A WONDERFUL retreat weekend

I had a WONDERFUL weekend at Camp Hebron with the women from Erisman Mennonite Church.  Since the church is located near our home town of Manheim, I had connections that went way back with many, many of the women. And even many of the ones I did not know, I soon discovered I had connections with.  

The Sylvan View Retreat Center at Camp Hebron is such a lovely, cozy facility. 

Gina Burkhart, beautiful mother of five, was the speaker at the three sessions.  Her theme was friendship.

And of course, I led the praise and worship.  There's something really special about women's voices harmonizing together, and I purposely let off on the piano from time to time just to hear that beautiful sound.  

Lots of laughter and plenty of tears.  Such a beautiful time together.

One of the people along on the retreat this weekend was my friend Elta.  She and her husband bought a farm near Camp Hebron several years ago and have turned the house into a retreat center which they rent out.  It can sleep 21 people, if I remember correctly.  On Saturday afternoon Elta took a number of us on a tour of Creek Haven. 

On the kitchen table was a scrapbook filled with before and after pictures.  A LOT of work went into turning this neglected, outdated house into a lovely haven.  

 While I had a wonderful time this weekend, I did struggle with a dreadful headache much of the time, as I have been for over a week.  I'm wondering if I have a sinus infection left over from the cold I had a few weeks ago.  After lunch today I debated trying to nap on one of the couches in the retreat center before driving home (it was POURING raining).  Then I decided instead to go to the truck stop that is just a few miles from camp, and take a nap in the car.  

When I got there I decided to check Accuweather on my phone.  I discovered that in State College the rain would be turning to snow by 3:00.  So I bought a cup of coffee and some munchies and hit the road.  It was horrible driving - windy, driving rain, followed by sleet and then snow.  I was sooooo glad to get home. 

We're practically having a blizzard.  But I don't even care.  At this time of year the snow won't stick around for long. 

Actually, I remember a number of snow events the week of Penn State's spring break.  Maybe this week I'll post some of those memories and pictures.

Not a fun drive

When I left the gas station near State College last evening at 5:15, I knew what to expect. Penn State students were leaving campus in droves for Spring Break. I hit stop-and-go traffic before long. It took me an hour to go fifteen miles, so of course it was dark for the rest of my trip to Camp Hebron. For some reason I was dreadfully sleepy and my head was pounding. I was beyond thankful to finally arrive at 7:45. It felt like midnight to me.

Seeing many friendly, familiar faces among the women from Erisman Mennonite Church, and a fun game of Bingo soon had me feeling all better. I'm looking forward to a great weekend of fun and inspiration.

My thoughts are with Jeremy today. He is making the trip from the Tampa area to DC with many torn emotions. How well I can relate!

Now I need to see if I can find some place in this retreat center that has good enough reception for me to publish this.

Tupperware potty and cardboard gown

I've been keeping really busy this week.  In addition to my regular routine I'm preparing for a weekend of leading worship for a ladies' retreat at Camp Hebron near Harrisburg.  

I took several really cute pictures of Austin today, but my computer is acting weird about saving them right now.  So I'll show you the funny one I took, not of him, but of his "work".

I think he must have been putting the teddy bear on my Tupperware pitcher to go potty!  This is how I found it!

Later at Anthony and Lori's he discovered a collapsed cardboard box with the recycling stuff.  He had a different idea of how to recycle a cardboard box.

Baby shower, stomach bug

On Saturday morning we, along with Lori and Austin, headed out early for Lancaster County.  Dick's niece Laura, who had been Destiny's WONDERFUL, AMAZING kindergarten teacher at Manheim Christian, is expecting her first baby, and we were invited to her baby shower.  Laura is on the right.  On the left is her brother Eric's wife Suzi, who planned the shower from their home in Virginia!  Laura didn't even know Suzi was in Pa until she saw her at the shower.

This is a row of Stauffer women.  Notice the blue necklaces?  Especially the ones on Krista (fourth from left)?  At the very beginning of the shower Suzi handed everyone a blue yarn necklace, complete with a tiny yellow rubber duckie.  Throughout the entire shower we were not to use the word "cute".  If anyone heard us use that word they could take our necklace.  Well! How do you NOT say cute at a baby shower???  I lost mine almost right away! 

Dear Lori had her hands full occupying the cutest boy in the room.  I guess we should have let Pawpaw entertain him while we were at the shower.  There were just way too many things there that he wanted to touch and play with and rip apart and throw.  Definitely not a place for a rough and tumble boy!

Last week Lori had a stomach bug for a few days.  Yesterday morning my stomach felt queasy.  I ate just a little bit at the shower.  I wasn't even in the mood for the yummy looking Chex mix.  That is not normal!!  On the trip back home I was feeling horrible and just could not get warm.

After we got home at 5:30 I hit the couch with covers piled on top of me.  Absolutely no amount of covers, even an antique wool comforter from my cedar chest, could keep me from shivering. I dozed all evening, went to bed at 9:30, blankets piled high, and slept eight hours. At some point I woke up HOT and got rid of the wool comforter on top. I still believe in the old wives tale that a fever needs to be sweated out!

I felt better this morning.  I had to feel better.  I was subbing for the piano player at Fillmore UM (8:15 service), and then doing an offertory special at Zion Community Church (10:45 service.)  Dick was accompanying all of the above with his guitar, but it was clear as the morning wore on that he felt worse than I did.  We came home after that second service, and he hit the couch.  He's been snoring ever since.  I tried a piece of toast a while ago, but it doesn't feel very good in there, and my head is just pounding again.   Waaaaah.  What's going on here?  My immune system used to fight all these things off before they actually got me down.  I guess pride goeth before a fall, haha!

Well, time to sleep some more.

Singing group memories

This morning my friend Kati posted some lyrics on FB from a Dallas Holm song.  I decided to go to Rhapsody and listen to some Dallas Holm.  Oh. My. Word.  Talk about being taken BACK!!  In the 80's we had a group called The Freedom Singers who sang a number of Dallas Holm songs, including Hey, I'm a Believer Now and Rise Again.  I posted on FB about the memories those songs brought to me, which led to a fun thread of comments from former group members.  One comment was about the itchy blue dresses we girls wore, which made me think about a picture we had in those dresses that I should post.  So here goes!

But before I post that picture, I must post another.  Long before there was the group called The Freedom Singers, there was the group called The Witmer Trio.  We sisters sang acappella from the time we were in elementary school until I married Dick and he began accompanying us with his guitar.  Here was our Mennonite hippie look in 1975:  me, Barb, and Doris with Dick, the cool guitar player.  Please notice his plaid double knit  pants!  I think I made them.  The only time I ever made a pair of pants.

Eventually we added Don, a bass guitar player, to our group, and I played a portable keyboard.  We even made two records!  

Then my sister Barb got too busy being a dairy farmer's wife, and Doris and I were having too many babies, so we called it quits. 

But before long Dick and I were itching to start a group again.  Bass player Don was still available, and we pulled Dick's brother Steve and a girl named Nancy together.  The first place we sang the guest preacher said that we sang with such freedom we should be called The Freedom Singers.  And The Freedom Singers we became. 

Nancy got married after about a year and moved further away, so we pulled in another girl named Linda.  She stuck with us for several years, and it was she who reminisced today about our itchy blue dresses. 

And now, The Freedom Singers in the itchy blue dresses and matching ties: Steve, Linda, me, Dick, and Don.

After a few years Linda got married and moved away, and by that time my sister Doris thought she was done having babies and was available to sing again.  Our children, Steve's children, and Doris's children were all within the same age range, and we even put them on the stage for a song or two every place we went. 

Here's a picture from that era.  It must have been after 1985 when I finally got contacts for the first time. And Dick had been told his eyes had improved and he didn't need glasses or contacts, lucky guy.

We sang together until the summer of 1987.  At that point Don had become a long distance truck driver and wasn't always available, and Dick and I had been called to lead the worship at Grace Community Fellowship, which required a bigger time commitment. 

I wish I had some way to post some of our songs.  They're all on cassette tapes, and not the greatest quality either. But just indulge me and let me pat my own back a little when I say, "We were GOOD!" 

Pawpaw and music

Dick had off work today, so for Austin it was a Pawpaw day.  Here are some of the pictures I took.

Austin has developed a chest cold, so breathing treatments are needed several times a day.  After I gave him lunch, Pawpaw gave him his treatment.  After a few minutes I looked in on them, and this is what I saw - both of them asleep!

After his nap it was snack time with Pawpaw.  He likes my homemade granola.

Then Pawpaw introduced him to the harmonica.  He showed him how to blow into it.  And when he did and it made music.....

...Austin was very, very pleased with himself!

Next it was the piano.  

He especially likes the setting that sounds like vocal oohs and aahs.  Music and Pawpaw.  It doesn't get much better than that!

Is it or isn't it?

My friend Cheryl somehow took a picture of the brief moment on last night's video that shows someone who looks very much like Ray.  Thank you, Cheryl!!  

Those of you who know Ray - look at the guy in front.  Does that look like Ray or what???  It seems like he should just be able to look over here and say something corny like he always does. 

Keep praying for Ray

I went to bed last night breathing prayers for Ray's safety. When I awoke in the wee hours of the morning I thought of him and prayed. I knew that his ship is based in a very dangerous area. And that "security" is his official job in the Navy.

This morning I was sad to read the news that the four Americans who had been captured by the Somali pirates had been killed during the night. I read how the US forces had boarded the yacht after the gunshots to come to their aid, and how they took the pirates captive.

Later today I was told that Ray had been one of those US forces. I found a video this evening on the news that shows some of our guys on that yacht and there is the briefest view of one who looks and handles himself so much like Ray. I have watched it over and over and over and over again, pausing it, enlarging it, making it go forward and backward. I have no doubt that the protection of the Lord is with him and that he senses it.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/politics-15749652/u-s-navy-4-american-hostages-killed-by-pirates-24273916

Thyda is longing to hear from him. We cried together on the phone this evening. My heart aches for her. At the same time my heart is bursting with pride for him. As he comes to your mind, please lift him to the Lord.

The Here and Now

I have realized that my past week of posts have been mostly about the past - partly because it's fun for me to think about the past and partly because it's hard to know what to write about the present.  But since I often find myself using my blog as a diary, I guess I'd better get to writing about the here and now in case I ever want to check back and see what was going on in February 2011. 

We had the most AWESOME weather last Thursday and Friday.  Just gave me such an emotional lift!  Unfortunately it was followed by bitter and extreme wind over the weekend, which was followed by this:

 With more to come tonight.  It makes me feel like crying.  But at least on FB today, this picture was followed by a whole lot of conversation among my sisters about how much fun it would be to take a sister trip to Lisa's house in Florida.  Just thinking about how much fun that would be lifted my spirits. 

And of course, Austin always lifts my spirits.  Being with him never, ever gets old.  He enjoys crayons and paints and chalk.  Probably another Stauffer artist in the making. 

A really fun thing are his blocks.  As always, seeing how high we can build them is a great challenge, but the best part is watching him learn more and more of the letters, numbers, and objects on the blocks.  Even matching them!  

The biggest news is that Jeremy has been snatched from Ashley Furniture by Regency Furniture in the Baltimore/DC area.  It is a great career move for him, but was not an easy decision to make at all.  He HATES cold weather, and he has loved living near to George and Lisa and Sophie.  So making this move holds a lot of excitement, but also a whole lot of sorrow.  Needless to say, for Lisa's family, the sorrow is probably even deeper. My heart aches for them all.  On the other hand, it's amazing to me to imagine Jeremy living within a four hour's drive from us.  And I'm very, very proud of Jeremy for the way he is so quickly becoming a valuable, sought-after interior designer.  

My thoughts and prayers are constantly with Ray.  His ship is part of a fleet that is based right smack in the middle of all the unrest that is taking place in the Middle East.  It's so hard for Thyda being in VA away from family, without Ray, sometimes going days without hearing from him.  Thankfully, she does have a support system there.  

I'm excited about upcoming opportunities for music ministry.  This coming Sunday I will be substituting for the piano player at Fillmore UM.  Dick will play his twelve-string with me.  The following weekend I will be leading worship at a women's retreat at Camp Hebron.  Dick has now joined the choir at Fillmore, so it's fun practicing together.  We really, really enjoy the friendships we are building with the people at this little church. 

Birth control advice from the olden days

As I was reading Dick's baby book yesterday, I noticed that he did not walk until he was 15 months old - same as Austin! Then this morning I was thinking what that must have been like for his parents. Dick's brother Bob was born when Dick was just 11 months old. So for four months they had two non-walking babies! Look at them - Dickie and Bobby, as they were called! (And of course, we see on this one again the resemblance of Dick, on the left, to Austin.)

I was reminded of a funny story Dick's mother used to tell. She was such a good story teller. As we all know, the subject of how babies were made, and how to keep them from being made, was not something commonly discussed back in those days. Not even between mothers and daughters. Dick's mother said that she got pregnant on her honeymoon. Unfortunately, that pregnancy ended in a miscarriage. But shortly thereafter she was pregnant again, and little Dickie was born. When she found herself pregnant again when her baby was only a few months old, her mom told her, "Well, RUTH!! You need to watch yourself!" Dick's mother told me, "I wanted to say, 'But you never told me how to watch myself!'" She went on to have three more little boys in the next few years - Stevie, Jimmy, and Freddie. We wouldn't want it any other way!!

A few years before that my parents were busy starting their family - Janet, Richard, and Mary Ellen, each a year apart. Here's what they looked like about the time I came on the scene.

And why wasn't I born just a year after Mary Ellen? Instead of four-and-a-half years later? Apparently my dad took some birth control advice from the "nurse" that came to help my mother after each of her first three babies were born. Martha was a feisty single woman who easily spoke her mind. When she came to help my mother after Mary Ellen's birth she said, "Well, Mabel, I think you need to make Paul sleep under the bed." Hmmm. (I AM kidding about my dad actually taking that advice, I hope you know!!)

So the advice to you young couples starting out - Girls, watch yourselves! Guys, sleep under the bed!

Familiar-looking little guy

Does this little guy look at all familiar? It's one of the many pictures in Dick's baby book that remind us of Austin! I'd try to show you more of them, but his dear mother GLUED the pictures into the book and there's no getting them out! I guess I could cut them out, but that seems like an awful thing to do after all the loving care she put into putting that book together.

Happy Birthday, Jeremy!

On this day in 1980 at 12:45 AM, our family, which at that time consisted of Dick and me, Lisa and Anthony, welcomed Jeremy into our family. We had a well-planned, properly attended home birth, because that's the way we wanted it. We woke Lisa and Anthony up after Jeremy was born, but I'm not sure Anthony was completely awake! And here's how we looked back then: (sorry about the very poor picture quality)

Meanwhile my dear friend Elta was hosting a party in the kitchen for everyone but me. That's our doctor waving, Dr. Nicolazzo. I had to beg him into agreeing to a home birth, but he decided if it came with food afterward, he might do more. And he did.

I know this all sounds just too weird to most of you, but it really was a wonderful, joyful, fun night. I'm glad we did it that way.

Happy Birthday, Jeremy! What fun and joy you have brought to our family since that night in 1980! I surely would love to be with you to celebrate it like I was two years ago when this picture was taken.

Have a great day and an exciting year!

Strange weekend, more changes

This is the first weekend since we moved to State College that Dick has off work and we are neither going to Lancaster County nor having company here.  And it feels very, very strange.  

As I mentioned before, our church in Lancaster County hired a new Minister of Music, so we no longer need to make the trip for me to lead worship.  What I didn't mention before was that I was pretty sure that two weeks ago was our last weekend with Destiny for a while.  A few weeks ago Destiny's mother told us that she and the children would be moving to Florida to be near her sister.  As much as I knew I would miss Destiny, it felt to me like it could be a good move for them.  Destiny LOVES Florida, having gone with us many, many times, so she was excited about it.  The move has not been without controversy, however, so I have been breathing prayers day and night.  And trying to play the role of peacemaker.  They did move this week.  Yesterday afternoon I got a text message that said, "Grandma can u call Lisa and Jeremy to tell them that I am in Florida."   I texted her their phone numbers so she could call them herself.  It wasn't too long till I got phone calls from both Lisa and Jeremy telling me they had gotten calls from Destiny.  Hopefully they will be able to get to see her since they're only an hour or so apart.   And of course, we have even more reason now to make trips down there and hopefully move there someday.  At this point of the weary winter weather, that sounds like a wonderful idea!

When Destiny was here for Christmas break I saw something on my friend Mary Ann's blog that grabbed my heart, and I knew I needed to get it for Destiny.  We went to the Hallmark store, and I bought it and gave it to her.  Now I'm SO glad I did.  Here's the picture of it from Mary Ann's blog.

The card says, "Close to me, apart or together, always close to me."  I can't look at it without tears.  She has been such a huge part of our lives for the past ten years.  

This morning I went to the monthly women's prayer brunch.  I LOVE these women.  We are truly kindred spirits in our love for the Lord, our families, and others.  They make me feel so truly cared about and understood, which is huge for me, since I was so richly blessed with that at our church back home.

And now for some pictures from my week.  First of all - the angry, strangled dinosaur I found in my drier!

Pawpaw time.

 Austin climbed into his toy box and sat like this.  I asked him, "Is that your new potty?"  He said,  "Poot!" which is how he says, "poop"!!  Oh that cracked me up!  There's just no end to the new and funny things he says and does. 

I'm REALLY in the mood for a game of Scrabble.  Anyone want to come on over for a game?