Wonderful Vacation

We're back home from a WONDERFUL week with our Tennessee family. The time went MUCH too fast, but we had a lot of fun-filled days....thought I'd share a few pictures from our time together.

We played many games -- Stress and Greed, Rack-O, Chicken Scratch

The children were always begging Grandpa for stories, real life stories from his childhood days. They were so intrigued, and would sit a long time listening to what he had to say.

I took several candid pictures, then they decided to pose for one. Just as I pressed the button, a fly flew right in front of my camera just as the flash went off. That's the white spot in the left upper corner. Couldn't have accomplished that if I had tried.

Baby Samuel was such a sweetheart! He loves his bouncy swing, and Ethan just could hardly keep from swinging him when he'd walk by.

Another picture of the smiling, happy Samuel. He's such a good baby, and won Grandma's heart!!One morning we went to Sunrise Bakery for doughnuts. The following 4 pictures were taken there.

Missy girl!! Such a sweetheart!
Darren and Samuel. Darren loves his brother and takes such good care of him.

Ethan -- what is he going to do next!!!??? He's 100%+ boy!!

Samuel was such a good traveller!! He'd just go right off to sleep and was so happy when he got awake.

We always visit a wonderful Chinese restaurant (Lucky Bamboo) when we go to Joy's. It has a spendid buffet and the MOST WONDERFUL sweet cream cheese wontons. That is the only place I have ever tasted the sweet version, and they are "to die for." NO KIDDING!!

We also visited the home of President James Polk. The following are pictures taken there.

On our way home we visited a sweet couple -- Everett and Sarah Witherow. When they were physically able, they attended Wes and Joy's church. They are a very special couple! One day Wes's brother Tim took Darren fishing. Here is their catch!Oh, did you say I can't eat them raw?? Watch me!Farmer Wes and his new Case tractorOld McDonald's farm has increased by 2 --- pigs, that is!

There are many more pictures I could share, but they would probably bore the most of you. So I'll let these be sufficient. We had such a great time, and made many wonderful memories. Thanks, Wes, Joy, Darren, Missy, Ethan and Samuel for making our time together so very special. We love you more than we could ever tell you. Now we'll start counting the days until our vacation together in the Smokey Mountains....May 20!!

This and That

This blog contains a conglomeration of pictures; a sort of collage, if you please. The first 2 are of our weeping pussy willow tree. When we re-landscaped last summer I saw this advertised in a nursery catalog and thought it would be unique. It has proved to be our first sign of spring!!

I think it is unique and pretty in it's own way.

On Thursday, March 5, I went to Lancaster to spend the day with two friends. On the left is Darlene (Replogle) Byler, married to Wilbur Byler, founder of Missions Help Ministry. On the right is her sister Debbie (Replogle) Hollinger, wife of David Hollinger, Founder and Chairman of Four Seasons Produce, Inc. She was my maid of honor many years ago when John and I married in 1970. I haven't seen her in many years and it was great to spend the afternoon with these lovely ladies. Debbie is the Founder/Director of a non-profit foundation, HOME (Hearts of Mercy Extended) International, which sponsors homes for orphaned girls in India. To help support HOME, she opened the Second Street Thrift Store. For more information on their vision and mission, visit her website http://www.homeinternational.org/. After we had lunch, we visited the thrift shop, then went to Debbie's house to chat and get caught up on what's happened in our lives since we were last together. It was a most enjoyable day, one I will cherish for a long time!!


This is a picture of Jayna one day after school. She loves to stop in on her way home and spend some time with Grandma and Grandpa before going home for supper. Of course, we LOVE it too, since she isn't here much anymore now that she's in school all day. She's growing up so quickly and doing very well in school. We are so proud of her!

We don't get the chance to see our oldest son, John Mark, very often, so he emailed a couple of pictures. We hope to go to Georgia to see them the end of May.
John Mark and Cristal

We have a couple in our church who have been married for 21+ years and never had children. Almost a year ago she began having some phyical problems and started doctoring. When she didn't improve, the doctor ordered an ultrasound to see what was going on. To make a long story short, they discovered she was 13 weeks pregnant. She was due November 23, but developed gestational diabetes and a severe case of toxemia, and delivered a beautiful, healthy baby boy on October 17 -- Jared Royce, our miracle baby! He is such a blessing to his parents and to our congregational family. Occasionally, since his grandparents live a distance away, I play "grandma" and babysit him when they come to town for a shopping trip.

Here's our sweet miracle baby!

Not too much else is happening in our lives these days. I'm anxiously waiting to begin working outside in my yard and flower beds, cleaning the porches and siding, and getting my porch furniture back out of storage. The last week of March we have a trip to Tennessee planned -- to see our daughter, son-in-law and family. :-) That's the next exciting thing on our schedule, so I'll probably not blog again until we return.

Fun at Grandpa and Grandma's House

The girls love to ride on Grandpa's shoulders -- one at a time, please!!Jayna with some of her dolls.
After school today.
She loves to come to Grandma's after school, even when Mommy isn't working.

Playing dress-up.

Kaylee intent on watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse....again!!

Don't tell me....!

Both the girls love for Grandpa to read to them.

Birthday Girl

Friday, January 30, was Kaylee's 2nd birthday. Saturday we had a party with a few friends and family invited. Here are some pictures of the fun we had.

The main attraction for the kids were the balloons. What a time they had kicking them around. Sorry ... I didn't get a picture of the group (about 12 kids) playing together.

Kaylee loves anything with Mickey Mouse, so of course, her cake was decorated with him and Minnie.

Mickey and Minnie at the Soda Shop.

Blowing out the candle --- with daddy's help.

One of the rows of tables. Somehow I didn't get a picture of the other row.

Opening some of the gifts. After she opened a couple, she was ready to play with what she had...forget the rest. So some of the older girls opened most of others for her.

One of her gifts was wrapped in a Mickey Mouse bag.

Time to go home. Kaylee and Mimi.

Christmas 2008

Well, Chrismas 2008 is history, and all the anticipated activities are behind us. With the last one ending just this evening (our kids headed back to Tennessee just hours ago), the "let-down" feeling has settled in, and I feel sad! I looked forward SO much to the morning after Christmas when Joy and her family would arrive. Now it's all over.... and we get back to the routine, whatever that may be.

We had a wonderful Christmas. The many activities at church -- banquets, parties, programs, etc. were so much enjoyed. The family times together were appreciated more than ever...the older I get the more I realize how much my family means to me. Thought I'd share a few pictures from the past week.

Christmas eve we had our Christmas with Joel's family. Kaylee loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so she received a lot of things related to Mickey Mouse.

Jayna loves to play games. After we opened all our gifts we played her new game. She really enjoyed it, and so did her Daddy, Mommy and Grandma!

Chrismas afternoon we went to my brother Mark's since all four of their children were home on Christmas morning for the first time in a number of years. Mark and Bonnie have five grandchildren -- all boys. Jennifer is expecting again and we told her it's time now for a girl. I guess we'll have to wait and see!! It was so good to see all of them again. These times together are so very special, and Bonnie remarked how much Mom would have enjoyed this day. I often thank the Lord for the rich heritage I have and for the love of family my parents instilled in us children. I am indeed richly blessed!

Last year Marianne's son Allan was so concerned that we didn't pay enough attention to Jesus when it really was His birthday we were celebrating. So this year Bonnie had a cake made with a picture from a Christmas card on the top, and we sang "Happy Birthday" to Jesus. How appropriate!! It was neat seeing Allan's expression when we sang.

We also sang Happy Birthday to Jesus on Christmas eve when we had our Christmas with Joel's family. After we sang, Jayna asked how old Jesus is. (You never know what a child is thinking.)

Marianne (Slagenweit) Brown with Jonathan's little guy -- Tyler.

David's wife April holding Marianne's son Stephen.

Friday morning Joy's family arrived. Missy loves the Christmas wreath my Mom used to make and she wanted to help me make one. So Missy, Jayna and Ethan all helped. Here we are getting it mixed up.

The finished product -- as you can see Ethan cleaned out the pan.

Sunday after church we got a family picture. John Mark didn't get home for the holidays, but this is the rest of the family. It was great to have at least this many of us together for a picture. Getting all of the children to cooperate and smile at the same time was quite a feat. This is the best we could do!

Grandpa and Samuel. He is such a happy baby and readily smiles when you talk to him.

Samuel in the swing while we were busy in the kitchen.

Missy feeding Kaylee crushed ice.


Jayna and Kaylee lovin' on cousin Samuel


Missy and Kaylee

April and Samuel

Blessings

This has been a week of received blessings. First of all, on Tuesday I met an old friend (well... she's not old, but we've been friends a long time). We met in 1969 when we entered nurse's training in Altoona, and haven't seen each other in probably 25+ years. Over the years we've kept in contact at Christmas and since she lives within an hour of State College and I shop there occasionally, we agreed to meet sometime over lunch. I was indeed blessed to meet her at Eat 'n Park and get "caught up" on the happenings of her life. Her husband (Hiram Westover) retired this past spring from pastoring many years in the CMA church, and she is working part-time for Hospice. Thanks, Phyllis, for making my day special.

Yesterday I was blessed by our daughter and her family. I was in the dining room when I noticed out the window that a van had parked out front of our house. A man was reaching inside the side door, retrieved a beautiful floral bouquet, and headed straight for our front door. When the doorbell rang, I opened the door and he said he had something for us. Tears came to my eyes as I opened the card to read that Joy, Wes and family had sent us these gorgeous flowers. I could hardly see the delivery man for the tears that clouded my vision; I asked him if all women cry when he hands them flowers. Thanks, Joy -- you are such a special daughter!! The flowers look so beautiful on our dining room table.

Yesterday was also John's birthday. We wanted to spend the day (or part of it) with Rahn and Trudy, but since she was in Florida helping with the household duties of their daughter-in-law after her back surgery, and didn't plan to fly home until this morning, we decided to "celebrate" the guys' birthday a day late. So we met them this morning at the Cracker Barrel in Harrisburg for brunch. What a lovely time we had! Happy 58th, John and Rahn! Only 2 more years until the big 6-0! Again, we were made aware of the rich blessings of family as we spent this time with them. We indeed are abundantly blessed!!

Memories

I have a facebook page and enjoy keeping in touch with friends and family who don't blog, but have facebook. Yesterday there was quite a buzz with some of my cousins over some pictures that 2 of my cousins posted. For those of you who don't facebook, but check my blog, I am posting 2 of the pictures (of course, the 2 in which I am included). When I look at pictures of the past, it invokes many memories. I realize now how swiftly time passes and the importance of making the best of each moment as it presents itself. I guess I posted this more for myself than anyone else....it gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling looking at family and remembering the great times we have had, the rich heritage we share, and the great debt of gratitude I owe my Saviour for placing me into such a wonderful family.

This one was taken at my Uncle Andrew's house and includes 8 of us cousins who are about the same age. For those of you who are interested, it includes -- beginning at the lower left (the profile) and continuing clockwise around the table; Marilyn Slagenweit Leclair, Daryl Climenhaga, Fred Slagenweit, Carol Slagenweit Hendershot, Pat Slagenweit Smith, Faithe Slagenweit Keefer, Doris Slagenweit Swope, Mary Alice Slagenweit Willard. Aren't we cute???

This one was taken at a Slagenweit reunion several years ago. Of the 27 original cousins, 19 of the 24 living cousins were present. Will it ever happen again that as many are together for another picture? That would be great if it did. Anyway, the idea was to line up in Birth Order. The oldest is in the back row, far right with the youngest in the front row, far left.
For posterity's sake the names and birth dates are as follows: Arlene (6/1/32), Rosalee (7/16/38), Paul Alton (1/22/39), Harold (9/4/41), Joan (3/4/43), Gerald (2/2/44), Judy (4/21/44), Donna (2/13/45), Dorcas (7/17/46), Sylvia (7/6/47), Carol (12/12/48), Fred (2/25/50), Doris (12/10/50), Faithe (2/5/51), Mary Alice (10/13/52), Mark (1/12/55), Faye (11/19/56), Dwight (1/23/57), Andrew (7/18/59). Not present are: Linda (5/16/41), Pat (6/24/49), Daryl (5/30/50), Marilyn (10/11/50), Denise (6/8/57).

I trust I have gotten all the birthdates right. If not, I'll correct them as I am corrected. My apologies to any of the cousins who may not want your age known. I guess it's too late now!!

This winter my brother and I plan to spend a day and go through a few boxes of pictures and things of Mother's that we haven't gone through yet since her passing over 2 years ago. I'll probably be posting more memories in days to come!!