October 30, 2007

October 30, 2007 marked the 6 year anniversary of cancer surgery for our dear friend and neighbor, Mr. Bryson. To celebrate this anniversary of God’s great grace and mercy, we were invited to travel with the family on a color tour of part of Michigan’s thumb. The trip was to eventually terminate at Country View Store, a favorite of our families. Along the round-about-way we took to get there, we stopped at the lovely Forrester Park for lunch.

What a perfectly beautiful day the Lord gave us! The sun shone brightly most of the day, and the sky was a splendid blue with a few pure white clouds. The weather was sufficiently cool to allow for a comfy cardigan despite the warmth of the sun. A perfect Autumn day. What a blessing!

Although at first we were a tad disappointed with the colors, (or the lack there-of) but a few dazzling trees were still sufficiently be-decked to elicit our admiring “oohs and aahs.” What lovely colors! Isn’t it a wonderful thing that the Creator chose such a beautiful way for trees to ready themselves for winter!

The boys had a grand time!

Our joy was unbounded when we finally caught a glimpse of the Lake. How blue the water looked! It was wonderful to finally reach the Park and be able to get out and stretch! After an initial frustration in regards to finding some very necessary facilities, (do you have any idea what it is like to drive 2 ½ hours and then find the bathrooms to be closed!?) we got out the picnic baskets and coolers found a picnic table and had lunch.

We just couldn’t stay away from the water, so most of us ended up eating our lunch on the short board-walk that over looked the beach. What an amazing view!!

The perpetually rolling waves breaking on the huge boulder sized rocks that projected out into the water, the long sandy beach, sprinkled with colorful Autumn leaves, and the incredible sky and water, echoing each other in blues and whites, until they blended into one along the horizon.

The huge boulders and remnants of an antique pier were forms of great entertainment for those of us who enjoyed "rock hopping,"

and much time was spent combing the beach to find "pretty" rocks,

and thin stones, smooth as paper which were "just the thing" for the boys who were trying their hand at skipping.

*smile*

Tiny Seashells were used to make quaint monograms in the sand,

and larger rocks were gathered and arranged to remind us of our true Rock!

A picture of all us young'uns :-)

The little Park afforded us much entertainment as well.

A couple of old merry-go-rounds,

(for the stout of heart and stomach:-)

good old-fashioned teeter-totters, and a row of antiqued looking metal horse swings were enjoyed by most of us children (and adults :-).

The latter being somewhat uncomfortable, but still providing a great form of amusement to those who “rode” and those who watched.

All too soon, it was time to go, and we all got back into the vehicles and continued on our way.

We are so thankful to the Lord for the beautiful day of fun and fellowship that He blessed us with, and even more thankful for His sparing Mr. Bryson’s life six years ago.

We pray that God will richly bless you and your family, Mr. B, in this year and for many years to come. Thank you for including us in your special day!

To God be the glory!

~ FAS

Days to Remember...

The last several day of October have been memorable! Maybe it's just because of the fact that we are still living the first year of life here in the country, or it's just that we have been doing a lot of new and fun things and God has blessed us indescribably in so many ways!

Sorry we're back to the "boring" blog posts but there is so much to put on and no one else to write right now so here you are! =)

Following are just bits and pieces of some of the photos I've taken lately. Enjoy as always!

We are official! Well, not really, but we were blessed with this special sign made by Mr. Bryson. May God be praised!

Beautiful leaves from our back acre.

Gardening is coming to a close but weeding seems to never be over! Here Christianna and Dragon are being supervised by Faith. =)

The Klatys blessed us with a bag of Indian corn (which they could not grow due having sweet corn too close by) so we planted them and the other day had a blast harvesting these little jewels of God's creations!

Beautiful...

and delicious! =)

A sweet little Dee-Dee (Chickadee) hopping through the grape vines and pecking at the dried sunflower heads.

This was what the view out our porch windows looked like the other day. Gorgeous!

You alone are the LORD;You have made heaven, The heaven of heavens, with all their host, The earth and everything on it, The seas and all that is in them, And You preserve them all. The host of heaven worships You. Nehemiah 9:6

Sunday morning before leaving for Church, Josiah, Faith and I were out admiring the sparkling frost that was heavily covering almost everything outside! Everything that the Lord has made is beautiful and declares His glory.

Stay tuned.... much more to come (when we have time!)

For Christ's glory!

~Grace

Harvest Festival 2007!

Well folks, they are finally here. The pictures from our 2007 Harvest Festival!

Sorry about the delay but since I was also using my 35mm camera I wanted to wait till they were developed before I posted.

God truly blessed the day with wonderful weather, though it was quite windy, but that didn't stop any of the activities as we had races (both on foot and with cornstalk/husk boats), woodworking, stilt races, crafts and several historic readings. Having a tent this year was a life saver and what a great blessing it was to have over 50 people come, both new and old friends and several from out of state!

Many thanks again to the Eddy family for hosting this event and for all the work they and many others put into making this all happen! May God be glorified!

Therefore, with no more further ado, here are the images captured! Enjoy!

~Grace

October

There's a magic in October

Like no other time of year,

There's a touch of melancholy

And a bit of solemn cheer.

Memories come back before us

That had seemed forgotten long,

But are now as bright as noonday,

Like a well remembered song!

Other days and other seasons

Have a certain charm well known,

But a day in bright October

Has a magic all its own.

Then it is, all earth turns crimson,

Red and yellow, gold and brown,

With a touch of purple shadow

As the sun is going down.

Then be ready for the moment,

For the clock of time seems still

As you catch a glimpse of Glory

Just beyond the western hill!

~ Stillmans J. Elwell

A week to not forget!

The past week has been a full and blessed one! Because so much was done let me just give you the highlights and I'm sure you will get the "picture"! =)

Last Sunday afternoon after service, our family headed over to Grand Blanc to see and hear the Wissmann Family Singers! We had met this wonderful family two years ago when they were in the area but had never heard them sing live (we have a couple of their recordings) so this was quite the treat and a blessed time to see a family so exuberant and filled with love for each other and the Lord as they sang and shared what God has been doing for them.









~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Some of the other things that have been happening around the homestead have been...



Watching the field of soy beans across the street be harvested...



...and catching Red Bellied Snakes!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Then on Wednesday an exciting and most enjoyable evening was had as we gathered together at the Bryson's for dinner and fellowship with the Wissmann family! (Sorry, I was a very poor photographer and did not get many pictures!)

[Photo taken by Bethany Wissmann]

After dinner and time spent getting to know each other better, we did a little singing and shared with our new friends a couple pieces from Handel's Messiah. What a blessed gathering it was as brothers and sisters in Christ! Thank you so much Bryson family for hosting this event!

What is it like to have 32 people in one home? Glorious!

May God receive all the praise and honor!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Friday evening found us again with friends as the Bendixen family came over for dinner and fellowship through singing later with the Bryson family.

Josh, Jeriah and Barak trying out the bows!

Several of us ladies getting food ready.

The gentlemen table!

A banjo, guitar, two accordions, two harmonicas and 25 voices praising God!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lastly, due to several hard frosts the last couple days, we have started to clean out our garden and glean the produce that God has so richly blessed us with this first year!


Here Josiah is bringing in his three largest "Pie" pumpkins! Yes, those were supposed to be pie pumpkins! We were sure that the seed packet said that delicious word but upon watching these jumbo quashes grow we were starting to think otherwise! Anyways, we will just have to see when we cut them open but either way we are so thankful for the blessing of being able to harvest your own produce!

May God bless you all this week!

~Grace

Battery D Civil War Day

This past Saturday John, Grace, Theresa Eddy and Daniel Bryson participated in a local Civil War Day "re-enactment". Camp life, civilian lifestyles, battle atmosphere and canon fire filled the day with excitement! Because there were so many pictures taken I won't try to caption them all so you can view a slide show here. Also visit the Battery D website for more information about this group. Enjoy!

~Many Thanks to Faith and Christianna for being the photographers for the day!

Charity's 25th Birthday

Charity (n. Fr. charité) 1. In a general sense, love, benevolence, good will; that disposition of the heart which inclines men to think favorably of their fellow men, and to do them good. In a theological sense, it includes supreme love to God, and universal good will to men. (Webster's 1828 dictionary)

We are blessed with Charity's love in this home as she blesses us with: her computer skills; her enthusiasm for those little caterpillars that go through a wonderful transformation right before our eyes; her knowledge of essential oils and other natural remedies; her skill in making sour dough by catching the "wild" yeast in the air; her excitement for books and skill in ordering for us through the library system; her enjoyment in organic gardening (we enjoyed her delicious crop of green beans this summer) and many other ways that she does us good.

We are also blessed with Charity's supreme love to God which shows: in her love to listen to and sing God's praises, especially Handel's Messiah; and in her occasional heart-felt poems. We thank God for sparing her life earlier this year and pray that He will bless her soon with good health that she might enjoy and do many more things for His glory.

Charity's birthday got a little stretched out this year. She went out for a special lunch the day before with her dad at the White Horse Inn (a historic restaurant in Metamora - horse country here up north), then Sunday (her actual birthday) we went to Messiah practice after church and opened her presents later that evening. The picture shows one of her favorite gifts - a book on herbs and their usage. Finally, the day after, we had her requested homemade apple pie (we made 3 of them) and our friends the Bryson's came down to help her celebrate. She received many nice cards from their children and a CD.