On peppers, hundreth birthdays, and apples by the van-load...

First, I have a picture to share of two twirly peppers that I found while freezing our pepper harvest the other evening... My dad said they looked like earrings to him. :)
This afternoon, we all went to SD for a birthday party in honor of Mary F.'s 100th birthday (celebrated a couple months early, due to there being nicer weather for people to travel in at this time of the year.)

The celebration was held in the Eureka Church of God, Seventh Day and there was such a nice time of singing and story sharing! In the picture below, Mary is getting ready to sing a hymn with two other members of the church. Although Mary's eyesight is nearly gone, that doesn't slow her down much! She memorizes the words to songs so as to be able to sing them with others...

Her life is a true testimony of what a Godly woman should be like. She and her now late husband were never able to have children, but she has many, many relatives and friends who love her as part of their own family. The Pastor below had many warm memories to share about Mary...

Hugs from Nieces...

After a short sermon and some singing, there was a 10 minute break for people to stretch their legs and visit some. I couldn't resist snapping this picture of Pastor Kyner and Terry S. having a good conversation--obviously...

Once everyone filled the church pews once more (literally filled them!), there was about 2 hours worth of singing! I think my favorite part of the whole program was when the MC (who happened to be one of mothers' former voice teachers) threw together a choir... AMAZING!!! He just asked anyone who wanted to, (my mom and Andrew went up) to come up and bring their hymnal along. He grouped them together (Sopranos, Altos, Tenors, and Bass) and then they all sang while he directed and it sounded great--considering it was their first time singing through the song! I'm working on up-loading the video I taped of them singing and hope to post it soon. The video quality is not the best, but will give you an idea of what they sounded like. :)

My family sang "Come Unto Me" together and then Mother sang "Find Us Faithful"--to the delight of her former voice teacher, and many others as well.

Around 5:00, we headed over to Grandpa's old place (where the auction sale was held a couple months ago) to pick apples. Grandpa always begs us to take them each year, and we're always very willing to oblige, as those apples are the delicious-est apples we've tasted!

Did you know that picking up apples can be great exercise?

"Bend, lift, straighten, bend, lift, straighten:"

Mother in the backyard of her childhood home...

Mom invited some of our Alfred church friends (who were at Mary's party also) to come over and help pick and take home some apples too. Terry and Cathy took her up on her offer and we had fun picking up apples together and holding up blankets under the trees while Andrew shook the branches, so the apples would have a softer landing and hopefully not bruise so much. We were very glad they came and took apples, as I don't think we'd have had room enough in our van for all the apples and ourselves! There were literally boxes and bags and buckets and cartons and coolers full....

Once we finished picking and visiting (around 7:00), we headed over to the assisted living building to see Grandpa for a few minutes; then we stopped at some other friends' house and left a bag of apples for them; then finally drove home. I read aloud from our current family-reading-story, "Shepherd of the Hills" on the way to our farm...

Once we got home, we all bundled up in warmer things and headed out to the barn quick to do the chores, then ate a light supper and said prayers, and now.............we're going to bed.

What a wonderful day it was, spending time with God's children.~