The Smokies

What a wonderful time we had with our friends visiting the Smokey mountains.  The leaves were still on the trees in all their splendor, splashing red, orange and yellow across the sloping landscape as far as our eyes could see.  The cabin/house we stayed in was amazing, with plenty of room for all 10 of us, three decks, a hot tub, large kitchen and 3 living rooms.  Whew!  We were able to take many walks (props to Katie who pushed Selah in the stroller!!!) and did a bit of hiking in the National Park.  Talk about beautiful.  Joe and Glendon climbed Chimney Tops, quite a feat as the trail was ice half way up!  A driving/hiking trip through Cades Coves proved rewarding, as we saw black bears, many deer, along with a 10-point buck, old homesteads with cabins still intact, chapels and grave yards....such a great experience.  Joe and I and our friend Brandon actually got to venture up to the highest point in the smokies, Clingman's Dome.  There was about a foot of snow up on that peak, and we could see for miles!  God has made some beautiful places for our eyes to look upon.  Praise Him!  The Appalachian Trail runs right through that area, and we got to hike 1/10th of a mile on it!!  It was quite a daunting thought, thinking about hiking all 2,000 some miles.  But what a feeling.  The A.T.  Hmmm....maybe someday?   

It was such a blessing to get away to the mountains and enjoy the company of good friends.  We miss the mountains of the west, now! :)  But, Lord willing, we will see those again someday.  For now, we look forward to the whirlwind of the holiday season here in snowy Ohio!

Here kitty kitty

What a day to curl up on the couch with a cup of tea and read a book....unfortunately, we didn't get much time  to do that :)  But thats ok.  Joe and I worked with a youth group outside on our low ropes course.  It was frrrriiiigggiiiiddddd cold out (well, compared to 73 deg. just 2 days ago).  The theme of the retreat was RELENTLESS, focusing on God's never ending love for us, and how we should never stop pursuing Christ, either.  Very cool theme...and a great learning tool as we worked as teams to accomplish the challenges.  Despite the good time...I must admit we were both excited to be inside again!  

Life has been rolling along fairly normal.  We had the opportunity to join in a small group meeting from the Vineyard church this last wednesday.  It was hosted by a young couple with 3 young children and several other families were there.  What a fun time of fellowship...it is great to meet other young couples here in the area.  We hope to go again this week.  Oh yes!  We have a new (yet perhaps temporary) addition to the family...a cat!  We found him last weekend at camp, and he was the nicest kitty!  So we thought we would bring him home and maybe mom and dad would take him back with them.  However, they weren't too sure about having yet another cat at home...so he is here with us for the time being!  He is black and white and so loving!  Joe tends to get a bit sneezy if he is around him too much...hence why we may not keep him.  But for now, I am enjoying have a feline friend who sleeps on my lap and purrs like no other!   I hope to post a few pictures here soon.  Molly has not taken so well to the cat...hehe.  She is quite jealous, actually (if a dog can feel that) and really doesn't like it when we give the cat attention!  Oh you should see her!  She will try and climb up onto our lap, as if to say "see, i can cuddle too!  just let me up on the couch and i will curl up with you!"  Oh my, give  me a break, dog ;)  Molly loves to sniff the cat, and then chase it around the house relentlessly, all the while the cat is hissing and running away.  Joe seems to think this is a bit amusing.  I, on the other hand, am yelling "Molly, no no! stop chasing the kitty!  come back here!"  Hmmm...perhaps someday they will be friends (if he stays, that is!).  Despite the reluctancy to keep the cat, Joe has thrown out a few potential names:  Alfred, Oscar, Harley (b/c he sounds like a motorcycle when purring).  Oh my....we shall see whether or not this furry friend finds his home here at the Hughes household, or in another very nice home.  Anyone out there looking for a nice cat??  

Finally...

Our apologies to family and friends who have missed our updates recently!  Life has been passing by at an incredible rate...however, that is a poor excuse to not keep everyone current!  We are enjoying the crisp days of fall, harvesting the last bit of produce out of our garden, taking hikes in the woods, collecting colorful leaves, baking bread (well, at least trying) and picking apples!  Camp has kept us busy as well.  We have one more school to come at the end of October, and that will be the last for the '08 season.  Spring is looking to be fairly busy with schools, though, praise the Lord!  We have enjoyed Living History this year..dressing up to depict characters from 1783 in the Ohio Territory.  Joe has picked up blacksmithing as a hobby and enjoys making small projects while the students look on.  I have been cooking over the fire, making johnny cakes, popcorn, stew and sausage with apples...yum!  Candle making with the kids has taken up some time, too!  So yes, it has been a joy to see the fruit of our labor over the past 10 months, as school kids are now able to come to Heartland and experience a quality outdoor ed. program with God as our head director!!! 

We continue to enjoy life with Molly.  She is a wonderful companion and often has us laughing in fits over the silliest things.  She is learning to listen and obey different commands...our most recent accomplishments being "stay" and "drop it" when playing with toys.  We sure lucked out on her personality and character...what a great dog for us!  Now if I can only convince joseph of getting a kitty! :)

We look forward to the rest of this beautiful fall season, anticipating more leaves, perhaps a camping trip or two, and definitely some home-made pies!  We will be traveling to the Smokey Mountains come November 16th to spend a week in an amazing cabin with friends from work.  This should be much fun as well as refreshing mentally, spiritually, and physically!  We especially look forward to seeing our dear friends Katie and Glendon Carper (and daughter Selah) who are currently down in Florida.  Katie is my marathon partner :)  We enjoy their friendship and company always, and miss being able to do that more often!  

Well, Joseph has just built a fire in the back yard and we will wait a bit until some coals come on.   I think we will bake some potatoes out there and have some spaghetti squash too!  Wonderful thing is....everything will be from the garden!!!  Better go help my mountain man with the grub.  Until next time....

lightening bugs and puppy dogs

We have a new member of our family...Molly Sue!  Joe gave her that new middle name just today...we will see if it sticks :)  Molly is a blood hound/labrador mix we rescued from our local animal shelter.  She is the sweetest thing in the world.  It is amazing how much we love her already, and she seems to know us now as her care givers (or parents, whatever :)  We find ourselves just sitting down on the kitchen floor in the evenings, having Molly lay her head on our lap, watcing her as she sleeps.  *Sigh*   9:30 seems to be her bedtime, and she sleeps all night long until I come down in the morning and she greets me with a stretch and wagging tail.  We are so happy to have her here with us....she fits perfectly!  We look forward to having more adventures with Molly by our side.  Now if only we could get her to walk beside us on a leash!

Boatrides and Ice Cream Sundaes

14 people in a boat for 2 hours= FUN!

For this past Father's day, Joe and I were able to finally participate in the very popular tradition on the Hughes' side of the family, which includes renting a pontoon (sp?) boat for 2 hours and driving around the beautiful Apple Valley Lake.  The whole family is usually there...and it is quite the adventure, let me tell you!  The kids are enthralled (until the very end...lets just say a few kids get the fidgets when confined like that :) and all the men usually get a turn at piloting the boat.  Sun shining off the water, a breeze blowing across our faces, and the occasional splash of water from a buoy being tossed over the side of the boat.  Which is promptly followed by "Caleb!  Where are you?  Please don't touch that!  (sometimes Nathan's curiosity would get the best as well, and the splashes would start all over again)   It is such a blessing to be this close to the family and be able to experience these outings while the kids are still very young. They will be grown before we know it!  Even the babies had life jackets on, which didn't look too comfortable, but they were champs about it, and i think they even fell asleep!  After the magnificent boat ride, we went back to Mt. Vernon for ice cream sundaes at grandma and grandpa's house.  Joe and I ended up staying pretty late, talking with his mom and dad out on the porch.   It was one of those evenings where the bugs weren't out yet, the breeze was blowing just slightly, and the summer air was just right.  Perfect time to relax on the back deck and talk about anything and everything.  *Sigh*  these summer days are going to pass by so quickly.  My goal is to enjoy moments such as these...savoring their sweetness and looking forward to the next.  Thank you, Lord, for boat rides and ice cream sundaes!   

Family Visit

Last weekend my mom and dad, sister and her husband drove out to Ohio for a visit.  It was very fun to see them, and to show them around our new camp and new house.  We stayed up late friday night, talking, laughing, and eating muffins that looked more like cookies :) hehe.  Saturday dawned beautiful, and after a little continental breakfast, we loaded up in the truck and hiked around camp.  We enjoyed lunch in the camp dining hall, and then mom wanted to buy me a flower pot for our back porch, so we all drove to a nearby greenhouse to get some flower arrangements.  When we got back home that evening, the boys fell asleep in the living room watching one of our faves, "Rocket Man" and the girls sipped lemonade on the back porch while talking about life and painting toenails :)  I enjoyed the time so much...although it went by very quickly.  Joe started up the grill about 4:30 and we were eating a scrumptious dinner of grilled pork loin, fresh garden salad and baked potato  in no time at all.  Mom and Dad were so kind to bring out their hutch and beautiful shelf dad made us, which were both stored at their house in Milford.  Now, our house in Marengo is a bit more beautiful with these pieces of furniture.  I look forward to another visit sometime...hopefully this fall maybe?  I love my family very much...and did miss my brother Ben, who couldn't make it out.  Next time!  So, a wonderful weekend with great memories.  Thanks, Lord...for giving us such a loving family!

Munchkins at the zoo

All smiles...nothing but fun today :)

Goin' to the zoo, zoo zoo

The annual Hughes outing to the zoo was last week.  A fun day with the family, that's for sure!  Columbus has a great facility...we visited the lions, tigers and bears.  Plus a few others.  One of our favorite parts of the day was watching the kids experience each of the animals.  The wonder on their faces was so apparent..eyes lighting up, smiles creeping onto their faces, fingers clinging to the fence.  Lydia loved the Kangaroos.  Caleb, the monkeys.  Joshua, the bears and manatees.  Nathan loved the elephants.  Johannah was excited for the ducks.  What a wonderful day.  

All creatures great and small, out God made them all!

A day in the garden

I just got inside from planting a few new plants around the house.  Yesterday, Pam (my mother-in-law) helped me to pick out several perennials from their old house.  We had so much fun walking around the flower beds and picking out which plants to dig up.  She wanted to thin down some beds, so there is not so much to take care of, and invited me to come and gather whatever I wanted.  Talk about a blessing! I feel like I have just gone to a garden center with a gift certificate and come home with a car full of treasures.  It was rather funny when Joe caught sight of how many plants we had dug.  He proceeded to exclaim "I thought you were going to get a few plants.  This is not a few!"  I just smiled and giggled.  Tomorrow, work will not begin until 12:30 for me...I believe will spend the morning in the garden.  Smiling.  And digging...

A beautiful day....

Here are some pictures from Libby and Gabe's wedding (back in May).  We had such a wonderful time getting ready for the big day, and everything went great.  Beautiful weather, lots of laughter, a few tears, and wonderful memories.  It was a bit surreal, I'll admit, to think about my "little sister" getting married.  But she is not so little any more, she is a woman!  Who loves this man tremendously.   And that is a wonderful thing.  

My favorite part of the wedding was definitely the ceremony itself.  Pastor Chris gave an amazing message about love and respect within a marriage.  And as I was watching Gabe and Libby, I knew that these two would strive to do just that.  Love and respect each other, protect and trust one another.  It was a very touching time to even reflect on Joe and I and our marriage.  Do I respect Joe all the time....even if i don't feel "love" from him in certain moments.  Jesus tells me to respect Joe in love, lay my life down and basically 'crucify my flesh'.  Usually i find that if i do that, the outcome of the situation is much improved, as i have trusted in the Lord, versus trying to do it on my own.  

  So thank you Gabe and Libby, for already providing an example of the unfailing love of our Heavenly Father.  I am so happy for these two and the adventure they have begun together.  There is something so sweet about life with a companion, a best friend, a soul mate.  

Graduation

This past weekend we took a trip to indiana to watch my sister libby graduate from college!  It was much fun, and exciting to see her accomplish such a goal!  After a nice meal with all of our family, Joe and I stopped in at Huntington Unv. to see our friends Matt and Laura Bruce.  Laura and I traveled to Spain and studied there together during college.  She was also in my wedding...a good friend!  The weekend was spent playing frisbee golf, eating at the "HUB", hanging out and talking alot, learning how to play settlers of katan (sp?) and laughing ALOT.  It was so refreshing to be with another married couple our age, something we have been missing since here at heartland.  Thank you Lord that you enabled us to stay with them!  Matt and Laura are just so funny, so it is a riot to be around them.  God is taking each of us as a couple on a similar journey right now, so talking about what our heavenly father has been showing us was a common topic of the weekend.  Sad news is that they are probably going to be moving out to the west coast in the very near future to pursue grad school/R.D. position out there.  Well, it is not sad for them...they are very excited about the possibility...and we are excited for them in that way as well.  But is still kind of a bummer that as we reconnect with friends and couples, most of them seem to live far away, or are getting ready to move!  *sigh*  but our friendship will not end just because a little distance is put between us  :)  Good friends seem to be one of the best blessings you can give us, Lord!

The.Ram.

It's friday night, and I am sitting here writing while joseph is in the maintenance garage here at camp working on "the truck".  I am starting to understand what it means for a man to have a truck.  It is an amazing thing...he loves to tinker and fix that thing up.  My eyes are opening to a new world...new things that we can do, now that God has provided us with a truck!  So yes, the dodge is growing on me as well.  Muddy roads that used to make us leary to drive through now don't even make us think twice, as long as we are in the dodge.  Have some wood or large rocks that need to be moved?  We have a truck!  Hmm, well, now we can help family or friends move.  We can pull a trailer.  We can haul our bikes any where (without a bike rack) .  And i can throw my muddy rubber boots in back, and it doesn't even matter!  We have decided to use the truck as a work truck while at camp.  Joe can carry all of his tools in the back, which is very handy.  And while we are building so much around here, an extra truck is welcome.  *sigh*  so I guess its ok to have a truck.  Although, joe keeps threatening to put to large smoke stacks on the back, to fit in to the local fleet of pickups running around Morrow county.  I just grin and roll my eyes...he will never do it.  But he did re-install the hood ornament that had managed to fall off before he bought the truck...the dodge would not be complete without it!   So as a wife, I am learning what a special machine a truck can be, especially to my husband.  A man and his truck...now all we need is a puppy dog to jump in the back!

Ahhh, another windy ohio day!  It was mulching day for those of us in Outdoor Ed...fun stuff.  Hard work, but alas, we need the mulch for our projects!   As we were stepping out of the trailer to head off to work (in the 1986 Dodge Ram, might i add!) I noticed a large semi-trailer coming into camp.  That's funny, i wondered.  Well, that little truck had a load of mulch, just for us!  It was a little overwhelming viewing the large pile of chopped trees looming before us...but after a hard days work, we made much progress!  The ground is drying out now, after all of the snow and rain, and work is a bit easier.  

Joe and I are making meatballs tonight...one of his favorites!  And at 7:00 we have bible study with fellow friends and staff members here at camp.  This had become a one of our favorite times during the week.  God has been teaching us some great things about himself, and his word while we gather with fellow believers.  Usually we gather in the lobby of camp, where there are sofas, a fireplace (ok, its a gas fireplace, but still...) and a comfy feel.  We would host..but, ah, well lets just say we don't have enough room, hehe.  

This past weekend we traveled home to my parents house in Milford, IN.  It was a fun weekend, spent hanging out with the family.  Libby had a bridal shower on saturday, so Mom and I drove down to Anderson, IN to celebrate with the women of the church Libby and her fiance Gabe will be attending.  Gabe is a currently a youth pastor there, and Libby has befriended many people from the church already!  We had a wonderful time...and were reminded that there is only 46 days until their wedding!   Time flies...but we are very excited.  I think their wedding is going to be so much fun, very beautiful, and such a reflection of the love of the Lord.  

We took a trip to our storage unit yesterday and found the tikki torches we had been saving for some random day...so Joe brought them home and they now reside on either side of our concrete patio.  You could say that we a slightly excited about warmer weather and campground cookouts.  Joe says he is going to "grill-out" every night.  :)  The boys next door think this is a great idea and are all planning on what kinds of meat they will bring to the BBQ.  Problem: we don't have a grill.  But....we hope to find one this spring so we can hold up our end of the bargain.

The bikes came out of storage, too.  With such a large camp, bikes will be an essential tool of life.  I love riding my bike.  Oh!  The meatballs are done...i must go an finish the rest of dinner.  Joe is making a new recipe, which i can't look at until he is done preparing the masterpiece!  I think it has potatoes and peas in it.  yum...we shall see what the outcome is. 

Now in Ohio

Sorry to anyone (Liz Stambaugh) who has been faithfully looking at our site and are sadly disappointed every time.

Well Katie and I have resolved to keep up dating our site so that people can keep up on our  lives and see what God is doing next and what the next adventure He is taking us on.

The current adventure God has led us on is to Ohio to work at a camp call Heartland Conference and Retreat Center (www.heartlandretreat.com Check it out!).  We are helping start an outdoor environmental school which is similar to what we did in Michigan.

God has taught us a lot and taken us through a lot since we moved in November.  One thing God has been teaching us is to be thankful for how blessed we are and that we should not put stock on earthly treasure.   One way he has taught us this is by making us move all our stuff and making us realize how much STUFF we have and how we don't need it all and how materialistic we have been.  He also has humbled us by moving us to Morrow county and provided a trailer for is to live in. (for those of you who live near Morrow county you know what I mean.)  

Here is a picture of our lovely camper trailer and be sure to check out the camp web site.  

Keep checking back for more updates on our life and what God is doing.  I (Joe) am also working on starting my own site which will be an online journal for me to write thoughts, rants, vent, spiritual  insights, etc...  So look forward to that coming soon.