More snow, Zimwit reunion, Aunt Arlene's viewing

We've had snow so many times in the past week I can hardly remember the days apart!  And these past few days have been absolutely frigid!!   Like in the teens and single digits.  And windy too.  I did hear one comforting thing yesterday.  The weatherman said that it was the coldest day we would have until next winter.  Woohoo!!  It gets better from here on.  AND we get daylight evenings after this weekend.  That makes me SO happy!

So some snow pictures first.

Yesterday it was snowing and the sun was also trying to shine.  I thought maybe there should be a "snowbow" up in the sky!

Last Friday Austin came here overnight.  He was so eager to play with the cats.  He enjoyed using the little laser light.  They jump and go in circles trying to catch the red light.

He also brought up some bird videos on his iPad.  How cute is this?

On Friday evening and Saturday morning I made Middle Eastern sweet potato and chickpea stew, peanut butter rice krispie treats, and potato cheese soup.   We loaded the food up in the van around noon on Saturday and drove to Lebanon County for the Zimwit reunion.  For any new readers, let me explain!  My dad's children are the Witmers and my stepmother's children are the Zimmermans.  Together we are the Zimwits! 

As usual, the reunion was held at the OnFire Youth Ministries building, hosted by my stepbrother Carl and his wife Mae.  It's such a wonderful place for a big group.  So much for everyone to do.   The gym is huge.  Austin had fun shooting hoops.  Some kids had riding toys along too.  And there was a good game of volley ball. 

Most people were there in plenty of time to sit and chat before the meal.  Of course, the one person who ties us all together is our beloved Grandma Mary.

There was so much good food!  Four kinds of soups, many choices for sandwich making, several salads, amazing desserts!  I think there were around 70 of us there.  I love being part of this big combined family.

Such a fun night.  We were probably the first to leave, but we had the farthest to travel home.  We took Austin home first, arriving at their place around 9:45. So it was a late night till we got home and got everything unloaded. We were thankful for no snow that day.

On Sunday morning we went to our service at GBRV first, then to Calvary's service.  It was starting to snow by the time that service was over, so the boys did not come home with us afterward as they usually do.  We had a very lazy rest of the day.  I slept for about an hour-and-a-half.  

In the evening I got the music picked for both our Ash Wednesday service as well as next Sunday's service.  With the help of the grandcats, hahaha!!  They're going to be Christian cats before long!!

Last week another one of my aunts passed away, my dad's sister Arlene Hertzler.  She is the third aunt on my dad's side of the family to pass away since August!  I have such special memories of time spent with Aunt Arlene and her husband Lester.  Before they had any children they lived in a second floor apartment in Mechanicsburg, and they had me (a preschooler) stay with them for a whole week one summer.  I felt SO special being like an only child.  And it felt so "worldly" living in town, even walking to the store!  Hahahaha!!   Later, after they had moved out to a place out in the countryside and had two little boys, I stayed with them for a week again.  I just loved being with them.  

Arlene and Lester went on to have a big family of eight children, two of them adopted.  As happens in large families, we have not been able to stay in touch very often.  In 2010 Uncle Lester died and some of us made the trip to Western PA to his viewing.  We had such a wonderful time reconnecting with cousins that day.  

Then in 2013 we had a big Witmer reunion, and that is the last time I saw Aunt Arlene.  Here she is pictured with the five out of ten siblings that were still living at that time.  She is on the far left.  Next to her is Luke, whose wife Dorothy passed away in January.  Next is John, Lois, and Grace.  They and their spouses are all still living.  

So on Tuesday I met my brother Dick and his wife Nancy at the Bellefonte Weis Markets, which is near to a Route 80 exit, and they took me along to Aunt Arlene's viewing in New Bethlehem, PA, which is about two hours west of here.  It was a beautiful, sunny day for travel on the way there.  

The viewing was held at a bigger church than their Mennonite church, which was really nice for their family.  Arlene and Lester's children have spread out far and wide.  Only two of them live in Pennsylvania.  The others, along with their children and grandchildren, were there from Mexico, Virginia, Utah, Kentucky, California, and Minnesota!  There were viewing hours in the afternoon and the evening, so it was really nice for them to be at this nice big church with all its rooms and a place to eat together.  

We got there near the beginning of the afternoon viewing, so we probably missed seeing lots of relatives who would have come later or to the funeral the next day.  But we did get to catch up with each of Lester and Arlene's children and some grandchildren and also two of our other cousins.  I would have been glad to just hang out there all day catching up with people, hahaha!  And I really would have loved to attend her funeral the next day.  But being in the middle of the week instead of a weekend made that too impractical.  

On the drive home there were snow flurries and more wind and lots of big trucks, but my dear brother didn't seem to be bothered by any of it.  It was fun to be with him and Nancy, and we also were keeping in touch from time to time with our other siblings via our private FB group.  

I was cracking up the next day.  I had posted quite a few pictures in my sibling FB group of our cousins so they could catch up with Arlene's family even if they couldn't be there.   Of course, they all are conservatively dressed Mennonites.  The next day I had an ad for this dress on FB.  Is that too funny or what??

Well, gotta run.  Today Hunter is coming to Grandma's house!  This is Penn State's Spring Break, so his daycare is closed.  

Fun weekend with the kiddos, still winter with a sign of spring!

Well, it's still winter in Central PA!  But thankfully, we haven't had more snow.  Here's a pretty picture I took from Lori and Anthony's dining room on Monday when the sun was bright, but deceiving!  It was very cold.

On the way home later I took this picture across a snowy field.  I thought I could almost imagine that it was a lake, haha!

We had a really fun weekend with Sammy and Bianca AND their cats!!  Cookie (male) and Cocoa (female) will be staying here with us temporarily.  Good grief.  Everyone knows I have trouble calling my children and grandchildren by the wrong names.  And I have trouble referring to our male grand dogs as SHE and our female grand dogs as HE.  So now there's no end to mixing things up with these two cats.  They both get called Cookie and Cocoa, and they both get referred to as he and she.  They will probably have an identity crisis after hanging around with me, hahaha!

When we got here with the kids and the cats on Friday evening Sammy could hardly wait to have a piece of paper and a pencil so he could write down instructions for the care of the cats!  He even made a place on the paper for me to write down any questions I might have!

They were all awake by 7 AM on Saturday morning.  We could not find Cookie ANYWHERE!!  For at least an hour or more!!  I was seriously worried that he had somehow gotten outside, although I could not imagine how.  At some point I got the idea to sit on Dick's recliner and put up the foot rest.  Would you believe Cookie came right out from under that chair??  I have no idea how he got under there.  He hasn't done it since. 

The kids had a lot of fun assembling our marble roller that morning.

In the afternoon we went to Discovery Space.  I just LOVE that place.  For one thing, it feels so free!  Last March we got a Grandparents' membership.  We can go as often as we want and take as many grandchildren as we want!!  Of course we'll have to pay again in March, but it's a really, really good deal.  

Lori came later too with Hunter and his little friend Braxton.  And Dick came after he got off work at noon.

Later we took the kids and Austin to see the Lego 2 movie.   They loved it.  Like most kids' movies, it was full of action, but ended with a really good message.  

They couldn't wait to take a bath in our big tub after we came home from the movie.  So much fun!!

On Sunday morning we went to our service at GBRV.  As usual, Sammy enjoyed providing some "gathering music" on the piano.  Bianca chose a few toy cars to take along to church, haha!  She's so CUTE and becoming more outgoing and expressive all the time.  The Sunday School teacher told me afterward that their lesson was on the fruits of the Spirit.  Bianca went on and on about how much she loves fruit (which is true), and how it's important to eat good food so our bodies stay healthy, hahaha!!  

After that service we went to Calvary's service.  Calvary and Unity Church of Jesus Christ (the church where Anthony and Lori met years ago and where we attended the year that we lived with Anthony and Lori) have been working and worshiping together this month.  Pastor Dan and Pastor Mac preached in each others' churches, and this Sunday we had a combined service.  The pastors co-preached.  It was absolutely wonderful.  Both of these men have fed my soul in the years we've been here in State College.  There's so much more I could write about this.  My heart is so full and so hopeful for true racial reconciliation and unity.  

Sunday turned into a terribly windy day, as many of you know.  When we took the children home it was truly terrifying sometimes.  I was really glad to be safely back home. 

This has been a regular week of cooking for and helping out with childcare at Anthony and Lori's and music prep.  This morning I had my Abide Bible study at Calvary. 

A few more pictures yet.  Jess has been posting some of her wedding photographer's pictures.  Here's the one I've been waiting for - all of our family who were present at the wedding.  It was really, really hard to get us all on the picture and to see everyone's faces.  Looking at it now I'm wondering why we didn't put the children in front.  You'll have to look really closely to see Ray's face - peaking out from behind Bjorn's head, haha!

And here's the last picture.  When I got home from Bible study I had the most lovely surprise on this sunny February day!!

Have a great weekend!

Wedding reception and Sunday brunch

I think God knew I needed a lot of extra time in my week to document everything from this past week, so he sent me a snow day!  To those of you who aren't happy about it, just blame me, haha!!  Unfortunately, we are supposed to once again get freezing rain later in the day.  Since last week's snow our friend Bill worked on our old snow blower and got it running.  Not sure how that will work if we get ice on top of the snow, however.  

Saturday, February 16

So now, back to wedding day!  Like I said at the end of my previous post, the reception was held at the John Wright Restaurant right along the Susquehanna River in Wrightsville.  Absolutely beautiful venue.  I regret that I never did go out on the balcony that overlooks the river.  Too busy being with people, I guess.   

Miki and Ingo first of all arranged the gift bags on a table in the entrance hallway where we waited. 

Destiny and I were ready for some FOOD!!  She hadn't eaten anything all day!

There was a wonderful display of crackers, chips, dips, veggies, etc for everyone to snack on when we first went into the reception hall. Just what we needed!  Servers also came around offering fancy hors d'oeuvres.  I walked around taking pictures.

Mother and stepdad of the groom; grandparents of the groom.

Our crew, except for Anthony and Lori's family.  One of them was at the bathroom when I was taking pictures of everybody, and then I forgot to take one of them later.  So disappointed.  

But here's a selfie that Anthony took at the wedding, haha!

And here's another one he took during the wedding.  So sweet!

At last the party got started!

Mother/groom dance.  What a happy moment for Miki!

The two dads gave really touching speeches.  I didn't know Jess until she and Bjorn started dating at the end of their senior year.  But after hearing all the things her dad said, I love her even more than ever.  It was such a tender and funny tribute to her.  I love a dad that cries when he talks about his daughter and how he'll miss her.  

Bjorn's dad told some really great back stories about the Bjorn he has always known, stories that showed that the Bjorn everyone here in the states now knows and admires was always one to do the hard things he decided to do, always the one who was kindhearted and compassionate.  Both dads made me cry, both made me laugh.  So very heartwarming.  

And then it was Katrina's turn.  She said she had thought about what to say for such a long time, and then recently came upon a poem written by a Swedish 8th grader that was just perfect.  She read it first in Swedish and then in English.  Then she spoke directly to Bjorn and Jess.  I was weeping the entire time as I took this video.  When she was finished I wanted to go somewhere and sob.  It was SO BEAUTIFUL and simple and sweet and heartbreaking and precious.  I'm crying now just remembering it.

When it was finally time to dance, guess who were the first two on the dance floor??  Sammy and Bianca danced the night away!  Sammy does NOT get tired!  The cutest thing was when another little girl started dancing with Sammy, and Bianca cut right in!!  She was NOT about to let anyone else dance with her big brother, hahaha!

It was such a fantastic, fun evening!  Along the way we went through a buffet line for our main course.  Later there was a dessert table, and later still the wedding cake.  But there was always dancing!

At one point we saw Austin get up to dance to a Justin Timberlake song, not out where everyone could see him though.  We knew how good he is, even though he seldom lets anyone else see him.  So Dick went behind him and got this great video.  When I showed it to him the next day he said, "I didn't think I was was very good, but I guess I was pretty good."  

Hunter was getting tired and ended up sitting on our laps playing games on our phones.  It was a long day for a little boy.  He was so handsome in his little vest.  

I have no idea how long it lasted.  I don't even know what time it was when we left.  I just know I was TIRED and tired of being in dressy clothes.  We took Destiny and her friend Hennessy home after we left, then went to a grocery store to get some things for the next day.  It felt SO GOOD to get back to our Airbnb and get into comfortable clothes and eventually our comfy bed.  My heart was so, so full, and it was hard to get my brain to settle down from all the memories and moments of the day.  


Sunday, February 17

Sunday morning started out with a lovely sunrise.

When Jeremy had suggested that we all come to their Airbnb for Sunday brunch I could not imagine it.  I pictured the children racing around in that beautiful house, breaking things, getting on people's nerves, etc.  But Jeremy insisted, and I'm SO GLAD he did!!  We had a MUCH better time together than we would have had in a restaurant.  It was the PERFECT place to hang out together.    The children were angels.  

Jeremy's friends had made a yummy breakfast casserole, they also had cheeses, breads, and crackers. And we all brought things to add.  We had SUCH A GREAT TIME!!  

After we said our goodbyes to everyone and left to take Destiny home, we stopped first of all at That Fish Place, the biggest pet store ever.  Destiny had good memories of going there as a child, and now that it's practically in her neighborhood, she really wanted to go.  Ray, Ashley, and RJ came also.  Unfortunately, Dick and I were very aware of a forecast for freezing rain in our area later in the day, so we wanted to hit the road.  He took a nap in the van while the rest of us went in.  We probably stayed about half an hour, which really was not long enough to see everything.  But it was interesting and fun.

And then we headed for home.  There was a problem that day that was gradually becoming a bigger problem.  Jenn did not come to our brunch because she had been throwing up during the night.  Miki, Ingo, and Kicki did not stay at the brunch very long because Miki was spending most of the time in the bathroom.  Bjorn texted me that Jess was sick.  I found out that Deb and some of Mark and Laura's family was sick. And as we drove home that day, Dick became more and more uncomfortable.  During the night he became sick, throwing up, and could not go to work on Monday.  Jeremy and Mike headed to Newark Airport on Monday where Mike was catching a flight home and Jeremy was renting a car and a hotel for some work he had in New Jersey the next few days.  Jeremy was feeling worse and worse as the day progressed and was sick with a fever and throwing up that night.  We were thankful to find out that Mike was fine on his flight to Portland.

So of course Jess was immediately thinking food poisoning from something at the reception, and she felt horrible on top of feeling horrible!   But we really don't think it was that.  Not nearly everyone there got sick.   I think that probably someone already had a stomach bug germ and probably didn't know it yet, and it just spread it to others at the reception and then afterward.  This too shall pass!

UPDATE: I just had a phone call from Miki.  She wanted to let me know that they arrived slowly, but safely to the Newark, NJ airport today.  We got on the subject of the stomach bug/food poisoning.  I guess they are convinced it was food poisoning, that over 20 people got sick.  Jess's parents have been in touch with the restaurant and found out that some people who ate in the regular restaurant also have gotten sick.  I guess any of us who have avoided it should count our blessings.  It's too bad, really.  It was such a lovely venue and such a GREAT time.  Stuff happens.  

So now, I have plenty of other things to do.  My church and choir music have been taking a back seat the past week or so, and I've got plenty to work on!  And piles of laundry this week too!  I'm not about to try to get over to Anthony and Lori's today.  All the area schools, as well as Penn State, are closed for the day.  Dick just texted that his work place might close early today because of the freezing rain.  I'm SO THANKFUL we did not have this kind of weather for the wedding weekend!!!

Three, two, one, wedding day!!

What a week!!  It was packed full of good people and good times.  But before I start telling all about it I want to show you the flowers that are showing off in my kitchen.  The planter of poinsettia and amaryllis  was given to me from my choir after our Christmas cantata.  It took weeks for the amaryllis to bloom, but wow!!  It was worth the wait!

Tuesday, February 12

Now, back to last Tuesday.  When I was posting my blog that day we had had snow and then freezing rain.  I did not realize how much snow we'd gotten until I went outside to do some shoveling.    Ugh!!  Miki and Ingo were also out there shoveling, and then when Dick got home from work he joined in too.  They got the job done.  Then the five of us (Dick and I, Miki and Ingo, and Kicki)  gathered around our tiny kitchen table and ate the Southwest Quesadillas I had made.  I made a lot, even some extra ones filled with leftover scrambled eggs and bacon!  But we almost licked the platter clean!

Wednesday, February 13

I somehow took almost no pictures on Wednesday.  I made sausage and pancakes, both blueberry and chocolate chip, for breakfast.  Miki finished up everything for the wedding guest gift bags, including 5 Hershey kisses inside each of those boxes.  

I made sweet and sour chicken and fried rice for dinner, and Anthony, Lori, and the boys joined us here.  

Thursday, February 14

On Thursday morning we all were up bright and early, getting everything packed and into the vehicles.  We left for Lancaster County shortly after 8 AM.  It was a bright, sunny day and the ice-coated snow glistened.

Dick and I stopped in at Sam's place first to unload our stuff, then went to our favorite A & M Pizza in Manheim to FINALLY see Katrina for the first time in over ten years!!!  Oh my goodness!  I was just as smitten with her as I was when she was a baby!  She is absolutely delightful!  Her accent just melts me!!  We had so much fun eating lunch with her and Miki.

After lunch Miki went back to Fred and Deb's where she, Ingo, and Kicki would be staying.  I took Dick to his parents' house.  I forgot to mention that his knee started giving him trouble on Wednesday, and by Thursday morning it was so painful he had to use a cane!  We had brought our heat pad along, and he was taking ibuprofen.  He was glad for the chance to just sit instead of gallivanting around with Katrina and me.

Katrina and I had the best time!  Her boyfriend in Sweden asked her to get him some cinnamon fireballs.  So we went several places in Lebanon in search of them, only to see later online that Walmart and Target have them in big plastic containers.  But we were running out of time to go to either of those places.  

As we drove, we had some heart to heart talks and plenty of laughs, even a few tears.  It was so precious.  The last time she was here in the states she was 15 in October 2008.  Here's a picture from back then!  Do you recognize these people?

Katrina was the first one to make me a grandma back in 1993.  She got ALL the attention when they came over here that Christmas.  

On Thursday evening we hung out at Fred and Deb's house.  It was a great time.  Some of Jess's family were there, also Fred and Deb's daughter Laura's family.

We slept at Sam's house that night.

Friday, February 15

On Friday afternoon we were at Jess's parents' house helping with last minute wedding prep.  What a fun time!!  Miki and Kicki were there, Katrina was there, Bjorn and Jess were there, of course Jess's parents were there, as well as her younger brother, Bjorn's dad Krister was there from Sweden, we were there.  Everyone had jobs to do.  Pictures to put into frames,  errands to run, lists to coordinate, cakes to bake, chocolates to make, and more.

We were sent on some errands, and in our driving around we passed two of my childhood homes!

The rehearsal, at a church in Columbia, was held in the early evening, followed by a yummy meal of sandwiches and goodies in the church hall.  Sam and Jenn and the kids were there too because Sammy was a ring bearer.

When we left the rehearsal I found out that Jeremy and Mike were getting close to the Airbnb in Lancaster City that they would be staying in with some good friends.   It was his birthday, and I wanted to see him!!  So we decided to drive to Lancaster before going to the Airbnb that we and Anthony's family would be staying in near Mount Joy.  

We got to Jeremy and Mike's place about the same time they did.  It was an amazingly redone city house!!!  They were going to be going out with friends, so we didn't stay long.  Just as we were ready to go out the door I remembered that I wanted a picture with Jeremy on his birthday.  So I handed my phone to Mike to take a picture.  We started taking off our coats, but when I looked down I remembered that the last time I had a picture taken in that top I looked so heavy.  So I decided to keep my coat on for the picture.  I looked up and Jeremy was doing the exact same thing!!!  He looked at me and said, "Or maybe we'll keep them on and cover things up!"  We CRACKED UP!!  And there was no getting serious after that!!

Then we drove to the Airbnb that we and Anthony and Lori's family would be staying in.  We got there about exactly the same time they did.  What a wonderful house it was!  So comfortable, clean, and beautiful!  Four bedrooms, two bathrooms, living room, kitchen/dining room, and laundry.  We loved it.

Saturday, February 16

Because the wedding was only starting at 2:30 in the afternoon on Saturday, we had a leisurely morning.  Lori worked on my earrings.  (Miki had already made my necklace,bracelet, and earrings earlier in the week, but I wanted the earrings reworked.)  Hunter enjoyed the toys that were there.  Dick used the heating pad on his knee.  At lunch Anthony picked up some pizzas for us.  Sam had to take Sammy to the wedding early to get dressed with the guys, so he dropped Jenn and Bianca off at our house.  They got dressed for the wedding there too.  Bianca looked SO CUTE!!  I don't know why I wasn't taking more pictures.

The wedding was at a  beautiful church in Columbia.  Just the week before, Destiny had moved to the outskirts of Columbia with her mom!!  Wow, that made it so much easier to pick her up than if she still had lived in Reading 45 minutes away!!

We sat in the front with Katrina.  Miki was ushered in later and sat beside Dick.  When I had Katrina take this selfie we had a photo bomber, hahaha!!  That's Fred back there!

As we waited, I turned around and saw our family, and my heart was almost bursting.  I just had to quickly stand up and take a picture of them.  (Anthony and Austin hadn't come in yet.)  The guy in the foreground is Fred and Deb's son-in-law Mark, Laura's husband.   Their children were also in the wedding.

Here come Sammy and Payton, Mark and Laura's daughter.

This was Bjorn getting his first look at his beautiful bride!  Very emotional.  I love him so much.

Pastor Dustin gave a wonderful relationship message from Matthew 18 and 19.

Connor (Mark and Laura's son) and Sammy stood like little soldiers during the entire service.  And it was not a short one either!

Saying their vows.

They took communion together after their vows.  Bjorn's dad (looking on from the side) was his best man.

After the wedding a lot of pictures were taken.  Here's one of Dick and me with Bjorn and Jess.

And this one is Bjorn and Jess with his cousins who were present.  Except Hunter, who was acting like a terrible two at the time and refused to stand there, hahaha!

They did take a picture of our whole family, but I didn't think of asking someone to take it with my camera.  So I don't have that one.  I could have taken more pictures, but it is so rare for so much of our family to be together, and I just hated to miss any conversations and all the fun of being together.  

From the wedding we went across the Susquehanna River to the lovely John Wright Restaurant. We drove across on the "old" bridge for the first time in years, looking across at the "new" bridge.  Not exactly new anymore, haha!  But when you can remember something being built, even if it was in your teens, it seems new, right?

And that's all for this post.  The reception was fantastic!!!  I'll write all about that in the next post.