VBS

 

Adele's volunteering at VBS this week; She's on the dance team again this year. 

The dance team teaches the different groups of kids the various songs and their motions throughout the day, and the team also goes up on stage to help to lead the songs during assembly times. 

She loves it!

But VBS is a lot of work, so it doesn't matter if you are on the dance team and your main responsibility is dancing. If there is work to be done, it's all hands on deck. So in the photo above, Adele and a friend are decorating the church over the weekend before VBS started. 

After attending almost ten VBS's?? as a participant when she was a little kid, Adele is serving now as a volunteer. Now she's helping to teach and demonstrate the truths of the Gospel of Christ, but in teaching and serving, she is still learning the truths of the Gospel only in a different way. 

Praise God! 

One Good Thing Leads to Another

One good thing leads to another. 

The first good thing was the fact that we had been spending so much time out on our deck, mornings and evenings. 

That's when we decided to seek out comfortable furniture for the spaces. 

After a few days' worth of free time spent scouring all stores that sell outdoor furniture, we settled on some new deck furniture; You can see one sofa and chair set in the photo. 

Now it is even easier to spend more time outside in our beautiful backyard. 

One good thing leads to another.  

The next good thing is that spending time outside renewed my love of bird watching. 

So I finally found a bird feeder for the deck. 

Almost overnight, the birds discovered it, and I've seen mourning doves, sparrows, house finches, and a goldfinch at the feeder several times a day.  

A good friend also told us about the Merlin app for our phone that helps us identify the birds that fill up our woods. 

Using it, I am astounded at the number and variety of birds in our woods; I had no idea! 

And now, once we know a bird is out there, it is much easier to spot it.

And once we spot it, that only adds to the joy of being outdoors more. 

So, like I said, one good thing only leads to another!  

Copycat Mango Tumeric Madness Recipe

 

I made myself a copycat Mango Tumeric Madness Smoothie, similar to the one you can get at Robex.

Ingredients:

Carrot Juice

Apple Juice

Frozen peaches 

Frozen Mango

Frozen Cranberries

Tumeric Powder

Honey

Ice cubes 

Water

Directions: 

We have a juicer, so I juiced apples and carrots for their juice and saved it in jars, but these juices can be purchased at certain grocery stores. 

Combine 1/8-1/4 a cup of carrot and 1/8-1/4 cup of apple juice with approx. 6 frozen peach slices and 6 frozen mango pieces. 

Add approx. 6-10 frozen cranberries, one tablespoon of tumeric powder, one tablespoon honey. 

Add one cup of ice cubes and approx. 1/2 cup of water. Blend until smooth. 

If blender gets stuck, add 1/8 cup of water and blend again. If blender sticks again, continue to add a little water and blend again until the combination is smooth. 

Delicious! 

Enjoy!

Pressed Wildflowers From Greece

This time last year we touring Greece. 

Shh! Don't tell customs! But as we traveled along place to place, I picked whatever wildflowers I passed by and put them between the pages of whatever travel guide I was holding in my hands. 

I finally pulled all my travel guides from the shelf, gently removed all the dried, pressed flowers, and arranged them into frames so that I could display them in our home. 

After picking two sprigs of lavender from a bush near the water clock in the Ancient Roman Agora in Athens and placing them inside the book and putting that book inside my bag, I would often catch the scent of lavender for the rest of the trip; I didn't need perfume; Those two sprigs were so potent they created a cloud of lavender scent around me for the rest of the trip. 

That dried lavender still smelled divine and as I handled it to place it in the frames, so I was carried right back in my memory to moments of our trip.

These frames of flowers will make a beautiful keepsake and reminder of our adventure. 

Emptying Nest

My nest is emptying. 

Norah, my oldest, returned to New College Franklin yesterday to set up her apartment and prepare for her senior year of college. 

Yesterday, Avril, my middle daughter, who will be a senior in our homeschool next year, went to the Summer Scholars program at Templeton Honor's College for the next two weeks. She's taking a class called "Elves and Eden."

I am enjoying the quality time alone with my youngest, Adele. 

She and I are planning some visits with friends, and we are hoping the weather clears so that we can go on some adventures. 

With two out of three girls gone right now, this is a short preview of what it will be like as my daughters grow up and leave home more and more until they stay away all the time and only come back to visit. 

I am certainly surprised this season is upon me so fast. 

Nevertheless, I find my soul still within me. 

"In every change, He faithful will remain."

Farmington River Tubing

We went tubing down Farmington River. 

It was hot! 

But the water was shockingly cool, delightful in the contrast. 

I lost my tube at the end. 

Dwayne chased it down. 

He had a crowd cheering for him when he caught it five hundred years down stream. 

They gave him a cold beer and he sat and drank it with them while he caught his breath. 

It was a great day! 

Happy Birthday, America! 

Setting Up the Deck

We've been setting up the deck for the summer. 

It's later than usual in the season, but with the events this spring, there was no time to do it sooner. 

Our good friends, the Beatties' daughters, helped Adele and I pick out the herbs and plant those. 

Later in the same week, Adele and I chose the annuals and planted those. 

It's lovely to sit outside and drink your morning coffee and listen to bird song, or drink a cold beer in the afternoon after working in the flower beds, or enjoy a homemade lemonade in the evening and chat.