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Wednesday ~ Thursday ~ Friday

With Eleven Grandchildren

Each year about this time, our oldest son and his wife take a three-day vacation to celebrate their anniversary.  Since we keep their five children, they ask me to choose a week that is not so busy in my office. 

It makes for a bit more craziness, but I usually invite Jere and Kristen’s four oldest as well – making a “Cousin’s Camp”.  This year two of Mark and Diane’s children are also here from Maine, so we had a houseful!

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The garage is transformed into a dining room

There was lots of laughter.

Outside activities.

Inside competition – Ian, Jordan, Josh, and Nate

The boys’ area was the room in back of the garage where we had five mattresses on the floor – the two little boys shared a mattress.

Jana and Diana in our “children’s room.”

Gloria and Ian in the little girls bedroom.  When Abigail was here, she and Jenna slept in the living room.

Hezekiah, Josh, and Nate

Jared even got some alone time

A favorite outside activity was archery competition.

Nate

Josh

Hezekiah tried a shot lying down – notice that I even caught the arrow in this photo.

Yesterday I had a small mailing to finish, so invited the older girls to watch my inserting machine.

They wanted to help, so I showed them how to put the envelopes in the correct mail trays.

They were amazed how newsletters were folded, put in envelopes, and sealed.

Next job was to put sleeves over the trays and tie them shut.

I had a few pieces of 1st Class mail that needed to be weighed.

Jenna putting postage on post cards

At the post office.

The girls were pleased when the boys decided to jump rope.

Jenna and Nate made a good jumping pair.

Jana, Abigail, Gloria, Jenna

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I will post the other half of the pictures in the morning. 

Another Birthday Celebration

Two Weeks Later I Took the Boys to Chuck E Cheeses

A hint to anyone taking children or grandchildren to Chuck E Cheeses:  Go first thing in the morning.  The one in our area opens at 9 AM.  We often have the place to ourselves for the first hour – and when we leave at 11 AM, it is just starting to fill up.  When I took the girls – we were the only ones there the entire two hours.

Hezekiah and Nathan watching Josh and Jordan racing cars.

Jared

Ian

Putting in another token

Making sure all the basketballs came down.

Chuck visited us.  Jared even held his hand, but Ian kept his distance.

Counting tickets.

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One nice thing with boys – they don’t need a trip to the mall – just to the nearest place that sells GameCube games.

I knew we made a good choice when I heard these four laughing.  It is a NASCAR game that is very competitive.

The little boys helped grandpa wash the CRV.

Jared

Ian liked playing in the soap.

After everyone went home, Hezekiah spent hours playing the new John Deere computer game I purchased.  He loves buying and selling crops and animals – creating a farm.

John Deer “American Farmer Deluxe”

 2006 version

John Deere Licensed product – Gabriel Entertainment

Chuck E Cheese’s & The Mall

With Five Granddaughters and a Daughter

Several weeks ago I took the girls out for a birthday celebration.

Abigail and Jenna racing.

Gloria

Jenna with her “loot”

What fun to have our daughter, Deb, spend the day with us.  She was having her car inspected at a nearby garage – so the timing was perfect.

Gloria

Jenna and Jana

We’re out of here ~ and ready for the mall.

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A day with girls always means a trip to the mall.

First stop ~  Flip Flops for Gloria

After lunch they checked out the gum and candy machines.

Gloria was pleased with her choice…

…Jana was not!

Group Pose

They always need several rides on the escalator.

I love the reflections!

Tree Down!

(More from our yard)

We heard the wind, but didn’t realize until the next day that this tree went down ~ right in the middle of one of our special Dogwood trees ~ our grandson, Elijah’s memory tree. 

We were able to save the Dogwood tree ~ even though it is a bit beat up, because this tree landed in the middle of it.

Thankfully there were a few grandsons here who gladly helped clean up the mess.

Jordan

Josh

Jared

Nathan

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For our daughter, Diane’s sake:  Hezekiah was helping Grandpa finish the lean-to on the shed.  I knew you would wonder why he wasn’t helping. 

Hezekiah helping Cerwin

It was also Jared’s favorite place to be.  He has never found a hammer that he didn’t like.

Our Yard

Many times when I watch our grandchildren playing and laughing in our yard, I remember the day ~ forty years ago ~ when I stood at my kitchen window dreaming of the day our children could play in the grass.  

That day ~ forty years ago ~ the house was under construction and the yard was just piles of dirt.

 Our forty-year-old grass has seen lots of ball games, “Duck, Duck, Goose”, volleyball, crocquet, bocce, picnics, and even two weddings.

~~~

I love our yard ~ but I love our grandchildren even more!

Eternity is not an extension of time.

Time is a brief moment in the span of eternity.

Our Family Pavilion Was a Busy Place This Weekend

Yesterday it was host to our Sunday school class and teachers ~ for supper.  I took this picture from our yard.  The house in the background is my brother’s.

Mary Zimmerman brought some of her pretty sunflowers for the food table.

Julia Miller made arrangements for the picnic tables.

After prayer the ladies prepared their covered dishes for serving.

We enjoyed a beautiful, relaxing evening.

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Today the same area was host to the Hershey Reunion ~ my dad’s brother, sisters, their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. 

We missed my dad and his brother, Ken, who attend reunions in Heaven ~ along with their parents ~ but their offspring were well represented.

The call to lunch is always a highlight of any reunion ~ and this one is no exception.

Several chose to roast hot dogs or some kind of lunch meat.  Dale and Luanne (left) were roasting pork roll.

The pavilion holds about sixty ~ and since it was full, these siblings and cousins chose a log bench next to the bocce court.

After lunch ~ the sandbox was the place to be for the younger set.

The swings and…

…hammock were other places the children liked to hang out.

Our new grandson ~ Jesse’s favorite place was in his mother’s arms.

Bible School is Over and We Are Going Home

It has been an interesting and challenging week in the adult class ~ studying how to “Plunge In” to obedience, courage, worship, and service.

Wednesday and Thursday evening were especially interesting for all ages when the storyteller and adult Bible teacher was Fred Beam ~ a return missionary from Africa.

  I had my camera along on Thursday evening to take pictures afterward, so took this picture of Fred showing the children the hide of a zebra (center front). 

He told how the people in one village were hungry and asked for food ~ then they would listen to lessons from the Bible.  This was the zebra that provided meat for that village.

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It sounds like the children were also learning.  On Thursday evening parents, grandparents, and friends were invited to visit the children’s rooms after class.

Jared told me about his attendance chart…

…and one of the balls they use when playing outside.

Ian showed us a photo of his class and the frame he decorated.

Gloria has a bucket full of Bible School goodies.

This was her project.

Jana’s class did nail punch art.

They made tablet and pencil holders.

She was pleased to show us that she had already memorized all her verses ~ one day early.  They had misspelled her name ~ the reason her name was on tape.

Diana’s project had already been put away by the time we got to her room, so she just posed in front of this wall mural in her room.

Hezekiah and Josh made tie-dyed shirts.  Hezekiah finished Josh’s, after he went on a business trip to Canada with his dad (Wednesday through Friday).  Josh’s sister, Jana, is holding his shirt.

Hezekiah is standing in front of the clothesline with books of the Bible written on cloth.  Each night they tried to see how quickly they could get all 66 books in proper order.

This wet board shows how quickly it was done each night.  I asked Hezekiah how quickly they did it last night.  He didn’t remember, but said Thursday evening was the fastest.

Jenna’s class made Mancala boards for their craft.  (I think that’s the name.)

The lowest attendance was 527 and the highest (parents’ night) was 632.

The beautiful sunset summarized our feelings at the close of the Bible School week.

Selfish service is temporary.

True service is a lifestyle.

~ Dale Wolgemuth ~

Adult Bible School teacher on Friday evening

Worship

Worship is seeking God’s agenda ~ not your own.

The goal of worship is to be purified ~ not entertained.

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The pictures are from a beautiful, soaking rain we had earlier in the week.

An Evening to Treasure

Last week Cerwin and I met another couple face-to-face for the first time ~ after a kind of “accidental” connection several weeks earlier. 

We knew very little about each other ~ except that we had a common faith in the Lord.

 Since we were traveling through their state on the way to East St. Louis, the men set a day and time to meet ~ at a truck stop where there would be space to park the chapel rig.

It was a fabulous evening!

She and I talked, laughed, and learned that we have  a lot in common ~ almost like sisters. 

Neither of us like the process of cooking ~ even though we’re not bad cooks.  We love to take photos.  Both of us lost a parent to death when we were fairly young.  We each experienced a major change in our spiritual life after going to a Basic Youth Seminar (Bill Gothard) when we were in our twenties. 

The men enjoyed discussing their jobs and interests.  They didn’t act quite as silly as us, but I think they had just as much fun.

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We enjoyed taking them through the mass of trucks to show them the chapel. 

They had not heard about Transport For Christ before our “accidental meeting.”

After seeing the chapel, we went back to the restaurant, ordered coffee, and visited some more.  We talked about our spiritual journeys, our parents, dating, how we as couples met, our children and grandchildren, jobs, and interests.

It almost made us feel young again ~ like we were on a double date!

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We prolonged saying goodbye, but knew it was inevitable if the four of us were going to get any sleep that night.  We were heading southwest in the morning, and they were traveling south.

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We will always treasure that evening and hope to meet again sometime ~ maybe when we deliver another chapel to the midwest ~ or maybe they will travel east.