm not too worried, since they are pretty from a distance. We like to watch them roam around the yard and pond in their very orderly row. Ruby shouts "Ducks!" every time she walks out the door and sees them.

The gold fish pond needed attention, so I cleaned out a winter's worth of decaying leaves and twigs this week. Reaching into murky water to pull out slimy detritus took some getting used to, so I'm thankful this is only a once a year job.

The kitchen is now a pale, modern green, and my blue and white china collection can all hang out together in sight, versus in attic storage as was previously the case. The old kitchen cabinet even has an antique sliding teacup hanger, and each afternoon the girls and I sit down and share a cuppa.

What we have left to move now are the larger items and the random bits that just baffle me.

The goldfish pond

The big move is scheduled for next Tuesday, if the weather is agreeable.

Our New House

Our church praise team organized an amazing day of outdoor worship with a picnic and bouncy house this last Saturday. The worship team set up on the site of what will be our new worship facility. They had staked it out and spray painted the outline of the new building, then they set up on what will be the stage. It was such a nice day! My kids bounced for hours, and they also enjoyed some face painting bliss.


Three days later my husband and I went to settlement on our new house. It is six minutes from our current house, and Ruby calls it the duck house, to differentiate. This new one does come with twelve koi and four ducks. All the girls have gotten to name them. Pearl quickly named hers 'Thomas'; Ruby named hers 'Black', I named mine 'Caspian', and Sapphire petitioned to also name hers 'Thomas' or 'Tom,' but so far her petition has been denied. I don't think she is letting that stop her, though, and boy, does that bother Pearl.

The house was built in 1875. It is mostly stone with a wooden addition. After weeks of packing the old house up, I have realized that I much prefer unpacking, because then you get to sort and organize, and that is something I love.

We now have one outbuilding for each member of the family. There is a duck house, a very tidy hen house, a hog shed full of wood from past projects, a picturesque stone smokehouse, and a two-story stone building with a weird lift inside that we cannot figure out at all. 

So far I've painted Pearl's room and mostly unpacked the kitchen. The rest is tougher, since we are waiting for the big move to get the dressers in place. 

My husband has not been able to join in unpacking because he had his six month coiling check up. They said the aneurism looks just as it is supposed to, and all is well.  This time they scoped it through the femoral artery, so he is now restricted to lifting five pounds or less for the next ten days.  Of course, none of the boxes I have packed weigh less than five pounds. 

We plan to have the big move and relocate ourselves the week of the 28th of May (maybe that Wednesday, but I'm not positive yet).

Happy Mother's Day!

Sunday will be busy for this pastor's family, so we decided to celebrate Mother's Day early. This week we took some sushi and noodles to Perrydell Dairy for a picnic and a visit with the newest members of the herd.

Later we sampled the dairy's ice cream. This type of day is one of our very favorites.

Today was Field Day for our homeschool organization. Over a hundred kids came out to a park for about eighteen events. Pearl enjoyed the games, and I came in to the kitchen to find a very proud display shown below. Sapphire ran alongside the big girls, and Ruby stayed by my side.

I have been very busy packing up our house, since next week we will be settling on our new place. There are boxes everywhere, but it does not seem to make a dent in the possessions I still see un-boxed. Tune in next week for some photos of the new place.

Must go pack something!

a proud little long-jumper

the playground was hopping after Field Day

Easter 2014

Our church celebrates the preparation for Resurrection Sunday with an old fashion Brethren Love Feast (note, we are not actually Brethren) and a foot-washing. Here's one diligent little foot-washer.










I was able to take the girls to my grandmother's house for Easter again this year, so we dyed eggs and harassed some barn cats. Visiting with family was a pleasure too. Happy Easter to the rest of you we haven't seen yet!







 

A whole lot of learning has also been going on here. Last week the two big girls spent two hours pouring over the Little Passports package that came in the mail. This month's packet on Egypt brought with it an artifact hidden in plaster, so the girls chipped away at it patiently to unearth a sarcophagus. Pearl also spent time playing the related geography games online. Thanks Aunt R!

We had our final CHAMP co-op. I had rented a chest of colonial 'arti-fakes' from the museum in York, then I led Pearl's class and then Sapphire's class through exploring the objects. Both classes were pretty much terrified of the blood-letting bowl, but they loved dressing up like colonials.

In the evening we had our Show and Tell, a little closing ceremony that allows the children a chance to take the stage and show their new knowledge.









And so far we've fit two field trips into this week. Pearl toured a local courthouse and jail on Tuesday, and today I took her and a friend to the Landis Valley Museum for a wool to weave workshop. We carded wool and learned to weave tape.

Trophies and Treasures

Church of the Holy Sepulcher

Pearl took last week off since she needed to readjust to Eastern Standard time. We did go to co-op, of course, where the girls in my class built a spoon doll with all the layers of colonial women's clothing.  This week I told her we have to get back into it, though I think we will skip history, culture, and geography after all she learned on the trip.

Jet-lagged, but happy

The girls seemed mostly shocked by the fact that boys wore dresses until they were breeched at seven, and that under all those layers, they didn't have any underwear.

Yesterday, after waving the palms at Palm Sunday service, we had a chance to celebrate a friend's first birthday, then the little girls attended their first Awana Grand Prix. Their daddy chose to ignore the speed race element and worked with the girls entirely on design. They each painted their pine wood derby cars, though they got a little help with the touch up.

In the end, Sapphire was pleased that she earned a trophy that reads "2nd" since of course two is more than one, and Ruby only got a "1st." 

I have been aggressively cleaning my attic, and this has uncovered some nice memories. Here is my contribution to my sixth grade class's Book of Aspirations from 1990, twenty-four years ago.

"My dream is to become a historian. I am interested in history and with to build on that. I could use this and later become a college professor. I would especially like to learn about the European countries, and someday I would love to go to Europe myself. I think that this could help me because I could find more reliable information. I hope that I can do both of these things in my life, and enjoy them too."

Four others from my class wanted to be an archaeologist. Only one wanted to be a marine biologist, so this must have been during the window of time between Indiana Jones and Free Willy.  I didn't realize these plans had been with me for so long. Here is another dream fulfilled: a big girl holding her baby cousin for the first time.

There and Back Again, with Photos

Overlooking Jerusalem from the Mt. of Olives

The travelers are home. They arrived in time for lunch after being on a plane for twelve hours and another couple of hours driving in from Newark, NJ. The jet lag hit late in the afternoon, and little Pearl is all tucked into bed, snoozing her way back to Eastern Standard Time.

I'll just share some photos they brought back.

Pool of Siloam, where Jesus healed a man blind from birth

The Wailing Wall, Jerusalem

Petra, the crescent valley

En Gedi, Pearl's favorite place because of the waterfall; this is the area where David and his men hid from King Saul

Fitted out for the narrow, watery, dark Hezekiah's Tunnel, Jerusalem

The Garden Tomb, Jerusalem (1st century tomb with rolling rock)

Atop the Temple Mount, in front of the Dome of the Rock

in the Jordan River, near where John the Baptist baptized Jesus