10th Anniversary - Just Us Together

Okay, just one last post on the 10th Anniversary Celebration! Pictures of "Just Us" having fun together.

10th Anniversary - Variety Show

Nathan - the evening's MC. You can't really tell, but his pants are a lovely bright blue.


Singing the back up vocals to a specially adapted and arranged Anniversary Song! You ladies were so fun! And, oh, the memories....


On a more serious note, our church's chamber ensemble also performed a couple of pieces they have been working on.

I remember one was by Haydn, but I can't remember what the other one was. I just know that I was holding Winston in the back (standing up so he could see over everyone's heads) and he wanted me to dance to it with him...


The Hirsts and Geaschels singing about the 10 commandments! Well done!


Mr. VH and Mr. Webb share stories about the old days...


And on a more southern bluegrass note - Joseph on the banjo, Jonathan on the guitar and vocals (Josiah, absent, on the string bass/cello), Kathryn & Tara on vocals singing "Sweeter Gets the Journey"

Okay, so that isn't even close to a real review of Saturday night's Variety Show. But it's a few pictures that show, well, some variety. Other skits, songs, jokes and stories were shared, prizes awarded and lots of fun had. Then we took a break to indulge in those prize winning pies, and then gathered back together for a slide show of 10 years of church history! Wow! Things change and people grow a lot in 10 years! After the slideshow, we cleared the chairs back and enjoyed a few old country dances before piling back onto the hay wagon (or in vehicles) and heading back to the campground/Erber's house. A very fun and varied evening, for sure!

10th Anniversary - Pies!

Pie Eating Contest

The men compete eating chocolate pudding and whipped cream pies - and Nathan wins the ribbon and the pig nose!


The younger ones also competed and we won these cute smiles!


The More Important Pie Contest
(at least in MY opinion)

A winning pie! Pumpkin Pecan.


Assigning each judge to his/her category. 27 pies, 4 categories.


A panel of ladies judged the pies submitted by our church's male chefs.


Judging carefully.

Pies, pies, pies!

"I think I need to taste that one again..."

Evaluating, considering, tasting, determining the final results.

I could only eat so much pie, but each one I tasted was SO yummy! I'm glad I only had to appoint judges and announce the winners and not actually do any of the judging myself! Congrats to our winners!! Keep baking, my friends - we are definitely doing this again!

10th Anniversary - Pinewood Derby

(Part of) The Audience


The Final Track Checks by The Master Builder


The Track (early on - time trials, the crowd would grow considerably)


The (old) Official (mail) Scale


(Organizing) The Field


The Competition


A Most Creative Car


The Track (again - from the other angle)


The 2nd Place Winner - Erik


The Trophy, Ribbon, and the Winning Car - built by Jonathan!

10th Anniversary - Food, Glorious Food!

One item very close to our hearts while planning our weekend celebration was food. We wanted it to be very clearly three days of joy and feasting. And so we planned our feasts.

A thousand Thank Yous! to the Carlsons for all their work in making feast plans into reality.

We're still eating the leftovers!

Not only was there an abundance of food, it was incredibly good and all the fresh air and fun certainly whet the appetites!

And, yes, they served three meals a day!






Our big official "Feast" meal was Saturday dinner. Aaron tended to the lamb all day, Mr. Carlson tended the turkeys on the grill, and the kitchen was a busy place, but if food can be "to die for" than this was that meal! Nathan and Jeanine added to the festive air by providing Saganaki for everyone! Ooopa!

Picture Credits

In the soon to follow posts, there will be many pictures. But throughout the weekend I was rather too busy to take more than a few of them myself. So, credit where it is due, I am extremely grateful for the following photographers:

Joanna (who took many of the pictures that were actually on our camera at the end of the weekend)

Dawn (who faithfully took photos and video all weekend long for us)

Wendy (who also captured some great moments)

The Yen ladies (thanks much for snapping away!!)

...and anyone else I forgot to mention!! :-) And, of course, thanks to everyone who participated in the event and ended up in these pictures!

10th Anniversary Celebration

Praise the Lord, all ye nations: praise Him, all ye people. For His merciful kindness is great towards us: and the truth of the Lord endureth forever. Praise ye the Lord. (Psalm 117).

Psalm 117 was the theme song for our church's 10th Anniversary. We sang it at each meal, at the campfire and on Sunday and learned to sing it as a four part round, too! And truly our hearts were full of praise and thanksgiving for the Lord's goodness to us.

Friday afternoon, September 19, kicked off our festivities and the celebrating didn't stop until late afternoon on Sunday the 21st. Yes, you did see tents and a camper in those few pictures we posted earlier this week. We hosted 60+ overnight guests, and nearly everyone else in our church made it for at least most of the daytime events. And what were those daytime events? Ahhhh, well, let me tell you. Talking, feasting, singing, campfires, performances, games, competitions, jokes and laughter, dancing, cooking, judging, dish-washing, deepening relationships and learning new facts about each other... praying, remembering, praising the Lord for lessons learned and blessings enjoyed over the last 10 years, and considering what the next 10 years might hold - and what we do know we need to be doing.

Yes, praise the Lord! It was a beautiful weekend. It was a delightful weekend. It was a refreshing weekend (even if we were all exhausted afterwards!). It was a blessed weekend. Praise the Lord for celebrations, for feasting, and for our dear church family! May He guide us, bless us, and use us for His glory through the next 10 years!

Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. (Romans 15:5-6)

Camille is One!

Monday was a very special day around here - Camille celebrated the first anniversary of her birthday! Happy Birthday, Precious!
We love you SO much!

What our weekend looked like...

Here are just a couple of pictures to give a flavor of what we've been up to the last few days. Our church's 10th Anniversary Celebration!

Happy Birthday, Jessica!

Today is Jessica's birthday. What a blessing she is to our family. She spreads love and encouragement wherever she goes. We love her so much and thank God for always.

Jessica - May God bless you with the best year ever!

Yard Work

In preparation for having 80+ people here this weekend, we thought for everyone's safety and comfort we'd remove a few of the stumps that have decorated our yard for the past several months.

The storms this year took down a few trees, and then while we were in California our guys took down a couple more trees, so it's time to dig/chop/pull up what remains of them!