Mountain Musings

Attending The Chief End of Man Conference ~ Ridgecrest, NC

We left Georgia last week reluctantly, knowing that it would be awhile before seeing the grandchildren again.

But we weren't headed home! More adventures ahead!

We traveled to Asheville where the annual family bible conference is held that we attend. This year's theme was The Chief End of Man.

Here's a view of the main meeting room where all the keynotes and singing took place. This photo was taken during one of the breaks between sessions (credit: C F). The attendance this year was almost double that of last year's, and there were lots of first-time attendees: 
One major highlight of the conference was getting to see our daughter, Hannah! She and her husband Christopher traveled to the conference from their home in Michigan. It was wonderful to catch up! So this momma was able to see both daughters in the same week!

Here's Hannah reuniting with two ladies from our church who were at the conference:

In the dining room there are lots of chances to connect with other folks attending--you can take your chances on who you'll sit with or make a date to meet them there.

Here are friends from SC whom we always see at the conference. It was great to eat with them and enjoy their company!

The Michigan contingent below:

We met this newly married couple for the first time and thoroughly enjoyed the conversation! We invited them to come visit us in Virginia this summer...won't that be fun if they can come?!

This Oklahoma couple has been coming a few years, and we usually see them each conference...we enjoyed a brief hello with them between sessions and loved seeing their granddaughters' pictures on their phone (we Grannies always have time for that!):

Another dining room shot...the meal we were able to grab with Hannah and Christopher!

Hymn sing in the amphitheater one evening (photo credit G F):

Our Spring 100 (family/extended family) walking group met for a short walk and a photo while we were all together at the conference (photo credit S S):

Hannah wanted a photo of "just us" while we were there also:

The conference was an excellent time for Hannah to see her friends from church here in Virginia. Here, she's enjoying some time spent with these three sisters:

Next year's conference will be held the end of April, 2024, with a theme of Making Disciples. Will we see you there?

(Credit: G F)

~ Deb

Visiting Georgia Grandchildren and Strawberry Picking!

Last week we took a jaunt down south to visit our newest 6-week-old grandson. What a special blessing to hold him for the first time!

Can you say Grandparent Heaven? It was great!

Grampa gets his turn holding the new addition to the family:

Everyone knows that Uncle Jonathan is always a favorite with all the kids!

He loves it!

The weather in Georgia was perfect for taking the kids to pick strawberries, and the fields were almost empty on a week day.

Sarah had been wanting to go....so this was the perfect opportunity to venture out with family in town! Looking at this crew...and knowing this crew...haha...I think the extra help came in handy.

This is a precious picture to me! Andrew just turned 7 years old, and he is doing great after a rough start in life!

I went down memory lane this morning and was looking at some baby pictures of him. Here's an old post of our visit to see him when he first came home from the hospital.

Andrew's life is a testimony of how the Lord works through prayers of believers...many of you had a part in that. Thank you!

 

The strawberry farm had several activities for the kids. Here's the popular strawberry photo display:

And, of course, strawberry ice cream!

It was a super visit, and we enjoyed our time with the grandchildren. It had been a long time since our Thanksgiving visit! Y'all come to see us here in Virginia, kiddies!

 

Next post:  Leaving Georgia, headed for the Church and Family Life Conference (formerly NCFIC) in Asheville, NC.

 

~Deb

Relaxing Times Ahead!

Last week Tom and I traveled to South Carolina to visit my sister, Betty, and we attended her Retirement Dinner.

She has been at Bob Jones University since she went there as a student in 1974...and then employed there for 44 years! At the end of this school year in May, she will be officially retired!

We met at The Peddler Steak House for a delicious meal, speeches, gifts, and much honoring of Betty by her fellow teachers. It was a great evening!

Sisters Deb and Bet....everyone always asks, and yes, I'm 4 years older.

It was especially good to reconnect with some long time friends who attended...whom our kids, throughout their growing up years, affectionately called Uncle Jess and Aunt Rhonda:

Betty's main gift from her fellow teachers was an art piece done by the calligraphy teacher who taught her how to letter and get started many, many years ago. I know she will treasure this scripture lettering as a remembrance of this special evening and of her years at BJU:

Well, the dinner only filled an evening of our time while we were visiting. We also shopped and helped her pick out a new living room rug and brainstormed on how to completely transform her living room. Switch-a-roo! It was exactly what she had envisioned.

Tom treated us to a well-deserved lunch outing after Bet's rug purchase success. I always enjoy trying new places!

And, of course, we visited with Oliver...her miniature schnauzer:

Home again! It was a great trip! We enjoyed it a lot and look forward to going back and visiting again...now that my sister is retired with all the free time in the world! :)

~Deb

Empty Nester's DayBook

Well, several blog readers have contacted me--February, March, and April--wondering if we're okay, since the last time I posted was in January!

Yes, we are still kicking and doing as well as two old empty nesters can do! Not a lot of exciting activity around here to post about, to be honest. Things change and activities quiet down once the kids are gone.

So I thought I would start with current events and work my way back to get you up to date.

I've been slowly heading out to the garden since it won't be long before our last frost date of May 15th is here, and it's up to me to plant our garden this year.

Most of the garden veggies, in years past, Hannah and I either ate fresh, or she froze and canned. I will plant less variety and much less quantity, mostly for immediate consumption. The guys around here aren't big veggie eaters to help use it up.

Here's the picket fence garden in early spring....with cardboard covering the beds to prevent weeds. It's overwhelming all the cleanup that needs doing just to get going. But whenever Hannah comes to visit, I want it to look as good as when she was here taking care of it! Big task!

Also this month Jonathan recently hosted his first guests, other than immediate family, in his new home.

He is enjoying his home tremendously and hopes to have more guests come to visit in the coming weeks:

Tom is continuing to help furnish Jonathan's home by building a laundry room cabinet. It's now almost ready for staining and then installing. Then next on the list....a queen-sized bed:

I brought these award-winning cream cheese cupcakes to church last week. It's an old time recipe that my Aunt Bunny used to make and bring for Christmas every year. Let me know if you'd like the recipe:

 

 

Moving backward to the month of March...it was an exciting month!!  Our 8th grandchild (and 7th grandson!) was born. We haven't seen him in person yet but hope to in May! Congratulations to Sarah, Eric, and the excited brothers and sister!

Here they are, eagerly awaiting their new baby brother's appearance!

I stayed busy making a green quilt to send to Sarah as a special gift for her before she had the baby. Her favorite color is green, and she loves to decorate for all seasons. I focused on green clovers for this quilt.

Snowbird Quilts over in West Virginia quilted this for me...you can see more up-close photos of the process on her instagram here. Here it is shown thrown over my bed before mailing:

Being spring....as in past years...the Spring 100 Walking Challenge began for our family on the first day of spring. However, the main organizer of the annual online event is taking a year off for 2023 as it was becoming quite the task with organization and expense with over 3,000 walkers across the country and world participating.

So our daughter Sarah's mother-in-law organized a Spring 100 just for their family, our family, and the extended married in-laws. 

I hope others across the country will take it upon themselves to challenge their families and friends for their own Spring 100.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's Tom participating on the treadmill while he has his morning quiet time:

And below is Hannah, in faraway cold Michigan, walking around her property there:

National Quilting Day also took place in March, so I celebrated by making a small wall hanging for my friend, Chris. 

She had commissioned Tom to make her a small quilt hanger, so I thought she needed a small surprise quilt to go on it when we gave it to her.

 

 

Here's the wall hanging that I made ..a new pattern called Flower Shoppe by Sherri McConnell. Tom has it attached inside the just finished quilt hanger he made.

Snowbird Quilts did a fabulous Rush Job of quilting it so I could get it to Chris when we met up in Richmond as she was passing through on a trip. Scroll through all Snowbird's photos on Instagram of this quilt, and you can see the quilting pattern Nectar up close.

We were so excited about the chance to meet up unexpectedly that we totally forgot to get a picture of her opening the quilt!  But here's a photo she sent me after she returned home and the perfect spot on her sun room wall she had picked out for it. Nice!

And here I am in my sewing room resting from my sewing labors:

  So we've made our way back to February....I worked on a couple of quilting projects this month but I can't post until they're gifted.

Newlyweds Hannah and Christopher are well...a lot of you have asked me how they are doing. I think married life suits them both! Just a quick picture of them celebrating six months of marriage in February. We are looking forward to seeing them in person again:

The last subject on this very long post is to document a visit from our long-time friends from Massachusetts who stopped by on their way to Florida in February.

We took them to Lexington and toured Washington & Lee University and also VMI Museum. The grounds were beautifully landscaped and it was a perfectly beautiful warm day for our excursion:

The campus:

Leaving Virginia and on their way to Florida:

I think that should catch you up on all the happenings, or lack thereof, around Mountain Musings since January. Let us know if you're still out there, faithful ones!

We wanted to wish you all a very Happy Resurrection weekend! He Arose!

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”  ~ John 11:25-26

 

~Deb

 

Work in Progress ~ Finally Completed!

The month of January so far has not turned out to be a very productive month.

Unfortunately, the plans for organizing my sewing room and getting a zillion things in order all over the house.....has been postponed a bit.

I am finally coming out of a long 3-week cold virus that had both me and Tom down for the count!

Today I actually felt like sitting at the sewing machine, and it felt good!

I leisurely started sewing binding on a quilt, clipped it in place, and started the satisfying work of hand-stitching around the quilt.

It's quite embarrassing how long this quilt has been in limbo. My quilting buddy, Chris, and I each started sewing this row by row quilt together in 2015...8 years y'all!

Here's evidence from the label I sewed on the back and stitched when I finished the top. I called it "Sewing in Snow" because we sewed in the snowy winter when there was no gardening to do...she in her cozy home and I in mine...comparing notes as we sewed each row.

And here's the whole label below, which I sent to the long arm quilter to quilt onto the back of the quilt. I normally add just a small label with my name and date once the quilt is returned to me. This label was a big honker!

I think the reason the completion has been so long in coming was once we completed our quilts in 2015, my top sat folded on my shelf for years waiting until I could find a long arm quilter to quilt it.

Once I did find someone, the quilting was completed, and it was ready for me to pick up. Then the quilt sat yet again for a couple of years waiting for me to do just what I did today...bind it!

Here's the quilt laid out on our queen bed for display...it's really for a twin or double bed size:

And kudos to my friend, Chris, who, to her credit, had her quilt finished and on her guest room bed when I visited her several years ago. You can see why this is embarrassing on my end!

But...as of today 2023 my Work in Progress from 2015 is now complete. Quilt's in the washer and now dried, fluffed, and ready for use!

Today's binding and seeing the quilt finished definitely brought back some good memories!

Looking to start a new project next week!

~Deb