Finding so much joy even in pain

I need to take time to sit down and write before I forget all we've done the past few days.

On Friday we drove to Sam and Jenn's in two cars - my car and the one that was Jeremy's and is now ours for Bjorn to drive.  Did you follow that?  Ha!

When we got to Sam and Jenn's we found out that Bianca had started to walk the day before.  She's just 10 1/2 months old!  What is this girl's hurry??

Sam and Jenn went out, and just as they left, Bjorn and Jess arrived.  We had a fun time with them.  I'm so disappointed I didn't take any pictures.  Sammy helped me to make peanut butter rice krispie treats, except they didn't have any rice krispies in!  This time it was rice chex and cheerios.   We decided we liked them better that way!

On Saturday morning I left their place at 9:00 for the funeral of Erma Geib (mother of sister-in-law Carolyn Stauffer.)  

While I was there Dick took Sammy to Cabela's.  They had a great time!

Silly Sammy!  Wouldn't that be a great chair for a little boy?

Meanwhile at the funeral......  I have known Erma almost my entire life.  I was just a child when she married a young man from my home church.  I remember visiting them with my family when they had a sweet baby girl - my future sister-in-law!  In a few years they became our neighbors, had a baby boy, and then Erma contracted rheumatic fever which resulted in heart damage.  She had physical handicaps and complications her entire life, but her spirit was very alive and well.  During the years that my dad was pastor and there was a move of the Holy Spirit, Erma soaked it all in and became a tremendous encourager and prayer warrior.   

The speaker at the funeral was a man near our age whom my dad had brought to our area numerous times, as a young man,  to hold revival meetings.   A song that we sang at the funeral was one we had done at my mother's funeral, her favorite song ever - While the Ages Roll.  I sat there with tears so many times on Saturday afternoon, missing my parents intensely. I felt like they should have been there.  Then I thought,  "But she is with them!"  

Afterward I had the chance to talk with so many people I hadn't seen in years.  There was a meal provided and plenty of time to connect.  I even held and gave a bottle to that precious new grandson of Jim and Carolyn!  They said that Erma did get to see a picture of him the afternoon before she died.

It was a very cool, very rainy day, and many times I was thankful that we were not tent camping!

That evening we ordered in pizza for Dick and me and the kids while Sam and Jenn went out for dinner.    Couple time is a rare occurrence for them.

Little Miss Independent LOVES to feed herself - no more spoon feeding for her.  She ate a big piece of pizza that we had cut into small pieces, and then we gave her the crust of Sammy's piece.  She gnawed away at that for the longest time and would NOT let us take it away from her!

After we finished eating Sammy provided a wonderful Show and Tell.  Lots of special booklets, papers, and art work from daycare.  

This is the penguin he got at Knoebels Amusement Park last week. 

I read books to him, then we watched Charlotte's Web.  Just like Austin, he was mesmerized by it.   What a great movie!

Sunday morning dawned sunny and fresh.  I love the view from Sam and Jenn's deck.  

We decided to stay home and relax Sunday morning since we had another funeral to attend in the afternoon and lots of driving later.  I made sausage, pancakes, and blueberry syrup.

It was rather cool sitting on the deck, so Jenn told Sammy to put a jacket on.  He came outside in his winter coat!  And bare feet!  And he danced.  He is a dancing machine.

This girl!  Never a not-cute moment!  

We left a little before 2:00 for Dick's cousin Joyce Enck's funeral.   Joyce was younger than Dick, so we never knew her as well as her older siblings.  But we feel like we got to know her so much better Sunday afternoon.  

There were moments of tears, especially when her dear daughter gave the story of their little family's journey the past year.  A story that included cancer treatments abroad for her mom, then her dad's sudden unexpected death in August, and then her mom's recurrence of cancer this spring.   

There were moments of pure worship, especially as two young women did a worship dance to a beautiful Hillsongs worship song.  I wish I could remember the title of it.  I felt like I was in the very presence of the Lord.  

There were moments of hilarious laughter, especially as her co-workers at Friendship Community gave story after story (during the refreshments that followed) that brought out some of Joyce's OCD tendencies.   I am SO GLAD we were able to be there.

From there we drove to Reading to pick up Destiny who is spending the week here. 

Crossing the Susquehanna River.

Monday was my food prep day at Anthony and Lori's, and Destiny helped me so much.  She just loves doing food prep.

In the evening we watched the movie Pitch Perfect.

Today Destiny got to do something she's been wanting to do for a very long time -ride a horse!  There is a horse farm very nearby, and we got her a two-hour slot today for a riding lesson and a trail ride. 

When we arrived at the farm we were greeted first of all by Wilbur, hahaha!  Actually, Destiny found out his name is Pig-Pig!

First she learned to mount the horse. 

First time around the barn her trainer held the reigns and led. 

Then she walked further ahead.  

I watched as Destiny walked the horse over the pipes and in figure eights around orange cones. 

Then I went back to work at the church office and picked her up later.  She enjoyed it, all but the time her horse started running during the trail ride, and it scared her till she got him slowed down.

After I brought her home I went back to work again, and she vacuumed and dusted our entire house.  I could get used to this!  After I came home she made this chocolate chip zucchini cake.  SO delicious!  I didn't have enough chocolate chips on hand, so we sprinkled some butterscotch chips at the one end.  Not sure if we'll like that part or not.  

Here's a picture Lori sent me last week.  She took this right out the back door of the guest room over the garage!  That made Dick's heart pound!  He has seen a deer two times recently while he was mowing.  

Meanwhile a BEAR walked through our little community last week.  Yikes!  I didn't see it, but a few of my friends did. 

The latest news on Sophie is that on Sunday she was at a track meet and qualified for the AAU Jr. Olympics in Norfolk, VA the first week of August!  Hmmm.  Seems like we know someone that lives there and maybe we should think about a little vacation!  We're so excited for Sophie!

Have a good rest of the week!

Change of plans this weekend

Our plans for this coming weekend have been turned completely upside down.  But before I get into that, I want to share pictures from Father's Day.

We had a hot Saturday followed by heavy rain, and on Sunday morning, when I opened the front door, I thought the air must smell like heaven.  It was an absolutely glorious morning.

After church we got Austin.  It had been ages since we had him for a Sunday afternoon.  We took him to Hoss's for lunch.

By the time we were finished eating the weather was turning rainy again, so we came home for an afternoon of indoor activities.  Like climbing walls, throwing nerf football, puzzles, and the movie Charlotte's Web.  Austin loved the movie.  I had forgotten how touching it is.  I think he will have a whole new appreciation for all those big spiders he finds at home!

And now about our change of plans.   This was going to be our annual Stauffer Camping weekend at Camp Hebron.  Some of you remember pictures like this from other years.

One of our favorite weekends of the year every year.  We were planning to take Sammy with us this year for the first time, and Destiny has been looking forward to it for weeks.  

But for only the second time ever, we have cancelled the camping weekend.  The other time was in 1981 when Dick's mother was battling cancer and died on August 2nd.   This time again it is because of death and funerals that we needed to cancel.  

Early in the week we found out that Joyce Enck, daughter of Uncle Clarence (whose funeral we went to two weeks ago) lost her battle with cancer, and her funeral will be on Sunday.  I know I asked you to pray for her family already, but I'm asking you again.  Her husband Irvin just died from a heart attack in August.  This is a family picture I found on her Facebook, obviously taken before his death.  

Joyce's son in the back just got married recently, and her daughter is pictured here with her husband.  I cannot comprehend such young adults already having lost both their parents.  Some things are just too hard to understand.  

Then another death occurred this week.  Dick's brother Jim's mother-in-law, Erma Geib, passed away after many years of ill health, and her funeral will be on Saturday.  We all knew Erma, we all watched through the years as our sister-in-law Carolyn lovingly committed her life to helping to care for her mom in addition to raising her own family.  So the camping weekend was called off.  

Unbelievably, just days before Erma died, Jim and Carolyn became grandparents for the first time!  Their son Mike and his wife Chrystal welcomed baby Seth.  Look at this ADORABLE  picture of Mike and Seth, bringing joy in the midst of all this sadness!

I wish Erma had gotten the chance to meet this first great grandchild of hers.  But in some ways I think Carolyn will enjoy being a grandma more, knowing that her dear mom is no longer in any kind of pain or need.  The void, however, will be huge.  Holding a baby will hopefully bring healing.  

I made this collage the other day.  

As it turns out, the weather for this weekend looks like a real bummer for campers anyway - mid-sixties and rainy!!  We've survived weekends like that before, but there are definitely more challenges!

So we'll be heading down Friday evening for the weekend for some funerals.  We'll also try to figure out something fun to do with Sammy since he'll be missing out on the camping weekend.  Destiny is coming back with us after the weekend.   

We'll again see many people we don't often get to see, so it will be a different kind of good weekend.  

Transplanting lilies again; Miki leaves; our dads

This is Saturday evening and I'm sitting here listening to the pouring rain.  We were fortunate that the rain held off until this evening so that we could get outdoor things done today.   

Some of you may remember that in 2011 we got a whole lot of flowers, especially all kinds of lilies, from Lori and Anthony's place.  They had decided to cover over their pool to make a bigger yard, so all the landscaping around the pool had to go too.  We were BLESSED, because this place had absolutely NO plants whatsoever when we bought it!   Well, all those plants have multiplied like crazy.  Dick keeps giving them away to neighbors.  Today he thinned more of them out and took several big buckets of lilies and irises - guess where??  To Lori and Anthony's new place!!  Isn't that too funny?  

We had to say goodbye to Miki this week.  On Tuesday evening she and Kicki arrived from Lancaster County.  They had left a lot of things here that they had bought at Walmart that first week.  Poor Miki!!  She had SO MANY THINGS she wanted to take home!!

The first time she weighed her luggage it was 13 pounds too heavy!!  She worked so hard to readjust things to her carry-ons, etc, but some things just had to be left behind.  The later it got the sillier the girls were.  I was working on music prep at the dining room table and giggling right along.  They are so much fun!

On Wednesday morning I took Miki to the nearby airport to pick up her rental car.  She was delighted to get a free upgrade to an SUV!  They packed all their belongings into it and we said our goodbyes.  But not without some fun!

They drove to the Newark, NJ airport for their flight back to Sweden.  Miki texted me just before 4:00 AM on Thursday that she was walking in the door at home.  I know she was eager to get home to Ingo.  Three weeks is a long time.  I always feel good knowing my kids are safely home.  But I sure do miss her.  )-:

This was an amazingly slow week for me after that.  I've gotten time to do some things that I've been putting off, so that feels really good.  

This is a picture I took Friday evening when I came out of the grocery story.  The clouds were so glorious!

In honor of Father's day, I posted pics on FB of our dads when we were kids.  This is my earliest picture of me and my dad.  My sister Janet and brother Dick are in the picture too. I could certainly use some of the strength and balance I was displaying in this pic!  My sister Mary Ellen said I look like I'm directing a choir, hahaha!

And here's a very typical scenario from Dick's childhood - Dad and his boys planting celery that they would eventually sell at market.  Dick looked at this and said, "Boy, I remember those days!"  I think he's the boy sitting on the planter with the white cap and white tee shirt on.  

Have a blessed Sunday!

Now that was a weekend!

I'll start off this post with a gorgeous sunrise I caught out my dining room window one morning last week.

We had a great weekend, even with all the driving back and forth.  But before I write all about it, I need to share the wonderful follow-up to my mysteriously missing earring!  On Friday morning I had a email from Grandma Mary describing her treasure hunt.  I'll just share my Facebook post here.

FOUND!! The rest of this story is so much better than the beginning of it in so many ways! Grandma Mary is my hero!! She was determined to find my lost earring and went to great effort in her treasure hunt, even getting down and unscrewing the cover off the heat/AC grate under the bathroom sink, looking down the hole with a mirror and a flashlight - to no avail. Then she noticed that the vinyl flooring was pulled up just a bit at the bathroom sink cabinet, so she pushed and prodded under there and FOUND IT!! 

Now I had noticed that pulled up vinyl also and had put my fingers in there the other evening, but obviously, I was not as determined as this almost 88-year-old woman, hahahaha!! Her telling of this story, complete with a vivid description of her struggle to get up from the position she was in, and her apology that she doesn't have a hole in her earlobe to try it on, is the funniest thing I'll read all day. She gets the prize for determination and comedy!!

These were the tools of her trade!!

What a hoot!  The Zimwit family and many others are so RICH to have her in our lives!   She is the greatest combination of sweet and funny EVER!

And now on to our weekend.  On Friday Dick and I left from his shop at 5:30 and drove to Sam and Jenn's place, stopping first at Weis Markets to pick up some small deli, fruit, and veggie trays I had ordered.   Jeremy, Mike, and Miki were already at their place and Bjorn arrived later.  How appropriate that the Women's World Cup game between US and Sweden was on TV!  Unfortunately, the game ended 0-0, but there were some exciting moments.  Miki didn't care which team won - she's a duel citizen!

Of course, I was way more interested in Bianca and Sammy than the game.  This little missy is getting amazingly good balance on her feet.  I thought I was going to see her first steps alone at one point, but then she changed her mind.

Sammy could hardly wait for the game to be over because he had been promised some fireworks.  I don't know which was better - the fireworks or his exuberance!

As Miki and Bjorn were getting ready to go back to Deb and Fred's for the night, Miki was showing Jeremy her illustrations for the children's book she is writing.

Of course the children were the first ones awake Saturday morning!  Even though it was after 11 when Sammy fell asleep, he was whispering, "Time to wake up, Mahna!" at 6:30 AM.  What is up with that???  At least he was whispering, hahaha!

Bianca found one of her favorite spots when she woke up.  What a sweetheart!!  Of course, her daddy was still in bed.  When he comes through the room, it's all over for whoever is holding her.

I know I say it all the time, but I'll say it again - Sam is such a good dad.  Now he has two to pin him down!

Molly and Watson were along with Jeremy and Mike, which made Sammy a very happy boy.

Bianca charms us no matter her facial expression, haha!

What a great way to bath a baby!

Sporting an adorable outfit that Jeremy and Mike had given her for Christmas.

I caught this fun video when Sam and Sammy were playing outside.  What pleasure a Tonka truck can provide!

I decided to try out something different from the normal fare I usually cook when we're together.  A few weeks ago Lori had found a quesadilla recipe that we absolutely LOVED!  So I went to Weis on Saturday and got the stuff I needed.  There was one important thing missing, however.  You really need a griddle, which Sam and Jenn did not have.  So Dick went to Walmart and got that.  I can't believe I didn't take a picture of the quesadillas.  Just trust me - they were a BIG hit, and it certainly will not be the last time I make them when we're together. 

Around 7:00 Dick and I said our goodbyes.  I really hated to leave.  We were having such a good time.  But I do have Sunday responsibilities - which I also love, by the way.  

We stopped at Grandma Mary's to get my FOUND earring, then hit the road.  Till we stopped at Dick's shop to get his truck, it was after 10:00 when we got home.  We went to bed as soon as we could, because there was another huge day, with more driving, ahead.

We had a good Sunday morning at our two churches, then left directly from Houserville to head back to Lancaster County.  I had packed a lunch so we wouldn't need to stop.  You may remember that I had mentioned that Dick's uncle Clarence Stauffer (Dad Stauffer's only brother) had passed away last week.  We were going to his memorial service at Landis Homes where Clarence and his wife Grace lived.  

We were really glad to be able to go to the memorial service.  Clarence's son Dave Stauffer is Dick's exact age - they are just a few weeks apart and always went to the same church.  (WHY didn't I get a picture of Dave and Dick together????)  Uncle Clarence was the pastor.  Dave and his siblings went to Manheim Christian Day School, as did I and all my siblings, so I always knew them too.  So we were eager to catch up with cousins, but we did not think about all the other people who would be there.  Because Clarence was a pastor as well as one of the founders of Manheim Christian Day School, it was like a gathering of all the people from my past.  

Miki was there too and took this picture of me talking with a very key person from my past. 

Miss Martin!!  Would you believe she is 88 years old????

Emma came to teach at Mannheim Christian Day School in the mid-fifties before I was even old enough to go to school.  She was my fourth, fifth, and sixth grade teacher.  Later she was principal of the school and I worked under her.  There was also a year or two when Lisa was in the early elementary grades at Manheim Christian, and we had moved to East Petersburg, that Miss Martin would stop at our house on her way to school in the mornings to pick up Lisa and an older girl named Michelle that I babysat.   I think she left the school in 1989, and I have seen her only a few times since then.  It was just unbelievable to see her and experience the vibrancy that she still has!

Back to the Clarence Stauffer family.  Please keep that family in your prayers if they come to your mind.  At the same time they have lost their dad - he was 94 and it was expected - there is another member of the family that will probably be joining him soon.  His youngest daughter Joyce was unable to be at the memorial service because she is nearing the end of her battle with cancer.   Her dear young adult children are dedicating themselves to her care.  Just a year ago Joyce's husband died unexpectedly - from a heart attack, if I'm not mistaken.  Those kids will need a LOT of tender loving care.  It really feels like way too much for any young family to lose both parents in a year's time.  My heart aches for them.  Joyce's sister Nancy and her husband as well as brother Dave and his wife are providing support and care too.  My heart also aches for Aunt Grace, Clarence's wife.  She lost a beloved son-in-law a year ago, and now her husband of 71 years, and soon her baby daughter.  I cannot imagine.  

And now it's time to get busy.  Have a great week!