Lori Peifer - beautiful to her very core

Sleep eludes me. I'm going through a phase again where, if I wake up in the wee hours of the morning (like 3:00) I just cannot go back to sleep.  Very, very frustrating.

There have been many things on my mind lately, one of the heaviest being my niece Lori's suffering.  Yesterday afternoon she was finally released from her very sick body and was welcomed into the presence of Jesus.  I like to imagine that my sister Janet (her mom) and my parents were there to welcome her too.  In fact, her other grandparents too.  Lori was the first grandchild in both families when she was born right before Christmas in 1966.

Our family took that infamous road trip to Lakeland, Florida that Christmas to see her.  Elvin was serving as a conscientious objector during the draft at that time, and they lived in a household of other voluntary service workers.

Lori's battle with colon cancer began in 2001.  Many of you prayed when I had shared the need for healing upon her second diagnosis in 2009.  She has been the strongest, most gracious person I have ever known, having dealt with more pain and loss  (including divorce, the death of her mother, losses due to surgeries) in her life than anyone I know.  She was a beautiful woman of God to her very core.  Probably my most profound memory of her was at her mother's casket on the evening of the viewing.  She stood there with her hands raised as she declared through her tears, "I will NOT give up my faith, I will NOT give up my faith, I will NOT give up my faith."  She never did.  And now her faith is sight!

I have sat here and looked through many pictures in my Picasa files this morning.  Even though she has spent her entire adult life in Michigan,  we have had so many wonderful times together over the years.   Here's one from a "sister" sleepover in 2007.   She's the one in the middle.  I remember that I thought she and my sister Betty (to her right) looked so much alike on this picture.

This is probably my favorite picture of her.  We were having an evening of "pampering" at Mary Ellen's house, and Lori's bubbles were getting out of control!

At our last sister sleepover before Janet died (2004) we decided to give Lori a "Mennonite Makeover" since she had not grown up "plain" like we aunts had.  Oh my, how we laughed and laughed that night!

On that same weekend we visited Boyd's Bear Country near Gettysburg.  What a priceless picture this is - the last one I have of Lori with her mom. 

In 2008 we had a family meal in honor of her marriage to Jim.  It was such a happy occasion.  Thankfully we did not know at that point that colon cancer would strike again in less than a year.

Mary Ellen took this picture of them in 2011 - son Jared, daughter Sydney, stepson Bradley sitting in the chair.

I'm not sure how old this picture is or who I got it from, but I love it.  Sydney has grown into an absolutely lovely lady, just like her mom.  

There are so many things I could share about the things Lori's family (including her dad and brother) did this summer to make joyful memories they will be able to hold onto.  I'll just say now that the love and commitment this family has shown in the hardest of times is the most beautiful thing we have ever seen.  

Tomorrow Mary Ellen and I, and hopefully Doris, will travel to Michigan for the services this weekend.  It will be emotional, it will be very sad, and yet it will be joyful.  God's amazing grace will be washing over us all.

4-wheelin'; Grandma's Show and Tell

Yesterday our friends from Houserville House of Hope, Sharon and Ralph, invited us to a BBQ at their son's place in Mifflin County (about 45 minutes from here.)  It was a gorgeous day, thankfully not rainy like the beginning of our week was, or absolutely chilly like the end of our week was!

The setting in the mountains was spectacular, and so was the food and the relaxing atmosphere.

A friend of the family provided background music as we ate.  He was really good.

The three stooges, Jeff, Ralph, and Dick.

Sharon had warned me that she's going to be giving me a ride on the 4-wheeler.  Believe it or not, I had NEVER ridden on one before, and I wasn't at all sure I wanted to either!  But Lily and her mom Melody each went for a ride and got back safely….

I couldn't let them out-do me, right?  So I begged Sharon to please take it easy and not scare me.  I didn't want to die from a heart attack on a 4-wheeler, haha!  Melody assured me that the view at the top was amazing, so….

I climbed on board.

And tried to look brave!

Sharon gave me a nice "old lady" ride up the long, stony lane to her sister's house.  The view from there was unbelievable!!  And I only thought of it after we were up there that I did not have my camera or my phone with me to capture the beauty.  I was so disappointed.

This morning Fillmore hosted the joint worship service of the three churches in this charge.  I had again invited choir members from the other churches to join us for our choir special, and it was absolutely glorious.  I just LOVE pulling people together for things like that.

It's time for some Grandma Show and Tell.

Jenn posted this picture this afternoon with the caption, "Why is it so hard to stay awake holding a baby?  Baby magic."   How sweet is this??   I think she grew already since last weekend!

This morning Lisa posted this hilarious collage with the caption, "What to do on a monorail when you are stopped due to a time delay and you're in an empty car.."   Sophie always cracks me up!

Today is Jada's second birthday.  Frank posted this adorable collage.

Anthony, Lori, and Austin have been vacationing in Austin, Texas this week.  This was the picture Anthony posted from the little plane out of State College.  Can you tell that Austin is at a stage where he hates getting his picture taken??

This past week was Bjorn's first official football practice week.  He had a slight concussion on Wednesday and needed to take it easy the rest of the week.  That is hard for a guy to do, but these days, with all the attention on long-term side effects of concussions, they would be in trouble if they weren't ultra careful.  I am getting so excited to see him play - and I'm not even a football fan.  I'm just a Bjorn fan.  (-:

Benefeast; welcome Bianca Marie!

At last.  I'm breaking my week-and-a-half absence from blogging.  I'm quite sure this is a record for me, and I don't like it one bit.  I do wish I had a laptop that I could blog from when I'm away.  Trying it on my phone is just a great big pain and not worth the effort.

As I had mentioned before, last weekend we had a big fundraiser at Houserville House of Hope for local people dealing with cancer.  Dick and I and many others put a lot of time last week into preparations.  Local artists were there to both display and sell their work.  Our own Sally, a master quilter, let us put her work on display right in the sanctuary.  It looked awesome!

On Friday evening, among other groups and soloists, our praise team rocked the house.  I don't think we ever had so much fun or sounded so good.  Here I am leading from the piano, Dick on the bass guitar, my friends Sharon and Marybeth on vocals, and daughter-in-law Lori joining us for this event, adding the third harmony part.

Kael on guitar, Amy on flute, Carol on violin, and Renee on trumpet.  I guess the photographer caught them at a time they were not playing.

This young man from another group sat in on drums for us, since our drummer was in charge of the event and running the sound.  He fit right in, as though he always plays with us!

As soon as we were finished, I checked my phone and saw a text message from Sam that Jenn was in labor and they were in the hospital.  Suddenly the thought of waiting to see that baby until Sunday afternoon seemed unthinkable!  As we went through the rest of the evening, Lori and Dick and my Houserville friends assured me that I was not indispensable (ha!), and that I should feel free to go whenever I want.  So I got all our praise team music all ready for Sunday morning before I even left the church Friday night.  It was definitely easier than normal to take an unexpected Sunday off, since there would be no service at Fillmore.  They have been having joint services with the other two churches in their charge this month, and it was not Fillmore's turn to host.

Around 3:30 AM I got a text from Sam that Bianca Marie had arrived shortly after 2:00.  And guess what?  I could not go back to sleep after that!

Later in the morning, as I was trying to pack, I got a message from Lisa that George was in a graduation ceremony at University of Florida, getting his Masters in Pharmacy.  She gave the live link.  Sure enough, I was able to watch!  The speaker was wonderful, a doctor and obviously a man of faith in God.  As they started to read the names of the graduates, it seemed like there were lots of people in the A's and B's, so I thought it would be a while till they got to the H's.  I went to the kitchen for something to eat, and I heard "George J. Haag".  I ran back to the computer to take a picture, but was not ready for a good one!

As they filed out afterward I tried again.   Congratulations, George!!  I'm so proud to be your mother-in-law!

After that excitement, I finished getting myself and my packing done.  My brain was in a fog after such a short night of sleep, so I decided to nap for an hour.  By then it was after 2:00.  All day I felt so pulled in two directions.  I knew Anthony was performing at the Benefeast at 3 and I REALLY wanted to hear him.  But baby Bianca was REALLY pulling on my heart too!!   Sam called and said not to hurry down.  They were both so tired from missing a night of sleep and were going to try to catch some naps.  That helped me decide.

I went to the church just in time to hear  Anthony's show.  Oh. My. Goodness!!  He has not performed for three years.  His bass player and drummer do not play with him; they had ONE practice.  The songs they did were Anthony's originals from years ago.  Let me tell you, there was no way you could believe that they do not regularly perform together, that Anthony does not sing those songs all the time.  They were INCREDIBLE!  If anything,  Anthony's guitar playing has only gotten better in these last three years.  Lori and I both agreed we had forgotten how good he is.  No wonder his Texas Blues Alley Facebook page has over 9000 likes!

I caught a few of my friends "gettin' down" during one of his songs!

When his show was over, I finally got on the road.  I went straight to the Good Samaritan Hospital in Lebanon.  Sweet, sleepy Bianca never opened her eyes for me!

By evening they had already spent so much time with her that they could hardly believe it was still the same day she was born!  I love the way they keep babies and parents together in hospitals these days.  Jenn said that Bianca never left that room!  She was born right there in Jenn's room, and everything they needed to do to her was done right there in the room.  They've come a long way since the days when my friends and I felt the need to find alternative birth options in order to keep our babies with us.

When I left the hospital I went to Dick's parents for a visit.  Two of Dick's brother Bob's daughters were there - Juanita from North Carolina and Judi and family from Wisconsin.  We had a very good time together.

I spent the night at Grandma Mary's, but I was so late arriving that she was already in bed by the time I got there.  We had a little bit of time together over coffee in the morning.

I picked up Bjorn from where he lives at Dick's brother Fred's place and took him to the 10:30 service at Manheim Brethren in Christ church.  I really enjoyed the service and seeing a number of people for the first time in ages.  Because I always had worship leading responsibilities at Grace when we lived there, and because we miss our friends at Grace and like to go there to church when we spend weekends down there, I have seldom ever had the chance to visit other churches.  So it was good.

After the service Bjorn and I met up with Ray at Old Country Buffet - a very good place to get your money's worth when you're feeding the two biggest eaters in your family!

Needless to say, we had fun together.  We're getting excited for Bjorn's upcoming football season at Manheim Central.  It sounds like he's doing alright!  Dick and I will be doing a whole lot of Friday night driving this fall.

After I took Bjorn home I went to Grandma Mary's to catch a nap, then to Sam and Jenn's.  They had come home from the hospital earlier in the day, and Jenn's folks had brought Sammy home.  I had an absolutely wonderful evening hanging out with them.  I held Bianca for a long, long time, and she did let me see her eyes just a little bit!  

Sammy was obviously feeling the fact that he was no longer the only center of attention!  So he and I went outside for a walk and sat on a park bench along a trail behind their house for the longest time, just talking about birds and branches falling out of trees, and petting dogs that came along, and all kinds of simple, joyful things.  Here are my wonderful pics from the evening.

Look at those piano-playing fingers!

The new family picture!

You're still Daddy's boy, Sammy!

Again I spent the night at Grandma Mary's.  We had a good, old-fashioned "sleepover" this time,  You know, the kind where you stay up and talk till way too late?  We didn't have anywhere to go in the morning anyway.  It was wonderful.  In the morning we lazed around over breakfast and then went through some of my dad's sermon files, laughing at the funny things he had clipped and saved, missing him together.  I am just so blessed to have her.  Look at her glorious flower bed!

When I left her place I went to Dick's parents for lunch.  I caught Dad sitting outside napping.  I'm sure that's a very easy thing to do in their lovely surroundings.  And when you still work hard at the age of 89!  This is his vegetable garden.  His flowers are gorgeous too.  I should have gotten a picture of them as well.  He continues to amaze and inspire us, especially considering how we thought his life may be almost over three years ago.  Wow.  God has been very, very good.

I drove to Reading in the afternoon to pick up Destiny and took her to Sam and Jenn's to see Bianca.  We didn't stay long, and then headed home to State College.

We were both sleepy, so we did the ABC game, then the "We're Going on a Trip" game.  Did you ever do that?  Each person adds an item taken on the trip, in alphabetical order.  It's good for the memory!  We were having so much fun with it, and had just finished it right before we stopped for the bathroom at the Mifflintown exit.  So we decided to do a video of us reciting it.  We were feeling so silly!  

When I posted the video on Facebook that evening, someone teased me about the "Newports" we took along, because they're cigarettes.  I honestly did not realize that!!  I thought they were a brand of shoes!  I googled and found out they are indeed men's shoes, but when I asked Destiny what she had in mind when she added it, I found out that she WAS  thinking of cigarettes!  So the joke was on me, haha!



On Tuesday I worked at the office a while, we shopped for groceries, and went to Goodwill to look for some clothes for her (we did GOOD!)  I wish I had taken pictures.  Of course we had learned the news of Robin William's very sad death, so in the evening we watched one of our favorite movies, Mrs. Doubtfire.  

Destiny had something that she wanted to earn money to buy, so while we watched the movie she also worked at alphabetizing all my recipes and cut tags for the Mommy Shoppe and other things.  This was her list, complete with strokes for each chore.  That's the method I've been using ever since our children were little.  Back in the day each stroke was worth a dime.  Times have changed, hahaha!

Dick's dad had given me an eggplant and some tomatoes from his garden.  So dinner on Tuesday was fried eggplant sandwiches and sliced tomatoes - one of my all-time favorite summer meals. 

We had planned for Destiny to stay until Sunday, but she remembered Monday evening that she had an orthodontist appointment on Wednesday.  I called to see if it could be changed, but no luck, unless she wanted to wait until October!!  Not a good idea when a girl has braces.   She also remembered that she had orientation at the Jr. High school Thursday morning, which may have been optional, but not a good idea to skip.  

So sadly, yesterday I took her home.  We had so many more things we wanted to do this week.  I can't believe summer is almost over.  We HAVE packed a lot into it.  

And it's not over yet!

She's here!

Just announcing here that Bianca Marie was born around 2 am on Saturday.  I got to hold her that very evening.  I have much more to blog about and many pictures to share from this EVENTFUL weekend, but until I have time to do so, here is one picture.  

Also, check out Sam and Jenn's new family picture on my side bar.  

Another uneventful weekend (sigh!)

Another uneventful weekend almost over.  That baby girl that's supposed to be making an appearance has a mind of her own already!  All week long I kept working ahead in my schedule, just in case she would arrive and I would want to make a trip to see her.  As the week progressed, I was sure I would be able to go down Friday and Saturday, if….  But the "if" did not come to pass!  

We have the Benefeast fundraiser at Houserville coming up Friday and Saturday and necessary preparations for that.  I have a very necessary hair appointment this week.  And all my jobs.  So if she's born tomorrow I might not have time to see her for a whole weeeeeeeekkkk!!  Can you hear me wail?? Haha!!  I guess it's not about me, is it?  She'll come when she's ready.  And I have waited a lot longer than a week to see some of my grandchildren.  I did not see Katrina or Bjorn till they were five MONTHS old!  And we did not have internet when they were born either, so we literally waited to see even a picture of them until they came in the MAIL!   With Sophie we had internet and pictures immediately, but we did not see her in person for three weeks.  So I guess I'll live if I have to wait a few days to see this little lady.  

Our weather has been extremely unsummerly.  I like it and I don't like it.  It makes me feel like it's almost fall, which makes me feel half depressed.  But I do love how much I'm getting to enjoy sitting on my side porch this summer.  I often sit out there to do things I would ordinarily do at the dining room table - book work, music prep, eating, of course.  I feel so peaceful when I sit out there.  

I took my seasonal picture out the back door of my church office this week.

I decided it was probably time to do my four-seasons collage for this year. 

Yesterday our neighbors cut down one of the evergreens between our houses.  They wanted more sunlight on their side porch and the tree was quite ugly.  The one closer to the street is taller and much more beautiful.  But I really miss the privacy screen it provided.  It's good we like our neighbors.  

We had rain overnight, HEAVY rain this morning, and flash flooding.  After church we met Anthony and Lori at IHOP and brought Austin home with us.  He just loved the water we had to drive through and told Grandpa to drive really fast!  He just wished he would be able to ride his bike through it.

Later this afternoon we sat on the front porch and the sun had come out beautifully.  We could hear thunder, however.  I said,  "I guess someone is still having a storm."  Austin said,  "Maybe in New Jersey."  Lori cracked up when she heard that.  We have no idea when he has heard of New Jersey.  

I took a picture of a lily that's still blooming.

Lori and Anthony hung out here for a couple of hours later this afternoon.  Our lives intersect all week long, but we often do not see much of each other or have time to talk.  So this was nice. 

Dick had a PET scan this week.  His doctor sent him a message that he was happy with what he saw.  He'll give more details at Dick's appointment this week.  We were very happy to hear that!!  AND the dry cough is getting better, thank you, Jesus!   Now, we pray that his energy and endurance will all come back too.