Engagement Announcement

Last night while we were having potluck Joan was serving lasagna to her family and others.  Joan sent a text with a picture.

As they wouldn't be announced until today we couldn't say anything. I slipped my phone to Mark to show him the picture and the rest of the evening we were anxious to hear their story. After the guests left I walked from the barn over to mom's to meet him. I got to talk just a few minutes to him before needing to go back to the barn and David and Stephanie sent the message they were on their way to pick up Israel and Elisabet. I went to bed just after 10 but my mind wouldn't shut off. It was hard to get up this morning but I was up before 6:00 am and got the 8 pounds of hamburger browned, then added that to the spaghetti sauce, then started putting together 2 crockpots of lasagna for tonight. Those were put on low for 3 hours then timed to turn off at 11:00 am. We left for church just after 8:00 am so we could be there by 8:30 to help with getting the lunch ready. Joan arrived with mom and right about then Randy and Kathy arrived with Nancy. Nancy was thrilled to see Joan and could hardly wait to go into church. Gregg Rumbold had the morning message on the last part of Colossians 4. To watch that message click HERE.  I admit my mind kept wandering to the announcements and wondering more about this man who was going to marry my niece. As soon as the announcement was made I sent a picture to our family chat to let my kids know about Josh and Sarah. Sarah was swamped at lunch and I didn't get much chance to talk to her. I told mom she is going to have another grandson and she replied, "what else is new?" Too True!  The afternoon service was the Sunday School Easter program. Mark was not feeling well, he was light headed and decided to stay out in the foyer. It was Nancy's first time to be in the program. She was so thrilled she clapped for herself.

I left right after the program to check on Mark but asked Hannah if she would take his blood pressure. When I got to Mark he was feeling better. Someone gave him a bottle of water and after drinking that he felt better. Maybe he is just getting dehydrated. He is going to make an effort to drink more. When we got home the lasagna was still hot but not over cooked. The salad was made, the bread sliced and butter added between the slices and wrapped in aluminum foil for heating up just before supper. I had a large apple pie for our dessert that was put in the barn oven at 4:00 pm. Supper was ready right at 4:30 pm and was good. After supper the volley games started. Below is a short video of some of the volley's the team that was behind pulled ahead then won it in overtime. 

 Berlica came over and told us Josh and Sarah were at Grandma's so we asked her to go back and see if they would come meet the family here at the barn (there were a lot of us) and tell us their story. Below they are just walking in.

It really was wonderful to hear their story and learn all about Josh. By the time they left we were all thankful and happy for the both of them. Yes we all approved of this marriage.

We didn't leave the barn until after 8:00 pm but almost everyone stayed that long to listen to Sarah and Josh. What an amazing story they have.

 

Food & Fellowship

 I was up at 5:30 am and went straight to working getting the roasts in the oven. Mark was fed breakfast a little early as he wanted to drive the mower from his brother over to Phil and Anna's house this morning as they don't have a mower. I needed to follow him driving the car with the flashers on as it only goes 6 mph at the top speed.

Thankfully they live just down the road from us. It really didn't take very long before he was pulling into their drive.

I left then for church. David and  Stephanie along with Benj and Kristin are serving lunch tomorrow so all the parents showed up early to help. Dana and Marvin got all the tables washed and dried.

Gail and Martha Kay went to work cutting the clusters of grapes.

Kristin's girls set the tables. Then they all went to work cutting the meats and cheeses.

After I finished I drove home to get the barn living area swept and mopped and restock the bathrooms for today's potluck. I also got the table set.

At 3:00 pm I needed to get Disco out and give him a good groom. He had lots of visitors today. Berlica brought Joshua over, well really Joshua drove her over on the golf cart under her supervision.

The family that is going to be buying him arrived at 3:30 pm to introduce him to their children.

They were shown how I have been leading him and how he needs to stop when I say woah. I also picked up all 4 hooves without a problem. I left then to get a shower. At 4:15 the meat was removed from the oven so the potatoes could go in at 400 degrees. Those were drizzled with olive oil, some garlic and then parmesan cheese and baked for 40 minutes. The meat was falling apart tender so the bones were removed and most of the fat before spreading it all out on a jellyroll pan and spreading bbq sauce on each piece. Once the potatoes were done the meat was put under the broiler for a few minutes then covered well and taken with the potatoes over to the barn. I was unrolling the bouncy house when the potluck guests started to arrive. Not that they wanted to use the bouncy house. Bill and Bethany are in town and their children love to play in it and planned on coming over later this evening.. As David and Stephanie were at a wedding we had Israel and Elisabet for dinner too. The food was excellent. I had forgotten to take a picture of it before I ate but the meat was tender Kathleen made an amazing salad, Crystal brought 2 kinds of bread, I chose the cinnamon bread but the cheese bread was also delicious. Lois brought the green beans that had a sweet sauce made from some of the bacon grease, vinegar and sugar.

Eunice brought a raspberry dessert that was the perfect ending.

We had such a nice evening together. Israel and Elisabet were glad when Joshua and William came over to play with them. They had been fishing and were pretty pleased to have caught some stripers. Of course they let them go but had so much fun pulling them in. The guests left and a few minutes later David and Stephanie arrived to pick up their children. 

We all really enjoyed the food and the fellowship tonight.

It is after 10:00 pm I have some pans to wash in the morning then the lasagna to put together before church AND we have promised to go early to help so I'd better head to bed NOW.

 

Feels Like Summer

 I stopped in at mom's this morning to ask if they needed anything from Sam's Club. Mom was out of cream for her coffee and since the rotisserie chickens are still only $5.00 that was put on the list. I dropped off the clean dish towels and dish rags at the barn and brought back 8 pounds of hamburger to defrost for the Sunday meal. 

Once at Sam's the cream and 2 chickens were put in the cart.  I bought the rest of the ingredients for the Sunday meal plus carrots, and  a coleslaw mix I want to try next week. I also stopped at Aldi and picked up a jar of sauerkraut so I could make Ruebens for our supper tonight. 

I dropped off one of the chickens and the cream at mom's then deboned the chicken, cut up some of the carrots, celery, an onion and made a big pot of soup. After that was simmering I mixed up a batch of Thousand Island dressing for our Reubens. Half of the soup was taken over to mom's for later, we ate some for our lunch. I ended up with 3 quarts to freeze. Mark had a doctor appointment this morning to find out why he has been getting dizzy and feeling week. They ran an ekg and found he had some heart damage but no way to tell when that happened. 

We had a high of 78 degrees today and the daffodils popped out.

Mark wanted to fill the generator with gas as the last time we lost electricity the generator ran until it was out of gas. 

This evening Israel came for a couple hours while his parents were attending a rehearsal dinner at the barn. He helped Mark by bringing back the golf cart, then running a couple errands with that. The sunset was lighting up the sky as he was helping. 

When he finished he went into the Tesla and played some driving games. He got in lots of driving this evening.

The meat for potluck tomorrow was prepared tonight and put back in the fridge. That needs to go into the oven early tomorrow morning and cook at 225 for hours.  

Life After Death

 Ruth was going to babysit today for Anni so as soon as Mark and I finished breakfast I used the golf cart to first stop at the barn to get the last of the cleaning done then get to mom's by 8:30. Ruth had a brisket defrosted so that was prepared for cooking wrapped well in aluminum foil and put in the oven at 225 by 8:45 am. Aunt Jinnie called this morning and we all had a good visit. Right after lunch it had warmed up enough that we made our way out to the deck. I couldn't get the awning to work but when Rachel came over she found an umbrella. 

Berlica came over and told us it was the plug last time it didn't work. I unplugged the cat's heated water bowl and plugged the awning in that outlet and it worked. As Rachel was there I left for my house. The ladies had already arrived at the barn to decorate for the rehearsal dinner that will be tomorrow evening. Sarah dropped off Israel here so Mark and Israel were working on taking the snow tires off on both my car and his black car and replacing them with our summer tires. They were working in the back garage.  I had the corned beef simmering on the stove and wanted to finish that meal so didn't go back to see their progress.  At 2:45 am mom was ready to come back inside and after getting her settled in her chair finished the brisket. When I got back to the house Israel was checking the tire pressure on all of the tires on Mark's car.

Mark told me later Israel could pretty much change the tires and check the air without any help from him. He just supervised.

When he finished with Mark's car he went with me up to feed the stallions and the weanlings.

As we are now both in our 70s it is so nice to have grandchildren help.

As soon as we got back to the house Mark was ready to take him home but first stopped to pick up Elisabet from Sarah's house. By the time Mark got home the Irish dinner (just 2 days late) was finished and ready for us to eat.

That turned out delicious plus we now have left over corned beet for Rueben sandwiches tomorrow. I only have to go buy a jar of sauerkraut from Aldi. I took some potatoes, carrots and cabbage over to mom's house to go with the brisket. Ruth said it was delicious. 

Mark named his new car Fred and every once in a while I get a text from Fred telling me something Mark left undone. This evening Fred sent a text that the trunk was not shut. Yesterday Fred sent a text that the doors were unlocked. I think Fred enjoys telling on Mark. VRBO allowed us to book another condo in the same complex and have promised to reimburse us for the extra. We got a notice that the reimbursement is on the way. The cancellation turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The new one is much nicer. We leave for Gulf Shores on March 28th and won't be home until late on April 4th. It will be spring break there and will be crowded, not the best time to go but when family is going to be there it is much more fun then just going alone. 

Rhonda had asked Rachel if she and David would be willing to do a family night at the fellowship hall and share about his heart attack.. When Rhonda asked, Rachel suggested maybe it would be better held at the barn. Rhonda quickly sent this text back: I just read this:  Deuteronomy 28:8 the LORD will command the blessing on you in your barns and all that you undertake. YEP this needs to be held at the barn.  They have picked a date and anyone that is interested is invited.

From RACHEL SAUDER:

Saturday April 25th, 2026.

Many have asked us to share David's "life after death" experience so this will be a night of acoustic worship starting at 6:30, followed by David and myself sharing our testimony of God's goodness and faithfulness through this past year. We hope you will join us

This will take place at the barn.

Psalm 147:3-7

He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.

He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names.

Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite.

The Lord lifteth up the meek: he casteth the wicked down to the ground.

Sing unto the Lord with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God.

We will have refreshments at the end of the night.

Jamaica Fund Raiser

 We were both up at 4:00 am this morning. Not sure why but up and ready to start the day. I went over early to finish the living area of the barn and got all the floors done and the tables and chairs back where they need to be then went over and visited with mom and Ruth until after 8:00 am. Mark came walking over with a bag of garbage from our house so we went home together on the golf cart. Breakfast was the usual eggs, sausage, toast and instead of strawberries Mark cut and ate an orange. I had 3 loads of laundry that needed to be done and once that was started drove to Kroger to see if they had any corned beef marked down. Not only did that NOT have any marked down they didn't have any at all. I stopped at Aldi to get some lemons for Mark and found Aldi still had some but not marked down. I bought a 4 pound corned beef for $25.00. I also picked up a cabbage, potatoes and carrots and will make that tomorrow for our meal. Last year after St. Patrick's day the corned beef was all marked down so we had decided to have that Irish meal a day late. That sure didn't work out this year. We like the corned beef left over to make Rueben sandwiches later. Mark drove Mackenson and Berlica to play practice and was back here by the time I got home from shopping. I had ordered 4 queen size waterproof mattress protectors from Utopia last week. This was the first time I have ever ordered from them and was suspicious but Diane recommended buying them from there. They arrived today so one was taken up to the foaling apartment and put on the queen size bed in the Master bedroom. I see why Diane recommended them. The other 3 will go over to the barn for the 3 upstairs bedrooms but not today. While driving back and forth from the house to the apartment I stopped to get a picture of 3 of the weanlings all snug resting in the hay. 

The 4th was in the other shelter eating off the round bale. Mike went to Middle Grove to put hay in as he is leaving for Gulf Shores for a week but only put 2 bales in. The grass is coming up great there. There is nice green grass everywhere. They sure won't be eating off the bales. We left for church at 6:10 pm tonight. Tim Roecker had the message on 1 Kings 13, an interesting chapter. Click HERE to listen to that.  Tonight after church instead of going out to eat the Bible class served the entire church warm chocolate chip cookies, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, then whipped cream then drizzled with chocolate fudge sauce and that was served with decaf coffee or cold milk. This was a fund raiser for their mission trip to Jamaica and was well attended. Below Chelise is looking at all the pictures.

Below they are serving us the goodies. Eden was in charge of the cookies, Tim was serving the ice cream, Berlica serving the cool Whip and I think that is Anna with the hot fudge.

Most of us stayed a while to visit. We didn't get home until close to 9:30 pm. 

St Patrick's Day

 It was only 9 degrees outside so at 7:45 am I went out to start my car.  The driver's side door was frozen shut as was the back door. Thankfully I was able to open the passenger side, got my left leg over the seat to hit the brake pedal so I could push the start button. The heater was put on defrost and I left to go in and make breakfast. At 8:00 am I went back outside and the ice was still so thick on the front window I had to get a scraper and start scraping. I was able to leave at 8:15 am. What a waste of gas and time. I really should have put the car up in the indoor arena before the storm. I stopped at Sam's club to pick up a key lime pie for the Berean volunteers and a rotisserie chicken for us. When I arrived a lot of the volunteers were already there. The parking lot was a sheet of ice and Skip had to shovel the drift in front of the door before people could get inside. We had a visitor today, David, the director of Berean Prison Ministry arrived to spend some time this morning at this office and see what happens. He sat down with Marvin and Marvin was able to explain the problems we have been having getting Bibles and studies into the prisons.

As mom wasn't able to come Sharon worked on mom's job which was stamping the return address on each envelope, Shirley ran the postage machine and Shirl worked on applying labels on the envelopes and putting the envelopes on the studies.

Kathy was our only reader. We had 21 Bible requests today.

At 9:30 am Marvin's alarm goes off so all in the other room gather in this room for the prayer. Today David had the prayer for us.

We were able to finish and get everyone to their car safely even though no melting had happened yet. It was still very cold but was in double digits. We are very thankful for a working furnace, the Berean office was comfortable while we were working, no one complained about being cold.

After leaving I had to stop at Meister's to drop off Bible studies for Amanda's mom to grade. As 116 is closed I had to go to the Bartonville exit then take Kickapoo Creek Rd. I couldn't even drive up to the main drive at Meisters as the county had big boom trucks setting new poles.

It was back to Bartonville to drop off the Bibles at that post office. Then instead of going Smithville road I had to go the road toward Kroger as Smithville road is closed at the bridge. About then noticed my car was getting low on gas so stopped at the Circle K to find gas is now $4.00 a gallon. I'm really glad my car only took 8 gallons. As long as I was near Aldi I stopped there to pick up some fruit, eggs, tuna fish, pickles and lettuce. I had to take Lancaster road home because of the detour making it home by noon. Mark was ready for lunch and a couple pieces of chicken were just heated up in the microwave. Mark took the left over pie over to mom's to find Dan and Susan there visiting with mom along with Rachel and Ruth. Dan and Susan finished loading up all of the wedding decorations. Mark went over to start the floor cleaning. I organized the gym, then the closet. The gym looks empty now that all of those gorgeous wedding decorations are now all gone.

Mark moved all the tables and chairs over so he could scrub the floor of the living area.

My guests sent a message that they had left the foaling apartment so I went there next. They had left it very nice. I just grabbed the laundry to do at my house then made the beds.

Braelyn is coming tonight to finish the cleaning. She will need to sweep and mop the floor, make sure the bathroom and kitchen are cleaned. Rachel bought the Irish meal at Gil's Supper Club and took that to mom's house.

They had the left over key lime pie for their dessert. They all enjoyed the meal. Rhonda and Spark also enjoyed the corned beef meal down in Missouri.

They REALLY dressed up for St. Patrick's Day.

Spark said his was only $1.99 and he couldn't resist it, it even came with feet. 

Ice Snow Wind

 We awoke to cold, wind and blowing snow. Dan and Susan were on their way to the barn from their house in Goodfield and reported the roads were terrible. They sent back pictures of Trucks and cars in the ditch. Spark and Rhonda left early for Missouri and also sent back pictures. It really wasn't a good day to travel.

I knew Dan made it when he sent the picture below.

The wedding guests that stayed in the barn, the foaling apartment and Diane's basement were all from Florida and we were not sure they should try to start their drive back home. Some of them waited until 11:00 am before leaving. The foaling apartment booked for tonight so as soon as the Florida guests were gone I took the golf cart up with cleaning supplies to get that ready for the next guests. The Florida guests were so thrilled with the snow that they made a snowman last night before the bitter cold came and placed it on the porch of the foaling apartment. 

That was left for the new guests but it will probably only last for 2 more days as we are expecting a warm up then. Meanwhile Dan, Susan and Levi were hard at work at the barn organizing and loading the van and their car. They ended up taking two trips and will need to take one more tomorrow. Susan got all of the bedrooms and bathrooms cleaned in the barn. I took a lot of the towels and some of the sheets to use my machines here at the house and the foaling apartment machines. The final load was finished around 5:30 pm. There is still work to do there but we have plenty of time to get it ready for the next event. I was going to take my car over to the barn but with first the rain then the snow it was all iced up. It only got worse late today, more wind, more snow and falling temperatures. Tomorrow morning is going to start out around 8 degrees. I want the Berean volunteers to feel free to stay home tomorrow as with the blowing snow and cold weather I don't want anyone to get hurt and have the time to stay and get the work done myself. I called Ruth to tell her mom would be staying home tomorrow as I will need to drive my car with it's snow tires. Ruth sent back a picture of mom petting the kittens. She wrote, they are both fragile.

She meant mom and the kittens. Mark took the golf cart and a snow shovel to the apartment and shoveled a path to the doorway. It wasn't easy as there is just so much ice.

We have a fire going in the wood burner and I have just 3 books left to finish from the books Rhoda and Iris found. They are old fashioned mysteries, easy reading and I'm enjoying them when I get the time to sit in the evenings.  Once the last 3 are read I would be glad to give them to anyone interested. They are hardback books and most are written by the same author so the characters stay the same through all of the Mystery Martha Vineyard books. The 3 Mystery at Lancaster county books are of stories of 3 sisters and a couple of those are by different authors but still of the 3 same sisters. 

Sophia and Carl's Wedding

 We almost goofed this morning. Last week Joan had asked us to take Berlica and Mackenson to church this morning but on Thursday Mark sent a text asking Joan are we supposed to pick them up at 9:05 on Sunday and Joan sent back the text she thought Faith would take them. Now I KNEW Faith went with Joan to Georgia on the mission trip but saw that text and didn't remember Faith left. This morning we picked up Rhonda at 9:05 and started on our way to church when Ruth called asking if we were picking up Mackenson and Berlica. Thankfully she was just on her way out of mom's garage and went over to pick them up so we didn't have to turn around. Mike Kaisner had the morning message on Judges 15 and Hebrews 12. So great a cloud of witnesses of the faithful that have gone before. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. At the announcements we finally found out who our new minister would be. We ended up with 2 new ministers, Gabe (Molly) Stickling AND David (Lanae) Beutel. So amazing how God worked in Peoria. Those were the exact two we voted for, Mark for one and me for the other. This afternoon Craig Stickling had the communion exhortation. Click HERE if you would like to watch that. We took Mackenson and Berlica home while Ruth took mom and Nancy to mom's house. At 2:45 pm we were to be at the barn for Sophia and Carl's wedding. I followed Ruth who brought mom over in the wheel chair van and parked at the East side door. Thankfully it wasn't raining as we were getting into the barn. Shortly after arriving a storm moved in with lightning and thunder. Believe it not the barn was almost considered cozy. Dan and Susan did a wonderful job decorating. I admit to getting a little emotional watching Dan walk Sophia down the aisle. 

The minister had a wonderful wedding service. Rachel was the photographer and I know Sophia is going to be thrilled with the pictures. Below are a few random pictures I took during the evening. Below is the youngest flower girl, Eden, Abram's and Addie's daughter.

Below Sophia is giving a big hug to three of my grand daughters who were in awe of such a beautiful bride.

Dan sang a song he wrote to Sophia while Susan played the drums.

After the actual wedding we were ushered into the living area for snacks and drinks (sweet tea and a very good lavender lemonade). Rachel and Karin were visiting so of course I had to take a picture of my two youngest sisters.

Berlica and Braelyn were wonderful help tonight.

I snuck into the gym to check out the reception tables, they were decorated beautifully.

Below we are waiting to be ushered to the buffet line.

After the meal to go get the dessert, cake, buckeyes, cookies and other goodies, you first had to get your picture taken with the bride and groom. Below is mom and Sophia.

Below are some of my family getting a picture with them.

The bride and groom had hidden tiny dinosaurs all around the two rooms and after dinner they had a contest, who ever could find the most dinosaurs would get a dinosaur trophy. Well Iris and Zeke worked together and found 34 of them. They won the trophy.

The dancing started after the dinner was over. We all got in a line, even mom in the wheel chair with Diane pushing her but after one round mom was ready to go home. Ruth had to leave earlier as someone needed to be with Nancy. A cold rain was coming down pretty hard as mom and I exited the building and we both got pretty soaked by the very cold rain. The temperature was dropping fast and soon this rain is going to turn to snow. Ruth was waiting for mom and as soon as I backed into the garage she got mom and had warm dry clothes ready for her. I had Nancy take her pills then get her ready to go as Rhoda and Lee were taking her home. By the time I finally got home I was wet and very cold. We got a fire going and both of us changed into dry clothes. Some of the wedding guests are staying over both in the barn and the foaling apartment so the heat has been left on. I am so thankful for that barn, the wedding was wonderful and the ending a lot of fun. Before going to bed Mark noticed the rain had changed to snow.

I didn't hear it change over until I realized I couldn't hear the rain pounding down. The snow was much more quiet.