Concrete Project

The driveway and back steps are finished!!!

We had a lot of activity at our house this week. The hero and heroine of this project was Bro. Steve Gwynn and his wife, Jann.

Steve spear-headed this project and spent so many hours making it happen. Jann may look like she is supervising, but she was the transit operator, ready when needed, and a stalwart support. Actually, I even got to try my hand at the transit when Jann was absent once.

We had many wonderful friends come last Friday for the concrete pour as you can see in the photos...a very long day for Steve.

I learned a lot as an observer and recipient of this great gift. This is VERY hard work and there are many drops of sweat mingled in that concrete. We are so grateful for these brethren who came and served...laughing and joking as they did it!!

Letters From Italy

Finally! After all these years "The Book" is completed!
Following the bulk printing, I still had three double-sided pages to print at home. It took most of one day this week to finish the punching and binding. I purchased envelopes and checked at the post office for the postage costs. They should be ready to ship out later this coming week. This is Mother's "blue box" I found the old letters in.

Picking Apples with Papa

Phil went out to Pheasant's orchard to glean apples today and took Jacob with him. I love these pictures. Phil had no idea that Jacob was making faces until he saw the results on the computer. You can really see his expressions if you click on the pictures. They certainly tell a story!

How do these things come off?!!!

This long tongue was inherited from his Dad.

This apple is for my MOM!!!

Papa's Best Helper

Phil started preparing the driveway for the concrete so his "best helper" came to his aid. Grandpa got him his own shovel last winter when he helped shovel snow, so he was using that to help shovel gravel off.

Later Kay Nelson and Bill Coley showed up to help and it was just a little confusing to Jacob. He had to come in to tell me that there were two helpers out there. I said "yes, but you are his BEST helper" and that seemed to reassure him so he went back outside. The big helpers were pretty patient with him. When I took water out for everyone, he had his own little chair to rest on and his own glass of water. It was hot during that part of the day so they were all a little
sweaty.

Visiting Grammie's

Playing with trains is a favorite thing. This track he made very long and insisted it go under the footrest (tunnel).

Jacob put this one together all by himself.

This is a giant puzzle we put together. I think it was originally Amanda's.

Family from Canada

We had a wonderful visit with our nieces from Quesnel, B.C., Canada the weekend of September 27th. Amber and Susan stayed with us Saturday night, went on a day-trip to Leavenworth on Sunday, came back Sunday night and left Monday morning. They are so much fun to visit with and we hope they come back and visit again.

More Blessings

Our trip to Arizona in September was memorable in many ways. It gave us a chance to see our children at home with their families. One of the many things I felt pleased with was the Saturday schedule at Steve and Teresa's. All the children had jobs to do...some of the jobs I was surprised they could do. We've always had a lot of respect for good work ethics and it is comforting to see the parents passing it on to the next generation. It was fun to capture the "child labor" in action as seen below.

We were glad to see Rebecca accepting another job and enthusiastically jumping right in to learn it. I noticed Jeff, Starr, and Emi being willing to go the extra mile when needed. Jessica so sweetly went with Terri and I to my dear friend, Ann's, and played the viola for her. Joseph has really bonded to Grandpa and gave him some extra attention. We are so blessed.

Saturdays at Steve and Teresa's