(Adalynn's POV)(Some 3rd person POV for the pictures below just for some character development as well)
Life since Harvestfest has been so good! Getting to see my family was such a great way to recharge, staying at my parent's house brought back such great memories from childhood, and being able to show the boys the area where I grew up is always a great experience, especially when they get to go to my dad's church. We got to see all of my siblings and their families, it's always especially nice to see Beckett and Mandy back from Selvadorada and hear their testimonies and wonderful stories of salvation.
Shortly after getting back, Eliza and I attended a women's conference being hosted at a church near us. It was focused on helping women be better wives and mothers, the weekend of learning came at such a great time. Eliza had been struggling with the newest addition of their little baby boy, so this conference came at exactly the right time! The Lord knew exactly what we needed, we came back each day feeling challenged and invigorated in working harder for our families.
A [Adalynn. L, Kyleigh. C & Valentina. T] B [Abbey. H, Adalynn. L, Valentina. T, & Macie. C]
I also just got back the pictures that we took at church that Harvestfest sunday, it was such a blessed sunday to have almost all of my extended family worshipping at my grandfather's church. Getting to see Kyleigh, Abbey, Valentina, Macie, and so many more took me back to when we were all young and seeing each other everyday for all these different things. It's so good having Abbey, her and her husband split their time between Sulani and Britechester, so we only really see each other when we're both in town for Harvestfest or when we somehow manage to get to the same occasion.
[Sabrina.C, Kristyn.C, Kyra.S, Brittany.D, & Maggie.W] [Tabitha.C & Tessa.P]
(3rd) It's so interesting to see the different friendship groups that have formed after most of the 3rd generation have gotten married and moved away. For how liberal Brittany and Maggie have become, they still maintain close relationships with their much more conservative cousins. After marriage, Kristyn's standards/convictions have definitely evolved. Whilst she's still very much in the skirts only camp, she's definitely moved away from the quiverfull and 'long hair only' camp as well as other more stringent beliefs that they were raised with. (The haircut was prompted by her toddler loving to grab handfuls of hair at a time). Sabrina, on the other hand, married into a family with beliefs similar to her parents, so she's stayed in almost the same mindframe. Kyra has never been heavy on the strict fundamentalism, her parents allowed her to wear pants and she chooses to do so from time to time when the circumstances call for it. Her parents also only had 5 children, so she was never in the quiverfull mindset anyway, and now that she's married she essentially living that small town conservative life.
(Adalynn's POV) It's so sweet that Tessa and Tabitha got to meet up in Newcrest this year, the twin sisters got married on the same day 3 years ago, had their first children at around the same time, and are pregnant with their 2nd (Tabitha) and 3rd (Tessa) children at the same time again! And since they're sisters, every year they go back to their parents house for Christmas, so they're together for a good chunk of the holidays.
[Madelynn.P, Valentina.T, Zoe. M, & Adalynn.L] [Amira.E, Adalynn.L, & Maggie.W]
(A) Harvestfest definitely felt like reliving my teenage/early young adult years, when the girls (Madelynn, Valentina, Zoe) and I were talking, we counted that we've got 19 children between us! 13 years ago we were young and anticipating future courtships and wondering what our future would be like, here we are living such fulfilling lives that honour the Lord!
(3rd) Whenever all the siblings get together, it's an especially great time for the younger kids to see their older siblings from their old buddy groups. For all their differences, Amira, Maggie, and Adalynn are quite close and have formed one of many sibling groups that exist. They all on different points of the fundamentalism spectrum but their love for each other surpasses all differences. Whilst Maggie doesn't agree with all their beliefs, she truly does love getting to see all of her family in one place .
[Casandra.C, Lea.C, Claire.P, Elaine.G - Gen 2]
(3rd) It's always nice for the older generation to have all their children and grandchildren around them, they've grown closer in the years that they've been married. They first met as young adults embracing courtships and marriage, Claire and Elaine have definitely enjoyed having Casandra and Lea (as well as all their sister-in-laws) in their extended family as they attend church with their forever expanding families.
