Five years

Today at Pin Oak Service Center they had a
special meal in honor of Dick's five years of
employment there. (They do that for everyone
when they reach the five-year mark.) He's
not a bad-looking auto mechanic, is he? I just
love it that he's letting his curls grow out a little
bit again. He had kept his hair extremely short
ever since his chemo treatments three years ago,
but this winter he let it grow enough to curl.

So while I enjoy the rose on my computer screen,
my sister Rose in Powder Springs, GA gets to
enjoy her roses right in front of her house. To see
more pictures of her flowers, see her blog listed
on my sidebar.

This is my new desktop photo from a website Anthony showed
me last Sunday - http://interfacelift.com/wallpaper/categories.php
Everytime I look at my computer I declare that rose looks
like it's popping right out of my monitor screen!

Staff Party

Last evening Dick and I went to my staff party. We no longer have it at Christmas because every one's schedules are too full at that time. We went to a place called the Spring House, which was a small house behind a big farmhouse near Mount Joy. It was cozy and quaint. We ate a potluck meal and then played some hilarious games. The last game involved some strategy and took a long time. Before we knew it, it was quite late, and we had to turn our clocks AHEAD an hour! Dick and I had to drive to Lancaster afterward to pick up Destiny from Frank's, so it was almost midnight (with the time change) till we got home.

I posted the pictures I took below. Again, they will not be interesting to most of my readers, but I'm posting them for you staff who will look here to see them! I took most of the pictures while people were eating, which is not the most attractive pose for most people!! Sorry!! (The pictures become bigger and clearer if you click on them.)

If you are one of my sisters and you haven't yet read my Saturday story, please scroll down to it. Barb and Doris, I would not want you to miss the adorable picture I posted of you! (Especially your tough girl pose, Doris!!)

I am not kidding. This is a real photo of "The Witmer Trio"
taken about the time of the story below! Left to right:
Barb, Jean, Doris.

The Witmer Trio Hits the Stage

THE WITMER TRIO HITS THE STAGE

Many, many years ago, when I was a sixth grader at Manheim Christian (yes, the same school in which I now teach music), plans were in progress for the annual Christmas program. My sisters, Barb (2nd grade) and Doris (3rd grade), and I were beginning to sing together in three-part harmony, so it was decided that we would sing Away in a Manger prefaced by a little poem of which we each would say a few lines. The year before, I had wowed everyone with my dramatic rendition of a very lengthy narration for a play. So I was eager to equally wow them with our amazing little trio. Certainly I was a rising star!

Keep in mind that in those days MCDS did not believe in instrumental accompaniment, so to get a song started correctly a pitch pipe was used. Every time we practiced, one of the teachers would blow the correct pitch and we were able to find our starting notes from there. Also, every time we practiced, we used a song book.

HOWEVER, as we practiced one final time at home (I can still see us standing in the upstairs hallway at home), we discovered that we could easily do it without the book. And for that matter, I was quite proficient with blowing the correct pitch on my dad's pitch pipe. Who needed a book? And who needed a teacher to blow the correct pitch? Certainly not us!!

So off to the program we went. As we waited backstage (which was just a stairwell), an eighth grade boy began to tease me when he saw me holding my dad's pitch pipe. "You're going to blow the wrong pitch," he playfully taunted. With great indignation I retorted that I KNEW how to do it.

Of course I knew how to do it, and I was about to prove my point. As soon as we hit that stage I blew the pitch. Doris jabbed me with her elbow and whispered, "We have to say our parts!" Oh, that's right! We were to say our little poetry lines first. So Barb said her few lines, then Doris said hers. And I blew the pitch. Again Doris jabbed me with her elbow. "You have to say your part," she whispered. Oh, that's right! I hadn't said my lines yet. Now I was beginning to feel pretty stupid, but I said my lines, or so I thought. AGAIN Doris jabbed me with her elbow. "You said MY part!" she practically hissed. By then people were beginning to giggle. I can still clearly see two women, one was my best friend's mother, and the other was the mother of a missionary boy in my grade who was at our school while they were home on furlough, and I liked him a lot. Those two women were almost bending over with laughter. Somehow I managed to say my correct part, then blow the correct pitch, but as we sang WITHOUT THE BOOK I got my words mixed up, I lost my high tenor part and began singing an octave above Barb's alto, which sounded absolutely horrible. The song seemed to last forever as we plundered through all three verses. As we left the stage, there was the middle school chorus, all lined up and ready to go on. I had to quickly get into my place in the FRONT row, go out there, and face those laughing ladies again. Needless to say, all thoughts of stardom were dashed that night!


One added note to this story. A few years ago I created a musical entitled "A Trip Down Memory Lane" for our school's 50th anniversary. I included the above event in the musical and had three girls, sisters Megan and Kelsey Harley, and their cousin Hannah Metzler, reenact this sad, but now funny experience. We dressed them up like little Mennonite girls, and they REALLY hammed it up. This time, because they knew it was a reenactment, the audience just screamed laughing. There was one sensitive older gentleman in the audience who was shocked at how people were laughing, because he thought their mistakes were genuine, instead of planned.

Thankfully, that experience did not ruin my life, or that of the Witmer trio. We had many years of singing and ministering together, both a capella and with guitar and keyboard accompaniment. In fact, listeners to WDAC in this area can still occasionally hear our songs on the Sunday School Meditations radio program for whom we recorded about 100 songs back in the day.

All dressed up and nowhere to go!

This evening I was so excited to be going to Elizabethtown High School to see my former student Kathy Landis in their production of Beauty and the Beast. To my great dismay, when I arrived I discovered that they were sold out for this evening's show. And it doesn't suit my schedule to go tomorrow. Boo-hoo.

I had a very full day. On Fridays I have Primary Chorus, Intermediate Chorus, and Worship Team in addition to three regular music classes. Today I kept some of the Worship Team kids until 4:30 to work on the choreography. We actually got a lot accomplished (at first I wasn't sure we would as it seemed everyone was more in the mood for a party!), and I feel much better about the fact that in THREE WEEKS we will be starting our "Spring Tour". We will be going to five different churches on Sunday mornings to lead worship. Yikes! I'd better get those tee shirts ordered. The girls are still deciding if they want baby blue or kiwi green. Oh, Lord, you can tell they aren't me. Give me a dark one any day (more slimming, of course!)

My dad just called to ask about Dick. He is feeling MUCH better. Yesterday he did sleep in, but once that second dose of the medication kicked in, he felt better and went to work later. Praise the Lord. I hated to see him feeling so badly.

We had Black and White Day today. I forgot my camera, but took the picture below after staff devotions with my cell phone.

Black and White Day at MCDS - some of the staff in their
black and white outfits.

Blustery

WGAL's website says the current temperature is 8 degrees and that today is to be cold and blustery. Makes me just want to dive back under the covers. It also makes that nearly 60 degrees at the end of the seven-day forecast look like HEAVEN!! If we have temperatures that warm and evenings that stay light longer due to the switch to daylight savings this weekend, my dad is going to be wishing he could plant some peas!!

Melinda and Lakisha will be the top two

Well, I almost feel sorry for most of the contestants in the American Idol contest. Lakisha Jones and ESPECIALLY Melinda Doolittle are SOOOOO amazing, so far beyond the rest in talent and stage presence, I can't imagine anyone else having any hopes of ending up number one. When Melinda sings I have absolute goose bumps. Then afterward she seems so surprised that everyone thought her song was great. She's just adorable.

I did get caught up on some things around here today, which feels good. Dick is still not feeling well. He slept a lot today and sat around feeling very miserable this evening. That is really, really unusual for him.

A day at home

Of all things, we are having a SNOW DAY!! I knew they were talking about snow today, but I didn't really expect more than a delay, if even that. So about the time I was finishing my hair I discovered most of the schools in the area, including ours, were closed today.

I wish I could say I'm getting lots of housework accomplished. I think I will. It's time to sort through all the mail and school papers again. I started, but got distracted. Everything I pick up needs to be looked at and read, and then it reminds me of something I want to look up on the internet, then when I get on the computer I start reading blogs......

Dick has been struggling with one form or another of a cold and sore throat for well over a month now. Several times he thought he had "licked" it, then it came back in some other manifestation. I've been fussing at him to go to the doctor, which he finally did this morning. I guess he just needed to get miserable enough. The doctor thinks he has a fungal infection in his throat, which we suspected. One side effect of his chemo treatments was a fungal infection in his mouth. He had lozenges to dissolve in his mouth, which were very effective. He's been using some of them this past week, but they have not been as effective this time. Today the doctor prescribed something else. He came home now and went to bed. You know he's miserable when he does that.

Well, back to the paper trail, I mean stacks.

It's freeeeeeeezing!!!

We are having the coldest, windiest weather imaginable. The temp this morning is in the teens, and there are winds of 30 - 40 mph almost constantly. Where, oh where, did those nice springly days go???? Our secretary at school, whose parents always go to Florida for the winter, and I commiserate together on days like this. This morning I asked her, "Well, Deb, are you ready to leave?" She said, "For where?" I said, "Florida!" She said, "YES! How about 8:30?" If only....

My friend Tracy from Montgomery, AL was at the funeral for Katie Strunk in Enterprise, AL yesterday. Check out her blog for pictures she took of the destruction from the tornado. You can see it better when you click on the pictures. Her story of Katie's family's heartache is so very sad. Like she said, there are just no answers at a time like this.

A good day with Lori and Anthony

This morning we headed to State College to spend the day with Lori and Anthony. As usual, being at their church, Unity Church of Jesus Christ, was a tremendous blessing. The message was so much what I needed. I also was touched by the obvious anointing of the Holy Spirit on Anthony as he played some guitar solos during strategic times of prayer and worship. Later in the service there were a number of testimonies of what God had done in people's hearts as he played. He told us afterward that he hadn't played with the worship team for a year, because he's always in the sound room. I'm so glad it worked out for him to play this morning. As he played I was remembering a little boy who had fallen asleep on the way home from a trip when he was about 6 years old. His head was on my lap in the back seat. We had a tape on of worship music. After a long while, he stirred, and eventually I realized he was quietly crying. I asked him what was wrong. He said, "Nothing. This music just makes me cry." He continued to cry and cry and cry, just a soft weeping. I knew that the Holy Spirit was already stirring in his tender heart.

Below are a few pictures from our day.

Lunch at Perkins with Eric Stauffer, Dick's brother Fred's
son. He's a sophomore at Penn State.

Anthony's band, Holy Smoke Blues, had practice at 5:00
in his recording studio in the basement.

Lori and Destiny just "chillin" together. We missed Lori
and Anthony's new sofa by two days - their sofa from Norwalk
Furniture at Jeremy's 40% family discount! Now that
sounds like a mighty good deal! We love you, Jeremy!!

Spring Musical season

It's high school Spring Musical season! This evening I went to Hempfield High School to see Something Funny Happened on the Way to the Forum. Heather Harley, who was my student from 1st through 8th grade, had the lead role. What a girl and what a voice! I know I am not just a biased former music teacher when I say that no one else's voice in that production even closely compared to hers. I am very sure everyone else would agree. When she hit those high notes as clear as a bell I felt like sliding off my seat! I wished Jeremy could have been there with me. He was her first voice teacher. We're both so proud of her.

I must get to bed. Tomorrow we are going to State College for the day to be with Anthony and Lori.

The opening scene. Heather is near the middle, on the right
of the girl in the purple dress. Anyone who knows Heather
knows she has beautiful, long, dark curly hair. She somehow
pinned it all under a blonde wig for this musical!

What an honor to stand next to this precious girl!

A Messy Day at the Optometrist

Today's story is both funny and gross. So if you have a weak stomach, maybe you don't want to read it. I have to preface this story with the fact that I am EXTREMELY near-sighted, and I do mean extremely. (I think my contact lens prescription is a minus 10.5). Contact lenses are the best invention ever, in my mind. However, before I started wearing them in 1985 I wore coke-bottle glasses, and occasionally they needed repairs......

A MESSY DAY AT THE OPTOMETRIST

It was a mild day in February or March, Lisa and Anthony had a day off school for some reason, and my glasses were broken. So I packed the three children into the car and off we went to the optometrist. I was feeling particularly optimistic because Jeremy had just had a very successful week of remembering to use the potty EVERY time for EVERY function. I smugly took just my purse - no bag with diapers or change of clothes. Whew!! Those days were OVER!!

Upon arrival at the optometrist, I had to turn in my glasses for the needed repairs, and I was invited to sit in the waiting room until the glasses were ready. There was a very nice children's toy corner, so while my children enjoyed playing there I sat among the adults. Being nearly blind without glasses, I could not talk with anyone because I could not see if they were looking at me or not. So I just sat and stared into the blur. Meanwhile I listened to my children playing and I felt very proud. They were playing so nicely with each other and I just loved being a mother. Until......

Lisa said, "Mommy, Jeremy stinks." Right out loud. I could have died. I calmly walked over hoping maybe he had just passed gas. Wow, he really DID stink! I walked him to the rest room and discovered the unthinkable. He most certainly had not just passed gas. He didn't even have a nicely firm poop in those little training pants. He had runny poop up his back and down his legs. I could not believe it. Here I was with just my ladylike purse and absolutely NOTHING with which to clean up such a mess, less yet anything else to clothe him with. WHAT was I going to do????

So first of all it was off with all the clothes. Then I tackled the cleanup with wet paper towels - LOTS of them. I kept flushing the toilet in order to avoid clogging it with too many paper towels at once. Keep in mind that I did not have my glasses on, so I had to keep my face right up close to see what I was doing. Needless to say, the smell was horrendous, and I was trying to keep from choking. All the while my mind was racing to come up with some idea of what to do with a naked little boy after he and the clothes were all washed up. I DID wash everything, shirt, undershirt, corduroy pants, training pants, socks, probably shoes, little boy. It took a LONG time, and in that time I did come up with a plan. I would go out to the waiting room and get his little coat and my big coat, wrap him up in both, and take him to the car where Lisa (age 9) would wait with him. I washed and washed and washed my hands, trying desperately to get rid of the smell. Then I gathered up his washed clothes to take them to the car - shoes, socks, pants, shirt, undershirt, training pants..... the training pants, where were they? I looked again at everything I held in my hands, I looked in every corner of that rest room, I looked in the trash can, I looked EVERYWHERE. They were nowhere to be found. There was only one possibility left - I had apparently mistaken them for a wad of paper towels and flushed them down the toilet. I could feel a sense of total embarrassment come down over me from head to toe.

I would most certainly have walked out of that place right then and never returned, but for one thing - they had my glasses and I couldn't go anywhere until I had them back. I followed through with my plan, wrapped Jeremy up in the coats, took him and the wet clothes to the car, minus the training pants, solicited Lisa's (non too willing) help, and went back inside to wait for my glasses. I was glad I couldn't see any faces. The last thing I wanted to do was make eye contact. They called my name, and as I sat before the optometrist, a brother to one of my high school friends, I told him my sorry tale and apologized profusely. I offered to pay any damages or repairs their plumbing might need as result of my mistake. He found my story tremendously amusing.

A week later my sister Doris had to go to the same place to get her glasses repaired. He told her that they had had to call Roto-rooter to unclog their plumbing. I never got a bill for it, and believe me, I NEVER went there again! And I wasn't at all sure I loved being a mother after all!

Hat Day at MCDS and a sad day in the South

It's only 7:50 PM, but I'm sitting here at the computer falling asleep. So just a short post tonight. Remember - tomorrow I'll have a story for you. (I sound like I'm talking to children!)

This month we are designating each Friday as some kind of special day in order to break the boredom of a long month without any days off. Today we had Hat Day. I wore one of Dick's caps, and I was SOOO glad to take that thing off after I got home from grocery shopping after school. I really hate the feeling of a hat or cap on my head.

Yesterday when I heard there were to be tornadoes in Alabama I thought of my friend Tracey near Montgomery. As it turns out, she knew Katie Strunk who was killed in that high school in Enterprise, AL. The girl used to go to Tracey's son's school and was in band with him. However, this year Katie's dad, the football coach, took a new job at the high school in Enterprise. Katie was one of those trapped under the caved in roof of the Enterprise High School. Tracey said the family does not have money for her burial and will take donations. The address to send them to is:

College Avenue Church of Christ
211 W. College Avenue
(or use the P.O. Box 311740)
Enterprise, AL 36330

And of course they and all the other families who lost their children, or their homes, or whatever, need our prayers.

HAT DAY at MCDS. Click on the picture to better see some
of the great hats these little ones wore today.