Spreading love, joy, peace, faith & unity

Archive for November, 2019

Granddaughter’s In-Laws

We’re so grateful that our granddaughter, Faith, married into this beautiful McSparron family! Such a gift to the Beekmans to extend our hearts into Kutztown, PA!! This is a sweet, quaint college town.

Here’s Lisa, Kyle’s mom
Allen, Kyle’s dad

Their house was designed by Allen & Lisa and built by the McSparron boys & dad.

They call it their cottage
It is amazing!
Their view is beautiful.
The stained glass window was created by an artist inspired by a picture Allen took in Switzerland. It’s the church where Lisa’s ancestors, the Caveltis, worshiped.

Such fun to have Lisa’s heritage also be in Switzerland where our DeDe and her family lives.

After a delicious breakfast topped off by the wonderful pear dessert left from last night, we went “hunting and gathering” in the gorgeous countryside.

Wooden Bridge Dry Goods
I’d never seen multi-colored sheep before. Have you?
Many of the farms are owned and managed by Menninites.
Inside Wooden Bridge Dry Goods was an amazing display of every kind of fabric imaginable.
These are spools of thread!
The Reddinger’s Farmers Market had a variety of apple for sale I’d never heard of before: Faith! That’s our granddaughter’s name… so of course, we had to buy some.
Lisa is with Bob – and Allen is over at the register behind them. In his retirement, Allen enjoys working at the Pinnacle Ridge Winery.

As you can see, we are busy “hunting & gathering” in a variety of places.

So it’s wine tasting time. See ya later!

You can see that Allen enjoys his job!
And we enjoyed the wine!
We bought some Pinot Grigio to enjoy with tonight’s dinner.
What’s your favorite varietal?

Category:

blessings, children, Family, happiness, Love, Serving One Another, Travel, work

Tagged with:

Good Morning!

It’s a rainy morning here in Pennsylvania. How’s your day?

Mary’s snuggled in.
Lily is relaxed this morn.
Happy Friday to you, too.

I chose greenish eggs
For our breakfast this morning
Amazing chickens!

We’re headed to the Lancaster area today. Amish country. More pictures forthcoming. Stay tuned!

See ya later!

Category:

Love

Sally’s Place & Chickens

My sis, Sally, lives at the Masonic Village. It’s a lovely place. We enjoyed a tour this afternoon.

A lovely sitting area near the entrance… and a beautiful meeting room where church services are held each Sunday:

Bob & I had lunch with my sis at her home’s “Friendsgiving” celebration.

The staff really got into the spirit by dressing up for the occasion.
Then we went home – and were greeted by cheery Lily.

Jodie’s standard poodle, Lily, was smiling to Hello. Such a sweet pup!!

Then Mary, their sheepadoodle, came to join in the greeting. Such beautiful dogs.

We were greeted also by a variety of their chickens… fascinating!! I wonder which one of these provided the eggs for our breakfast this morning? The eggs were as varied in color as the chickens are!

This Sussex lays brown eggs.
This gal lays green or blue eggs! She’s a Whitening.
Isn’t this a handsome guy? The hens hover around him!
This is Charlotte – a Polish bantam. Her eggs are tiny and cream colored.
This one lays deep brownish-red eggs. She is a Maran.
She wouldn’t stand still!!
This is a golden Wyndotte. She lays brown eggs.

Don’t you love this wonderful variety of hens and roosters? Such fun! There are about 80+ birds in Liam’s flock.

And Liam has a business selling “Liam’s Great Eggs.” He has a growing clientele… can’t even keep up with the demand! Come on, hens, keep on layin’. This is such a great learning opportunity for us all!

Pick out the eggs you want for your breakfast tomorrow~

See ya in the morning.

Category:

Animals, blessings, children, Family, food, health, Life's Challenges, Love, nature, pets, Sharing

Tagged with:

Visiting Relatives

It has been two years since my sister moved to Pennsylvania to be by her daughter, my niece Jodie.

When I last saw my sister, I knew she had the beginning stages of dementia, but it has progressed rapidly since then. Nevertheless, of course, she recognized me right away! We enjoyed time with her at a Chinese lunch yesterday. Today we will have lunch with her at her Masonic Home.

Last night we went to a Boy Scout Thanksgiving dinner. My grand-nephew, Liam, and his dad provided one of the turkeys.

That’s Bill, Liam’s dad, on the right.

Liam is proud to be a member of the Sewickley Boy Scout troop.

Liam – such a responsible young man!

The meal was quite tasty!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Bill & Jodie’s house
The swingset – on Bill & Jodie’s property
Their barn – dates back to the 1700s
The quaint little cottage
Beautiful setting!

We’re headed to see Sally.
See ya later!

Category:

Animals, Family, Love, pets, Travel

Tagged with:

Visiting PA Family

In my last post I told you I was headed to see my sis. Well, here we are!

Jan and sister, Sally

Bob & I enjoyed our lunch with Sally & my niece, Jodie. It was family “catch up time.”

Time to find out about each others’ lives.

After lunch we went to pick up my grand-nephew, Liam, at his school. Bob helped him load his donations of 811 food items for his school’s Thanksgiving Food Drive.

Congratulations, Liam, for being such a generous young man!
Geez! He’s taller than I am now!

Liam’s heart for others is so apparent! He is donating these items to the school anonymously … not wanting to “get credit” because he “won” last year… and he wants someone else this year to be able to win the prize for collecting the most.

Not just one cart –
– but two carts full!!!
Great job, Liam; you’re a wonderful Philanthropist!

We are headed tonight to Liam’s Boy Scout Dinner. Liam’s daddy, Bill, has roasted a 20 lb. turkey to contribute to the feast. This family is amazing!

More tomorrow.
Have a good night!

Love to you!
Are enjoying the love of family connections, too?

See you Thursday.

Category:

blessings, children, Family, Giving, Life's Challenges, Living in Harmony, Love, prayer, Serving One Another, Sharing, Travel

Tagged with:

We’re Here!

We are here – Hooray!
At niece Jodie & Bill’s Place
In Pennsylvania

Jodie, Liam & Bill
Happy to have arrived!
Headed now to see my sis…

Have a Wonderful Wednesday.
See ya later!

Category:

blessings, children, Family, Haiku, happiness, Living in Harmony, Love, Poetry, Travel

Tagged with:

Up, Up and Away!

Up over Big Sky
Here we come, Pennsylvania!
I get to see Sis!

Safe flights!!

I pray that you have a good day, too.
See ya later!

Category:

Faith, Family, Haiku, Love, Montana, mountains, nature, photography, Poetry

Tagged with:

Cousin Cliff is Home!

We have been praying for my cousin, Cliff, who had esophageal cancer, had his esophagus removed and part of his stomach… and then had the remaining part of his stomach stretched to connect where the esophagus used to be. It was an amazing surgery and he has been in a recuperation mode for a couple of weeks now.

Today Cliff went HOME. And as you can see in the picture above, he is a happy camper!!

Thank you for continuing to pray for Cliff Hurn as he gains strength and is able to resume a more normal life again.

Modern medicine is amazing, isn’t it? It’s a miracle that they can do these kinds of surgeries!!

I’m off to bed soon. Tomorrow is a big day. We will fly to PA to see my sis and stay with my niece and her family. I am excited about it!

See ya tomorrow!

Category:

blessings, Family, Gratitude, health, Life's Challenges, Love, prayer

Tagged with:

Tenacity Defined

Gracie is Tenacity Defined. We all need such role models!
Check her out:

She Lived to Sing about It

Look and see what an amazing person Gracie is.
I met her her in Ennis, Montana. She and Peter live in our Madison Valley.

And look for her husband, Peter, while you are checking out Gracie.

He is an amazing person, too.

Regardless of our hardships, we CAN survive and thrive.
It takes tenacity – a bucketful of it – like Gracie’s.
And someone’s hand to hold!

Photo by Lukas on Pexels.com

Hold on!
Have a good night.
See you tomorrow.

Category:

Faith, Family, health, Jesus, Life's Challenges, Love, music, prayer, self-acceptance

Tagged with:

The Lion in Me

Hello, Sir Lion!
I feared you had gone away.
Welcome to today!

Miss Kitty out here
Threatened to take me over
While you stayed hidden.

I’m glad you appeared
To help me face challenges;
Today’s full of them.

My To-Do List

  • Finish cleaning that darn office
  • Go up in my sanctuary; worship and consult with God
  • Figure out what to put in our suitcases and pack ’em
  • Fix and eat a healthy breakfast
  • Go downtown and buy hostess gifts
  • Confirm our flights and choose our seats
  • Leave a list of helpfuls for the folks who’ll be in our house
  • Visit shut-ins
  • Go to Bell Choir Practice
  • Fix and eat dinner
  • Clean up the kitchen and dust the house
  • Get a good night’s sleep for tomorrow’s long travel day

Take strength and courage
From Mr. Lion in me.
Tackle those To-Do’s!

Have a productive day, my friends.
I’m headed into that darn office.
Can’t have it looking so messy
when our family arrives for Thanksgiving.
Do you have a room like that at your place?

See Ya Later!

Category:

blessings, Family, Gratitude, Haiku, Life's Challenges, Love, Poetry, work

Tagged with: