Hello Friends,
The summer is coming to a close but not before a rush of pure, small town, “Americana” experiences have come our way.
We start with the Canfield Fair, theoretically one of the biggest country fairs in the nation, complete with midway, rides, 4H, and blue ribbons for the best that Ohioans can produce including but not limited to honey, sunflowers, tomatoes, and silage. We went on a blazingly hot Sunday afternoon and mindlessly wandered about sampling the cheesy, bacon super fries, deep-fried cookie dough, and lemon “shakes” (a lovely cold lemonade). Our family’s favorite: the mighty percheron stallions that loved to have their noses scratched and were so huge the seemed like elephants in our eyes.
Next, our children’s new school, Sharpsville High School is rather tiny but they (like many small entities) make up for it with attitude. To start the fall sports (read: FOOTBALL) season they have a “Meet the Teams” night at the football stadium. Each team parades onto the field and each and every participant is introduced by name! The cheerleaders and band performed (This year’s drum major is a family friend, Meredith and boy, were we proud of her!) Please note: those really are flaming batons!
Labor day brings the “Labor Day Parade”. Interestingly, we have never been big parade goers, so this was pretty much only the second parade we’ve ever been to except for when PUCS marched in the Wilkinsburg parade. Sadly, Mike and Sophia missed out. Mike was performing a funeral and Sophia played her violin for the service. We had fabulous seats at the beginning of the parade, where the twirlers were still tossing batons high and the danceline had the energy to kick (We heard that by the end most of the steam had gone out of the performance from Tessa who marched with the SV marching band passing out waters.) Sam and Riah sat with me and collected candy as it was tossed from passing floats and we very much enjoyed the Shriners miniature cars doing figure eights in the road.
So we are trying to blend and for most part enjoying it. Life is still a bit unpredictable for us as we tackle big projects like installing a projection system at the church, getting the kids enrolled in school, kicking off the new season at church, planning for our new property, Sam’s college search, …
But we are also finding moments of peace and joy in the midst of the whirlwind, like taking walks in the fog after the kids are at school.
Dt. 28:1-6
If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all his commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations on earth. 2 All these blessings will come on you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God:
3 You will be blessed in the city and blessed in the country.
4 The fruit of your womb will be blessed, and the crops of your land and the young of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.
5 Your basket and your kneading trough will be blessed.
6 You will be blessed when you come in and blessed when you go out.
May we all be blessed with opportunity to be obedient.
oxNicole
p.s. If you are in the Pittsburgh area Friday 9/18/15, we are having a “Gone Already” party for our family on Rippey Street at 6:30pm. Get in touch for the details if you’d like to come. We’d love to see you.