Getting ready to go to Tennessee! The trip we've waited for for a long time! We are planning to leave for Nashville area on Sunday after church. We've been preparing for the trip this week. All of the canning and freezing were actually part of the preparations. I needed to get that done so I could go without thinking about all the veggies and fruit going to waste. There will be tomatoes to do when I get home, I'm sure. After that the late apples for applesauce should be ready and then I can quit canning for the year!

The big Stauffer family reunion is to be held tomorrow and we plan to go. Lots of food and fun! Plus that we'll be packing the car. I got all the cleaning done today and get to spend tomorrow cooking and preparing food for the reunion and possibly some stuff for around here. I hope to make granola, which I haven't done in a long time. I want to have it on hand for when we return since the day after we get back we have company coming from the south! Homemade granola is always a big hit. I love it with blueberries on it. I just put about 18 pounds of berries in the freezer in the last two weeks after we ran onto that really good deal on them.

We will spend our first night with our cousins in Kentucky and less than a week later while we're still in Nashville, they are coming to Michigan for a trip to the bridge. They will be at our house when we get back. That's why I'm considering making the granola for quick breakfasts.

I probably won't post on this blog until I get home since I don't think I'll have access to a computer without going out of my way to do so. I hope to continue a bit more about courtship after we get back, plus all the details of the trip! I have been re-reading through my grandma's letters that she received from my grandpa when he was in the service in WW1. He was only her "beau" at the time, but I thought it would be educational for the courtship discussion to look at some of the old-fashioned attitudes toward romance! Those letters are very interesting and contain some really neat historical references that shed light on life in 1917-18. Too cool.

Yesterday I received a call to speak at a ladies' retreat in October. I'll be speaking twice on a Saturday, so now I'm in the process of praying about what the Lord would have me share with these women. Hearing the voice of the Lord is one of my favorite subjects and so now I get a chance to really put that into practice! I am leaning toward just speaking on that very thing. It's so important for us to realize that the Lord is speaking to us and wants a relationship with us that is alive and vibrant. Pray for me on that if you think of it. I want to be faithful to deliver what the Lord would use to specially encourage these particular women. Blessings, LORI