Sleepover

Last weekend my 3 neices came to our place for a sleepover. It was a weekend of seeing lots of baby animals. Friday evening we went to Daryl and Brenda's to see their conglomeration of baby ducks, geese, chicks, and turkeys.
Matt and Sam holding a baby turkey and a duckling (I think:)

Here's the mix!

Katrina with a gosling

Looks like Sam and the gosling are getting along just fine!:)

Karissa with a gosling

Matt and a duckling? Or maybe it's a gosling?

Saturday morning my three neices and I walked about a mile down to our neighbor's pond to see the swan babies there.

It turned out the daddy swan was rasing the three babies, and he was a bit protective, as we found out.

Poor Katrina got marooned on the little island, and we had a difficult time diverting Mr. Swan's attention long enough for her to jump back to safety!

Aren't they cute?

We made one more stop at another neighbor's farm to see their kittens.

When it was time to take the girls home, we stopped along the road to see this cute little guy. He was curious but skittish, so we didn't really get a chance to pet him.

Spring in the Air

I don't get tired of the beautiful spring colors and sights (as you've probably figured out by now:). One evening I went for a walk once again, and the following pictures show some of what I saw.
Our magnolia tree

Sixty-some chicks that Dad brought home from work

What they'll look like in time:)

Pink dogwood tree at the end of our walks

Dad working in the "small" garden

Mom posing for me on the front porch:)

Tree peony near our front door

Irises near the greenhouses on the way out the lane

About 20 minutes into my walk

May apples in the woods

Look-alikes??

I'm told my neice and I look alike/have similar personalities. Can you see it here??:)

Easter Activities

No time for many captions, so here goes: Good Friday after church Karissa with Uncle Larry who is home from Michigan for the holdiay.

Mom in her new outfit.

Easter Sunday morning joyful trumpets!

Chimes (see me back there??:)

Sunday lunch at John and Sue's. The Special K's with one of John and Sue's 6 baby goats.

4 square

Caleb and Safia

Kirsten with her new camera!

Aunt Sue reading to her nieces

Dennis and Zach

Tyler and Zach photographing Josh

Phil points out the invincible candles on Dad's birthday cake

Dad quenches the candles!

Franklin Institute

On Good Friday, I went with Garry, Kirsten, and Larry to the Franklin Institute in Philly to see--among other things--the Narnia exhibit. It was a really fun day. Say hi to Ben here!:)

Garry and Larry had too much fun trying out all the hands on activities!

We all did the little boomerang things. Actually, maybe they weren't boomerangs. Little paper twirly birds that flitted about depending upon the little breezes shooting up.

Larry's navigating the Wright brothers' airplane.:)

In the parking garage we saw this sign. Talk about LOW!!:)

Spring Walk

Palm Sunday afternoon was a beautiful day, so I decided to go walking. First I visited the back yard to get a picture of this forsythia blooming away.

Then on out to Daryl's pond where he is growing some bamboo on the edges.

Speaking of Daryl, there he is, across the pond accompanied by his little pomapoo, Kaya.

That dog is simply TOO CUTE!!

She loves to retrieve sticks, stones, whatever you throw. Even if it means swimming in the pond to get it!

Well, I've just walked around an entire country block and am returning home this way. I had to get a shot or two of the neighbors' forsythias.

Looking over the the farm from the road.

Back to home and Rice Greenhouses.

Walking behind the barn up toward the old chicken house where years ago we kids gathered eggs from about 6,000 chickens twice a day.

Looking in toward the house from the chicken house.

Dad's dog Sparky. I took him for a walk after my own walk, and boy is he strong. He almost had more control than me, especially when we scared up a deer in the woods above the chicken house!

Daffodils at the edge of the house.

It was a great walk!

Of Blogs and Jobs and Trips

I haven't done any blogs in quite some time. I find that I am less motivated to run off somewhere to use the internet, thus the more sporadic postings. If you continue reading after this post, however, you will find a few new posts to help catch you up on a few events in my life.

Regarding a job, if you haven't already heard, I was laid off from Harriet Carter the end of January, went serious job hunting for two weeks, and "finally" got hired by McDonald's. I have never had a real desire to work in fast food, but I have gained a great deal of respect for those who do this job.

Multi-tasking and speed are high priorities there, and I am not strong in either aspect. Let me restock or clean or do other behind the scenes work, but do a gazillion things at the same time while keeping everyone's orders straight has not proved to be an area of gifting for me.

I am grateful that God has provided me with a source of income while at the same time hoping He has another job lined up for me before too much longer. One that capitalizes on my strengths.:) I am also grateful that my co-workers and supervisors are very patient and encouraging.

The final piece of this update regards an upcoming trip in July. I am THRILLED to have been asked to be one of two delegates from my church to go to Mennonite World Conference in Paraguay this coming July. I didn't expect to be doing any long distance traveling for a long time, but God is providing this opportunity, and I am excitedly anticipating participation in this event.

I think that about does it for now. You have all the basic news in my life. Feel free to leave comments or email me. I love hearing from you.