2017 Week 20: Tis the season . . .

. . . for birthdays, graduations and open houses.

Birthday roses--3 for 73!

Nice surprise. Thank you, Michael! Next year four roses?

We worked together Monday morning--Michael cut and chopped up the large maple, and I stacked branches and loaded fire-wood into the trailer.

We unloaded and stacked the logs. I commented on how enjoyable it was to work together. My mother set a good example. She worked along side Dad in so many different projects.

Speaking of Mother . . .
She had invited me to a Ladies Tea in honor of Mother's Day, so I drove up to Winona lake Wednesday.

My siblings and I had planned to begin the move to the Assisted Living apartment at that time. That was not possible as the place was not quite ready and some papers were missing. Instead, Mother and I had fun going through drawers and cupboards, discovering forgotten items, sorting, stacking, packing, giving away treasures accumulated over the years.

We took breaks often to read letters Mother wrote to her parents. We got through the year 1945, twenty letters and post cards that covered the story of their graduation from Seminary till we left on a ship for Argentina.

I was a toddler at the time, my exploits and interruptions mentioned often. Now I know when my passion to write began.

Kim and I had also planned another happy interruption to the moving process, to celebrate my birthday Thursday with as many of the local siblings as could make it.

I had thought it would only be a strawberry shortcake, but Kim and Sharon put together a wonderfully tasty meal--the best Alfredo sauce ever, my favorite Argentine-style-seasoned salad, and strawberry dessert! :-) I ate too much. :-(

The Hoyt birthday-gang.

All weekend we celebrated graduating robotics students.
Saturday was the homeschool graduation. We knew several of the graduates but were heavily involved in celebrating Moriah, one of this year's PhyXTGears stars. (Click on her name to open the link, watch the video and see the surprise guest.)

The cake; Mike and 1720 alums; Moriah's open house; las amigas (yet another alum); Moriah's walkway

Sunday afternoon we enjoyed two more open houses, many fun conversations, and then went to Delta High School for Malachi's award ceremony. (Click on his name to watch the video.)

Malachi

It was so good to see the whole family!  We haven't seen Kristie since before her surgery. The recovery has not been easy. She'd had a busy day and was glad to get home and put her feet up, the best way to keep her heart rate down.

We, on the other hand, needed to get ours up!