The Jamaican game

I felt better today than I have for over a week, praise God!!!  It was great to worship at Fillmore this morning after missing the past two Sundays.  After that service I went to Unity, Lori and Anthony's church.  I got to sit with Lori's mother and to finally see Austin with his summer haircut.  I seriously did not recognize him at first, because his back was to me and he was not with Lori at the time.  Even when he turned around I thought,  "That IS Austin, isn't it?"  He just looks so different without his curls, but still so absolutely handsome.  

After church we went to the new Cracker Barrel for lunch.  It was B.U.S.Y.!!!!!   Lori's friend Flavia, who grew up in Jamaica, went with us, and Lori's mother was delighted to connect with her, as they were both from the same part of the island, in fact may even be related!  As they talked, I said,  "Well, we have our Mennonite game.  This must be the Jamaican game!"  

 

Lori's mother (Jean), me (Jean!), Flavia, Kelli (Flavia's daughter), Lori, Austin (saying "cheese"!)

From new meds to Texas to new shoes

I went to the doctor again today (a different one on weekend duty), because my throat was more sore the past two days than any time since it started last Thursday (over a week!)  This doctor said I have a sinus infection, thus the very irritated throat, so she prescribed Flonase and an antibiotic.  I hope and pray I can heal soon.  I've pretty much stayed home the past two days and I'm ready to get out and see people.  Lori's mother is visiting her since yesterday, and I haven't even seen her yet. 

Anthony is in Texas this week at the Tall City Bluesfest.  He did a tone workshop and is giving "in person" lessons to some of his customers down there.  I have to tell you this cute story.  First of all, Anthony's music is called Texas-style Blues.  When Anthony and Lori decided they would name their baby Austin, Anthony  used to joke that he wants the middle name to be Texas.  They chose Mitchell instead, however.  Well, the other day as Austin and I drove by the airport and saw a plane taking off, I said that daddy went in an airplane up in the sky to Texas.   Austin said,  "Austin Texas?"   What he meant was, "May I go to Texas too?"  But hearing him say "Austin Texas" was funny on so many levels, I just had to laugh out loud. 

Speaking of Austin, look what Lori did to him all by herself! 

He has such a cute head.  I can't wait to see him tomorrow. 

Now I want to share a God story.  In the spring of 1999 I started having issues with my feet.  Flip flops no longer felt good.  When we went to Florida to visit Lisa and George that summer, she took me shopping and got me a pair of Betula slides (a branch of Birkinstock.)  The first day I wore them down there, I was quite sure she had just wasted $50, and assumed we would need to take them back.  They were KILLING my feet.  But she wanted me to wear them a bit at a time, assuring me they would begin to feel better as I broke them in. 

She was RIGHT!!  They became my main casusal shoes summer after summer after summer!  I loved them.  In fact, I decided to see if I had any picture of myself in them, doubting I would, since my first digital pictures on my computer are from 2003.  I didn't think I had worn them that long.  BUT guess what!  I found a picture from the summer of 2004 and I had those shoes on, hahahaha!!!  I love this picture, because it was taken at our last sister sleepover before Janet died.  We were at her lakehouse and had SO MUCH FUN!!!  Unfortunately, Barb was not able to come in from Idaho that time, so she's missing from the picture.  If I had Photoshop, I'd put her right up there behind me.

So anyway, please look at my white five-year-old shoes!

Ever since they wore down and were no longer comfortable, I have wished I could get another pair.  I would look at stores that sold Birkinstocks and at their online pictures, but I could never find any that were like those.   I've had issues with plantar faciitis since then, so I wasn't even sure if they'd still feel good on my feet. 

This summer, the week before my trip to Florida, I took a bag of clothes to donate to Goodwill.  Of course, I had to go inside to see if there was anything in there just waiting for me to come along.  WELL!  There on the shoe rack were these almost NEW Birkies.

I tried them on, they were my size, but obviously not worn long enough to be broken in.  The price tag?  $3.99!!!!  I decided that even if I could not wear them, I would not have wasted much money on them. 

Let me just say, the more I wear them the better they feel, and I LOVE them!!!  And I love God for putting them in the Goodwill Thrift Store at just the right price for me.  He even cares about my feet!

I will have some other answers to prayer to share in the coming weeks.

Old lady's pharmacy

As some of you saw on FB, my cold has not taken a hike like I had hoped it would.  No longer do I have laryngitis, but my throat still hurts, I have a cough, a slight head cold, and pink eye.  On Wednesday I went to the doctor and he prescribed eye drops and told me to keep doing all the things I've been doing, that it's probably a virus that may take up to two weeks to run its course.  Wow.  

So what are those things I've been doing that he told me are all the right things?  Let me see if I can remember them all.

1.  Drinking plenty of green tea and water

2.  Zicam spray and rapid melts each night.

3.  Vicks Vaporub on my chest, neck, and FEET each night.

4.  Gargling with salt water each night.

5.  Hall's Defense Lozenges.

6.  Hall's  Mountain Menthol Lozenges (when my cough won't stop by any other means)

7.  Mucinex Expectorant

8.  Eye Drops

9.  Dayquil to help me survive the days.

Add to that the IcyHot I have to put on my shoulders so I can sleep at night, the meds for high blood pressure, arthritis, acid reflux, remedies to keep me "regular" - let me tell you, it's like an old lady's pharmacy around here.  

Well, off to take a nap! 

A lot of family and a lot of fun!

Okay, here goes.  As I commented after my post this morning, the second half of the pictures and videos I had lined up disappeared into cyberspace after I hit the publish button.  Grrrr!  But in the meantime I stole some nice pics from my sister Doris!  And I should add that some of the family pics in the previous post I stole from sister-in-law Nancy.  I had camera issues this weekend, which I'll explain later. 

Sydney holds her cousin Reid, Mary Ellen holds his twin Jonah.

Jill's little Jared has loved tractors since birth, so he contentedly watched tractor pull videos with his great uncle Dick, whom he had never met before!

On Sunday morning Steve's wife Beth told the kids an interesting story about a child in Egypt.

Sitting around in the big family room.

Games!  We love games!  This was Apples to Apples.  Another fun one was Things. 

Olivia and Destiny loved the Legos.  They ate a lot of their meals right there!

Doris's adorable granddaugther Zoe.

Nearly everyone helped out in the kitchen at some point.

The long hallway was a wonderful place for little ones to ride and run indoors.

Rose, the youngest of our generation, and Lori, the oldest of the next, are only two years apart!

Rose's son Matt always connects in a special way with Uncle Scott.  Give them a guitar and a harmonica and they're good to go.

Cousins Steve and Scott were roommates at Messiah College, so it was great for them to have the chance to be together again.

Jeremy hadn't been to a family weekend the seven years he lived in  Florida, so he thoroughly enjoyed the short time he had with everyone. 

Cousins! The youngest (Rose's Olivia) and the oldest (Janet's Lori) are together in the center front.

And the children of the cousins!

Betty's husband Scott is an awesome children's entertainer.  Here's a short, fun clip of him doing what he does best!

So many good memories.  Unfortunately, after looking forward to this weekend for months, I felt a tinge of a sore throat after Anthony's show last Thursday evening.  I tried every preventive remedy that I have used successfully for years, trying desperately to ward it off, but that was not to be.  By Saturday morning it had settled into my vocal cords, giving me not only a sore throat, but laryngitis.  So I spent the entire weekend with some of my most favorite people to talk and sing with, feeling miserable and having this annoying, croaky sound every time I talked.    

I felt like crying when we drove home last evening.  I kept thinking of all the conversations I had meant to have with various family members, all the laughs I missed, the trio singing we never did, all the pictures I didn't take because I just didn't feel like getting up for my camera, or worse yet, not even knowing where it was all day Sunday.  (Thanks again, Nancy and Doris, for your pictures I used here.)   

But really, it was probably noisy enough without my loud talking and laughing!  And thankfully, almost all of us are connected via Face book, so I guess I'll just have to write some of those conversations I had hoped to have. 

Witmer Reunion 2011 (part I)

This was a weekend for the record books.  Sixty-six years after the Witmer family was started we had a weekend reunion with almost 75% of the family present.  For some families that might not be such a big deal, but for a family that has spread all across the country and beyond, it was.

First of all, here are the seven original siblings that were there:

 

Back row:  Betty Witmer-Kepnes, (53), Doris Fahnestock (57), Jean Stauffer (59), Mary Ellen Witmer (64)

Front row:  Barb Brubaker (56), Dick Witmer (65), Rose Wichterman (47)

Missing for the past seven years, since she passed away so unexpectedly, is our oldest sister Janet Peifer, who would now be 66.

Janet's entire family was present this year for the first time in a long while.

Back row:  Janet's daughter Lori, her daughter Sydney, son Jared, and husband Jim.

Front row:  Pauline and Elvin (Janet's husband and his second wife), Jim's son Bradley, Janet's son Scott holding twin son Jonah with son Corbin holding onto his neck, Scott's wife Sherri holding twin son Reid.  Lori's family was there from Michigan and Scott's family was there all the way from California!  They'll be spending this week together at Elvin's lake house.  What a great bunch!

My brother Dick's family was there except for his two oldest grandchildren.

 

The back row is my brother in the middle with his son Steve on the left and son Richard on the right.

Front row:  Steve's sons Laith and Timothy and his wife Beth, Dick's wife Nancy, Richard's wife Jennifer and their daughter Emily.  Their two older children, Josh and Sarah are in Montana on a 4-H exchange, so were not with us.  Steve's family is home from Egypt for the summer.  

Our family was more present than this picture shows.  

 

In addition to Anthony, Lori, Austin, and Destiny, Jeremy came!!  He had been in Amman, Jordan last week on a work assignment, but he had so hoped to come to this reunion that he actually had his friend Mike pick him up at the Dulles airport when he landed Saturday afternoon, and they came directly to our reunion!  But jet lag caught up with him, as well as the week of work looming ahead of him, and they left after breakfast Sunday morning.  Thus he is not on this picture that was taken later in the day.  

My sister Doris's large family was present, except for four.

Standing on the left are Doris's son Corey, his wife Christy, and their little ones Aiden and Zoe.  The big boy in back is Kim's 15-year-old son Andrew!  Next is Doris's daughter Greta with fiance Lynn.  Doris's daughter Marcy is in the wheelchair in front, her husband Scott is standing in the back right, and their daughter Paityn is front and center.  (They are expecting baby #2 this fall.)  Doris's oldest daughter Kim is sitting right next to Marcy.  Her husband Manny and daughter Laurencia were not there.  And in the middle front are Doris, her husband Dale, and their youngest daughter Ellen.  Also missing were Greta's twin Gina and her fiance Joe, who live in northern PA.  The rest of Doris's family lives in Lancaster County.

My sister Barb, her daughter Jill, and Jill's little ones came all the way from Idaho.  Here is Barb with Mary Ellen.  Mary Ellen was the master coordinator of the weekend.  She will be one very tired lady this week.  She lived most of her adult life in Virginia and Alabama, but after Janet's death moved back to Lancaster County.  Without her amazing efforts and attention to detail our family would not be half as connected as we are.

Barb's daughter Jill with her Jarrett and Brooklyn.  

Missing from Barb's family were her husband John, their older daughter Andrea and her husband Mike who live in Arizona, Jill's husband Travis, and Barb's sons Eric and Michael.  

Betty started her family later in life, so hers are still all under one roof in New Hampshire.

Scott and Betty with Isaiah and Merida.

Rose's family lives in Georgia.  They were all there except their oldest daughter Katie and her husband Matthew, who just got married in May and now live in North Carolina.

Standing are Maribeth, Christy, Matt, and Julia.

Seated are Rose, her husband Bob, and their youngest Olivia.

Once again, we were acutely aware of the absence of our dad.  Two years ago we made a supreme effort to have him there, quite sure it would be his last.  A couple of months later he passed away.  We talked this weekend of how much he would have loved seeing so much of the family together.  Here's a sweet picture from two years ago that we will cherish forever.

Our precious stepmother, Grandma Mary, was with us this year for Saturday.  She and her famous sugar cookies are usually the most popular items of the weekend!  Here she is with Jill's Brooklyn - the oldest and  youngest family members!

Now that you know who everyone is (!!) I'm going to post the rest of my weekend pictures without much commentary.  But before I do, I have to post one CLASSIC of the Witmer family in 1974!

Standing in back: Dick and I with Lisa, Doris and Dale (expecting Kim), Dick and Nancy, Janet and Elvin, Betty. 

Sitting on the sofa: Barb, Mother (who passed away in 1982), Dad, Rose, Mary Ellen.

Kneeling on the floor:  Dick and Nancy's sons, Steve and Richard, Janet and Elvin's son Scott and daughter Lori.

The Family that "camps" together stays together!

The annual Witmer weekend began in 1974. Dick and I had introduced tent camping to my brother and his wife the previous summer and they LOVED it. Together we came up with the idea that the Witmer family should go camping all together.

So Memorial Day weekend 1974 at Pioneer Campground the Witmers (probably 19 of us, including 4-month-old Lisa) bravely tent camped in very cool, cloudy weather. But we had fun, and we continued camping together every year until one dreadfully rainy, muddy weekend in 1988 when we decided we had had ENOUGH! By then our number probably totaled about 33.

The next year we started the Camp Andrews phase of our annual weekends. We stayed in a big, old farmhouse and an adjacent cabin at a church camp, usually the fourth weekend of October. We have SO many fond memories of our eighteen years there - family football games, sitting by the livingroom fireplace, playing games, the big rec room, the zipline, the cave, new babies almost every year.

But situations changed, and fall was no longer a good time for some families, and Camp Andrews was not available on summer weekends. So October 2006 was our last year there. By then our family numbered about 71, but we were spreading far and wide, so our weekends usually had about half that number.

Since July 2007 we have had our annual weekends at Ebenezer Bible School, a renovated elementary school that can sleep over 100 and is wonderfully dry when it rains and air-conditioned in the heat. Yes, we keep getting softer!

This past weekend we had the most people ever - 59 out of the 80+ in our family. They came from California, Michigan, Washington DC, Idaho, New Hampshire, Georgia, even Egypt!

After I get home to my computer I will post all about it, so stay tuned.

For now, here's a pic of seven of the eight original Witmer siblings.

Still missing Janet.

Happy Birthday, Katrina!

Today our beautiful Swedish granddaughter Katrina is 18 years old! Where, oh where have the years gone?

Busy week between events

My week was super busy, winding down from one trip and preparing for the next.  No time to blog, so just pictures.  We're leaving now for a weekend with my family - probably about sixty of us from all over the country and beyond!

Bjorn is sweating in Ohio

This morning Dick started around 8 AM on the 4-hour drive to  Canton, Ohio for the Four Nations Cup USA Football tournament at Malone University.  

As I said before, our Swedish grandson, 15-year-old Bjorn is participating in the event.   Dick found out today that the other three nations besides the US were supposed to be Sweden, Germany, and Mexico.  However, both Germany and Mexico withdrew.  Instead, Canada sent a team and Sweden sent two teams.  As you can imagine, most of the boys participating are not used to the heat and humidity that we are experiencing this week.  Dick said that they delayed one of the practices this afternoon because of it. 

Here's one shot of Bjorn, the one in the middle.  

On this shot, Bjorn is nearest the camera, the one holding his helmet.  Notice, he doesn't have a number on his jersey.  Dick found out that because Sweden was sending so many boys, they had to dig out some jerseys from the ninties for some of them.  Remember, American football is not a high school sport in Sweden, but a club sport.

This afternoon they had a very inspirational speaker who grew up in Brooklyn, NY.

Dick was able to eat dinner in the college cafeteria with Bjorn.  I'm so glad we were able to work things out for Dick to go.  In addition to the chance to be with Bjorn, Dick is a football nut, and he enjoyed talking with some of the coaches and trainers.  

How can it be that Bjorn is already such a big boy, as tall as his grandpa?  Wasn't it just last year that he came to visit us at five months of age, and his aunt and uncles called him Little Yoda?