Sabbath Day in West Virginia

On Sunday morning we (actually Julie) managed to get all six children and herself ready for Church. Peter waits and goes with the family, which I so appreciate as a Pastor...and it takes some doing. Here they all are ready to board the Jones bus for church...minus Cecily and adding Kory.

Julie brought out Cecily, and here the pretty ladies are...all smiles to go and worship our good God.

Later in the day we again boarded the Jones bus for the home of Mr. & Mrs. Bill Oldland, one of the Church families. They live on a beautiful 10 acres about 1/2 an hour from Morgantown. It was my first chance to experience the countryside of West Virginia, and it was memorable. It was also 'game night' for the Church family. We had a barbecue and potluck dinner first of all. Then most of the ladies and babies sat and visited while the men, teens and small children played the games. What a lovely afternoon and evening we enjoyed!

Kory and Hannah Moss played a bean bag toss sort of game, while Ben thought their board would make a great place for climbing.

Julie took Millie, Cecily and a guest for a ride in a wagon around the large lawn area.

Millie wondered about the 'guest' but didn't mind a bit sharing her spot with him.

The Oldlands have a wonderful wooden play set, and Millie spent tons of time there and on a rope swing with Grammy pushing. Isn't she the picture of summer playtime?

Sam, Will, Ben and Cal spent quite a bit of their time collecting squirming things. Nothing like a happy boy and a muddy bucket full of things boys like to collect. The Oldlands have a creek on their property, so of course salamanders were lots of fun to catch.

William is showing off the casings he collected after the men and boy's target shooting session way up in the woods. The women thought it was a bit loud, but the men and boys all had big smiles.

Here's Kory getting ready to toss in her bean bag. You can see the hole that she would be aiming for on the opposite board.

Here's a shot of the lawn area and some of the sweet fellowship going on. All ages and all enjoying each other and the beautiful day.

Ern, the student from Malaysia is in the front row of the volleyball game. He talked Kory into playing, and she had a great time. It's so fun to see the college boys playing and having a great time.

A broader picture of the volleyball teams and Pastor Peter right up in front blocking. Several of the girls wear dresses/skirts most of the time, so played in their skirts and looked great.

We stayed as day faded into twilight and then to dusk. The humidity was so high that clouds of moisture came up from the ground...and looked to me like fog. But you could see through it easily enough, and it didn't stay too long after dark. Really strange to me, but pretty. The fireflies came out too and joined our party.