A wedding near Erie

This morning around 10:30 Dick and I left for a road trip to Titusville, PA (near Erie) for our nephew Eric Stauffer's wedding. Wow!! We saw places we never knew existed in PA - Sigel, Leeper, Tionesta, to mention just a few. Let me tell you, the world is not full of people yet. There's a whole lot of uninhabited (and probably uninhabitable) mountain ranges in PA. Unfortunately, the whole time we were on Route 80, it was blowing and raining. Add mountains and trucks, and it was no fun. But eventually it stopped, and we didn't have rain the rest of the day. It was a 2 1/2 - 3 hour trip from State College.

Here is Eric with his new bride Suzi and his parents, Deb and Fred Stauffer.

And here Eric and Suzi are with Dick's parents (Eric's grandparents).

The huge (and very good-looking) bridal party.

I had a wonderful time talking with my sister-in-law, Faye Stauffer today. Her dad just passed away last week, so we had much to tell each other, and needless to say, we cried together too.

We got back home to State College at 9:30 PM, and of course, are relishing the fact that we can turn our clocks back an hour before we go to bed tonight!

Fall fun

Late this afternoon Lori and I went to a pumpkin farm for a hayride that Lori had organized for the children of their church. It was a lot of fun, even though the weather was damp and breezy. During the hayride there were places where everyone could pick a pumpkin and then some apples.

After the hayride there was a corn maze to go through, complete with some typical scary things along the way (too much so, we thought.)

Anthony had stayed home with Austin, and when we got back home they were on the sofa at the front window. Look at him trying to touch his mommy through the glass!

This evening we finally played Scrabble. Anthony and Lori came down to our living room so we wouldn't waken Austin. Anthony was winning all along, then Dick came home from work and started helping me. In two turns, just using two letters each time, he pulled us ahead of Anthony! However, we ended up having the Q and a K left over at the end, so we lost anyway. So Anthony didn't have to be a sore loser after all, ha, ha!

I must end this post with a very funny little story from Lisa. She said that Sophie informed her that if you don't want to use the word "butt" you can just say "Booty-ous Maximus" instead. Isn't she just too funny???

Lunch with Austin

I'm sorry if you're tired of pictures of Austin (which I can't possibly imagine), but he is what my days consist of, so he's the one I take pictures of! Actually, I should have made note that the pictures I posted a few days ago (winning shots) were ones I stole from Austin's blog. Lori has been putting a lot of pictures on it this week, so you can go there to see more. Their camera takes amazing pictures.

We definitely have a little "ham" on our hands. He is loud and he is funny and he knows it. His latest new sound is in his throat, like he's clearing his throat slowly and gently. He just keeps doing it because he knows it makes us laugh. He even was doing it last evening when Lori was nursing him!!

He also likes to make fists and scrunch up his face like he's showing off his muscles. He's starting to clap his hands (a bit uncoordinated at this point) and raise his hands in the air to show how big he is. Below are some pictures I took with my cell phone during his lunch today.

Hi there! I'm Austin, and I LOVE to eat.

I love to blow raspberries with my lips too. In fact, when I get started, I find it hard to stop. I can make that sound for ten minutes straight and change keys 20 times!

Hey, you should click on this picture so you can see the two new teeth I'm getting on top. But don't look too close, or you'll see that I have boogers in my one nostril and my mommy won't want you to see that. She goes after them with a vengeance several times a day, and I just hate it.

See how big I am? I'm soooooo big!

Lunch with Austin, continued

Sooooo big, again!

Grandma, I'm wearing out now. One arm is all I can do.

Actually, I'm not in the mood for showing off anymore.

I need a nap.

Some winning shots

Welcome back, Grandma!

I'm going to have a long post about this past weekend in Lancaster County, but I want to put this adorable picture at the top of the post. We had such a fun day together today. He's learning new things every single day and he's such a happy boy. I LOVE MY JOB!!

Our weekend in Lancaster County

I took this picture Friday morning before Lori left for work. She was giving Austin his Nebulizer treatment. He was so cute - we put one of his Baby Einstein DVDs on, and he was willing to just sit there with that mask over his nose while he watched. He needs treatments several times a day, so we're glad he doesn't fight it.

Dick only worked half a day on Friday. We packed up and left for Lancaster County around 3:15. It ended up being the worst drive ever, and I was so glad I was not making the trip alone, as I have needed to do so many times before. It was raining and blowing, and there were numerous traffic tie-ups. We picked Destiny up in Reading and were glad to finally get to our Lititz house.

Destiny spent Saturday evening with her dad. He bought her a Cinderella costume for Halloween. Here she is modeling it. Please pardon the hot pink stockings sticking out at the bottom!



Sam and Jennifer took Dick and I to one of our very favorite restaurants on Saturday evening - El Serano's. We had a great time together. I forgot my camera, so I took a few pictures with my phone, but they didn't get good at all.

The young couple.....

.....and the old couple!

Myers Reunion

On Sunday morning I led worship at church, and we had a sweet time in the presence of the Lord. I just love our church family so much.

After church we went to a family reunion which was held in the gym at Manheim Christian, where I used to teach. It was my mother's family. Those of my siblings who were not able to be there will enjoy clicking on these pictures below to better see some of the relatives that were there.

On a side table were two lap tops with slide shows running - the one from my dad's viewing that Jeremy had put together, and one from my Uncle Norman's funeral. He passed away just a couple of weeks before my dad. We were remembering that often at these Myers reunions, Uncle Norman would lead a few Christmas carols before the meal, and my dad would say the prayer. This year I led a song and my cousin Walter said the prayer. We are becoming the older generation. Yikes!

Colored leaves, but past their prime

Late in the afternoon we took Destiny home, stopping at WalMart to get a few things for her. Look how tall she's getting. I miss her already.

After taking her home we went to the viewing of Wilbur Lentz, our sister-in-law Faye Stauffer's dad. We got there just in the nick of time, before the 8 PM cut off. We saw people we hadn't seen in a long time and had time to talk while we waited, so that was fun.

Then we went home and got the house cleaned up and our stuff packed up, ready for our early morning trip home to State College. We left soon after 7 AM this morning. I had so hoped for a sunny morning to get pictures of the leaves, but we had a lot of fog at first. We also discovered that apparently the leaves were at their peak last weekend when we did not travel to Lancaster County! This morning they just had more of an old, tired blah appearance. (Kind of like I felt this morning, ha, ha, ha!) Here are a few of the pictures I did get. These pictures are also clickable.

More leaves

When we arrived home around around 9:15 AM, Austin was having some "quiet time" in his crib in preparation for his first nap. So I didn't go back to his room to see him, not wanting to stir him up. Later Lori and I sneaked into his room to take pictures of the way he had fallen asleep at the foot end of his crib. Sooooo cute.

All kinds of medicine

This morning Dick and I went to the local CVS to get our flu shots, which were to be given between 10 AM and 2 PM. We arrived at 9:50, and finally got our shots at 11:30! Practically the whole time we stood in line waiting, we had to stare at the display of contraceptives, pregnancy tests, and lubricants, etc. which were right in front of our eyes. Of course Dick had no trouble hitting up a conversation with the lady next to him who was an employee of AT&T. Dick can talk for hours about cell phones. One time Dick said to the general public, "They could have put a better display for us to look at while we wait." A lady behind us said, "Anyway! But it's educational. I never knew you could get an over-the-counter DNA test." Neither did I!

We were all home today on this beautiful day and did some ambitious projects. Anthony reorganized the shed and took some things to the refuse authority. Then he and Dick took deck furniture to the shed. I bought some teak oil and applied it to the wooden benches that were in the gazebo. Then they exchanged the furniture in two rooms. We decided it would be better for Austin's room and Lori's office to be exchanged so Austin would be further away from our kitchen noise.

Austin had another chest cold this week, the third in a month. This time his chest was really tight. They took him to the doctor yesterday and we will need to continue his nebulizer treatments for quite a while, even after he seems all better. Apparently it takes a long time for a baby's lungs to fully recover from something like that. Unfortunately, it seems like every time he's gotten a cold the symptoms started just a few days after having been in the church nursery.

On top of having these colds, he's been teething like crazy! He's gotten four bottom teeth and two top teeth that are ready to cut through - all in the past month! And yet he's so happy most of the time. He's such medicine for my soul.

And here's another thing that was medicine for my soul this week - this picture of Sophie taken at Disney last weekend. She's getting so big and even more beautiful!! I put a new family picture of them on my side bar that was also taken last weekend.

And tomorrow I will get some more medicine for my soul. We'll be going to Lancaster County for the weekend and picking Destiny up tomorrow evening. Yes, I do love these precious grandchildren. If only there were a way to be close by each of them.

Proud of my man

Tonight I just need to take some time to brag on my man. He is absolutely proving that some things improve with age!! Please indulge me if I get a little sappy and sweet!

Thirteen-and-a-half years ago, in May 1996, Dick was diagnosed with Lymphoma after several months of tests to determine the cause of the excrutiating pain he had in his hip. Since then he's had a recurrence three times, in November 2003, October 2006, and September 2008. Each time he went through 4 to 6 rounds of chemo, but missed very few days of work. We knew he was a real trooper and a tough cookie.

Since the latest recurrence he is now on "maintenance chemo", receiving four rounds of chemo every six months for two years, in hopes of at least delaying a future recurrence.

In September 2008 he also lost his job, which came as a complete, devastating shock to both of us. What does a man getting close to 60 years old do in such a depressing job market? Many of you walked or read through the resulting journey with us, which led us here to State College and Dick's job as a master tech at Pep Boys, and my giving up my exhausting, long-time job as music teacher in exchange for a job as nanny for our beloved grandson.

Dick moved up here to start his job July 1st, and I stayed in our Lititz home to take care of many responsibilities until August 22. Being alone day after day and night after night created an environment that was ripe for worry and anxiety. There were many heavy things on my heart. Some of them pertained to Dick and our future. How would he do at his new job? What if, at his age, he couldn't handle the hard work and fast pace? And what about the maintenance treatments he would need in September? He would have to find a new oncologist. How would he tell his new employer that he needed chemo? Would they fire him if they knew? And with his new insurance ready to kick in Oct. 1st, could all the chemo treatments be done by September 30 while we still had COBRA and he had already met 100% of his deductible and coinsurance? How would he handle chemo and a full time job? He'd been only partially employed during the past two rounds of chemo, with more down time. He hadn't had chemo while working full time since 2006, when he was 3 years younger.

Never in my life have I had so many things that I could not do anything about. The worries about Dick were only a few of them. It drove me to the Lord and to His Word. The most powerful verse came to me at my most desperate time on July 20th. "The Lord will fight for you. You need only to be still." Exodus 14:14. I hung on to that promise over and over and over again as I had to let go of things I could not control.

Now let me brag. Dick, at age 59 1/2, is an absolute machine. He works hard, goes in early, stays late, goes in on his days off sometimes, has gained tremendous respect from coworkers and management, cares about the customers and how he does their work, has breezed through four chemo treatments and a pet scan in September, AND has lost FIFTEEN pounds since July 1st. He feels great and he loves his job. The other night he said, "I'm even amazing myself." Needless to say, we aren't complaining when he just sits in front of the TV and relaxes when he's home. He deserves it. And God has been very, very good to us in bringing us here. He did indeed fight for me.

The other night I said I would try to get some pictures of Austin. This boy is deciding it's time to go places and do things. I'm afraid the days of a placid baby, content to stay in one place are about over. He is starting to show a tricky sense of humor, but also a little temper when we have to take things out of his hand that he doesn't want to give up. He's had a couple of bumps too. Yes, the fun is only beginning!