A delightful phone call.....

Wendi called Saturday and asked if we had any plans for Sunday's lunch - "Come and join us and the rest of their family for lunch.....this is an impromptu meal!" Aren't they the best sometimes?!!   What a fun time together!

My dear nephew,Dan, is passing their three month old baby Jeznie to Wendi.   My brother-in-law and Dan's Dad, Glenn, is talking to his precious granddaughter!      (Glenn is the one with the brain tumor that I have mentioned to you before.)

You know how special food and fellowship is! Beth brought yummy brownies for our meal.

I'm sorry Doug (another nephew I love) but I didn't have any other picture of you!! I could not do this post without all of you on here!  Doug and Dan are brothers and their sister, Gwenda and her family are in W. VA. for the weekend - that's why they had room at the table for my sister and husband and Nevin and me!  Someone tell Gwenda I'm really grateful they had plans for this weekend!! 

This white dish that you can barely see contained oh-so-good potatoes!! I had never tasted this recipe before - Ranch Potato Casserole. Wendi took red potatoes, cooked them,  quartered them (left the skins on) and then mixed sour cream, ranch dressing, bacon , parsley and cheddar cheese and tossed that with the potatoes. Then she had a topping of butter, crushed cornflakes and a bit more cheddar cheese. Oh my, my mouth is watering just now telling you about them! I love potatoes any way, shape or form!!

My sister Connie and her husband, Caleb. They brought a creamy  pudding you see on Caleb's plate.

These are some of my best friends.....my two sisters Connie and Dawn. On the left is my youngest sister Dawn - Doug and Dan's Mother - trying to help Jeznie feel happier!!  It's not working at the moment!

This is Doug and Beth's precious 17 mo. old Mikayla. I love reading to children but this only lasted a few minutes and she was off to something else!!  She was such a joy to interact with throughout the afternoon.

Sisters-in-law....Beth and Wendi. We love you!

Jeznie took a nap while we visited after our lunch. Later we heard her crying through the baby monitor so Wendi brought her downstairs so we could see her before we leave. Glenn is trying to get her to smile before he says goodbye to her!  I think she's a bit sleepy yet!  Don't you just want to take her and hold her close!!

Thank you Dan and Wendi for a lovely Sunday with family!

Attitudes are contagious.....

is yours (mine) worth catching?

From Pennsylvania to Iowa....

this is for you, Aunt Lorraine!

Explanation for my friends.....This picture was taken last summer when Lorraine and Lester came to PA.  and we had the wonderful privilege of helping to celebrate their 50th anniversary. This is Daddy's sister.

Back to you, Lorraine.....

I told you I would post some pictures for you from our Keller get-together!

This is Jean's granddaughter, Erin. The little ones are Gwenda and Matt's children. We soon saw Erin loves children.

This is Barb and Jere's Seth! He was being a good sport watching the older ones play basketball in the school gym. (Seth just turned 8 last week.) I am sooo sorry I didn't get a picture for you of those playing basketball....from year to year they just grow up and change so quickly!

Dawn and  Glenn left shortly after lunch as he was really tired. Jean emailed us on ahead that she was going to present a care package to them. (Note to friends: Glenn is my dear brother-in-law who has had three seizures in six months - because of a brain tumor.)

Lorraine - do you recognize the girl in the brown - that is Dan's wife, Wendi. They just had a baby about two months ago. You can get just a teeny glimpse of their precious little Jeznie  on the table....lots of black hair! Dan's in the background talking to Harold.

I told these girls this picture was for you! Front right is Mikayla, Eileen's daughter.

Church friends - this is Daddy's youngest sister, Jean.

 Jean, daughter Lori, and granddaughter Erin

Granddaughter Morgan,  Jean,  and daughter Charlene

Lisa, Larry, Isaac in the brown and dear Heath was sleeping - the flash made him uncomfortable.

This is their hello to you, Lorraine! (Note: my sister on the left)

Braydon is three and Megan is 15 months. Looks like I'm not doing a very good job of getting these men with their eyes open!!

Sisters - Eileen, Kathy and Darlene

Lorraine, I missed a picture of Mother, Sandy, Karen, Pat, and Lois.  We ladies were visiting in the kitchen most of the afternoon, a few of the younger ones were playing table games, the men were visiting in the gym, and as I mentioned the children were into basketball.  Don and Marilyn came late afternoon. We had lunch and supper and really enjoyed the day together.  We are talking about doing this on a Sunday next year - maybe that would fit more schedules. Hope you enjoyed just this little "visit!" Love, Cordy

......Brian and Donna in their home in Colorado when we were to visit them in June 2008. We're looking at some beautiful scenery pictures.

Donna has a message for you who have prayed for her - in the entry below under comments!

(Looks like my dear hubby's glasses are hurting his ear again!!) 

Thank You, dear Friends, for your prayers!

This is Kelly, our youngest granddaughter, who shared her chicken pox with her three older siblings.

This is dear Kelly two weeks ago.

I am so grateful for your prayers!  At 3am this morning Tori's fever broke - praise the Lord!! It was 103 degrees Sunday evening when I talked to her; she was shivering as we talked. At that point she didn't know the chicken pox was on its way. From Sunday night until Thursday morning her temperature would fluctuate - hitting 103 occasionally.  Donna said Tori feels much better today even though the chicken pox is very uncomfortable.  The boys don't have fever but are feeling miserable. 

Donna is busy with oatmeal baths daily for three children - yielding lots of laundry! She told the children at one point today, "I'm going outside for time-out!!"  

Thanks, again, for helping to carry this concern!  I am so grateful for your friendship.

Will you whisper these names

to our Heavenly Father today....

Tori

Bradley

Brent

..maybe it would be good to include their parents' names also - I think they will be reaching for wisdom, patience, and cheerfulness!

These are our dear Colorado grandchildren - all three broke out with chicken pox within 24 hours!! Dear Tori is really miserable - they are all over her and she has fever with it.  The children have them in their mouth so menus are chosen carefully!  Kelly (5) came down with chicken pox about two weeks ago and apparently passed them on to her siblings! 

This is one of those time Grandma would love to be there to read stories, help Donna, read more stores, and give plenty hugs.

(We don't live on a farm....when Brian, Donna, and the children were here to visit last year, we took the grandchildren to our community Farm Show.)

I need to tell you I'm a homebody!! Our daughter, Barb, is pretty much the same way. For either of us to go away without our family is really rare.  When I heard my Creative Memories consultant say she is going to have her second C.M. Retreat, we sought our dear husbands' blessing to be a part of this since it involved approximately 40 hours.  With their agreement we prepared to go.....feeling like two little girls on a huge outing!!!! I can hear someone say -"You don't get away enough!!"   But we enjoy being at home so when we do go (rarely!!) it is truly extra, extra special and we have deeply grateful hearts for the privilege ahead of us.  This paragraph is to explain the above poster. I had it inside  the door for when I returned home!!!   

This is the special lady who planned, organized, packed, cooked, and baked for this two day joyous privilege! I am so grateful that she does not have this two day scrapbooking including a Sunday. That has been something I believe our Heavenly Father smiles upon as she keeps Sunday set aside to worship - and young Mothers can be back home to help prepare little ones for Sunday School and Church.

This creative school teacher found a way to braid her ribbon.....I think my eyes would cross!!

Ruth needed a different angle for her picture. I heard her say, "A woman's gotta do what a woman's gotta do!" 

A friend of ours has a cricut and gladly allowed us to borrow it! 

Kate and her mother, Barb, discussing a few pictures.

When the Lord gave gifts, creativity was not one of mine.   I love to scrapbook; I love to journal but my pages are very average. I enjoyed taking pictures of others' creativity!

I enjoyed seeing these girls' gifts flow!! I don't think you have to do Creative Memories to preserve your photos but it does make a lovely album to treasure! My pages turn into more of a diary-type book as that's my delight.  Two days to do this was truly something I did not take for granted!!   Topping  the entire two days was spending that time with my daughter! It was a wonderful gift!!

Barb was to my right. We would scrapbook awhile, talk a little, scrapbook....... 

In the 16 years that Barb is married, this is only the second time that we had this kind of experience! This will help you understand why I put that poster where I will see it when I enter my door upon arriving home!!

Jewel won the prize for getting the most pages finished over these two days!

 Teresa stopped in for just a short time with her  8 week old baby daughter! Scrapbooking was put aside for a little to welcome this teeny little one! (Joy, Melissa and Jewel)

Susie (our consultant) made our lunch and supper on Friday....she is such a g-o-o-d cook! This was our evening dessert!  Saturday was a beautiful, brisk winter day. We walked a short distance to the dining hall for our meals that day.

This is Saturday and our hours here are  coming to a close, way too quickly! It has been a gift to be here! (I believe I've said that before!) Your joys are found in various places.   But you know what it is like to be handed something that is meaningful, something you rarely  do - and told to enjoy it!! Thank You Nevin and Jere!

I needed to look at that poster several times the following days!!

"Be A Blessing"

This was the title for our Ladies Fellowship meeting this week!

In our pamphlet, under the title was this sentence: "We will be creating a fruit bouquet to be given as a blessing to someone who needs encouragement."

If you join us for the morning, you can help yourself to the tea and coffee table as you enter. Notice the limes in the vase of the arrangement. There are a few in the arrangement also. Our speakers brought some samples along for us to see what else can be done with fruit. (You might remember Dorinda from our Christmas caroling pictures.)

On the left is Doretta, Dorinda's sister. Doretta is one of the ladies on the committee to plan these meetings. Barb Ocker is on the right; she had our devotional this morning and titled it, "Hospitality." Her name could be Joy as she sure spreads it around. I had the privilege to tape her devotional. I loved this thought - she asked us what definition comes to our minds with the word "hospitality?" Do we focus on our homes - or is it the state of our hearts! I loved that! The state of my heart wants to welcome and bless you...but my house is not always "guest ready" - does that keep me from welcoming you?! She encouraged us to try to be hospitable, regardless!

This is her younger sister, Joan Nell. She demonstrated a fruit bouquet for us. Both Barb and Joan grew up in our congregation but as Barb said in her opening comments...."For the visitors - we are old home girls from Lebanon who happened to fall in love with out of town men. Because of our love for them we transplanted our roots elsewhere." This was said with Barb's laughter intermingled!! She lives about two hours from our church and Joan about an hour away. These girls were very busy this morning!!

There were around 80 plus ladies who made fruit bouquets! You see what they are doing....we had four lines of ladies....picking up a bowl and filling it with the items needed. Each basket on the counter was clearly marked as to how many items to put in your bowls.

Very organized..you see why the committee and our speakers were so busy this morning!

Kim and LaWanda getting started...each table had the item LaWanda is holding to cut the pineapple. I forgot to mention that you also chose a mug as you finished filling your white bowl with fruit.

There were three little gentlemen among us....8 week old Cade was unconcerned (he was peacefully sleeping next to mother, Jonita;)

Darin was trying to help his Mother who is concentrating!  (For my new friends, this is my daughter and youngest grandchild.) And I missed a picture of our third little one, Eric, as his Grandma Erma graciously missed this part of the morning to give him a nap. Eric's  mother helps with the homeschool class.

On the right is Martha - Barb and Joan's mother. She is talking to her sister-in-law, Marian - and one of my prayer warriors. There are 11 tables set up to accommodate this many ladies.

As I started going from table to table I soon saw several tables had family "creating" together so I focused my pictures on that theme.

This was the cousin table....a very special group to me...left to right,  my niece, Jolynne, then my daughter, Barb, and my niece, Gwenda!

This trio happens to be sisters - you probably guessed that!!

Laura, Andi, and Katie

Next I went to mother/daughter teams.

Far left in the blue is Bev and her mother, Julia. Next is Mary Catherine and her daughter, Mary. Aren't the pineapples beautiful!!

Pink sweater is Darlene and her mother, Lois - also my cousin and aunt! Darlene is one of the teachers in my Sunday School class where we help together; I appreciate her so much. 

Again in pink, Shawn and mother, Bernice.

Left - Lisa  and across the table mother, Ruth Elaine - end of table is friend, Faith.

Left,  Janelle and mother, Joanne.

Is this making you hungry for fruit yet?! Or maybe the chocolate!

On the right is Jill and mother, Judy. Toch is across the table. You can see the fellowship was part of the joy of the morning! 

Last but not least, dear friend, Millie. Millie just had the first anniversary of her husband's death.

The work is finished for Marian and Lorraine but you notice the fellowship hasn't ended for the morning yet! The fruit bouquets were wrapped with the paper you see above on the windowsill - all ready to bless someone.

And this is what hit me as I walked around the room. At least 80 people will be blessed this morning as these bouquets will soon be delivered because these 80 ladies gathered together! 80 people being blessed! That thought kept hitting me and I was so grateful for the committee and Barb and Joan who had a part in bringing this together!

You saw one sample on the coffee and tea table. These were an additional five. On the far right there is asparagus around the vase! In the center arrangement, they used lemons. The other items we were encouraged to sample!! 

Be a Blessing!

April 2007 - March 2009

Luther

Darvin

These men and Nevin (my husband) have known each other since their single days! It has been almost two years since the six of us were together and this is one of those times when the term "like precious faith" is what you experience!   It's a meaningful visit when we have the privilege to get together. Luther is one of our ministers and Darvin is a minister at God's Missionary Church.

(We stopped at this store the following day; they are known for their shoes and boots!)

As we were almost ready to have supper together, Luther's wife, Joann, is helping her granddaughter with this apron....which was made by Lauren's great grandmother! I'm guessing that Joann's daughters wore this when they helped with chores in the kitchen! Luther and Joann are parents to our son-in-law, Jere. Jere and Barb were to be here tonight also but Seth was sick and Barb didn't want to expose Lauren to a virus. Late afternoon Darin (our youngest grandson) asked Barb if they are going to Grandpa and Grandma for supper. About 4pm Barb and Jere made the decision that they probably should not come as it did not appear that Seth was improving. So Barb told Darin that they would be staying home. Darin said, "I feel sorry for myself!!!"        

  We four grandparents said, "That sounds like Darin!!"

Several of us really enjoy breakfast so the following morning we had that blessing together. Dorothy and I are catching up after these two years!

This restaurant also provides a place for the Amish to park their vehicles!

This was a little anniversary get-away for Darvin and Dorothy and it was a blessing for us that they included us in their scheduled stops!

A Bit of History.....

Earlier when talking about shoo-fly pie and PA. Dutch food, I was asked where my roots are. Mine go back to Switzerland.

The 5th generation yet from my Mother's family were  born in Switzerland in 1683 and then came to America in 1717.

(This is our youngest granddaughter. She lives in Colorado so you don't get to see these grandchildren often on here. Lord willing that will soon change as we plan to visit them in the near future!!)

When we travel, I've been asked the question if I'm Mennonite and when we get quite a distance from home, I have been asked if I'm Amish! Those of you who are familiar with the Amish know that there is quite a difference! We are members of the Church of the Brethren. Last year two couples from our church went to Schwarzenau, Germany to be part of the 300th celebration as that is where we were given the name, The Church of the Brethren in 1708.

The picture above is from our livingroom window taken two weeks ago. This is how the Amish travel to their church service which is held in their homes. They take turns having the worship service and then they have the noon meal together.

This picture made me think of being fed spiritually. Melissa, I remember reading how you thoroughly enjoy your Bible Study group. That's how I feel about our ministers. We are fed spiritually service after service and I have a deeply grateful heart.

I wanted to show you whom the father is feeding in the picture  above this!  This is our first successful blue bird "delivery!" (July 2008) I didn't get much accomplished for two days as I was hoping and hoping I would see this little guy  leave the nest! He looked liked he just HAD to topple out! On the second evening we had  to go away for several hours and when we arrived back home it was dark. In the morning they were gone! (It appeared that there were two in the nest.) I searched the nearby trees for babies but alas, their little wings lifted them up and away. This experience was still a blessing to me.

The dictionary defines "Dutch" as pertaining to Germany and the Netherlands. Since PA. was settled by so many from these countries we often hear the word "Dutch" used.

But PA. Dutch is not Dutch at all. It is actually PA. German. Germany has dialects of German just like America has dialects of English. People brought these dialects of German with them from Germany. Here in America they got formed into what is today called PA. Dutch. How did it come to be called Dutch instead of German?

In the German language the word for German is Deutsch and the word for Dutch is Deitsch. Somehow the words got confused and people began calling it PA. Deitsch. When that is translated back into English, it becomes PA. Dutch.

The Amish groups speak PA. German. They refer to themselves as Deitsch and when they say it in English it comes out as Dutch. This has caused problems with the US census because these people list their nationality as Dutch and not as German.

I hope this has been helpful with the "PA. Dutch sentence" I gave a few weeks ago!

I needed help with this information and asked one of our friends at church, who teaches school, for his insight. Thank you, Frank. (He gave more information but for now I thought I'd stop here.) If you enjoy history you would love sitting in his classes!

This is Kelly again!   May God give us wisdom as parents and grandparents to pass on our Christian heritage to our loved ones!

Deuteronomy 6: 6 and 7 "These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up."