Weekends are for Fall Sweeps

May the Lord bless you on this gorgeous fall Saturday!

In Him,

Kaye Ann Silver

The Last Bright Fireworks

 

Loving the last of the fall fireworks over here today…

(kaye ann silver)

Staying Focused on the Light

 

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying,  "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

John 8:12

A Thought From Doug Phillips on Halloween

Like many, I do not enjoy or find giving credit to Satan and celebrating evil on Halloween.

I have nothing against the sweet things about it- Little kids dressing up is not evil at all, and decorating pumpkins for fun isn’t either.

But when you choose to celebrate and “love darkness rather than Light,” that is when I don’t like to glorify or take part in it.

Doug Phillips from Vision Forum has a note on some things that he calls The Five Scariest Things you can do this Halloween.

They are some great thoughts that I hope you enjoy.

Blessings!

(kaye ann silver)

The Lake

We arrived at the lake after a few hours of sitting in the van,

unpacked all of our stuff into the many rooms around the cabin,

then we headed outside

to sit in the cool shade and warm sun and soft winds coming off the water.

Mamo’s bird house caught my eye while we were sitting on the front porch.

Chickadees dove and swirled in the trees above our heads, and Dad tried to feed them, but just got ignored.

The birds feel safe here, and don’t worry about us humans only six feet away from them.

Just like we feel free to run and go around the whole house and trees in the yard.

 

Papa and Mom laugh loud at the dogs playing in the grass, and we all smile at the bright blue sky.

Dinner calls us in reluctant from the outdoors, but the smells overtake our wish to stay out.

We all sit around the wooden table turned just right to fit us all around it on benches and chairs.

After dinner, Papa starts a fire in the fireplace centerpiece in the middle of the great room. Mamo turns on Norah Jones jazz and we all sing along, just happy to be.

Morning comes early, and soon we are packed and driving down dirt line roads into the real country, where horses and corn sway in the wind.

The new TREE FARM signs glint bright and we all giggle at the little bitty trees making their way, surviving for the next generation.

Mamo points out the ‘sugar bush’, where one day my children and their grandfather will come out to tap trees for syrup, and I dream big about the 2,200 trees growing in the fields.

  I stand at the farm house and in its happy 600 square feet while engines rev loud down in the barn.

Sister have looked forward to this since we arrived!

Race the dogs down and find a very happy little boy jumping in his little blue Miranda helmet, just simply in awe of the machines.

We sit on the ATV together while Papa starts the tractor up and I hear my name called down through the pull barn.

I laugh out loud at the idea, but Papa laughs too and boosts me up on the too-tall seat.

I bounce and practically stand up on the gas pedal, and the blue tractor lurches long up to the farm house and back, to show Papa that I can drive it.

And let me tell you- it’s easier than driving a car!

Travel back-way back- to the tree that was just a seedling in 1776, according to the DNR. All those years and her trunk has a circumference of 12 feet.

L and Dad decide to giver her a try.

L tells me later that it felt like you were up about 200 feet in the air.

We venture to the honey moon cottage (pictures to come… hopefully), then back for a smoked lunch.

Cause who doesn’t like a good bratwurst over the fire?

Papa pulls out the .22 and BB guns, and we go after that bear and squirrel like we were true country folk.

I knock over some water bottles standing proud, and my dad whizzes a few BBs into the targets and bottles.

Mamo loads and shoots like Annie Oakley herself (all that practice zinging squirrels off her feeder made her a great shot! :) )

Papa wows us with his aim, then we all break off again- men to fix the bridge, us ladies down to the creek to play.

R tags along to help Grandpapa with his tractor, and we soon call him back from helping them.

Friends of Mo and Po come to hunt for the weekend, and we take off 6 hours after we arrived.

Yet it feels like only a few minutes.

The next morning we all ease out of bed, sore from the hiking and riding,

but we didn’t really care. 

happy fall!

(kaye ann silver)

Blessings~

After a wonderful weekend up at the farm and the lake place with Mamo and Papa, (pictures to follow as soon as I can get my camera to cooperate :) ), we drove home past a few houses that we were looking at purchasing.

Some were big with windows that arched up to let in light, some had front porches begging for chairs and flowers, and still others just didn’t seem to be what we were looking for.

 

The Lord has put us on a journey to find a house, and much like our adoption journey last year at this time, the pattern seems to be “Hurry up, and wait.” So while we wait for our house to sell so that we can move on to bigger things, we smile at our little cottage and pray for the future owners.

#425-440

the turtles on the shed

the big trees shedding their leaves of color

the window boxes that Grandpa E built

the big fireplace in the basement

the green kitchen

a furnace that works

the yard where we planted all of our trees

dreams of a big house that God has totally prepared for us

the collapsed honeymoon cottage on Mamo and Papa’s farm

the baby trees peaking through on the farm

Mamo and Papa’s official TREE FARM sign

ATVing

driving a tractor for the first time in my life (I know… I’m a city girl… :) )

watching R’s face light up while he drove the tractor with Grandpapa!

fresh apples while climbing around at the creek

muddy feet in the back seat coming home

 

(kaye ann silver)

Alright…

I chose number 3!

My mom actually suggested that I start doing this so no one can steal my pictures. I think I like it too!

Blessings!

Kaye Ann

Photo Watermarks

figuring out how to watermark my photographs with a logo….

let me know which logo text you like the best…

number 1… duanh pen text

number 2… batang text

number 3… constantia text

I’m not so sure I like blogging this way, through a different area, but we’ll see…

anyway… let me know which watermark you like best!

 

(kaye ann silver)

Finding Him Everywhere Today

Today I reach up to Him who holds the world in His hands that guide us continually,

for with Him standing with us always

all things are possible.

Nothing is impossible with God!

Philippians 4:13

(kaye ann silver)

Philly

I remember standing in the park across the street from them, all the moms sitting watchful of their kids playing with us northern folk come down to Philly to visit with them.

the gated courtyard at the church we were staying at... no one was allowed to walk through it after 9 o clock at night

Maddie and I finished handing out those bright daisies like the ones sitting on my desk right now. She and I, we noticed those moms and then all the extra ice cream sandwiches.

"Let's bring them over to them." Maddie, the soon-to-be youth pastor's wife, was much bolder than me.

I am not afraid to admit that walking those streets scared me. Trash littered the sidewalks with old firecracker wrappers and cigarette boxes, broken bottles and nameless grey articles.

the gated park where we played with the neighborhood kids

We walk out of the gated park, away from the joyful happy laughter of children and across the street where poverty in sits like a heavy weight on these wonderful mothers.

Knock on one of the brownstone-like doors. The houses are all lined up in a line here, never disconnecting, holding up one another. This one is painted purple, and it makes me smile to see such a bright house in such a dark neighboorhood.

your average house in Philadelphia near Kensington Ave.

The young mom of the little girl that has stolen all of the hearts at the playground with her 4-year old sweetness opens the door. We explain the extra food from our little party, and she brightens. I ask if she would take the ice cream bars so they won't spoil in the hot July sun. I spot three more little ones in the living room. This mom breathes slow, joy filled with the thought of simple ice cream bars.

Holding the flowers and breathing myself, we step away and the door closes.

A few doors down, two mothers sit discussing things on their doorsteps. Everyone does this here. It brings a sense of community- of getting through this hard part together.

We hand over the flowers. I don't see the next part coming at all.

She starts to cry.

As she fingers the vibrant petals, she smiles through her tears.

"I love flowers..." she whispers. "But I can't find them... can't have them in the city..."

I break. I don't cry right then, but later that night when we lie in our room full of bunks and heat and I hear the roar of fireworks? When I look in out the gated and locked courtyard doors, through the barred windows?

I see her happy face. Smiling, finding such joy and thankfulness for a few flowers....

then I cry.

And I don't cry by myself.

The skate boarders, the tough guys, came on the missions trip. They played at the park, rolled kids giggling and screaming with joy on their skateboards. I see this and again I break.

the Kensington Ave L-Station

We as a group were deeply changed by the week on Kensington Avenue.

funny story actually...

Our youth group went down to LOVE park in downtown. We rode the SEPTA L-Train, and brought with us two huge birthday cakes. Sat them down on a bench. After three days in the city, we were used to traveling in threes- two girls, and at least one guy. We split off, cake in hand. Wished people happy birthday, celebrated them even if it wasn't even close to when they were born.

Love Park in Downtown

Just showing them that Jesus LOVEs them so much, and through Him, we too could reach out to others in Love...

Me, Hannah, and Becca found a lady to sit with. She proceeded to tell us everything she knew about Philadelphia. The conversation turned to talking about which areas to stay out of. She turned to us three,

"Whatever you do, stay away from Kensington Ave. People, they aren't good down thata way."

I snuck a look at my friends, who were smiling as much as I was.

I responded as kindly as I could without giggling,

"Well, that's kind of hard. The church we're staying at is two blocks from the Kensington Ave L-station."

the front of our host church

We didn't mention that we had walked through there twice today, served a meal for the homeless down there a few days ago.

Oh her face was priceless! Jaw open and shock written all over her face!

The Lord worked many miracles among us that week. Three people recieved Christ as their Lord and Savior. We heard with our own ears the voice of the Lord telling us what we were to do each day as we sought him in a time of direct prayer.

And to think that I had forgotten about this.

But thank you Jesus for those bright flowers on my desk. I saw them after listening to My Own Little World by Matthew West, and it all came roaring in like the Mississippi river.

And I thank the Lord for it because way too often I forget.

Thank you, Jesus, for the miracles done on that trip to Philadelphia last summer. You are amazing!

(kaye ann silver)

Isaiah 40:28

Do you know?

Have you not heard?

The Lord is the everlasting God,

the Creator of the ends of the earth.

He will not grow tired or weary,

and his understanding no one can fathom.

Isaiah 40:28

Blessings

blessings after a weekend with laughter and my cousins

whom I adore...

#

Dad's soccer team being done for the season

L's homemade apple pie

cousins running towards us between soccer fields

J and the way he runs all-out, all the time

racing across the fields with T

watching them watch J play soccer... such handsome boys

cool nights

flashlight walks with dad

this song...

(click on the link above to hear it... or go to my blog and you can watch it there...)

(kaye ann silver)

Woke up this morning to a happy little boy flinging off all of my quilts and saying "Good morning, good morning, I can climb up with you?"

I couldn't hear anyone else up in the house, but knew that somewhere Dad was around, because the boy had peanut butter on his fingers.

Walked up with the him and into the kitchen.

smiled at our pile of books from last nights service.

Last night at church, we found the library and the bookstore.

I moved towards the counter where my radar had spotted L's apple pie from last night.

A perfect breakfast for a cool fall day.

I glanced up over at the bright white calendar smeared with busy red words and green words and black words of places and things to see and people to meet with and errands to run and bible studies to attend and classes.

I searched for today.

and I was grateful for the blank box meaning a true sabbath with just family.

(kaye ann silver)

Weekends are for Walking

For laughing the cool dark of autumn

for smiling with family

for soccer games with cousins and movies with Dad

Blessings to you this wonderful warm weekend!

(kaye ann silver)

we don't go looking for an adventure, but they seem to find us...

Hooray!

The pictures from our adventure to the North Shore this year have been loaded to my computer, and now, I can share them with all of you!

WARNING.... I get kind of long winded... this may take you a while to read...

Just me, Dad, L and M packed up the big red bus and sailed north.

We drove up and soon discovered, much like our last visit, that there was some severe weather ahead of us.

We ran in to the state park we were camping at, were quite pleased to find it wasn't raining, in the nice little chalet no more than thirty seconds when God opened up the flood gates and down came the rain.

I haven't seen it rain so hard and fiercely since the hailstorm 3 years ago.

However, our family is not one to shy away from an adventure, so instead of stopping right there and finding a hotel, we decided to go into downtown Duluth.

The only problem was that all of the major highways in Duluth are under contruction and traffic was reduced to one lane with no exits.

The puddles came up to our van's headlights.

And in case your wondering how big our van is,

it's pretty big.

We plowed through at a grewling 10 mph and worried about the little civic in front of us that had water up to the grill.

And still it rained.

So just like last year and like Gideon in times gone by,

we put out the fleece.

We laughed and ran into our favorite wait-out-the-weather location... Grandma's Restaurant, and we prayed.

If the rain stopped and cleared up enough that we could pitch a tent, we would.

If it didn't, we'd head to the nearest hotel.

But once again...

God did a miracle, and we stayed the night at the State Park.

The next day we headed out to find some pretty places to take pictures.

This part is for all you history folks out there.

While walking along, I found a building built by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the days of FDR who were in charge of preserving our parks and making them what they are today.

This was the date on the building:

Across the way was another building.

Same story.

Breathless with history and thoughts on who built it and what were their names and why did they join the CCC, we climbed into our drying-out van and headed for downtown again.

Little did we know...

That this was the weekend that the old Tall Ships like the ones built from the days of our country's forefathers were scheduled to be in the harbor at noon.

It was 11:00.

So we hung around for a while, watched people, made some lunch....

no ships.

Went to look at the shops, moseyed around a little bit...

still no ships.

Rumors floated everywhere... they were at Superior, WI... they weren't coming in today... they'd been sighted a few miles off our eye's limit...

After we had had enough of waiting and waiting we headed up to Gooseberry falls.

But before we got there, we encountered more traffic, some guys dynamiting and lots of rocks everywhere.

But when we pulled off, it was like stepping into heaven.

Slippery rocks and cool water became lost isles to be discovered and an adventure had begun in each of our minds as we slipped and stepped careful over the lava rocks by the shore.

Dad pointed out an out-cropping that lead far out into the water. We hiked up and walked down to the tip of the edge of the steep drop.

My stomach flipped.

From the beach it looked harmless...

but when you were at the tip looking over the edge...

there was a drop about 10 feet to the water...

and beyond that... a good 50-100 ft plunge down into the waters of Superior.

No thank you!

However I noticed these pillars and remembered them from somewhere.

I walked around while I pondered where I had seen them before.

Then I knew!

The CCC had built them and had cleared out this area so that we could stand there today.

Wow.

History, science, and gym class all in one sha-bang.

After visiting the falls which were crawling with tourists like ourselves, we packed up to go back to down town to see if we could find the ships.

Keen eyes watched quiet out the window for the masts of the ships like the Native Americans in the days of Columbus.

Shouts rang through the van and we stopped at a marina.

 where one of the tall ships had anchored for the evening.

The perfect ending to an adventurous day.

(kaye ann silver)