In which...

...we find ourselves in Wisconsin again. You see this is how it works. When one has very good friends (even though those friends are 10 1/2 hours from your current place of residence) then you -or at least I do- get quite excited every time you get a chance to go see them which in some cases it happens oftener then others. Such has been the case this past year.  With 2 of our friends getting married we found that we really couldn't not go because this is like a once in a lifetime event and how terrible to miss it!! I am fully aware that we were just up there in august & that to some it might seem like we are addicted to traveling but such is not the case. However, my siblings & I think it would be quite excellent if  we could keep up this 'seeing each other every 2 months' like we have in the very recent past..... I feel that by now some of you are starting to drop your heads in wonderment if I will ever stop writing in such boring detail about the things you really didn't come to read about..... 

 So Micah, Rhoda & I left around 1 or 1:30 and after 10 or 15 or 20 minutes decided we were still close enough to home that it was worth turning around for some important things we had forgotten.... 

we stopped along the way and picked up our sister and continued our travel the next day.  We stayed at our friends place and were at rehearsal and all which made it seem kinda like a family wedding... I don't know why. It just did.  

 

They decide where to stand....

...and practice the grand entering of the bride...

...and the giving away of the bride.... 

And afterwards we went bowling and after bowling we went to Perkins because some people were hungry and Perkins has amazing French Silk pie & a bottomless pot of coffee which sounded like a good idea...

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And then there was the wedding day. We got up and ate breakfast & drank coffee & then there was hair and fun things like that to get ready for the wedding...

         

 And than there are a few pictures of the dress for those of you who are interested....

Mary with her mom and sisters... all ready for the wedding.

and a few random pictures from the morning...

Us kids thought we should take a picture since we were all dressed up anyway and John & Lydia decided to be in the picture as well.... love them! :)

 

 I didn't have any pictures of just Chris & Mary so I 'borrowed' a couple from the photographers facebook page. I hope they don't mind - I don't think they will 'cause it's just a little free advertisement. :)

Godly friends are one of the best things ever I am quite certain. Don't underestimate them & the impact they have on your lives. That's all.

And then we played volley ball till midnight. That turned out to be fun and entertaining. :)

 After volley ball we went home to eat whatever we could find which turned out to be leftover chili for some and nearly a half bag of celery with ranch for another -healthy I tell you...and then we decided to have a little contest. There was a jar of quarters and whoever got the closest guess on the amount of money in the jar would be rewarded with $5... thus we proceed to count the quarters & I began to feel a little mentally declined due to the short hours of sleep on which I was living....

 

Sunday we went on a short walk during the time when it stopped raining and we took pictures ;)

Then it was Monday morning and Kathryn, Dorcas, Rhoda & I got up and made breakfast for everybody. It was fun even though all I did was wash dishes...  :) 

Later in the day we went on a walk.... 

I am in love with the fall colors up there! I know they weren't at their peak but they were nice and bright in contrast to the brown-ish colors we have down here.... I'm not complaining though. We do have an occasional bright colored maple tree stuck in among the oaks every now and then & that makes me happy! :)

 There's also things that I don't have pictures of .... the coffee pot consumed an entire large can of coffee grounds over the weekend and we even fed one of the dear brothers a cup of hot water to stretch our limited resources!  here's how you do it: Take a mug that is black on the inside and pour coffee in it so it has the smell you would expect. Next, pour the coffee out and insert hot water and serve it to the person of choice. In my situation the person to which I served the hot water was intently watching Andy Griffith and drank the ENTIRE cup without noticing! YAY!!!!  I guess that's what happens when you don't pay attention to what your doing. :)

The end.

The winner is.........................

...drum roll please...

Andrea!!

Congratulations Andrea! An Autumn Harvest candle will be coming your way very soon! 

I hope you enjoy it to the fullest! :)

To all you others: I apologize. I wanted you all to win but since only one name fits at the top of the list.... maybe you can try again next time!

*Note: For those of you who are wondering how she won 'cause you didn't see her comment.... a few of my friends entered on facebook 'cause blogger wasn't cooperating. Which is why you didn't see her entry.

In which I was surprised!

 So ever since my sister moved to Iowa, my other sister & I thought it would be most appreciated & out right lovely if Dorcas & some of our cousins would come see us & as time went on I was beginning to suspect that there were indeed plans & we weren't supposed to know about them which meant that they were very possibly trying to plan a surprise. I tend not to be a person that gets surprised very easily 'cause I'm always rather suspicious or as in another case once when someone was trying to surprise me, logic just told me that they would be coming- I counted the number of people that were coming & the number of seats in the vehicle & I knew there was a cousin who would find it very convenient to come along. -And she did! But that is not the story this time. 

 

The last weekend in September my sister(Rhoda) & I were working and she asked me if I would scream if I were ever surprised. "I don't know." I said. "I guess we'll have to wait and see when the time comes."  She thought that was no fun at all 'cause she knew she most definitely would scream! :)  the weekend went on & I didn't expect any one would be coming because of the days I was scheduled to work the following week but what'd you know? Sunday night we were all in the basement & the dogs started barking loudly outside & then I heard people walking upstairs & I still didn't expect anything and then they started coming down the stairs & my Dad went to look.... & obviously I was having a moment of brain-freeze 'cause when he said, "Oh. It's just you". I still didn't catch on. and then they came running & I realized who was actually here in my house & I screamed! Loudly! Which is what they were hoping for. :) (I even surprised myself here & my sister discovered indeed how I react to surprises! ;))  I discovered that mom had even arranged with my boss for me to work different days which was so happy! :) We had marvelous fun and made good use of the short time that was left until Tuesday afternoon when they were to leave.

 There are no pictures of us when we saw them which is kinda sad...

Allison/Alice & I- there are so many memories I have with this girl & her sister as well as the rest of their family.... about some things I say: what happens on the bus stays on the bus! ;) ;) haha!!:)

 Since we didn't know they were coming there was no plan of what to do so we got up in the morning & drank coffee/tea and had good conversation about dealing with pain from the past, breaking chains of bitterness & on like that until somewhere in the 11th hour...Dad came in and saw us all sitting there in our PJ's drinking coffee and thought it looked like we were getting a good start on our day! :)  We were. It was beneficial to us all. :)

We then went to town to see what we would do....

...that ended up being our favorite little cafe in Warsaw because it had been quite awhile since we were there & Chels & Allison had never been there & we were sure they were missing out! :)

 They thought it was very enchanting. Which it is.. and one of the favorite things about it is that it's all healthy! They make all their own desserts/bread/etc... and they use NO sugar. They use natural sweeteners & still the food is amazing! :)

We sat out on the awesome porch & had more good conversation. It was beautiful!

Amazing Cream Cheese Pie with Strawberries. I don't think I've even gone there with out getting this! :)

Sisters are awesome! Just sayin'... I missed all my other sisters that weren't with us.

 

  Mom made fresh doughnuts while we were gone. They were amazing! They always are.

I am normally of the belief that eating pictures are awkward. I'm not saying that this one isn't but when there are fresh doughnuts how one keep from taking a picture? ;)

Chels has a thing for Moms doughnuts. I'm not blaming her 'cause we all do. :)

 Watching 'My Fair Lady' & I decidedly say that I liked it. ;)

And we ate more doughnuts. :)

There were french pedicures to be done ...

and a fun game of dutch blitz to be played...

I have come to the conclusion once again that there is no price tag for family & friends who love the Lord.

 I am blessed.

I have also come to the conclusion that being surprised is very exciting! :)

To see more pictures & another side of the story read Chelsy's blog.

And in case you haven't yet. There's still time to enter the giveaway!

You can enter through Thursday (the 10th) & I will announce the winner on Friday.

Yay! It's a GIVEAWAY!

So to all of you, friends and relations... I am doing what I said I would a long time ago. If you have been reading my blog from the near beginning, you have probably discovered that it takes me awhile to get around to doing stuff like this. But. I am doing it. Here's the deal. I have, for the longest time been planning on doing another giveaway & for the longest time I have been trying to decide when a good time would be to do it. It just so happens that fall has come to us and the prize I plan to giveaway happens to fit very well with this time of year. As most of you know, I make soy candles and from what I have been noticing through hints from various people it seems as though everyone wants one. I really do enjoy giving people things. It's one of my favorite pastimes. But since I am unable to give EVERYONE a present I thought the fairest, most agreeable way to gift some random special person with something free would be to do this. So with no further words....
                                              ____________________________________

                              Enter to win!!

A FREE 8 oz. Hand Poured All Natural Soy candle 

in the fragrance of your choice!

(Please excuse the not-at-all professional photo. Candles are awkward things to take picture of I think.)

To enter the giveaway chose 1/one of the following fragrances and leave a comment with your name & choice of fragrance and then....wait patiently and maybe YOU could be the lucky winner!

• Vanilla Pumpkin Pie
•  Coffee Beans -This is very strong & a little bitter.-
• Apple Cobbler
• Blueberry Cobbler
• Hazelnut Coffee
• Maple & Brown Sugar
• Wildberry Zinger Tea
• Autumn Harvest
• Fresh Cinnamon Rolls
• Chocolate Mint Truffle
• Ripe Cranberries
• Sleighbells -This is awesome for Christmas-

To get an additional entry share this with your friends via facebook/blog etc. and then
 leave a comment that you did.

This giveaway is open through October 10 and the winner will be announced the following day.

The beginning of fall...and other things

 So it is. Today is the first day of fall & I love it! I don't believe I have ever heard anyone complain about the nice cooler weather and small breezes that come with this time of year especially if the summer has been  a little warmer & dryer than some of us I appreciate. I know there is good, beautiful things about every season but there's some seasons that I like better then others.   I'm just being honest here & I am sincerely happy that this season hosts my birthday! :) 

My sister Rhoda & I have been all into celebrating the season. Yesterday we baked apple and pumpkin pies before we went to work and since I have tomorrow & the next day off we decided it would be perfect to send "fall presents" to friends & relations. Some now and some at the beginning of winter... So you never know. You might be getting something now or later. :)

 I love how Rhoda brings the outside in with whatever is outside at the time. Currently there is a tall vase of chives sitting on the kitchen table.  Simplicity I tell you. :)

 And I can start making all those amazing fall scented candles that I just love! I got some new ones this year & It seems like people like to buy them. :)

_______________________

And than there are other things to write about. The certain subject of time and what we do with it that keeps running through my head and not wanting to go away.  I believe it's something good for me to think about since I find it difficult to manage my time properly on occasion a lot of the time. It goes something like this. As I look and observe my life/lifestyle and the way I spend my time I have no option but to painfully observe how much of my time is wasted. Completely. One example is that I find myself spending a lot of unnecessary time on the internet.  While the things I look at are sometimes helpful ( i.e. looking for ways to better teach music to oneself, projects to do, etc..) and useful, the effort/time put into looking for those things is wasted if I could be spending time with my family or doing something that I really need to be doing or quite honestly, spending needed, important time with God. I find myself being the most frustrated and irritable at myself and life in general when I get to the end of a busy day and find that I have just spent all my 'spare' time on internet and maybe not even read my Bible that day at all!  It's beginning to become clear to me in this way: Imagine you had a close relationship with someone. Sister, brother, friend, parent etc.. and suddenly one day you see the relationship changing VERY fast. While you're still close and know each other well the relationship just kinda stops growing. Perhaps you or the other person has become very busy or you/other person has found other things to focus on and the time spent with each other becomes basically non-existent and as a result someone is left hurt and wondering what happened to the relationship that was once there but no longer is. This mental illustration brought to my mind a much more serious thought. What if that's how Jesus feels when we suddenly "don't have time" and the time we spend reading the Bible & praying & drawing closer/learning to know Him deeper becomes basically non-existent? I don't have to look very far to realize that the relationship that was once there has become one of those "when I need you/when I am afraid" deals. On my part. Not because He became too busy with other things but because I have little by little been filling my time with things that have become "more important" to me. Jesus doesn't want a relationship that only gets noticed when life gets rough. He wants everything. That includes our time. If someone were to ask what my excuse is for spending/wasting time on things of little importance when I have not even spent time with God....I would have no answer. People read us much more then we think and they can see -much better then we wish- what is dominating our lives. I have been deeply challenged by this thought: Whatever we focus on/give ourselves to the most determines who/what is our god.  When God sees a need for something to change in the life of one of His children He makes it known and does not force then to change but the peace that comes and the glory He receives when we do is reward enough for any small thing that we may consider a "sacrifice".   I am challenged to change my habits and live every day for the Glory of God. He created us for the very purpose of bringing Glory to Himself and too often we do just the opposite and take time for the things we want to do or we chose the things that make us feel good about ourselves instead of choosing JESUS. 

In which we go to wisconsin....

In august we went to Wisconsin.  Us kids went up in February or maybe it was March but the reason/excuse this time was that some very close friends of ours were getting married and what a shame it would be to miss out on it! So we went, and cooked food for the wedding and enjoyed ourselves enormously. It was a beautiful outdoor wedding with only about 100-120 guests -I think little weddings are the way to go. Seriously people. The ones I have been at are always so much more relaxed and personal...just sayin' :)-  We discovered after we got there that there was no dishwasher and all the plates, cups, silverware etc. would have to be washed with our own hands. We began to imagine a long process & it was not such a glorious mind picture but we discovered that even the cleanup was to be fun! It's amazing how much fun washing dishes is when you're in a kitchen with 5-11 or 13 friends and everyone is helping 'happily'.... but since ya'll don't want to hear about the cleaning up I will let you look at some pictures. Cause those are always understandably much more interesting than words.

 

Here is Micah, Rhoda & I trying to entertain ourselves on the way up.

 

Jonathan & Anna - they are the main reason we went and it was a good reason too! :)

 

The mothers- Lydia & Lydia :)

 

I don't have a picture of just Anna but she was a lovely bride!

 

 I loved how happy & relaxed they were...

 

And than the reception....yes, this is the wedding I was making candles for the last time I posted...

 

 

 

It was fun to serve the bridal table cause we knew everyone and it was sorta just like serving family. And just in case you are interested...they had mountain dew for their drink. ;)

 

- the bridesmaids -

Kathryn & I

And than once we shot guns.  I even shot the AK-47 or was it 14? (something like that...I don't know my guns at all ) it was fun, but the fact that my ears filled with static reminding me of airbags so I couldn't even  hear the shot took a little of the extreme excitement out of it. (and those of you who know me well are going...Hannah? extreme excitement? weeellll....you never know. :) )

And then there are the pictures that were taken before or after we made a random trip to DQ for ice cream.

Random, I know.... :)

                                            

 And then there is Rachel, Mary, Rhoda, Lizzie, Kathryn & I...You know, I never did say that this caught us at our most photogenic best did I? :)

And that my friends is all for now. 

I hope you have an amazing rest of the week!