My dad made slides right up until I was born. So growing up if we ever had any relatives passing through, the slide projector would come out and stories began tumbling out. In fact, just this Friday night I dropped in and they were looking at slides with my Uncle Mark and Aunt Jane.
This is my version of a summer slide show. And be forewarned. I enjoyed writing this post so much over the course of a week or two. Especially as the school year and preserving are in full swing, I spent a few moments each night working on this post and had a good time reflecting.
Townsends. We’ll start with that first picture above… an all time favorite. We love watching Townsends on Youtube, an 18th century history channel. They also make historical reproduction clothing for movies and reenactment activities at their store in Indiana. Back in 2020 Ivar wrote a letter to Jon Townsend, telling him he had watched a video that inspired him to fell some saplings in our woods and build a shelter. Then when Durable Trades came out, Rory sent them a copy and they invited him to be a guest on their show which felt very generous. Fast forward to this summer. When I looked at the map of our route to Michigan, I wondered how close we’d be to their store. Turns out they were very close, so I reached out to see if we could stop by for a visit. And again, they generously suggested that Rory be on the show to talk about the family economy.
Live… in Nutmeg Tavern! We were so excited.
And it was so fun. Ryan, pictured below with his coffee roaster, and his wife were so welcoming and gracious to our whole family as was Jon and his daughters who met us at the store. We were thrilled to be there, so grateful for the invitation, and the whole day was a definite highlight of our summer for all of us. You can watch Rory’s interview here.
Rory and Rebecca’s Wedding. The first thing I would say is that I don’t believe that Rory and I have left all of the kids and flown anywhere in 10 years. That alone was a really big deal for us. But then we were heading to Montana to celebrate the glorious wedding of two friends who have become very dear to us.
The whole weekend was stunning and so special. We stayed with another family that have become good friends and met so many wonderful people. I wouldn’t be able to put words to it, but thankfully Rory Feek wrote a song for the big day that turned into a beautiful wedding video. You can watch that video here. And the behind the scenes is so fun to hear about too. I can tell you that when he started singing his vows, the room filled with a palpable joy. It was wild. I think you’ll get a sense in the video.
This is a picture from the beautiful rehearsal dinner. Oh Montana. I used to work at a camp in Montana during my college summers and Rory and I lived out there for a short time. I think I have clocked 20+ Amtrak trips from St. Paul to Whitefish and Montana just never disappoints.
We got a drive back to the airport with these fine folks. They asked when our flight was. We said 2pm. And they said, “we’ll pick you up at 8 and take you for a scenic drive on your way back.”
And that it was! We drove to the top of the Beartooth Mountain Pass and it was stunning… God’s glory on full display! And it was scary. Below is the road winding back and forth. But definitely more stunning than scary.
I would do it again in a heartbeat. It was a really special morning and we caught our flight home just fine. Thank you to Auntie Sara for watching our kids!
Next slide, please.
Family Reunions. We had a really fun, rather spontaneous and unofficial, Groves family reunion when we got home. Rory’s cousin Laura and her family came to our farm to see their son who was traveling through with a missions team that week. Invitations went out and soon we had a potluck planned with a whole lot of the clan. The Groves have a tradition at their reunions of setting aside a sharing time with each family telling what the Lord is doing in their life. And it is so special because the Lord is doing so much.
Then, while cousins Laura and Jon were watching our farm, we drove to Mount Carmel Family Bible Camp to celebrate my dad’s 80th birthday. The first night we sat in the youth chapel and shared stories about my dad. He is the master storyteller, so to sit around and reminisce was hilarious and heartfelt.
We played board games, feasted at every meal, enjoyed sandcastles at the beach, had a family talent show, and tried to get Abel to stand still for a photo.
Simpson Park Camp in Michigan. We first met a board member for this camp at a conference and he told me, “we’re a Bible camp that has a farm.” I was so excited, “we’re a farm that would love a Bible camp!” And we got to talking about how we could help cast a vision for incorporating homesteading elements into their camp programming.
Simpson Park Camp is a remarkable place. They have been operating for 159 years… since the Civil War! In the early days as many as 3,000 people would come to their tent meetings—with horses and wagons. You had to bring bales of hay with you for the horses. I thought those logistics were fascinating… large group logistics before electricity, refrigeration and cars.
They invited us to share at their Heritage Days event during their annual tent meeting.
It was the first time they had used the barn and that space for camp programming, I believe. So it really was breaking ground for something new.
The State Fair. I took Ivar to the Minnesota State Fair this year and we had a really nice day. There was a mixture of amazement at the number of people and awe at the prices of food. I grew up going to the fair every year, so I knew what to expect. But this was all brand new for Ivar. It was steer judging day in the colosseum and we spent a lot of time in there, and watching the rabbit and sheep judging. And we walked the whole fair, going in most buildings.
The painting above was a big winner in the fine arts building. If it looks familiar, that is because that’s our tractor! There was a guest at the Farm & Family Fair who took a series of pictures of kids having fun on our tractor and then she compiled the photos and painted this scene. If you were at our fair, one of your kids might be in the painting! 🙂
And that’s a wrap. There’s more I could share, but every good slide show always gets a little long. So I’ll call it here. But I wanted to get these memories recorded knowing life will keep on moving as it does. What I can say after reflecting on all of these places and people and experiences, is that the world is full of wonderful people, and we are surrounded by them on every side.
