Michael and Revel’s Cranberry Blog

With trying to get our house ready to sell and everything in between, Michael and I waited till the last minute to pick out a tree. Concerned friends warned us we would be stuck with the runt of the lot if we waited too long or even the possibility that many of the tree farms were starting to close down for the season after already selling off all their trees. So with this in mind, I urged Michael to drive out in the snow storm last weekend in search of a tree. We pulled up to Angel’s Garden Center in Hopkinton, walked over to a pile of trees and picked out the first one we saw. “Looks good” we both agreed. Our “good” looking tree turned out to be a prize winner. It’s a beautiful Fraser Fir that was chosen out of its many comrades to be sent down to the White House for Christmas. Well evidently the Cotsfords were of more importance and so here we are enjoying our first Christmas with a prize winning tree!

For more pictures click here.

Last weekend we were blessed by a beautiful snow storm. Personally I LOVE snow and even though we weren’t able to go skiing, we did manage to put on our snowshoes and take advantage of the 16 plus inches of fluffy snow.

For more pictures click here.

Michael and I were fortunate to have his mom up for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend. We spent Thanksgiving day at my parents house, where they cooked up an amazing feast for us. On Friday we avoided the malls and headed out towards western Massachusetts and back into the early 19th century to experience life as it was at Sturbridge Village. Here are a few pictures from our day:

Eliane (Michael’s mom) and I pose with the Sturbridge Village common behind us.

Michael sneaks in a picture of me while snooping upstairs in one of the old houses.

Over looking a grazing pasture of one of the farm houses.

I don’t know about you but I can hardly believe turkey day is here! Looking back over this past year a lot has happened and changed and I sure do have so much to be thankful for. Lately, however, I have been challenged to view my thankfulness in a new light; giving thanks not because my circumstances are kind but because God is with me.

Thinking back to the first thanksgiving harvest, the Pilgrims were, by modern standards, in deep poverty. The previous winter more than half the Pilgrims had died from weather, hunger and illness. But they were not shaken in faith. Their grief did not paralyze them. They were thankful for the life they had. They were thankful for food, even simple rations. They were thankful for peace. They were fleeing religious persecution, and felt blessed to be on good terms with the Native Americans. They knew they were strangers and pilgrims, guests on land that had not been theirs. They were so thankful for the small amount they had, that they were willing to share it with their potential enemies, the Indians. This was not a shrewd political maneuver — it was an honest expression of being thankful for what God had given. The Pilgrims always kept God in the picture. Whatever happened, He allowed, and whatever the circumstances, they were to be used for his glory. With that conviction, I can indeed be thankful for all things.

A couple of weeks ago Michael and I took the corgis for a walk in the Hopkinton State Park. It was an amazingly beautiful day with the leaves still in color on the trees. Below are a few pictures from our adventure.

Me and the ladies posing with my new car.

For more pictures check out this album.

I’m stepping away from our usual posts of personal life for a moment. What you’re about to see is so cool that I couldn’t resist sharing it with you on our blog. Christianity Today has posted an image of Biblical cross references. For me, seeing a visual representation of a deep truth is beautiful and profound on many levels. The graph won an honorable mention in the 2008 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge, which was sponsored by the National Science Foundation and Science journal.

When Christoph Römhild, a Lutheran pastor in Hamburg, Germany, sent Carnegie Mellon Ph.D. student Chris Harrison a list of 63,779 cross-references between the Bible’s 1,189 chapters, the two became enthralled with elegantly showing the interconnected nature of Scripture. Each bar along the horizontal axis represents a chapter, with the length determined by the number of verses. (Books alternate in color between white and light gray.) Colors represent the distance between references. Graphic by Chris Harrison, Carnegie Mellon University.

Before the wedding, my brother Daniel came up a week early to hang out with Revel and I and enjoy MA for a while. One day we went to the Charles River in Newton and rented kayaks. It was a beautiful sunny day and I thought it might be good for me to be out in the sun before heading to Hawaii.

Daniel chasing the geese

Check out more of our day on the water in this album.

Moving up to Milford has proven to have its advantages. Within minutes of where we’re living we have access to numerous walking trails. The ladies (Tasha and Daisy) have been enjoying themselves as well!

Check out more pictures in this album

Every 4th since I can remember my family has participated in the Marion parade. This year Michael experienced his first 4th parade as a US Citizen.

Here’s me, Michael, and my cousin Alison waiting for the parade to begin.

My other cousin Abbie, me & Michael, Alison and her husband Jon.

My cousins and Jon zipping into the parade with a WW II jeep.

My mom and I taking a break from our vehicles after the parade. My parents drove their Model A and Michael and I drove my dad’s 1968 jeep.

Michael dipping into the parade candy!

After the parade my family and a few friends came by my house for a little get together.

For more pictures, checkout this photo album.