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Dear Friends
It's been a quiet year for me. No moving or world traveling this year. That's right, we have lived in one place for 17 whole months and I have only made it as far as Maryland. Isn't that sad! Instead I've been at home, helping Mom run the house and learning to retrench on my personal expenses. Overall it's been a good learning experience. I find I'm quite content with staying at home and that I don't need all those things I thought I did. It's all good training for my career as a homemaker I guess. It's been nice because I've had a chance to stop and be still, to actually enjoy all those books and things I bought while traveling.
I have done a good amount of sewing again this year as well. In March Mommy became the costume mistress for our church's Easter play. Mom, four great ladies and I made 26 costumes in 2 weeks! It makes me tired just to think of it!
My big, fun project this year has been my new Italian Renaissance outfit. It was originally intended for the Maryland Renaissance Faire in October but our excursion was canceled, so the project became a costuming challenge instead. It has been fun (and most definitely a challenge) and I'm quite pleased with the result. At this time it's not quite finished (will the handwork will never end?!) but it's looking good, if I do say so myself. :>
My other creative outlet this year has been my website. I find web-misstressing as addictive as ever, and have to force myself to avoid the computer for periods of time so I can get other things done! I spent a few months overhauling my site: splitting it into two separate sites and doing a lot of organizing and such. It was great fun and I'm quite pleased with the result. I have big plans for the next year with new features to add and things to expand…man I love this stuff!
I have continued to be the web-doulos for my church, Calvary Chapel Fredericksburg. At this point it's mostly maintenance work but with all the things happening and changes going on at CCFred, the site is keeping me on my toes. I am also involved in the Worship Team on Wednesday nights with Bridget. It's nice to sing and worship with her and the ride to and from practices gives us good "sister" time together.
My year hasn't been all chores, thread and webpages. Thanks to visiting friends, Bridget's school projects and a desire to take advantage of living here, I've seen quite a bit of Virginia and the surrounding area. Some of my favorite sites were Mount Vernon, Gunston Hall, Williamsburg, Annapolis, the Air & Space Museum, Kenmore and Stratford Hall.
Of course Williamsburg is always a favorite. I've been there four times this year. My favorite visit was the one we made in January, when my friend, Maegan, was visiting us. It was after a snowfall of 5 inches. It was the first time I had seen a white Williamsburg in person and it was just as pretty as the postcards. No, prettier; the gardens of the Governor's Palace looked positively enchanted. Such fun!
I also visited Mount Vernon in January. My first visit to the home of George Washington was in 1991 and I don't remember much from that trip, mostly how hot and boring it was. I guess I was hard to impress at 12 years, because I liked it a lot this time. The grounds are lovely, even in January, and the house amused me greatly. Mount Vernon is so famous, yet architecturally and stylistically it is something of a handyman's delight. Classic Georgian balance and layout are nowhere to be seen, rather it's a farmhouse that was added to here and there and then here again. The furnishings were nice though, and the gardens were lovely. January is the best time to see it for sure. The crowds were light, some Christmas decorations were still up and the tours included the upper most floor (which summer visitors don't see).
That same day I also toured Gunston Hall, the plantation home of George Mason. He was a wealthy and influential friend and neighbor of George Washington. The Hall is the perfect picture of a Georgian Plantation home, with balanced windows and doors and beautifully decorated rooms. The property is privately owned and everyone there loves what they are doing. They have done a wonderful job restoring everything, (except the gardens, which are overgrown but still pretty).
This summer Bridget and I discovered Annapolis, Maryland. We went with a group of Bridget's Bible College friends on a day trip. I totally fell in love with the place. Despite what Bridget thinks I did notice more than all the young men in white Naval Academy uniforms!  The town itself is charming, the downtown especially so. It is just too quaint for words, with old Federalist buildings (filled with cute little shops) lining twisty streets. You can smell the sea air from the bay. <sigh> Tell me again why I live in Fredericksburg?
The highlight of my year was the Terry Clark Worship Conference at Headwaters Lodge, Va. It was a few weeks after my birthday, a stressful time full of Beltway Snipers and crazy schedules. It was so nice to get away from everything for a whole weekend. The Briggs family came from California to attend and we also brought along my dear friend Adie. It was a glorious weekend! The conference itself was wonderful, despite Terry being sick. It was one of those special times when I heard God speaking clearly to me (it wasn't what I thought I needed to hear of course…). The worship and fellowship times were so sweet. It was so refreshing to be with a group of Christians (I'd never met before) and feel like we were a family. So special.
Headwaters is one of the prettiest places anywhere. It's located in the Shenandoah Mountains of Virginia, near the West Virginia border. We were there just as the leaves were turning and the air was nippy. The wonderful thing about Headwaters is that they give you a lot of free time so you have time to get away and get alone with Jesus. Adie and I took full advantage, stealing off into the woods and going off the beaten paths. We were silent most of the time (a highly unusual thing for us!) taking the time to just sit and read the Bible, pray and sketch the beauties of nature around us. It was such a special time and it was nice to share it with Adie.
The weekend ended way to soon and we made our way back down the mountain into Fredericksburg. The Briggs followed us and we saw them a lot during their stay.
One weekend we went to the Air & Space Museum in DC. We were talking about Doolitte's raid in the World War II section when an elderly man joined our conversation. Come to find out he was a WWII Ace stationed in England, and had been a POW in Germany during the last year of the war. We talked with him for over an hour and did he have some interesting stories to tell! He told us all about the planes he had flown and the missions he had been a part of, what it had been like to be an American GI in England in 1944 and a POW in Germany. Nobody wanted to leave, we all felt this was the opportunity of a lifetime. We are losing our WWII veterans so fast now, one day soon there won't be anyone left to tell the stories. I wish I could remember his outfit. I only remember his first name, Paul. We got to hear this man's stories and ask him what it was really like, I got to shake his hand and thank him for his service to our country. So special.
I could go on about the friends who visited, the parties we've had, the high and low times but really that afternoon sums up my year. It's been about learning to take the time to look, listen, enjoy the incredible gifts and opportunities God has given me. I get so wrapped up in me, my wants, in the TV, the computer and my fast paced world, I forget to stop and appreciate simple, beautiful things. I get so caught up in things I don't have, I forget about the wonderful things I already possess. I forget to thank the One who gave them to me, along with the sight, smell and emotion to enjoy them. So much selfishness and ingratitude and yet He still Loves me. Wow, so special...
I hope your Christmas Season and New Year will be filled with lots of special little moments!
Love and Christmas Kisses,
Jenny-Rose
Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. ~ I Timothy 1:17
for more 2002 pictures click here!
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