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May I remind all my

fellow laborers that

food to put in the freezer

 is an incredible

blessing???

Thank you, Lord!!!

 Yesterday was so sweet. 

Daniel and I on the left, Dick and Jean (Witmer) Stauffer
 on the right. Good times.
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Daniel and I went to Lancaster for the day to have some stress-less time together.  (We were in need of quiet time to talk and to relax!)  About 8:30, I thought about the fact that Gary Burlingame had given us a gift certificate to Cracker Barrel for our anniversary, and we planned to use it at Lancaster’s Cracker Barrel.  I had learned to know a gal from Lititz that graduated with some of my cousins from Lancaster Mennonite High School, and we had some very common threads running through our lives.  On impulse, I e-mailed her and asked if there was any way that she and her husband could meet us there for lunch.  She called back while we were already on our way to Lancaster, and God made a way for them and us to meet for a most enjoyable time.  

Later that night I commented this to Jean on her Blog site (www.musicaljean.blogspot.com)

“. . . What a precious, unexpected blessing to meet the Stauffers face to face, and to talk foster care and broken hearts and uncertain futures and great kids with the perspective of having the same FATHER.  Thank you so much for making the effort to join us today.  It meant a great deal to us. . . ” 

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From lunch at Cracker Barrel that got over inordinately late, we drove to Denver, PA to see our friends, Bev Martin and her parents, Ted and Jean.  A friend of hers also joined us for the late afternoon and evening together.  And I forgot to take pictures, so I dug some out from last fall when Bev’s daughter got married in the garden that is carefully tended by Bev’s energetic Mom and Dad.  So these pictures were taken last fall, but you can still get an idea of the lovely setting.

This is Bev with Daniel last September. 

There is this lovely Gazebo up the little hill.  This is where we grilled hamburgers, made s’mores and visited.

The garden is a many splendored thing.  I have never seen anything like it on a private property.  It is just incredible!  And one elderly couple has done it all.  Bev’s Mom designed and laid the many stone paths and built the pond and the stream that leads into it.  She and her husband fashioned a pump system that pumps water up the hill, and then it goes down over this water fall into another pool, then overflows onto another water fall and then cascades into a huge pond — which she also fashioned and has stocked with lots and lots of hungry goldfish.

This is the upper water fall

This is Bev’s Mom and Daniel talking by the fish pond.  Being there was just so relaxing.  Bev’s parents had another engagement last evening, and left around 6:15, but we and Bev and her friend enjoyed the evening until around 9:00, when we left for home.  Pulled in around 11:55, and called it a day!

Praise the LORD! The foot is not fractured! She has to do some exercises that the doctor gave her, and take it easy for the next week. (Which is going to be hard for her!) However, she should be fine. Keep on praying, and thanks for all the prayers already sent up on her behalf.

Deborah for BEG, who is in PA on an outing with Certain Man.

 July 14, 1973

Greenwood Mennonite Church
Who could ever have believed what our life together would be like?

This is Daniel’s Uncle Walter, preaching and preaching and preaching.  (He didn’t believe in a short wedding “meditation” back then).  I am showing this picture because I think alot of you will see the back of people you know and love — and many, many who have gone on to Heaven. 

And the vows were spoken

The Ministers

Walter Beachy, John Mishler, Jesse Yoder

Our Ushers

Leslie Yoder, Mark, Jr., Keith Beachy, Vernon Hostetler 

One of our guest receivers

 
. . . my little Sister, Alma Jean

Our Singers

Shirley Yoder, Gladys Yoder, Rose Yoder, Velma Magill
Jonathan Yoder, David Yoder, Paul Yoder, David Hertzler
(These are old pictures.  I wish you could see them better!)

And we had table servers

Front: Emma Lou Beachy, Lois Byler, Ellen Layman, Marlene Troyer, Martha Helmuth, Boni Helmuth
Back: Susan Grove, Debbie Kramer, Karen Yoder, Steve Miller
(Some of these gals are married, and I don’t know what their last names are now!  Isn’t it funny how people are good enough friends to be a part of your wedding and then you lose contact with them?  If any of you in this picture read this posting, I’d sure be glad to hear from you!)

This is the wedding party

Ilva Hertzler (my cousin),  Ruth Yutzy (Daniel’s Sister), Sarah Yoder (my sister) were the bridesmaids.
Joseph Yutzy (Daniel’s Brother), Nel Yoder (my brother) and Dennis Yutzy (Daniel’s friend) were groomsmen.

 

Here that gal we know as “gokum” and I share a reflective moment.  This is one of my favorite pictures of her.

 
Ralph and Sue look a whole lot younger, too.

And then there was a reception.  We had opted for a very small wedding cake with sheet cakes for the rest of the crowd.  It was the way we wanted it, and it was just fine for us. We picked the flowers for our wedding the morning of the wedding and we used the fresh roses to decorate the cake.

Here my parents visit with Lewis and Anna May Strite, parents of Ruth Ann Strite, a Pen Pal that I had gotten through the Reader’s Write of the old Sunday School paper, “Words of Cheer.”  Ruth Ann was there somewhere, but I never got a picture of her.  We seldom see eachother, but still correspond at Christmas.

On and On we walk together —

 ELDEST SON 

From this — in the summer of 2004

To this:

as of tonight–

My Son, My Son.

What next???

He certainly keeps me guessing!

Update On Rachel:

I just talked to the nurse at Choral Camp and they have an appointment for Rachel tomorrow morning at a doctor who will decide if she needs X-rays.  If there is a problem, they will take care of it, and decide from there if she should return home.  She seems to be having increased swelling and discomfort. 

This is my child who rarely complains, and so I am a bit concerned when she says, “Mom, it really is kinda’ hurting.  I think maybe something is wrong in there.” 

Thanks for all your prayers, and she asked that people would keep on praying for her.

Could you all pray for our Rachel-girl?  She hurt her foot at our July 4th picnic, and it didn’t seem too bad.  She was getting around pretty well when she left for Choral Camp.  However, she re-injured it yesterday, and thought that it was feeling pretty bad but would “get better soon.”  She called tonight and something in there really “popped” today when she was doing something or other — just walking, I think.  Anyhow, she is in pretty much pain, and it is swollen.  Sure would appreciate your prayers for her.  We’d be glad if she didn’t need to get medical care in Ohio.   Thanks!

If you have a kid at Choral Camp, this is the link to download the Choral Camp Daily newspaper.  It takes some time to download, but I think you’ll enjoy the daily contact.  It is usually not available until after 8 or 9 in the evening.  (I miss my Rachel-girl!)

http://www.rosedalebible.org/ccamp/record.html

If you have your speakers on, you will hear the Harding University Concert Choir singing “Safe in the arms of Jesus.”  I always thought about that song as being about Heaven, and being safely Home, but if you think about the words, it is a word for us today.  It is a place to run to in these uncertain times. 

President Kennedy once said in a speech in the early sixties, “We are living in perilous times…”  (I was 10 when he was assassinated, so I was pretty young when he made this speech.)  I remember an evangelist using President Kennedy’s words as a sermon text at our little country church, and shivering on the bench as I rolled those words over and over in my head.  The end of time felt so imminent.

I’ve been thinking alot about “perilous times” in these days of flood and earthquake and war.  I look into the faces of our children, now young adults, and think about the world they will live their lives in and pray that they will understand that there is a safe place for them in the Arms of Jesus.

The good news is this:  His arms are big enough to hold us all.

Safe in the arms of Jesus,
Safe on his gentle breast,
There by his love o’ershaded,
Sweetly my soul shall rest.
Hark! ’tis the voice of angels,
Borne in a song to me,
Over the fields of glory,
Over the crystal sea.

Refrain:
Safe in the arms of Jesus,
Safe on his gentle breast
There by his love o’ershaded,
Sweetly my soul shall rest.

Safe in the arms of Jesus,
Safe from corroding care,
Safe from the world’s temptations,
Sin cannot harm me there.
Free from the blight of sorrow,
Free from my doubts and fears;
Only a few more trials,
Only a few more tears!
Refrain

Jesus, my heart’s dear refuge,
Jesus has died for me;
Firm on the Rock of ages,
Ever my trust shall be.
Here let me wait with patience,
Wait till the night is over;
Wait till I see the morning
Break on the golden shore.
Refrain

Fanny Crosby

Last night, Middle Daughter came in and said, “We’ve got the happiest laundry in the neighborhood!”  That made me laugh, because it really wasn’t laundry at all.  The sacks from the sack races on Tuesday had gotten wet in the storm.  For some reason, there is a tag on them that says specifically, “DO NOT WASH” so I hung them out in the beautiful afternoon to air out and dry before I stored them back in their box. 

One of the things Daddy did each summer was raise pole limas.  I remember as a little girl, that there was this patch of ground between the garage and the old flat roofed chicken house that was dedicated to these plants.  We kids shelled beans, and shelled beans and shelled beans!  I only realized recently that Mama really didn’t much care for them, but she can make the best pot of tender green lima beans anywhere.  

Certain Man has not ever dabbled in growing lima beans.  There was never a real need to, and he didn’t think this was his territory.  Youngest Brother is growing the usual huge patch of lima beans this year out by Mama’s house beside the Country Rest Home, and things are coming along well, but I begged Certain Man for just one row of lima beans this year “to see how they do” and he was sympathetic to my request.  So, we have one little row of lima beans in our garden, and they have little tiny beans on them!

With all the rain this week, Certain Man hasn’t gotten in to do his timely weeding. 
(If you look, you can see where the rain washed down this row.) 

He said, “Look at those WEEDS!!!” when I showed him this picture. 

I asked if he cared if I put it on, and he said, “Nah!  Go ahead!”

(So I did!)