Go ye therefore . . .

Matthew 28:19, 20 “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen.”

 

Sunday we had baptism's at my church.
Here is a photo of all the folks who got baptised.



Here's a photo our dear Pastor Charlie.
He is the Pastor who married us also.
My hubby has been attending this church for almost 35 years.

This is our friends Mark and Maria.
Maria is soaking wet from her baptism and got Mark's shirt all wet. hah
My husband has been friends with them for 30 years.



Here's hubby and I with Maria. I had to crop Mark out of the photo
because the dear sweet lady who volunteered to take the photo
cut off his head. hah



We have these beautiful flowers in front of our church.
I noticed they were covered in butterflies.
Can you see the butterfly on the right hand side of the photo?



Here's a close up.  It got a bit blurry but you can see the butterfly.



And here is a different butterfly on the left side.



Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone,
the new has come!   2 Cor 5:17

While I'm posting photos of my church, I thought I'd add a few
more so I have them captured when I make my blog book.

Photo on the left is our Associate Pastor Jan.
She is our Pastor Charlie's sister.
She is a wonderful counselor and has helped me many times.

The two gals wearing their METS shirts are Stephanie and Anna.
Stephanie is so sweet. She teaches the Junior Youth and is just wonderful.
Anna is such a courageous gal. She lost her husband just a couple of years
ago and is such an example of faith and trust in the Lord.



Going from left to right.
Lillian, she is a wonderful sunday school teacher of 4th and 5th graders.
Her husband Joe is a real hoot. We love them both.
The lady with the grey jacket is Geri. She is from Georgia and
is such a doll. She has the best fashion sense.
The lady next to her in blue is Melissa. She is fun, fun, fun!
She can tell you every song from the 50's and 60's.



 Lillian's daughter Holly.
She faithfully teaches 1st and 2nd grades.
She and my hubby are good pals since he teaches 3rd and 4th grade.



Betty our church secretary. She does a fantastic job.
And is such a dear lady.



These are our sweet friends Dennis and Cheryl.
They have a Westie doggie like my Solomon named Ronald.



Tony and Anita. They are so cute as a couple.
They are newlyweds like my hubby and I were just 5 short years ago.
Tony is our resident chef.  He cooks for VBS and anytime we need
some good Italian food.



Vito and May. They are lovely.
Vito is one of our faithful ushers.
May is such an encourager and prayer warrior.



The man on the left is Harvey - he is our worship leader.
He is so talented. When he talks about the Lord his joy and love
is so evident I almost always cry hah

The pretty lady in the middle is Adrianne.
She is on the worship team and sings like an angel.



This is one of our friends. When I think of him I think
"Faithful Servant" John will jump in to help without
hesitation and he is just so kind.



Frank and his dear family.
He does all our audio-video needs.
He is a really neat guy.
He is one of my facebook friends and always cracks me up.



Jerry and Bart. Two members of our worship team.
They are both very talented musicans and singers.
We are so blessed to have them.



These are our good friends,  Simone, Kathy, Steve and Chris.



This is our Pastor with a few of our kids.
My hubby teaches both of the boys in this photo.



Worship !



Image of our church.



It's amazing how God works. When I first got married and we
were deciding where to live, work and worship. We agreed
that I would leave my church and we would attend my husbands
church. I had a new Pastor and was not really rooted yet.
While my husband had attended his church for 30 plus years.
I will share that it was difficult. I felt like a visitor for about a year.
But the Lord showed me it takes time and effort to make new
relationships.  Now just 5 years later I can say Maranatha is
MY Church.  It hit me Sunday as I was worshipping how far
I have come. How comfortable I feel and how deeply I love
these people. God is so faithful.

Our church body has been to Israel many, many times.
They hope to go again in April and hubby and I are praying to go.

We have a picture of the Israeli flag in our window and sadly we
have had threats and protests against our church.
God has always protected us and we carry on praying for Israel
like Jesus commanded us.




Pray for peace in Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper.
Psalm 122:6

Blessed To Have a Normal Saturday

Up bright and early Saturday AM

 

 

 

 

Breakfast with hubby at The Turning Point.

Yummy blueberry pancakes and they have the most
delicious decaf coffee. It's hard to find a good cup of decaf.

 

Then we went shopping because I had a Kohl's coupon !

I cannot believe the bargains I found.  So blessed.



3 shirts (1 for hubby, 2 for me) hah
A great scarf that I had wanted to purchase but wouldn't pay the price of $36.00
Do you believe I got it for:  $3.06 now that is much better !

I found this great photo frame for my recent friends photo

I treated myself to pretty earrings and an Autumn hand towel.

 We spent $ 43.59       Total savings:  $  149.04

We also went over to Steinmart. 
Picked up this cute pair of "readers" 
Love PINK animal print - such fun !

What's a new pair of readers without a case?
I love monogramed items.
Always get my last name.
Hubby just shakes his head hah

Came home hot and tired phew, bargain shopping is exhausting hah
Took a 2 hour nap.  Yes I did !

Meanwhile, hubby was very busy watching his favorite "educational shows" ; )

 

 

Woke up in time to go off to dinner at Bertucci's
We were in the mood for pizza!

Across the parking lot from Bertucci's is our multiplex movie complex.
Look what they had visiting today !

The BATMOBILE.
I'll confess I am not a big fan of "Superhero movies" but it was fun to see the car.

Tomorrow will be a fun day.
My friend Maria's son, Joseph turns 17 !

How did he go from this:

To this:

 

Seems like overnight. 

Joseph is a great young man!

 

Happy Birthday

Abundant Blessings,

*´ ¨)

¸.· ¸.·*´¨) ¸.·*¨)

(¸.·´ (¸.·* *

Mare <><

Life long friends

Every summer for several years I have taken a weekend trip to visit my dear friends in Pennsylvania. It is about a 4 hour drive from my home.  I have known this family since I was 8. We began our relationship as neighbors and I soon became the 6th child.

Here are some photos of Lewisburg PA
It is a great town.
It is home to Bucknell College.
Many NJ kids attend Bucknell.




They have 5 grown children . . . 3 daughters (Lydie, Cindy and Holly) and 2 sons (Cliff and Luke)
Only one of their 5 children still lives close to home.
So every summer those adult children, that are able too, come home to visit.
I always try to make it so I can see them since we all live in different states ranging from
Florida, West Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

This year was a bit different.  The annual weekend BBQ was not going to be able to happen.
So I took two days off during the week and headed out with my Aunt Rose.
This was going to be just us 4 girls.  Sara, Lydie, me and Aunt Rose.

Me, Lydie, Sara and my Aunt Rose.

 

This is Lydie and I.

Friends since we were 8.

45 years !   

  

This amazing field of sunflowers is about 10 minutes down the road from their home.

 

 They seem to go on forever !

 

I also made a new friend this weekend.

This is Hastings.  He was born in Florida and was a 4 month old stray.

He showed up at Lydie's door when (just his good fortune) Lydie's parents were visiting.

He was so warm and friendly they fell in love with him and once they determined

he was a stray they adopted him and brought him home from FL to PA. 

 

I am a DOG person. But my goodness this boy opened my heart to other options.

He is so so sweet, a bit mischievous and such fun.

He comes when you call his name. He investigated both our suitcases and

visited my poor Aunt during a 2 am bathroom break hah

We visited one of our favorite shops Country Cupboard.

It is a hotel, banquet, restaurant, bakery, candy store, ice cream store and shops.

 

I found these photos from their face book page.

 

 

 

Crafts...

 

 

Home made candy...

 

Baked goods . . .

 

 

An amazing collection of candles...

 

Beautiful kitchen accessories . . .

 

Lovely clothes . . .

 

They make their own jellies, dips, dressings . . .

 

 A beautiful courtyard.

 

I treated myself to a Kringle Candle - Warm Cotton

I love the container. I can think of a hundred things I will do with this jar when done.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here's the story of Kringle Candle.

I think it is such a neat story.

 

  

When he was just sixteen, my father Mike Kittredge made a candle using his old childhood crayons for his mother’s Christmas present. Within a year, the antique Queen Anne stove you see here had become the heart of a tiny but fast-growing business called the Yankee Candle Company.

By following his inspiration and always stressing quality, my father made Yankee the candle industry standard which reshaped the modern giftware landscape. He sold Yankee Candle in 1998, and retired from the world of wax and wicks – or so he thought.

In 2008, I made my first candle on this same old stove purely for fun; I had just turned nineteen. So when my 2009 college course required that I create and promote a product, my choice was natural: candles. As I worked on the project I felt a great sense of heritage and fulfillment, and an idea that wouldn’t go away formed in the back of my mind.

I discussed expanding the academic assignment into a real business with my father. We spent several days considering what it would be like for both of us if I followed in his footsteps. There was a growing excitement as we realized we both wanted to explore the concept further.

As part of this process, we decided to see what sort of available facilities might be suited to candle crafting. On a drive through lovely Bernardston, Massachusetts, we discovered a building for sale which seemed to hold great promise. And it was familiar; the owner was a very good former customer of my Dad’s during Yankee Candle’s heyday.

At over 18,000 square feet, the place seemed much larger than I’d conceivably ever need. But as we looked around Dad said, “Just imagine the options for a moment. Production would fit nicely in this area, packaging and shipping goes over there, and this section could be an ideal showroom/retail space.”

I had to agree with my father; the property offered lots of flexibility and having a store made solid sense. His theory held that to be a good manufacturer you ideally have to be a good retailer of your own product. It’s the very best way to learn why a product sells, or doesn’t.

So, not long before Christmas 2009, the Kringle Candle Company was born. And our new home is less than twenty miles from Yankee Candle, on the very same state highway. I’m proud that the company my Dad created is so close by, and that we offer a high quality product and visitor experience as well.

The ultra-fragrant Kringle Candle line unites the best of the traditional and the new, with exciting candle products designed to mesh with virtually any decor. We’ve worked hand-in-hand with the industry’s finest perfumers to select an array of robust, realistic candle fragrances. Our all-white candles not only blend perfectly with all backdrops, they emit the purest, brightest light possible.

My Dad and I are still working together to create a new kind of candle business focusing on exceptional product quality and outstanding customer service, plain and simple. We pledge to you that we’ll remain wholly American-owned and operated, never straying from our singular mission of making only superior, honest candles that you’ll want to have in your home.

We’re very proud of our candles, and I think you will be pleased with them too.

Mike Kittredge III

I found these chocolate mints my hubby loves.
They are hard to find in our area but they had them at Country Cupboard.
I treated him to some.

 

We visited a local Farmer's Market called Ard's

They have wonderful produce.

 

 

 

We had delicious corn for dinner while we visited my friend so we decided we needed to stop at the market and take some back to New Jersey.

I also grabbed some beautiful tomato's - can't beat a tomato sandwich.

And some apples for my hubby - his favorite.

 

It was a wonderful blessed weekend.
Looking forward to next year !