Thankful for the slow times

We enjoy this time of year because life is a little bit slower. This is true in any year, but with the current economy, work is even slower than usual. God has blessed with lots of overtime in the past year, which has enabled us to enter these uncertain times in a good state. People I work with are now wishing they hadn't bought the Harley or the bigger truck. We are thankful we are in a position to be a blessing to those who are facing tough times. This can speak volumes to those I have had opportunity to be a witness to in the past. We may face these challenges ourselves in the future, but for now we are blessed to be able to enjoy the free time.

One of the ways we took advantage of a day off was to go the Pennsylvania State Farm Show this week. This is held for a week every January and draws about 400,000 people. There are 24 acres under roof, with about 6,000 animals. There are rodeos, equipment displays, even a tractor square dance. In reality, you need almost a week to see all there is to see. There are lots of free food samples. We had pancakes with syrup, turkey bacon, skinless sausage, ice cream, honey, roasted almonds with cinnamon and sugar, pretzels for trying different types of mustard (one with banana peppers), fruit slushies, cheese, and more. Turkey Hill, a local dairy, gave out free samples of their Duetto, which is a swirl of Italian ice and ice cream. I enjoyed meeting a local woodworker who makes unique carvings out of small sticks and twigs. Even better, he is a Christian who uses his business as a platform for giving out the gospel.

The deer, the bunny, and the elephant. (I told the kids they should be glad they have a nice mom, because I wouldn't have stood in line with them for 30 minutes to get special balloons like this!)

Lydia has been studying life in early America and was excited to do some hand spinning of wool. Now she wants me to make a spinner and buy some wool!

The Turkey Hill mascot for their mix of Italian ice and ice cream.

The kids enjoyed feeding the cows. Lydia was impressed with the big tongue!

Every year they do a different sculpture out of butter. This year's was 900 lbs and celebrated the sacrifices of the PA National Guard. The scene is of a farmer-soldier saluting, saying goodbye to his wife, who holds the baby and is standing next to the family cow. After the show the butter is to be turned into bio-diesel.

We had to get back early becasue Lydia had her first piano recital that night. She has been taking lessons since August and is progressing well. She played "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear" and "Good King Wenceslas." She also did a duet with her teacher of "She'll Be Comin' Round the Mountain."

This morning we woke up with the thermometer reading -4, which is the coldest it's been around here for a long time. We had heavy frost built up on one of our door hinges in the living room because the damp air in the house condensed on the cold transmitted by the metal hinge. We are so thankful for an otherwise warm house on such a cold night.