Family Fun

As the years roll past, you realize more and more how precious family time is.

This past weekend, we traveled up to Pineola where Ma Maw and Pa Paw were camping with their camping club. Saturday they were having bar-b-que in honor of Ma Maw's birthday.

It pays to get there early! : ) It was fun being able to just sit back and relax with the background music of the river rushing past and the laughter as we recounted stories of years gone by.

It was amazingly cooler up in the mountains. Not so hot and stuffy as it is down here in the valley.

Bar-b-que time! Are you hungry, Ray?

There was so much food we had a hard time fitting it on the table.

Purty Girl...even if she is scary. : )

Wow! Was it ever good!

Our family with Ma Maw, Pa Paw, and Crystal

Afterwards, we sang for a little while, but it wasn't long before Ray just couldn't resist the urge any longer. Down to the river he went.....and, of course, his sisters followed. : )

We had a really good time just spending time. The moments pass away so quickly, but the memories will last a lifetime. And you never know....some day ten years from now, we might just be sitting around talking and laughing about it. : )

A New Perspective of the New Toy

Now that we have the saw, we're needing the sawmill to go along with it. Buying one is an option, but building one is cheaper. Ray, Jr. found some plans and now all we need are the funds to buy the materials. Hmmmm....not much of a dilemma, now, is there? : ) Anyone want to donate??? : ) : )
The sawmill in itself will be a blessing (we are going to mill our own lumber to build our house), but it will also be a great tool for ministry.

Ammon Blueberry Festival

This past weekend,we took a trip out east to try to accomplish some things on our land. The temporary pole can't be put up quite yet as we were hoping that it could, but we did get an idea of the order of things. The large piles of brush (from clearing the driveway) will have to be burned, the perk test done, the footings dug and poured, and THEN the temporary pole. Somewhere in the midst of these things will come a well permit and possibly a septic system. Whew! But it does feel soooooo good to have things going. The Lord is SO good!

One of the "must pack"s is the fishing poles. : )

With the Cape Fear River not far away, Ray just can't stand leaving them behind.

While making plans to travel out east, we discovered that the Ammon Blueberry Festival was scheduled for the same weekend. Perfect! What a wonderful time to meet the people in the community! The Lord blessed, and we were able to introduce ourselves to many of our future neighbors.

There were a lot of booths to browse through

and old cars to inspect

and handmade crafts

and other goods as well.

Then there was the parade....right past the main part of town. : )

They had some hilarious get-ups

The Hillbillies

Training them early

The Ammon firetruck
The Ammon VFD sponsored the event

Ahhhhh...the shade! The sun was very hot, and quite a few of us came back a few different shades of red from a little pink to more of a burgundy color. : )

Meetin' a neighbor

More neighbors

After the parade was the Blueberry Auction. At first we thought "Oh, good! Maybe we can get some cheap blueberries!"

And the first flat of blueberries goes for..........$900!
(And, no, we did not make a mistake and put too many zeros on the end.)

The decision was made very quickly that there would be no bidding at this auction. But we did have fun watching....

and eating our blueberry icecream...
Whoops! Where did the blueberry icecream go?! : )

The spectators

Ray and Sara decided to get some hamburgers, and along with a purchase, you got to put a ticket into a drawing to win a fishing pole.

And much to everyone's surprise....

Ray won!

Our next door neighbor...Mr. Melvin

As we left that afternoon, we were more excited and ready than ever to get there permanently!
But, as said before....

we have to burn these mountains down first! : )

Oh! What Joy!

It's fun to clean.....especially when it's at someone else's house! : ) Pa Paw and Ma Maw needed some things done around the house to get ready for the summer, so off to Conover we went!

All it takes is a mixture of a little bit of Joy and a lot of elbow grease!

Here's just a few of our projects...

And there is joy....joy....joy that never shall depart!

(But, sorry....that kind doesn't come in a bottle!)

"Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fullness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."

Psalm 16:11