It was a weekend of celebrating . . .

The celebration started Thursday evening shortly after Bob and I arrived home from the pastors' retreat. Natalie and Francie arrived about ten minutes after we did. I knew Natalie was coming, but was surprised to learn that Francie had come also. Lisa and the boys had the house all cleaned and ready for company and had supper ready too. It was a great evening. Natalie brought me some pottery to paint and I'm looking forward to working on that in the next few weeks. I finished the Christmas decorations she had sent to me several months ago and took them to Camp Cherokee to have them fired. They turned out really nice. And, you know, Christmas is just around the corner!

Todd sent vegetables from his garden which we enjoyed eating during the weekend. We froze the corn that he had sent, because we didn't want it to lose the sweetness by sitting too many days. We got five quart bags and I had to try an ear too. It's really good corn and very sweet!!! He also sent eggplant, peppers, and cantaloupe. We don't have any of these in our garden, so we were quite pleased to receive them. He sent tomatoes and cucumbers too which came in handy with so many people to feed during the weekend. The cantaloupe didn't even make it till morning. We cut it Thursday evening and it was devoured. So sweet and delicious. I think we could have eaten a whole case of them. The tomatoes were a hit on Friday after Bob made homemade bread. Natalie sliced the bread, put mayonnaise on it and thick slices of tomato and after one bite said, "This is heaven!" We all enjoyed eating sliced tomatoes on fresh baked bread.

Francie helped shuck the corn.

Natalie and I cut the corn off the cob for freezing.

Natalie wanted to make some grape jam and take it home with her, so Thursday evening after supper and after we froze the corn, she made four pints of grape jam. There was a little left over so she put it in a small bowl which was tested on the fresh bread Bob made the next day. Yum!

Once the grape pulp came to a boil we added sugar and cooked another minute.

Friday was spent cooking, baking, and getting ready for the company that was coming over for Shannon's graduation luncheon Sabbath afternoon. The menu consisted of: buttered potatoes, "Special K" loaf, potato salad, cabbage salad , sliced tomatoes, deviled eggs, green beans, buttered corn on the cob, homemade bread, lemonade, blueberry crunch, chocolate chip cookies, fresh peach pie (it's like fresh strawberry pie only we used peaches) with real whipped cream, and homemade vanilla ice cream. Francie wanted to make some grape jam too, so we squeezed a batch in before we left for the graduation. Francie made nine gift jars of jam with a little left over for more tasting on the homemade bread.

Our table for the Sabbath afternoon luncheon. It rained the entire morning, and I wasn't sure what I was going to do with all the people if it continued in the afternoon, but it stopped shortly after noon and by two o'clock when we served lunch, the weather was perfect.

Friday evening we all went to Shannon's graduation. There were 37 friends and family there for her graduation. Shannon had selected Andy and Madeline to do the pinning and the rest of her family felt left out and told her she should have had all of us come up front to help. We had a good laugh about the possible reaction on the faces of her instructors if that had happened.

Shannon's dress was one of the cutest and she made it.

Andy and Madeline pinning Shannon.

Me, Shannon, and Bob


Natalie, Shannon, Ryan, and Francie

Shannon, Andy, and Madeline

Hannah and Madeline loved the fort auntie Natalie made for them.

The girls played for hours in their new play house.

The fort even had an old cement block for a chair and a rock for a table. Then an old pot was found and hung for pretend cooking.

After lunch Andy and Tony had a nice long visit and solved all the world's problems.

Donna enjoyed playing with the kittens.

This was Bob's idea.

Tony and Donna - a spoof of our picture.

It was a wonderful weekend filled with stories, laughter, fellowship, and good food. I sure am glad Shannon graduated so we could have such a fun weekend.

Sunday morning was very sad because Natalie and Francie loaded the car and headed home. The weekend was much too short.