$3.69 a gallon!

Woo-hoo!! I was able to fill up my gas tank this morning for $53.00 instead of 60-something. There's a gas station near my school which usually has the highest prices in town, but today they were selling regular gasoline for $3.69, lower than any other station. They must be desperate for business! Almost every place around here was selling regular gas for $3.99 for week after week until recently. Thank you, Lord!

So what are the prices in your area?

F-L-E-X-I-B-I-L-I-T-Y

If there is any characteristic I have developed in my life time it is probably flexibility. Maybe that's why I am so addicted to lists - they are one way I can have some control over my life which always seems slightly off-kilter and up for change at any given moment.

The number of people at our supper table, the people living under our roof, whether for one night or a lifetime, have been in constant fluctuation since the mid-seventies when we first reached out to a single dad and his daughter by having them eat with us two evenings a week.

And the need to be flexible still remains. After discovering at the beginning of June that Destiny would again be staying with us full-time for the summer, I readjusted my expectations of accomplishment and went all out to be the substitute mom she would need - trips to the pool, work charts, Bible memory, math papers (which she HATED!), reading from the Little House series each night, time-outs, guarding against too much TV.....

And then on Monday her mommy called and said she was ready to have her back home again. So yesterday morning I took her to her other grandma's house in Lancaster where Enid would be picking her up to take her home to Reading. We will still have her every weekend just like we did all this past school year. So all of a sudden I am in this house for the second day in a row all alone. I have a very long list of things I should accomplish in the next few weeks before school starts.

I should be rejoicing that I can now do them without interruption. And I am - a little bit, anyway. But wow, I guess I really do hate being alone. I really, really miss her. But she was so excited to be seeing her mommy again, which is good. So I am trying to be flexible and get on with all the boring things I need to be accomplishing.

The Witmers at Ebenezer

This past weekend was the second time my family has held our annual weekend together at Ebenezer Mennonite Bible School in York County, PA. It is a refurbished elementary school which is ideal for big groups to gather. The big plus is that it is air conditioned and clean.

Our group was smaller than usual this year due to schedule conflicts for a number of family members. My late sister Janet's family and my only brother Dick's family were not there at all. None of my children were able to make it this year either. But even though there were only thirty-some people this year, we still had a wonderful time together and many good memories were made.

Those present, from oldest to youngest, were:

My dad and stepmother and my sister Mary Ellen, all living in Lancaster County.

Dick and I with Destiny, also Lancaster County.

Doris and her husband Dale with their six children, several in-laws, a boyfriend, three grandchildren, a step-grandchild and her cousin. Whew!! And yes, all from Lancaster County!

Barb and her daughter Jill with her husband Travis. Jill and Travis are expecting a baby in January. They are from Idaho.

Betty and her husband Scott with their children Merida and Isaiah from New Hampshire.

Rose and her husband Bob with their children Katie, Matt, Maribeth, Christy, Julia, and Olivia from Georgia.

Here Rose's family is again just before they left Ebenezer, looking all mah-velous for their tour of the west wing of the White House to be given by Bob's brother, a presidential advisor.

We six sisters enjoy each other's company immensely, and as I've said many times before, we miss our sister Janet so much. Here we are in no particular order: me, Rose, Barb, Betty, Doris, and Mary Ellen.

For many of us, just the process of getting to Ebenezer is so much work that all we want to do when we get there is sit around in the comfortable air conditioning and hang out together.

Sitting around reminiscing, laughing, and telling stories wasn't the only thing to do. There was also Dutch Blitz,

coloring, playing with toys, and watching videos with cousins in the bunk beds,

riding scooters,

riding bike with no hands,

the game room,

playing guitars together,

Mexican Train,

and for my dad, time with the Lord in the quietness of the early morning.

Saturday's big activity was going to the pool at nearby Codorus State Park. It was a fun time of swimming, sitting and chatting on the hillside between the pool and beautiful Lake Marburg, and eating our packed lunch together.

Of course the preparing, the eating, and the cleaning up of meals takes lots of time and attention, but with the big, clean, very modern facilities at Ebenezer we have absolutely NO complaints. (After years of tent camping followed by years of renting a damp, moldy camp facility we LOVE this place.)

We were amused by Barb's Holstein cow apron! (They are big-time dairy farmers in Idaho.) She said one of her boys had made it for her in sewing class in high school!!

Doris's two grandbabies, Aidan and Paityn, were the center of much attention all weekend. What is a family gathering without some babies to hold and play with?

Rose's youngest daughter Olivia has given up her status as baby-of-the-clan several times over, but never mind - she's still as cute as a button, don't you agree?