Paint Night!

 

Paint night! Thanks to Kim and Sheena for joining us.

 

 

 

 

Panting at Crystal Reflection Art Studio

Let's paint together at Crystal's Thursday October the 20th at 6:30pm! RSVP at meetup.com/arriveandthrive.

Oregon Dairy Corn Maze

Let's head out to the Oregon Dairy Corn Maze Saturday October the 8th at 2:00. Bring any children you are lucky to be connected with here in Lancaster County. It's inexpensive fun. There are peddle carts, pumpkin shooting...they shoot the pumpkins in a cannon like thing a far distance...last year they even had a hot air balloon. There is ice-cream, a hay bale crawling maze, pumpkin painting, hayrides and food. Last year there was a live band too. So RSVP at meetup.com/arriveandthrive to let me know to look for you.

Green Dragon Meetup

Come to my house on Friday September the 30th at 10:00am and we will head on over to the Green Dragon Market. I live at 11 Andrew Ave. Ephrata PA. The Green Dragon has vendors from Amish Mennonite heritage as well as from the cities. It is a yummy busy adventure that is part flea market and part farmers market. There are amazing meats and freshly baked pretzels to die for. RSVP on meetup.com/arriveandthrive so I know to expect you!

Fifth Avenue Princess to American Dairy Queen.

     Deborah is the ultimate Transplant. She has touched my heart with her struggles and her dependence on God. Check out her interview for She Studies at LCBC on the vimeo link. I'm in a Bible Study with her and she has blessed me with enough books to give to all our Transplants. I'd love to give you your copy the next time you come to a Transplant event.

https://vimeo.com/37952988

https://vimeo.com/37952988

Green Dragon Market

 

 

Let's meet at my house at 10 Friday morning. We can head over to the Green Dragon Market together so we won't waste time trying to find each other there!

 

11 Andrew Ave Ephrata PA, 17522

Better a nearby friend than a distant family...

Fall Corn Maze

I came across our favorite local corn maze today and wanted to share it. We go every year with our kids and enjoy it's closeness and making a family tradition that is quite repeatable. This new tradition helps us look forward to fall and at least 1 thing we can feel is ours. This might make a great Transplant field trip!

 

Limited Deals Available!

Buy It Today, Use It Today

$ 1500

$30.00 Reg Price

$15 For A Family 4-Pack Of Tickets To The Regular Or Flashlight Corn Maze (Reg. $30)

Buy Now! Gift It!

About this deal...

Being asked to “Get lost” should generally be taken as an insult, but at Oregon Dairy’s “The Farmstead” Corn Maze, the proprietors (in the most polite way possible) invite you and your friends to do just that. You’ll be swallowed up by a field of corn for a fun Flashlight Maze nighttime adventure using only flashlights, your innate sense of direction and the Doppler effect to judge the direction of other maze-goers’ cries for help. Find your way to some serious fun with this deal, good for a family 4-pack of tickets to the regular or flashlight corn maze for only $15, a $30 value.
Open every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday from September 15, 16, 17 and 18 through October 27, 28, 29 and 30, Oregon Dairy’s family-friendly farm fun gets a little corny, as guests are invited to find their way through the acres and acres of tassel-topped twists and turns that make up the famous Corn Maze. Flashlight Maze hours are Friday and Saturday nights from 6pm to 10pm, with the last admissions into the maze at 9pm. You’ll also find a food trailer with burgers, pulled BBQ sandwiches and whoopie pies, garden tractor barrel rides, pedal tractor rides, jump pad, straw tunnel and strawmound playground, plus Kids’ Pumpkin Pickin’ Days every weekend afternoon in October.

About this business...

Oregon Dairy is a family friendly supermarket, restaurant, gift shoppe, ice cream shoppe and award-winning bakery - all on a real working Lancaster County Dairy Farm. We are committed to providing high quality local produce, meats and seafood, custom designed wedding & birthday cakes and baked goods to our customers in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania and the surrounding areas. Oregon Dairy specializes in seasonal events throughout the year from free concerts on the deck in the summer to the amazing corn maze and kids' pumpkin pickin' days in the fall.

Certificates are valid FROM THE DAY OF PURCHASE until 10/30/2016

The Fine Print

Certificates can be used during regular maze hours. Merchant will abide by gift certificate state laws. No cash or credit back. Each certificate must be used in one visit. Not valid on tax or gratuity. Limit one certificate per visit. Certificate cannot be used in conjunction with any other certificate, coupon, special or promotion.

Meeting at my house!

You all are welcome to come to my house Friday the 26th at 7pm for tea/coffee and conversation. I live at 11 Andrew Ave. Ephrata PA 17522. Be sure to check out our meeting on meetup.com/arriveandthrive/ to rsvp.

 

Meet at Zig's cafe Saturday at 9am then let's enjoy the Lititz Craft Show. 8-13-2016

Zig's bakery is beautiful and the perfect place to eat brunch and talk. I hope you can join us! We can drive to the Craft Show parking together divide up if needed and find some treasures too.

Ten Thousand Villages Friday night at 6. 8-12-16

Join us at 6 for a visit then hang around to here local jazz artists. There's a café, tea and of course shopping. See you there.

Going Native

Welcome to Transplants

Our Mission-

Our goal is to provide a group where women new to Lancaster County can make connections and flourish.

How to make friends after moving   -The Social Success Method

Going Native-   

 “One of the most important things you need to do when you’re about to move to  a new country (or even a new region in the same country) is to research local customs and traditions. This is important whether you’re a trailing spouse, or the one whose job has prompted the move- especially if that job involves managing people. When trying to get to know people who are native to your new home, taking the time to ask about (and understand) their values, upbringing and culture is a vital part of forming lasting friendships.”

From my experience and research I’ve come to understand the most important value of the Amish/Mennonite culture is simply family.

Here is an article from Direction A Mennonite Brethren Forum- to help us understand the dynamics of the Mennonite family structure.

"Each one of us has experienced, in his own unique way, the powerful influence of the family. Those of us who are Mennonite in background and upbringing can easily recall the distinctive influence that the family had upon us. Indeed, to a certain degree, we have tasted a slightly different flavor of that substance known as the family because we were Mennonites.

For example, we have always been closely in touch with our extended family. Not only have grandparents and uncles and aunts exerted considerable influence upon our upbringing, but we have also included relatives of more distant degrees in our family-consciousness. Consequently, at many family functions there were great-uncles, second or even third cousins, and other more distant relatives, who were called “uncles” and “aunts” not only out of respect, but also to emphasize that they were still “family.” I still remember the time that a friend, in talking about his family, identified one of his sixth cousins as still having family connections with him!

A second distinctive feature of the Mennonite family is the deep concern for the family “image.” The activities of an individual were seldom considered in isolation from those of the rest of his family. An individual was considered to reflect his entire family, and we all remember those who were frequently described as bearing certain blessings or blemishes solely because of their family connections.

The third and most pervading distinctive of the Mennonite family is the extremely complex overlapping between the family and the faith. Indeed, this close, interlocking relationship between one’s faith and one’s family has existed from the earliest days of the Anabaptist movement. Despite the fact that the Anabaptist-Mennonite churches have always emphasized that faith must be a voluntary, individual response to God, nevertheless the influence of family upon faith, and faith upon family, have always been keenly recognized.

Thus, the early Mennonites held that excommunicated members were to be shunned even by the members of their own families. Likewise, if a member of the church married a person outside the fellowship, the member was to be excommunicated.”

I found this article interesting because it summed up the importance of family and the Mennonite culture and the attitudes I encounter every day.  I had approached the Mennonite church as just another denomination I could become a part of by joining their church. I neglected to realize that family, faith, and church all overlapped here and joining the church did not mean I shared their heritage or family.

Here is a quote from  themennonite.org/feature/Mennonite/ evaluating the Mennonite church.

“Yet because most of those who have carried the Mennonite torch for so long in the eastern United States have been Swiss-Germans, our particular incarnation of Mennonite values came to be confused with what it means to be Mennonite. John Howard Yoder concluded in 1970 that the primary focus of the Mennonite denomination had become the preservation of ethnic Mennonitism rather than the proclamation of the true gospel in word and deed.”

I started asking questions and realized that the people I met all had either Amish or Mennonite roots. Many grew up in plain dress. Several have mothers who still wear a covering. Most can trace their family heritage back several hundred years. When they tell me their extended family are going to the beach they mean all 40 of them. I began to see that their church was an extension of their family, their heritage, their ethnic group.

This helped me realize I would not find the instant “Spiritual Family” I took for granted when I joined a new church. Joining church up here was easy to physically do but to be accepted into an established ethnic group with it’s values and expectations tightly woven into their blood family was another thing entirely.

Going Native in Lancaster County means recognizing the power of culture, heritage and family in the lives of the people I meet. It also means not being offended when no one invites me to the wedding, when the church forgets to tell me they changed their meeting place that night, when Christmas approaches and the friendships I was cultivating disappear until after the New Year. Family reigns in Lancaster County.


Understanding the culture of Lancaster County can help us have realistic expectations and value the people who reach out to us in friendship. An offer of friendship here is a precious thing whether it is from a native or from a Transplant.

“I think if I’ve learned anything about friendship, it’s to hang in, stay connected, fight for them, and let them fight for you. Don’t walk away, don’t be distracted, don’t be too busy or tired, don’t take them for granted. Friends are part of the glue that holds life and faith together. Powerful stuff.” ~ Jon Katz

Swim or just visit at Kim's

Join us for an evening at Kim's house. You can swim or just hang out and enjoy her home.

August 4th at 6
6 Blackberry Ln Ephrata, PA Come at 6:00 pm.

Scratch Bakes sandwiches or sweets



 

Let's meet at Scratch Cupcakes Wednesday, August the 3rd at 3 on Main in Ephrata for a visit and walk afterward. I'd like to share chapter 2 discussing researching the culture before you move to a new area. What surprised you about the culture of Lancaster County?

Grumpy Kids? Add Water!

Here are some great ideas for keeping your kids wet all summer. My best friend in GA always said..."Grumpy kids? Add water."
http://www.frugallancaster.com/2016/07/12/get-wet-ideas/

Thursday July the 14th at 4 at Scratch

Check out our next event at Scratch! Thursday the 14th at 4. We will walk there from the Fulton Elementary school linear trail parking lot, eat their real food and then enjoy a great cupcake. After that, we can walk off the treat for as long as you care to on the trail. Hope to see you there!

Transplant meeting July 7th What you missed!

Welcome to Transplants

                       

                         https://www.flickr.com/photos/88836011@N05/

One of the most beautiful qualities of true friendship is to understand and to be understood.

Lucius Annaeus Seneca

 

Our Mission-

Our goal is to provide a group where women new to Lancaster County can make connections and flourish.

My Story-

I went for a pedicure and discovered that the kind lady providing the service moved to Lititz about 5 years ago. I told her I also moved to Ephrata 5 years ago and asked her how she was coping. She began to eloquently speak of her heart aches and frustrations at trying to form friendships. I instantly realized we had a connection only transplants could understand. I left her with teary eyes and a new idea to create a group where transplants could meet, learn about what this area has to offer and have the opportunity to make friendships with others who have the same unique needs. She said she was surviving but not thriving. I’m hoping our group, Transplants, can help change that for many women.

My goal is for us to meet for a weekly activity. In the fall the Ephrata Library will open a room for us to meet twice a week and advertise our group.

 

Discussion-

How to make friends after moving   -The Social Success Method  (The Relocation Success System) Heather Markle

Great Expectations-

One of the common mistakes people make when moving to a new area is having very specific expectations of how things will work out and what their life will be like. Unfortunately, most of the time things don’t work out as expected. Unmet expectations -through no fault of your own- are a leading cause of why people end up disappointed with a relocation experience.

List of expectations-

1.        

2.        

If you assess the deeper needs underlying your expectations, you can allow yourself to create  different ways of meeting them. Next week we will discuss a few of our unmet expectations and the deeper needs they are based on. New creative ways of making connections are so welcome!!!

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another:

‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.’-C.S. Lewis

 

July the 7th meeting

 

Lancaster City Resource

 

 

This is a hip group of artsy ,younger transplants who live in Lancaster City. If these words describe you feel free to check them out!

http://lancastertransplant.com/what-we-do/

 

Lancaster County Playgrounds

 

https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?mid=108vol-SBekzk32lTXOk_UlKp2vw

Things to do with little ones...

http://www.frugallancaster.com/2016/06/07/15-naptime-trips-may-not-thought-lancaster-county/