October

Every month is busy and keeps me behind in my blogging, so now is a little time to catch up October!  

We enjoyed having Dessi come and stay with us for a few days in early October.  She went to classes at GBS and visited around with other friends, but we enjoyed our time to catch up and visit with her.

 We enjoyed eating outside in the fall weather.

Dessi took the girls out to eat with her one day.

 Another meal together before she left us --until next visit!

On October 6, we had three of our church couples over for Sunday dinner.

 We had Lonnie and Leta Witt, Marvin and Joyce Cooper, and Doug and Joan Hodnett.  They had all been to our other house and we wanted to show them we had an "elder-friendly" house now, without steps to get in the door.  Caleb Teed was there for the afternoon also. 

We had Keith and Crystal Schaper and their family for a missionary service at church.  They are missionaries in Guatemala.

 The 11-12 was Homecoming at GBS.  It was a busy time.  One of the highlights was getting to see  Glen and Helen Reiff.

 We also got to visit with Calvin and Marsha Hartman, more of Rowen's cousins, but we didn't get a picture of them.

Rowen and Janet enjoyed almost front row seating for 

the Collingsworth Family concert on Saturday evening. (Emily and Elizabeth took tickets at the door, so they didn't get to sit up front.  Emily still got these good pictures.)

 The ladies singing "Fear Not Tomorrow"

The grandkids even sang.

The next day the Young Adult class had the special song

 and we had Caleb, Danette, and Jimmy over for Sunday dinner.  They brought leftover tamales from their food booth at the Homecoming Street Fest.

We had a Sisters' Meeting on Monday night at the church fellowship hall.  

 We had yummy food, fellowship, and a craft to do.

 The fellowship hall has been decorated in a race track theme for awhile.

The next week our friends, Sam and Hannah Kinnamon came to stay with us while attending a special Thursday-Saturday event at the Ark Encounter.

At the same time, our almost family Emily McKay came to spend her fall break from Kentucky Mountain Bible College with us.  She enjoyed going to classes at GBS and studying with the girls.  She and our Emily matched in an upsidedown sort of way.

 We enjoyed the time with Emily!

 Emily and Emily helped with the cleanup of the wedding rehearsal for Maria Stetler and Bryan Robledo on Friday evening, and then on Saturday, October 19, Emily M went with Janet to the wedding, which was performed by Dr. Mike Avery.

 Marc Sankey and his sister, Vonnie sang at the wedding.  They are Uncle and Aunt of the bride.

 Karilee was the flower girl.  She was such a good little girl, sitting quietly on the step during the ceremony.  On the way out, she distributed the rest of her leftover rose petals.  

It was a beautiful, God-honoring ceremony.

 

 Mr. and Mrs. Robledo

 A closer picture at the reception 

Janet was surprised to see some Kirks cousins at the wedding.  Stanley and Zola Maxine Hunter go to church in Ft. Scott, Kansas where Bryan is Youth Pastor.  Zola is Wanda Scoles's cousin.  So we had them come for dinner on Sunday after they came to church with us!

We also had Frank and Sherry Martinoli (in our current Care-n-Connect Group), Emily McKay,  Anthony Paulus and Jimmy.  Emily, Danette, and Caleb were gone on a SWSE day to a couple of churches.

That night we "pounded" our pastors with lots of groceries and other items!

At the end of the service honoring the pastors, everybody came up and hugged or shook hands with them all.  We love our pastoral team.

Andy, Sherilyn, Wilson, Marshall, Karilee, and Ellyson Stroud

Darrell and Regina Stetler

We are so blessed with wonderful shepherds! 

 On October 23, David and Christina Black, missionaries in Taiwan, were scheduled for Wednesday evening church.  The Stetlers had Retha Elger and us over for supper.  Retha babysat Christina when she was a young girl, and Janet knew her as a young teen.  Elizabeth did 4 weeks of her missions internship (2018) with them in Taiwan.  The Stetlers have known them forever.  So there was lively conversation during the yummy meal!

 We enjoyed the informative service after that.

A picture of Christina and the girls

Elizabeth and the Blacks

Two days later, we bailed out of work and school and took a road trip to Jonestown, PA!  We traveled through beautiful country in West Virginia and Maryland before reaching our destination. 

 The trees were just beautiful and pictures don't do it justice!

 We stopped and had a picnic lunch while we were still in West Virginia.

 

 It was the perfect week of the year for fall colors.

 

This trip was very close to our 36th anniversary, which was October 22.

We loved the beautiful trees we could view at this Maryland rest stop.

We were glad Elizabeth and Emily could go with us!

There was a small ping pong table where we stayed; we enjoyed playing.

Picnic table 

The other end of the picnic table room

We would have enjoyed staying there much longer!

The place where we ate downstairs.  It is also a music studio.

We got there too late in the evening for outside pictures.  So we took pictures in the morning before we took off exploring.  This is the Red Barn Retreat in Jonestown, Pa.

We drove to Lancaster and went to the Mennonite Information Center.  Rowen has Mennonites in his family history, so it was interesting to learn about them.

We did the tour of the accurately sized Biblical Tabernacle.  It was very interesting.

Our tour guide telling the story of Moses and the Israelites.

In the Holy Place

The High Priest could move up to the altar on a track.

We peeked in the window at the Holy of Holies and the Ark of the Covenant.

Our hosts, the Englands, were also at the Tabernacle tour!

We liked seeing covered bridges!

We ate at a Miller's Smorgasbord, an Amish restaurant, but we just ordered off the menu.  On Saturdays the Smorgasbord price is too high.  We knew we shouldn't eat enough quantity to make it worth the money!!

We went in an Amish Quilt store and looked at everything.  We didn't touch the quilts without white gloves, but Rowen did try on this handsome hat!

On a search for another covered bridge, we found this Old Mill with a water wheel.

We saw many Amish buggies.

We went to a meat shop to buy "puddins" for Aunt Becky, and Elizabeth got "shot" in this cute gazebo.

We admired the fine craftsmanship in this Amish Furniture Store.

We enjoyed this covered bridge up close and personal.

The Barn had three pianos, so there was no fussing over playing them.

We had rain on Saturday and Sunday.  This picture was Sunday when we were driving to church in Millmont, Pa.

Our friend, Brent Susan pastors Christ Community Church there.

We went to their home for dinner in Middleburg, Pa.

Emily with Kohen, Chanan, and Atarah

Our people with Brent, Alicia, Tirzah, Kohen, Chanan, Atarah, and baby Azariah is not in the picture.

But Azariah got in this picture!

We got home around 11 p.m. after a safe, relaxing trip.   

We had a prettier fall around here than we had expected after a very dry summer.  

We were happy to find out that we have a Burning Bush in our backyard!  We always loved them in Colorado and see them around here a lot.  It's a blessing we have one of our own!

Emily took this at GBS.

This is the pile of leaves Rowen and Janet gathered for the city to make into compost.  Since then almost that many have come down, but the rain has kept us from raking them.

Happy Fall!