Sad times, happy times, busy Christmas season

 

I was working on getting my pictures ready for this blog post this evening when I got the shocking news that my brother-in-law Elvin Peifer passed away today.   You may remember that a few weeks ago I had asked you to pray for him.  This is a beautiful picture of him and his wife Pauline a few years ago.  Elvin's first wife was my oldest sister Janet, who passed away in 2004.  

In the weeks since I first learned that Elvin was in the hospital he did have slow improvement, but was never able to get totally off oxygen or get out of ICU.  Yesterday his condition worsened and today was even more acute.  But somehow I still thought he would pull through this.  I am stunned and so very, very sad.  

I will try to get somewhat caught up here.  I truly can hardly find time to sit and update this blog, but I am determined I will not stop.  I am so sorry that I am not finding the time to read other blogs.  The Christmas season is busy for everyone, and a church pianist/choir director is no exception. 

The past couple of weeks my little Christmas (Thanksgiving?) cactus has been a bright spot for me.

I did say at the end of my last post that I had some car issues on the day I needed to take Sammy and Bianca home.  That was Monday of last week.  The day prior we had noticed that my van had no heat. So while the kids and I were at the gingerbread house decorating party at church, Dick added some fluid and it was giving heat again.  Then he left for the Stauffer hunting cabin an hour (plus) from here.  He was staying overnight, planning to do some deer hunting Monday and returning home in time to be with Elizer until Destiny got home from work while I would go to a church women's event.  

But alas, when the kids and I went to Walmart Monday morning, my car had NO HEAT!!!  And it was cold!  And I needed to take these kids home, an hour-an-a-half away, and also bring Elizer back home after his weekend with his dad.  I texted Dick.  He said he would pack up all his stuff as quickly as possible and come home.  Unbelievable.  But that's what he did, stopping at Advance Auto Parts on his way to get something that would remedy my situation.  (Can you tell I have never had to worry about anything mechanical??)  

He got the heat fixed, and then drove me to take the kids to meet Sam.  And like I said before, Alex met us at the same place to bring us Elizer.  What a great day of deer hunting for him.  Not.

So that evening the ladies from church had our Christmas party at Hoss's.  It was also our Secret Sister reveal.  We had fun with a White Elephant gift exchange too.  I think I got the best gift, but I did have to steal it, haha!!  It was a fun evening.

Here are some pictures of Elizer at daycare last week.  We love that his teachers post pictures throughout the day. 

My week consisted of the usual daycare runs, cooking for Lori and Anthony's family a couple of days, church music planning and practicing.  And in addition to that, a midweek Advent service on Wednesday evening and choir practice on Thursday evening.  It was a very full week.   And Dick's dentures were causing him so much pain.  On Wednesday he ended up getting some bone fragments pulled.  They were the culprits of all his pain. He also had to replace the radiator in my van on Thursday.   And on top of all that, we were leaving for the weekend. 

But before I tell you about that, I need to tell you about the handsome little boy in Portland that turned SEVEN on Friday!  I usually buy him a book on Amazon, and as soon as I saw this one, I could almost hear him laughing already!  

That evening we left for a weekend in Lancaster County, and we took Elizer along with us for his weekend with Alex.  I sat next to him during the dark two-and-a-half hour drive to keep him entertained.  We sang "Happy Birthday to Brennan."  The sweetest part is at the end.  

Dick and I stayed at my sister Mary Ellen's house, but I didn't get any pictures Friday evening or Saturday morning.  She served us a delicious egg casserole for breakfast.

The reason for our trip to Lancaster County was Dick's nephew Jonathan's wedding.  I'm sure some of you remember when Jonathan's wife Jenny died after a very short battle with cancer.  They had four children.  On Saturday morning he got married to Janet Meyers, a single lady who is a nurse and has had had a lot of overseas missions experience.  It was such a beautiful occasion.  After the ceremony they had the four children and the parents of the bridal couple come up to the stage for prayer.  They also included Jenny's parents.  It was so very touching, especially hearing Jenny's dad pray a blessing on the new couple.  

There was a scrumptious meal afterward, and we had a table of four Stauffer brothers and wives.   What fun!  I could have walked around taking so many pictures, but I was enjoying our conversations too much!  

Later in the afternoon we went to see Bjorn, Jess, and Charlie!!  He's six months old now!  We had a great time catching up with them.  I regret I didn't get any picture of Bjorn even though he was there the entire time.

  

That evening we enjoyed Mary Ellen's turkey noodle soup, lots of good conversation, and the chance to just relax.

On Sunday morning we went with Mary Ellen to her church, James Street Mennonite in Lancaster City. Their church building is a refurbished industrial building.  I was so intrigued by it, and could have taken so many more pictures, but we also kept meeting people we had had a connection to in one way or another.  The service was wonderful, and we met even more people we knew afterward.  It was a really good morning.  

These two pictures are the music team and the children's story time.  

Below is the reason we stayed over for Sunday - the chance to have lunch with all the Stauffer men and their wives, with no interruptions from grandchildren, haha!!  Left to right: Dick, Jim and Carolyn, Deb and Fred, Steve and Faye, Bob and Doris.  It was Bob and Doris's son who got married on Saturday.  They all live in northwestern Minnesota.  

We sat at the lunch table talking for a very long time, then the men and ladies talked some more.  It was wonderful!

Formal picture time. 

When you get all five boys together they can be a handful!!  Here they were all trying to be like Dick and his new dentures, I guess, lol!

We ladies are much better behaved!!

 

Or are we??  As I was getting my coat on to leave, Faye said, "Jeanie, do you have two different boots on?"  I looked down, no idea what she was talking about.  But indeed, I DID have one casual boot and one dress boot on.  And I absolutely did not notice it the entire day, hahahahahaha!!!  The dress boots are a wedge heel with some bling on the outside (can't see it here.)  The causal boots have a low heel and are plain.  What can I say??

We went back to Mary Ellen's house to pack up, and Alex brought Elizer to us there.  Then we made the long trip home.  Thankfully he is a really good traveler.  

He hung out with us till Destiny got off work.  Here's a cute video of Grandpa and Elizer reading a book.  

This is already Friday, so five more days have passed since that video.  But I am going to end here, and share about this past week next time.  My bed is calling.