Strawberry Festival

 

Strawberry season in Vermont is a little later than we’re used to from the south, so even though we missed it there, we got to enjoy it here! And, we were excited to have an occasion for which to use the strawberries! This year was our church’s first annual Strawberry Festival. The whole community was invited to come out and hear our praise band sing (some patriotic songs, some praise songs) and enjoy strawberry shortcake & ice cream on the lawn. We agreed to get up bright & early to go out with several other people from church to pick the strawberries. Among about the 10 of us, we picked 180 pounds of strawberries!

 

The kids were excited. Abigail, who typically spits strawberries out if I give them to her on her plate, must have eaten at least 15 strawberries in the course of the hour we were there! She was covered from head to toe.

Andrew, who truly does love strawberries, took his job very seriously. He filled this whole basket up himself (although many were very small berries)! He took pride in showing me every so often how many he’d gotten. He spent much of his time talking to his “date” Juliette (who is 20) while he picked. He must have talked her ear off. And he did not want to leave once we were done!

 

Leah got bored after awhile, but she was happy to have her new BFF, Lydia there with her to play. These two became fast friends, and refer to each other as “Princess Leah” or “Princess Lydia” whenever they’re together. They are inseparable at church.

    

After baths and resting at home, we went back out to the church for the Festival that evening. We had a pretty good turnout, although not nearly enough to eat all 180 pounds we picked. I ended up taking a whole flat home with me! Everyone had a great time listening to music, playing games on the lawn, and eating eating eating! We are so happy to be a part of a church who takes every opportunity to share the Gospel with our community and reach out to those in our own neighborhood. Many people worked hard—happily—to make this event a success, and it was a lot of fun!