Small Group Christmas Celebration

Friday evening, our small group got together to celebrate Christmas at the Derstein home. After eating a lot of food and desserts, the children opened presents.
When the kids were in bed, we read the Christmas story from Matthew and Luke in the New Testament. Also, John Schreier prepared passages from the Old Testament which prophesied the virgin birth. It is amazing that Jesus’ birth is prophesied as far back as Genesis 3:15.

After reading the Christmas story, we wanted to get a small group photo. For what should have been an easy task, it turned out to be a lot harder with the camera battery dying and all of the shenanigans.

After several takes, we finally got an acceptable small group photo.

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!

Tractor, Truck And Backhoe Pull

On Sunday, we got up and headed off to church. We had just sat down when Jay’s phone rang. It was Jay’s mom and she wanted to know what we were doing. Jay told her that we had just gotten to church and it was about to start. She then asked if there was any way that we could go to their house because Jay’s dad had gotten the truck stuck at the pond. She then told Jay that his dad then got the tractor stuck trying to get the truck out of the mud. With this, Jay hung up the phone and we got up. While leaving, we ran into the greeter and he asked, “Leaving so soon, you just got here?” To this we responded, “Jay’s dad got the truck and tractor stuck in the pond and we need to help him get them out.” In the car, we decided that we have definitely become true Quakertonians.

Jay and his dad worked for about 1 ½ hours in the pouring rain and had only moved the truck about 15 feet. Mike Burns then showed up. He helped for about 10 minutes until he decided that he would go to his parents house (about a mile away) and get his dad’s backhoe. Mike came with the backhoe and since the ground was so wet and loose, when he tried to get around the truck, he got the backhoe stuck. Mike worked for about 15 minutes to try to get the backhoe unstuck when he finally gave up and called his dad. Mr. Burn then came down from his house to try and get out the backhoe, tractor and truck that were now stuck.
Mr. Burns has 35 years experience working on a backhoe and he got it unstuck in minutes. It looked like they would finally be able to get everything unstuck. That was until he was working his way around the truck and a hydraulic hose snapped on the backhoe. That was the end of day 1 as a new hose needed to be made and installed before the backhoe could go anywhere.

On Monday, a new hose was installed and within 1 hour, everything finally got unstuck from the mud. Here are a few photos of the carnage.

The truck needs a good car washing, inside and out.

December Birthdays Get-Together

This Friday, we got together with several friends to celebrate the many December birthdays. We talked, ate lots of food, opened a few presents and ended the evening by watching one of our favorite Christmas movies; National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. It was a fun evening spent with our friends!

Eagles Snowman Tackle

We had our first snowfall of the season and Jay made a snowman after church this afternoon. When he was finished making the snowman, he dressed it up with some Dallas Cowboy gear.
Jay always wanted to but has never tackled a snowman, so he decided that today was the day. For motivation, he put a Philadelphia Eagles hat on the snowman and the rest was caught on film.

Amy's Company Christmas Party

Tonight was the Lacher & Associates Christmas party at the Washington House in Sellersville. Amy is always on the planning committee so we arrived early for setup. The room was festively decorated so we took photos around the Christmas tree.Before dinner, appetizers were served. This gave us time to mingle around the room talking to one another.Dinner and dessert were AWESOME as usual. After the gifts were distributed, we spent the rest of the evening socializing with friends and coworkers.

Historical Philadelphia Impromptu Visit

Jay had a pre-bid meeting on Tuesday morning near historical Philadelphia. While on the roof of the building, he noticed Independence Hall below.
After the meeting, Jay was going to head home, but since he had never toured the area, he decided to stay a few hours and headed to the visitor’s center. The receptionist told Jay the sites in the area and he went to the Liberty Bell first.

Next he had a ticket to tour Independence Hall.

After the tour of Independence Hall, Jay toured Congress Hall where the first Senate and House of Representatives met.

A normal work day turned out to be mini vacation in history.

New Moon Movie Night

Today Amy went with her friends to see the movie, "New Moon.” Amy has been obsessed with the books, has watched the first movie hundreds of times, and has been anticipating the opening of this movie. Tickets were bought months ago and as you can see, everyone bought shirts to wear to the movie.

Philadelphia Field Trip With Kayla

On Friday, Amy went on a class field trip to Philadelphia with Kayla. Missy was unable to go, so Kayla asked Amy if she would go as a chaperone. Of course Amy said yes. When the bus arrived in Philadelphia, the groups were on their own to explore the historic sites. First they went to the Constitution Center.Next they went to see the Liberty Bell.After lunch, they went to the grounds of Independence Hall. They did not have enough time to tour Independence Hall, but Kayla and her friend, Jessica had a great time in the square.

After exploring around Independence Hall, Amy bought Kayla and Jessica a large jawbreaker. This may have been the highlight of the field trip for Kayla.

Finally they went on the famous Duck Tour. A guide drove the group around the Philadelphia area in an amphibious vehicle. Once they reached the Delaware River, it drove in and they continued the tour on water. They toured Penn’s Landing and also sailed by the Camden Aquarium.

After the duck tour, they met back at the bus and headed for home. It had been a long day, but Amy and Kayla had a GREAT time together!