Greetings y’all!

We blog a lot about our singing trips but here’s a slice of our farmy side. We don’t live on a farm but we have a farmer friend in Vermont that we occasionally do projects for. His project for us this time was pulling the invasive, fast growing cucumber weed. It grows up to 5 feet per DAY. You can almost watch it grow! And, it smothers the corn rather well. : (

The corn was grown in the pattern of 2 purple and one yellow which sometimes made it hard to spot the weed, but as you can see on the edge of this side of the field had a good sized area covered.



The stalks were a good 12 feet tall, which made us all feel nice and short. : P



We’re having a popsicle and picture break here before heading back out. We would take inventory of the weed spots and then head in that direction. I understand now how you could get lost in a field of corn. :)

Tonight as I’m writing this blog up we’re headed back home from Spofford, NH and our singing engagement at Camp Spofford.

It’s a beautiful place and the weather was perfect.



After the concert they took us to ice cream! Yay! :)

Till next time….

New York Trip 1
Part 2

And we arrived at Alden, NY in plenty of time. There was a rain cloud sitting over us when we made the call to go inside or play outdoors. After a delicious spread of food we started at 7:30pm, half an hour later than advertised. Most everyone seemed to take it in stride and waited for the concert to begin without rioting. ; )

We woke up the next morning and went to visit the N family! It was quite last minute but they were very gracious. : ) We had a lovely lunch and fellowship with them.

Us with them after the concert…



Heading over to Odosagah Bible conference we started setting up for the evening concert in the tabernacle.



We had a full house that evening with more folks sitting outside. We enjoyed singing and were encouraged and blessed by being there.

We stayed overnight at OBC and after a marvelous breakfast from the OBC kitchen we headed to Faith Baptist, in Little Valley. Faith Baptist was one of the first churches we visited on our very first fall tour in 04. We enjoyed being with them and having a lovely lunch after service. It’s great to fellowship with the body of Christ!

Mom and Mrs. Griffith.



The church is situated next to this pretty field.



Our next and final singing stop was in near Arcade, NY, went great. The pastor prayed that there would be good eternal consequences from our singing that night. I also pray that was the case.

We’re hurtling back home as I’m typing with Vincent at the wheel and dad resting after diving for hours already. We thank the Lord the bus made it and we are almost safely home. Thank you everyone for your prayers and support. God bless!

Until next time, for the MacDonald Family,

Carol

I’m resting on my bunk reflecting on the past few days with a laptop on my lap and my headphones listening to some calming bluegrass. For those wondering, it’s not impossible to have calming and bluegrass in the same sentence. ; )

What a great God we serve. When I feel like everything is out of my control I must cling tighter to God’s grace for the hour and not jump to conclusions, trusting He will work all things for the good of those who love Him.

Leaving Wednesday night for our New York destination the next evening was the plan. We got off ok and settled down for the night at a rest area after dad had driven for several hours. We have an ongoing power problem with the bus but this Thursday morning it seemed much worse then normal, going about 20 miles an hour up hills with 300 cars behind us! 49 miles an hour on level ground isn‘t the norm either. We were puzzled and wondering what was wrong and if we would even make it on time to the first concert. Stopping at each rest area we’d check the fuel level. That afternoon we decided to get more fuel. Amazingly enough that solved the power problem! We’re still not sure why we had the problem but we’re thankful to the Lord for a safe trip and reaching our first concert on time!

We were happy to renew our friendships in NY and makes new ones as well! After the concert we were invited back to the Dart’s farm for a fun get together with food and music.

Maybe the neighbor’s thought there was a lot of lightening over at the Dart’s, or maybe they realized that everyone was snapping photos…. : )



After lots of good food the instruments got pulled out, along with hymn books and voices.



A great time was had by all. We stayed up quite early. Ehem. I think everything gets funnier after 12am! : )

The next morning we got to see in the daylight where we had fun the night before.

…..the arbor…..



…..one chick out of the many…..



……flowers……



Volleyball was the game of choice that afternoon. So fun!



Go Bonnie!





Rebecca showed us her quilts and the one (pictured) that she is hand quilting for someone else who pieced it. See my blog for more quilt pictures.

Before traveling to Alden for the next stop we took a group photo.

Sometimes the most natural smiles come when they are oblivious to the camera shooting.



Ok, smile everyone!



Abby and Bonnie..



….hugs and handshakes…..





Goodbye!



And, off to Alden we went….

I apologize for the lateness of this post! Continuing where I left off….

We traveled over to the Bartlett’s that evening and enjoyed the fellowship and the lake the next day.



Breakfast on the lake!

We had a lovely boat ride, with waves and everything!





LOOK! A wave!! We were trying to catch the waves made by the other faster boats. : )

We took turns driving.








After a delightful lunch we headed to Alton Bay. Thankfully we found the place in plenty of time to set up and eat.







We had a wonderful time at Alton Bay! The weather was warm but so were the people! We had great visit and a blessed time.

We spent the night there and headed out bright and early for Salem, NH were we sang again. It was great to be there with family, old friends and new!

Here is a family picture, including my dad’s sister and her family, from that day. Matthew figured out how to avoid getting in this picture. : P



Eventually we arrived home Sunday afternoon! It was a great but tiring weekend! But we’re looking forward to more concerts this month but for now we’re home and getting some things done, like re-roofing the house and harvesting from the garden.

God bless you all!