Parading in town!

Hadley is a small town with big parades! This year was the first time we have been in or seen their 4th of July parade (we came up to be in the Harvest parade last year) and we had heard that it was the biggest event in Hadley yet! Starting in a field filled with tractors, old cars, horses and lots of people the route rolls through town,winding through neighborhoods and then heads back to the parking lot while passing the tail end of the parade itself! Several of us were able to ride in the back of "Rusty", the Bryson's old truck as John drove and throw candy and waving to all the people! Though it ended sooner than we thought and we had to quickly head back home for family celebrations, we all had a great time and will definitely remember this day and parade for a long time!!

Our new and long time dear friends, Mr. Reiche and Vicki.

The modern colonial man! =)

Watching from the side lines! From here on Faith had the camera since I was in the back of Rusty.

The line of Semis and Fire trucks ready to go! Boy were they loud!!

Though hard to see, this shield said Faith on it!

Tractors...

tractors...

tractors....and more and more tractors...too many to put all on here!

...and then there was the oil pull! Quite the machine!

The excitement of the event was when the fire trucks went by. We were told before hand that whoever gets too close to the edge of the road will get drenched by the firemen! Many people had super soakers and water guns handy when those trucks went by to try to spray them back. What a blast!

Happy birthday!

Faith's birthday is the first birthday celebrated in our new house! Though the day was already half gone and filled to the full with memories, it was still an enjoyable celebration with family as we had our traditional cook out lunch and gift giving.

These candles were a gift from our Aunt Carmen.

Faith got her 1914 tea dress done the day before so she could wear it to the morning events. The orchids were a gift from Christianna and Grace.

Uncle Paul and Aunt Lucy came,

as did Uncle Warren and Aunt Myrt.

Here she is in her newly made peasant dress trying to light her candles that were supposed to never go out but because of the wind these never started!

Blueberry cobbler, Stawberry glac'e pie and Cherry cheese cake! Yummmm!

Our Aunt Kathy from Utah sent this card to Faith. She is very talented in making cards and we always anticipate receiving and treasure these special cards on our birthdays!

Faith is a very special person and one who adds such life and enjoyment to our family! A true firecracker she is as there is usually never a dull moment when she is around! Her devotion to her Lord and her care and perseverence in many things are treasures to our family and we love her dearly! Happy 23rd (not 18!) birthday Faith Ann!

Friendly fellowship and games!

The evening of the 4th.

OK, so I'm running out of words, it's getting late and I really want to get this all on tonight so please forgive me as I am not going to try to eloquently replay the whole evening! Enjoy the captions at least and I hope you get the idea of what we did! It was a great evening anyways. May God be praised!!

The elder gentlemen..

...and young people enjoying our new swings!

Timothy being his usual self! =)

Lunch/Dinner under the willow tree.

We introduced the fun game of water balloon volley ball to everyone with great success!

Wheel barrel races...

David Wagner and John had great fun pushing each other!

Sack races...

...and three leg races!

As darkness fell we gathered around our new fire pit, sang happy birthday to Faith and continued to sing many more songs of glory and praise to our King! How blessed that day was, and how grateful we are to that Great Creator who has so richly blessed us with so many gifts, through friends and family and His forgiveness and grace!

This post is done, the day is past and many memories were made...Blessed be the Name of the Lord!

Thank you Lord!

Internet is back up (hopefully for sure) and I hope to get some very behind post on soon! Unfortunately time is short around here but I will try to at least get Faith's birthday post on before New Years! =)

Coming soon....

Declaring our Freedom! ( 4th of July morning at the Court house for the reading of the Declaration)

Hadley Parading (we participated in a nearby towns independence parade)

Faith's 23rd birthday celebration!

Friends over for an evening of fun and fellowship! (it turned out to be more of a field day!)

...and so much more!!!!

Musical Round-up

Last Thursday night (A week ago now) we enjoyed yet another musical concert, this time with a western theme that kept your feet tapping and smiles cracking as the Lapeer Civic Orchestra played at the Historical Court house! Though the concert seemed to end too soon, through the remainder of the evening you could almost still hear the echos of the tunes, from the Western Hoe-down, Shenandoah and the Magnificent Seven theme to Trail from the Grand Canyon Suite, Celebration Dance from Billy the Kid and ending with William Tell Overture - to just to name a few!

Our friend Tim Wagner playing the french horn...

...and his sister Lindy with her violin.

With the theme being western, a few of us went dressed for the occasion. Josiah here with both his Matthew friends. =)

Josh was very sharp looking in his outfit too!

The evening was again, most enjoyable!

A test of Patience

OK, so you have a ton of blogging to do, your maxed out on pictures and are giving yourself limits as to how many you take now 'cause you don't want to overload your already full schedule, your head is spinning as words to say for all the different posts are quickly exiting your though capacity and finally to add to it all your Internet access is playing the elusive game and you cannot even get one picture on before it shuts down and you loose anything that you did not save!!!!

Yes, God is teaching me patience.

I was already behind on blogging when this past Wednesday came upon us and the day was jam packed with fun and fellowship and around 310 pictures taken and now I cannot put anything on the blog!!*sigh*

I must wait, and listen, and learn my lesson.

You must wait also till I am yet again able to share this exciting adventure we have been living lately!

Coming soon (hopefully)...

God's Promise!

Sun shining through the dark clouds this evening and we thought it might pass, but in an instance a light rain started to fall turning into a quick down pour.

I couldn't get the camera speed fast enough but it is raining in this photo.

Flowers in the water drop window

Setting sun below the clouds and opposite it was clearly seen a huge rainbow! Arching over and through clouds with a mirror shadow close by, the brilliant colors shown out so clear! Gorgeous!

Like the appearance of a rainbow in a cloud on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around it. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. Ezekiel 1:28

~May you all have a blessed Lord's day tomorrow!

Lily Spring Gardens

Lily Springs has come alive! For the past week or so we have enjoyed watching the beauty unfold as lily after lily has bloomed on our property. Though most are the day lily type we also have a dark 'red' and bright yellow asiatic bunch! As for the spring, well, with all this dry weather it has almost dried up but a small pool of water is still there. Again God is continuing to bless and even though our soil is not the ideal for a garden a lot of the things we planted are coming up and we cannot wait to finally be able to enjoy the fruit of our work. May God be praised!