Another whirlwind week.
Maceo had another performance at ArtsFest.
This boy has grown so much. His dance ability has grown so much. He is a joy to watch.
It was reported back to him by a respected member of the theatre community that he had been complimented on his dancing by yet another respected member of the theatre community and he has now been encouraged to pursue dance in his future. More to think and pray on!
That same evening Maceo and Bishop attended youth group. It was their youth group leaders final day and they spent it fellowshipping.
It was energizing!
Monday, before scouts and rehearsal and in addition to getting prepared for our trip, Bishop made his first batch of jelly. He made violet jelly.
The freshly picked violet petals were first steeped in boiling water to make this bluish-green infusion.
The infusion turns a very pretty lavender color when lemon juice is added to it.
Isn't this cool?
Bishop further prepared the jelly by adding the sugar and pectin to the infusion and boiling it accordingly.
He then ladled it in to the sterilized jars and used the water bath method for the canning.
Isn't the jelly just an absolutely beautiful color?
We haven't had time to give it a taste test yet but, now that we have returned home, I see some hot homemade biscuits served with butter and violet jelly in our near future!
Tuesday found us on the road again heading back to New Mexico for another funeral, for a final goodbye to my grandfather. On our first full day in New Mexico we did a little sightseeing. We began by having lunch at a little restaurant in Mountainair and read a little bit and conversed about Native Americans.
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| Aren't they cute? |
We went to the Salinas Pueblo Missions visitor center and then went to the Gran Quivira site.
Despite sustained winds of 45mph and gusts much higher then that we went to the top of the mound and found it to be beautiful.
We enjoyed the history,
we examined the rocks,
and Bishop worked on his photography.
He took some really stunning photos.
I look forward to getting them developed and seeing them in print.
I love his point of view.
He will enter some of them in the fair but cannot display all of his work there. I think that I will have to arrange a photo exhibit at some point.
Once again the kids had ample opportunity to learn more about the value of family as a whole and to learn about those things that make our family unique. We checked in on our family that buried a wonderful woman a couple of weeks ago and were facing their first Mother's Day without her. We visited with my 93 year old grandmother.
We learned more about dealing with little cousins.
And we learned how to honor a great-grandfather and tell him goodbye.
From the funeral home to the church where the service was to take place we made a procession and drove all over the county that his parents homesteaded in and that he spent his entire life in. We drove past his birthplace and his ranch house. We went through the town where he met my Granny. We went past his elementary school and jr. high and near the town where he graduated high school. We went to the church that he attended with his second wife, Gram. It was moving.
And in the midst of all of this we learned more of God's goodness and grace as He brought us gifts of beauty ...
and nature...
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| Hiding under this... |
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| ...was this! |
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| Color... |
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| and happiness even in the driest of places! |
and family.
Even in the midst of all of this we managed to get some reading done. Bishop and I continue to work on a book about Archimedes and Maceo worked on some scripts.
It was a full week. A week full of fun and travels, tears and memories, learning and love!
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