Our Halloween Baby

A huge Happy 22nd Birthday to Allison Jae! You have grown into a wonderful and beautiful young woman!

You arrived 8 days early, so going into labor on the 30th really was unexpected. Being first time parents we were quite confident that you would be born before Halloween. On and on it went, well into the 31st. By that time I was convinced you wouldn't arrive until your November 7th due date! Dad & I had made plans to go out to eat with one of his friends from high school on the 30th, but now things had changed a bit. Instead Dad just told him to come over and hang out with us, and help time contractions! Boy was I impressed, and I'm sure the unmarried friend was also pretty impressed. So yes, you finally arrived 37 hours later, in the afternoon on the 31st! When the nurse announced it was a baby girl, and asked what we would name her, I replied "Halloweeny H_______"! The nurse gasped and then we gave your real, and much loved name! Jae is in honor of your Grandpa Lloyd and Uncle Wendall, who both shared the middle name of Jay, only yours has a nice feminine twist of the "e" at the end.




In spite of our fine parenting skills, you survived and grew into a strong and healthy young girl!


You were the first Grandchild on Dad's side, so you were much loved and spoiled! Grandma Nancy and Great-Grandma Alice sat with you and Dad for a four generation picture.




You welcomed the birth of your first brother, Mitchell (above) and then accepted the birth of brother number two, Kevin (below). But you wanted a baby sister oh so bad!






Your wishes finally came true when you were 10! You proudly named your new baby sister, Abigail Jean!


You are a wonderful "Big Sis" to your siblings, and have set the standard high for them!


As you grew up and moved away to college you really spread your wings, and traveled to far off places .... Nicaragua for 3 months and Europe for a month. Your families in Nica fell in love with you, which was no surprise to us!

You have brought many of your friends into our home, into our lives, and into our hearts! Your smile and warm personality attracts the best of the best! With heartache we walked with you as you grieved the loss of your dear friend Ali, at the tender age of 16! And then smiled through tears when 5 years later you donated 13 inches of beautiful hair to Locks of Love in her honor.

We have spent hours sitting in gymnasiums cheering you and your teammates on. You rose above adversity, even when it was tougher than you had even imagined. We are proud of your athletic spirit!



Happy Birthday my Halloween Princess! You are amazing and we love you to the moon and back!

Happy Fall Ya' All!

I really love fall! It's that time of year when I begin to feel like hibernating, when the busy outside work winds down, and when I can change the look & feel of my home!

My ever-growing candy corn collection.

Followed by my gathering of scarecrows ...

I found these wonderful little white pumpkins at a local roadside pumpkin stand.




My favorite area to "re-decorate" is the fireplace. The soot is part of the permanent decor!

Thought I would include my large clock in this photo as a "salute" to the infamous time-change in Indiana. Changing clocks is new to our state and I'm really not a fan! If you know me, you already know this fact. It's not so much that I'm opposed to changing time - however, changing this large clock is not much fun - it's just thatI wish we were not EST! I would much prefer to be CST, for many reasons but mostly because I don't enjoy the long dark mornings.

I found this oak leaf platter at my favorite gift shop in Berlin, OH! I just wish they would've had a maple leaf option. The window that is part of this coffee table is a door from a built-in china cabinet that was in the original part of the farm house where we live. I found it in the attic when we moved here, and got the story from my Mom.

My favorite fall time snack is what I call my "easy caramel apple"! I peel and slice an apple then alternate bites of apple with bites of 100 Grand candy bar. Can't beat it!!!

Closing out this post with a photo of Kevin's soccer jersey that I kept white all season long! We sat through more rainy and cold soccer games this season than I remember sitting through with Mitch. And someone please tell me why coaches think white jerseys for outside sports are a good idea?

A Trip To My Past ...

Several weeks ago I traveled back in time ... back to where my life was pretty much an empty book, waiting for me to fill the pages. For the past year I had been anticipating a return to Hesston College, the wonderful Mennonite College where I spent two years in the 80's. It was time for my 25 year class reunion, and the college itself was also celebrating it's Centennial on the same weekend.

OK, so this isn't really me, and it's not even what the people looked like when I went there. But just imagine for a moment, 100 years ago people traveled far from home to this little blip on the map!





Now, back to my journey ...



My 15 year old son, Kevin, is planning on studying Aviation when he completes High School, and for the past couple of years has been a frequent visitor to Hesston College's Aviation website. Since I was heading that way, I decided it would be a great opportunity to take him with me on the 13 hour road trip to the great state of Kansas!




My first stop was in Kansas City where I spent a wonderful evening with one of my long-lost college friends! When Kevin & I arrived in Hesston our first day was filled with "college visit" type stuff. A current aviation student took us to the airport where the Aviation Program is headquartered. While Kevin took a flight with one of the instructors I filled the director's ears with a lot of nonsense about why I really don't care to go up in small planes, blah blah blah. After Kevin landed, the top-notch student that we were hanging out with took off for his first solo flight! That was pretty cool to be a part of his exciting day! Kevin then spent the evening, overnight, and all day Saturday with his host student, David, that we know from our neighborhood. David took Kevin to Drubers at midnight for donuts and Newell's Truck Stop the next day. He was in good hands.




On Friday evening I took in a college volleyball game, and reminisced about the wonderful polyester knit long sleeved, itchy & hot uniforms that we wore when I played "back in the day"! I also recalled the time I got my ears pierced for the first time and was late getting back for volleyball practice. I had to run extra after practice for that little lack of judgment.




On Saturday, I looked up my old roomie that still lives in Hesston. We hadn't seen or even communicated in at least 20 years! Our lives have taken different paths and we just haven't made the effort to stay in touch. She is a Hesston native so while in college I spent a lot of time at her home with her Mom and sisters. So of course, her Mom had to pop in while we were catching up on days gone by. Needless to say, lots of laughter and memories! Saturday evening she joined me for an Alumni Banquet on campus, where we bumped into my roommate from my Freshman year, and who played volleyball with us also.



Here I am with my "roomie" and her Mom ... my college Mom.




On Sunday I took Kevin to the Wichita airport to travel home so he wouldn't miss another day of school. It was his first experience of traveling alone, so the whole way there I quizzed him about reading his itinerary, finding his flight number, his flight time, how he would find his gate in Chicago for his connecting flight to South Bend, on and on. I had told him that the first thing he should do when he gets to Chicago is to find his next gate and then he could get something to eat if he wanted. So, when I said goodbye to him I asked him one last time "what's the first thing you should do when you get to Chicago" and he said "call you"! :) I love this kid!




On Sunday afternoon I drove to Salina to spend time with another good friend from my days at HC! One more friendship renewed! In the evening my Mom (who was also in town, more on her later) and I took my cousin Marion B., who is a Bible Professor at HC, to Pizza Hut. His daughter who is close to my age happened to visiting also, so the two of us got to hear a lot of stories about our grandparents. By this time I thought I had been maxed out in stories of the past, but there was still more to come on Monday.

Monday morning I decided to surprise one more friend who is a professor at the college and who I hadn't seen the entire weekend. I snuck into her 7:40am class with a few young souls and sat at a table with them. My friend glanced my way several times, and I thought either she doesn't recognize me or she is stunned by my appearance. She finally comprehended what was going on, and claimed that I just fit in and she didn't notice me right away. It was pretty cool to sit there and listen to her lecture. Did I mention that I took a bag of Munchies and Diet Coke to class with me? Just wanted to add some entertainment to her Wellness & Nutrition class!

The final event from my packed full, fun-filled trip was Chapel at the College. My Mom had been asked to "share her story" with the college community. I know "her story", I lived it with her, but it was quite a bit different to sit in a familiar setting and hear her put her feelings into words. I was amazed that as I sat there I felt the warmth of tears course down my cheeks, and around me I was aware of others wiping tears. She is an amazing woman, who has experienced more heartache and pain than I ever want to feel! Her faith in God sustains her through even the darkest of valleys, and she sets the bar high for me. Perhaps in a future post I will share our story with the blog world. This chapel experience has brought the memories rushing back, and perhaps it's time to put some words to my feelings, so that my children can know that they come from a family of survivors!

This is my beautiful Mother praying God's blessing on all of the women in the family, at our special Mother/Daughter Tea in May.




After enjoying a quick lunch at the college, Mom & I hit the road! Somewhere on the Kansas highway we saw this ...

It might be the new invention that saves Elkhart County and the RV business! :)

Now, 25 years after my time in Kansas, my pages are filling fast! What does my book say about me and the person I have become? What will I fill my pages with in the future?