Category: Photography

Five Medals 2017 (Part 1)

The weather was perfect for this year’s Gathering at Five Medals.  I appreciated the time each person took to tell their story of life in the Midwest between the 1660s and the early 1800s.

I  talked with a spinner who explained what she was doing and said she loves the chance to relax and spin while her children did chores or read out loud.  I learned about caning chairs.  We were instructed on how to make birch wood homes and how easy they were to pack up and move. My favorite though was a little boy who told Megan, “We just slept here all night, we are not really Indians”.

Homecoming

This last weekend we drove down to see Mark and enjoy Cedarville’s Homecoming.

All the freshmen engineers had a cardboard boat project.  They were to design a boat and build it using provided cardboard and tape.  Their grade would be determined, in part, if they made it across the lake or not.

Mark’s team worked hard. Their boat was not the fastest, but it made it across the lake with very little damage.

A few teams ended up taking a cool swim to the finish line.

Mark was disappointed that his team did not place high enough to be in the water fight after the race.  However, he was excited when his professor saw his boat, liked the design, and asked if he could put it on display in the engineering building for the next year.

Mark had homework, but joined us as often as he could over the weekend.  We enjoyed a few concerts, watched a movie outside, went to a parade –collected lots of candy– and just spent time together.

It was great to see Mark and meet some of his friends.  He enjoys school and the opportunities to learn a lot!

Love Notes

Since he was little, Mark has collected colorful leaves for me. Many of them are pressed between the pages of the books we were reading when he gave them to me. I was a little disappointed I would not be getting any this year.

However, Mark was pressing leaves he found while walking around campus.  He often put them in his shirts button hole till he got to his dorm so he would not lose them.

This weekend we were at Cedarville for home coming.  He presented me with a folder. With it was one essay he was especially proud of (and it was very good!) and leaves he had saved for me.

Birthday Spoiling

Megan turned seven while we were at Camp Patmos.  She spent the whole day getting spoiled!  We started the day by getting some pictures of the birthday girl.Then we went in to help serve breakfast.  Megan was surprised with a birthday crown and everyone singing happy birthday to her.

Of course, we needed more pictures.

We worked and played hard. After dinner, she was presented with a pink strawberry cake while all the staff and volunteers sang to her.

Then for chapel, Megan was asked to go to the front and the whole camp sang to her again.

When it was finally time for bed, Megan was exhausted!  She was hardly awake when I sang “happy birthday” one last time as I always do when I give them their goodnight birthday kiss.  She had a wonderful day!

 

Camp Patmos

Last weekend, we went to Camp Patmos to help out during the Banished Retreat. Allan worked in sound and the kids and I helped serve food, wash dishes and clean up around camp.  The older girls got to do a few other needed jobs also.

I had some time to take some photos and here are some of my favorites from the weekend.

Bike Ride

We have enjoyed Oxbow’s trails for many years.  I take the children often for walks, to go sledding, or to look for animals or pretty fall leaves.  Yesterday was the first time that anyone rode their bikes through our favorite paths. We will have to figure out how to get the other bikes in the car and take the other kids one day soon.