This post is a prayer request for Phyllis Gorno. Phyllis was a dear, dear friend when her husband Tim was our pastor at Grace Community Fellowship for six years. They are the parents of two young adult daugthers, Amy and Angie. Phyllis is a nurse and one of the sweetest persons I have ever known. Below is an email I received from her yesterday.
Dear friends and family,
Just a note to say hello...and to ask you to please pray for me and place me on all your prayer chains of praying saints. I had a CT scan done today and it reveals a large mass/ complex cyst on my right ovary measuring 18 centimeters which is approximately 7 inches in size. I am looking at pending surgery this upcoming week and three surgeons will be involved. Please pray that this mass will dissolve and that there will be no cancer.
Thank you so much for your heart felt prayers.
Love,
Phyllis Gorno
This morning as I went about my work, a song came on the radio that had been one of my favorites in the early eighties when we went through some really tough times. Our music group, The Freedom Singers, used to sing it, and there were times it meant so much to me, I could barely keep singing. Here are the lyrics, for you Phyllis, and for anyone else who needs them:
BE STILL MY SOUL – The Imperials (Russ Taff)
Surrounded by the cares of life,
Situations rise, they press against my soul.
Desperate thoughts have blocked me in,
Feels like I may lose control.
A voice from somewhere inside me,
Brings comfort, fills my heart with courage.
And lets me know everything will be all right.
(I hear Him say) Be still my soul and know that He is God,
(He is God) Stand quietly, He is The Lord.
If God is for me who can be against me?
(He is God) Be still my soul, He is The Lord.
Teach me Lord, to stay in You,
When my emotions try to rule me,
Remind me Lord, of who I am,
Show me what You want me to be.
There is great strength and confidence,
Knowing that You are with me,
I’m not afraid of tomorrow,
What waits ahead.
(I hear Him say) Be still my soul and know that He is God,
(He is God) Stand quietly, He is The Lord.
If God is for me who can be against me?
(He is God) Be still my soul, He is The Lord.
Be still my soul, He is The Lord.
He is The Lord.
Right after that another favorite, a more current one, came on the radio. This is one that was in the musical we did at Christmas at church, and then I used it with my school worship team this spring. Once again, here are those lyrics. Be blessed.
Word of God, Speak (Bart Millard and Peter Kipley)
I'm finding myself at a loss for words,
And the funny thing is, it's okay.
The last thing I need is to be heard,
But to hear what You would say.
Word of God, speak, would you pour down like rain,
Washing my eyes to see Your majesty,
To be still and know that You're in this place?
Please let me stay and rest in Your holiness.
I'm finding myself in the midst of You,
Beyond the music, beyond the noise.
All that I need is to be with You,
And in the quiet, hear Your voice.
Word of God, speak, would you pour down like rain,
Washing my eyes to see Your majesty,
To be still and know that You're in this place?
Please let me stay and rest in Your holiness.
I'm finding myself at a loss for words,
And the funny thing is, it's okay.
Pray for Phyllis.
Thursday, June 29, 2006
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
I found my cookie sheet!!
This post is especially for the Stauffers whom we were camping with this past weekend. I was lamenting the fact that sometime since we moved a year ago, I had lost my really nice, big cookie sheet. I told them that it actually was Jeremy's, but it was nicer than any I had ever had, so while we stored his stuff after he moved to Florida two years ago, I just "kept" it. The Stauffers joked that probably when Jeremy was home in May he saw his cookie sheet in my cupboard and decided to take it back.
WELL, I found my cookie sheet yesterday. I was putting away the Scrabble game that I had taken along camping (which nobody even played), and there was my cookie sheet with a puzzle on it that Destiny had put together a few months ago!!
This reminded me of our lost cast iron pot. Two years ago when we were packing for the Stauffer camping weekend, we discovered that we only had one cast iron pot instead of the two we have always taken along camping. We figured it must have gone home with his dad or one of his brothers the year before. But upon asking everyone that weekend, no one had a cast iron pot that did not belong to them. We were completely puzzled. We couldn't imagine we would have given it to anyone. We have quite a collection of cast iron and I've always decorated my kitchen with it and we've always used cast iron for cooking when we're camping.
About six months later Dick was sitting in the kitchen reading the newspaper and I was in the family room. Dick said, "Hey, dear, I found our cast iron kettle." I said, "WHERE???" He said, "On the wall." I came out to the kitchen, and there it hung right beside it's lid - decorating that wall just where we had decided to put it sometime between those two Stauffer camping weekends! We had both become so used to seeing it there, that it never occurred to us that it was the camping kettle we were missing!!
I think I'll stop now before everyone thinks I should have stayed at the Hamilton Arms Retirement Center where I went to sing this evening!!
WELL, I found my cookie sheet yesterday. I was putting away the Scrabble game that I had taken along camping (which nobody even played), and there was my cookie sheet with a puzzle on it that Destiny had put together a few months ago!!
This reminded me of our lost cast iron pot. Two years ago when we were packing for the Stauffer camping weekend, we discovered that we only had one cast iron pot instead of the two we have always taken along camping. We figured it must have gone home with his dad or one of his brothers the year before. But upon asking everyone that weekend, no one had a cast iron pot that did not belong to them. We were completely puzzled. We couldn't imagine we would have given it to anyone. We have quite a collection of cast iron and I've always decorated my kitchen with it and we've always used cast iron for cooking when we're camping.
About six months later Dick was sitting in the kitchen reading the newspaper and I was in the family room. Dick said, "Hey, dear, I found our cast iron kettle." I said, "WHERE???" He said, "On the wall." I came out to the kitchen, and there it hung right beside it's lid - decorating that wall just where we had decided to put it sometime between those two Stauffer camping weekends! We had both become so used to seeing it there, that it never occurred to us that it was the camping kettle we were missing!!
I think I'll stop now before everyone thinks I should have stayed at the Hamilton Arms Retirement Center where I went to sing this evening!!
We've got RAIN!!
The rain has just continued to come down in deluges yesterday and overnight. I think they are actually starting to say that this may break flooding records, except for Agnes. I feel so sorry for people whose homes and businesses will be flooded. I'll never forget the mess in Dick's parents' house after Agnes.
Yesterday was a stay-at-home kind of day with all that rain out there. I should have done what my friend Cheryl did and go outside in a raincoat to pull weeds. But with my sore throat, that idea did not even come to mind. (My throat feels even better this morning, by the way.) Laura Stauffer came in the evening with her wedding pianist to pick wedding music. That was fun. I just love wedding music, and going through my stuff brings back such good memories of weddings we have done over the years.
While we were having all this rain yesterday, I got numerous calls from Jeremy. He is having a three-week break between school quarters just now, so he actually gets to have days that he's completely "off", both from school and work. Yesterday was one of those, and in the afternoon he went to Lisa and George's house to swim in the pool. He took some pictures with his cell phone and sent them to me. Below is my favorite. Needless to say, I was feeling a little jealous. He also called for my barbeque recipe from the Mennonite cookbook. It cracks me up. Of all the barbeque recipes in the world, and all the mixes you can buy, they still prefer the one from the Mennonite cookbook. (Just in case anyone checks that one out - I learned early on that you have to use twice as much sauce per pound of hamburger meat as it calls for in that recipe. Otherwise it's very, very dry.)
I must get moving. Alyssa Nissley will be coming for her piano lesson this morning, and I think I may be able to finally go outside to pull weeds today.
Yesterday was a stay-at-home kind of day with all that rain out there. I should have done what my friend Cheryl did and go outside in a raincoat to pull weeds. But with my sore throat, that idea did not even come to mind. (My throat feels even better this morning, by the way.) Laura Stauffer came in the evening with her wedding pianist to pick wedding music. That was fun. I just love wedding music, and going through my stuff brings back such good memories of weddings we have done over the years.
While we were having all this rain yesterday, I got numerous calls from Jeremy. He is having a three-week break between school quarters just now, so he actually gets to have days that he's completely "off", both from school and work. Yesterday was one of those, and in the afternoon he went to Lisa and George's house to swim in the pool. He took some pictures with his cell phone and sent them to me. Below is my favorite. Needless to say, I was feeling a little jealous. He also called for my barbeque recipe from the Mennonite cookbook. It cracks me up. Of all the barbeque recipes in the world, and all the mixes you can buy, they still prefer the one from the Mennonite cookbook. (Just in case anyone checks that one out - I learned early on that you have to use twice as much sauce per pound of hamburger meat as it calls for in that recipe. Otherwise it's very, very dry.)
I must get moving. Alyssa Nissley will be coming for her piano lesson this morning, and I think I may be able to finally go outside to pull weeds today.
Tuesday, June 27, 2006
Rain and sore throat and keyboard issues
I am having issues with my keyboard this morning. Every time I try to use an apostrophe, the cursor jumps right off the page where I am writing and opens up a search thing below. It is so frustrating. I did not know I use apostrophes that often. Anyway, I had to use quotation marks below where there should have been apostrophes. (I had to explain that so that nobody thinks I don"t know any better!)
Just when it seems there could not possibly be more rain in the heavenlies, there is more just DUMPING upon us! I hope this doesn"t lead to a situation like we had in 1972 with tropical storm Agnes. At least I know we are high and dry, but I feel sorry for those whose homes are not.
I started noticing that my throat hurt on Sunday at Dicks dad"s place, so that evening I started my normal anti-sore throat regime of drinking green tea with honey and sucking on Hall"s Defense lozengers. But it was too little too late I guess. I had a full fledged sore throat with a fever yesterday. I haven"t even gotten all our camping stuff put away yet. The joints in my fingers and toes felt like they were screaming last evening. I definitely feel better this morning. I do not have a fever, and my throat does not hurt as badly, so hopefully I am on my way to health again.
Please check out the new link I have on my sidebar. Our neice Lindsey Stauffer is an accomplished artist, and I have a link to her online gallery. Also, on my sister Rose Wichterman"s blog, she just posted pictures of her six BEAUTIFUL children. That link is also on my sidebar.
Just when it seems there could not possibly be more rain in the heavenlies, there is more just DUMPING upon us! I hope this doesn"t lead to a situation like we had in 1972 with tropical storm Agnes. At least I know we are high and dry, but I feel sorry for those whose homes are not.
I started noticing that my throat hurt on Sunday at Dicks dad"s place, so that evening I started my normal anti-sore throat regime of drinking green tea with honey and sucking on Hall"s Defense lozengers. But it was too little too late I guess. I had a full fledged sore throat with a fever yesterday. I haven"t even gotten all our camping stuff put away yet. The joints in my fingers and toes felt like they were screaming last evening. I definitely feel better this morning. I do not have a fever, and my throat does not hurt as badly, so hopefully I am on my way to health again.
Please check out the new link I have on my sidebar. Our neice Lindsey Stauffer is an accomplished artist, and I have a link to her online gallery. Also, on my sister Rose Wichterman"s blog, she just posted pictures of her six BEAUTIFUL children. That link is also on my sidebar.
Sunday, June 25, 2006
Another great Stauffer camping weekend
We had a really great time this weekend, camping with Dick's family at Camp Hebron. We always do. The weather forecast for the weekend sounded like we would have torrential rain and storms most of the weekend. But the forecast was wrong, praise God. We got rain during the night Friday, but no rain at all on Saturday. We spent a lot of time at the pool and went paddleboating in the lake, went for walks, and sat around the fire enjoying conversation and the two babies. This morning during our worship service it started raining increasingly harder. I was in charge of the noon meal, but by the time I started getting things out, it was really raining hard, and we did something for the first time ever in the history of Stauffer camping (30 some years). We gave up on having that meal at camp. Instead we packed all of my meal stuff into my neice Laura's car and she and I and Destiny headed to Grandpa's house to prepare it while everyone else tore down and packed up. We drove in torrential rain on the way home, but when we got to Manheim there had been no rain! Not quite everyone was able to come to Grandpa's for that meal, but for those that did come, we had a great time in the dry, cool basement.
Dick's family consists of five brothers, Dick, Bob, Steve, Jim, and Fred. Of our family only Dick and I and Destiny and our son Anthony and his wife Lori were able to be there. Bob and all his family live in northwestern Minnesota, so of course they were not there. Steve's entire family was there, and below is a really good family picture of them. Jim's family was all there except their daugther Heather, who is taking a three-week course in Washington D.C. right now. I did not manage to get a picture of them all together, so I tried to point them out on various pictures. Fred's entire family was there and I got a good family picture of them. Laura's fiance was not there, however. They will be getting married in July. She is the one who just graduated from Millersville College and will be Destiny's kindergarten teacher.
This evening we're having thundertorms, but that's okay. We're home in our dry house!
If you want the pictures to be bigger and clearer, click on them.
Dick's family consists of five brothers, Dick, Bob, Steve, Jim, and Fred. Of our family only Dick and I and Destiny and our son Anthony and his wife Lori were able to be there. Bob and all his family live in northwestern Minnesota, so of course they were not there. Steve's entire family was there, and below is a really good family picture of them. Jim's family was all there except their daugther Heather, who is taking a three-week course in Washington D.C. right now. I did not manage to get a picture of them all together, so I tried to point them out on various pictures. Fred's entire family was there and I got a good family picture of them. Laura's fiance was not there, however. They will be getting married in July. She is the one who just graduated from Millersville College and will be Destiny's kindergarten teacher.
This evening we're having thundertorms, but that's okay. We're home in our dry house!
If you want the pictures to be bigger and clearer, click on them.
Friday, June 23, 2006
Getting ready for camping
The food for my Sunday dinner meal at camping is finally made. There will be about 25 of us at that meal. My traditional Stauffer camping meal is "Mexican Pile-up". We start with rice, then pile on the chili, cheese, tortilla chips, tomatoes, lettuce, black olives, onions, salsa, sour cream or salad dressing. Did I forget anything?
Last evening we had quite a storm blow through here. And it sounds as though there are more on the way. Sounds like another great camping weekend!! I can hardly wait to be sleeping in a tent tonight as the rain pours down, the lightning flashes, and the thunder crashes. (NOT!) The Stauffers are very capable campers. Our five sites will look like Tarp City and we will be sitting by the fire safely under tarps. Our looong assembly of picnic tables will also be under tarps. But it WILL be muddy. What fun (I don't know how to insert faces, but if I did, it would be one with a grimace.)
Last evening we had quite a storm blow through here. And it sounds as though there are more on the way. Sounds like another great camping weekend!! I can hardly wait to be sleeping in a tent tonight as the rain pours down, the lightning flashes, and the thunder crashes. (NOT!) The Stauffers are very capable campers. Our five sites will look like Tarp City and we will be sitting by the fire safely under tarps. Our looong assembly of picnic tables will also be under tarps. But it WILL be muddy. What fun (I don't know how to insert faces, but if I did, it would be one with a grimace.)
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