Next we decorated some pumpkin sugar cookies to take home and share with our families. Don’t forget you can click on the pictures to enlarge them.
We also got to decorate some pumpkins!
Once we got all that accomplished we were pretty hungry so we started to roast our hot dogs and then we got to make some yummy smores!!
I think it’s safe to say everyone had a pretty good time!
You can click on the images to enlarge.
Pastor Blaine started the evening off with two teams having to pass an apple behind their back to the next person in line.
Then the last person had to drop their apple from behind their back into the bucket.
Blaine is helping them get started.
Here we have some visiting going on while waiting for the fun to begin.
Time to load up for the hay rack ride.
Ok, we made it back from the hayride, brrrr….it was cold! Now we’re coming in to warm up and receive our instructions from Blaine!
Too many pictures for one post, so stay tuned for more to come and see what Blaine has us doing next!
Don’t forget! Sunday Oct. 28th we will be having a Harvest Festival from 5:00 to 7:30 p.m. This event is for everyone of all ages; young-old and in between. Come and enjoy the food, fellowship and fun!
A weiner roast…
Marshmallow roast…
and hay-rack ride will be part of the activities.
Hope to see you there!
Many of you know that we have a 39 year old son with special needs. As a child most of our moves in the pastorate have been in seeking to provide for his educational opportunities. Now, as an adult Dan is truly “special.” He works approximately 20 hours a week at a Sports Bowling Center in Elkhorn, helps manage the D.C. West football and basketball team league and has made friends that I can count from Idaho to Florida to Malvern and Hamburg. The other night he and I were playing “Wheel of Fortune” and with very few letters revealed he spelled out the answer, “Quantum Physics.” I asked him how he knew the answer and he replied, “I’m smart you know and Mrs. Raggow taught me how to spell.” NUH! For a moment I thought who has special needs?
I began thinking, aren’t we all needy in more ways than one? We have emotional needs, mental needs, physical needs and social needs and the list grows longer. Our heavenly Father says needy children believe in me, trust in me, have faith in me, and I will provide abundantly above anything you would desire. In other words, “I the Lord God, creator of all things, will provide and supply All Your Needs.”
One thing I need to mention, Dan attends worship at the bowling alley at a satellite outreach of Westside Church.
As a child; He trusts’ He believes and has put his faith in his Heavenly Father and his Heavenly Father is providing very well for him.
In His Care and Keeping,
Pastor Blaine Pritchett
Fremont County
JoAnn Birkby
JoAnn Birkby started out as a nine year 4-H er’ in Nodaway County Missouri. During that time, she had cattle, cooking, sewing and home improvement projects. Her fair career in Fremont County started as a newlywed.. The first year she was married she attended and viewed the open class exhibits. The following year JoAnn an avid gardener entered her onions and won a blue ribbon. The rest as they say is history. She has been a prominent fixture of the Fremont County 4-H program fair for many years. She helped as a 4-H mom, as a 4-H leader for 12 years, as a fair board member for 24 years and 35 years as the cherry pie superintendent. To some it may not seem like a major or stressful job, however, the 4-H’ers (70) last year made their pie crusts in front of an audience, added the filling to the crust, and handed the pies over to JoAnn to bake. They are then sold at auction to raise funds for the Citizenship Washington Focus trip. The pies are a major fundraiser for the CWF4-H’ers. Some families request JoAnn to have her picture taken with the cherry pie bakers every year. Asked about her involvement with the fair, JoAnn responded that she most enjoys BEING at the fair. Seeing the beautiful paintings and fabulous wood working things is another source of enjoyment. The most unusual exhibit was a child size bull dozer that actually worked. She loves to visit with people of all ages who make entries in the open class,
Thank you JoAnn for your many years of dedication, enthusiasm and support!
Nancy Newlon has written and shared this amazing information with us about the Monarch Butterfly. It is so very interesting! Thanks Nancy!
When God created the wonders of nature, he shrouded one of his most fragile creations, the monarch butterfly, in mystery.
A few years ago I read an article about an organization called Monarch Watch and their tagging program of the monarch butterfly. By tagging, scientists were learning the story of the monarch’s remarkable migration. For several years I had noticed in the fall there were large numbers of monarchs hanging from my trees and floating through my back yard. After reading the article I realized my home was on the fall migration route of the monarch. I signed up for the tagging program and on September 11, 2000, I tagged my first monarch. Since that time I have tagged 100’s of monarchs. In 2003 I was excited to get a letter from Monarch Watching saying that a butterfly I had tagged had been recovered. It said that monarch No. BGW512 which I had tagged on 9/11/2002 had been recovered in ElRosario, Mexico by Leonel Garcia Martinez on 3/7/2003. This monarch traveled 1,485 miles. WOW!
Since I started tagging monarchs I have learned so many interesting facts about this butterfly. During the monarch’s migration to its winter home in the Sierra Madre Mountains in Mexico, it can travel up to 3,000 miles. This winter home is only 70 square miles. If you combined the Iowa counties of Fremont, Page, Taylor, Pottawattamie, Montgomery, and Adams, it would be an area approximately 70 square miles. The monarch migration is also amazing because the monarch returning to Mexico each fall is the great-great-great grandchild of the butterfly that left the previous spring. Monarchs who breed early in the summer live only a few weeks and are called summer monarchs. Adults die shortly after mating and laying eggs. Females lay their eggs only on milkweed plants and each female lays about 400 eggs. The egg is no bigger than the head of a pin.
Several generations of short lived monarchs are produced in early to mid-summer. However, in late August, shorter days and colder temperatures cause the emerging monarchs to postpone reproductive maturity. This generation is called the winter monarch and they migrate to the little 70 square mile winter home in Mexico. Remember, this is a place they have never been. When the weather starts to warm in the early spring, these winter monarchs will start heading north and after mating and laying eggs, they will die. The monarchs born are the short lived summer monarchs and they are the start of a new generation of monarchs.
For 100’s of years the monarch butterfly has found its way home to where its great-great-great grandparents lived the winter before. Scientists are baffled how a frail butterfly finds its way to the wintering grounds from a summer birthplace half a continent away. It can’t be from memory because this generation of monarchs has never been there. Scientists speculate the butterfly might rely on celestial navigation-possibly the rays of the sun to guide its flight. I am not baffled by the monarch’s precise navigation mechanism. It is just one of the wonders of nature created by God.
--Nancy Newlon
Jerry Birkby ran the 10K at the Hamburg Popcorn Festival and came in first in his division (75 and older) it happens he was the only one in that division but the saving grace for him was that he came in before several of the ones in the 60 to 70 division. Way to go Jerry!
Jerry and JoAnn showed their new quilt at the Applejack Festival and received viewers choice 2nd place in the large quilt division of the Heritage Needlework Guild 2012 quilt show. It is a Mariner’s Compass that was quite a trial to piece and Jerry had to redo the patterns to make it the right size, Jerry then designed some of the quilting designs and it was hand quilted.
Pioneer church along the Missouri River recovers from historic flooding.
Read the complete article here.
The hot weather is waning, as is our remembrance of the summer’s travail. New concerns come wafting in with the fall breezes. We will be on the lookout soon for frost advisories, while enjoying the wonderful autumnal temperatures during the day. We will gather in the harvests, and prepare for winter around the house and fields.
The church plans to celebrate the season with a Harvest Festival on October 28th, including a hay ride, among other activities. Let the children know, so they may anticipate the fun and frolic of the event. If you would like to help, contact JoAnn Birkby, at 374-2798.
September past so quickly! Barb Handy reported that the fundraising stand at the Popcorn Day festival in Hamburg was very successful. Thank you to all who participated in the event. Wava Shipley also contributed to church funds by selling an old pew, that was an encumbrance to many, for a whopping sum of $125.
Don’t forget the collection of food for the hungry. Paul reports that the recipients of the donations are extremely grateful. He was impressed with their expressions of thanks, reporting of them with a few tears in the eye.
A suggestion was made at the board meeting to have the foundation of the church building painted brown to match the doors. Labor would open to volunteers, who don’t mind getting down on their hands and knees. The elder statesmen of the church prefer that someone younger might be interested, if the project goes forward.
Also, one Sunday congregants were wandering around the fellowship hall with hunger pangs in their bellies, and forlorn looks in their eyes. Apparently no one had signed up for treats! Horrors! Imagine that happening on Halloween, the tricks would abound! So keep an eye on the whiteboard by the kitchen, and fill in any blanks if you have the opportunity.
Secretary, Marcia
