Cookies at Grandma's...

The kids went to Grandma's one evening in December and they decided to make some gingerbread people.  A whole family full.  OUR FAMILY, as a matter of fact.

Can't help but love this SWEET family!!!!

Advent...

 Lighting a candle...

 Sitting in the quietness of the evening...

 Looking around the table at the ones I hold closest...

 Listening as Daddy shares the miraculous story...again...never too many times.



Jared's November Birthday...

 Jared loves all things "Cars."

 So, for his 9th birthday, his day was all about cars! 

 He spent his WHOLE day watching "Cars" and "Cars 2." 

Well....except for the part of the day he stopped long enough to eat cake and ice cream!  Happy Birthday my sweet sweet boy.

The Last Day of our Trip...

On our way home from NYC, we decided to take a detour through Amish country.  We took a quick jaunt through some of the Ohio area farms several months ago, but hadn't been in Pennsylvania since John Wesley was a tiny baby.  We went then with Mom and Dad when we were on our way to New York.  This time, we found the same restaurant where we ate 16 years ago.

 Ham loaf, chicken, freshly-made sausage, and all the fixins one would expect at an Amish meal.

 This quilt caught my eye.  For a mere $1,000.00 it could've been mine. 

 If our family were Amish, this is the buggy we'd have to have. 

 We found Thomas meandering along the Strassburg Railroad. 

We had ridden the Strassburg RR when we went with Mom & Dad, so it was neat to see it again and get these pictures of Thomas to bring home to Jared.

The thing I most love to do when we go to Amish country is to just drive around and see the sights and take in all the beauty and simplicity.

 Scooters.

 Gorgeous farms.

 A slow buggy ride.

 A really long clothesline.

Girls day out, Amish style. 

 Farm work.

 And more farm work.

 Sweeping green fields, dotted with beautiful farms.

 More farm work.

New York City: Day 2, Part 2

 The second part of our city tour was on this boat. 

 We sailed under the Brooklyn Bridge,

 took in numerous views of the beautiful NYC skyline,

 heard lots of stories about the city and its buildings,

 and learned many interesting historical tidbits.

 We saw the Staten Island Ferry and the Statue of Liberty.

 Then we disembarked, re-boarded the tour bus, and headed to Wall Street.

 In the photo below, you can see the baricades set up for the Occupy Wall Street protestors.

 Here is Harold in front of one of the entrances to Trinity Church.

Then we headed to Ground Zero.  The center of the photo (between the two outside tallest buildings) is where the Twin Towers stood.  It was pretty intense to stand there and imagine what took place on 9/11.

 That was the end of the tour.  We headed back to our hotel via the subway.

 There is incredible talent among the people who perform on the streets and in the subways.  This man was playing an awesome drum solo on 5 gallon buckets!  He had quite a crowd (most of the crowd was to the right of this picture) and I loved that there were about 3 or 4 people, like the man below, who randomly stepped out of the audience to dance along to the beat--their own little impromptu performance. 

I love my country life, but I can really see myself living in the city--or at least spending lots of time there if my life were different.  I always thought I would live in NYC one day.  Who knows?  It is a far cry from my little house here in the woods!