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HAPPY BIRTHDAY THANKSGIVING!

/ joseph elon lillie / 6 Comments

It is 5 A.M. on Thanksgiving morning. I am getting ready to start cooking the Thanksgiving meal.

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I roasted and carved the turkey yesterday. The turkey stock is set aside for gravy. Today is going to be given to the vegetable portion of the meal. My nephew, Ryan, is bringing a pie. My daughter, Amanda, is bringing the potatoes. My daughter-in-law, Kristine, is making beef Afritada. My nephew, Tyler, is bringing the drinks. That leaves Melanie and I to make: Mac and cheese, green bean casserole, turnip and carrots, butternut squash, stuffing and sweet potato pie.

Yesterday was my 58th birthday.

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We celebrated with pizza from the pizzeria where my son-in-law works and carrot cake. As my 59th year begins I feel change is in the air. Change is always in the air, but this is different. As I approach old age I feel like this is my time of life. The period of my life I was really made for. I feel a sense of coming into my own. I am bidding farewell to what I was as a young man and even what I was as a middle-aged man and I am saying hello to something new… something more vital than anything I have ever experienced before. I am feeling old and strangely…strong.

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THE BIG MOVE

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A week ago my daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughters moved in to the Vicarage. It has been a week of unpacking and transitioning and learning to live with all of our new normal.

As the fall settles in and the last of the garden flowers wilt to seed, the denizens of the Vicarage are preparing to settle in for our own long winter’s nap. Though I have suspect that very little napping will get done during the season of darkness.

There are lots of projects to do here at the Vicarage and at the church.

Yesterday James, Joe, Sevii and I attended a men’s conference at the church and then James headed off to work and I headed off to prayer.

Today is church service. Melanie is leading worship and I am preaching so we are already in full swing of preparation.

The next week will be about harvesting the last of the fall veggies from the garden (there is still kale and potatoes to bring in) and then putting the gardens to bed for the winter. As well the kids have to finish unpacking and working on the upstairs room which was Amanda’s room before she moved. They are turning that into a class room for the girls.

In the middle of all this the ladies are planning a fall ladies conference and we are preparing for the town’s first ever (as far as I know) volunteer drive at the end of October. T

This week I will be appointed to secretary of the Friends of the library.

It’s a wonderful and busy season breathing heavily on the edge of the holiday season which will culminate in what we are calling Christmas with our missionaries. All of this is going to give me lots to write about in the days ahead. I just have to make sure I get the writing done.

…AND GLAD OF IT!

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So I announced in the short yesterday that my youngest daughter and her family are moving in with us at the end of September.

I am really excited to see what God’s next step is for my son-in-law and daughter and their two girls.

I know this is a season of change and a season of growth for all of us.

I sense that our family is at another pivot point in its history, and for some reason this feels like a big one. Maybe it’s just the times we are living in. Maybe it is the reading and listening I am doing of late. Maybe it is something deeper than that, bigger than that. At this point I am uncertain.

What I do know is I am glad to have my family around me at this season. I am glad we are doing life together. I am glad we are doing church together. I am glad we are all of us close in proximity.

WHAT’S GOING ON IN YOUR OWN FAMILY SAGA.

GENERAL COUNCIL AND NATIONAL YOUTH CONVENTION 2025 DAY 1

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A group of us from Cornerstone Church Winchendon MA departed Winchendon yesterday to fly to Florida for National Youth Convention and General Council Of the Assemblies of God 2025.

General Council is the annual gathering of all American Assemblies of God leadership for its official business meeting and National youth convention is a biannual event held in conjunction with National Fine arts, a celebration of the talent of the youngest generation of the church.

This year our church has two competitors in the Fine arts competition.

Here Pastor Amanda and James and Sadie Bauver are sending off the last texts before they get on the plane. How times have changed.

Here is the team from our church that flew together to Florida. The Hacketts are heading to General Council and Pastor Amanda and I are taking James and Sadie to National Youth Convention and Fine Arts. They are in the same place but two separate events.

The Hacketts are staying on Disney property, I think. Meanwhile a lady from our church got us into her time share for a very….very reasonable price. I don’t know what I was expecting but I didn’t think this was going to be our front door for the week. Below are some other shots from our rooms.

A huge thank you to Pam who helped us with these accommodations.

MEMORIAL DAY WORK WEEK

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It was a busy Memorial Day weekend.

Today (May 29th), being Ascension Day, our church is beginning a season of concentrated prayer which will go on until Pentecost Sunday.

That means getting the projects done at the Vicarage took front burner status as we approached the holy days. I wanted to get the gardens at least partially planted. I wanted to get the chicken coops finished. We are pretty close with the coops.

Sunday, Monday,Tuesday and Wednesday the fam worked hard.

The tomato trellis is now set up.

Once all the vegetables and herbs are in I will start building the stone walls around the box gardens.

It was a very productive weekend. Now on to prayer!

FOREST GARDEN: JAPANESE KNOTWEED

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I believe that part of gardening is looking at the landscape you have around you and figuring out how that works into your garden plan. My garden just happens to be filled with lots of invasive things. On the surface that would seem to be a drawback, but as I think through it all there are lots of advantages that the invasive species bring.

One of the species I deal with is Japanese knotweed.

It grows fast and takes over. I do cut it back every year and I have often thought about getting rid of it altogether, but the birds and the rabbits love to nest in the dense foliage. There are always an abundance of nests wedged into the close growing bamboo-like stalks. In the winter it attracts hosts of sparrows who use it to hide from predators during the day and night. This year our rabbits have built their warren in the heart of the knotweed jungle.

This beautiful fellow has been hunting on our property all this week.

This winter I am trying to learn more about forest gardening and the plants I already have in the forest as I lay my garden plan for the Spring. Here is something I have learned about knotweed.

I think I will keep the Knotweed.