A Celebration of Love

Who's Love???

THEIRS!
God has been good...we rejoiced over 60 faithful years of marriage!

Where was this celebration???

HERE!
In the beautiful Smokey Mountains: Pigeon Forge, TN

Grandpa and Grandma, not too many people can say they have been married to the same person for 60 years. Your marriage is a good example of a three-fold cord...it is NOT easily broken! Thank you for that example and for all that you have taught us! We love you!!!

We had a lovely time. We stayed Thursday night at my parent's house in Francesville as our reservations for the cabin weren't until Friday. Thursday night was a short night! It was the first time in a long time that we had seen my dad so we made the most of our time staying up late talking! All too soon, "BEEP, BEEP", 5 am has rolled around and we're off to Tennessee! We stayed in a beautiful cabin with 12 master bedrooms! Needless to say, it accommodated all 31 of us quite well! Two hot tubs, a pool table, air hokey, huge tables to fit us all, nice big sitting areas, and a wonderful view added to the experience! Being all together in one big house allowed for more quality time and boy did we use it! Game nights were one of my personal favorites! "Mafia" and "I Never" were the group games of choice in the evenings. A myriad of other games were played here and there too!

So...for a smattering of photos. I'll admit that I didn't do so well on taking pictures. :( But here are a few.

The little munchkin! Joel Alan

Saturday we went on a nice little hike. It was paved so my aunt Janice could take her scooter and the couples with babies could push their little ones. It was a good enough workout and the ending was beautiful! A waterfall!

My dear A. Joan and I

All of us minus Brett...he stayed back at the cabin with AJ & Raquel

Yes folks, he's that tall...actually probably taller than the photo lets on!

Enjoying some scrambles

A personal favorite :)

Poor Derek got the flu while were there. :( He did get over it in time to enjoy the place...he was such a trooper! We were right next to the community pool...another plus!

"Deek"

Photo shoot with B! (don't let him fool ya, he was loving it!) We'd show him the pictures on the camera screen and he seemed to focus on them! He also kept trying to grab the camera. :)

Each family took turns preparing a lunch and dinner a day. I loved being in the kitchen again with my mom and sister! Alisha is quite the cook...creative, smart and the food is delicious! I'm thinking she's "one of those" who is an effortless cook with perfect cooking! :)

Stuffed Mushrooms!

We all headed back Monday morning. After the 8 hour drive, Dad, Dan, and Alisha hit the fields! They were up till almost 2am harvesting. Since our plane didn't leave until 7:30pm on Tuesday, Dan and I were able to work in the field the next day too! It was SO good to get back in a tractor! Dan learned how to drive a semi and I was able to drive the auger wagon for a few hours as well as start vertical tillage! (yay!) Grandma Metz even came out and rode in the tractor with me! We had a nice chat.

Oh, Dan also got to work his muscles. As did Alisha and Mark. I won't do too much explaining...lets just say there was an accident and some scooping had to be done. :( We salvaged quite a bit though!

This photo was taken at the beginning of the trip but I had to add it anyways.

Mmmm. Monical's pizza!

Summary: It was a fabulous, well-packed trip! It was wonderful to be together as a whole family again (immediate and extended). Life is always changing and it was helpful to reflect on Grandpa and Grandma's 60 years of happy marriage. And since life has its up and downs it is so good to see how the Lord carried them through it all faithfully. God's promises are sure!