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.
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!
