Sammy's birthday party and a whole bunch more

I'll start off this busy post with a picture I took when I was doing errands on Friday.  If you've seen the picture of the beautiful mountains I put on my header, you may think that we already have brightly colored leaves everywhere.  No, we certainly do not.  That picture was actually taken two years ago out my bedroom window.  Last year the leaves were not that brilliant, and I'm not sure they will be this year either.  But every so often I do see one of these beautiful red ones showing off.

On Saturday afternoon Dick and I drove to Jenn's parents near Harrisburg for Sammy's birthday party.  He had already eaten and messed up his clothes and was getting sleepy, so Jenn made him happy by stripping him down to his diaper for the festivities.  Doesn't every child feel happier without clothes??  

He opened his gifts with help from his eager cousins.

 And THEN they gave him his cake.  Oh. My. Word.  I have NEVER seen a one-year-old dive into a cake like he did and completely demolish it.  Here he is -getting his first taste.

The best way I can show you how much he enjoyed it is with this video. (If you don't have time to watch the warm-up, start out 0:50.)



Is this a sugar coma?

He wasn't sitting with his daddy long at all till he was sound asleep!

When we left the party, Dick took me to the Harrisburg Mall to catch the Megabus back to State College.  He was driving to Jeremy's in DC to switch our vehicles back and to help him move. 

I loved sitting up on the upper deck, especially when we crossed the Susquehanna River.  Every time we cross it, I'm so short I can barely see it.

Would you believe Dick got to Jeremy's house in DC at about the very same time I walked into our house here near State College?  I thought that was cool.

Sunday morning I went to our churches, and of course led the praise and worship at Houserville.  What a joy it is getting to be!  Our praise team is so excellent, and the presence of the Lord is increasingly felt.  We leave with such a warm glow in our hearts.

I drove right from church to Reading to watch Destiny cheer in a game and spend some time with her.  

It was quite chilly when the sun wasn't shining. I noticed that a few girls had white turtlenecks on and one even had white leggings on.  So after the game we went to K-Mart to find some for her.  When we came out of the store, this beautiful sunset is what we saw!

I took her home, dropping her off at her apartment, then went back the way we had come.  I could not believe my eyes when I got to an intersection just several blocks away, which we had just come through maybe five or ten minutes before.  Apparently an accident had occurred right after we had come through there, and there were emergency vehicles everywhere!  I breathed a prayer of thanksgiving. 

From there I drove to Dick's parents to see them and also to visit with Bob and Doris Stauffer - Dick's brother and his wife who live in Minnesota.  (I did not use my camera for the rest of the weekend, so each picture below is taken from other files.) This is Bob and Doris.

I thought you might enjoy this recent picture of their entire family, which includes four children, three in-laws, and thirteen grandchildren!

From there I went to spend the night at Grandma Mary's.  This was a very special time to be there.  Today it is three years that my dad left this earth. If you're a new reader to my blog, click on  September and October of 2009 on my sidebar to read about the journey we were on at that time.  And have some tissues ready.  Mary and I reminisced and cried together this morning.  They were so very much in love, and she still misses him so much.  We all do.  His leaving left a huge void in our family.  There are many, many times I wish I could talk things over with him.  He had so much wisdom and loved the Lord so passionately. 

Here's a picture taken a few years before he was sick.

When I said my goodbyes to Mary this morning, I went to Grace Community Fellowship to meet with my friend Diane, who is working on writing a history of the church.  As I said, I didn't take any pictures today, so here's one I have of Diane singing a lovely solo in one of our Christmas musicals several years ago. 

We talked for hours, as I told story after story and gave date after date of events over the 25 years we were at Grace.  It was fun.  We finished up our time together with lunch at a nearby restaurant. 

And then I drove home.  Meanwhile in DC, Dick helped Jeremy to  move.  We kept in touch all the time, either by phone calls, text messages, or FB pictures, etc.  This afternoon he drove to his parents and had supper with them and his brothers and their wives.  I should have stayed down there a few more hours!!  But I'm already a day behind at work now, and we were desperately in need of groceries, so I guess it's good I came home to get some things done.  He got here about 9:15 this evening and is already sound asleep.  NOTHING, not even a huge weekend, will keep him from going to the Y for basketball at 6:00 tomorrow morning!