Sammy was here; Witmer fun, food, and singing

We had a really fun weekend, and I have so many pictures to share.  On Friday evening we left right after Dick got home from work, heading toward Harrisburg.  We had been forewarned that students would be leaving town for the Thanksgiving break, so we were pleasantly surprised how far we got in the two-lane stretch before traffic was backed up.  When we got to the four-lane highway we were happy to be able to move faster.  BUT not for long!  After just a short time we were in stop and go traffic, apparently from an accident.  It was raining, so that was no surprise.

The hard part was not knowing how far ahead the accident was or how long we might be in this jam.  Dick said, "Back when we traveled with a CB radio, we were able to find out!"

Eventually we got past it and could start driving faster, but in connecting with Sam and Jenn, we found out that they were already at our meeting place, and we still had almost half an hour to go!  So they decided to just keep driving, and we met at Mifflintown instead of Duncannon.  (Which really was very nice for us when heading back home!)

Sammy was totally excited about getting into our car and coming with us!  I sat in the back beside him on the way home.  And the smiles began.  He is the smilingest child I've ever met!

Still smiling across the breakfast table the next morning!

Playing in the tub was a good activity for him while I did my hair and face.  He had so much fun.

In the afternoon we went to Weis, Walmart, and Goodwill.  In the evening I made a big batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies for Thanksgiving weekend.  Sammy and Dick played in the living room, but every so often Sammy would come out to the kitchen for a hug.  He would say,  "See you, Mahna."  That's what he calls me, and he meant that he wanted me to pick him up so he could see what I was doing.  So I would pick him up and show him the cookie dough or whatever, then I would act like he's too heavy (which he WAS!) and I would gradually drop him to the floor, saying, "I'm dropping you!  I'm DROPPING you!"  He just loved it.

Dick blew up our queen air mattress to see if the very nice sheet set I found at Goodwill was a queen size.  (It was.)  After he had it pumped up, Sammy picked up the little balloon inflater that we keep with the toys and got to work on the mattress.  I thought it was SO cute!!  I honestly don't know if he's ever seen us use it to blow up a balloon, but somehow he connected the idea of using it to help blow up the mattress!

Later Dick read to him, and he was out in no time!  It looks like Grandpa was out too, but that was staged!

On Sunday morning we were surprised to look outside and see this!

We had a lot of packing up to do before we left for church - my praise team music, the kids' musical stuff (we practice right after church each week), Sammy's bags, our packed lunches, and music for the Witmer gathering.  And Sammy!

He charmed everyone at church, as usual, and loved our music.

We drove to my step mother's near Manheim after church, and Sammy slept a good bit of the way.  When we walked into Grandma Mary's living room, some of my siblings were already sitting around talking.  Sammy walked in and went around giving everyone a hug, even though he doesn't even know them.  We were just cracking up!

We sat around and talked for an hour or so, then went to the community center where some of the next generation joined us for dinner.  We had a bit of time to introduce Sammy to shuffleboard, then Sam and Jenn came to pick him up.   Just like most kids do, as soon as Mommy and Daddy got there, he acted wilder and crazier than he had all weekend!

The reason for the family gathering was that my sister Barb and her husband John were visiting from Idaho.  It's hard to believe that it's been over twenty years since they and their four children and their dairy cows moved west.  Their family and their farms have both increased since then!  I'm not sure, but I might be the only sibling who has never been out to visit them.  Maybe someday, I hope.

When we get together it's like not a day has gone by since the last time, especially since we're all so connected via Facebook now.  We had such a WONDERFUL evening together.  Just way too short!

As always, a highlight of the evening was singing together, both as a family and as a trio.  Barb, Doris, and I have sung together in three-part harmony since we were in elementary school.  Our voices aren't what they used to be, and for sure our eyes aren't either (!!), but we still sound pretty good together.

My sister-in-law did video the singing, but I've been having trouble getting them to "share" today.  Click on the word "video" in the previous sentence and see if it takes you to it.

Dick and I left reluctantly around 8:00 and headed back to State College.  Times like this are when I really mind living so far away from the "center" of things.  But at least we're not as far away as some of the other sisters, and we were able to be there for most of the time together.

Remembering Kennedy; Austin here; Sammy coming; Sophie running

Fifty years!  How incredible.  I was 12 years old, very much protected from current events, but that day is vivid in my memory.  School had just dismissed and as I was coming up the steps after having gotten my coat and lunch box, and someone at the top of the steps called out the news,  "President Kennedy was shot."  There has been a lot of reminiscing on TV this week.  It was sad to hear of the lifetime of depression that Jackie Kennedy's security guard has experienced.  And how interesting the idea that President Kennedy's back brace, which kept him from slumping over after the first shot, may have cost him his life.  And of course, there are still the conspiracy theories.  

I've had another very busy week at the office.  November is definitely the biggest month there, but I will be glad for the extra hours I've put in when I get my paycheck.  And just in time for December!  

Anthony and Lori went to the Catalyst One Day event at LCBC near Manheim yesterday.  How I would love to hear Andy Stanley in person some day.  We had Austin here overnight on Wednesday since they had to leave by 6 am yesterday morning.  

Don't let this innocent look fool you…..

There are a whole lot of tricks up his sleeve!

This evening we'll be meeting Sam and Jenn near Harrisburg and bringing Sammy here for the weekend.  Their friends are having a party in honor of their marriage tomorrow evening.   Then on Sunday afternoon we'll take Sammy along with us to a family gathering at Grandma Mary's.  Sam and Jenn will meet us there.  My sister Barb and her hubby are flying in from Idaho today for a few days.  I can hardly wait to see them on Sunday.  

Here's a great picture of Sophie participating in her school's Patriot Run on Saturday.  This girl has serious SPEED!!  As usual, she blew past everyone else in her age group.  And besides the sprint, she also ran a mile!  Track and field is definitely in her future, maybe even the Olympics!

I'm enjoying posting old pictures on Facebook for Throwback Thursdays.  Here's the one from yesterday.  The reason Jeremy likes Scrabble so much is because Dick got him started young!  It even looks like Jeremy is really concentrating, hahahaha!  

Well, LOTS to do before we have that busy Sammy here for the weekend!  NEXT WEEK is Thanksgiving!!  And we will have a houseful!  Can't wait!

Laid back weekend

We've been having a ridiculously laid back weekend.  Today it's been raining all day, so it was perfect for just staying home after church.  Lori and Austin have been away since Tuesday in Atlanta.  She had to present at a conference and stayed with her sister who lives there.  Her mother joined them from New York as well.  Lori and Austin got back this evening.  

Yesterday I stopped in at the Mommy Shoppe for a while and sang two babies to sleep.  That's my specialty!

We got our first snow last week - not too much.  But I did have to scrape it off my car.

There's been a tagging game going on at Facebook that I finally played along with today.  Here's what I wrote:

I've been resisting playing along with this game. There's just enough rebel in me that if I see something that everyone else is doing, I decide I'm not doing it. And besides, everyone knows the main things about me anyway - that I'm crazy over my kids and grandkids, that I've been a praise and worship leader for years, that I taught music at Manheim Christian for years, that we were foster parents for years, that we lived in Lancaster County all our lives until four years ago. But this morning I caved after reading some interesting things I never knew about some of my friends, and decided it was fun. So my friend Amy gave me the number 14. Here are 14 things that you perhaps did not know about me.



1. My name is Thelma Jean.


2. I could harmonize at a very young age. As a first grader, two of the third grade girls would fight to sit beside me during morning devotions because they liked singing alto with me.


3. I took my first flight at age 17 when I went to Jamaica with a Choraleers team. Seeing their poverty and yet their joy changed me.


4. Dick was my only boyfriend. I was dreadfully afraid of heartbreak after seeing it in someone very close to me, so I was not about to break anyone's heart. It's a good thing I found a good man my first time around, haha!


5. The Jesus Movement, and its resulting impact on the Mennonite youth in Lancaster County, set the course of our lives.


6. We bought our first house, a huge old four-bedroom, for $32,000.


7. Our three biological children were all delivered by the same family doctor, Dr. Nicolazzo - one at the hospital, one at the doctor's office, and one at home.


8. I was a La Leche League leader for six years.


9. I drove our children's school bus for three years.


10. In our second big old house we ran a bed and breakfast, Stauffer's Country Home, for six years.


11. My sisters, Doris and Barb, and I recorded about 100 songs for Sunday School Meditations, a radio program. I think they still use our songs on their program occasionally.


12. Two different times we had families live in with us (both times it was a mother and two children), all while we also had foster children. The second time there were 11 people living in our house!


13. I taught 9 children to drive, most of them straight stick. And I lived to tell the story.


14. In 2002 I flew all the way to Sweden by myself with 20-month-old granddaughter Destiny. I'm not sure where that brave woman went.



Well, there you go - more than you ever cared to know. 

Time for bed!  Goodnight!

Reminiscing about Janet and a family trip

Yesterday (November 13) it was nine years since my sister Janet left this earth so suddenly - in her sleep.  She literally woke up in heaven!  Which was wonderful for her, but oh, so HARD for the MANY people who loved her and were ministered to with her warmth and passion and vision.   Here's a picture of our last time with her, just a few weeks earlier.  We had no idea.  Janet is on the far left.

This morning on Facebook I posted "Throwback Thursday" pictures of a trip my family took in 1966 to Lakeland, Florida.  Janet and Elvin were in Voluntary Service there and had just had new baby Lori - the first grandchild.  So over Christmas vacation my parents and six daughters piled into a station wagon and drove to Florida.  If that trip were made into a movie it would be every bit as funny as National Lampoon's Vacation.

The car was LOADED and piled high!

Dad and Mom close together in the front seat.

Mary Ellen and I in half of the middle seat.  The other half was piled to the roof with "stuff".

Barb and Doris in the back with more stuff.

Betty in the front seat, hanging out the window.  She was always hot.

Rose, just 2 1/2 crawled from seat to seat.  There were no seat belt restrictions in those days!

Here she was hugging Dad as he drove!

Doris had to air her feet out!

We laughed, we slept, we ate potato chip sandwiches and thought they were the best thing ever.  I don't think it occurred to us kids that they were less expensive than lunch meat!

At last we arrived at the VS house in Lakeland!

Janet and Elvin with newborn Lori.  She got LOTS of holding that week!

There was a lake right behind the house and Elvin introduced us to the joys of boating. 

A blurry picture of our motley crew!  Looks like Rose was sleeping on Dad's shoulder. 

We have so many funny memories of that trip.  

The deviled eggs that mom had made for us to eat on the trip.  We almost gagged at the smell of them when the container was opened.  

The way Rose refused to go to the potty in those dirty gas station rest rooms. 

The way our gas tank got a hole in it right after we left home, and we could only fill it part way, thus necessitating many more stops for gas than otherwise.  

We actually did some touristy things as well.  We went all the way to Miami and the everglades.  

___________________________________________

The big important church business meeting that I have been preparing many, many, many papers for was held this evening.  I can't even begin to describe how glad I am that it's over.  I have put a lot of extra hours in at the church office this week.  Sometimes I was so frustrated with the lack of information to do what I needed to do that I felt like throwing things!!  But it all came together.  I think I deserve ice cream tonight.  But there's none here.  That's probably a good thing!

My 62nd Birthday Weekend

My 62nd birthday was on Friday.  Every year past 59 feels like a gift, because we lost Dick's mother at age 53 and my mother and sister Janet at age 59.  I love that there are so many vibrant people in their 80's in my life, including my beloved stepmother Mary.  And Dick's dad and stepmother.  They just amaze me. 

My mother died the day before my 31st birthday.  It occurred to me that I have now lived as many years without her as I had with her.  Unbelievable.  Here's one of my favorite pictures of her, just a couple of years before cancer took her away from us.  She LOVED babies, as you can easily see here in her interaction with Jeremy.

On Friday evening Dick and I went to our new favorite restaurant, Olde New York.  Once again I ordered Original Suzi Wong's Egg Rolls.  They are considered an appetizer, but they totally fill me up.  

They are by far the most delicious egg rolls I have ever eaten.  Such wonderfully crunchy cabbage.  I decided to google them afterward and discovered their very interesting and very LOCAL story.  If you like stories of family businesses surviving and thriving, you will love this story.  

http://wpsu.org/localfoodjourney/comments/suzie_wongs_egg_rolls

On Saturday after Dick came home from work at noon, we headed for Lancaster County and arrived at Sam and Jenn's around 3:00.  It was Sam's birthday that day.  In the past we've celebrated together at nice places like El Serano's, The Cat's Meow,  Jo Boy's, and last year at the Waffle Shop up here.  But Sammy is getting to be a somewhat "terrible two," at least when it comes to eating out, so I suggested we go to Park City Mall's food court where there's a play area and everything is already noisy and chaotic!  

Is this rocket really going to take off??

He would have been glad to ride the escalator with Grandpa over and over and over and over.  We decided two trips was enough.  

Then it was time to find some food.  We got him a Burger King kids' meal, and the rest of us got some great salads from Salad Works.   Sammy tried my salad.

And then the whole wheat roll.

He got a lot of mileage out of just letting a big hunk of the roll hang out of his mouth.  Such a ham!

Sam and Sammy.  I have no idea how I didn't get any picture of Jenn all evening.  Sorry, Jenn!

I wanted a picture of Sam and me standing in front of the Auntie Anne's pretzel place.  When he was a teenager and we took multiple trips to the mall for shoes and clothes for him, we always made a stop at Auntie Anne's.   He thought taking a picture there on Saturday was just the silliest thing ever.  But I'm the mom and I made him do it!

When we left the mall we took them back home, said our goodbyes, and then drove to Dick's parents' place.  We hadn't stayed there overnight since January!  We had several hours to sit and catch up.  They do not have internet, so it's not as easy to keep up with each others' lives.  I didn't take a picture, but here's a nice one of them from our Stauffer camping weekend in June.  They are amazingly healthy and active and such an inspiration to us.  

Sunday morning we had a relaxing breakfast with them, then I had time to play their old pump organ.  What a workout!!  I decided it could be the new elliptical machine!

And for your listening enjoyment - My Jesus, I Love Thee.

We then said our goodbyes and went to our home church, Grace Community Fellowship, also for the first time since January!  We stayed afterward for their fellowship meal, and it was wonderful to have time to spend with dear friends.

Then we went to Manheim Christian Day School for the Myers Reunion.  That is my mother's family.  Out of the original ten children there are just three still living - Alma, Earl, and Lloyd.  Unfortunately, Lloyd and his wife Shirley were not there yesterday.  We did get a picture of the original generation.

Uncle Paul's wife Polly, Uncle Bob's first wife Frances, my stepmother Mary, Alma, Earl's wife Irene, Earl.  I love looking at Aunt Alma and trying to picture what my mother would look like if she had lived to be elderly.  

It was great to have time to sit and chat with sisters, Grandma Mary, cousins, and aunts.  We actually have become much more connected in the past few years, thanks to Facebook.  

And then we drove back to State College.  The sun was setting as we drove on the PA Turnpike toward Harrisburg.  It was quite a show.

We stopped in at Anthony and Lori's before going home.  Austin was busy at his Thomas the Train table.  He gave me lessons on train protocol.  I learned that engines without faces canNOT pull engines  WITH faces.  Each engine with a face has a name.  I was allowed to play with Rosie and Emily because they are girl engines.  His favorite new word last evening was "aqueduct".  That was a certain area on the track that our trains would go through.  Good times!  He is so much fun.

I've got a very busy week ahead, so it's time to wrap this up.