The Keys That Wouldn't Work

THE KEYS THAT WOULDN'T WORK

It was December 1997, and our household consisted of Ray, Frank, and Jeremy who were still in high school, Sam and Anthony who were home from college on Christmas break, and Lisa who had already graduated from college and was living at home and working and preparing for her upcoming wedding to George.

It was my day off from school and Lisa had asked if I would take her to work because George was planning to pick her up after work, and she didn't want to leave her car there. I agreed, and when it was time to leave I went out to my Honda Prelude ahead of Lisa to get it started and warmed up. However, for some unexplainable reason, my key would NOT turn in the ignition. I made sure the steering wheel wasn't in the locked position, but that did not help. I tried and tried, all to no avail. Just then Gary Zimmerman, my stepmother's son who was installing replacement windows in our house, arrived. I told him of my dilemma. He decided that maybe the ignition needed to be sprayed with some WD-40 oil, which he did. He got in and tried that key, but it wouldn't work for him either. Meanwhile Lisa had called the COBYS Group Home, where she worked, to tell them she'd be late, and she also had decided that we would just use her car instead, except that she couldn't find her keys anywhere. I called Dick to see if he had any suggestions to try, but he didn't. He did say that if Anthony's car was there we should just use it.

That seemed to be the only solution. Anthony was still sleeping, but I knew I had a key for his VW Golf on my ring, so I got into his car and tried the key, and it wouldn't work either!! I was beginning to feel like there was some kind of curse on our keys, when I looked a little closer at the keys on my key ring. Lisa and Gary were standing outside the car when I sheepishly looked up and said, "These aren't even my keys!" I held up the key ring and Lisa exclaimed, "Those are MY keys that I was looking for!"

I felt like a complete idiot, but we just laughed and laughed and laughed all the way to COBYS. We figured out how it had happened. My keys were safely in my purse the entire time. Lisa had laid her keys on the kitchen table and I had mindlessly picked them up, thinking they were mine. There actually were many similarities: her car was a Honda CRX, so we each had a black Honda key on our rings; we also each had a little Weis Markets swipe card on our rings; she also had a big key on hers that resembled the one for Anthony's car; and of course, we each had an identical house key. So I really wasn't that much of an idiot, was I?? But knowing Gary, he probably had more than a few chuckles over it as he worked on our windows that day.

Ahhh, it's Friday evening!

By the time I got home this evening, after racing the clock all day long, I was ready to SIT (here at the computer, of course!) and absolutely nothing else. I just love Friday evenings.

As I mentioned this morning, we had "crazy dress day" today. I could have taken so many more funny pictures, but I just didn't have the time to. Enjoy the few that I did take below!

Some people are cute no matter what crazy stuff they wear!

How's that for a "smashing" outfit? If you click on the picture you'll even notice my purple earrings to complete the look!

This was the lower half of Josh Witmer, my brother's grandson. I knew those Ford boxer shorts would warm the heart of his grandpa, so I'm posting this picture just for him!!

My sixth grade class was in the mood for acting as crazy as some of them looked! Be sure to click on the picture to enjoy their faces!

Unending list

Right now it feels like there is no end to my list of things to accomplish at school. I only have one class on Thursdays (it's supposed to be my day off), but I was busy all day long with stuff that would take too long to write here. After school there was a staff meeting and after that I had to go to Lancaster to pick up the tee shirts I ordered for the worship team.

Today will be my normally packed-full Friday, and I'm keeping the worship team until 4:30 again, and we WILL practice in the church next door this time!

This weekend I must finish up grading papers and calculating report card grades. Then on Sunday morning the worship team has it's first engagement.

Today is "crazy dress" day at school. Guess I should take my camera! And now I must go see what crazy combination I can come up with.

Destiny in her pajamas. (This picture was NOT taken in the morning!)

She's growing up

Recently there have been two things that have really shown how much Destiny is growing up.

As a kindergartener, she is at a point now where all the things she's learned about letters and sounds are just coming together at a rapid pace, and she just loves to read. She also loves to sing. Last week I got a new children's worship C.D. for school. We were listening to it in the car. Destiny was trying to sing along with it when I had a new thought. She could probably read the words! I took the insert out of the C.D. case, handed it back to her, and told her which number we were listening to. She did a great job following along with the lyrics and didn't want to stop when we got to school. It was just adorable.

Also last week, she instituted a new morning plan. She is NOT a morning person, so I always just pick her out of her bed, carry her to the bathroom, then carry her to her place at the table, and she keeps sleeping while I make her eggs. One evening last week she was playing in her room for a while before bedtime. She said, "Grandma, I want to show you something." She took me to her room. On her nightstand was her Fisher Price telephone from her baby days. By her bed were her slippers. She said, "Now I'm going to show you what to do tomorrow morning. DON'T pick me up. I want you to press this button (on the toy telephone) and that will be my alarm clock. When I hear that I'm going to get right out of bed and put my feet in my slippers, like this, and then I'm going to walk to the bathroom, and go potty, then I'm going to walk to the table."

The next morning I forgot her plan, pulled the covers back, and touched her back to pick her up. She said, "Don't pick me up!" And she got right out of bed, and followed through with her little plan. She has done so every morning since!! I guess it's time to give her an alarm clock! What a girl!

An easy Bible quiz

I saw this Bible quiz on someone else's blog, so I took it. It's really, really easy, so if you want to feel good about yourself, take it!!

You know the Bible 100%!

Wow! You are awesome! You are a true Biblical scholar, not just a hearer but a personal reader! The books, the characters, the events, the verses - you know it all! You are fantastic!

Ultimate Bible Quiz
Create MySpace Quizzes

Finally a new picture of Sophie

I've been telling Lisa that it's time for some new pictures of Sophie. Today Lisa went to the park with a few of her friends who also have young children. Here is Sophie (in yellow) with her very best friend.

My sister Rose with her husband Bob and their six lovely children.

A very current story

Most of the stories I tell are ones from years past. Today I have a very current one.

My youngest sister Rose is married to Bob Wichterman. In the course of their 22-year marriage they have moved from Lancaster, PA to Massachusetts, to Connecticut, to Ohio, back to Connecticut, to Atlanta, GA, each time as a move up for Bob in the company for which he works as an accountant. The move two years ago to Atlanta was for a position at the company's headquarters. Along the way they've had six children, now ranging in age from almost-four to high school senior. They all LOVE Atlanta and expect to stay there a long, long time. They have a very lovely home. Katie, their oldest, plans to go to nearby Kennesaw State University next year, commuting from home.

Two weeks ago Bob was informed that the company is doing poorly and that his position would be cut. However, they were creating a new position for him - back in Connecticut! What a bombshell! Many people began praying immediately.

A few days later Bob discovered that there was another position open at headquarters. However, it had been offered to a woman from another state, who had not yet given her answer. That supervisor told Bob, "If I had known you needed a job a week ago, I'd have hired you." Bob's reply was, "I didn't know I needed a job a week ago."

So more prayers have been going before the throne. The woman's decision was to have come last Friday. However, she asked to have the weekend before giving her answer. More prayers have been prayed this weekend.

Today Bob was told the job is his. Praise God, praise God, praise God!!

A lovely day

Destiny plays Rock, Paper, Scissors with Grandpa.

Just what the doctor ordered

This was just the kind of weekend the "doctor" ordered - lots of time to stay at home. (No doctor ordered it - I just liked how that sounded.) In fact, I did not get into my car from the time I got home from school on Friday until we got into it to go to church this morning! Yesterday I got caught up on a lot of paper work at my desk, did some cleaning, arranged some new songs for church, made a big pot of my homemade spaghetti sauce which will turn into several different meals over the next week or so, and a meal of sausage and creamed potatoes for this week. (I'm just trying to make my children wish they could come home to eat!)

Today after church we went to Pizza Hut for lunch so we could use Destiny's Book-it coupon. When we walked in, there was my sister Doris and her family!

This afternoon I took a two-hour nap while Dick and Destiny watched Balto. When I woke up they were outside talking on Dick's walkie talkies. It was in the 60's today. This evening I corrected a bunch of papers and recorded the grades. Later Lisa called and we talked for about an hour. It was good to catch up. Lately our conversations have been mostly on Tuesday evenings during American Idol.

I have to be up to speed tomorrow morning. The middle school will be having special chapel services every morning this week and my worship team will be leading worship each morning. At 8:00 AM!! Good night!

Terror in the Night

TERROR IN THE NIGHT

It was January 1975 and we would be celebrating our first born's first birthday the next day. We lived in an apartment in a farmhouse in which our bedrooms actually had doors to the hallway of the other side of the house. So there wasn't a lot of noise privacy!

I was SUDDENLY awakened by Marlin's voice (the young farmer who lived on the other side) yelling loudly, "HEY! GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" followed by the sound of men's feet pounding down the open stairway, more angry yelling, more running around the circle of their downstairs rooms, then a deafening silence. I lay there beside Dick, frozen in terror. My mind imagined the worst. What was that burglar doing to Marlin right now? Killing him? Was there more than one burglar? Was there another one still upstairs? Was he doing something to Phyllis, Marlin's wife? I very quietly woke Dick up and told him what I had heard. What should we do? I considered opening the door to their hallway and calling over to ask Phyllis if she was alright. But if there were a burglar sneaking around in the house, then he would know we had heard what had happened, and he'd try to do something to us as well. We crept downstairs to look if anything was happening outside, but we could see nothing. Neither could we hear anything. How very puzzling.

As we waited we heard their radio alarm clock. They were dairy farmers and very early risers. My suspicion that something was very wrong was confirmed when nobody seemed to be responding to that radio alarm clock. It just played and played and there was no sound of anyone moving anywhere. I just knew that Marlin was probably bound up or dead outside and Phyllis was probably bound up or dead in their bedroom. What EVER were we supposed to do? Call 911? We waited until 5:45 AM, long past the time they would normally be in the barn. We finally decided that before calling 911 we would be brave and call their phone number. If they didn't answer the phone, we would know it was time to call 911.

I anxiously waited in the darkness of our living room while Dick made the phone call in the darkness of our kitchen (it's hard to imagine, but we did not have a phone in our bedroom back then!) The phone rang and rang, and then I could hear the sound of pounding feet running down their open stairway, just on the other side of our living room wall. On the other end of the line Dick heard a very sleepy-sounding Marlin say, "Hello?" Dick asked, "Are you alright?" Marlin assured him that he was. Dick, beginning to feel pretty stupid, told him what I had heard and what we were afraid of, especially when we noticed that they were not getting up and out to the barn at their regular time. Marlin knew nothing of what I had heard, and confessed that they had gone to bed late and were just being lazy about getting up at their regular time. Dick apologized for bothering them.

Now I was the one feeling REALLY, REALLY stupid!! Apparently I had just had a very dramatic dream! We stopped over at their place that afternoon so I could give them my apology and explanation. Wow, to this day I can still hear the whole thing. And I still can't help laughing when I imagine Marlin chasing down those stairs to answer the phone, only to hear Dick ask, "Are you alright?" It's a good thing we were their relatives, or they may have decided to evict such crazy tenants!

Can you trust UPS with your package???

What a lovely spring-like day we had!

I started my day, as I usually do on Thursdays, at my pastor's wife's house for a prayer meeting. It is SUCH a strengthening time for me. Those ladies are so absolutely THERE for me, and I am really thankful to God for them.

I had a practice with my middle school worship team again today, and we made great strides in pulling loose ends together to make things flow smoothly. That feels really good.

And this evening I finally got to stay home.

Jeremy called this evening, more than a little outraged at UPS. He's going on a four-day cruise to the Bahamas this weekend, leaving tomorrow. He discovered a few weeks ago that he could not find his birth certificate, which he needed, so he paid money to get a new one quickly. As of today, it still had not come! This afternoon he got a phone call from a lady who lives in a different area of his town, saying she found a UPS package lying in the street, addressed to him!!! Thank God, it had his phone number on the outside of the package, and thank God, also, that it was an honest lady who found it! He has had several phone conversations with UPS since then, in which they apologized profusely, saying that two UPS drivers met to transfer things from one truck to the other, and apparently dropped his package. However, in the event no one had found it or called him, UPS would not have been held responsible for losing it. And he would have missed the cruise!! Unbelievable. Needless to say, he doesn't think he'll be using UPS again!

Trying to keep up

I'm trying to play catch-up at school with my worship team. Our first time going to lead worship at a church is already next Sunday, April 1st. I usually just practice with them on Fridays, but last Friday we got chased home by the snow. So I rearranged my schedule so we could practice today, then again tomorrow, and an extended practice on Friday until 4:30. Next week the middle school has a special chapel speaker each morning, and the worship team will lead each morning as well, so that should also help us to be more ready for next Sunday.

This evening I went with some ladies from church to sing at Hamilton Arms Retirement Center in Lancaster. We do that monthly. I really do enjoy it. I had a nice, long chat on the phone with Jeremiah Coyne as I drove to Lancaster. I just love that boy! He said he's going to sing You Raise Me Up at Manheim Central's graduation. I gotta find a way to get invited to that graduation!! We're trying to figure out a time and place for him and Heather Harley (my former student who had the lead role in Hempfield's musical a few week's ago) to sing together. She was there on Sunday to see Beauty and the Beast. She told me during intermission, "I want to sing with him!!!" I can't imagine how awesome those two would sound together. It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

Yesterday right after school I took Destiny to her mommy's place, since she had an evening off work. She lives near Elizabethtown now, about 1/2 hour from here. I picked Destiny up at 8:00. So that took a good portion of my after-school time. My house is beginning to look like it's begging me to stay home. At least I got several meals cooked on Saturday, so I haven't had to worry about finding time for that.

I think Dick said it may get close to 70 degrees tomorrow. That sounds GOOOOOOD!

Ordinary days

Nothing out of the ordinary going on around here, and I need to get a load of wash started and hit the sack. That's all, folks.

Beauty and the Beast and Jeremiah Coyne

Last evening I went to Manheim Central High School's production of Beauty and the Beast. This afternoon Dick and I went to see it. They did such a fantastic job. There were quite a number of my former students in the musical. I'm always proud of each one of them, and they know it.

Now I need to tell you about Jeremiah Coyne. I learned to know Jeremiah when he was a little boy and his dad, Mark, worked with Dick at my brother's shop. Later, when Jeremiah was in 6th grade, their family started attending our school. He was on my school worship team for several years, and when he was in 8th grade I gave him the part of the town crier in the Christmas musical. He had to sing a solo called "Hear Ye, Hear Ye", which he really hammed up. I could tell there was a lot of potential there.

When he went to Manheim Central, however, he did not get involved with chorus or productions. He never even took voice lessons. He did start leading worship at his church, and last summer his dad told me that Jeremiah had been writing some awesome worship songs that he'd like me to hear.

When Manheim Central started auditions for Beauty and the Beast, Jeremiah, now a senior, decided to audition. What they discovered was this amazingly mature, huge, full voice with great range, and they gave him the role of the beast, much to everyone's surprise, including his own. The kids would tell me, "You should hear Jeremiah! He sounds like an opera singer. All the girls start crying when they hear him."

And I was absolutely blown away when I heard him last evening and today. I seriously have to say that I have never heard a male high school voice like his, and I have to apologize to my own son Jeremy when I say that. Think Andrea Bocelli, and then maybe you can imagine what I'm talking about.

As I stood talking to him afterwards last evening, other students would come up to him and say, "Hey, I didn't know you could sing like that, man!" Jeremiah would answer, "I didn't know I could either!" It was so adorable. I can hardly wait to see what God has in store for him.

Well, it's time to catch up on some things around here, and I need to hit the sack early this evening.

Matt Garber played the part of Belle's father. He was so good. I'm so sad that he's a senior and I won't be seeing and hearing him on the Baron Stage anymore.

Brandon Kreider brought many laughs to the house, as usual, playing the part of Lumiere (yellow outfit.) His solos were awesome too.

Hillary Snavely had a blast in this dance.

And he-e-e-e-e-re's Jeremiah!! What a guy! I'm going to keep this picture to show him after he's famous! (And by the way, I did not wear a white bow on my head!! That is someone else's head behind me!)

My sister Doris's daughter Greta played the part of a dancing spoon in the song, "Be Our Guest." It looked like such fun! Look, we match!

Matt Garber played the part of Maurice, Belle's father. He was great. I remember when I gave him a solo when he was in kindergarten!

The kids said, "Let's take a Manheim Christian Day School picture!" We couldn't find everybody, but here are Jeremiah Coyne, Amanda Nissley, Kelsey Snavely, Hillary Snavely, Brandon Kreider, and Matt Garber. Missing were Emma Thompson, Bethany Coyne, Lauren and Linzy Hammer.

Before I knew it, other cast members came to stand in this picture as well. All kinds of people were taking pictures. Matt Garber said, "People are going to look at their pictures and say, 'Who was the lady in the purple sweater?'"

Our Saturday

Yesterday Sam was here. He and Destiny went for a long walk in the snow. Later I let her take pictures. You never know what you'll end up with when she has the camera! She's actually pretty good.

When Dick went to work at Advance Auto Parts in the evening he took Destiny to Frank and Abby's. She stayed overnight this time. I went to the musical at Manheim Central.

Ahhh, nothing like Mom's grilled cheese sandwich with
a tomato slice in the middle.

BOO!!

No, we did not get this much snow! (I received this from
my friend Sue Jennings a few years ago, taken near Oswego,
New York.) However, I did think this made a pretty good
illustration for my story below!

The Long Ride Home

THE LONG RIDE HOME

In the mid-eighties, when I was trying to be a stay-at-home mom, the opportunity arose for me to drive the school bus on which my children rode to school. It was the small Hempfield bus (the district in which we lived at that time) that took children from that school district to private schools in other districts. It was a big, long, boring bus route that went to several schools near Lititz, to Manheim Christian where our children attended, a Montessori school, a Catholic school in Lancaster, the Jewish Community Center in addition to each child's home in various areas of the Hempfield School District. I did that for three years, to my own amazement now.

One winter Friday afternoon, just as I was about to leave for my bus route, someone called to warn me that the roads were TERRIBLE because of drifting snow. We had had a big snow storm earlier in the week, but being in my house in town that day, I had had no idea it was windy. Was I in for a dreadful surprise!

Most of the country roads I had to drive on to reach the schools on my route were already drifting shut. At times the snow was blowing so hard it was impossible to see to drive. I had no choice but to keep driving slowly and praying desperately. Keep in mind that this was before the era of cell phones. As I got further and further behind my schedule, I had no way of contacting any of the schools or parents. Gradually, gradually I made it from school to school and had all the kids picked up.

One of my first drop-offs was my nephew Steve Witmer (of whom I posted a picture earlier this week). His home was next to my brother's auto repair business where Dick worked at that time. Just before I got there I had to go through a place that was notorious for high snow drifts. I will never forget going through there. The snow was piled high on either side, the wind was viciously blowing the snow in every direction, and the road was almost impassible because the snow had blown so deep. I did not think I would get through. I think I told the children to pray. Somehow that little bus made it through that deep snow, and shortly thereafter we were at my brother's shop. By then I was about an hour behind my regular schedule. I got out of the bus, went into the shop, and told Dick that I cannot drive anymore. Could he please drive the rest of the route for me?

And of course he did. I sat behind him so I could tell him where to drop each child off, but as I sat down, I suddenly burst into tears. For such a long time I had done nothing but concentrate and pray as I drove on those horrendous roads, always feeling the weight of having all those children in my care, and knowing their parents must be worried sick. The relief of having Dick take over was so great, I just couldn't help but give way to those tears.

Under Dick's capable control, each child was delivered safely home. I loved my husband before that, but I loved him even more that day!

I peeked out my sliding glass door before I went to bed last
night and took this picture.

I love the way the snow piles itself in such a nice rounded,
upside down bowl on top of the table.

You gotta admit - it's really beautiful. To see how much snow
is out there, compare my barrel planter to the picture below.

Just remembering September!

Our "Winter Wonderland" in the Spring!

Green Day or White Day?

Today was Green Day at school, but it turned out to be a white day! We dismissed two hours early, and by then it was REALLY SNOWING heavily. I stayed until all the children were picked up (one group did not get picked up until 2:15 because there were so many traffic tie-ups on Route 72 between Manheim and Lebanon.) By then I was too scared to drive home, because everyone was saying the roads were terrible - slush that was getting packed down and turning icy. Since Dick wasn't allowed to work today and was home, I called him and he came and got us. His Explorer has four wheel drive. We went to the bank, the video store, and the grocery store and finally got home around 4:00. We bought barbequed chicken from the Rotory Club who had a tarp set up in the shopping center parking lot. Poor guys. By then it was windy and sleeting.

Now Destiny and Dick are watching The Sound of Music, and I'm bursting into song every now and then!!

Destiny didn't have anything green, so I went to Salvation
Army after school yesterday and found this adorable pink
and green shirt with lots of embroidered flowers on it.