The long night

Tonight my sister Barb and family are flying east from Idaho. Their flight from Chicago was delayed because of weather, so they probably will not arrive in Baltimore until 2:15 AM. Then they will need to get a rental car and drive the hour-and-a-half to my sister Mary Ellen's house! Along for the ride is my niece Jill and her almost 7-month-old baby. What a long trip with a baby.

A lot of work and a little play

I accomplished a lot today, going through all the rest of the files in my filing cabinet, every desk drawer, and some of the boxes I brought home from my classroom. I put a raft of papers through the shredder, and there's another pile waiting to be put through.

This afternoon I ran a few errands, then came home and did some bookwork and bill paying. My greatest accomplishment of the day was all the mowing I did this evening. I did the entire steep bank in front of our house, which I never thought I'd be able to do. I guess I'm getting to be on better terms with our mower. I was actually enjoying myself and kind of hoped my neighbors were noticing my amazing feat, ha, ha, ha!! So, Anthony, maybe I'll not only be your cook and nanny in a few weeks, I'll also be your lawn girl!

Of course, I had to have some fun today too. I yearbooked my mom and sisters and myself all with the same hairdo. Not everyone's face was turned the right way, but I did the best I could with the pictures I had. Across the top row is my mom, Janet, Mary Ellen, and myself. The bottom row is Doris, Barb, Betty, and Rose.

This evening I did my dad and step mother. I wish I could hear her when she sees this!!!

Breakfast date, boring job, great diversion

I left the house bright and early this morning (6:30) and drove to meet Dick for breakfast. It was an easy drive, because I beat the rush hour around Harrisburg. We ate at a lovely restaurant near Mifflintown, but unfortunately, they were very slow this morning, and we foolishly decided to do the breakfast buffet. Big mistake on a slow morning. The food on the buffet seemed old and tough, and the choice was very limited. I was really disappointed that we had not decided to order from the menu. But we enjoyed being together anyway. We switched vehicles and were on our way back to our "homes" by 9:30. Dick had to start work at 12.

I spent the day sorting through files in the filing cabinet - an intolerably boring job. I'm still not finished, because I just hate this job and the computer is too close by. Right now I am surrounded by stuff that needs to be shredded.

I found something much more interesting this evening - Yearbook Yourself 2009. Here are a few of mine - great diversion on a boring day, wouldn't you say???

Growing like weeds - the baby and the weeds!

Look at the legs on this baby! When Anthony was a baby he was SO chubby, and I declare, Austin is trying to be like his dad! Don't you just want to squeeze those thighs??

This morning I pulled weeds from our flower beds. We're getting plenty of rain these days, and they are growing like......weeds!

This afternoon I spent several hours in my classroom with Cheryl (Zimmerman) Gingrich who will be the next music teacher. I've known Cheryl for quite a few years as a voice teacher and a music teacher at another local Christian school. I feel really good about handing the "reigns" to her. But there's so much we need to cover! We're getting together again next week.

This evening I made some slammin' chicken corn noodle soup. I know that doesn't sound like a summer food, but I'm telling you, in my air conditioned house this evening, that soup tasted every bit as good as it does in the winter time. I should send some of it to my friend Tonja in Alabama to help her recover from pneumonia, the poor girl. But actually, I'll be giving most of it to Dick to share with the household in State College.

We traded vehicles this past weekend because the Explorer needed to have some muffler work done to pass state inspection. I took it to a muffler place to get that done yesterday. Now tomorrow morning Dick and I will meet for breakfast in Mifflintown (about halfway between here and State College) to trade vehicles back again. He needs to inspect the Explorer before the end of the month on Friday.

We're meeting at 8 AM!!! So I need to hit the sack.

Witmer Family Annual Retreat

This is a long, detailed account of our weekend with my family. I purposely took the time to do this, because I know that my sister Barb in Idaho longed to be with us, and I want to help her to feel like she was there.

On Friday I had many places to go and much packing to do. Destiny was a tremendous help to me, and I mean that seriously. After we had everything together, we then had the putting of everything (including her bike and scooter) into my car! Without Dick's help. He has always been the packing guru around here. I told Destiny to sit among our things and say, "Grandpa, we NEED you!"

But we did it, we did it! Finally around 4:30 we were on our way, and before too long I was driving in (you guessed it!) torrential rain and wind and lightning! Almost all the way to southern York County. It took much longer than usual because of the weather and because I hit York at rush hour. I think we arrived at Ebenezer (formerly an elementary school) around 6:00.

What fun to see my sisters Rose and Betty and their families for the first time in a year. And to be eating the yummy supper Mary Ellen had prepared for us.

And to get the weekend game playing started with a good game of Take One (apparently similar to Bananagrams.)

And to listen to the first of many guitar jam sessions with brother-in-law Scott and Rose's son Matt.

And THEN!!! The biggest surprise of the entire weekend! I had talked with Dick by phone several times throughout the evening. He and Anthony were planning to come from State College in the morning (Lori and Austin were still in NYC with her family.) At some point I heard Destiny exclaim, "Grandpa!!" I looked up, and there were Dick and Anthony in the flesh! All those times I had talked with him by phone he was actually on his way there, but did not tell me! Wow, that just totally made my day!

The next morning my sister Doris and I were among the first who were in search of a cup of coffee. Mary Ellen insisted on taking a picture of us having our coffee together. Morning beauties, indeed!!

Clean-up detail was shared (sort of!) throughout the weekend. Saturday morning Anthony, brother-in-law Scott, and niece Maribeth took their turn.

There was never, ever a lack of conversations throughout the weekend. Sometimes I wished I could participate in several at once. No surprise there!

My sister-in-law Nancy kept the kids busy for a long time Saturday morning with her beautiful bead craft.

My dad spent a lot of time sitting in his favorite recliner, just enjoying all the conversations around him. Many times we asked him if he didn't want to go to his bed and take a nap, as he is used to doing at home. But he admitted he is too nosey - he didn't want to miss anything! (So the apple has not fallen far from the tree. Many times when we sisters are together, and I have to go to the bathroom, I tell them not to talk about anything interesting while I "go", because I don't want to miss anything!!)

My step mother and I don't have to try very hard to find something to giggle about. We all just love her to pieces!

Here are my youngest sister Rose and my brother Dick (now our oldest sibling since Janet's death) sharing something from his Leadership magazine. Doesn't Rose look stunning??? She has been successful at becoming trim and physically fit and healthy this past year. We are all so proud of her (and a little jealous too!) But she is proof of what discipline and consistency over time can do, which does indeed inspire me.

On Saturday Elvin (our late sister Janet's husband) and his wife Pauline came to be with us. I can't believe I did not get one picture of Pauline. Here Elvin (a runner for many years) was looking at pictures on Bob and Rose's laptop of her amazing success in the Peachtree 10K race on July 4th.

Here I am with the first man in my life. I, and all my family, are RICH because of the blessings we have and are and will experience because of his passion for God and compassion for people.

From generation to generation - here are some of the youngest members of the family - soon-to-be-two-year-old Paityn,

and just-turned-one-year-old Aiden.

The absolutely biggest hit of the weekend were the adorable kittens that camped out at our front door. There were five of them, but sometimes that was not enough for all the kids that wanted to cuddle them!

On Sunday morning we again followed our tradition of singing favorite familiar hymns acapella. We could have used some more men's voices this year, but we still didn't sound too bad at all. My brother-in-law Scott videod all of it, so if he ever gets the video on YouTube (he told me to harrass him to get it done!), I'll share some of it with you here.

Even from his recliner, my dad sang along with every song. My sisters Rose and Doris joined me in singing a trio song, Heaven Came Down and Glory Filled My Soul. I didn't dare watch his face as we sang, or I would have gone to pieces. Afterward he said he can't imagine how the music of heaven can possibly be any more glorious than that. Now, is that a compliment, or what???

After singing together, we took time to share our joys and concerns from the past year, some scripture verses that we are hanging on to, some words of wisdom, and then we prayed together.

As I prepared the last meal, more games were played - Dominoes,

and Dutch Blitz.

Anthony and Matt played guitar together one last time.

I served the last meal of the weekend - my famous "Grandma's Casserole", a recipe I got from Dick's mother many years ago. Here I asked each side of the two tables to stop eating and pose for a picture.

Some people can't follow directions very well.

And some people have to be comedians. (He says that piece of celery was beside his nose, not in it, just in case you wondered.)