Road Trip!

1 very long day+

3 hot, tired Lambs+

1 Ewe driving-

1 Ram (for some reason pastors have to work on Sunday mornings!)+

10 hours round trip driving+

almost 700 miles round trip+

real temperature of high 90s and feels like temperature of over 115+

many many stops for 3 Lambs to go to the bathroom (I really wanted them all to be potty trained? Trips were easier with diapers!)=

a few hours to see Ewe's parents+

a few hours to see family that I hadn't seen since summer 2009+

being able to be here:

=Worth it all!

Rev. Jonathan Ripke is in the front center. Ewe's dad is second from the right in the back. The preacher was Rev. Loum from St. Louis. His sermon was long, but excellent, and especially good for members of a rural church to hear. There were many pastors from Seward and the circuit.

Lamb 2 with his godfather

Rev. Jonathan and Megan Ripke-both the sermon and comments at the reception reminded them that they are a team in the ministry; Rev. Ripke is the pastor preaching the Word and she will both be the pastor's wife to support him and a member of the church spreading the Word to the local community.

More details about our trip to be posted tomorrow.

Hunting and gathering and berries

Yesterday and today I did major hunting and gathering as Melody would say. Yesterday was 4 hour drive to Half Price Books sale, Lands End outlet, first Costco run since January, and fast trips to Target and Walmart. We got home at 11:30pm and had lots to unload from the car. Days like yesterday make me think twice that if we didn't live rural if I would do ALL the shopping for the month (or months) on the same day! Costco runs are very strategically planned-no need to buy something we already have at home but sometimes I have shed tears when we forgot something as it will be several months before we return to Costco. (I do know there are more important things in life than shopping, but I write this because those of you that live near your shopping don't realize how blessed you are.)
Lamb 1 and I were up at the crack of dawn and picked gathered 10 lbs of blueberries this morning. Then we shopped local for some Christmas presents for our family and a few other treats and did grocery shopping. While we were gone Lamb 2, 3, and Ram finished putting away yesterday's purchases and cleaned up the kitchen.
After a nap this afternoon, I need to get to work on the berries. I hope to make many batches of jam from the blueberries and raspberries from Costco. We have other summer activities including our county fair this weekend. The calendar is full plus my berry work.
Hopefully I'll be able to resume blogging next week!

Wedding today

The RSVP was due the beginning of June. It was my decision. I knew it was the best decision. Our summer was busy enough. Precious vacation time needed to be saved for the fall. Lamb 1 and 2 needed to take swim lessons. Ram needed to go to Doxology this summer and didn't want to be away from the churches any more than that this summer.

But when the big day came I am physically in MN today but my mind and heart is in IN today. I want to take the Lambs to a parade that I went to many years of my childhood. I want to be there for the big day for my friend of 20 years. He is one of Lamb 3's godfathers. He is one of the few people from my time in IN that has actually come to our small town and visited us in MN. I want to meet his beloved for which he waited so long. I want to see one of my bridesmaids and her one year old son. I want to see other people that I know from teaching in Fort Wayne.

It's bad enough that we live 16 hours away from my family, but even worse when tentative plans to visit "home" get changed. Even if I KNOW this is the best way, I don't like it.

Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. Darin Koenemann. We can't wait to see photos from today when we visit in the fall. May the Lord bless you with a long life together.

I am from...

I am from 11 houses, 9 towns, and a 6 Midwestern states in the great country of the United States of America. I am from strong Hoosier roots with an IN address for most of my life even if IN is not on my birth certificate. I am from moving is an adventure. I am from Sechler pickles and Seyfert potato chips.

I am from long LCMS roots on both sides of the family. I am from “A Mighty Fortress is our God”, “Lord Keep us Steadfast in your Word”, “I am Jesus Little Lamb”, and “Now the Light has Gone Away” (in German).  I am from the Holy Spirit granted me faith at the baptismal font when I was a few weeks old; confirmation; weddings in the church; and anniversary parties and funerals for most of our loved ones at the same church. I am from Sunday School and church at the service with Holy Communion each Sunday. I am from Sunday School Christmas programs and huge VBS each year. I am from my Grandpas’ church even though I never met either of them.  I am from pastors of one grandfather and my dad. I am from being saved by Jesus’ death and resurrection.

I am from frugal and long lived, Grandma Frieda, Aunt Pauline, Grandma M., Aunt Lena, Aunt Agnes, Aunt Alice, Uncle Al, and Uncle Walt. I am from parents married for over 40 years. I am from one younger sister.

I am from the green house with trim that has been painted and changed a few times as the house that I lived in the longest and welcomed me home for a few years after college and still welcomes me home when I visit today. I am from my Grandma Frieda’s beloved house that I lived in for a short year but many weeks during the summer and evenings later in my life. I consider it my childhood home since I did not have one house for my whole childhood. Realizing that Grandma’s house is no longer there is one of my saddest thoughts mixed with happy memories of time spent there.

I am from the long row of mom’s daffodils in the back yard and Grandma’s huge garden. I am from summers of catching fireflies, picking strawberries, tangled hair, riding bike, and playing outside every minute that the weather was nice. I am from school years of practicing and playing flute. I am from the woman that wishes she would have listened to my mom and Grandma Frieda’s homemaking advice better.

I am from many stories of how God had always provided. I am from homemade gifts from the heart and hand-me-downs even if we didn’t have much money to get the latest fads. I am from don’t waste anything which taught me to love cow tongue, edible weeds, and think to make the most with what we had instead of buying more. I am from many hours laughing while playing board and card games. I am from sleeping under Grandma’s homemade quilts made with love just for me. I am from my mom made my prom dress just the way I wanted it.

I am from a love of music instilled by attending many organ recitals and Philharmonic concerts and other church concerts. I am from listen to NPR most of the day and not own a TV for many years of growing up. I am from a family that hung the United States flag proudly the respectful way every day. I am from the family that was quick to cry when hearing stories of the men that fought for our freedoms in our great country and never missed the Memorial Day parade. I am from never miss the high school basketball game when they play at home. I am from the house that always had a room devoted to a library. I am from weekly trips to the public library, reading under the covers after the lights went out, and parents that read to me daily. I am from a dad that made it possible for me to not miss my first college Wind Ensemble tour by picking me up at the airport after my trip to the Holy Land and driving me through the night to meet up with the group.

I am from Grandma’s suppers of only huge banana splits and smells of mom’s freshly baked homemade cinnamon rolls almost every Saturday. I am from Aunt Pauline brings the pies, Grandma Frieda brings tons of homemade cookies, dad makes the ham or turkey, and mom makes everything else from scratch for almost every holiday. I am from inviting someone to lunch nearly every Sunday and having a home cooked meal-usually a roast with veggies and homemade dinner rolls. I am from Grandma’s Easter cupcakes made with homemade fondant and homemade fried chicken that was so good we even had it for Thanksgiving one year. I am from the family that ate dinner together and had devotions afterwards almost every evening whether it was just us or company too.

I am from Grandma’s photos from the last century organized neatly in an old metal picnic basket and many other photos scrapbooked neatly. I am from a family where I never questioned that I was loved by them or God.

Esther posted this yesterday. I really enjoyed writing this. Esther's post has a link to the site it came from and the poem it is based on. My sister is going to try to write one and it will be interesting comparing the two as we are 7 years apart. I encourage you to write one, it is fun! Part of where I am from is that we moved a lot of my childhood which made my poem a long poem because I couldn't talk about one specific place.

Happy 4th of July!

The Lambs decorated their bikes and pretend lawnmower, but refused to be in the parade. Only Lamb 2 walked in the parade for a little bit. At least they let me take their photo!

Only in a small town...
The sheriff would lead a parade of riding lawnmowers.
The mayor would drive her personal car in the parade.
The parade would consist of 1 sheriff car, 1 mayor car, 5 riding lawnmowers, 2 go carts, 1 golf cart with trailer, 1 golf cart pulling a dune buggy that didn't work, 1 ATV with trailer, and 1 boy walking.
There would be no advertising for the parade or potluck-we've done this for the last 5 years!
The only pastor that lives in town would be asked to lead a prayer before the potluck.

Days like this make me appreciate living in a town of 135 people!

Fast Computers

When we first moved here we had dial up internet. We had that for a few years because first there wasn't any good high speed in this rural place, then you had to sign a 3 year contract or pay a penalty. At the time I was thinking we wouldn't be here for another 3 years. When we finally went ahead and signed the contract and began using high speed, it was so fast! We didn't know how we had ever used that slow dial up. I really noticed it when I read blogs-there were some blogs that I had only read once because it took so long to open them. We had the slowest high speed internet because it was the cheapest and we really thought it was fast! I felt bad for all the hours we had wasted waiting on slow internet. We stayed longer than the 3 year contract so we made the right decision there.

Our desk top was 8 years old and we had some problems the last year. 5 years ago we had to crash the whole computer and start over with the photos and random other things we had backed up. We didn't lose anything important, but it was a pain to start over. We had problems with a fan in the computer and had no computer for 18 days over Christmas 2009. This is a huge problem when you live in a rural place in the winter. Even after the fan was fixed we had it in the shop to fix it again last year. There was plenty of space on the computer but it was slower and slower. Sometimes it would freeze up and the only thing to do was shut down and start over. We ran virus programs, took it into the shop to see if it had a virus, had Ram's dad look at it, etc. We came to the conclusion that it was just old.

Recently we got a new computer. That will be a whole different post. We've had it set up for a few days. Because our computer was so slow it used to take me about an hour each morning to read and respond to e-mail and read/comment on my favorite blogs. This morning it took less than 5 minutes! I feel bad about all the hours I wasted on the slow computer.

Ram is going to take our old computer in his office to write sermons etc. He'll be frustrated waiting for that computer, but he will be glad to get rid of the really old computer that was in his office. The difference will be that I will rarely use the computer in his office now. After regularly using the new computer he won't have much patience for his computer. Perhaps we'll have to replace his computer too. He's very tempted to get an iPad...

NOTE: Because we live in a rural place some things are different when shopping for a computer-very few places have wi-fi besides the library, our churches don't even have a phone at them much less an internet connection, most cell phones don't work in our town/area, etc. Ram doesn't do very much traveling outside of the local area so it doesn't make much sense to get a laptop or smartphone. Shopping for a computer would be very different if we lived in a city.

MN government shut-down...

began today. I don't think it will effect my family, but it will be interesting to see. I think government impacts our every day lives more than we think. I know some church member's jobs will be effected.

I was outside this morning trying to deal with the out of control weeds in the garden after all the rain that we've had. I'm happy to say it's not perfect, but it's back to a manageable state. The edible weeds were plentiful in that jungle garden. I hated to waste the good weeds but I needed to finish the job quickly. Lamb 2 was the best help in the garden. It was hot, but not unbearable like yesterday. Then we had a thunderstorm this afternoon so I was glad the weeding had been completed and the plants had a good soak.

I came inside after working in the garden and remembered it was July 1. We don't have TV so I hadn't heard if the state shut down or not. It only took a couple of clicks on the internet to hear that it was shut down. Not the news I wanted to hear, but I wasn't surprised. We've only lived here 8 years and this is the second shut down for us. It's very different than growing up as a Hoosier.