Date: October 17 – 19, 2025

Location: Bear Creek Lake State Park

Weather: Sunny, 50s in the evening, 70s during the day; the leaves were starting to show color

Theme this year: We rented a shelter, Carrie designed our t-shirts, and we tried a Seafood Boil (we used mild sausage vs spicy) with Roasted Oysters and Oyster Rockefeller. Victoria suggested savory s’mores, and we all pitched in to try something different on Friday night.

Activities: T-shirt Boo craft, Hand prayer, “Falling in Love with Jesus” craft with lamination, rock painting, wikki sticks, puzzles, the game Scattegories, carving pumpkins, a walk with geocash and smores at the end (park activity), playing on the swing sets, bike rides, walkie-talkies, and running, running, running (the kids’ favorite). I also showed Adelaide how to crochet. We played charades with the kids. They loved acting out dinosaurs, tigers, and all sorts of animals. Victoria brought the best glow sticks, balls, and glasses! They were a hit! Oh and reynold’s wrap decorations. Valentina made a cat, and Kayla and Kirsten made a surprise rose! They were so creative! Inside the rose was a surprise!

Victoria, Spencer, and the girls gave me a surprise breakfast on Saturday morning. I walked around to each person in the room to tell them why and how much I loved them, and spoke a blessing in their lives.

Happy Birthday Song (special request for grandchildren only)

On Thursday afternoon, we went to an Amish Market and Food Lion to get the food for the Seafood boil. This Amish Market in Buckingham is amazing! They did not have everything we needed, but they had some fun items like chocolate, cream-filled doughnuts, a huge box of Lucky Charms, Spencer, Jr.’s favorite, a pumpkin roll, and some other fun items in bulk.

I love you, Parish.

I usually just post the down and dirty on this memory blog, but something amazing happened, spiritually, for me. My dear friend, whom I love so much, recently had a loss. Her father-in-law died suddenly, and it has rocked her family. She shared the funeral service with me, and while I was shucking corn, cutting up potatoes, and dicing onions, we listened to the service. The service was moving beyond words. The minister of the church opened up with a prayer and scriptures that spoke of death not being final, and the passion of the love of God, our Father. When people got up to speak, including her husband, they talked about his legacy and his love for them. He, on purpose, would spend individual time with his children and the grandchildren, in which they were taught how to fish, hunt, explore nature, ski, and how he loved family gatherings and the laughter. Personal stories from each speaker resonated with connection, love, and what he taught them. Her daughter played the flute – Amazing Grace. I kept thinking how proud he must be of her and her accomplishments. Seeing my friend sitting there in the church with all the memories compiling to this moment of celebrating his life deeply moved me. It made me want to consider my impact on those who walk the same path, and how we can be intentional about a conversation with a child. Nothing forced or orchestrated, but just here we are. What are the words that I am speaking to you? How are we spending this time?

It is what led me to pause in the chaos (Autumn wiping chocolate on her mom’s sweatshirt, and Spencer, Jr. locking the door from the inside so folks can’t get in) and speak love to my family. It led me to read books to small children (The book asks: What makes us nervous? Oh the conversations from the little ones about tests, new schools, and getting on a school bus for the first time), teach them how to crochet, distract them with an activity when they were crying, hug, hold, listen, be silent, and respond with connection. I see you. I took a walk early in the morning with Spencer, Jr., and he asked me a lot of questions about God and Jesus. We talked about his fear of blood when he gets hurt. He asked questions about nature, and I taught him to wave his walking stick in front of him to rid yourself of walking into unknown spider webs. Watching him do that was hilarious. We got a little lost, and he showed me how to find our way back by looking at the things around us. We sat on a bench and watched the water glisten. His favorite.

I think about my friend’s father-in-law and how his well-lived life influenced our family. It reminded me of the importance of sharing your life and being willing to be present. Thank you, Ronnie. Thank you to the family who were willing to speak about his life on one of the hardest days.

All of our families are in different seasons, and it’s good that we can come together and connect while also connecting with our immediate families. I loved that Linda and John stopped by on Friday night to do S’mores and then left to have family time with a planned dinner. Their girls had travelled a distance from a concert and wanted time to rest and be with their mom and dad.

John is just like Parish with cooking. I have NEVER had oysters like he cooked them. They were beyond divine and carefully made for us.

We always miss those who can’t be with us, but you are on our hearts and minds. Life does this, and we can’t always be there, but we are all connected.

The kids LOVED the playground!

My favorite times are glancing or pausing to capture a moment.

Looking forward to next year! October 2026 at Lake Occaneechee! The young folks want to head back there and rent a pontoon for a ride on the water and visit Clarksville, like we did a few years ago. Calendars are set for the 11 months prior to hopping on and booking it!

I was able to capture some of the Bible verses and prayers from the service by recording on Zoom and downloading the transcript. It’s worth a read. A little choppy b/c of the transcript, but good.

A movie of the weekend:

Parish and I went to Farmville, High Bridge Trail, and rode 20 miles on our E-bikes!