Tea on the Lawn

Mom is part of a local chapter of the Women's Institute(WI). They serve "Tea on the Lawn" as a fundraiser during the summer at a local Conservation area.

Yesterday was my first volunteer afternoon with them - Mom and I went together. It was a lot of fun, a good experience and the food was great! Always a plus :) The menu is homemade tea breads and tea (in your own tea pot :) or lemonade.

The next time I go I will get pictures as I forgot my camera. You know us bloggers - we always have to have our cameras with us!

Q&A

Q&A Irene said - I love the music on your blog. Was it hard to put on?

I made my playlist at playlist.com a few years ago - just recently I looked into putting it on my blog. It is very simple to do. Once you have your playlist all made up you just hit the button that says "share playlist". Then it will give you a list of options to choose from. You will choose blogger. After that it's smooth sailing!

Thanks for asking.

-Erin

I hope you all had a great weekend! We have been blessed with some great sunny weather :)

On Sunday Shawn and I went for a nice l o n g ATV ride. It was so much fun! Not as warm riding then it might have been walking - thankfully!

Mom and I are going into town today to do some errands. One of the things I have to do is get the fabric for my drama costume! I am wearing a nice long flowing dress for my role as the seamstress. I am really looking forward to showing you how it turns out.

I have been doing a lot of ironing this past week. It is one of those things that we had just not been getting to. But...it is all done! For now anyway... I am allowed unlimited movies when I iron :). Isn't that a great picture? Only I don't wear an apron when I iron. It also looks like this lady didn't have any movies to watch!

I have been doing gardening for different people this summer. One lady I have been working for quite a bit. She has flower gardens. I am going to be working for her a few times this week.

We have been working the past few months (when time permits/Daddy) on getting all the pictures on my walls and buying a few extra things that I have been needing. It looks great! I will have some pictures to show you this week of the finished room.

Have a great week eveyone!

-Erin

I miss my little Jenny

And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Romans 8:28

Our family was blessed last night to watch a 200 min. long movie about Don Carlo Gnocchi (no-kee) a wonderful priest who did so much during WW2 in the front lines during the war with the soldiers and afterward starting a home for all the children who had lost their parents or been otherwise affected. He was a wonderful godly man and it was a blessing for our family to be able to see this film. We highly recommend it!

I have enclosed an short article about Don Carlo Gnocchi that explains more about his life...

Don Carlo was an Italian priest who desired to serve as a military chaplain. Before having the honor, he encouraged young men to enlist during World War II. Even though the Italian army was currently controlled by the Fascist regime, he believed that fighting for one's country was a way of defending the weak. He rightly saw war as an opportunity to make better men because war allows men to practice heroic virtue. Eventually he was given a post with the Alpine regiment fighting in Albania. While he was serving on the front lines he witnessed countless young men sacrificing their lives for commanders who did not value life and who were ultimately fighting for an unjust cause.



When Don Carlo returned to his hometown he was dismayed that all the boys he had been teaching had decided to follow his lead and join the military. He had no choice but to re-enlist and serve alongside these young men (now fighting under German command) on the frigid Russian front. 68,000 troops were sent to Russia and only 7,000 returned. Some were lost to the fighting, but most were lost to the extreme cold.


The most difficult task Don Gnocchi had to undertake began after the war ended. He traveled throughout Italy to personally console the families of his fallen friends and give them any letters or belongings that he had been entrusted with. In his journeys he realized that the real war was not over. The real war was being fought in the lives of the victims. With so many men gone, many families were left with no one to care for them. Among the needy were a large number of children who had lost limbs because of land mines placed in the Italian countryside. Without fathers to support them, these children had no futures, and their special needs surpassed the abilities of the orphanages to care for them.



Don Carlo had no money and no plan, but he put his trust in God and began gathering all these children. He started by opening up the rectory to disabled children but he required more help and better facilities to sustain the growth and adequately care for the orphans. It took the support of many generous people and powerful Church leaders to provide the housing, food and medical attention that these poor mutilati needed.


Don Carlo's story is unique because he not only provided for the physical care of the orphans, he championed the Catholic theology of redemptive suffering and taught the children how to live it. When we offer up our suffering for others, we offer it for those we love and for the weakest people in society. Don Carlo showed his children that even the weakest of people can unite their suffering to the suffering of Christ on the cross. When they do this they are participating in the life of Christ and helping Him with His work on earth and in the Church.

The Don Carlo Gnocchi Foundation for disabled children is well-respected and continues to thrive in Italy today. It has expanded its care to elderly people who are unable take care of themselves and for terminal cancer patients. On January 17th, 2009 a miracle attributed to Venerable Don Carlo Gnocchi was promulgated by Pope Benedict XVI and he was beatified on October 25th, 2009.

I took this article from a website that I found - many thanks to the author

An evening swim

Last night Mom and I went for a visit to see Caroline and her Mom, Carmelle. Mom has been doing a bible reflection with Carmelle and another lady for the past few months at their house.

Then Caroline and I went down to the beach and had a swim. We also got a visit on the beach from Louise! It was great to see you Louise. This is a picture of the beach we went to - Caroline and I did not do any posing last night. There was alot of people there last night trying to cool off.

It has been great to see you so much lately Caroline after seeing you only a few times last year. See you in a couple weeks :)

- Erin

Our Weekend

We had a very warm and sunny weekend and it has been continuing into the week. A nice change from some of the cooler days we've had this summer.

Our friend Caroline, her Mom and younger brother came to church with us on Sunday and we had a pleasant afternoon together. Caroline spent the night and part of the next day with us. We slept out in the tent and had some "girly" fun with lots of laughs. :)

We took Caroline down to see our local marble mines - the mines are a few minutes from our house. Shawn took this nice picture of Caroline, Scott and I.

The marble mines

Scott has been working at our local berry farm this summer, mostly selling berries at the nearby stands. This is his third year working there - I worked there the past two years. I stopped by to see him last week and took a picture for my blog. Aren't the berries pretty?

I joined a drama group last month. Our first play that we are doing is W. Shakespeare - "The Taming Of The Shrew". Our group meets on Tuesdays at a local church hall. I have really been enjoying trying out a bit of acting as I have always wanted to do some.

I am playing the role of the Tailor - changed to a seamstress as there were not many girls roles in this play.

I have to get ready to go to drama now. Have a great week everyone! Keep cool....

- Erin

Happy Canada Day!

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian readers! We had a nice family time here yesterday - slept in, worked around home and then had a lovely dinner over at my grandparents. Shawn, Scott and I drove up to a nearby town and and saw an amazing fireworks display on the river. We bumped into a few people we knew and our friend Louise sat with us. Scott took the fireworks pictures. A fun filled day!

O Canada! Our home and native land! True patriot love in all thy sons command.

With glowing hearts we see thee rise, The True North strong and free!






From far and wide, O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

God keep our land glorious and free! O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

O Canada, we stand on guard for thee.

Dancing at the wedding....

I wanted to share a few dance pictures from the wedding last Saturday. We all had a great time in spite of the fact that no one seemed to understand the caller for square dancing as you will see in the first picture. One of the groom's six brothers in a great hat looking on.

Wilson and I square dancing...

and working on our ballroom dancing

Scott and I doing the fox trot

Mom and I have started biking again this week. It has been a while since our last bike ride so we have been discovering some muscles that we had forgotten about!

Biking has always been one my favorite forms of exercise so it's great to be back at it.

Have a wonderful week everyone!