Clancy Bond Benefit

After various and abundant chores, evening arrived and we cleaned up and traveled to the Dale Convention Center. Mark was requested to emcee the Clancy Bond benefit held by the Dale Ruritan Club. We were also to sing for the event.Clancy is a young boy who was very sick with pneumonia and is just now recovering. The doctor bills were high and Ruritans helped to raise money to offset the medical costs. There was a silent auction, singing by several different groups, a meal, etc. The whole event raised almost $6,000! They were quite pleased with the result of the effort put forth by so many!

We also came home with a bottle calf!

The Christmas Trees Arrived!

It's that time of year again. Plants are being shipped all over this country, and we received our shipment of 100 Christmas tree seedlings. This is our third year of planting, and it has become a time we all look forward to. With a Saturday full of so many things to do, Amanda and Rachel planted the 100 trees all by themselves while the other members of the family attended to their various tasks. Although hard work, it is such fun to look back at a job well done!

See the little bit of green spread out over the ground?

Green is such a pretty color against a dead brown!

Merry Christmas! :-) (in about 4-9 years.)

Wayne-White Electric Co-op's Annual Meeting

What a busy week! Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday we had music lessons; Mark had a meeting on Wednesday as well; Thursday we held the monthly Bible study in our home; and Friday we were to sing for the Wayne-White Electric Co-op's Annual Meeting.



After arriving at the location of the event, we quickly set up our sound system.

We were able to watch the talented linesmen that maintain our electric lines display their electric show. What a powerful force is going through those little wires! You can't see "him," but this demonstration figure is getting a little charred at the moment. They were showing the crowd of nearly 500 people what would happen if they touched the wrong things! Scary!


When it was time for us to sing, we began with some instrumental music, ending with a lively hoedown~ Boil them Cabbage Down! After that, we sang several a capella as well as accompanied songs. We finished with an a capella barbershop version of the Star Spangled Banner while the crowd stood in respect for our country's flag.The audience was great and we had such fun singing that night. It was a blessing to be able to entertain the large crowd from all over portions of Wayne, White, Hamilton, Jefferson, Clay, Edwards, Richland, Franklin, Marion, Gallatin, and Wabash Counties.
May God be glorified in all that we do!

Celebration with Crepe Colors

The celebration of our Lord's resurrection is here once again. We decided to try something a little different this year for coloring our eggs.

Rather than using a kit from the store or food coloring, we took several different colors of crepe paper, tore them into pieces and soaked them in separate cups of boiling water. The colors bled into the water leaving a white piece of crepe paper and several muted, very pretty dyes. We think the result was lovely on our Rhode Island Red brown eggs. Maybe next year we will try using natural dyes such as carrot and beet, grass and cedar. The wool that we dyed using onion skins, goldenrod, or cedar turned out lovely, and so might the eggs!

Plant Now What You Will Harvest Later

Every thought is a seed.

If you plant crabapples,

don't count on harvesting Golden Delicious.

•*´¯`*•.¸ .. (') .. ¸.•*´¯`*•

Springerton Revival

The revival at Springerton was well attended all week. It started Sunday evening with Brother Steve Greiner imparting the Word. If you have never had the opportunity to hear him preach, put it on your to-do list! He has such joy in serving the Lord.

"Joyfulness keeps the heart and face young. A good laugh makes us better friends with ourselves and everybody around us." ~ Marden

Wednesday evening saw the finale of the revival. There were 99 present - wonderful! We enjoyed being able to help minister with the music through this revival. The family of believers at Springerton Christian church were gracious and hospitable, and we are happy to have been a part of the work the Lord is doing there. May God continue to bless our brothers and sisters in the Lord!

How to 'Capture' Wildlife

We recently had a couple of graduate students approach us about setting up wildlife cameras on Providence Prairie to film the various types of fauna that are found here. They are assisting a PhD on this project that will last four weeks.

We were happy to oblige, especially when they said that we would receive copies of the pictures. We know that a large variety of wildlife can be spotted here and are excited to see what we get on film!

It was a snowy morning that they arrived with their equipment. Mark and Amanda assisted them as they walked all over the farmstead. They were intrigued with our homestead and its old time flair as well as the variety of farm animals. They worked quickly to get their task accomplished.

Sardine lures, pheromones, and other materials were used in their set-ups to 'capture' whatever curious critter may wander past.

Frozen Water Everywhere!

Early Wednesday morning brought with it a glorious display of ice! Some of us were blessed to be able to take a hike around the beautiful spots of Providence Prairie to enjoy it first person. For the rest of you. . . here are some pictures.

Let's take a closer look. . .

And as the sun warmed the branches of the trees and the temperature rose, ice began falling in piles all around underneath. You had to watch out or you would be "dropped on!"

And today, we are getting more beautiful white snow to cleanse the earth!