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 . . . And so, she’s finally HOME!

Ethel, my comrade, friend, buddy and pal —

How very much I shall miss you!

www.xanga.com/Organic_Survivor

Route 36 is really slick!  You all be careful!!!!

This is what just happened in our front yard.

(Nobody is hurt.  Thank God!)

(And it isn’t our vehicle.  Thank God!)

(But I feel really sorry for the nice young man who was driving this pickup — he was on his way to work, and a patch of black ice surprised him.)

Our Family had a wedding!!!!

Joni Alene Slaubaugh married Daniel Geissinger
(Honestly, Joni!  What kind of name is that?!?!?!)

The day was cold, but that didn’t dampen any of the spirits, for sure!

Dan’s Grandpa, Adam Espenshade, brought the message, and Joni’s pastor, John David Swartzentruber perfomed the ceremony.

Mr. and Mrs. Dan Geissinger

The cake was cut and sweetly fed . . .

In a most tastefully decorated “Barn.”

Dan is a train enthusiast, and so the decorations were centered around that theme

Around the centerpieces were small trains, and these little wooden train whistles. 
(Since there were no glasses to tap, the whistles served as the irritating call for a kiss!)

Some of these pictures were taken by Ashley Copenhaver.  Some were my own,  (and I honestly do not know whose were who at this point.  If it is a good picture, it was Ashley’s.  Otherwise, blame me.)

Here are a few family pictures.  I seem to have missed out on the ones I really wanted — of Sarah and Bert’s family.  So these will have to do.

The Bride’s Sister with her Mom and Dad.  Joni’s brother Joe with his gal, Tasha

Little sister, Edie has a pensive moment, while Joni poses with her brothers.

I don’t know what was so funnny, but I love this picture of my Mom with Joni and Dan.

Faces in the Crowd

“If I can survive this, I’m quite sure, I can survive anything!!!”

Yippee!!!!

Some pictures from Raph’s Trek!

He said he would send some and he did!!!

(Well, two, that is . . .)

(But he didn’t give me any explanations, so you all will just have to enjoy the scenery and imagine where they are and what they are doing.).

   God Will Take Care of You

  1
  Be not dismayed whate’er betide,
  God will take care of you;
  beneath his wings of love abide,
  God will take care of you.

  Refrain
  God will take care of you,
  through every day, o’er all the way;
  he will take care of you,
  God will take care of you.

  2
  Through days of toil when heart doth fail,
  God will take care of you;
  when dangers fierce your path assail,
  God will take care of you.

  3
  All you may need he will provide,
  God will take care of you;
  nothing you ask will be denied,
  God will take care of you.

  4
  No matter what may be the test,
  God will take care of you;
  lean, weary one, upon his breast,
  God will take care of you.

Civilla D. Martin 1904

Last night, our family enjoyed a long, long call from Eldest Son.  He is really doing fine, and even though he is somewhat homesick, and even though it seems like a long time until he can come home, yet he says, “I know that this is an experience I will look back on and always be thankful that I did it.  I know this where I am supposed to be.” 

This morning, Gokum’s husband led the above song during our church’s worship time, and I thought about how I can trust an eternal, all wise, loving Heavenly Father with this son that I miss so much.  “Through days of toil, when heart doth fail, God will take care f you.  When dangers fierce your path assail, God will take care of you!”

And then, in Sunday School, my friend, Thisisloretta, brought the most incredibly encouraging “show and tell” in the form of a little ty “prayer bear” whose name was “Hope.”  Her grandson had given it to her for Christmas, and the story behind the bear, and the story of Loretta’s journey gave me renewed vision as Loretta reminded us again that our only real hope lies in prayer.

It’s been a bit of a tough week.  There has not been a single time when I felt caught up, and even though life goes on in situations like this, it isn’t very comfortable for me.  And then, at the wedding the other day, things were going along quite well, and then, suddenly, there was this big picture of Daddy and Mama and Joni — lifesize on the screen, and I was overwhelmed with this deep, deep longing to just talk to Daddy again.  It just seems like it has been SO LONG!

I’ve had such a sense lately of the reality of him being alive somewhere.  Those streets of gold?  He’s THERE!  The Crystal Sea?  He’s sat beside it.  That City Foursquare?  It’s no mystery to him anymore.  The Face of Jesus?  Ah, he’s looked into those eyes of love and heard the words, “Well done!” and known the joy of being HOME and being FREE.  For so many long months, he just felt so gone.  And now the grief is different some how.  The memories are softer, more comforting, and though I find myself missing him suddenly, and unexpectedly, that terrible dull ache is not so ever-present.  And I really can think of him in specifics when I read what is written to us about Heaven in God’s Holy Word.  It is a welcome gift.

Tonight, thinking of this old world, and the things that I cannot change, I find myself with the tears streaming down my face, dripping off my chin.  I do miss my dad.  I miss my sons.  And I feel so sad for my friend Organic_Survivor and her family.  If any of you reading here haven’t been keeping up, please check in at www.xanga.com/MaryKay_girl and whisper a prayer for all of them keeping careful watch there these long, long hard days. 

 JR, you and your family are never far from our hearts and from our minds and from our prayers.

“No matter what may be the test . . . “

Lord Jesus, may we be found faithful!

Certain Man, being the “tree” man that he is, always buys a real live Christmas tree for outside.  On Saturday, He decided that it was time to plant it out in the Christmas tree row.  This is how he goes about such an operation:

He carefully hooks his loader to it and carries it to where he wants it planted.

And it eventually gets into his row.

Yesterday, I was putting away Christmas decorations:

The three Snowmen in the center were Old Gertrude’s and she loved them dearly.

 On the spur of the moment, I decided that I should set up one of our small lightweight tables to bring “stuff” to so I could organize it and put it away properly.  I was feeling just a bit upset with my lack of progress, and so I was visciously slamming down the legs and then I upended the thing — (just a little table, 2X4 and plastic, for pete’s sake!) and it came down, and caught my pinkie between itself and the laundry hamper that just happened to be in the way.

Oh, my!  Did it ever hurt.  I grabbed my pinkie in true Yutzy fashion (They declare that direct pressure on any pinch, burn or bump will lessen bruising and pain) and tried to not weep.  I did lean over in great turmoil and stood up and bobbed about, but the pain was invincible! And after several long seconds of this, I opened my hand and there was copious amounts of blood there.  And it really, really hurt.  And the fingernail is loose-ish at the bottom and the finger is purple round about and I have great throbbings therein.  I suppose that I shall lose that nail.  With any good favor, it will slide off silently some day and that will be that.  I am not holding my breath.

In other news, Certain Man and I got to go away for the afternoon yesterday.  We went to Rehoboth;

 walked on the boardwalk, (Which was practically deserted!)

discussed the many things heavy on our hearts and stopped at the Cracker Barrel for an early Supper.

  It was a mavelous time (Except that my poor finger throbbed most of the time).

Today I have two sick ladies.  Cecilia has a fever of 101º and Nettie girl has one of 101.4º  –  so they are both home!

Must run — there is laundry to do and house to straighten, and not enough time!

There is food to be put away, and many other things to do.  In a little over an hour, our small group will be meeting here, and I am so not ready.  We had a carry-in at church today, and I came home with extra food.  For some reason, there was lots and lots of food.  (And now the hard part is getting it all away — I do not like putting leftover food away.)

This is a very abbreviated post.  I have not been feeling very interesting, and when I have stuff to write I have been too busy.  Maybe I can do more later.

Blessings for a great week!

It was quite a weekend!  Lem and Jessica were home for the last few days before going back to college, and we decided to take the family to the new steakhouse in Camden, DE.  We had tried once before, and the wait had been too long, so we thought we would get there before four o’clock in the afternoon, and maybe we wouldn’t have to wait quite so long.  Well, we got there and we had a grand time waiting:

These are the faces of waiting:

Deborah and Jessica and Rachel, sit on the bench and wait.

Certain Man explains something to Eldest Daughter . . . and waits

Youngest Daughter was chilly.  She finds an armstrong heater while she waits.

Middle Daughter almost never “just waits.”

Don’t let this angelic look fool you for a minute.  Beloved Son in Law is thinking about stealing the sign he’s leaning on while he waits.  (It WAS very conveniently loose!)

Youngest Son and Girl Jess are very hungry, but still smiling (and waiting!)

Certain Man and Certain Man’s Wife wait and hold down the bench, too.

Beloved Son in Law and Youngest Son solve some of the most pressing political issues while Girl Jess listens in.

Finally, after about 45 minutes, they called our number.  But when we got into the restaurant, they were seating us at two separate tables.  And their only solutiion (Although we had waited that long because we were a party of eight) was to say that we would have to wait a long, long time to get a table together.  Youngest Son pulled out his cell phone, called Lone Star Steak House in Dover, explained our problem, and was told, “Come straight up here.  I will set the table now, and seat you when you get here.”  So we all piled back into the van, went on up to Dover and had a simply wonderful time — and the manager gave us a free appetizer as well!  The food was wonderful, the service was wonderful, and we didn’t WAIT.

We came home to play a came of “True Colors”

Eldest Daughter’s find at “God’s Way to Recovery” Thrift Store

(Some of us had more interest in this game than others did!)

Yesterday we had some dinner guests, and I got to do one of my favoritest things of all:

I had bought this “Mammals” book for Nevin’s big brother, Carson, a long time ago.  The animals intrigue the little guys, and we can spend hours looking at it. 

(My other favorite little guy was dodging the camera just off to my right, and none of the pictures with him turned out very well.)   

What a great weekend!  And now it is back to the regular schedule —

Which, quite truthfully, I am more than ready for!

Came home, re-read my post and didn’t like it —

So, I deleted it!  Never mind!