"Oh Happy Day"

Some of you may be aware of a play we went to several years ago entitled "Oh Happy Day". We were on a romantic getaway to Lake Junaluska, NC. We like to explore a new area for fun opportunities. We discovered a community theater and they were doing a show called "Oh Happy Day". We couldn't tell what it was about but thought with a title like that it had to be fun, maybe a 50s style show. The only thing I will say about the play is it was not a "happy day" for us in the audience. It was the most depressing, boring, utterly ridiculous thing we had ever seen, about a husband and wife who felt like they were stuck in their lives (and they were literally stuck in something like a gopher hole, all you could see was their top halves sticking out of a huge gopher hole). After everything they would "complain" about they would sorrowfully say "Oh Happy Day". I hope you get the picture.

Our day today was nothing like the play I just spoke about, but like the old hymn...

Oh Happy Day, Oh Happy Day

When Jesus washed my sins away

Oh Happy Day

He taught me how to watch and pray

and live rejoicing everyday

Oh Happy Day

When Jesus washed my sins away!

We started our day early with time on our deck....

It was a beautiful, cool morning and the "view from here" was delightful. Hummingbirds and a Grandpa and granddaughter fishing. We set tea out in the sun to brew and headed out...

Every August we always have a church picnic and baptisms at Naylor's Beach. Admittedly, I am not always very thrilled with going. Today, though, my heart was "happy". It was a beautiful day, and I was with my husband and best friend, David.

A glorious sky and a glorious day for baptisms! Nine people were being baptized today, all new believers in the past year!

"To show my eternal devotion to Jesus Christ", "Because Jesus loves me and I want to show my love for Him", "Because I want to have the Holy Spirit fill my body and my heart", "I want live a life of faith in Jesus" were some of the testimonies shared before each person was baptized.

Oh Happy Day!

Hanover Tomatoes and Friends

People in Hanover County and places nearby claim that Hanover County tomatoes are the BEST in the country. Apparently it is the soil. They may be but I remember years ago (18 or so) I grew tomatoes on our farm in Kansas and I thought they were wonderful. I really can't say if Hanover tomatoes are better than Kansas tomatoes but I certainly can say with confidence that I had the best time canning tomatoes tonight. I was invited to be participate in a family tradition of canning tomatoes at my friend Christy's home. Christy's sister, mom, grandmother, aunt and husband were all involved. Christy's 3 year old daughter even cut a couple of tomatoes. (With a safe knife, of course.) They have been doing this for many years and have a great system and I was able to fit in quite nicely. Living so far away from my sister and mom, I don't have the opportunity for this sort of family tradition. It was a blessing to be "a part" of this family's tradition. We peeled, cut up and cooked enough tomatoes for about 40 quarts. I know we will enjoy these tomatoes not because they are Hanover but because they are fruit of great love and friendship.

OUTRIGGER ISLAND!

I wanted to show you what David and I are doing this week...

Our Vacation Bible School is "Outrigger Island". The sanctuary looks awesome, so much better than these photos reflect but you can get a good idea. We were really blessed to have several other churches loan or donate their leftovers from their VBS and we had some great people spend several hours organizing and decorating. The next two pictures are of the "HUA HUT"! (We made up the name. Hua is Hawaiian for Word.) David and I taught three classes each evening to 3rd - 6th graders. We totally decorated our room on Saturday. We felt really good with the results.
We used the beach towels for games and sitting areas. Here we were using them to play "Musical Outrigger Island" (yeah, like musical chairs. We made it up. Clever) The towels represented islands and the kids had to paddle around the islands while the music played...I'm sure you get the picture.

We used a variety of methods to tell the stories, teach Bible truths and memory verses. David even did a "Pat and Brett" style story to retell the story of the Moses, the plagues and the Red Sea.

David and I have discovered we are a really good teaching team.

A few times in each class we took a "Surf Break". You just can't be in the islands and not surf! The kids loved it! We would surf, hula and beach dance to great surfing music!

more "Musical Outrigger Island"...

ALOHA!

Daughters

I have two wonderful sons, Patrick and Brett. I have really enjoyed being their mom and have a special place in my heart for boys. I can get a little defensive when people stereotype boys and sometimes feel boys are are viewed a little like second class citizens compared to girls. There are a lot of things that my sons do that make me feel very special. Their hugs are about the most wonderful moments in my life. Admittedly, I have always wanted a girl and always felt David would have been the perfect dad to a daughter. (By the way, I think he was the perfect Dad to our sons.) You might be wondering by now if I made a mistake in the title of this post, Daughters. I didn't. Patrick and Brett have blessed us with the most amazing women that we have the honor to call daughters. Patrick's wife, Jana, and Brett's wife Jes, have become a very special part of our family. Not only do they "complete" our boys but they "complete" our family. We have gotten to spend some really special time this summer with Jana and Jes. They are both so sweet and we really feel their love and respect for us. I have gotten to do some girl things like baking a cherry pie from scratch with Jes and making a collage for Hannah's birthday with Jana. I really felt honored that they wanted to spend time with me. I am looking forward to years of girl activities with my "daughters".

Obviously we are not baking a cherry pie but a sweet moment none the less!

Thanks for stopping by,

Hannah's Birthday Adventure

I have recently discovered how to make slide shows with music. I have made two slide shows. One is Hannah's first year of life. I made it for Patrick and Jana's birthdays (Aug. 4 and July 26, respectively). I also made one of the trip we took to the Children's Museum of Richmond for Hannah's Birthday (July 31). I hope you enjoy! Click on link to view.
http://www.onetruemedia.com/my_shared?z=2e03fc55f2dd1b2d7d99d8&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

Special People, Special Times

We had a wonderful week last week with our granddaughter, Hannah! We think she is totally amazing. Everything she says and does completely captures our attention and hearts. We are madly in love with this beautiful child and can hardly believe we get to share her life!

Jana's birthday was July 26th and the balloon and fruit arrangement were from Grandma Jan. It had fresh strawberries, pineapple, kiwi and mango. Delicious!

We were so glad that Grandma Jan, Hannah's "Great" Grandma was able to be with us too. She had so much fun playing with Hannah, helping her put on shoes and making sure Hannah had sunglasses like her!

One of the highlights of our week was celebrating Hannah's first birthday. We made a lemon cake, and Jana let Hannah have a couple of bites. I am sure that is the first sugar and white flour she has ever had! Hannah wasn't very impressed, she definately prefers fresh fruits and veggies, whole grain bread, oatmeal, and plain yogurt.

We took Hannah to the Children's Museum of Richmond. She enjoyed wandering everywhere and exploring everything and we had a great time chasing her around. She particularily enjoyed the cars. She would climb in and move the steering wheel like she was driving. She even made noise while driving. Is she amazing or what? She enjoyed crawling through tunnels and the archeology dig areas filled with a sand like substance made out of rubber where she kept picking up handfuls and pouring them out. Her favorite thing was the water area. A large water table inside and a sprinkler area outside.

Needless to say, David and I were having a great time too.

To top off this already great week, Brett and Jes came for the weekend. They brought their little "girl" Cali. She and Hannah got along great!

Special friends, Christy and Lauren wish Hannah HappyBirthday"!

We missed Patrick very much. He was in Oshkosh, Wisconsin working at a huge air show. I think he missed us, too!

Praise God from whom all blessings flow! Family and friends bring such joy. Thank you for sharing in our lives!

David and Des