Busy on the Home front

    If you think you haven't heard from me for a while, you're right.

    You haven't!  We've been a little busy on the home front.

    July has rushed past me, faster than I can even catch my breath!

    Here's a snapshot view of what July looked like for my family. 

    Are you ready? 

    Get set?

    We started off the month with our annual 4th of July celebration with the family.  So that definitely means decorating for this special occasion:

    ...and preparing some great food:

Not really purple; Brittany was just having fun with photos that day!

...to share with my family!

Elmer, me, Brittany, Kelsi, and my parents

    We're not patriotic or anything.  :) 

    Yes, we enjoy the decorations, food, and fellowship with family, but we also have made it a tradition to read aloud the Declaration of Independence on Independence Day.  It's something that we all look forward to.  If you haven't read through it recently, I highly recommend it.  Many of the items listed there for reasons why our nation's founders wanted to separate from the British Crown are what we are actually suffering through as a nation right now.  Quite sad.

   Then, I had two weeks left to finish the preparations for my parents' 50th wedding anniversary party...

...which meant that my twin sister, Kristina, came down from Alaska for a visit!

Kristina and Julieanne

    The six days I spent with my sister went quickly, too quickly.  But it was so wonderful to see her, the second time in about 7 years. 

    In no time at all, my parents' 50th wedding anniversary party was here!  Guests arrived from all over the west coast.  It was such an honor to be able to host this celebration.

    That weekend was filled with social functions, at our church, and at our home.  It was fabulous to see so many relatives and friends together in one place!

    Since that weekend, we've had close friends come down to stay with us for several days, and we made a trip to Crater Lake.

    We've also hosted some missionary friends of ours who are visiting here from Florida.

    Among all these activities, our oldest daughter, Kelsi, has been performing in the orchestra for Fiddler on the Roof - so that means lots of rehearsals and performances.

    I think I've gone through a lot more gasoline this month, driving hither and thither!

    What's planned for August?  I hope to share with you some handwriting practice pages full of interesting Amish sayings...and I plan to show you how we celebrated my parents' 50th wedding anniversary.  We've been doing final preparations for our local county fair, and soon I'll be working hard on planning for our upcoming school year.

    In the midst of that, I hope to share with you some new book reviews, although my plan is to share them no more than one day per week.  You might find one day here each week that contains several book reviews altogether.

    I'd also like to continue sharing some low carb and no-sugar recipes we are using with our Trim Healthy Mama lifestyle.  We've really enjoyed making this a part of our family's lifestyle during the last six months.

    Hopefully, your July was filled with some JOY and fun!

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