Friends Visit and the Fun Begins!

I had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year with my children, grandchildren and husband in Michigan. Bob did most of the cooking and baking for Thanksgiving as well as for the weekend. We left Sunday to go and stay with Adam and Natalie making our trip home a little shorter on Monday. They have done so much work on their new home and it looks great! When we arrived, Adam had just started a fire in the fireplace just for me.

The pictures below are just a few of my Thanksgiving blessings. I'm so disappointed that I was unable to get a picture of Rachael's family. Rachael was on call so I waited for her to get home but she didn't want me to take a picture because she was in her scrubs, so I never got a picture of them together this Thanksgiving.

Lori and Todd and baby boy soon to make is appearance.

Natalie and Adam

Madeline, Shannon and Andy

When I arrived home I checked my e-mail and was so excited to find out that Cathy and Dore, my friends from California, were coming to visit. They would be arriving on Thursday and staying for a long weekend. I was really busy getting everything back in place after my trip to Michigan. Bob helped and we accomplished everything I wanted to have done when my friends arrived (within reason). On Wednesday morning, Bob went to a local tree farm and found the perfect tree which he cut, hauled home, set-up and decorated! It looks beautiful. When I got home from work, we quickly decorated the rest of the house for Christmas and I made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick-up a few items for my menus for the weekend and we were ready for our guests to arrive. I went to work on Thursday morning for a few hours before leaving to pick-up my friends at the airport.

Here are my friends Dore and Cathy in the airport parking lot. They look pretty good for beginning their trip on Wednesday afternoon. They had a terrible flight which had them staying at O'hare Airport overnight.

I was so excited to have my friends come all the way from California to visit me. On Thursday evening they went with me to a women's Bible study and craft class at the church. We also have just begun an outreach program for the community. While some of the ladies finished their clothespin dolls, some of the ladies started putting together baskets for the women's shelter.

Cathy and Dore helped with preparing baskets for the women's shelter after the study. The ladies put five baskets (they used laundry baskets) together which held personal items, a blanket, socks, mittens, toilet paper, paper towels, dish cloths and towels, laundry soap, a towel and wash cloth, a Bible promise book, and other miscellaneous items they might need when leaving the shelter. This is an on-going project the ladies have taken on as their ministry to the community.

We were all three very tired when we got home from the study so we went straight to bed.

After a good nights rest and breakfast (waffles with fresh peach topping and Bob's maple syrup) we headed out for a day of sightseeing. First we delivered the baskets that had been prepared for the women's shelter then we headed for an area that had Amish farms. Cathy and Dore were so excited to see the Amish people, houses, schools, and even shop in an Amish store.

This is a picture of the Amish buggy and horse that arrived at the Amish shop we were shopping at. The mother and daughter wouldn't let us take their picture. The lady in the shop (also Amish) told us the Amish people don't like their picture taken because of the commandment about graven images.

This is a picture of an Amish school house. We saw two of these and each one had a swing set and a teeter-toter as their only playground equipment. The girl on the porch was mopping and when she realized we had stopped she immediately went inside. Did you notice the bell on top of the roof?

We thought this was an interesting picture of how they hang-0ut their laundry to dry.

This is a little shed at the end of an Amish driveway that is used to sell homemade baked breads, sweet rolls, jellies and jams. We stopped and checked it out. The pumpkin sweet roll we purchased was delicious! No one was in the little shop, you just pick out what you want and put the money in a box. While we were shopping, a little Amish girl came running from the house with three fresh loaves of bread, just in case we wanted some homemade bread. She was so cute.

Before we headed home we stopped by Ryan and Lisa's house so Cathy and Dore could meet them and of course I enjoyed getting all the hugs and kisses from the grandchildren. We enjoyed a cup of tea together and then we headed home. It had begun to snow and Cathy and Dore were pretty excited about that. They tried to take pictures of it through the windshield.

Sabbath afternoon we went over to take pictures of the oldest SDA church, built by Adventists, that is still having services every Sabbath.

This is a picture of the outside of the church.

This is the inside of the church. Notice the original pews (I should say benches).


We walked across the street to the cemetery to see where Hiram Edson is buried.

Sunday morning we enjoyed watching the birds outside the dining room windows waiting for Bob to make breakfast for us (French apple hotcakes). Cathy took at least 20 pictures of birds at the bird feeders. We were so excited to see both the male and female cardinals at the bird feeders.

Cathy, Me, and Dore

After breakfast we all got ready to go antique shopping. We were surprised to see us all dressed in black with a red sweater. (I actually had a gray sweater on, and they made me go change so I would match them.) We had so much fun shopping. We also stopped by a bed and breakfast open house.

Dore helps Cathy with her boots and pants.

Cathy had trouble keeping her pants legs down over her boots. When she would bend over to pull them down, all was well. But once she stood up, they would come back up over the boots, so Dore helped her by letting her stand up and she pulled the pants over her boots. It worked! We all three found treasures and had a great time shopping together.

Sunday evening, Cathy and Dore finished their clothes-pin dolls.

Here are the finished little clothes-pin dolls. Aren't they cute?

Monday morning we ate breakfast together and gathered all the treasures accumulated during the few days they were here. I loaned them an old suitcase which they had no trouble filling. Bob made homemade bread to send home with them and we braved the wind and snow as we drove to the airport.

God has blessed me with such a wonderful family and such good friends. And, a great boss that let me have two days off to play with my friends. Won't it be great when we're all together on the new earth and we won't have to say good bye!