Our Week...

What a week! I'm not sure where to start, so hopefully I get this all right. :)

On Wendsday of last week, Dad, Mom, Melissa and William left for California, early in the morning. The Rigenbach family came to stay with us, and we had a wonderful time with them.
We had a lovely time making enchiladas, chatting, watching movies, and laughing (of course!). It's SO nice to spend time with kindred spirits, and the Riggenbach's are certainly that! :D

On Sunday, we all wore white Regency or Edwardian gowns to church and afterward stopped at Hancocks. The "strange" looks that we were given for our "strange" dresses didn't bother us at all, in fact it just amused us! :D After that we went to a graduation party for some relatives of the Rigenbach's and after that we made our way home. Really, dressing in what people think are "strange" styles is kind of fun... lol. Being different is AWESOME! :D lol.

I can't remember what night it was, but we decided that the Riggenbach's NEEDED to see "The Village," so we popped it into the DVD player and all sat down to enjoy a tense and serious movie, for once. :) Well, problem. We were all in a very goofy mood and, well...it wasn't very easy to keep a straight face through the movie. (Though Lily and I both jumped a foot in the air when "those we don't speak of" walked by. yikes. lol.) We laughed hysterically through the whole thing...even though the other few times I've watched it, it scared me to death. It's such a good movie though, so watch it if you're not extra-hyper. :D lol.

Anyway, so it was a very exciting week (romantic, anyway.). The rest of the family arrived from California this afternoon and it was so wonderful to see them again! Though, everyone was a little disappointed that they didn't bring the camera, and therefore we have no photos of all the places and people that they've seen and met. *sigh* But apparently they had a good time.

I'm going to post photos....someday. Not that I have photos of anything in particular, but, you know, photos are always so much fun. And what would a blog be without pictures?

So I'd better go. TTYL.

~jessica

Avalon - You Were There

This song makes me want to cry! Check it out.

~jessica

Mother's Day

Mother's Day...

A day to rejoice in the amazing mother that God has blessed us each with!

"Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall be praised.
Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates."

- Proverbs 31:28-31

Mom, you're appreciated and loved. Happy Mother's Day!

A Tribute to Old Fashion Girls

Old Fashioned Gentlemen

I know that this has been posted a bunch, but I think it deserves to be posted again. :) I love both of these videos. Lovely, absolutely lovely!

jessica

Alive and Well

Contrary to popular belief, I am still alive and breathing. Thankfully, William killed the dragon that attacked me, and Caleb killed the evil wizard, so I am not harmed. Though my two little brothers are a little roughed up. But they're doing well. And so am I, for that matter.
What I mean to say is I'm sorry that this has taken so long, but Summer, as some of you might know, is a very busy time for us and I don't get to the computer as much.

ANYWAY, last night Dad, Tiff, Melissa, Caleb, Abby, Grace and I made our way to a retirment home with a few families from our church- The Price, Evans, Candler, Sanford, Peiffer, and Creath families. We sang a bunch of hymns and psalms and had a few special music presentations-

The Sanfords sang an upbeat version of "Amazing Grace"
The Evans's recited scripture
Some of us girls from church sang an arrangment of "Holy, Holy, Holy"
Tiff, Anna Price and I did a Piano/Viola/Violin ensemble of "Psalm 22c" and "Praise to the Lord the Almighty"
Sierra and Anna Pittenger sang a duet of "Lamb of God" by Twila Paris
John and Whitney Creath did a Violin/Harp duet of "And Can It Be"

Everyone did wonderful and everything went smoothly. I pray we were able to show God's love to the people at Pekin Retirement home!
Afterwards, the Price's treated everyone to Ice Cream cones at McDonalds...which was fun and gave us a little bit more time, to laugh, fellowship and plan for next time! :)

As you probably know, we returned safely back from our trip to Canada. We were able to visit Dundurn castle and Battle Museum (the war of 1812... one of my favorite eras!) while we were there which was spectacular!! Tiff got some photos so I'll post those soon.

We've been gardening and landscaping the past few days, which has been fun. The yard is really improving and we're very pleased with the outcome. Though, the little gnat-type bugs are really getting on my nerves, so we all stink of bug repellant...if you cared to know. :D btw, it doesn't work, either. So we put on that disgusting repellent for nothing. go figure. :) So, here I am now. Now I'll go attach all those photos.

jessica nicole

William Alexander (taken by Myself)

Us girls singing "Holy, Holy,Holy" (the following photos were taken by Dad.)

The Evans's reciting scripture.

John and Whitney playing "And Can It Be"

The Sanfords singing "Amazing Grace"

Caleb dressed up at the Battle Museum in Canada.

Doesn't he look so awesome? (taken by Tiff)

Doesn't Caleb's hat look like Hornblower's (below)? We kind of wished the museum had blue coats...but....

he ended up looking like him (below) instead.oh well. he's kind of cool too. :)

(and you wonder what my favorite movie is!)

Emma with her speaker ribbon in Canada. :D (take by Tiff)

Emma and William got a bit exhausted walking from the hotel to the convention center. So they rode. :) (taken by Tiff.)

William admiring his John Deere. :) (photo by me, again.:D)

Inside Dundurn Castle...the parlor (or sitting room.)(the dundurn castle photos were all taken by Tiff.)

If you've seen Anne of Avonlea (#2) then you might recognize this room as Captain Harris' study when Anne comes to ask if his daughter can be in the Mary Queen of Scots play. We were excited to find out that that part of the movie was in the above room...at Dundurn castle!

The beautiful entryway!

Our new dining room table...lol...we wish. Isn't the dining room lovely?

The front of Dundurn Castle.