Moving Day!

This is what it looked like on New Year's Day, the day Grandma and Grandpa were moving.

Despite the snow, the men set to work loading furniture from the garage.

The snow on their boots made them slide a little on the metal floor!

Danny and his cousin Ryan kept the driveway swept.

A pile of boxes waiting to be loaded.

We girls helped carry boxes.

Moving upstairs furniture

Grandpa about to take out the pendulum from the grandfather clock, so it wouldn't swing around inside the clock while being moved.

We were thankful for some tall people to help take pictures from the stairwell!

And monkeys!

In spite of the snowy roads, everyone got safely to the new place. We ladies discussed with Grandma where she wanted to put everything, while trying to stay out of the way of the men unloading furniture!

I'm sure Grandma and Grandpa were thankful for some strong guys to move everything!

Thank the Lord for His help moving Grandma and Grandpa. They are getting settled in and enjoying their new house!

Getting ready to move Grandma and Grandpa

We have had many beautiful sunrises lately. Here is a picture of just one. 

Between Christmas and New Year's Day, the Lucas family was very busy getting ready for Grandma and Grandpa to move. Carrie and I went in on Tuesday before New Year's Day and helped Aunt Ruth pack everything from the china cabinet.

I also helped label boxes of books.

Meanwhile the men were doing a little remodeling of the new house. Here Dad is showing Sam how to tape up plastic before painting the ceiling.

This is what we girls found Tuesday evening when we came to clean! We did not need to clean this part of the house, thankfully! You can expect a mess with remodeling, but after all this was gotten out and the work done, everything looked great. The guys did a wonderful job.

They pulled up the old carpet and needed all the staples from the carpet padding pulled up before laying new carpet. We girls helped with that. We also swept the floors.

I was taking a walk and came running for my camera when I saw this glorious sunset!

The next post (when I get to it) will be about moving day!

Our December

These pictures are way late, I know. But I wanted to share the photos from Pennsylvania, even if they were late.

 We had a pretty quiet Christmas season, which was fine with me! It's nice sometimes not to have so much hustle and bustle. Toward the beginning of December, we girls planted various kinds of flower bulbs so they can bloom in the spring. (That is when Rose got the above picture.)We planted some in this hollow stump that Dad got from a job. Here Rose is deciding how many of each kind of bulb to plant.

I cover the bulbs.

Planting along the fence near the road. I am excited to see how it will look when the flowers come up--if we can protect them from goats, chickens and pigs!

"Bloom where you're planted!" quipped a friend of Timmy's who was staying with us, when he saw this kitty in a flower pot!

Rose and the little ones had fun taking some goofy pictures.

 Hmm. Interesting, to say the least.

End of show.

We children packed ten Action Paks to send to persecuted Christians in the Middle East. We used money taken up by the children at church toward this project.

The whole family enjoyed working on this beautiful one thousand piece puzzle of Christ's second coming. It was complicated, but we got it done on Christmas day.

I am thankful for all the good things God has given us. I am especially thankful that He sent His Son to die for our sins. I'm thankful that He is always with us and that we can have peace in Him. 

My Lord and My God

Why should  God care about us? In ourselves, we have no value. God is perfect.

He Who knew no sin became sin for us. The Lord of all came down and was hung on a tree for our sins.

Why?

The soldiers who crucified Him divided His garments, probably not realizing that they were dividing the garments of a King.

"O the Power of the Cross"

On the cross, after He knew that all things were accomplished (John 19:28), Jesus said, "It is finished!" He loved us so much that He came to earth to die that we might be saved from sin. There is no other god who did that.

The story doesn't end there! Jesus rose again. And these words He said to Mary Magdalene gave me a heartthrob of joy: "Go to my brethren and say to them 'I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God. '" (John. 20:17) Jesus' death and resurrection made God ours. We can have God as our Father because Jesus paid the price for us.

I have been overwhelmed by the realization of my worthlessness and God's great love for little me. I don't deserve His grace. I don't understand why Jesus died for me. But I know He loves me because He died for me. All I have to do is believe Him. And I can say with Thomas, "My Lord and my God!" You can too.

Tea Party

The day after Thanksgiving, the girl cousins all got together for a harvest party. Most of us wore our hair in two braids. Of course, we had to have Grandma Morley there, and she even had her hair made in two braids! You can see her braids in the picture below of Annette braiding my hair.

Twenty girl cousins.

Aunt Joella and girls did a lovely job of arranging the table for the food.

After our luncheon, we took pictures together. Here I am with my dear cousin Candace.

All four of us girls in this picture were born the same year, as well as one boy cousin. These girls have been wonderful friends to me.

with my sweet cousin Annette.

Two of my closest cousins and friends. My life has been blessed by knowing them.

Thanksgiving 2014 in Pennsylvania

This is what it looked like a couple days before Thanksgiving, but it didn't keep us from celebrating!

A pie for Thanksgiving dinner.

Aunt Joella and Uncle Craig were so gracious to allow everyone to come to their house. The decorations were charming in their simplicity.

So homey

The "Mayflower" was creative!

The girls' table

The youngest grandchild with big sister.

Natasha loves little ones, and little ones love her!

Laura and Lydia are about the same age.

After dinner, the boys had a snowball fight.

Then the cousins had game of Capture-the-Flag.

The adults made a puzzle

and played Scrabble.

Solving the world's problems :)

When it got dark, Dutch Blitz became a game of choice.

 
Singing together was the perfect way to end the day. I am thankful for the time we had together.