My Parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary

Last week my family of nine siblings were able to get together for an early celebration of my parents' 50th wedding anniversary. It is the first time in seventeen years that all nine of us were together again. We lined up in order of age, with Dorcas to the right, then me, Elon, Fain, Gabriel, Hoshea, Iva, Joella and Kezia.

Here we are with my mom and dad. A friend of Chris and Kezia came to shoot formal photographs, but we shot some ourselves, too. I figured by the time I got a hold of some of the professional ones, I might not remember to post some on the blog. So I am doing some of our own--even though they include somebody's hand and camera!~.

Grandma and pa Morley with 40 of their 46 grandchildren (and two more on the way). Iva's husband and children were the only ones missing.

I always like to grab pictures of getting ready for pictures!

Like this one. Getting ready to look sweet.

We got a picture of each family with my folks. Fain's happened to be the first family to get theirs taken. After this, I am posting them in order of age. Fain and Regina have five children,  Nathaniel, Candace, Samuel, Natasha and David. They live in PA.

Dorcas is my oldest sister. She and Ben beat us by two children. They have nine: Peter, Annette, Henry, Jesse, Esther, Mercy, Ernest, Jenelle.

Well who ever is this family?

Elon and Anita have four: Amaris, Ezra, Nehemiah, ooops, not really Nehemiah, actually it is Jed (short for Jedidiah) and Pearl.

Gabriel and Elizabeth have Andrea, Bethany, Carrie, Gabey, Daniel and Bryn.

Hoshea's family came from North Dakota. He and Laurie have four: Joseph, Katy, Andrew and Amanda. 

Iva was thankful to fly in to St. Louis from CO for three days.

Craig and Joella have four (and a half): Susanna, Charity, Ethan and Jonathan. 

Kezia, the youngest and last married, with her husband Chris Jackman and little Elizabeth. Kezia made the announcement at the table one evening that a second little Jackman was on the way. You should have heard the song her relatives sang--"Happy Baby to You!" Those of us at the other table were quickly getting out of our seats to surround her table to hear the happy news.

Not All Play Around Here!

Some wild flowers the children picked.

Rose practicing her piano lesson.

The boys getting ready to shred some papers.

When Mom arrived, everyone was dancing around and throwing paper shreds in the air. And burying each other. Mom threw up her hands and left the room...and everyone cleaned up!

 

Hannah with the new flannel nightie her Grandma Morley made her for her birthday.

Train of cowboys and cowgirls...

with their cowboy hats Mom found at a yard sale!

It's Carrie's turn to mop.

Rosie loved to make fresh mint tea with mint we got permission to snip at a friend's house.

Nothing like fresh mint tea, sweetened with stevia!

Pumpkin muffins are one of our specialties for snacks.

I dare you to say we don't work around here!

Mission Helps in Nicaragua

Jonathan was gone for eight days in May, with a Mission Helps crew, roofing a little church in Nicaragua.

The local people had built the walls of handmade mud bricks. They said such structures last 100 years. 

Working on the roof in the heat.

I was having trouble with the blogger, and some of these pictures are out of order. After finishing the roof, the men leveled the floor and poured a concrete floor.

The crew after the work was done. One of the crew came from Turks and Caicos.

Jonathan's job was putting the ridgecap on. The tin was so thin that he had to lay boards across to distribute his weight. He is the main roofer since Dave Weaver is not able to climb roofs anymore.

The men hired three locals to help them mix cement. One of them is plastering the wall with leftover cement.

A Sunday service at the second church that the one pastor leads.

As I said, this is out of order. This is the church before work started. The tin is lying over the edge of the roof. Eric Kuhns, missionary under HIM, is the man in the red shirt, and in charge of this work, although he lives several hours away actually in Honduras.

Inside the church, the floor was mud with water lying in it. How improved it was in the few days the mission crew was there! Praise God for the strength, expertise and willingness to do the work. 

Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the world, next to Haiti, but it is rich in natural beauty. This was next door to the church, or very near.

Another scene close to the church. A man grows about 80,000 coffee plant starts here. Foliage is so lush that he just breaks down branches to stack to shade his plant starts. 

The crew laughing at John Dykes, who went with the crew and took this picture.

This is a dear blind man the crew met. This man had fought for freedom while Reagan was president, and has even been in the White House to sing for President Reagan a song this man himself wrote. Later, the man became blind, but about 10 years ago, he became a Christian. Now he sings not just political songs, but songs for Jesus. He can play the guitar and accordian. The men loved hearing him.

When the crew was told that there was a doctor who thought he might be able to operate on this man's eyes so that he might be able to see again (it is wondered if it is just cataracts, because the man's eyes look normal, the men asked how much the operation would cost. They were told about $170. Imagine! Right away, the men took up an offering, and gave him that much plus some for expenses to get to the doctor. The man was so very happy. Pray that the operation will be successful and that he will receive his sight. 

Motel rooms in Nicaragua look a little different, with unmatched but pretty covers.

                                                        More Nicaraguan beauty.



                                                          Third world country.



Mother's Day Pictures

Mommy and children just after coming home from church.

Caught laughing at the photographer



With my dear baby girl, three-years-old now!

Mommy on Daddy's lap. Jonathan had bought me the orchid corsage. It was such a happy Mother's Day! 

Field Trip to a Colorado Wonder

In April, we finally were able to make a family field trip to Royal Gorge, which is nearly two hours away. That doesn't count all the stops in town for Jonathan to finish up business errands on the way!

We arrived about noon, but the children were too excited to wait to eat lunch. So, lunchless, we paraded across the bridge. Don't look through the cracks!

Who needs to be afraid when holding to Father's hand?

Nothing deters little boys who hear the train whistle coming around the bend and into sight down by the river over a thousand feet below.

There it is! The train!

Getting ready to board the aerial tram to go across the canyon by air! Who wouldn't pantingly arrive just behind us but our friends Steve and Tonya, with Tonya's brother and sister! They had discovered a super deal the day before, tickets for just $8 each! Boy, were we jealous! But we had gotten a good deal ourselves, season tickets for half off, so we rejoiced in their blessing, and had fun the rest of the time there being together with friends so unexpectedly!

A view from the aerial tram of the world's highest suspension bridge. All the rides were included in the price.  

A view of the bridge from the river below, after riding the incline railway down the steep side of the gorge. 

We were delighted to get to watch several rafts coming through just at the time we were down by the river. 

Here is the incline railway we rode. 

Our family, with one person sitting there but hiding. Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.



Jonathan and the children rode the aerial tram a second time while I drove the van back across the bridge. He wanted a picture of our van coming across the bridge. Clatter, clatter, clatter across those thick old planks. Can you believe I did that? I really think you should clap for me! 

While on the bridge, we noticed smoke in the distance, not that far away. So Jonathan decided to check it out on the way out. Unfortunately, a house was burning. A neighbor did not think anyone was living there at the time. 

We sat and watched a while as several fire and emergency vehicles surrounded the house. We heard several loud explosions. It was sad but interesting.