Life here has been busy with the regular things of life. As I mentioned before, I'm cooking several days a week for Anthony and Lori. She usually chooses the menu, so I'm having a lot of fun making a variety of ethnic foods, especially Asian. I don't know which has been their favorite, but the Chicken Tandoori I made on Monday was high on my list.
My work at the church office is picking up too, as we are entering the conference season, which includes lots of reporting and extra paper work.
I prepared a new song, Whom Shall I Fear (God of Angel Armies), for our praise team at Houserville. It was the first one I've done since I have this new computer. Wow! Every program I use, Noteworthy Composer, Word, and PowerPoint are new and improved versions. Talk about a learning curve. Some things are definitely not an improvement, in my humble opinion.
Anthony had a birthday last Friday. Here we are with him 37 years ago. That was such a happy day.
Today is Sammy's second birthday. How time flies! From this....
......to this in just two years!
Here's another cute comparison. Both of these pics were taken on the same porch at the Ephrata Fair.
I'm SOOOOO excited that we will finally get to spend time with them this coming weekend. It's been way too long.
Now some pictures I've snapped lately. We've been having spectacular weather. And there's increasing evidence that Autumn is here. I love the beauty, and I'm trying to not let the dread of winter ruin my joy.
On Wednesday we drove to Lancaster County for the funeral of our friend Jay Nissley. As I have said before, our lives have intertwined with Jay and Elta's our entire lives. I want to write this post and share a great variety of pictures in memory of Jay. Many hundreds of people came to express their love for him and his family this week. I was told that on Tuesday evening the viewing and family visitation lasted six hours as 700-some people came and went. On Wednesday the large Erisman Mennonite Church near Manheim was filled to capacity for the service. That speaks volumes. He was a farmer and a pastor of a small church. But he and Elta have had true servants' hearts and have touched many, many lives with their tireless kindness and giving.
When Dick was growing up, he and Jay were neighbor boys. Their parents were good friends. When I was growing up, Elta and I went to church together when we were young children and eventually were in the same youth group. As teens, we all sang in Manheim Area Chorus. The guys in the chorus called themselves The Moose Gang, for whatever reason, and we girls called ourselves the Moosettes. Can you believe it?? But we had tons of fun together back in those days. Here's a picture taken around the dining room table at my home. Jay is second from right on the far side of the table. Dick and I are at the end of the table, and it looks like he was holding my little sister Rose.
Dick and I got married in October 1971, Jay's brother John got married to my good friend Elaine a month later, Dick's brother Bob got married to Elta's good friend Doris after a few months, and finally Jay and Elta got married. The pairing off of the Mooses and the Moosettes, hahahaha! Here are Jay and Elta, cute as can be.
As young families we and Jay and Elta went to the same church, Kauffman Mennonite. They had a son Kirby near Anthony's age. I don't seem to have any pictures of them from those years. All my pictures are of our children or family gatherings. I guess we didn't snap lots of pictures when we had to pay to develop everything we took, right?
I remember being impressed with Jay's passion for the Lord and his ability to teach. So it was no surprise at all when the church was looking to ordain an assistant pastor, that Jay was unanimously chosen by the congregation.
Our family has fun memories of staying on their farm several times when they went away. They had goats that needed to be milked, and we learned how to do that! Anthony often stayed at their house when we needed a babysitter.
Even after we no longer went to the same church, we still had the connection of Manheim Christian Day School. I worked there part time when some of our kids were middle school age. I found this old picture of my middle school chorus in 1987. Looks like I had Lisa singing a solo on that song. Jay and Elta's son Kirby is standing right next to her.
Both our families became very involved with foster care. We usually had older kids, they had babies. They ended up adopting two of those babies, Alyssa and Jordan. When those two started attending Manheim Christian Day School we started seeing lots of each other again. I was teaching music and had both of the kids from kindergarten through grade eight. Jay and Elta volunteered endlessly for the school. He was on the board in various capacities, and they both were majorly involved in heading up the annual benefit auction. It seemed like they were always at school. I don't know how they had time to get their other work done.
Here's Jay (on the right) with two others who headed up the benefit auction (our friend Jon Hawryluk and our nephew Richard Witmer.) They and their wives were an amazing team.
This photo was taken at a staff/board breakfast. Jay is on the far right.
Alyssa and Jordan were both on my middle school worship teams, Alyssa as a singer, Jordan with his trumpet. (Alyssa is on the far left of the second row.)
Jordan is the tall guy on the right.
In addition, I had Alyssa as a piano student for several years, even on into high school. She already knew how to play, but wanted to learn chording and improvisation. We had such wonderful times together. We loved the same songs, and she was so easy to work with.
She also became quite a comedic actress on the Baron Stage at Manheim Central High School. I loved watching her.
When I directed joint-church Christmas musicals several years, Elta, Alyssa, and Jay participated. Here's a picture of Jay with some of the other men. (I wrote his name on his shoulder!)
We moved to State College in 2009. A year later Kirby and his wife bought their farm, and Jay and Elta and the teenagers moved to a lovely country home nearby. At about the same time it was discovered that Jay had a brain tumor. On a few occasions I was able to have some heart-to-heart talks with Elta.
For most of his three-year battle Jay experienced amazing health. Surgeries, treatments, and a dedication to a nutritious diet were together working tremendously well. Until this past summer when it was determined that no more surgery could be done and treatments were no longer being effective. That was very hard for us to hear. And much, much harder for them to experience.
On Monday, July 1st, when Dick took a vacation day so that we could attend the fireworks at Longs Park in Lancaster the evening before, we went to Jay and Elta's home for a visit. He was having a good day, and we had an absolutely precious time together. Part of the time Elta took me on a tour of the house, and as she did, we cried and cried together.
I have lost many girlfriends who died before their husbands. So did my sister, and both of our mothers. But this is the first time I've had a girlfriend who has lost her husband. My heart was always broken for the guys who lost their wives. But this feels harder, somehow, and I think of Elta so much of the time. I guess I'm well aware that this could be me.
I'm so glad we had the chance to be together that day. As we prayed together before we left, I had a sinking feeling that it would be the last time we would see him here on earth.
On the day Jay died I was working at the church office when the song, "I Can Only Imagine" came on my Pandora station. It made me wonder what it was like for Jay when he came face to face with Jesus that morning. Here's what I posted on FB.
"Dear friend Jay, when you were surrounded by His glory this morning, I wonder what your heart felt. Did you dance for Jesus, or were you, in awe of Him, still? Did you stand in His presence, or to your knees did you fall? Did you sing 'Hallelujah,' or were you able to speak at all? We can only imagine. But now you no longer need to."
Isn't that amazing to think about?
And finally, I want to share these pictures from Alyssa's Facebook. First of all, lovely Alyssa with Jay and Elta.
Jay surrounded by son Kirby on the left, his wife Joanna behind him, son Jordan in back, and daughter Alyssa on the right with her boyfriend Marquis.
Jay, you will be sorely missed. Elta, may you find comfort for your aching soul and the strength to go on. Kids, I pray you will find it to be true that He is Father to the fatherless. And take good care of your sweet mamma.
What a WEEK!! On Monday I heard that Bob Ripka from our church, Houserville House of Hope, was nearing the end of his battle with cancer. The next morning I had two phone calls from friends at our home church, Grace Community Fellowship, to let me know that our long-time friend, Lois Herr, was nearing the end of her battle with kidney disease. And in the afternoon I got an email update informing us that our lifelong friend, Jay Nissley, was nearing the end of his battle with brain cancer. Bob passed away Tuesday morning, Lois on Wednesday morning, and Jay on Thursday morning.
Along with dealing with grief were the regular job responsibilities. Added to that were the numerous text messages and emails as our little church at Houserville pulled together Bob's memorial service and a meal for Friday. That meant lots of food prep for many of us and music prep for me.
Added to that was that fact that for months we had been planning for my Florida friend Tracey Kirksey's son and his friends, all from University of Central Florida, to sleep here Friday night. They were coming up for Saturday's Penn State/UCF game. That would, of course, require some extra cleaning. When we found out Lois's funeral would be Saturday morning at 10:00 I knew we would not get to spend much time with the Florida kids. But that's life, right? Never just one thing going on at a time.
In the midst of the craziness of the week I got the sweetest thing in the mail in honor of Grandparents' Day from Austin. What a day brightener!
The memorial service and the meal at Houserville on Friday were tremendously uplifting. I could not believe the amount of food that had somehow been prepared for that meal. It's just so heartwarming to see people pull together, give when there didn't seem to be anything left to give, some taking just an hour or two off work to help out, some all day. My heart was very full when I left.
Late Friday evening our Florida guests arrived. They had been up since the very wee hours of the morning, flew from Orlando to Philly, did sight-seeing there, did a short stop in Hershey, PA, then drove to State College. They were really ready for some sleep.
Tracey's son Zach and his girlfriend Alicia.
Zach's roommate, Josh, is at the far end of the table. Dick could have entertained them all night.
A picture for Zach's mamma!
Here's his beautiful mamma with me on the day we met in person back in the summer of 2010. We actually met through blogging a few years before that.
On Saturday morning Dick and I were up early and out the door as quietly as possible shortly after 7 am. Arriving at Lois's memorial service was like a homecoming. SO many dear, dear friends. The service itself was a worship experience and a wonderful tribute to Lois and her life and her faith. I was very convicted and inspired. We learned to know Lois in our very first year at Grace Community Fellowship in 1987. For a number of years we were in a small group that met at her home and was led by her husband Barry. She was beautiful, her faith was profound, and although she had tremendous physical struggles with her kidney disease, she could not be shaken. Her three adult children each shared tremendously heartwarming tributes, and the tears flowed. This is a picture of Lois that I took in 2005.
After the service we stayed for the meal and had time to talk with many more friends, some that we had not seen for years. It was just wonderful. Here are some of my dearest friends, the ones who served the meal. How I love these women.
When we left there we made a quick trip to Dollar General Store to buy paper supplies and balloons for Destiny's birthday party, then we went to Grandma Mary's house for some R and R. And some fresh homemade peach pie. Why did I not take a picture of it? It was so delicious.
Then we drove to Reading and helped to get things set up for Destiny's birthday party. We could only stay an hour because of needing to drive home. But I was just so happy to at least spend a little bit of time with her.
She didn't have her hair done yet when we had to leave, but I told her she's beautiful however her hair is, so she posed for a picture with her cake.
After church today Austin came for lunch and his nap, as usual. He got a new train set that he had to bring along. After his nap he spent so much time just creating one scenario after another with this simple train track. Mostly disasters, like bridges falling down and derailing the train, etc. His favorite was when the train PLUNGED into the muddy water, over and over again.
This evening we had a hot dog and s'mores roast at Anthony and Lori's. Her brother Gary and family were there too. We had good food, good stories, and even some fun campfire songs. This is one thing I do like about cooler evenings.
And now I must get some sleep to gear up for another big week. Jay's funeral is on Wednesday, so again we'll be going to Lancaster County.
And it's getting to be TOO LONG since I've seen this little guy. We just couldn't make it work yesterday.
This was a busy week, especially after getting started a day late due to Labor Day. I have now added another part-time job to my schedule - "chef" duties for Anthony and Lori. Yes, I had done that before when I was Austin's nanny, but their schedules are super busy now, and we really can use an extra stream of income, so it works for both of us. So I'm trying to keep things straight - working at the Buffalo Run UMC Charge office, teaching four piano students, leading praise and worship for Houserville House of Hope, cooking for Anthony and Lori, and taking care of my Music@Home sales. Altogether they probably add up to a full time job.
I saw Austin several times this week. He constantly amuses me. I picked him up Friday from preschool because Lori was working late and Anthony had gone to Nashville for the weekend. We stopped at the airport park. He LOVED pulling himself up on this thing and then turning upside down.
One time he said, "I need to be brave." I asked, "Why do you need to be brave? Because you're four-and-a-half?" He said, "No, Grandma. I'm four-and-a-half and one month." Wow. I guess he'll have to change that line every month now!
Another day I was watching him and their neighbor kids riding bike. They live in a culdesac, which is really great for kids. Even so, I was practically having a heart attack as these kids, sometimes as many as eight of them, would be riding their bikes back and forth between two driveways (one that's on a hill), just narrowly missing each other. One tiny little girl was on a small toy, and everyone would swerve out around her. I could hardly watch sometimes!
We have a seesaw in the little playground behind our place. Austin loves when I make him go up and down by hand, and the harder he bounces at the top and at the bottom, the more he loves it. Remember those school playground accidents when kids would get off one end and the kid on the other end would plop to the ground?
Yesterday I did some purging of my filing cabinet. It was TIME!! Dick had the fun of shredding. He especially loved shredding papers from his Unemployment and Pep Boys days!
The happy news from Lancaster County is that Jenn is back home!! Look at this delighted face she posted the day she got back. Oh, I just want to pick him up and squeeze him!
Today at Houserville we ended the service with a song we just LOVE - Where I Belong by Jason Ingram. I especially love the part that says -
When the earth shakes, I wanna be found in You.
When the lights fade, I wanna be found in You.
All I know is I'm not home yet,
This is not where I belong.
Take this world and give me Jesus,
This is not where I belong.
Several women in our congregation have recently experienced the death of their dads. Another older gentleman also passed away this summer. And now another one is facing his last days or weeks. Back home in Lancaster County, our dear friend Jay Nissley is also getting close to his homegoing. My heart is just aching for their loved ones, and memories of our own experience at this exact season four years ago are very fresh. Pour out Your grace, Lord. You ARE our hope. You are faithful, You are faithful, You are faithful!
On Monday morning we drove to Alexandria, VA to see the store that Jeremy has been working many, many hours on to get it ready for an upcoming open house. The company he works for has bought out a number of Marlo Furniture stores in the Baltimore-Washington area, and this was one of them. Once again, as we browsed through the stunning room displays that Jeremy and his crew have done, I could not help but be a very proud mamma, as employee after employee raved to us about the work Jeremy has done.
We enjoyed the unique ways he uses old things.
A bed spring...
Window frames.....
Old wooden shutters......
Once Jeremy and Mike got into these incredible massage chairs, the tour was over, haha!
This pretty much describes our Labor Day afternoon. Very industrious indeed!
I think we left around 4:30. It's amazing how quickly you can drive out of the city and practically be in a forest. It was a lovely drive as we headed toward Route 70.
We stopped at a McDonalds in Breezewood, PA, and this was the interesting sight inside the door.
Because Picasa on my new computer refuses to recognize my phone when I plug it in, I have to email my pictures to myself in order to get them onto my computer - five of them at a time. So as we drove I was simultaneously emailing my pictures to myself and reading my book - the second one of Neta and Dave Jackson's that I got for free in return for a review on Amazon.
And that's all, folks. Maybe tomorrow I'll find time to post about a few things since the weekend.
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