They visited a nearby moose farm.

This picture of Katrina...

...and this picture of Dick.....

....were taken inside this ice and snow structure.

Lovely Katrina, at age 14, is the age her mom was when she became our daughter. In contrast, how blessedly secure Katrina's first fourteen years have been. Miki, you're a GOOD mother.

Katrina is a very mature and gifted 14-year-old. Not only is she an amazingly creative cook and baker, she also sews and creates with fabric. Here she was making a bed for a room, made to scale, for a school project.

Bjorn is a "brainiac" like his dad and has the quirky humor of his mom. Here he is (on the left) at his martial arts class.

And just chillin' at home.

Some pictures of the amazing architecture in Umea. Jeremy, these pics are especially for you.

And then it was the last evening together, with a "Fika" of bread and cheese around the coffee table.

That's our girl, sad to see her daddy go. Looks like she's been airbrush painting her hair, ha, ha!

Time to say goodby to the snow as well.

Up, up, and away on the long flight over the "pond."

Another evening at the MC musical

Unfortunately, while we were at the musical on Friday evening, Alyssa Nissley's parents, Jay and Elta, were in a car accident. Her mom just has bruises, but her dad has four broken bones in his left arm and needed surgery. He is still in the hospital. When I was talking to Elta yesterday she said that they were planning to go to the musical Saturday evening, but now would not be able to. She had already found one person to use one of their tickets and I decided to use the other. I promised her I would take my camera this time and get a picture of her girlie. I just wish I had a camera that could take good shots during the show. Without a flash they just look really bad. So, Elta, here's your Alyssa. She was such a cutie pie up there on the stage. We are all praying that you and Jay recover quickly.

And here's Kelsey Snavely, as adorable as ever.

And my dear Brandon Kreider, as funny as ever. He already landed a part with a community theater group this summer. I will definitely be there to see him.

And dear Emma Thompson - already a junior in high school, but just the perfect size for those kid roles!

My day was packed

Yesterday was absolutely packed from beginning to end. I remembered my camera for some things, but forgot it for the most important things.

When I was about to leave for school, Miki called from Sweden to say that they overslept and Dick missed his flight. She was kidding, of course. So most of the time that I was at school I was aware that he was somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean.
We are having "Fun Fridays" at school and yesterday was Green Day, being the one closest to St. Patrick's Day. I took pictures of a first grade class and Intermediate Chorus.

We also had Pastor's Luncheon. The pastors of our students were invited to come and eat lunch with the kids from their church. Tables were set up in the gym with the church names on them.
My Middle School Chorus sang The Light of That City for them. They did an awesome job, including the soloists, Hannah Metzler and Derrick Kreider. But do I have pictures of them or of the kids eating lunch with their pastors? Never thought of it until afterward.

After school I got a call from Dick that he had landed in Newark and was waiting to be shuttled to the Long Term parking lot. So while he was driving home from Newark, I was driving to Reading to pick up Destiny for the weekend. He made a long stop at Cabela's, a huge outdoor sports store near Allentown, to keep from getting too sleepy.

So he wasn't home yet when it was time for Destiny and me to leave for the musical at Manheim Central, which was held in the lovely new auditorium at the new junior high school. They did the musical Big. Two of my former students had lead roles, Brandon Kreider and Kelsey Snavely, and three others, Alyssa Nissley, Emma Thompson, and Linzy Hammer, had more minor, but fun, roles. Again, I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!! What is wrong with this brain???? This was Brandon's last high school musical. I got Destiny to take pictures with my cell phone, but the one of me with Brandon got accidently erased. The ones I have here are with Alyssa and Kelsey.

As usual, Brandon was HILARIOUS playing the part of Billy. He is every bit as funny as any comedian on TV, plus he has this awesome voice and brains too. I expect him to have many, many opportunities to do what he loves to do. And I will never let him forget that I gave him his first chance to be funny on stage in eighth grade as Hank, ha, ha!!

And Kelsey!! Oh my word! She had a good, but very soft voice, but she has developed this gorgeous voice that I just could not get over last night. She played the part of Susan without a flaw, a part with many solos and an extreme amount of lines to memorize. I was completely wowed by her. Plus she looked SO CUTE!!

Destiny and I did not get home until 10:30. Dick was here, dozing on the sofa. But he was eager to show us all his pictures he had loaded into the computer and the things he had brought us from Sweden. I'll be sharing some of the pictures when I get a chance.

It was very, very nice to end my day knowing there were three of us in the house. I guess, as Dianne commented, living alone isn't so bad when you get used to it, but I did not get used to it in one week's time. And as I said before, my hat is off to those of you who do live alone.

Another blogging benefit

When I saw this cartoon I could definitely relate. Did you bloggers ever notice that sometimes blogging saves talking? Like when I'm with my sisters and parents, certain people at school, some friends at church, or talking on the phone with some of my kids, etc. - ones who I know are regular readers of my blog, there are things that I never have to take the time to explain, because they are right up to date with my life. I like that.

After school I stayed a long time to pull costumes for the fifth graders who are doing Bible character impersonations next week. Then I had to go to church to get some mics that I am borrowing for school tomorrow. While I was there all alone I decided to indulge myself in an organ recital. I turned my digital piano to the pipe organ setting, turned the volume all the way up, and played some hymns like Holy, Holy, Holy and some wedding marches. Ahhh. It was awesome.

Sam came this evening to keep me company. We were going to use my Panera Bread gift card, but I actually had subs delivered here today that I had ordered from someone at church. So we just stayed home and ate the subs and talked. He just left.

Dick called again. He had a wonderful last day with Miki's family. He starts the journey home shortly - leaving the Umea airport at 7:30 AM their time, 2:30 AM our time. By tomorrow evening he will be home again, home again, jiggedy jog!!

Update from Sweden

I got home this evening about 30 minutes before I had to leave again to sing at a retirement home in Lancaster. The phone rang and it was Dick, calling from Sweden. They're having such a good time together. Today he took Bjorn to shoot pool and to play some arcade games. Then he took Katrina a few places, including McDonalds, for some one on one time with her. They went to the hospital where Kris is head of the cardiology department. He gave Dick a free echocardiogram, and gave him a clean bill of heart health! Boy, doctors in the family surely come in handy. Too bad he's in Sweden.

Well, time to curl up in my king size bed all by myself for the sixth night in a row. Oh, that's not quite true. Saturday night when the wind was so loud and scary, Destiny slept with me and kept me safe, ha, ha!!

I got a picture!

Miki posted this picture of Dick on her blog and I stole it! What a nice surprise to wake up to a picture of my sweet hubby looking SO at home over there in Sweden. He was fixing Miki's brakes. And yes, that IS Miki's car. I think everything she owns has been wildly and artistically airbrush painted. That's my girl - wild and artistic. (You can check out her work here.) And that's my man - Mr. Fix-it. I miss them both.

Quiet evenings

Well, my hat is off to any of you who live alone. While on the one hand it's kind of nice to just have myself to worry about in the evenings, it surely is quiet and lonely. I did finally get to the gym after school yesterday and today. (I hadn't gotten there at all last week.) Sam was going to come home this evening and we were going to use a gift card I have for Panera Bread, but he had a fever and sore throat today, so he was heading home to his bed after work.

So I ended up watching American Idol for the first time this season. After Jeremy and my former student Heather Harley tried out and saw first hand how they pass up so many very talented people, but put through a lot of weird ones (to get good TV ratings in the first few weeks of the show), I was feeling very disinterested in watching. But Jeremy has been fussing at me to get over it, because there's some really good talent in the finalists. So tonight was the final twelve, and WOW!!!! Jeremy and I both agree that those twelve are the most exceptionally talented singers the show has ever had.

And speaking of Jeremy, despite having the flu on Saturday, he forced himself to go to callbacks for the show Gypsy on Sunday. He told me later, "I have no idea how I sang and I have no idea how I danced, but I did, and I got my part." Sheer adrenaline, I guess!

Hey, you people over in Sweden, I didn't hear anything from you today. How about a little comment here on my blog so I know you're alive???

My name, my WHOLE name!

We had a staff meeting after school today. About half way through the meeting, my cell phone vibrated in my pocket. Not recognizing the number, I stepped outside the room to take the call - and it was Dick, calling from Sweden!! He told me a story about Miki's dog eating too much chocolate yesterday. If you want to know more about it, read the post that Miki just put on her blog today.

I saw an obituary in this evening's paper that made me decide to come clean about my name - my whole name! The person who died was Thelma Sensenich, who used to be a friend of my mother, and for whom I was named. Yes, indeed I was! My name is Thelma Jean! The "Jean" part of my name was after my dad's youngest sister Jean, who died three years ago. As a little girl most people called me both names, Thelma Jean. At home, however, my older siblings (thankfully!) started calling me Jeanie. When I got to school in first grade, my teacher asked me what they call me at home. I told her they call me Jeanie. But she proceeded to call me Thelma through all of first, second, and third grades!

Finally, I had a new teacher for fourth grade, so the very first day of school I put a picture I had drawn on the teacher's desk and signed it "Jeanie". She asked me if I had given it to her, and if that is what I would like to be called. Bless dear Miss Emma Martin's heart - she bravely began calling me Jeanie, when everyone knew me as Thelma! Eventually, everyone caught on! But there are still older relatives that insist on calling me Thelma Jean.

On most legal and medical documents I am T. Jean. Oh, the pains of having a first initial and a middle name, instead of vice versa. Dick has the same problem. His name is Jay Richard, or J. Richard. On no forms anywhere do they give the option for first initial and middle name!

And speaking of filling out forms - when I went to print out Dick's boarding pass last Thursday evening, it asked for the last name of the passenger. They claimed there was no booking for a Stauffer. I tried again and again, almost panicking! It kept telling me to type the last name exactly as it was on the e-ticket. Finally, I noticed that the ticket had his name as Mr. Stauffer Jay. I typed in "Jay" as his last name, and the booking came up!! So we were afraid he would have trouble with his passport if the last name on the ticket did not match the one on the passport. He got to the airport way early on Friday and they took care of it by printing out a new ticket. Whew!!

No chance to get lonely - yet!

Well, so far I have had no chance to become lonely. This morning we went to church, followed by our monthly fellowship meal. This afternoon Sam arrived with a few weeks' worth of laundry to do.

At 5:00 I took Destiny to Two Cousins Pizza for a very special surprise. A little while after she and I were seated at our table, in walked Mrs. Burkholder, her teacher from Lancaster! When Destiny left the other Friday, they had no idea it was her last day of school there. Her teacher was very disappointed that they had no chance for good-byes. So we devised this plan. We had such a sweet time together. Destiny was definitely blessed to have her for a teacher the first half of first grade.

When we left Two Cousins we went directly to a church nearby where one of my eighth grade boys, Derrick Kreider, was being baptized, along with many others. Derrick has been special to me since the first time I ever laid eyes on him. He had three older brothers who came to our school while he was still a preschooler. His mother was actively involved at school and always had little Derrick in tow. His smile was absolutely charming. And now I've already had him as a student from kindergarten through eighth and he's about to graduate from our school. Derrick is incredibly gifted and is mature far beyond his years. How will I manage a worship team without him? He's my right-hand man. I felt honored to be invited to his baptism. Unfortunately, I was not able to get close enough for a good picture.

Now that we're home again, Destiny and Sam are having fun playing some of Destiny's favorite computer games as Sam waits for his next load of laundry to dry. Soon her ride to Reading will be here to pick her up, and Sam will head back to his place in Downingtown, and I think I will hit the sack.

Puerto Rican-folded towels

Destiny just cracked me up. I had asked her to fold the towels, a job she has often done before quite well. I wasn't watching what she was doing, when I heard her say, "These are Puerto Rican-folded." I looked over and saw all these triangles!! Where she ever came up with such an idea is beyond me, but I thought it was absolutely hilarious. And by the way, in case you're wondering, she said the square one in the front is "American-folded".

An angry sky

What a crazy, crazy day. It was already 50 degrees when I woke up, later we had heavy rain off and on for several hours, then a burst of beautiful sunshine. I was thinking that Destiny and I should go for a walk to the mailboxes. I didn't check, but I think the temp probably went up into the sixties.

And then I heard what honestly sounded like a roar or a train. I looked out and saw dark, heavy clouds and trees blowing like crazy. I have never experienced a tornado, but that is the first thing that came to my mind. I checked the TV channels to see if there were any warnings, but there weren't. What I did find out is that we have high wind warnings all night long and by morning the temp will be down in the 20's.

I miss my hubby already.

He's there!

Miki just called and said they received their "package!" Pretty much undamaged, just a little bleary-eyed! (It's early afternoon over there.) Dick said everything went fine and he was able to sleep some. But if he's anything like I was, he will have a hard time staying awake in a few hours. I remember my first day there the kids wanted me to watch Shreck, since I had never seen it yet, and I desperately wanted to watch and enjoy it for their sake, but my eyes just kept going shut. At least he should be able to sleep good tonight, because it will be dark. (As opposed to the daylight they had all night long when I was there!)

Wow, I wish I were over there right now!

Sweden, here he comes!

Even as I write, Dick is flying over the Atlantic Ocean, enroute to Sweden to visit our daughter Miki and family. He drove to the Newark Airport today and parked in a long term parking lot. In one of his many phone calls today, he said he would never let me go there alone. Apparently the roads to the parking lot, the parking lot itself, and the driver of the shuttle to the airport terminal were all a bit rough and scary! Hopefully our Explorer (a.k.a. "pimp wagon") will be safe there!! Dick's last call was after he had boarded around 5:30 PM and needed to soon turn his phone off. (By the way, the Peanut Butter Captain Crunch cereal is one of many things Miki "ordered" from the States - things they can't buy there!)

Last weekend Destiny's mommy moved to Reading, PA, about an hour from here. She still wants me to have Destiny on the weekends, which I'm really happy about. The drive to Reading doesn't intimidate me at all, as we had many foster children from there and I'm very familiar with the city. In fact, I rather enjoy the chance for a long drive where I can unwind and listen to some good worship music. However, today's drive was not at all relaxing. We were having TORRENTIAL rain and wind. Even so, I found their house easily, only to discover that Enid had taken Destiny to her other grandma in Lancaster so I wouldn't have to drive so far to get her. WELL!! It would have been nice to be informed! At least I now know exactly where they live. So till I drove back to Lancaster, stopped for groceries, and picked up Destiny it was 7:30 by the time we got home. (I had left school at 3:40!) I was GLAD to be finished driving, believe me!

Destiny's first request was for apple slices, her favorite snack while watching a movie. How's that for a healthy choice? We received Madagascar in the mail from Blockbuster this week, so she's just chillin' on her favorite chair.

And one more picture. Yesterday morning we had a heavy frost. When I came outside and saw the frosty designs on my car's hood and windshield, I had to go back inside for my camera. I kept thinking, "Look at God's artwork!"

Dangerous or stupid?

I just read the craziest thing in the newspaper. Early last evening someone called 911 to report that there was a shooting at our local high school. The caller claimed to have been shot in the leg. Of course the police from our small borough immediately responded, going so far as to evacuate several groups of people who were having meetings in the building. They eventually came to the conclusion that the call had been a hoax. About that time there was a 911 call from a woman who had been robbed at gunpoint after parking her car in another section of town. So police responded to that call. A man dressed in black with a ski mask on had demanded her keys, which she gave him and then fled on foot. As police drove around looking for the robber one of them drove past the police station and noticed a guy dressed in black standing out in front of the station. He told the policeman he had been robbed. He was taken in and questioned and eventually admitted he had made the call about the school shooting as a diversion to his planned robbery.

Okay, first of all, how scary that an 18-year-old in our little, historic town would not only think up, but actually carry out such a plan. And second of all, how stupid could he be? If I had done all that, I don't think I would go stand in front of the police station. But then, maybe he was already having a touch of conscience and was going to turn himself in once all the police were finished being diverted.

So the gun turned out to be just a pellet gun, but now he's in jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.

Learning to Lean

This evening I'm sitting in the office at Dick's auto mechanic shop while he works on our cars. (There is a policy that no one may work here alone in the evenings, because at some point a person got hurt while here alone. So I'm here to call 911 if anything happens, I guess.) At least I'm allowed to use his computer, and I also have my briefcase along which contains a LOT of work I need to do.

Last evening my sister Mary Ellen and I went to a viewing again. Carol Hottenstein, a classmate of Mary Ellen's in elementary and high school, died in her sleep Friday morning, just like my sister Janet did. (Carol's sister Elaine was one of my best friends for many years - we were bridesmaids in each other's weddings.) Carol was a VERY active business woman, wife, mother of four young adults, and grandmother of 12. Her death creates a huge vacuum, just as Janet's did.

I know the Bible says that the sting of death is gone for the Christian, but as human beings there is still tremendous grief at such a sudden, untimely loss. We want to scream, "WHY??? Why NOW???" I don't know Carol's children, but I'm sure they feel like they still needed their mom. Those grandchildren still needed their grandma. I'm sure Carol and her husband had many more plans of the things they would do together in their senior years. Her sister Elaine has been hit HARD by this. They have been dealing with difficult issues regarding their elderly mother. Also, Elaine's husband has a degenerative muscular disease, needing to be on oxygen most of the time. She has always been such a strong woman. Nothing has ever been too difficult for her to accomplish. But what she said last night keeps coming back to me. "Maybe I'm a hard nut to crack. If this is what it took for God to get me to a place where I really, really need Him, it worked. I feel completely dependent on Him." That just makes me cry. I know that's where we all need to be, but the process is so very, very hard.

Please pray for my dear friend Elaine. And for her sister Carol's family, of course.

Called to Mongolia

This morning at church we heard the story of a family, Leon and Heather Heisey, following God's call to Mongolia. My heart was deeply moved. We got to know Leon about 20 years ago when we started going to our church. He was in high school at that time and soon left for Penn State, followed by a move to work for Perdue in Kentucky, and then back to our area when he was hired by Hershey Foods. Along the way he met his wife Heather, a veterinarian. They experienced the heart breaking death of their first child shortly after birth, but now have a beautiful family which includes two daughters from China and a biological son. I have all three children as students at school, and Leon has been the president of our school board for several years.

In the last few months Heather and Leon have taken a big step of faith and have agreed to go to Mongolia with Christian Veterinary Mission. They plan to leave in June and there are many, many details to work out before then, including things like selling their house, their cars, finding someone to care for their much-loved pets, raising support..... I feel almost in awe of what they are doing. They both will be leaving very good jobs, a lovely home, a close-knit community, and much, much more. But the way God is using this mission organization to reach people for Christ is absolutely amazing! Because of their skills and education they can get into countries and have a tremendous impact spiritually.

I just love Sarah and Jonathon and adorable little Lydia. I will miss them. But I'm so glad their parents are willing to forsake all for Christ. They will be educated in a home school co-op with other missionary children, and the church is alive and well there, so they'll be fine. I don't envy them the -40 degree temps though! God bless them!

Feeling green

I'm feeling like green today. Maybe I'm GREEN with envy of those of you who are living in a warm, sunny place today. Or maybe it's that St. Patty's Day is this month. Or maybe I'm just feeling bored with winter. I'm READY for some GREEN, so I'm going to look at this header picture for a while.

Our youngest and eldest

Fun, fun, fun! Ray is home. I just love this "boy." There is just no end to his humor. But he does have other virtues too. Last night he came home from hanging out with some of his friends, and I was still up, so it was nice to listen to him talk about his life in the Navy. I'm so proud of his accomplishments and maturity.

Destiny loves having him here too, even helping him to check batteries!

Miki called this morning from Sweden. She's our other "crazy kid!" I told her that I think she and Ray have to be related to each other - don't they look alike??!! (NOT!!) No chance of that, though. Miki was already married and living in Sweden by the time Ray joined our family at age 14. But they surely do have the same brand of humor!

A week from today Dick will be in Sweden with Miki and family. He has never been there before. Miki said the kids are taking the week off school and Kris is taking a week's vacation from the hospital while he's there. Oh, how I wish I could go too. Someday, hopefully we will have the time and the money to both go at the same time.