A Walk in the Orchard :: Join us for an Autumn Gathering

this post could have been named :: when life throws you apples you make apple cider!
{a collaboration of autumn winds meeting a garden party by Johanna and Grace}

the winds' a blowin' and as it blows, change comes with it. as the breeze with it's autumn crispness caresses my little garden, an exciting event has bloomed to welcome it. but let me tell you the entire story behind it, and as you should know, 

every story must have a tragedy to begin with....

{Jane Eyre via pinterest}

remember my whole theme about, how life isn't perfect but beautiful {I've probably bored you to death about that statement :)} and how God works everything for good? one morning my dearest friend woke up and discovered that life was indeed not perfect. far from it. how would you like to wake up in the morning and see that the blog that you created, nurtured, invested countless hours creating it had been COMPLETELY RUINED? 

welcome to my friend's life. 

{via}

on Friday morn, when I logged into Skype {as this particular friend and I have been discussing devotions together every morn}, I had logged onto Skype at the appointed time, and my friend was no where to be found. I found this quite odd, as she is nearly always on time. so after finishing Spanish classes, I decided to check to see if she had logged on, overwhelmed by the flood of new messages that were greeting me. 

"PLEASE ANSWER," this short message in caps beckoned to me - I could hear a distressed call although my friend sat in front of her laptop miles away. Poor dear. I would murmur.

for you see, this particular maiden nestles a small, particular fondness of autumn like me, and she had spent many a hour writing sweet autumn posts and gathering many a sponsor to add to the festivities. Canceled. the terrible word echoed in her ear. but I immediately told her, it just could not be done! all the planning and the anticipation - no, her event would be posted, and suddenly...

what was planned as a small autumn gathering celebrating my birthday in the garden was completely changed by a great gust of wind from Johanna's garden. 

And now with a bit of last minute planning {and decorating} we {my dearest friend Johanna and I} cordially invite you to take out the red scarf with its musty scent, as we spend a little time out-of-doors enjoying the crisp air and autumn leaves in... 

A Walk through the Orchard

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To Miss Johanna's faithful readers {{who are new to my blog}} ::
I extend my warmest, autumn greeting and welcome to Johanna's faithful followers who are new to my blog. Any of Johanna's faithful followers and readers, are my dear sisters in Christ! My name is Grace, the keeper of this little garden. My dear hope and wish is that this little plot of earth will deeply bless and encourage your walk with Christ as we each travel heavenward. 

To start things off, perhaps, you would like to learn a little bit about me and my relationship with "famous" Miss Johanna. I am a fourteen years of age young lady {turning five and ten on the 25th of this month!} and I can pretty much describe myself as the twin sister of Miss Johanna, although there are no blood ties between us and our roofs live miles apart. That said, I am sure you did not have to guess that I am a lover of vintage//old-fashion//Victorian delights, Jane Austen enthusiast, a Tangled princess, lover of lavender, homemaker in training, musician of classical music, avid writer, reader of historical fiction, gardener of herbs and flowers, baker of sweets, sewer and knitter of handmade delights, photographer of God's creation, wearer of skirts {well, most of the time}, adventurer of Disneyland, reenactment enthusiast, lover of autumn, dreamer of whimsy, daughter of the our King, etc. etc. Truly the only things we don't have in common {that I know of thus far} is, Johanna cares for Prince Caspian in The Chronicles of Narnia but I beg to differ that The Voyage of the Dawn Treader is indeed better, and Jane Eyre is her favorite book/story, but I would say otherwise. :) Of course, that's beside the point. 

Around March of 2010, did that fateful day happen, when I received one of the first ever comments on, what was then, a little blog of mine. How special it felt to have comment from a blogger with over 100 followers then! Soon, a seed was planted, and we started lettering each other, broadening into a Skyping relationship - each call, blog comment, note, or letter was a special little something from Miss Johanna! After a few long months of being acquainted and wishing we could meet each other, this past February, I had the blessed opportunity of meeting her in person {you may read a detailed account here} and I was once again blessed to have the opportunity of meeting with her and her family at Disneyland this past August!

        {it was an extremely long day, so pardon my messy hair and...ferocious looking smile! Yikes! :P} 

Over the years of knowing Johanna, I thank the Lord for what a wonderful treasure of a friend I found in her. Thus is my friendship with "The Old Fashion Girl." Thank you for visiting my blog! Come stay awhile and enjoy the sun flowers.

In Christ's love,
Miss Grace, The Keeper of the Garden

So when I heard that her blog was completely messed up, and how distressed she was, what better way to turn those bitter apple situations into a yummy apple cider {instead of lemons to lemonade, as we weren't in the mood for lemonade on a crisp autumn's day}! 

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First, I want to say thank you so very much, my sweet lavender girl, for allowing me to use your sweet garden in my time of need. You are the truest friend that a young woman could ever hope to have. Thank you for being all that you are to me.

To my own faithful readers of An Old-Fashioned Girl ::

I apologize for the confusion that you have come across in the past few days. As Miss Grace has said, the beautiful home of An Old-Fashioned Girl has been destroyed. Either it has been hacked into, by someone who can only be gratified by such a thing; or there has been a huge blogger glitch. Either way, my blog was ruined, and I found my self completely destitute on the morning in which I discovered what had happened. *weary sigh*

However, with the help of my dearest Grace, and the Lords hand working through all of this, I am so very pleased to say that the Autumn Event which was going on at the time was not canceled, but rather moved to Graces sweet garden, while I focus on creating a new home for An Old-Fashioned Girl.

Sadly, I will be forced to create a new site. Which means I am going to loose every single one of my faithful followers. This saddens my heart more then I can say. I remember when I received my very first follower, long ago in the year of '08. Excitement filled my entire soul, and I beamed with happiness. Now, to face loosing you all is so unbearable. *sorrowful sigh* I pray that I will regain your following in the near future my sweet readers. Please come visit my new home HERE.

To Miss Grace's faithful readers {{who are new to this old-fashioned girl}}  ::

Through this whole trauma, I can see that the Lord has a purpose through it all. And I believe one of the small blessings shining through is the lovely opportunity to meet all of Grace's lovely readers! 
Who am I? I am a daughter of Jesus Christ. I am a romantic, who is deeply in love with her Savior. I am a home-educated daughter, who has a love for learning. My beautiful family includes a beautiful mama, a handsome daddy, three striking brothers, and two lovely sisters. From the day my eyes first opened to behold this earth, I have been nurtured in a Christ-centered atmosphere. Each and every day of my life abounds with the sound of His praise, and the heaven of His love. As I have grown, I too have come to know and love the Lord as my personal savior, the rock of my foundation, the joy of my days, and the love of my life.

Grace and I met through An Old-Fashioned Girl, and ever since, we have been best friends. More then best friends, truly. We have become the dearest of sisters. She and I have known each-other for a few years now, and I find that with each passing day, we become closer in our sisterly relationship. Even in the midst of these hard times, I can give thanks to the Lord with all my heart, when I remember the friendship I have in this young woman.

Over the course of time, I have but twice seen this dear girl in person. Only twice have we been able to walk arm-in-arm, as best friends should, down the lane. *sigh* Yet, I keep these times in my precious box of memories, and more often then not pull them out, with a smile.

Please be sure to stop by my new home, when you are able. For I extend an invitation to you all, hoping that you will be blessed by the completely old-fashioned atmosphere I have to offer therein.

 I pray that you will enjoy the festivities that Grace and I have prepared for you ladies. 

In my Jesus,

Miss Johanna Rose

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You will find the Program for our event HERE! 
{Make sure you read the rules on how to participate, carefully. We want everything to be a grand time in the orchard, but we need your help to keep things in order}. 
Please return soon, to join the events in a walk through the orchard!

Spread the word :: 

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