a beautiful week

The past five days have been such a gift from God. Such a blessing. Also very bittersweet. 

It's hard to believe that the six weeks that were remaining when we found out our best friends (and pastor) were moving to South Carolina have come to an end. Geoff, Liz, and their girls pull out early Friday morning. I feel like we've been trying to squeeze as much together-time in as we can over these few days we have left as neighbors.

We just love them so much, and we are truly going to miss them. Last night we celebrated Brad's 36th birthday and Liz's birthday (hers is two weeks after they move) with Taco Tuesday (our traditional meal that we always seemed to eat when we got together) and apple pies (Brad and Liz's favorite pies.) My heart felt so blessed by the time we had together last night, their family and ours. 

Lily was baptized this past Sunday afternoon. Geoff and Brad baptized her together. That was definitely special and very sweet. Geoff has now baptized all three of our kids which is pretty cool. Cool in the aspect, that they have been involved in that spiritual part of our children's lives. 

After the baptism, my parents had dinner at their home, followed by a long hay ride. The weather was really perfect. Sunny and just a bit chilly. I just really love the photos that I snapped during the ride. Everyone was so alive and happy and laughing. Don't you love laughing? I love it so.

It's just been such a sweet week to my heart. We've been busy preparing the kids' projects for the project fair this Friday. We're almost finished. We've also been very busy with outside tasks. I spent five solid hours shoveling manure on Monday, and that's not even done yet. Definitely, my least favorite part of having animals. 

I've also been spending some time knitting and spinning. Of course I have. I'm not sure what it would feel like to go a day without doing one of those things for at least a few minutes. I'm almost finished with a pair of prayer/friendship socks that I'm making for Liz. They're not going to be finished by Friday, so I'll have fun putting together a little package to send her in the mail. Oh, and I finished my Harvest Cardigan (except for weaving in a few ends which you can see sneaking out in the photo above.)

Lily's newest craze is making mini skeins of yarn. They're just so darn cute too. I just really love them. So tiny. I gave her some of my leftovers to wind up into mini skeins. She's having a blast, and they will look so much nicer than just having loose balls of yarn getting all tangled up. That girl is so much like me. It amazes me.

Well, ladies, I pray that you have a wonderful evening. We are, again, spending the evening at our dear friends' home along with some other friends from church. Just soaking these last moments in. Because, you know, I am a sap. Sniff. Sniff.