Old pictures, Dad Stauffer's graveside service, catching up with the crew

This is a rainy, dreary day, the complete opposite of yesterday.   It feels like we've had more dreary days than sunny, but I have managed to capture some of the sunny moments in the past week.

Last Tuesday I started a project that was years in the waiting.  I've had three boxes of pictures and negatives sitting on the floor of our coat closet.  These boxes were first of all in our coat closet at our Manheim farmhouse, then they were moved to our coat closet at our Lititz house, and from there they were moved to our coat closet here.  Most of the pictures were doubles or fails.  

Oh the FUN of seeing some of these pictures, even though most of the doubles are already in my photo albums. I posted some of them on Facebook and the comments, especially from our children, were so funny.

So this has been an ongoing project ever since last Tuesday, with some major interruptions due to Dad Stauffer's death and funeral last week.  I threw a lot of the pictures out if they were doubles.  I found some that Miki had sent me when her kids were little, so I saved those to give to Katrina and Bjorn.  I saved a pile for Destiny too.  Some of the pictures were added to my filing cabinet where I have files for each of our kids, a file for miscellaneous foster children, etc.  And then the negatives!  I had kept almost all the negatives from the films we got developed pre-digital cameras.  I was particularly interested in finding the negatives from the ten year period between 1974 and 1984.  Over that time I got my films developed at the local drug store, Rea&Derrick.  They gave free photo albums for every certain number of films developed.  Unfortunately, all of those photos have gotten an increasingly reddish tint over time.  And those are the years my children were little!!  I just hate that all those photos are so off color.  So I have taken the time to hold a whole lot of negatives against a backlight source either on my phone or the computer. I threw a lot of them out, but kept the ones that are from that ten year period.  I tried an app on my phone that supposedly can scan negatives and turn them into digital pictures.  But I'm not at all happy with the result.   I just might take some of them to Walmart Photo and see if they can do a better job with them.  

Saturday was the graveside service for Dad Stauffer.  We were excited to have a reason to go somewhere!  On our way to Lancaster County we first of all went to Richland Christian home to wave at Grandma Mary.  When we got there she came out onto the balcony and we had a really nice time talking with her.  

We got ourselves some lunch at a drive-through Sheetz near Kauffman Mennonite Church in Manheim where Dad's graveside service would be.  We were the first to arrive at the church.  We were actually surprised how many of the grandchildren came, all of them in their masks of course!  Two of Arlene's siblings and spouses came also.  We had a brief time of viewing before the 2:00 service.  Watching them close the casket was really hard for Arlene, and some of us cried too as we watched her wave goodbye to him just before it was all the way closed.  

During the service we sang a couple of songs, Blessed Assurance and When We All Get to Heaven (through our masks and standing at safe distances from one another).  The pastor had a meditation and prayer, and then we finished with two more songs, Lift Your Glad Voices and Dad's favorite - The Family of God.  

Thankfully it was a warm day, and we all hung around afterward.  I took a lot of random pictures in hopes that someday the wearing of masks will be a funny thing to look back on. 

Please notice that Anthony was there (lower left)!  Only the second time I've seen him in person since  the beginning of March.

Bjorn and Jess were there too (lower right).

After we left the church we drove to Columbia for a sidewalk visit with Destiny and Alex.  It was so hard to not give her a big hug and kiss like I always do.  But we had a nice long fun chat.

So our stay-at-home order is still in effect and I haven't been with any other family.  I'm thankful for pictures, phone calls, and text messages.  So here's what I've been seeing from the crew.

Over at Stauffer Acres.....  I'm soooo ready to have a cookout over there. 

Down at Sam's.  (Sammy took the picture of the back yard from their third floor deck and sent it to me on Snapchat.)

Lauren posted the picture on the right and said Frank was enjoying his masterpiece.  I was thinking she meant V'anni, but then I realized it was the doorway!  He was tired of the small doorway between the dining room and living room and made it bigger.  Looks great!  And so does the daddy/baby fun on the floor.

And from Portland.  Of course they are turning that new house into a work of art!  And I could melt at the picture of those boys together.  

Unfortunately, the only recent picture I have from Lisa is this:

Last Friday their energy company mistakenly replaced their meter (got the wrong property!) then came back and put their old one back.  But in the process something got messed up.  On Sunday evening they started to have power surges and loss of power.  They were awakened at 3 AM when the energy company technician arrived.  The inside of their meter had black and melted parts!!  They were told they were within hours of a house fire!  They had very limited power for a day or two, and when it was finally restored, their AC units did not work!  Since then the one for the first floor has begun working, but not the one for the second floor.  And they are getting a whole lot of push back and ugliness from the energy company about the cost of repairing it.  Even though it was working just fine before the mess-up!!  They will probably have to get an attorney.  Unbelievable!

And one more picture, this one from Sweden.  Miki has a new dog named Hope!  Isn't she just adorable?

I haven't gotten any recent pics from Ray and Ashley, so that about covers the crew!

Have a good weekend!  I think we're to have lovely warm weather.  Woohoo!!

Dad Stauffer's "home going"

This week brought us an unexpected event - Dick's dad's "home going."   I realize I have some readers here that are not on Facebook, so I am sharing what I wrote on Wednesday evening:  

On February 23 we visited Dad and Arlene Stauffer in their apartment at Pleasant View. Soon thereafter, Dad had to be moved to skilled care. And soon after that Covid-19 restrictions went into effect, and he could no longer have visitors, not even Arlene. Phone calls, FaceTime, and waving from outside had to suffice. But as he weakened, those became increasingly difficult. 

This morning he was unresponsive, and Arlene was allowed to sit with him. We were told we would be allowed in to see him also. So Dick came right home from work, and we left as soon as we could get ourselves ready. We arrived at Pleasant View shortly after 3:30. Several of Dick’s brothers and wives were already there. I remembered how my dad had responded to our singing, so we decided to sing, masks and all. “It Is Well with My Soul,” “Blessed Assurance,” “On the Wings of a Dove.” And sometime as we sang, his spirit left his body and he was gone. Peacefully and without pain or struggle. 

Please pray for Arlene. She never really had a chance to say goodbye. The restrictions came so suddenly. She longed to be able to look into his eyes, to talk with him face to face, but that was not possible. And tonight she’s back in her apartment alone again, and no one can be with her. 

Lord, hear our cries!

Here are the two pictures I posted that evening - our visit on February 23 and our last visit on Wednesday. 

Here is his obituary.

Howard S. Stauffer, 94, of Manheim, passed away peacefully on Wednesday, April 22, 2020 as loved ones sang him into the presence of the Lord.  

Howard was born July 20, 1925 to the late Henry W. and Emma (Snyder) Stauffer.   He married Ruth (Brubaker) Stauffer with whom he had five sons. They were married almost 33 years when she passed away on August 1, 1981.   He then married Arlene (Weaver) Stauffer in November 1982.  Together they enjoyed over 37 years of marriage at their home in the woods until their move to Pleasant View Communities in November. 

Howard enjoyed raising his boys on the Stauffer family farm where they became known for their delicious homegrown celery.  Later he worked at various businesses, finishing his years of employment at Bomberger’s Store in Lititz at the age of 85.  He enjoyed volunteering with Arlene at Mount Joy Gift and Thrift Shop into his 90’s.  

In addition to his wife Arlene, he is survived by five sons and their wives:  J. Richard (Jean Witmer), Bellefonte, PA; Robert (Doris High), Black Duck MN; Steven (Faye Lentz), Lititz, PA; James (Carolyn Geib), Lititz, PA; and Frederick (Debra Boll), Manheim, PA.  He is also survived by 22 grandchildren, 46 great grandchildren and his sister-in-law Grace Stauffer.  

In addition to his parents and first wife Ruth, he was preceded in death by his brother Clarence Stauffer, his sister Helen Hernley Keiper, and a great granddaughter.  

Howard was a lifelong member of Kauffman Mennonite Church, Manheim, where he served as song leader and trustee for many years.  He was also an invaluable member of the team that produced the church’s live nativity in the barn for twenty-five years. 

He had a great sense of humor and wit and enjoyed a good prank; was gifted with ingenuity, coming up with inventions to meet any need he or others had; loved music, especially singing with his family; enjoyed the outdoors, camping with his family into his 90’s, going to the family cabin in Juniata County with his boys for deer hunting, sitting on his chair in the woods at home watching squirrels, rabbits, and birds; was a creative woodworker and craftsman; could play a mean game of Rook; had a great time watching church league softball in the summer time; found great satisfaction in growing vegetables and flowers. Above all he had utmost honor and respect for God and his Word, which guided every aspect of his life.   He will be greatly missed by his family. 

The family wants to thank the excellent staff at Pleasant View Communities for their loving care during this difficult season of restrictions.  

Due to current Covid-19 restrictions, interment will be private.  

A public memorial service will be held at a later date. 

So tomorrow we will be having his private burial with many, many restrictions.  We'll wear our masks, we'll be outside, trying to keep our distance from each other.  The hardest part will be that we can't even get together as a family after it's over.  This is really, really hard, especially for a family that enjoys being together.  But as I said before, my heart is heaviest for Arlene.  It feels CRUEL for her to have to be so alone.  She will have permission to come to the burial tomorrow, but then she'll go back to her apartment alone, and none of us can be there with her.  Please hold her in your prayers.

All kinds of weather

Yes, I did post last evening about Dick's 70th birthday, but that was kind of an experiment with his new iPad.  Not at all a satisfactory experience for me!

So since this blog is my diary, I want to post the pictures and activities since last Monday when I did my last regular weekly post.  Our weather has been all over the place!!  

Wednesday was absolutely beautiful and I got these pictures when I went out for my walk. 

On Thursday it seemed sunny around noon and I thought I would go for a walk.  But just like that, I looked outside and it looked like a blizzard out there!  In about 15 minutes the storm blew away, leaving a light covering of snow on the grass.  But soon thereafter the sun came out, and just like that, it was all gone!

I had to work for my coffee that day.  Our Keurig had been warning us that it was time to descale,  but I was SO busy I forgot.  (Hahahaha!  That's not true.  I was not busy, I just forgot.)  On Thursday morning it refused to let one drop of water come through.  So good old YouTube to the rescue!  As it told me to, I straightened a big paper clip and cleaned it well, of course, then I poked it up into the little holes on either side of the needle that jags through the K-cup.  I also put white vinegar into the carafe to descale it first.  At first the vinegar/water was just dripping through, but eventually it started coming out full force.  Of course, I had to run many cups of water through it after the vinegar to make sure it was ready to drink.  I had the unpleasant experience one time of making my coffee too soon and the milk instantly curdled when I added it.  Yuck!  Anyway, my first cup of coffee tasted extra good that morning after waiting so long and working so hard for it!  

I've been spending a lot of time reading a lot of things I have written over the years. I came across the story of teaching the song "You Gave Your Life Away" at school in the spring of 2009 - my last year of teaching, although I did not know it at that time.  Here's what I had written:

One of the songs I recently taught each of the grades is Paul Baloche's "You Gave Your Life Away." It will be one of our mass chorus songs in the Spring Program. Most of the songs I use are more upbeat, complete with choreography, clapping, jumping, or whatever. And, of course, the wild and crazy behavior that goes with it! But I usually like to use one contrast song, and this one is it. So far I have always had the kids sit down on the risers to sing this one, asking them to try to forget about each other (a HUGE request for any age) and just focus on the One we're singing to. 

I'm telling you, I have never seen any song have the effect that this one does. No matter how many kids, or which grade, or what normal behavior issues there are, they COMPLETELY calm down as they sing this song, and they really do seem to become oblivious to each other. 

Today I had my Tuesday half of the Primary Chorus, normally my most challenging period of the week. Today was no exception until we sang this song. The Pre-K teacher was waiting outside the door in tears, so moved as she heard those little voices singing so beautifully in pure worship.

So I decided to experiment again with the acapella app and here's my trio version of that song.  

On Friday afternoon and evening we got snow again!! But it disappeared before noon on Saturday. 

I've been telling Dick that I think he could trim the back of my hair a little bit.  I hate when it gets long enough to start "bunching out" in the back, haha!  So he got his beard trimmer and pulled the hair outward bit by bit with a fine tooth comb and then trimmed the ends off with his beard trimmer.  He did a pretty good job!

I did get a couple of sunrise pictures this week.  I always get up at 6:15, and now it's already daylight!  Often it's too cloudy.  Also the sun is rising at a different place than it had been this winter.  I used to be able to stand on my front porch to get a good shot.  Now I often have to stand on the side porch to see it, or sometimes it seems to be completely hidden by the neighbor's house.  

On Saturday my friend Peg texted me that she had hung something on my front door.  So I checked, and there was a bag with two masks she had made for me!  Musical notes and pianos!  I LOVE them!!  Sunday evening when we were FaceTiming with the guys in Portland, I was being silly and put the mask on top of my head.  It reminded me of the little black bonnets we used to wear to look dressy when I was a teenager.  

Sunday was Dick's 70th birthday, and that is what my post was about last evening.  You'll have to scroll down to see it after you're finished with this one if you missed it.  But I did not post this little "Happy Birthday" video that shows our little, very delicious dessert. 

In the process of looking for photos to put in his "decades" collage I came across this one!  Eight years old.  Good grief, he looks like Anthony's boys!!!

Today was another beautiful sunny day.  I love walking in our community.  I like to take different streets each time.   Here are a couple of pictures I took.  

Our governor announced today that he'll start to open some things up on May 8th.  I was hoping for May 1st, but thankful he did not say that he's keeping everything closed for the whole month of May.  I think I would have fallen down screaming and crying if he had.  Today there was a protest in Harrisburg and they most certainly were not at all following any rules of social distancing, masks, or anything.  There were a lot of people there, all of them standing close to each other.  It made me sad and mad.  If our numbers in PA go up because of all those people being defiant and careless, thus causing us to have to stay home even longer, I will really, really cry.  I just want to see our children and grandchildren and have them here and go to visit our parents in the nursing homes.  

Well, that's my rant and now I'm all caught up!  Lord, heal our land!!!

Trying the iPad

I am trying something new. Blogging from an iPad! A few months ago Dick sold some car parts that earned him more than expected.  So he told Anthony to order him an iPad to replace the very old, big, heavy, slow laptop he was using. It was a hand-me-down from Jeremy’s college days!  So what perfect timing!  It was delivered to Anthony earlier this week and he got it all set up. Today when Dick went over there to hike through the woods and check his trail cams, Anthony had it ready to give to him - on his 70th birthday!

Yes 70!!  How ever did we get this old??  We had hoped to celebrate this milestone birthday in Portland. But Coronavirus changed everything of course.  We couldn’t even have a party.  But we still had a good day. This morning we had our regular online worship service with GBRV.  I spent quite a while looking for pictures for a collage.

And here’s the collage I made!  One picture for each decade of his life!



Of course Dick had lots of phone calls and messages today. At Anthony’s this afternoon he chatted with them from his truck.  Later this afternoon we video chatted with our Florida crew for quite a while and then our Portland crew.

I made a chocolate cupcake in a coffee mug which I topped with ice cream and seven candles.   It was really yummy, and his blood sugar wasn’t much higher than usual at bedtime. I guess walking in the woods this afternoon took care of that.

 Well, I give up for this evening.  I cannot figure out how to arrange my pictures.  Everything keeps sliding from place to place. 

Lots of things going on even as we observe social distancing

What is going on here??  I haven't blogged for ten days??  And I can't even say it's because I've been too busy.  The crazy thing is, I had it on my list for this past weekend, and at some point I crossed it off because I thought I had done it.  Is that pathetic or what?

So, because I use this as my diary, I will try to go back to the first weekend of April and figure out what I've been doing since then.   

But first a collage of pictures of our house in Spring.  I'm thankful that this quarantine is in Spring instead of Winter.  At least we have beautiful weather some of the time and the beauty of new life all around.

And here are the sky pictures I have taken in the past week or so. 

On Saturday, April 4th, something very exciting was taking place in Columbia, PA.  Destiny and Alex are expecting a baby at the end of August, and they had a Facebook Live gender reveal.  Of course, originally it was not going to be an online event, but Coronavirus has forced almost everything to be online, as you all know.  It was fun to be watching.  She had patched me and Frank and Lauren in with Google Duo so we could actually talk with her instead of just texting like everyone else.  And it's a boy!  

On Sunday morning, April 5, I woke up feeling very sad and actually a little bit mad.  I took some Snapchat shots for my Facebook post that day, lol!  I just missed being with grandchildren SO BADLY!!  And I could hardly stand it that Grandma Mary and Dad and Arlene can't have visitors except outside the window. 

We had our two online worship services that morning, but I really needed to get out of the house.  It was an absolutely beautiful day.  So first of all we walked through the Penn State arboretum.  There were very few people there, but at least it wasn't closed.  Not too much to see, but it felt good to walk in the sunshine anyway. 

The fountain pool was empty, but there were trees and a few flowers blooming. 

Then we drove over to Anthony and Lori's.  We stayed down on the patio and talked with them up in the screened porch.  It was really fun.  Dick and I walked around and then sat on the bench at the far end of the pond for a while.  The sun was so warm and therapeutic.  

Looks like we were "social distancing" lol!!  

Last Wednesday was another beautiful day and we went for a walk around our community after Dick got home from work.  

And then on Friday we woke up to this!!  It was really cold and windy that day.  I had to go for groceries and it truly felt like the wind chill was colder than it had been all winter!

Of course, just like everyone else, I'm not sure what to do about my hair.  It's past time to get more of the "brown" trimmed off.  It's not even brown anymore, but sort of reddish blonde.  My roots in the front are very white, but in the back I'm gray.  Did I say that last time?  I feel like I just wrote that somewhere, haha!  Here's a collage I made one day last week.  The brown haired picture was taken on December 28th.  I'm actually glad I started this journey to natural before the quarantine hit.  I would be having fits by now about my roots!  

GBRV had a Maundy Thursday service and also a Good Friday service, both online of course.  I play piano here at home, Pastor Calvin puts the lyrics on the screen, and everyone can sing along at their homes.  It's not a perfect system.  We use Google Hangouts and deal with constant feedback issues.  We try to advise everyone to turn their microphones off except for when they are speaking, but it's hard for some to figure out or to remember.  During one of the services I started playing the piano, but had forgotten to turn my mic on!  When I realized it I turned it on and we started the song all over again.  

One day I decided to reinstall the Acapella app on my phone so I could do a better job of "mixing" my vocal parts.   This was my first and only project so far.  It was actually pretty fun to do. 

On Saturday I painted a dozen eggs all by myself.  I was feeling sad to not have any children to do it with.  Dick took a picture of me, and I put it on Facebook.  WELL!!!  I could never have dreamed the conversation that picture would start.  Apparently at a quick glance, the white shoulder strap of my apron must have looked like a cigarette hanging out of my mouth - to a lot of people.  Oh, the comments and jokes!  They just got funnier and funnier as the day went on.  In the end I didn't feel sad at all because I laughed so much!  

On Easter Sunday morning we were up and ready for sunrise service at 6:30.  Using Google Hangouts means that we can see each other, so I couldn't really stay in my pj's!  

Afterward I said to Dick, "Hey!  We have a tradition of posting a picture of ourselves on the way to church on Easter Sunday wearing matching clothes!"  Well, he wasn't thrilled about changing.  He said, "I was about ready to take a twenty-minute nap."  I told him to go ahead and take his nap because it would take me at least that long to figure out what we would wear.  I had not thought at all about Easter clothes this year.  I decided that it was appropriate to do a more dressed down version of Easter this year.  Getting our selfie took about ten tries at least, but here we are.

At 9:30 we had our regular worship service, and then at 11:00 Calvary's service was on CalvaryLive.  We had to leave before that was over, because at GBRV we had a 12 noon appointment!  A lot of churches in the area were planning to ring their church bells for five minutes.  We were invited to come hear the bells and to at least see each other in the parking lot.  Dick and I parked in the cemetery across the road so I could get a better view for pictures and video.  It was beautiful outside!  And so fun to at least be able to call out and wave to others who were there.  

  

Then we drove to Mt. Nittany Hospital to see the signs that some ladies from church had put along the access road into the hospital.  

My big mission of the day was to safely deliver some Easter eggs to grandchildren!  In addition to the ones I painted, I also had put candy and dollar bills inside a bunch of plastic eggs.  

First of all we went over to Anthony and Lori's and once again talked with them from the patio.  Hunter is always ready for a conversation and kept bringing toys out to show us!  He told us he'll come to our house after the Corony virus!  I miss him so much!!

And here are both boys.  Did I say how much I miss them???

From there we drove to Duncannon.  I told Sam to make sure the kids understood that we would not be staying long and that we would be staying in the van.  It was so much fun, but hard.   I'm sure Sammy and Bianca have both gotten taller in the four weeks since they were last here.  Oh how I miss having them at our house!!!

Are they adorable or what???

And then we drove back home.  I felt so happy.  Every part of our Easter day was different than normal, but all of it was good.

From Portand we got this precious picture of Lincoln and Daniel.

Later in the evening I saw on Facebook that Anthony and Lori and the boys had dressed up for an Easter photo shoot.  Melt.  My.  Heart.  

And then to top off the day, we had a FaceTime chat with them which also included Lisa, George, and Sophie.  It was a perfect way to end the day!  

And now I'm finally caught up here!  I hope all of you are finding things to do and ways to connect.  I PRAY that we are going to be able to gradually get back to being together and doing business as we progress toward summer!  Lord, hear our cries!!!