Delaware Grammy

The news at Shady Acres is that this old lady (ME!) had to have a molar pulled yesterday.  I feel like I am dragging myself around very miserably, but I need to shake it off, because I need to take Our Girl Nettie for a doctor’s appointment this afternoon. . .

In other news, Shady Acres had over an inch and a quarter of RAIN last night.  Today is muggy and cloudy.  I love it.  More Rain is in the forcast for the afternoon and evening.

In some old news, Certain Man and I had some company on Sunday night to play some games and eat some food and enjoy some fellowship.  We enjoyed the evening immensely!  There were people we missed, but it was still a nice little gathering of friends.

Donna and Amy came without Dale.  He was “meetinged out” from being so popular over the last few days.

Dave was pondering something extra important, I guess.
He didn’t look quite so sober when he was playing “Greedy”

Robert listens in on a conversation.
His words are often few and far between.

And my friend, www.xanga.com/Thisisloretta.
She may be pondering the injustices of
having to keep score for the Quiddler game
and not winning.
Never mind, Loretta, Dear.
We know that you could beat us all hollow if the cards were right!

As some of you know, Middle Daughter has been in the process of moving for several months.  She and one of her cousins planning to live together in the little lakeside house that I showed you earlier.  On Saturday night, Beebs and Holly invited their families to supper.  What a wonderful time, indeed!

On one side of the table, Middle Daughter, Beloved Son in Law, Eldest Daughter, Polly the Patchworker, and her husband, my youngest brother, Mark.  At the end, though you cannot see him, is their son, Jeremy.

Baby Max was in the mix somewhere, too!

At the other side of the table was Jeremy’s lovely wife, Cheryl, Friend John, Polly and Mark’s son, Timmy, Holly, and Youngest Daughter, Rach.

My Sweet Mama was there.  Isn’t she wonderful???

 

Holly and Deborah are both bookworms.  This little house has some things that it has never had before:

Look at those beautiful hardwood floors!

 

Maxie had his usual fan club!

 

What a precious time together!  The food was great!  The house was comfy and inviting.  And the fellowship was so warm and full of love and laughter. 

How very much it makes me think of our Daddy . . . 
He would have loved being at Deborah’s house and having supper with us all.  
I suppose that we will always miss him on these special nights. 
Once again, tonight, I choose to think about him safely Home, across the River. 
The house is comfy and inviting and full of Light. 
The fellowship is full of love and laughter. 
And Jesus is there. 
What more could a man want? 
What more could we want for him? 

  

 

 Many, many years ago, three young women (sometimes more, but these three were the “core” for much of the time) met once a week to pray together,  and to be accountable to each other.  We met at my friend, Etta Fern’s kitchen table and she and Marilyn and I, with our children playing happily somewhere in the house, experienced friendship and God in miraculous ways.  The years have taken us many miles from each other, but this morning’s Sunday School lesson brought back to me those days, as I remembered the song which we sang together nearly every time we got together.  

 

Church Retreat, 2007

We, the people of Laws Mennonite Church, have just finished our annual church retreat.  Pictures cannot begin to capture the fun, fun time of the weekend, but I still want to share some with you.  These are some of the faces:

Jonathan and Althea blessed us with their presence overnight on Friday night
Jonathan shared in “Family worship” on Saturday Morning before they went on to visit relatives.

 

          

What a variety of people join us for Church Retreat! 
If we were a large church, it could be highly inconvenient!
The way it is, it lends a great flavor to our time together.

 

     

There are things to laugh about, things to amuse . . .

 

Discussions to have, problems to solve . . .

 

 

Hugs to be given and gotten, children to hold and feed..

 

“NO, she’s NOT!!!”

 

Blowing up balloons can be daunting when you are so small.

 

 

It is great to have some time to talk and connect!

 

Our Beloved Son in law

 

Church Retreat can sure tucker a guy out!

 

It can make otherwise fairly sane people lose perspective.  You go, Girl!

 

Of course we had lots of food!  Ever since I can remember, the menu for Saturday night has been
pizza!

(Hooray for Sam’s Club!)

 

It can be scary when you don’t know what the next relay is going to be!

 

The “balloon stomp” was a big hit.  Literally!  Some people came away with bruises.

 

Two of the last four contestants.

 

The Wheels Parade is always a big hit.  Here the family of His Help meet prepare for the event.  (Can you believe that Mrs Mast had her seventh baby just a few weeks ago.  I think she looks great!

 

We had a splendid talent show.  (This wasn’t it!) There were wonderful crafts.  We had a softball game and a soccer game.  The Youth Girls organized some challenging relays and exciting skits that caused us to laugh.  On the last day, we had an ugly shirt/ugly hat contest and that motley crew up there is sum total of the brave participants.

 

A little girl and her ugly shirt.

 

Announcing the winners.

 

“Hang that fellow with that ugly shirt.  And be quick about it.  We need that rope for the pinata!!!

Turn around three times, Ethan, and wallop that red chili pepper for all you’re worth!

 We had three pinatas — a frog, a red chili pepper and a soccer ball.  Each took an exorbitant amount of energy to break, and each made an exorbitant mess on the floor. But finally, it was all cleaned up, the floors were swept and scrubbed, and the chairs and tables put away. The families gathered themselves and their belongings and headed home. Certain Man took his faithful truck and trailer and Cameron and her loot and went home.  The camp caretaker came over and we were able to figure up the bill, do a walk-through to make sure everything was in order, and then I collected Blind Linda and went home, too.

Another Church Retreat is History! 

(It’s all over but the laundry!  E-w-w-w-w-w-w-w!) 

A Birthday Party!!!

There are two little guys who are precious to us in so many ways.  They both have birthdays coming up, and their Daddy and Mommy decided to have their birthday party together and have everyone come. What a hoot!

There were party hats–

Some wore them and some didn’t.  Okay, so maybe some people are more vain than others!
(One of the vain ones cropped her own picture out of this group.  And yes, she was wearing a party hat!  But there were other “considerations”). 

 

And then there were people there who didn’t even know how to wear party hats!!!  Some people just can’t help it!

Birthday Day Boy Number One planned the menu:

“I want Brats.  And root beer in a bottle.  Iittle tiny cupcakes with sprinkles.  Macaroni and cheese!”
He got it all.  “Next year,” says Mommy, “(Birthday Boy Number Two) gets to plan the menu!

What fun to open the presents.  It was almost like Christmas.  How nice that there are so many people who love these little boys.  How special that their Daddy and Mommy allow us in their lives!

The plumbing inspector and the builder try their hands at putting together a shopping cart.
It was together before we knew it!

What a nice surprise!  Grandma Ruby came with Grandpa Nelson from Virginia.

And Auntie Chris and Rachel were there — as well as about twenty others.  It was quite a party!

 

Little cupcakes with sprinkles on them!  How Exciting!

Birthday Boy Number Two gets some instruction from Daddy —

And then help from Mommy. Such a sweet, sweet family.

Precious, precious days.
What wonderful memories for them, for us. 
I thank God for these little guys and how they have blessed our lives. 

Happy Birthday Carson! 

Happy Birthday Nevin!

 

At 6:30 pm August 25, 2007

 Laura Marie Beachy
(Plain City, Ohio)

Beloved sister of Daniel’s stepmother,
Sue Yutzy,

finished the work that she was sent to do
here on earth,

and entered into her heavenly home. 

May she rest in peace.

Aren’t Saturdays wonderful things?

This day is a wondrous gift to me, indeed.  Youngest Daughter gave me a special gift when she cleaned up the kitchen with all its grub and grime and loaded the dishwasher. And started it.  Middle Daughter did an equally distasteful job when she cleaned out the litter box in the basement. (They are on an “end of summer” expedition with Beloved Son in Law and Eldest Daughter on this very, very hot day in Delaware.)   I have worked on Church Retreat stuff, did some laundry, shared a wonderful small Italian sub with my husband, and now am getting ready to be host family tomorrow.  It is so peaceful, so quiet, so deliciously unrushed that I am sure it won’t last.

And while preparations are made for yet another funeral in the Greenwood community, Certain Man’s family awaits the homegoing of an Ohio auntie who had a stroke earlier this week.  Somber, somber thoughts, as we contemplate our own mortality.  But comfort and hope and peace as we remember that our times are in His hands. 

My Grandma Wert’s Brown Sugar Cookies

Cream together:   2 cups brown sugar
                        1/2 cup shortening (I use margerine)

Add:                    2 eggs and beat until creamy.

Sift together:         3 cups flour
                            3 teaspoons baking powder
                         3/4 teaspoon soda

Add flour mixture to sugar/shortening/egg mixture alternately with
                          1/2 cup canned milk

Mix well.

Add:                     1 teaspoon vanilla
                         3/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheets and bake 12 minutes at 375º until golden brown.  If you let them set just a little after taking them out of the oven, they will remove from the cookie sheets better. (I do not usually grease the cookie sheets.)  Remove to waxed paper and cool.  When totally cool, frost with Maple Flavored Frosting.

MAPLE FLAVORED FROSTING
1 lb. box of confectioner’s sugar
1 stick of margerine
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon maple flavoring
3 tablespoons canned milk (use slightly more if icing isn’t “spreadable”).

Mix everything together and frost cookies.  When the frosting is set, I layer them into an airtight container with waxed paper between the layers.

(These are my sons’ favorite cookies, and  I always make a double batch of cookies and frosting.  One single batch is never enough!)

e Oh, I love a rainy day!!!  e 

My Oldest Brother turns 57 on Monday, August 20th.
 
As youngsters we argued and fussed and I got him into trouble.  More than once, I’m afraid.  Our disagreements were so sharp at times that our Sweet Mama would cry and say, “Why can’t our children love each other?”  Our Daddy would smile and say, “My children have spirit.  They are going to go somewhere in this life.”  (It occurs to me that he didn’t say where we were going to go.  He just knew we would do it with all our hearts!)
 
One time, I shot him in the leg with a BB gun.  I didn’t mean to, but I still did it.  And it was during a fuss, so he always thought I did it on purpose!  Looking back, I remember the look on his face before the incident, and it did need dealing with.  I remember the look on his face afterwards, too.  It isn’t a comfortable memory.  There is justice in this old world.  We both got punished.
 
Clint often helped in the kitchen.  Sometimes I had to dry the dishes while he washed them.  Until Mama decided that our argumentive skills needed no sharpening and would make other, less volatile arrangements.
 
I vividly remember the time he got a brand new yellow volkswagen and he let me drive it!  I couldn’t believe it then.  Can hardly believe it now.
 
The year he turned sixteen, Daddy allowed him and Middle Brother and me to go to Tennessee to see our cousins down there.  The boys really didn’t think I should be allowed to go along, but Daddy said I could.  And then, when I left all my hang-up clothes back in Greenwood, and discovered it ten miles out of town and had to go back, it didn’t make for the best beginnings of a trip.  But we went, we survived, and we returned all in one piece.  When I think of sending our Oldest Son off when he had just gotten his license, with Youngest Son and Youngest Daughter in tow — well, let’s just say, IT WOULDN”T HAPPEN!!!  But Daddy had confidence in him, believed that he would be okay, and it was.
 
This past week has been a busy one for him.  He came home from a family cycle trip (he was driving a car) to one of his members in ICU, dying.  She hung on until Monday evening, and then went HOME to Heaven.  There are some difficult things facing his church right now — There was an elder’s meeting this week that went late.  Then Friday, he conducted the funeral (and did a swell job, too!).  He went to the dinner afterwards, mingled with the family and helped to clean up.  Then went from there to his Church Campout/retreat.  Beloved Son-in-law and Eldest Daughter and another couple were cooking for that particular event and the other gal told me late last night, “Your Brother came into the kitchen and encouraged us.  He cut up the cantaloupe and watermelon that needed cutting up and he wouldn’t have had to.  He did it just to be nice.  He sure can cut up a watermelon.  Robert (her husband) has been practicing doing it his way ever since!”
 
There are very few of his nieces and nephews who don’t think the world of him.  Every one of our children have voiced their love and appreciation for him.  Oldest Son, who is a member of his church will often say, “That Uncle Clinton! He’s the man!”
 
I just want to go on record as saying that it has been a long time since my oldest brother and I have had a fuss, quarrel or even a minor disagreement.   The events of our adult lives have revealed more what we have in common than anything else.  And he grew up.  I think I did too.  (That has helped alot!!!)  And God has done a work of grace in each of our lives as siblings that I never would have dreamed possible 40 years ago.  I am so grateful that we have been able to be friends as adults.  I am so thankful that we’ve been able to be a part of the lives of our nieces and nephews.  I know that my life is so much richer because of each one of them.
 
In a recent, sudden death, the family could not find one of their siblings.  They tried everything they knew, but she was nowhere to be found.  Finally, the day after the funeral, she got the message that she was to call home.  It was a terrible thing for her to hear, “We buried Daddy yesterday.”  It is one of those things that has caused me to think again about families and the people that make them up.  Losing Daddy has been the hardest thing for us as a family to work through.  But I cannot imagine what kind of pain it would be to missing someone at a time like that and not be able to find them.  I know that personal choice plays a big factor in situations like this, but I’m grateful for brothers who have forgiven a pesky sister and who are genuinely friends.  I have no desire to be out of their lives.
 
Happy Birthday, Clint.  I surely do love you!