New pajamas

Here's the one picture I took this weekend - Destiny in her new pink pajamas. Because she sleeps some nights here, some nights at her mom's apartment, and some nights at her other grandma's house, it takes lots of pajamas! So yesterday morning on the way home from the bank I stopped at a consignment shop in town to look for pajamas. I found three adorable pairs in her size. These are a light thermal knit with a row of lace across the front.

Time for some pictures

I just got finished talking with Lisa on the phone. We were catching up on each others' news and I reminded her that I haven't received any pictures of Sophie in a long while. She said, "Anyway, your blog is starting to look boring without any pictures!" So I'll have to see what I can do about that this week!

I got a lot done around here this weekend. This evening my parents and my sister Mary Ellen were here to watch the DVD of my niece Jill's wedding out in Idaho this past May. It was so beautiful, and the reception was fun to watch, especially Jill's brother Michael cutting up on the dance floor!

I'm taking Destiny back home tomorrow morning before school, so I need to get to bed.

First Impressions

First Impressions

The summer of 1967 was a romantic one indeed for me. Dick and I were just starting to "go together". I wasn't even 16 yet, so I wasn't allowed to actually go out on dates, but we found activities here and there that we were allowed to do. I was starting to get over my Ugly Duckling mentality and as a result was beginning to feel much more confident, even witty at times. Even my crooked eye tooth did not bother me anymore as I found ways to look more attractive.

One event at which Dick and I were allowed to be together was a youth picnic in his neighborhood. A softball game followed the picnic. Now what was a non-athletic girl like me to do? I was Dick's new girlfriend and I certainly wasn't going to embarrass him by sitting out. Everyone else was participating. His younger brothers were there, all four of them. This was my debut! Feeling very confident and cute, I decided to go for it, and act like I was good at it. When it was my turn at bat I breathed a prayer that I could at least hit it and not strike out. Amazingly I hit it!! AND I made it safely to first base!! Dick's younger brother Jim (age 11) was the first baseman, and as I madly dashed toward the base I was imagining how he must be so impressed with my great athletic skill. As I stood next to him catching my breath, he looked at me and said matter-of-factly, "Did you know that your one tooth sticks out?" DID I KNOW???? I didn't even know how to respond! No "wow, you can really run," or "good hit," or any of the nice things I imagined he was thinking! I suppose I gracefully told him that I DID know that my one tooth was crooked, and was soon off to second base.

That unrefined little boy has been my brother-in-law for almost 36 years now, and he's a fine man with lots of wisdom. He doesn't remember that first impression of me, so he has to take my word for it, but we have laughed over that incident many, many times over the years!

TGIF

Thank God it's Friday! And tomorrow is Saturday. I suddenly seem to be getting behind here at home, at school, and with music prep for church, and I NEED some extra hours. My school schedule this year is such that I have a lighter load on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, and a much heavier load on Thursday and Friday. So I will be needing to think and work ahead better to keep from feeling like life has suddenly hit me in the face every Thursday night.

A good deal!

After school today I went to Lancaster to pick up Destiny to get the blood work done that the doctor ordered. He wanted to be sure her thyroid isn't causing any of her problems. From there we went to the gym, then home for supper. I discovered that the sneakers I got her last Saturday (the kind that have elastic across the top instead of strings) were actually so tight across the top that she had black and blue marks on top of her foot!! So after supper we headed to the mall to return them and get a different pair before we took her home. Just as we got to the mall my cell phone rang and it was Frank. He said, "I'm at the mall." I said, "So are we!" Would you believe he was at Kids Foot Locker looking for sneakers for Destiny! So I returned the pair I had gotten and took her home with a pair that Frank bought. And now I have thirty more bucks in my checking account than I did before we went to the mall. Now that's a good deal, wouldn't you say??!!

Just one little email

Just one little email that I received this morning made my day. Last evening I emailed Destiny's teacher to ask how Destiny has been doing in school since she's been on Ritalin. This morning I got her reply:

I do notice a difference in Destiny. I still have to correct her occasionally usually not until the afternoon. She is much more attentive and finishing most assignments. She does not yell out nearly as often and she frequently is a pleasure.

What music to my ears! I could hardly wait for lunch time when I could share it with some of the other teachers from our school who care so very much about her and have invested so much of their time, love, and prayers on her behalf. They were as excited as I was when I read the above email to them.

There is no question she still needs counseling, but how thankful I am that this medication can help her to function in a more acceptable way in the meantime. Thank you, Lord!

My other closet!

When I arrived at the gym after school today I went to the locker room first, as I always do, to change clothes. Being a creature of habit, I went to the same spot I always do to change, and opened the same locker I always do to put my things into. Lo and behold, there were the clothes I had worn to school and changed out of last Thursday, sandals and all. I hadn't even missed them! So I added the clothes that I had worn to school today. It made quite a locker-ful.

Would you believe, I just realized that I forgot AGAIN to go to the locker room to get my stuff after I was finished working out today!! Next thing I'll have to go to the gym to finish dressing tomorrow morning. My two most comfortable pairs of sandals are both there now!!

This evening I've been preparing the song by Casting Crowns Who Am I for my church worship team. The lyrics are just SOOO awesome, so I'm going to print them below. Be blessed!

Who Am I by Mark Hall

Who am I, that the Lord of all the earth
Would care to know my name,
Would care to feel my hurt?
Who am I, that the Bright and Morning Star
Would choose to light the way
For my ever wand'ring heart?
And not because of who I am,
But because of what You've done,
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who You are!

I am a flower quickly fading,
Here today and gone tomorrow,
A wave tossed in the ocean,
A vapor in the wind.
Still You hear me when I'm calling,
Lord, you catch me when I'm falling,
And You've told me who I am.
I am Yours, I am Yours.

Who am I, that the eyes that see my sin,
Would look on me with love
And watch me rise again?
Who am I, that the voice that calmed the sea,
Would call out through the rain
And calm the storm in me?
And not because of who I am,
But because of what You've done,
Not because of what I've done,
But because of who You are!

A good weekend

We had a good weekend. After school Friday I went to Lancaster to pick up Destiny. Dick finally got to go to a high school football game for the first time this year. Destiny and I played Candy Land and Jr. Scrabble. I'm getting her started young on Scrabble! It's my favorite game.

Saturday morning I attended a workshop with other Christian school music teachers to be introduced to the songs we will be teaching our students for the Jr. High Choral Festival in May. We always have a lot of fun together.

Today after church we went to Subway for lunch with my sister Mary Ellen. It was a good time of catching up on each others' lives. I do believe that the Ritalin is doing some good for Destiny. At Subway she sat and ate her entire meal while we talked. Normally it would have been hard for us to carry on a conversation because she would have been interrupting us and doing things that needed correction. I haven't heard anything from her teacher as to how she did at school last week. Enid said she hadn't talked with her either, so maybe I'll email her tomorrow.

We had a nice, lazy afternoon at home, then took Destiny back to Enid's this evening. And another week begins.

Late this afternoon Destiny decided to go outside and play with the hose. She ended up scrubbing the deck! No complaints from me!

These two pictures were taken last Sunday when Dick took Destiny to the Stauffer family cabin for the afternoon. He had taken his camera along and we just got the pictures developed today.

Nothing like hot dogs roasted over an open camp fire.

Happy Birthday, Kris!

What a birthday week this has been! Today I am wishing a happy birthday to our Swedish son-in-law Dr. Krister Lindmark. Unfoturnately, it's almost midnight over there, so his birthday is almost over by the time I'm posting this! Kris is the most brilliant, wittiest person I have ever met. I only wish that instead of being head of cardiology at the Umea Hospital in Sweden that he would have that position at Lancaster General Hospital or Hershey Medical Center. I MISS him, I miss our daughter Miki, and I miss getting to spend time with their children Katrina and Bjorn as they are growing up so fast.

But I AM proud to have him for a son-in-law and we have many great memories of the times we have spent together. He's a gem! Learn more about him and how he became our son-in-law by clicking on his name under LABELS on my sidebar.

How Many People Can You Fit into a VW Rabbit?

Over the years of our marriage we have made many road trips, usually to visit our siblings or friends, and later, our children. Ironically, it seems that as our children got bigger we traveled in smaller and smaller vehicles! When they were really young we had a big Ford van from which we would remove the middle seat, making a nice carpeted play area on the floor. (There were no seat belt laws back in those days.) When they were ages 5, 8, and 11 we took a sixteen-day trip in a somewhat spacious Mercury Comet, but it wasn't spacious enough some days. Then in 1989 when they were 9, 13, and 15 we made the crazy decision (due to a very tight budget) to go see my sister Betty in Gloucester, MA in a tiny VW Rabbit!!

How Many People Can You Fit into a VW Rabbit?

In November 1989 our family had recently said our tearful goodbyes to two little foster children whose custody had been awarded to their father in Puerto Rico. Older daughter Miki was in college, and with our family suddenly smaller we decided on a whim to take a long weekend trip to see my sister Betty in Gloucester, MA. There wasn't much money in the budget for a trip, but we decided that if we could survive having five people in our little VW Rabbit, the savings on gas would make the trip possible. (I'm still not sure how we talked fifteen-year-old Lisa into it, and I'm quite sure she wonders the same thing!!)

We piled in at 5:00 AM, Dick in the driver's seat, Lisa riding shotgun, me in the middle of the back seat to keep peace between the Jeremy and Anthony. But alas, peace was hard to find even with my best laid plans. Long-legged Anthony was sitting directly behind Lisa, who also had considerably long legs and who also wanted to recline her seat. We were only ten minutes from home when we had to pull over, carefully extract ourselves from our little two-door prison, and then rearrange our order a bit. According to my diary the rest of the trip north was pretty good. We were quite good at playing games and reading while traveling. We had not yet allowed a TV into our home, so our children weren't used to needing that for entertainment. Actually, the best entertainment of the day was when we watched a bear go lumbering across the highway as we sat in sit-still traffic.

Betty lived in a spacious, charming old apartment with a view of the bay. It was delightful. The following day we decided to go sight-seeing in Boston. However, now there were six of us, and Betty's car was no bigger than ours. So we did the unthinkable - we piled six of us into the Rabbit! We had a delightful day climbing the Bunker Hill Monument and visiting a family who had been guests in our bed and breakfast the previous summer. They lived right across the street from the monument. We wanted to take a tour of the SS Constitution , but missed it by 10 minutes. Unfortunately, about that time we began noticing a strong odor of fuel. Our resident mechanic said there was a fuel injector that was threatening to act up, which meant nothing to the rest of us. But he said we'd better head back to Gloucester. So we did. It was dark by then anyway.

Unbelievably, the car gave us no trouble until we entered Gloucester. At that point it decided it was tired of the heavy load and just quit - just like that, along a busy main street! It absolutely refused to restart. So we swallowed our pride, got out, and pushed it until we got to a side street onto which we could get it out of the way. Cars horns were beeping at us and someone yelled, "Are you having fun?" Actually, we were! We were laughing like crazy! From there, we walked the mile to Betty's house in the crisp November air. And it was fun. Another memory had been made! God had kept that fuel injector working until we could walk the rest of the way. The next day Dick was able to buy the part that was needed to fix it, and a few days later the little Rabbit-that-Could got us safely back home to PA!

Happy Birthday, Anthony

Today our son Anthony is celebrating his 31st birthday. If you want to read the highly unusual story of the day he was born and see pictures of his "fat baby" days, click on his name under LABELS on my sidebar. If you want to know more about him as a person, click on his name under LINKS on my sidebar. It will take you to his blog, which will take you to his band's website.

As Anthony's mom I feel honored and amazed that God entrusted him to us. He is a man of tremendous wisdom, integrity, intelligence, talent, and passion. I look forward to seeing the plans God has for him.

Happy Birthday, Cathy

Today was our accountant's birthday. She comes in on Wednesday afternoons. We just love her (because she gives us our paychecks, ha, ha!!) No, really, it's because she's so much fun. She can give and take a lot of teasing. We were all ready for her to come, a scrumpcious looking cake was waiting on the staff table (chocolate with peanut butter frosting from the Country Table Bakery), and gifts (especially chocolate) were all over her desk. But of all Wednesdays, the end of the day came, and she had not arrived!! Everyone was salivating over that cake! Finally, I took a picture of it and we started to eat it. THEN she arrived! (She had been out to lunch with friends.) Somebody had already sliced off the C, so it said "To the best PA ever!!" It's a good thing I can show her this picture! She was very touched by all our expressions of love and appreciation toward her.

Tomorrow I will feature another birthday - our son Anthony.

Keeping the electric company happy!

I did a REALLY ridiculous thing today. The past two days we have had very low temperatures in the morning - I'm talking down in the forties! By afternoon it gets quite warm and sunny. This morning it felt really cool in the house when I woke up. I didn't feel like caving in and turning the furnace on yet, so I just pulled out an electric space heater and turned it on, unfortunately, on a setting that runs constantly, not on a thermostat. After school I went to the gym and got home at 5:30. I was surprised when I got out of the car to hear that the AC was running. It was warm, but I thought we had the thermostat for the AC set to at least 85 or higher. I walked in the house and it didn't feel very cool at all, so I lowered the AC setting. The AC just kept running and running, but I didn't really think about it. An hour or more later Dick said, "If you're running the AC, why do you have this heater on?" The HEATER!!! I had forgotten to turn it off before I went to school! So the heater raised the temp in here so much that the AC kicked in. They must have been battling each other for hours!! Can you believe it? How's that for conserving energy?

Our Sunday

After church this morning Dick and Destiny headed an hour-and-a-half north to the Stauffer hunting cabin. The weather was just PERFECT today for being there - sunny and just a bit nippy. They hiked, climbed up into Dick's dad's tree stand (20 feet off the ground, and Destiny climbed it!), built a fire and roasted hot dogs, found and played with a turtle.... a good time.

I did not go along because I had a ticket to the Lancaster Headliners competition at the American Music Theatre. It's a local singing competition sponsored by the Lancaster Newspapers and other businesses. My former student Brandon Kreider was one of the 12 finalists who sang today. I had been there in previous years when Heather Harley had been in it. Each contestant sings in round one, then they eliminate five, then after round two they eliminate four more, etc. till they're down to the winner. Some of them were very, very good, some were just so-so or even rather bad. Brandon was really good, really funny - as usual, and very comfortable on the stage as he sang A Funny Thing Called Love. He was even dressed in suspenders and a hat to fit the part. I just laughed and laughed and laughed, as I usually do whenever he's on stage. But guess what - he was CUT after round one, as all four guys were! A girl whose voice was only so-so, was overweight, wore a dress that was so short I hated to even watch her, but wore little ankle boots and paraded all over stage with an attitude as she sang These Boots Are Made for Walkin' was NOT cut after round one!! I was so provoked I left after the first round. I didn't feel like listening to anybody if I wasn't going to hear Brandon again.

I decided to go next door to Target. I have never been there since the store opened at least two years ago! I was not a happy camper there either. I think I am officially old. Either that, or the styles this year are officially ugly. Even the little girls' things were not cute at Target today. I left without anything.

Next door to that was Goodwill. I had half an hour till they closed and I was a VERY HAPPY CAMPER!! For less than $30 I got Destiny two pair of jeans and two pair of corduroys, a cute shirt that originally came from Target and a cute Gap shirt that matched the one pair of cords. The corduroys were from Gap, the one pair of jeans was LL Bean, and the other Levi Strauss. They were all in perfect condition. Why do I ever waste my money buying new clothes?

Like I said before, the weather was just awesome today - exhilarating, really. I have been spending no time on my flowers, but with the rain we've been getting, they're just going crazy without any help from me. I had to take some pictures of them when I got home this afternoon.

My First Night at the Pocono Mountains

Last week I told a story that occurred when I was five years old. My friend Cheryl commented that she couldn't believe that I could remember things from such a young age. I have no idea why I have always had such a vivid memory of details, but the truth is, I actually remember a trip our family took to the Pocono Mountains on my parents' 10th wedding anniversary. That would have been a month before my 2nd birthday! I know you might think I just remember it because of pictures or stories that others in the family have told. Not so. There are no pictures of that trip, and one of my most vivid memories is of something that no one else could have told me. And that will be my story for this week.

My First Night at the Pocono Mountains

When my parents got married in October 1943 they went to the Pocono Mountains for their honeymoon. Ten years later it was a natural destination to celebrate their anniversary. However, a second honeymoon it was not! This time they had four children in tow, Janet (8), Dick (7), Mary Ellen (6), and me (not quite 2). Actually, now that I think about it, I suppose Doris was along on that trip as well, since she was born five months later!

Most of our activities of that weekend are beyond the grasp of my memory. But not all of them. I am quite sure we visited at least one of the waterfalls that the Pocono Mountains are so famous for, because I clearly remember standing on a wooden bridge and watching the rushing water underneath it. I also remember entering the cabin that we spent the night in. There were two rooms. The main room had two double beds in it and the other had one bed. Against the wall leaned a wire bed spring, and we decided it was the perfect place to keep our pinwheels. My siblings have told me that I turned the water on at the bathroom tub and got an unexpected shower, which made me cry. At bedtime we three girls had to sleep in the one bed, my brother got to have one to himself, and my parents slept in the other room.

Now here's the part that no one else could have told me. I very vividly remember waking up during the night and thinking that I did not like sleeping with my sisters. I sneaked out of the bed in the dark, walked to my parents' room, climbed up on their bed, and crawled in between them. I liked it there a whole lot better, all cozy and secure. But alas, to my great disappointment, it wasn't the middle of the night after all. It was early morning, and my dad, accustomed to rising early to milk cows, soon got up for the day.

That memory is so clear that I can hardly believe it myself that I was just a toddler at the time! Now if only my memory worked that well for things that are really important!!

Partying at Chuck E Cheese

What a totally crazy, noisy place!! But it was a good evening. We managed to have both of Destiny's parents and most of her siblings all together in one place in peace. Here's the cake I ordered by phone on my way to school this morning.

Blowing out the candles.

Apparently it takes a lot of grimacing to cut that cake!

Opening gifts

playing games

and dancing with the Chuck E Cheese band

Family photos

Enid with Shalimar and Destiny (her daughter Keshila was not able to come this evening.)

Frank, Destiny, and Enid.

Frank with his three children, plus Abby's daughter Jaylah.

Frank with his three children, Destiny, Adrias, and J'von.

Tiny little Adrias didn't even know he was at Chuck E Cheese for the first time in his life. He just slept through it all! I did give him a bottle one time and he gave me a BIG burp afterward. I couldn't believe such a little thing could burp that loudly!

Not enough hours

This day just didn't have enough hours in it. I went to Cindy's house for prayer meeting this morning, then got to school just 15 minutes before my first class. I had classes the rest of the day, then my hair appointment, which lasted two hours, then I hurried home to eat some leftovers, then back to school for the Back to School Night. I cut out of there before it was over so I could get to the Berean Christian Bookstore before they closed at 9. I had an order of music to pick up and I wanted to pick out a music box to give Destiny for her birthday. Every time we go there she wants to play them and begs me to get her one. So now she'll finally have one. I got one that has an angel kneeling beside a child's bed. Then I went to Walmart and got her a Junior Scrabble game and Jumbo Dominoes. I should have done our laundry this evening, but it will have to wait for the weekend.

I have to tell this funny story. There's a new stylist at my hair dresser's. She used to be one of my students, an absolutely adorable girl. Her family lived in a lovely home out in the country where they burned their own trash and never used trash service. Today she had some down time and asked if there was anything she could do till her next customer came. One of the owners told her she could take the trash to the curb since tomorrow morning is trash day. They had four big trash containers with several trash bags in each. She proceeded to take the trash bags out of the containers, carrying them individually to the curb. So instead of four big containers sitting at the curb there were about 25 trash bags!! When they saw what she did they just howled laughing! She had to put them all back into the containers again. That's what she was doing as I arrived today. She will never hear the end of it! It was so cute when she said, "Well, I didn't know. I didn't grow up in the city." (As though Manheim is a city!!) She was such a good sport about it and laughed right along. I enjoyed chatting with her and catching up on her life while I was there today.

Doctor appointment and a workout

I left school early today to go pick up Destiny for a doctor appointment. Enid told me at the end of last week that her teacher requested it because of her classroom behavior issues. The school is also going to be providing her a counselor, which is very, very necessary. I had a nice talk with her teacher by phone today, and she will also be calling Destiny's kindergarten teacher at our school to get some insights on things that worked and didn't work last year. The teacher sent a letter along with Destiny today for the doctor to read. It was also helpful to him that I knew the issues from the past two years of school. He's going to start her on a low dose of Ritalin to help her to better focus and control her impulses, and we'll take it from there.

After the doctor visit we went to the gym and I got in a really good workout for the first time in a while. I would really like to be able to get there four times a week, but oh my..... Life has a way of getting in the way!

I finally have a hair appointment after school tomorrow. I usually go every six weeks, but for some reason it's seven this time, and I feel like a shaggy dog. Then in the evening we have Back to School Night, so no gym tomorrow. And Friday is Destiny's 7th birthday and we'll celebrate it at Chuck E. Cheese, so no gym that day. Hmmmm. I think I'd better get some sleep.

You Make Me Smile

Tonja passed on the above award to me today. I'm glad I make her smile, because she makes me smile a lot. In fact she usually makes me laugh out loud, except when she makes me cry!!

I do love to make people smile and laugh so I'm going to pass on a story I read on my blog from last September. This story occurred on Labor Day Sunday last year. We were planning to travel to hear our son Anthony's band. My sister Mary Ellen decided to go along and we also found out that Anthony's wife was returning from a conference in Washington D.C. and her driver would be taking her to Harrisburg where we would meet her. Suddenly we were in a very big rush to leave. And here's what I wrote last year:
I must add this funny little story to the events of our day. In our haste to leave early enough to meet Lori in Harrisburg, we decided to meet my sister Mary Ellen at Erb Mennonite Church, instead of waiting till she got to our house. We approached the church from opposite directions at exactly the same time. She grabbed her cell phone, pressed the number for "Jean" (or so she thought), and upon hearing the "Hello," said, "Hey, open your trunk and I'll put my things in it quick." The person on the other end of the line said, "Where ARE you?" Lo and behold, she realized she was had not dialed me, but her friend Jan in Mobile, Alabama! Jan recognized Mary Ellen's voice telling her to open her trunk quick!! I could hardly stop laughing when Mary Ellen told me that. It still makes me giggle every time I think about it!

There - I hope that made you smile! And I pass this award on to Tracey and Dianne.

Six years ago

So tomorrow is 9/11. And a Tuesday. What a horrible memory that day is. I'm sure no one will forget where they were when they learned what was happening. I was at school, but not having any classes till later in the day. In the hall one of the teachers told me about the first attack and the Pentagon. A parent had called the school to let us know. I went to my room and turned my radio on. I listened in horror as the newscasters screamed as they watched the second plane fly into the other tower and the first tower come down. I was quite sure this was the beginning of the end and I immediately started calling our children and Dick with my cell phone. After a while a TV was set up in the office and we teachers took little breaks from our classes to go up there and watch in dreadful silence and tears as the other tower came down and people fled across the bridge. We dismissed school at lunch, no one knowing what else might still occur.

That day we went from watching the most horrible images on TV that we had ever witnessed to one of the most beautiful - government officials standing on the steps of the capital in D.C. singing God Bless America. Not one person criticized them for that on such a day. We all knew we needed God that day.

If only we could keep remembering that without needing the pain and suffering that drives us to Him.

Did the Doctor Bring a Baby??

DID THE DOCTOR BRING A BABY??

In the summer of 1957 I was five-and-one-half years old and already had two younger sisters, two older sisters, and an older brother. I did not know that another baby was soon to join our family, because such things were not discussed with five-year-olds back in those days. I never noticed that my mother's belly was getting bigger, and maybe it wasn't. (She used to say that a month before I was born people still did not realize she was pregnant!!) I did, however, notice that she had two new outfits that were completely unlike anything she had ever worn before. Instead of the traditional Mennonite cape dress that she had always worn, she had a SKIRT and two smock tops, one a flowered print, and one a formal-looking navy blue. I thought she looked so beautiful in that navy blue outfit.

One Sunday afternoon my parents wanted to attend a local tent meeting. For some reason they decided to take just me along. Perhaps they thought I needed it the most then already!! I felt wonderfully special, like I was an only child. As we sat in our seats under the tent, a little girl I knew looked back at us from her seat in the row in front of us. I thought, "I bet she wishes her mom had a pretty outfit like my mom does!!" (I did need that tent meeting, didn't I?? Such vain thoughts at age five!!)

September 8th was a Sunday that year. I was awakened before dawn by voices in my parents' bedroom. I lay there listening, wondering what was going on. I heard someone go down the stairs, then after a while I heard people coming up the stairs. I recognized our family doctor's voice. I wondered what was wrong. For some reason I never did get out of bed to go ask. Eventually I heard a baby's cry. The doctor must have brought us a baby!!! I was so excited! I honestly did NOT know where babies came from, and I pictured a huge room at the hospital where babies were kept. I just couldn't figure out how they kept them from growing before people got them!

When I heard voices in the hall, I got up and went out. It was my older siblings. They told me that Mamma had had a baby girl. We stood out there and talked as we awaited our chance to go into the room to see her. My brother said in all his 11-year-old wisdom, "Well, Mamma won't need to wear those dresses anymore." I couldn't believe it. "Why not?" I exclaimed. "She looked so pretty in them." I think he tried to come up with some kind of lame answer, but I can't remember what it was!

We finally were ushered into my parents' bedroom and got to meet little Betty. It was love at first sight for me. I had been too young to enjoy Doris and Barb when they were babies, but now I could really have fun with Betty. And I did.

For some reason I felt a special need to take care of her. When she was big enough to outgrow her crib she became my sleeping partner. Every night I would hug her and tell her stories before we went to sleep. When she faced a difficult transition to public junior high school I took it upon myself to make three new outfits for her.

Betty has gone on to become a teacher and administrator, a wife and mother (after age 40!) and her name has changed to Elizabeth. But to us she's still Betty! Her warm, caring, funny, vivacious personality makes her a delight to be with. When they come to the area for family events they usually stay at our house and we enjoy having them here so very much. I'm so glad God brought Betty to our family 50 years ago. We love you, Betty!

Happy Birthday, Betty!

A young 80-year-old!

Today we went to an 80th birthday celebration for my sweet and funny stepmother, Mary. What a woman! She's the kind that makes you look forward to being 80! Here she is (on the left) talking with a friend she has had since they were 16 years of age!

Later on another main attraction arrived at the party - Paityn Lily Smith, my niece Marcy's newborn baby. We were all so delighted to get a chance to hold and cuddle this sweet little bundle.

My dad and Mary with their newest greatgrandchild.

And here are the proud parents, Scott and Marcy, with their sweet, little bundle of joy. They just glow with pride!

Before we left I wanted to get a picture of Mary with her boys. One of them, Lester (pastor of Petra Christian Fellowship) had already left, but the other five were still there. In one picture taking session I could easily see why Mary has developed such a quick-witted sense of humor - it was sheer survival in raising these six sons of hers! They had me laughing so hard I can't believe these pictures aren't blurred. First they were reaching front and acting like they were giving her a face lift. Then another sneaked his hand front and pulled her skirt up so her slip showed a little bit!

Finally, she shook her finger at these boys of hers and told them to behave themselves!

Ah, just look how mature and angelic they can actually make themselves look!!

Congratulations, Lori and Jim!!

This evening we received the happy news via email that my sweet neice Lori is engaged to be married. In the past six years she has had to walk through some of the deepest valleys of anyone I know - colon cancer which resulted in radical surgery, the shocking unfaithfulness of her pastor husband which resulted in divorce, and then her mother's sudden death (my sister Janet). Through it all, in spite of it all, maybe because of it all, Lori has blossomed into a woman of incredible trust in God. She is an amazing person, absolutely beautiful inside and out.

She said that Jim had the setting for his proposal all planned out. He had already discussed it with Lori's dad Elvin and brother Scott a few weeks ago when they were together before Elvin and Pauline's wedding. He also told Lori's two children that he was planning to ask her to marry him. And last evening he popped the question right in the presence of her children! Isn't that the neatest thing?

And here's the funny part. Before Lori was married her name was Lori Peifer. Then when she got married she became Lori Harris. Now she's engaged to a man named Jim Peifer!! So she will once again become Lori Peifer! She jokingly said she is considering a hyphenated last name: Lori Peifer-Harris-Peifer!!

Family from Minnesota

We had our first Friday of the school year today. It is my fullest teaching day, but it was okay. We are having an extreme heatwave, but the air conditioner in my classroom works pretty well. I remember how dreadful it was in my room before I had the AC. There is black pavement right outside my windows and it would be like having a furnace right at my open windows. Almost unbearable.

After school today I went to Lancaster to pick up Destiny for the weekend. We went to Dick's parents for supper. His dad made barbecued chicken over an open fire - so delicious. Dick's brother Bob and family were there from northern Minnesota. We had a wonderful evening together. Bob is a pastor and a very gifted cabinet maker. He and Dick are only 11 months apart in age, so each year Bob catches up to Dick for one month, then Dick pulls ahead again, ha, ha!!

Pictured, left to right, are Dick, Bob's daughter Juanita, Dick's stepmother and Dad, Bob's wife Doris, and Bob. Their other daughter Judy was outside with Destiny when I took this picture. They also have two married sons and six grandchildren in Minnesota.