Newborn Sophie 

Look what happens in a year!! 

A good game of Scrabble

Sunday was a good day. Our time of worship at church was especially sweet as the presence of God was so obvious. Ray was here to eat lunch with us, then he and Dick went shopping for a tool at Sears that Ray needs for his job. I took a nap while Destiny watched The Secret Garden. In the evening my sister Mary Ellen, my brother Dick and his wife Nancy, my sister Doris and some of her children came here for food, fun, and games. Unfortunately, my parents weren't able to come after all, but we had a great time. I finally got to play a good game of Scrabble with Nancy and Christy, my nephew Corey's girlfriend. I was leading the entire game, and Christy was way, way behind. But somehow, Nancy crept up and got ahead of me, and suddenly Christy started catching up, and then of all things, she went out first and I was stuck with the Z, and she ended up winning!!! I couldn't believe it. After everyone went home I realized that I had forgotten to take any pictures.

We had rain yesterday, but another beautiful Spring-like afternoon today. Destiny is definitely not believing me that this is still winter. She thinks summer must be right around the corner!

When we were in Florida over Christmas, we decided that Dick and I need to find a chance to go again without Destiny. We all love her so dearly, but it's so hard to have quality time with Sophie, because Destiny is just like a jealous sibling. As soon as she sees that I'm enjoying Sophie, she does things to distract me from her. So I've been checking flights, and found that Southwest Airlines has a good internet special in February. However, the weekends are getting quite booked up. So we decided to take a few days off work and go in the middle of the week. Melissa Nolt, my co-worker who bought our house, had offered to keep Destiny if we decide to go sometime. So we are going down Tuesday, Feb. 21 and returning Thursday, Feb. 23. We already have off school that Tuesday, I'll take my one paid personal day that Wednesday, and I don't have classes on Thursdays, so I won't miss much class time. Dick will take 3 of his vacation days.

Lori and Anthony just started a blogsite. I don't know how to put links on my page, but if you want to check out their blog, it's www.scstauffers.blogspot.com I couldn't figure out the sc at first, but discovered that it stood for State College!

Spring again

Well, we've been back to Spring again, praise God! It hit at least 60 degrees here today. I just love it.

Some people from Anthony and Lori's church in State College are doing the "Daniel fast" for 21 days. They had done it before when Anthony was single and I had done it shortly afterward when he told me about it. So this time I'm doing it along with them. The other time I ate nothing but fruits and vegetables. This time we're including whole grains and nuts and legumes, which makes it so much easier to do, being able to include brown rice. I'm amazed how I've been able to do it without much struggle this week, in spite of making regular meat meals for Dick and Destiny. I guess the timing is right. I'm even more amazed that this morning I weighed 6 lbs. less than I did on Monday morning.

Last week I received a book in the mail that I did not order. I have no idea how I got to be on the mailing list for this book. It's called "A White Stone." It's a novel projecting what it could be like if revival really did happen here in our country. It's not the best-written novel, but it is very fascinating, even more thought-provoking, and very convicting. I guess it's not coincidence that I received this book just when I'm doing this fast.

I needed some motivation to clean my house today, so I called those of my family that live in this area and invited them to come here tomorrow evening to play games. I'm looking forward to that. We have so much fun together. My parents are getting ready to move Feb. 28th to Gretna Springs, a very lovely retirement community. We're so happy for them, even though my Dad will no longer be able to have the big garden he enjoyed so much.

Belated Happy Birthday, Lisa!

Last evening I wanted to write some memories of the day Lisa was born, but Blogger.com wouldn't let me on.

So here goes. Lisa has heard all this so many times, she'll probably yawn! Anyway, Dick and I played Scrabble AGAIN the evening before. I was 2 weeks overdue and SO TIRED of waiting. I began to wonder if women really and truly do go into labor. At 11:30 p.m. I turned our bedroom light off, and at that exact moment my water broke with a great gush! For an entire hour I didn't have any contractions, and I was so afraid I still wasn't going to go into labor. I packed Dick's lunch for the next day, showered, shaved my legs, probably did my hair and make-up, did last minute packing, and finally had a contraction at 12:30. Sometime during the night we went to the Osteopathic hospital in Lancaster and Lisa was born at 5:34 a.m. She was beautiful with a head of black hair and little slanted eyes, which I came to realize were a Stauffer baby trademark. They brought us a phone and we called our parents from the delivery room. At 7:00 a.m. Dick kissed me goodby and went to work! It's a good thing I had his lunch packed!!

I'll never forget the first time they brought her to me and left me alone with her. It was like having this little live doll that was all mine. I told her that I was her mommy and that Daddy was at work and that her name was Lisa Joy. When I nursed her she fell asleep and I thought I must already be a good mother. I didn't realze that newborns sleep most of the time! It's just unbelievable that that was 32 years ago. I remember it so vividly. I almost wish I could be back there again, especially to the 98 lbs. that I weighed four days after she was born!!!

We're having cold, windy weather these two days. It was ushered in on Tuesday evening with a strong thunderstorm. This month has been the most unusual January I can ever remember. We've had unusually high temperatures, extreme wind, extreme cold here and there, and a thunderstorm! At least it doesn't get boring, and thank God, there haven't been snowy, icy roads to drive on.

The birthday girls

Sophie's birthday video 

Happy Birthday, Sophie

Today is Sophie's first birthday. What a day that was a year ago. I went to school knowing Lisa was in labor. Once or twice George called to update me, and one time Jeremy did. When Jeremy called me shortly after lunch to tell me that Sophie had been born, he said that George was sending me a picture. So I quickly went to the computer lab at school to check my email, and there she was!! He had taken the picture with his cell phone and emailed me from his phone. I love technology!!!

Today Lisa sent me a video of Sophie having fun with her Carvel ice cream cake. I sang Happy Birthday to her over the phone today and Lisa said she immediately got down off her lap and acted like she was going to start dancing!! Oh, how I wish I were there!

Tomorrow will be Lisa's 32nd birthday. I'll write memories from the day of her birth tomorrow.

Two great days

This was a wonderful two days. Yesterday morning I went to the ladies' fellowship at church. I have such wonderful, supportive sisters in the Lord.

Anthony and Lori never did make it to our place, but we met up with them to eat together at Old Country Buffet in the afternoon while her students took care of things at the health fair in Lancaster. We had a great time with them, as usual, but it was too short.

Enid wanted Destiny for Saturday evening and overnight, so Dick took her there before he went to work at Advance Auto Parts. My sister Mary Ellen and I went to see the new movie End of the Spear. It's about the 5 missionaries that were killed in Equador years ago. However, it was sold out, to our great disappointment. So instead we rented two movies and came to my house. We watched one of them last evening.

This morning at church Dave and Chris Cox shared their story. They had been missionaries in Thailand, and have now been attending our church for almost two years. I have always appreciated them tremendously, but after this morning, I realize what a gift they are to our congregation. I was really touched by the things they shared.

After church we met my sister Mary Ellen and one of her friends at Olive Garden. Our son Sam had given us Olive Garden gift cards for Christmas. After lunch Mary Ellen came here again so we could watch the other movie we rented last evening. Dick went to the bedroom to watch the Steelers game. It's still not over, but they are AHEAD!! We are so excited about it. If they win today, they will be in the Super Bowl in two weeks. Dan Kreider, one of the Steelers players was a good friend of Anthony's in high school and ever since. We feel quite proud to know him!!

It was just great to have time to be an adult sister instead of a grandma this weekend. After Mary Ellen lived so far away all these years, it's so nice to be able to spend time with her. But now I'm starting to miss Destiny. We'll get a call sometime this evening about picking her up, and I'll be more than ready for her beautiful smile and her hugs and kisses!

Sisters just chillin'. 

Destiny gets to operate a dummy after the show. 

Thank God, my cleaning's done

Last evening I spent the whole evening cleaning because I thought Anthony and Lori were coming here this evening. She and some of her Penn State students are holding a health fair at the Boys and Girls Club in Lancaster tomorrow afternoon. However, Anthony called this afternoon and said they won't be able to come until tomorrow morning. I'm so glad I didn't know that last evening, or I still wouldn't have my house cleaned!!

This evening we had a pasta dinner fund raiser at school. The entertainment was a ventriloquist, Ryan Baumgartner. His show is really, really funny. He gets information about people before the show and then includes that in very humorous ways in the show. He also gets people from the audience to come up and interact with the dummy. He was the entertainment at Dick's work banquet last spring. I actually think I enjoyed it more that time, because this evening Destiny was really a pain. She was way too tired to behave well, she wanted to be playing with her friends, she was fussing that she was hungry (she was too distracted to eat much of her pasta dinner when we first got there this evening), at one point she bumped her face on a table and she way over reacted. She just ate up all the pity the 3rd grade girls were giving her. Oh well, such is life with a five-year-old, praise God. I saw a number of former students there this evening and had good talks with them. I declare, sometime I am going to have an alumnae choir that actually practices and then performs several songs. It would be absolutely awesome.

The weather today was absolutely balmy - in fact my classroom was hot with the windows open this afternoon! Now wasn't it just a few days ago that I was fussing about extremely cold wind? What is up with our weather??? Before we left to go to the pasta dinner I was sitting here at the computer and looked out the window. The sunset was breath-takingly beautiful. The picture below doesn't do it justice. I always think of the verse, "The heavens declare the glory of God." How very, very true!

Ryan, the ventriloquist with his dummy, Jeff, and Mr. Rittenhouse, who had to play Goliath. 

A glorious sunset after a lovely day 

This crazy weather

When I woke up very early this morning I thought maybe we were having a blizzard and would have off school. But to my disappointment, I looked outside and realized it was wind and rain, not snow. I looked on the website for Channel 8 and saw that the current temp was 61 degrees!! I stepped outside, and sure enough, it felt like a stormy summer morning! We had extreme wind all day and the temp went lower and lower as the day went on. I think it is to get down into the 20's tonight. Such bizzare weather!

Destiny's first dental check-up went fine yesterday. However, she has 3 cavities between teeth, so we must now go to a pediatric dentist to get them taken care of.

I confess that I watch the American Idol contest each year. I hate that title, but I do enjoy hearing the vocal talent. I also hate the derogatory remarks of some of the judges. I cringe for some of the people and cry happy tears for others. My conscience won't let me just sit and watch TV when I have so much to do, so I always try to plan things I can do at the same time when the show is on, like grading papers, sorting laundry, folding laundry, etc. Okay, have I made enough excuses and explanations?!!

A lot accomplished

We had off school yesterday for Martin Luther King Day. It was just what I needed. I got SO much done - appointments made, important phone calls taken care of, my vertical blind at the sliding glass door hemmed up (it touched the floor and and that always messed it up), the family calendars that I had made for our kids are ready to take to the post office, Christmas cards, letters, pictures from people are all put where they belong instead of cluttering my desk, and I even got the awesome song that my Middle School Chorus will sing at the Jr. High Festival arranged on my computer, all ready to copy and start working on tomorrow in chorus period. I never made it out of my pajamas, but that's okay! I am READY for a shower and a change of clothes this morning!!

Destiny did a great job of playing on her own yesterday, always close by though. We rented the movie Parent Trap this past weekend (the original, which is so much better than the updated one). She watched that too yesterday AGAIN. I think she has watched it every day since Friday. She likes the part where the twins sing to the parents, "Let's get together, yeah, yeah, yeah." She really gets into it. This morning she will finally have her first dentist appointment. Our dentist (a very motherly Asian lady) called here last evening to talk with Destiny and introduce herself to her. I thought that was so awesome.

This has been the windiest night and day since we moved here. Knowing that we are much more protected from the wind here than we were at the other house, I can't imagine what it must have sounded like at the Nolts last night. Destiny came to our room at 4 a.m. and said she was scared. I lay in her bed with her for a while, and I was almost scared too. I thought maybe that end of the house might get blown off. But we didn't have any damage, thank the Lord - just the front porch furniture blown sideways and upside down.

The late afternoon sun was so brilliant a while ago, it was hard to believe it was cold and windy outside.

Our windswept porch. 

The beautiful end to a cold, blustery day. 

Don't let that bright sun fool you. 

County Chorus

I went to the County Chorus concert this evening. I almost chickened out when I realized it was snowing and blowing. But it was just flurries. But the wind was unbelievable. I had to walk a long way from where I parked my car to the door of the high school. I really and truly thought the wind would blow me over! There were three of my former students in the chorus - Matt Garber, Brandon Kreider, and Heather Harley. I never did see Matt, but I saw his parents. I had a good view of Heather the whole evening and got to talk to her afterward. I could see Brandon occasionally, and just got to say a quick "hi" to him afterward. I'm so proud of those kids. They are going to go places.

Beautiful, beaming Heather. 

Lancaster - Lebanon County Chorus 

My favorite girl in the chorus - Heather Harley 

They're alive and well in Sweden

Today I finally had the chance to have a nice, long chat with Miki by phone. It's amazing how a phone call from such a distance is as clear as a bell. They recently added a new member to their family - a Jack Russell terrior puppy named Jaqueline, or Jackie for short. She's 9 weeks old now. Miki sent me pictures after we talked, so enjoy!

This evening I'm going to Solanco High School for the County Chorus concert. There are at least four of my former students in it this year. I'm going to drop Destiny off with Frank on my way there. Dick works at Advance Auto Parts on Saturday evenings, so I guess I'll go by myself. I was thinking I would ask my sister Mary Ellen to go along, but she went to a women's retreat this weekend. I wish Jeremy could go with me! When he was in County and District chorus and we went to the concerts, I used to think I had died and gone to heaven. It's just breath taking to hear 200 of the best high school singers all put together in one chorus. I can hardly wait.

A new playmate for Katrina and Bjorn. 

Bjorn snoozes with Jackie. 

Katrina relaxes with Jackie. 

Lindsey Stauffer, an amazing artist

Lindsey Stauffer is Dick's brother Jim's 21-year-old daughter. She is becoming quite an accomplished water color artist. Today she emailed me a picture of Destiny she had painted. She said she just sold the picture to a man who has two adopted daughters from Bolivia. He said the picture of Destiny reminds him of his daughters. Check out her work at lindseystauffer.artspan.com. Our favorite is the one she painted of Dick's dad playing the harmonica. All her pictures are so realistic it's really hard to imagine that they are not photographs.

Dick's mother was an artist. Her favorite medium was oil paint. None of her five sons took much interest in drawing or painting, but most of her grandchildren are very artistic, each in their own way. It's very interesting to see this strong trait develop. Even though she died in 1981, she lives on!

Lindsey Stauffer with Grandpa and the picture she painted of him. 

Lindsey Stauffer's painting of Destiny 

Merida and Isaiah with their new puppy 

Happy Birthday, Isaiah Kepnes!

Today my family is remembering this day six years ago. My sister Betty and her husband Scott were expecting their second child in March. However, there were complications and he was born two months early on January 12. I vividly remember my Dad's call that morning saying that things had reached a dangerous point and that the baby would be delivered that day. I cried out to God right there in my bedroom for Betty and Scott and their little daughter Merida, and for this tiny baby that would be coming too soon. When I got to school I shared my heavy heart with the staff during devotions, and we had special prayer there for them also. I'm sure everyone in my big family was praying that day. Isaiah was born, very tiny, but safely. I'll never forget seeing him for the first time at Easter that year (they live in New Hampshire), and I just couldn't get over how tiny he was then. I just can't imagine how much tinier he must have been at birth. Today Isaiah is in kindergarten, just like most other 6-year-olds. We thank God for Isaiah!

Isaiah and Destiny (October '04) 

Tastefully Simple and simply fun

This evening I went to a Tastefully Simple party. I never go to parties like that, because many years ago I decided I didn't have time for them in my life. But this one was an exception, because it was hosted by Melissa Nolt, my co-worker who bought our house. I really wanted the chance to go to that house as a guest for the first time ever. It was a strange feeling sitting there, looking around and reminiscing. But I didn't have a chance to get very sentimental, because we were having too much fun tasting things and laughing. There were four of us teachers there besides Melissa, and I'm afraid we were acting more like children than teachers.

Dick felt feverish when he went to bed last evening and he was ready to go to bed as soon as he was finished eating this evening. I helped Destiny to get ready for bed before I left and she watched a movie in our bedroom while he slept. She was still awake when I got home after 9. I guess we'll see how everyone feels in the morning.

A blessed, quiet weekend

This was a very quiet weekend for me - the first one in a very long time. I stayed home all day Saturday. The most exciting part of the day was when Jeremy called me three times from the Mario Frangoulis concert he was attending. I put my cell phone on speaker phone and got to hear some awesome singing.

Today we had fellowship meal after church. It's always so neat to have time to sit and talk and laugh with friends as we eat. If anyone ever knew Barry Herr, he's still as crazy as ever, maybe more! I took a good nap this afternoon while Dick watched football and Destiny watched a movie. This evening I got stuff done around here and plans made for things at school, so I feel ready for the week - the first time in a while, also.

I love new beginnings

I had a good day at school. I love when I can get started on new things. Middle school now starts working on songs for the Jr. High Choral Festival in May and Intermediate Chorus gets started on a musical for the spring program. I played part of the musical I picked and the kids LOVED it already. It's called King of the Jungle. I also had my first time with the Middle School worship team today. I shared what my heart is for worship and for the team, I had them answer questions on paper to get them thinking, I had them share some, then we watched some of the John Tesh at Red Rock DVD. It was a good time, and I feel encouraged.

After school Destiny and I got groceries and now I'm home and looking at a very non-eventful weekend. I hardly know how to act.

Anthony shows Destiny the tricks of his trade (software engineer). 

Bedtime story with Grandpa. 

One more thing done

I hurried home after school today to put supper in the over before Destiny's dance class at 4:00. As we were heading home, Enid called my cell phone and asked if she could have Destiny for the evening. I told her I'd bring her after the class was over. While at home I changed into my gym clothes and packed my school clothes, because I had a plan in mind. I got supper in the oven and we went to the gym. After we were finished I started to change back into my school clothes and discovered I had forgotten my pants. Rats! I was planning to go to Provident Bookstore right after I dropped Destiny off at Enid's. What to do? I took her there (she lives near Mount Joy), then remembered that there is a Goodwill store nearby. So I went there and bought pants and a sweater for a total of $7 and I was all set! I called Dick to tell him that his supper was all ready for him. He works at Advance Auto Parts on Wednesday evenings. So I had the luxury of spending all evening at Provident Bookstore looking at and listening to kids' musicals. It was wonderful. I picked one out for my spring program at school. Now I can cross that off my list of things to do. I went to pick Destiny up and she fell asleep on the way home, so I was able to sit down and eat a relaxed supper (a very late one, though). Now it's time to get some sleep.

Baby Natalia's surgery

I got a message from Dick's dad that baby Natalia's heart surgery was successful today, but that she will be a very sick baby for the next 24 hours. I think they expect it to be 3 weeks before she'll be able to go home.

My vacation is over (boo-hoo)

This was my last lazy day for a while, I guess. I really feel sad for Christmas vacation to be over. Below I posted a picture of Krista Stauffer holding her baby for the first time. Her heart surgery will be tomorrow. Also there are pictures of the Stauffers hanging out at Grandpa's house on Sunday.

Krista gets to hold her daughter Natalia for the first time. 

Some Stauffer women.