Turtle Tales: Day 18 - A Family Affair

Another beautiful day in New Jersey! It just doesn't get any better than mid 70's, sunshine, blue skies and a slight breeze!

We began our day by attending church with Jim's sister Penny. Penny is a member of the Reformed Church of Stanton. (Founded in 1833) The Pastors are a husband and wife team, Phil and Becky Pratt. They are both accomplished musicians as well as Pastors (Bassoon and Cello). The music director/organist/pianist (Ilya Yakushev) is from Russia currently studying classical music in America and performing concerts at various musicial venues. He will soon be returning to Russia, and the church will definitely lose a valuable asset! He played a Bach piece (Air) for the Prelude, and a Chopin piece (Prelude No. 20), during the offering, and DeMonti's March for the Postlude. He is an amazing musician, and I could have listened to him play forever!

After church we met in the fellowship hall and had refreshments and got to meet a few of Penny's friends and fellow church members. It was a nice ending to the morning fellowship.

We returned to Penny's for a while, prior to driving to Rob and Rita's house in Bound Brook, NJ. They live in the house that use to be Jim's Mother and Stepdad's home. They have done a wonderful job of modernizing the inside and outside of the home and there have been a lot of changes since our last visit. It is a beautiful home decorated with many wonderful photos from Rob and Rita's travels as well as personal artistic touches. The drive to their house was delightful, as we passed through several small towns that had many interesting homes, churches and businesses. We also saw a lot of deer, including a mother with her young baby on the side of the road.

Fellowship with one another is truly one of a family's many blessings! We don't get to this area ofter, so when we get to visit with family it is indeed a blessing to Jim and I, and today was no exception. In December 2010, Jim's brother Rob had a massive heart attack. We were in NC visiting Jason and his family at the time, and we could not get to NJ due to a snow blizzard, so it was frustrating to us not to be able to be there for Rob. We did a lot of praying and the great Physician did his work, and we are so glad to have had the opportunity to share conversation and laughter with not only Rob, but the whole family today.

Til next time..........

This is where we had our wonderful dinner on Thursday evening with the family