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.