, March 13, 2009

Hi

Hey, I am still alive but am very busy!  I thought I'd better let you all know that. 

Actually, what is taking my time right now is that I've decided to try to finish the suit coat for Vernon.  I had started one 4 years ago and it just wasn't turning out so I threw it into the corner so to speak and tried to forget about it.  Unfortunately, it keeps calling my name....so I decided to try again.  Over a year ago,, I cut out a new one, and was soon frustrated.  (Swedish knit is easier to work with as Gabradine frays like crazy.  But the swedish knit doesn't hold up to my husband's use,  and the other wears like iron.)  Finally, I had a brain storm and took the fronts to Guatemala with me and had a tailor set the pockets in.  Wow.  For only Q10.  and he did a great job.  So, 15 months later, I am finally getting at it.  I have most of the coat sewn together, and am getting ready for the collar.  Yikes.

I had a very rebellious thought....if the men in our churches had to sew these coats, they probably wouldn't require them to be worn.  (I feel that way about our cap type coverings too, btw.)   I know, I've just set myself up to be labeled as an apostate. but at least I'm honest. 

That said, I must admit that I think Vernon looks great in a straight cut suit so really don't mind them at all, it just I wish I had the money to buy him one already made.  But then they'd probably be made of Swedish knit!   Oh well.... I must get back to the sewing machine.  Wish me success.  

On another note, I was asked to post this website for some freebie homeschool stuff.  www.HomeschoolFreebieOfTheDay.com

They have some goodies for everybody.  Today, I listened to a story on Harriet Tubman.

Well, there I released my safety valve so maybe I can gt the job done with no explosion.  Thanks for listening.  God bless and keep you. 

This one is probably one of my most treasured photos.

 Its been over a year now since Papa, Glenn Martin, went to be with Jesus.  Last year at this time, all I could do was weep whenever I thought about him. 

Time did bring healing, of course, but I still miss him.  A LOT!   It helps to call Mama Doris occasionally and we reminsce together.  That has been a real help and encouragement to me.  I never cease to marvel at her strength of character or whatever.  I KNOW that she misses him greatly but she enjoys talking about him and never makes me feel stupid or anything.  I do hope that I can encourage her as much as she does me.

Anyway, the other day I was thinking about him and how much he meant to us, how much we loved him and how much we miss him.  This thought came to my mind:   I would rather love and lose you than to never have known your love at all!

I guess it sums it up well....I feel very blessed to have known that dear man and  I look forward to seeing him again in Heaven someday.

I trust that Chad and Elizabeth don't mind that I've used this photo. 

Now I'm off to call Mama Doris!

For the last few weeks, Kendra Lily has been saying, "I need a GPS."  She has been planning to attend Calvary Bible School in Calico Rock, ARK for sometime and has been stewing about the long, lonesome trip down all by herself.  No navigator + no advisor = get lost.  Thus the tune, I need a GPS.  Of course, as with anything major, she wavered between need and ecomonics.  She doesn't really enjoy seeing her hard-earned money being squandered.  But was this squandering when she just KNEW she'd get lost?!

She asked for my advice...I told her to read the road map.  She didn't think she could get there all by herself with no trouble.  I thought she could...she tends to under estimate herself at times.  Especially in a new venture.  Anyway, she took the plunge and bought herself a new road Atlas.

Well, I thought with that action, she was at least on the way to first base, but it didn't look too great when Calico Rock wasn't even listed.  Somehow we found it though.   We then chartered her way from here to Lincoln, MO where she'd planned to spend the night with Willis Schrock's, (formerly from our congregation.)  Willis thought it would take her about 12 hours from here.

I told her "All you have to do is take 27 South to Cadott, then take 29 W to 94W near Eau Claire, to 494S in Minneapolis to 35S to Kansas City, Mo. take the bypass around KC, to 70 E to 65 south until you get to Lincoln."  (I think I have all those numbers right.  :-p,  I couldn't remember the bypass # ) Seems simple to me but she wasn't sure.

Anyway, she left at 5:30 AM yesterday....called a couple of times to let us know that she was handling it well and hadn't gotten lost yet. We knew she could!!! and thank God for cell phones, too, btw.  She got to Willis' by 4:30 in the afternoon.  It IS a long journey for a gal to make alone but she is a very trustworthy daughter for which we are grateful.  I did have my doubts of her doing the trip alone..not that I didn't think she could but I tend to worry.    There was a minute or so the night before that I wished she were just going by air.  I was glad to hear that she made it with flying colors.

Now, we will trust Willis to give her directions for the last leg of her trip today.  I am sure she'll have more confidence in herself this time.  (BTW--Willis' were in charge of  the food at Susana and Adam's reception.)

Well, I'll leave her for now except to say that we're proud of you, KL!  Have fun at CBS.

Kaitlyn has been growing like a weed..she is now 10 months.  Weighs 19 lb.  she walks around stuff alot, poking her fingers in about everything she finds.  Loves to unload diaper bags, drawers, clothes baskets, etc.  She has taken a few steps but is a very cautious little gal....so she would rather race across the room on hands and knees.  Believe me, she can really rip around that way. 

She doesn't go down steps but can go up.  She's afraid of falling down so she doesn't get too close.  She is also very careful not to roll off the couches, etc. too.  Don't think I've ever had a more sensible baby in that respect!  Well, Vern just turned the lights off so I am going to sign off.

It was -33 yesterday morning.  Wonder if the cows are giving ice cream instead of milk these days.

Love ya all.  skm

Twenty-six years ago, I was a very excited woman.  I was expecting my very first child and I could hardly wait.  I went into labor....oh goody, now I could finally meet my little dolly.  It looked like I'd have it on my youngest brother's birthday!  

My midwife came and finally went back home.  Labor stopped.  How disappointing!   Vernon and I took a long walk the next evening and went to bed hoping, hoping....No, no soap. 

Then on Saturday morning, labor started again.  Again the midwife came.....hours later she asked us if we wanted her to go home.  She lived over an hour away so I wasn't sure what to think.   There HAD been some progress but everything stopped again.  More disappointment.  She said that since her husband was away for the weekend she really didn't need to go home so she just stayed.  Bless her heart. 

Well, we took another walk but cut it short because it was too cold and labor definitely kicked in again.  That was about 4 PM on Dec. 18th.  Our good friends, Vern and Elaine came and spent the night with us....helping us make some sugar cookies shaped like baby buggies.  We had to wait until later before decorating them in the correct color.  That was a LONG night for me, everyone else took turns sleeping and I walked the hall of our mobile home.  I was getting exhausted.  Would this never end?  I was in "transition" from about 10 PM on.

Finally, at 7:21 AM , 31 hours later, we heard her first cry.  Oh what JOY, all of my exhaustion flew out the door!  I was a Mother and had the prettiest baby that was ever born.  (Or so I thought,  since then, I've found out that newborns usually aren't all that beautiful, but you couldn't have convinced me of that then!)   All 5lb and 15oz of her--she was the loveliest dolly that I'd ever held in my arms.  

Well, as I said, that was 26 years ago and I still love my dolly just as much.  I miss her tremendously.  Here are some pictures of her.  Happy Birthday, Susanita!

She's about 5 or 6 weeks in this picture.  Hagerstown, MD

Here is is 2 years old.  We lived in Palama, Guatemala.  She just loved her "flee-lilla".

This one she was 3 and 1/2.  Taken on furlough, summer of 1986

 
Kaitlyn Rosanna  age 8 months    weight 17 and 5 oz
This girl doesn't sit around and wait for stuff to happen.....she makes it happen!
A real Kendra Lily JR

Yesterday one of my old Bible School friends was here.  She acted like she was glad it was me that had a baby at our age and not her.  You know what?  She's not the only one!  Even when Kaitlyn is crying and we don't know what to do for her....like right now....I still am so thankful that God thought that we "needed" just one more. 
She is a very, very precious little girl.
Well, I must sign off....she's crying her heart out and needs her Mommy.

Just a little update on our doings around here.

Friday night, Susana and Adam came.  They brought his family's cider press so that we could make cider.  Some of our customers had given us about 15 bushels of apples.   We set the press up in our living room and spent most of the day making cider.

  We were glad when the job came to an end and the clean up was over.  Marvin helped by boring a hole in the wedge of an old shoe someone gave our girls for dress-up.  KL put the shoe on and cranked with her leg to give her arms a break.  It was hilarious. 

 It was way too cold to make it outside.  We got around 45 gallons.  We shared with different friends, mostly from church. 

Last evening we went over to Ridgeland to visit John Kauffman's.  That was very enjoyable.

I forgot to mention that one of my former students was here to visit.  John and Melody Eberly.  What a treat!  Our family enjoyed their visit immensely.  I hope they'll do that again.

Well, baby is fussing so I'll quit.

I finally filled my Prayer Requests notebook.  No more empty pages.  I had received it from my secret sister 2 years ago.  After I filled it up, I took some time to flip through it and reread some of the requests.

Here is a sample: Different people with health problems: Dewey Floberg, (cancer),  Dana Floberg, (Dewey's oldest son who needed a kidney or liver transplant), "Papa" Glenn Martin, heart disease,  Marie Algyer, (Papa's daughter--was very sick), Mary Bledoe, (cancer), Wilbert Friesen (cancer), Curvin High, (Cancer), William Bush (kidney failure).

Then there were those with spiritual needs:  Jonathan, Rodney, Jack, Sherry, Carlos, (there were a number)

We prayed for the families of those that passed away.  Of the list above, only Dana and Marie recovered. 

 Of the next group, we are still praying.  There were some victories but we wish there were more. 

We've prayed for suffering Christians, for missions, for missionaries, for diaster victims  such as the Tsunami, and earthquake survivors.

There have been times that our faith was weak.  I've wondered if our prayers have helped at times. 

But I know that they have helped.  Its reassuring to know that effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much!

That encourages me to keep on praying and to encourage you to remain faithful in prayer.

  Remember that I said that I wasn't too good at multi-tsking?  Well, I still am not but I sure am trying this evening.  Kaitlyn was too sick to take to prayer meeting so I stayed home with her.  I wanted to get some stuff done especially post on Xanga.

I didn't feel right about the dishes not being washed so I decided I'd better do that first.  So the first thing on the agenda is bathing the baby....which I did, then I got her to sleep.  Now, while she's sleeping I ran the dish water and was printing on 2 of our computers.

Our girls do their schoolwork on computers doing Switched on Schoolhouse by Alpha and Omega Publications.  Well, a couple of them hit snags with the Revolutionary War and also some Science is giving them trouble.  Lavina can't remember what is unicellar, spores, fungi and so forth;  Melisa is into atoms, and all the symbols of phosphorus, iron, magnesiumm and all that stuff.  Unfortunately, AOP doesn't have a Teacher's manual for their Switched on Schoolhouse (SOS) and said their Lifepacs aren't the same.  (I wonder why not! ;-( )  So, I've decided to create my own.  So, I started printing Melisa's out on her computer and am doing Lavina's Science on hers.....between the printers and flipping the pages, dooing the dishes, now Kaitlyn's awake I feel like I'm spinning. 

Oh, I ran out of ink on Melisa's so I shut that one down.  I was almost done with her History unit.  Too bad, but I am gladour Walmart sells Dell ink cartridges.  We have 3 Dell printer's and the all use different cartridges.  

I have only the final test to finish up on Lavina's Science unit.  I sure hope having a manual makes homeschooling easier.  While I like SOS it does have some drawbacks and that was a major one.

I found a whole bunch of pretty file holders or whatever at Wally's World for $ .42 each.  That's 1/2 price so I bought about 80 of them!  They were just what I needed.

Now, I am done printing and working only 1 computer so life is settling down.

Ok, now.....let me see....  We had company over the weekend for Laura Stoll and Packy Sporre's wedding.  Morgan and Chelsey Vinar from International Falls, MN came first on Friday afternoon.  Then Bethany Martin, Becky Zook, and Hannah Schrock from the same place.  Before it was over, we had a total of 7 girls.  I didn't meet all of them and I even forget what their names were. 

I find it so fun to play the Mennonite game.  My girls are always teasing me by saying:  "Mom either went to Bible School with their parents or taught their parents in school or Daddy is related to them!"  Well, it IS amazing how often they are right.  As for the girls that spent the night here--I went to BS with Hannah and Bethany's mothers way back in 1976!

At the reception, I had the privilege to eat with Tim Zook's and Bob Stauffer's.  While we were talking, I asked Bob if he knew that his good friend Mike was Vernon's cousin.  "No," they hadn't known that!  They were surprised.  Later, Doris Stauffer said they were headed to Buck Creek church over Sunday as Paul Shirk from MS was holding meetings.  "He's Vernon's first cousin too."  They were amazed. 

Well, the family is home from prayer meeting so I need to hang this up for the night.  I want to share a couple of photos of "our twins". 

Don't you just love this last one?  We thought it was too funny.

I want to thank all you gals that gave me a word of encouragement.  My dear friend Cheryl Long called me today and wondered how it was going.  

Its amazing what a few words can do.  Does that mean I am shallow?  I suppose I am but I'd rather think that my friends are deep.  There really are time my love tank feels empty.

Well, today, I can say that my chin is up!  All three of them, in fact.    I still felt like I ran circles around myself backwards but I wasn't blue.  PTL  I am sure that alot of it is just hormones and maybe "baby blues" as I've hardly ever had a bluesy day since we moved here from Guatemala.  (I sure had lots of them before--I think I was suffering from the lack of fellowship, btw.)

I think its like Peter walking on the water.  As long as he stayed focussed on what was important, he succeeded.  I keep having to remind myself to keep focussed.  Believe me, its really hard to do when something or someone (usually several someones) are vying for my attention.  Sometimes quite loudly to say the least. 

Today I was trying to help Lavina with History or Science when Melisa clamours for my attention....she's in the "throes" of substances.  (I think she's ready to throw it too.) You know; how many atoms are in a molecule or vise versa and how many whatevers are in a spec of iron or magnesium or salt or, or, or, or.....WHATEVER!!!!!  I don't understand it, folks and I am the Teacher.  Or am I?  I am not sure what happened next, but I did have to tell Melisa she'd have to wait because I wanted to follow through with Lavina first.  

 I marvel at the ability of some folks being able to switch tracks and keep their trains all headed the right direction!  As for me, I usually end up derailing and staying that way. 

Anyway, today went pretty good even though I didn't get everything done I wanted to...there's always tomorrow and if there isn't it won't matter anymore.

Kendra Lily took the younger ones to Ladysmith for awhile this afternoon while Kaitlyn napped.  I didn't get a nap because when I made my cup of tea and prepared to relax a little, I got 3 or 4 customers....then the baby woke up. 

I was still frying the hamburger for the casserole when the others got home so they got to help with supper making.  Everyone is in a good mood.  The supper was yummy and I got a lot of compliments.  What more could I want?  I am blessed.

So life goes on.  A couple of you mentioned that you couldn't imagine juggling the care of a baby on top of your already full life.   You know, a year and a half  ago, I wouldn't have either, but I certainly consider it a privilege.  Not too many my age even gets the chance.     We are so thankful that God decided to send her our way!

Well, on that note, I'm out of here.  God bless you richly.