Friday, May 23, 2008

The Presbytery Meeting!

What a week this has been...what a perfectly wonderful, amazing, exhilarating, blissful week! God has been so very good to us, and has showered us with so many of His blessings! We had the privilege of visiting with friends that we rarely see and meeting new friends as well! Presbytery was a success - all seemed to go as planned. Thank You Lord!

We had a great time getting to know the Lovett, Hector and Davis families, as well as Dr. Sproul Jr. and my mom’s friend, Mrs.
Kulikauskas. They stayed at our house during the week (and the Hectors and Davis' a bit longer, which was wonderful!!!!) and we enjoyed much sweet fellowship, laughter, feasting and chatting! There were a few interesting episodes: one included a boat and a snake (and the boat was filled with a few frightened girls – plus a few others - but we won't mention that). :-)

Then on Monday night we were able to go see "Prince Caspian" (you can read my dear fathers review HERE) with our friends, which was so exciting! Thankfully, nobody choked. :-D (Inside joke) And the joy on the ride home was...ahem...joyful! *grin*

Then on Wednesday night we were able to do our official "Star-Gazing" evening. The "older" kids camped out on the lawn (the road, unfortunately didn't end up working out...too much gravel...and it didn't go over to well with the Moms who had visions of headlights...ahem.), telling stories, watching the stars, and just having a marvelous time, that is until we were awoken (due to a forecasting of rainfall that evening) and finally went inside at around 12:30. :-)


I couldn't recapture the joy that this week has filled me with if I had hundreds of pages to write on, but I can tell you this: God is so good...so very good.
Thank you, everyone that came, for taking the time to be with us. It was a wonderful week! God bless all, and please enjoy the photos!


In Christ Alone,

Jessica

You can view the nearly complete photo albums here:

Presbytery Meeting



Davis Family Visit



P.S. You can see more photos from Presbytery on the following blogs (if anyone knows of more, please let me know!):






Some of the young ladies at Church huddled together for a group photo!

I love Tiff's and Jared's faces in this picture. TOO funny! :-D Anyhoo, they're serving food during the Friday night dinner. It was delicious, y'all!

William and Brown Sugar...attempting to dance? They were too cute! :-)



This picture makes me laugh. Us girls were posing for a photo and at the moment Tiff was getting the picture Mr. Ryken walked in front of the camera, so we made him get into the photo with us! :-D
L-R: Elissa, Melinda, Me and Red. And then Mr. Ryken, of course. :-)

Group Shot at Church. (Got to love the modern art behind us...er...not. :-D)


The adults enjoy dinner at the Sanford's house.


Guess who's hands are who's!! :-) I'll give you a clue! Here's who's hands are in the photo: Melissa, Caleb, Goose, Daisy and I. (This is after an entire afternoon of gardening, by the way.)


Lil' Cowboy, William, and Brown Sugar enjoying one another's company!


Tiff took the kids on a ride down the gravel road on the John Deere!


Melissa and Red...I think they're getting ready to go somewhere...not positive about that, though. :)


Melissa, Red and Tiff around the kitchen sink.



This Chicken coop in the making is being used as a play pen, it appears. Or something to that affect, anyway. :-D Brown Sugar and William enjoyed dancing around in it. :-D

Dad and Goose working on the Chicken Coop.


The Davis and McDonald kids.


Some of our group at the Arlee Theater, where we went to go see "Prince Caspian"


All of our group at the Arlee...well, except the photographer (Tiff) anyway. :)


Well, I would call this "Raising the garden tools in our garden" (or Iwo Jima) but I'm not too sure... If you had been working as hard as we were, you'd understand. :-D


The gardeners. :-) Caleb, Mel, Myself and Goose.


Everybody listens as Ashton picks up our phone when it rings and tells Melinda that he's Tom Cruise. I don't think she's convinced. :-)


Dr. Sproul Jr. tells the little one's a story on Sunday Morning before Church. You should've seen them, they were captivated!


Why did I put this photo up? Let me tell you. Just look at it for a long moment...see something out of place? That's right. A girl from the 1800's on a...cell phone??!! :-D My thought's exactly.


The Hector, Davis, McDonald and Pickle kids.


Mel and Red sing on the way to the Arlee Theater.


So Elissa and I both found this neat Knight in not-so-shining-armor and fought over him. It appears he didn't want to be either of our knight. He ignored us the whole time. :( He even let me hang on his arm and didn't even say a word. Talk about rude. :-)


We were shocked at the surprising resemblance between Jonathan Lovett and William. Aren't they cute?? Long lost twins?? :-D


William and Brown Sugar taking a breath of fresh air.


Anthony Hector and Joy P. watch the boats on the lake.


"Us" on the boat! We had way too much fun!


Tiff..."waiting' for my deary...!" :-)


Mr. and Mrs. Ryken at the baseball game with their adorable baby, Sara!


Melissa and William. And I was going to say something about the...person behind her, but I shall refrain from doing so. :-)


I know. That's what I was thinking too. No comment.:-)
(by the way, that's Jeremy, Jared and Garrison personified. Oh and the dog too.)


Mr. Price amongst the dancers. :-)


Red and Ben dancing!


Dr. Sproul Jr. and William at the baseball game!


Elissa and I see each other for the first time in 2 years at the baseball game!!!



Dad and William!!


A portion of the Sanford family watching the game!


Watching the game....will the Peoria chiefs win?? Um. No. :(


Kenan and Kaliste Lovett chatting with Amy P.


Mrs. Lovett and Hannah.


Mr. Riggenbach, Amy Patterson, Lily Riggenbach and Mel! :-)

Some of "the guys" talking.


Some more of "the guys" playing a game of football, I believe.

11 comments:

Elissa said...

GREAT pics Jess!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks alot for posting that pic of me on the cellphone! (NOT!) but I guess that's what I get for posting some of the pics I did huh? :D
WOW, I'm so proud of you Jess, gardening AND sleeping outside!?!?!? lol :P
It was SOOO wonderful to see you again!!!!!!!!!!!

Lots o' Love!!!!!

Suzanne Elizabeth said...

Looks like you all had lots of fun. :D
And yes, God is good. But not only when things are good. Even when things are bad.

Anna Joy said...

YOU GOT SOME GREAT PICTURES JESS....LOVE YA LOTS

Joy said...

Hi!
It was great to see you again! It's amazing how long it's been since you came to CT!!!
I have a question... could you please take our last name off of this post? Sorry to have to ask, but my parents don't like to have our last name on the internet.
Thanks!
So did you like Prince Caspian?
I had lots of fun in IL! It was great to meet so many 'like-minded' people!
Well, have a good day! Hopefully we can see y'all again soon!
Joy

Ashton said...

I'm debating whether or not to leave a comment after your woeful lament yesterday...

...

wait a minute...

hehe

Jessica McDonald said...

Elissa, Awww, I think the photo is cute! :-D
And, I know! Wasn't I so brave? :-D lol! And what's more, I actually LOVED it! I never thought I'd like sleeping outside, but I guess that just shows you should try something before you say you don't like it! *grin* Miss and love you tons...

Suzanne, we did! And you are absolutely right!!!

Anna, thanks! So sorry that I didn't get to talk to you! But hopefully our paths will cross again sometime soon!! Love you!

Joy, of course I can! Sorry about that!
I really enjoyed "Prince Caspian". As has been said by tons of people, it didn't follow the book to the T, but it was enjoyable anyhow. :-) Have y'all seen it yet?
God bless! Hugs to you and yours!

Ashton, that's funny, because I opened up this web browser and my first thought was, 'I wonder if I should post a comment on Ashton's blog..?' ROFLOL! Bravo! It appears you have beaten me to it! LOL!

In Christ Alone, Jessica

Anonymous said...

You said to let you know if there were any more blogs with photos, so here is our blog address:
http://yenfamily.blogspot.com

It was really nice meeting you and we had a GREAT time!

Jessica McDonald said...

Tara, thank you so much! I'll put the link up right away! It was wonderful to meet you as well!! I hope y'all will be going to TN next year for the next Presbytery Meeting?

Love, Jessica

Anonymous said...

I sure hope we will come to TN next year! However, we will most likely be at Liberty Day and maybe the Reformation Day Fair, so I will look forward to seeing you there!

Sierra said...

Hey Jess! I'm already missing you, when will you be back? Thursday? Sunday was quite dull without y'all, everyone was sitting at the the table basically just staring at each other! :) So anyway, can't wait to see you this Sunday! :) Love ya!

Jessica McDonald said...

Tara, sounds marvelous!! Until then!

Sierra, I miss you as well!! I can't wait to see y'all on Sunday!!! *claps hands excitedly* Love you too!!

Love, Jessica