One of the highlights of our annual weekends together (probably THE highlight for most of us) is the Sunday morning worship service, especially singing together. We stand according to vocal parts (soprano, alto, tenor, and bass) and sing acapella - favorite hymns and Gaither songs from the past.

For my dad, there is nothing closer to being in Heaven than singing with his family.

Doris, Barb, and I sang as a trio for many years, even made two records, so whenever Barb comes in from Idaho, we sing together and it sounds just like old times.

I must have been hitting a high note on that one!

After the singing my dad shared a meditation and some stories that brought both laughter and tears.

As always, we took time to share some of the meaningful things that have taken place in our lives in the past year. Here my brother-in-law Scott was sharing some very touching things from his experience with neck/spine surgery in January. The surgery worked and he is doing GREAT!

We gathered around my dad and stepmother to pray for them as they face my dad's health issues and upcoming surgery, as well as other heavy things and thanksgivings in our family. I guess we didn't even think of cameras during that part of the service.

Just as we ended the prayer time we noticed that it had gotten darker outside. Soon a heavy storm arrived and the rain came down in buckets. It was actually a lot of fun to watch it from the inside, and we were thankful it had waited until Sunday. Before long it was sunny and hot again.

As always, the weekend was far too short to do all we had hoped to do - just long enough to give us our annual "family fix" and the deep desire to come back next year for more. We are blessed and we know it.

Home again

We're home again, but no time to post many pictures yet. My sister Betty and her family are here overnight. Here are just two pictures from the weekend.

Good times ahead

We're packed and ready to go for the weekend - away from the computer, but connected In PERSON with my precious dad, stepmother, sisters, neices, nephews, in-laws. Good times ahead!

Grandma's casserole

This was my cooking day for the big weekend coming up. For this event my meal is usually what I call Grandma's casserole. Years ago Dick's mother came across this recipe, a combination of hamburger, peas, noodles, cream soups, and sour cream with a bread crumb topping. It was a great hit back then and it still is. As far as I know the recipe never had a name, so I have always called it Grandma's casserole.

I also gave a piano lesson to my student Alyssa today. (Her family goes to the church where Dick's folks attend.) Alyssa asked me what I had made - the three big pans were still on the counter. I told her it was Grandma's casserole, and then I proceeded to explain what it's made of and why we call it that. She said, "Oh, yeah, I think we call it Ruth Stauffer's casserole!" That made me laugh. In fact it made me miss her.

Ruth was an absolutely amazing woman with a great sense of humor (how else could you raise five boys born in eight years' time?) She was extremely creative, resourceful, and organized as well as a very talented artist. When Lisa was a tiny baby Dick and I needed a place to live for a few weeks between apartments, so we lived in with his parents and three younger brothers. I learned so much from her those five weeks and we got along so well. Sadly she lost a battle with ovarian cancer at the age of 53 on August 2, 1981. We were with her when she went from this world to the next, and it was an absolutely precious experience. Her very last words were, "I give all for Jesus."

But believe me, Ruth Stauffer lives on. An absolutely amazing number of her grandchildren are extremely artistic and creative. It's so much fun to see each of them pursue his/her own artistic path.

A rainy day

This was a rainy day after a stormy night, and the way it sounds outside, another storm is coming through. It's so wonderful when God does our watering for us, isn't it? I took a few shots of my flowers this evening between the raindrops. See those portulacas hanging out over the walk? I didn't plant them there. Two years ago I planted some and the rabbits immediately ate most of them. So I gave up on portulacas. But then last summer some of them came up voluntarily, even though they are not considered to be a perennial. Lo and behold, this year they came up four different places right along the edge of the walk. Apparently their seeds go for a walk during the winter and decide where they feel like coming up!

Last year I planted some chicks and hens in this flower bed. They barely made it out of the ground last year, but this year two of them suddenly shot straight up and got purple flowers on top. They're the funniest looking things.

This morning Destiny and I went to the old Manheim Central Jr. High school to look at some desks they are getting rid of. My principal and some former students were there with a trailer to load a bunch of them up for our school. They had some chorus chairs with foldable desktops that would take up less space than the big desks that are in my classroom. Because of increased enrollment I have to somehow figure out how to get 24 desks in my room, and it's full with 18 because of the risers. So what's the problem? Those chorus chairs are UGLY! They're brown. Just when I was getting a Mexican theme going because of my orange chairs and bright blue door. Oh my, what to do, what to do??

We went to the gym after that. This afternoon we had her routine ADHD checkup at the doctor, then we went to church to take the musician's notebooks for Sunday (I won't be there). While I was there and Destiny was having fun playing in the nursery, I took about an hour to figure out some more fun things on my digital piano. Oh boy, oh boy! Could I ever shock the daylights out of everyone some Sunday morning with some of those funky rhythms! And the classical songs that are stored in that instrument are beyond amazing.

We also got groceries for the weekend. This coming weekend will by my family's annual get-together. My sister Rose and her family from Atlanta, my sister Betty and her family from New Hampshire, and my sister Barb and her daughter Jill from Idaho will all be coming. There will be about 33 - 35 of us altogether, which is really a small number compared to usual, but all six of us sisters will be there. (It's hard to say "all six", because it was always seven until Janet died.) There's lots of food to prepare, but it's so worth it!

Tomorrow (24th) our Swedish granddaughter Katrina will be celebrating her 15th birthday. She's getting ready for a mission trip to Spain. Katrina is a beautiful girl inside and out. I hope I will finally get to see her in person this year. Here's a picture of her and grandpa when he was over to visit in March.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, KATRINA!

Gadding about

I have been doing nothing but gadding about so far today. I left home at 8 AM to take Destiny to her daddy's apartment in Lancaster, then went to Cracker Barrel at the Rockvale outlets. Dick had already gone there right from work (he had a job he had to get out, so he had gone to work first for an hour or so), and shortly thereafter our friends Glenda and Bob from Milford, Nebraska arrived. They are attending a reunion in Lancaster County this week and this was the only time we could get to see them.

Dick and Bob, both auto mechanics.

Glenda and I "met" through a church paper when we were in the 7th grade and became penpals. We have stayed in touch over the years as we have married and raised our families. This is the fourth time we have been together in person and it always feels so comfortable. Our lives have paralleled each other's in many ways, even down to the color of our clothes and our hair, ha, ha, ha!! When she was here eight years ago we discovered we had earrings alike! I think we had dresses alike too. How crazy is that?

From there I went to a luncheon with some of my coworkers. It was hosted by Melissa who (along with her husband, of course) bought our farmhouse from us three years ago. It was fun to see our old house, but even more fun to get together with these ladies. They are a hoot, every one of them. Actually, Melissa doesn't teach at our school anymore, but she misses us. How can she not?? We miss her too. She was always the life of the party, I mean of the staff room and the office and the halls and wherever she was. She's the one beside me at the head of the table. Sometime I should tell the story of the months preceding our move in 2005. Our two families practically lived together for a few months as they started working on the second floor while we still lived on the first floor. We had so much fun.

My Monday Saturday

Today was more like a Saturday for me, because I had so much catching up to do after being away Friday and Saturday - the everlasting bookwork and bills, groceries, the kitchen sink (my little dishwasher had not kept up while I was away, ha, ha!!) She and I were still in our night shirts at 2:00 this afternoon and didn't leave for the gym until 5:00.

There are two things that I have been trying to remember to do for several months and NEVER could remember. The one is taking my own magazine along to the gym and the other is taking the reusable grocery bags along into the grocery store.

Since I can no longer use the treadmill (because of my foot) with its private TV that made the time go by so fast, I have had to resort to reading while I'm on the elliptical. The magazines at the gym are so outdated, but I have read them anyway just to pass the time. I even read up on the Rotary Club in South Korea. Did you know that the head of the Rotary International is from South Korea? Well I do! Anyway, today I FINALLY remembered to bring my own magazine for the very first time. Yea, me!

And about those reusable grocery bags. A few months ago I bought three of them for 99 cents each. I felt so good about myself for being so ecologically savvy. But do you think I can EVER remember to take them to the store? At first I kept them in the trunk. Bad idea. Out of sight, out of mind. So I moved them to the floor of the passenger side of my car. Still no luck. Frequently I have actually reached down and put them on the passenger seat as I was driving to the store so that I would notice them when I reached for my purse. Still no luck. Until this evening. I had just walked into the store when I saw a display of reusable bags for sale. I remembered my bags and walked right back out to my car to get them. Wow!! I remembered a magazine AND my grocery bags all on the same day! But unfortunately, my purse ended up being on top of those bags in my grocery cart and I never noticed them until I was ready to pay. The speedy cashier had already bagged up all my stuff into plastic bags. Well, it was at least one step closer, right?

Lloyd and Ashley's wedding

On Saturday, while I was in Florida, Dick attended the wedding of Lloyd, one of my assistant worship leaders at church, and his beautiful fiance Ashley. The wedding was held on the lovely lawn of Ashley's aunt and uncle, Les and Darlene, who also go to our church. I truly hated to miss the wedding. I've known Lloyd since he was an adorable little boy back in the late 80's when his family and our family started attending our church. He is such a blessing to me. But it occurred to me that on his wedding day Lloyd probably would not really notice or care if I was absent. However, Jeremy WOULD notice and care if I missed seeing him perform in Oklahoma. So that's what helped me to decide what to do. Below are some beautiful pictures that Dick took at the wedding.

Lloyd's family: his one older sister has four daughters (on the left), and his other older sister has one little son whom Lloyd is holding on this picture.

To Florida and back in a day

(Boy, doesn't that sound like the title of a book?!!)

I had a very short night Thursday night and left the house at 6 AM for the Baltimore Airport. It was a very sunny morning, and I decided I'd almost rather drive in the dark. I hit much more traffic this time too. But everything went fine, I don't even have an airport bathroom story to tell, and I was winging my way south by 10:15.

Jeremy picked me up. He was struggling with a sore throat, so we went to a vitamin store to fix him up with some quick remedies. Then we ate lunch at the Barnes and Noble cafe where he works part time.

Once at his house he was working on getting some of his things organized for his new quarter at the Art Institute of Tampa while I read my new book. Molly was begging us to play with her.

Here are some pictures of his tiny patio with its gardens and newly laid pavers.

Jeremy and I each took a nap. His friend Mike came after work and we went to Mimi's Cafe to meet Lisa and George and Sophie.

I was SO happy to see my precious Sophie again. We sat next to each other and made way too much noise.

Lisa and George have "eye issues" when they get their pictures taken. For her humorous take on the matter, please see her blog post.

Just having fun together!

After we ate, George took Sophie home since the show was going to be very long and late. Lisa, Mike, and I went to see the show. What a hoot! Jeremy was Will Parker, the one on the left in the picture below. In this scene he had just come back from Kansas City and was boasting to Aunt Eller and the guys about all the sights he had seen there.

He also had learned some fancy, new dance steps and was teaching them to the rest. At the end of the scene he was leaving and saying good by, and as he walked off he said in a thick southern drawl, "And I split my pants!" Well, everyone cracked up, quite sure that wasn't one of the lines in the musical. We wondered if he really had split his pants, and if one of us would need to run to his house to get another pair of jeans. When he came out for the next scene, sure enough - he had different jeans on, about three inches too short! And yes indeed, he had split his pants!!!

As Will Parker, he was persuing his heart throb, Ado Annie, who was also swayed by a flirtatious peddler. She would swoon as the peddler would show her what a "Paris Goodbye" was like, but Will showed her what an "Oklahoma Hello" was like. Oh my word! HILARIOUS! If only I had a picture of it.

Here he is with his Ado Annie afterward. She was so, so funny, and so was he.

Lisa and I were amused as we watched little adoring fans come up to Jeremy afterward to get his autograph!

And here we are afterward at Jeremy's house - once again I am a happy, proud mama.

I slept so soundly on Friday night that I did not wake up even once until 7:30 AM. I forgot I was in Florida and was completely surprised to find myself in Lisa's guest room. (Honest - I wasn't drunk when I went to bed! I was just that exhausted!)

Sophie did not just call up the steps for Memaw this time, she came running up to find me! We had several hours of fun on Saturday morning. We played tent....

we played with her "Fuzzy Family"....

and we just acted crazy!