Sunday Wrapup
Seth Miggiani's funeral on Friday saw Cedar Crest packed out all the way to the back of the learning center, with people also seated in the library behind the sanctuary and in the anteroom. We arrived at the right place and time to sit in the anteroom.
Sitting on backless benches was no trouble at all, especially when it became clear that we were to have ringside seats to the Miggiani family's music production. Papa Wolf had half apologized for being the strange Kansas Miggianis who were going to do some non-traditional things during the funeral. I'm sure no one minded, and all of it helped everyone feel resolution in what was quite a traumatic week. Wolf and Lori both shared in giving a tribute to Seth, thus helping everyone to learn to know Seth as his family knew him. A slide show traced milestones and ordinary days in the family's life, and the two songs "Amazing Grace" and "I'll Fly Away" played by the four remaining sixth graders and Wolf, plus their music teacher (who played Seth's guitar part) were very nice additions to the service. Even Hadassah, who suffered a broken pelvis in the accident, played a cello (or viola?) from her wheelchair. They all played a stringed instrument--from a giant bass to a tiny violin. Eight vocalists sang the words of the songs. Seth's grandfather on the Martin side read the obituary.
Uncle Paul, who the Miggiani children refer to as Grandpa Paul, had the main message, with Seth's first grade teacher at Copeland having the devotional.
Wolf had finished medical school in Wichita, KS. At least one of his instructors there attended the funeral. Seth was born during the Wichita stint. He was their third child, born after older brother Sebastian and fetched-from-China AnnaMiriam. Later the Miggianis lived in Western Kansas where Wolf provided medical care in an area with a large immigrant population. The Old Colony Mennonite group near Copeland provided fellowship for them during this time, and a number of people from that area came for the funeral. Wolf and Lori's extended family lives mostly in New York, so people from there were present. The Miggianis had intended to set up a clinic in Pennsylvania, so they lived there also. I believe it was after they gave up that plan because of the difficulty of maintaining a completely pro-life practice that the family moved into our community. Since then Wolf has worked mostly in emergency room staffing where the pro-life issue does not present as many problems. I don't know how many people who are professional associates of Wolf's were at the funeral. By far the majority of those present were people who live here and are part of the church community.
During Wolf and Lori's earlier time in Kansas, I remember Wolf explaining the origin of his unusual name. His mother was German, and his first name, Wolfgang, is a perfectly good German name. His father was Italian, and Miggiani is, of course, a good Italian last name. He acknowledged that his name "labeled" him as a child, and growing up was not always easy because of it.
Later, Wolf joined the military, and, while there, became convinced of the rightness of a nonresistant position, in keeping with the claims of Christ on his life. After an arduous process, he was honorably released from his military obligation, and he then sought out a church fellowship that shared his view of nonresistance.
**********************
Today we had a number of visitors in church who had come for the Martin-Hobbs wedding in Harvey county. Among them was Dale H. from Costa Rica. He preached in our morning service.
I remembered first hearing of Dale's ministry while I was a young teacher in Holmes Co. The main thing I remember is a hilarious impersonation that my staid and sensible co-teacher Clara did of something he said at a Rod and Staff-sponsored teacher's meeting. It had been a dramatic presentation, apparently. I remembered that this morning when he recounted a phone conversation in which someone raised concerns about his "harsh" manner of speaking and operating. He responded defensively, assuring his caller that he knew where he stood and he intended to stay there and "hold the line." In his sermon today on "shepherding," he referred regretfully to his earlier manner, and outlined very memorably an entirely different leadership approach--one that reflects more accurately the meekness and gentleness of Christ. No defensiveness came through in this morning's sermon.
Having lost a 16-year old son by drowning, he was able to speak fittingly to the situation uppermost in our minds. He assured us that "great triumph" is possible in situations like this. Somehow he and his wife knew when their child was two years old that "this child we won't be able to keep." I don't know how they knew, but he spoke this morning of how their child prayed as soon as he could talk, and his parents marveled at what they heard him pray. It was after such a prayer that they talked about having to give him up some day.
Dale used Emma Lazarus' poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty as words that should guide how our church reaches out to others:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
With these words he urged us to take in those who have been rejected by others. He not only referred to those who won't make it otherwise financially, emotionally, or socially, but those who have been dis-fellowshipped elsewhere. I hope our ministers felt encouraged. They have heard from those who would seem to advocate some of what Dale's earlier stance would have espoused, and felt criticized by it--unfairly, it seems to me. In every church matter a spirit of humility and caring must always be present, Dale emphasized.
I recalled this morning a rather astonishing thing I observed one day at the lunch table at school. I was not involved in the conversation, but three students who sat across from me were comparing notes, and all of them were the child of a parent who had been excommunicated elsewhere. Now those families live here and are part of our Beachy churches. That's why I hope our ministers felt encouraged--because they have, in fact, reached out to welcome people who were desperate for a safe haven.
This has no particular reference to the people mentioned in the above paragraph, but I've noticed a curious thing: recent arrivals here are not always the first to welcome new arrivals. I first puzzled over this years ago when Hiromi expressed strong reservations about a foreigner who was seeking permission to come here. Why? He was one of the only foreigners in the congregation then, and presumably could be counted on to welcome another foreigner. Another person who was vehemently opposed to sponsoring the potential immigrant was someone who had come from a background very different from ours and had been married to a foreigner. I would think those who have found a welcome would be the most willing to extend a welcome to others. I must be missing something--or maybe they are.
****************************
Hands of Christ Ministries has given us contact with a number of local people recently who have needs of various kinds. Paul (who is employed by HOCM) told us about a few of these needs today and invited us to respond as we are able.
***************************
CASP is exploring the possibility of establishing a permanent presence in Hutchinson. This Tuesday CAM will consider whether they can provide a down payment on a property that could serve as unit headquarters, with Interfaith Housing presumably making the ongoing payments on the property. Dad, who is the local CASP board member, requested our prayers as this is being considered.
**************************
Our school week felt rather disjointed last week. We had only two and one-half days of school with having had off for Labor Day, a half-day on the day of calling hours on Thursday, and a full day off Friday for the funeral. The learning center had to be completely cleared out and some tear-down time figured into the mix.
Our students responded willingly to the disruption, and worked very quietly and quickly to clean and prepare the learning center for the family and callers who came around noon on Thursday.
During the regular school days we made various concessions to the abnormal circumstances, and tried to allow time for prayer and conversation and processing. We adjusted various deadlines and class schedules to accommodate the needs.
Tomorrow the Miggiani children are likely to be back in school for the first time since the accident. Mr. B requests prayer for this time. He is the 5th and 6th grade classroom teacher.
Having this many days off early in the year will have us scrambling for makeup days if we have many more days off for funerals or inclement weather.
******************************
The state fair is underway in Hutchinson. We often have rain during state fair week. Although SE Kansas got part of the aftermath of the hurricane in the Gulf, we here in the central part of the state missed out on nearly all the precipitation, and rain would be welcome here again.
******************************
I think the FDA should consider hiring Hiromi whenever they have a food recall issue on their hands. Last week, in a stellar Mr. Mom performance, he canned eight quarts and four pints of okra pickles. But a problem developed. For some reason, one pint jar and one quart jar broke in the early stages of processing them (too big a temperature change, probably). Instead of discarding the contents of those jars, he salvaged them and placed the okra in new jars and sealed and processed them. I was a little surprised he did this, but I didn't say anything, assuming he had assured himself that it was safe. He's usually quick to discern a potential danger and proceed very cautiously.
But this time, the danger did not occur to him till some time during the following night. He woke up with a plan to dump all of those beautifully canned okra pickles because he didn't know which ones were the ones with potential glass shards. I protested, obviously with no authority or credibility in the matter, and the plan was resolutely carried out. He reminded me that the ingredients were not expensive, and the labor was not mine, and I should not mind. All true. But it still seems a shame.
***************************
Today I recalled my first meeting with Kelsey, who got married yesterday. I was at a farmer's market meeting in Wichita when a pleasant young lady in braids who saw my name tag asked me if I used to write for Keepers at Home. I said yes, and we had a nice visit. She was from a homeschooled marketing family.
Later we met again at a workshop in KC on setting up processing kitchens for farmer's marketers who wish to sell value-added products. By that time they had learned to know my brother Lowell's family through the camp meetings near Perkins, OK. They have remained close ever since.
Joel, who married Kelsey, is the daughter of Mildred, who came to teach at Maranatha School years ago right after I left. She moved into the living quarters I vacated, and lived with my former housemate.
The Hobbs family now fellowships in a church of about ten families--all of them homeschoolers, and all of them with large families. Among the four elders, they share 36 children.
************************
Last week at school the members of the nutrition class each brought a loaf of bread they had baked at home, and a sample of jam or jelly they had prepared at home. It was quite a tasting party during class on Wednesday. All the bread looked beautiful and tasted good, and there was a variety of shapes, flavors, and textures--from bread sticks to cheese bread, to French bread, to some serious multi-grain bread to well-sprung loaves of wheat bread. It was to be yeast bread of a sort that would be served during a main course. The jam or jelly could be canned or frozen, with a ready-for-storage jar required, as well as a for-sampling jar. We rearranged the class schedule a bit to allow for the tasting party to come at the end of the school day instead of right after lunch, when 14 samples of bread and jelly might have been a little more difficult to enjoy.
I always ask the students to evaluate the others' products on a five-point scale for appearance, flavor, texture, and nutritional content. I do this partly to make them more aware of these factors in their own productions.
Another project for Wednesday involved the collection of a log sheet the students were supposed to fill out for the previous week. They tracked their whole-grain consumption, and their fruits and vegetables consumption. There were varying levels of compliance in the tracking tasks, but a universal impression seemed to be slight chagrin at how little of these foods they were eating. None of them came close to recording the suggested 21 servings of whole grains, with three each day, or the 35 fruits and vegetables, with the bare minimum of five a day being suggested. I suspected that this would be the case.
We're going to keep working on this one, with better planning and grading on compliance being part of the picture in the future.
**************************
Several weeks ago my Uncle Edwin and Matthew N. had a birthday on the same day. Edwin, who was born in 1921 turned 89. Matthew, who was born in 1989 turned 21. What are the odds of that happening?
**************************
At the carry-in after church today we sat across from Harold and Susanna Friesen. Their son Eugene is Shane's friend, and stayed in our home overnight while Shane was still at home. Susanna is my second cousin and lives now in Texas. I hadn't seen her in years--probably not since she was a teenager living in Ohio while I was teaching in a nearby community. It was nice to re-connect.
**************************
Justin Y. is leaving this week for a two year term of service at Fairplay at the Wilderness Boys' Camp. I wish him well, and am pleased at his willingness to serve in this way. His contribution here will be missed.
***************************
I taught our Sunday school class today. It's mostly an over-65 (over 75?) crowd. I substituted for Grace, who is off with Lorne on an extended trip north and east--to his family in eastern Ontario, all the way to the easternmost Canadian provinces, and then looping into the US to see their daughters in Ohio and Virginia. Mostly, she plans to teach the first six months and I the last six months, but we will substitute for each other throughout as needed.
**************************
I napped much too long today, so I'm thinking I'll try to get in an editing job Hiromi sent my way by email--something I promised him yesterday that I would look at "later."
Sitting on backless benches was no trouble at all, especially when it became clear that we were to have ringside seats to the Miggiani family's music production. Papa Wolf had half apologized for being the strange Kansas Miggianis who were going to do some non-traditional things during the funeral. I'm sure no one minded, and all of it helped everyone feel resolution in what was quite a traumatic week. Wolf and Lori both shared in giving a tribute to Seth, thus helping everyone to learn to know Seth as his family knew him. A slide show traced milestones and ordinary days in the family's life, and the two songs "Amazing Grace" and "I'll Fly Away" played by the four remaining sixth graders and Wolf, plus their music teacher (who played Seth's guitar part) were very nice additions to the service. Even Hadassah, who suffered a broken pelvis in the accident, played a cello (or viola?) from her wheelchair. They all played a stringed instrument--from a giant bass to a tiny violin. Eight vocalists sang the words of the songs. Seth's grandfather on the Martin side read the obituary.
Uncle Paul, who the Miggiani children refer to as Grandpa Paul, had the main message, with Seth's first grade teacher at Copeland having the devotional.
Wolf had finished medical school in Wichita, KS. At least one of his instructors there attended the funeral. Seth was born during the Wichita stint. He was their third child, born after older brother Sebastian and fetched-from-China AnnaMiriam. Later the Miggianis lived in Western Kansas where Wolf provided medical care in an area with a large immigrant population. The Old Colony Mennonite group near Copeland provided fellowship for them during this time, and a number of people from that area came for the funeral. Wolf and Lori's extended family lives mostly in New York, so people from there were present. The Miggianis had intended to set up a clinic in Pennsylvania, so they lived there also. I believe it was after they gave up that plan because of the difficulty of maintaining a completely pro-life practice that the family moved into our community. Since then Wolf has worked mostly in emergency room staffing where the pro-life issue does not present as many problems. I don't know how many people who are professional associates of Wolf's were at the funeral. By far the majority of those present were people who live here and are part of the church community.
During Wolf and Lori's earlier time in Kansas, I remember Wolf explaining the origin of his unusual name. His mother was German, and his first name, Wolfgang, is a perfectly good German name. His father was Italian, and Miggiani is, of course, a good Italian last name. He acknowledged that his name "labeled" him as a child, and growing up was not always easy because of it.
Later, Wolf joined the military, and, while there, became convinced of the rightness of a nonresistant position, in keeping with the claims of Christ on his life. After an arduous process, he was honorably released from his military obligation, and he then sought out a church fellowship that shared his view of nonresistance.
**********************
Today we had a number of visitors in church who had come for the Martin-Hobbs wedding in Harvey county. Among them was Dale H. from Costa Rica. He preached in our morning service.
I remembered first hearing of Dale's ministry while I was a young teacher in Holmes Co. The main thing I remember is a hilarious impersonation that my staid and sensible co-teacher Clara did of something he said at a Rod and Staff-sponsored teacher's meeting. It had been a dramatic presentation, apparently. I remembered that this morning when he recounted a phone conversation in which someone raised concerns about his "harsh" manner of speaking and operating. He responded defensively, assuring his caller that he knew where he stood and he intended to stay there and "hold the line." In his sermon today on "shepherding," he referred regretfully to his earlier manner, and outlined very memorably an entirely different leadership approach--one that reflects more accurately the meekness and gentleness of Christ. No defensiveness came through in this morning's sermon.
Having lost a 16-year old son by drowning, he was able to speak fittingly to the situation uppermost in our minds. He assured us that "great triumph" is possible in situations like this. Somehow he and his wife knew when their child was two years old that "this child we won't be able to keep." I don't know how they knew, but he spoke this morning of how their child prayed as soon as he could talk, and his parents marveled at what they heard him pray. It was after such a prayer that they talked about having to give him up some day.
Dale used Emma Lazarus' poem inscribed on the Statue of Liberty as words that should guide how our church reaches out to others:
Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me.
I lift my lamp beside the golden door.
With these words he urged us to take in those who have been rejected by others. He not only referred to those who won't make it otherwise financially, emotionally, or socially, but those who have been dis-fellowshipped elsewhere. I hope our ministers felt encouraged. They have heard from those who would seem to advocate some of what Dale's earlier stance would have espoused, and felt criticized by it--unfairly, it seems to me. In every church matter a spirit of humility and caring must always be present, Dale emphasized.
I recalled this morning a rather astonishing thing I observed one day at the lunch table at school. I was not involved in the conversation, but three students who sat across from me were comparing notes, and all of them were the child of a parent who had been excommunicated elsewhere. Now those families live here and are part of our Beachy churches. That's why I hope our ministers felt encouraged--because they have, in fact, reached out to welcome people who were desperate for a safe haven.
This has no particular reference to the people mentioned in the above paragraph, but I've noticed a curious thing: recent arrivals here are not always the first to welcome new arrivals. I first puzzled over this years ago when Hiromi expressed strong reservations about a foreigner who was seeking permission to come here. Why? He was one of the only foreigners in the congregation then, and presumably could be counted on to welcome another foreigner. Another person who was vehemently opposed to sponsoring the potential immigrant was someone who had come from a background very different from ours and had been married to a foreigner. I would think those who have found a welcome would be the most willing to extend a welcome to others. I must be missing something--or maybe they are.
****************************
Hands of Christ Ministries has given us contact with a number of local people recently who have needs of various kinds. Paul (who is employed by HOCM) told us about a few of these needs today and invited us to respond as we are able.
***************************
CASP is exploring the possibility of establishing a permanent presence in Hutchinson. This Tuesday CAM will consider whether they can provide a down payment on a property that could serve as unit headquarters, with Interfaith Housing presumably making the ongoing payments on the property. Dad, who is the local CASP board member, requested our prayers as this is being considered.
**************************
Our school week felt rather disjointed last week. We had only two and one-half days of school with having had off for Labor Day, a half-day on the day of calling hours on Thursday, and a full day off Friday for the funeral. The learning center had to be completely cleared out and some tear-down time figured into the mix.
Our students responded willingly to the disruption, and worked very quietly and quickly to clean and prepare the learning center for the family and callers who came around noon on Thursday.
During the regular school days we made various concessions to the abnormal circumstances, and tried to allow time for prayer and conversation and processing. We adjusted various deadlines and class schedules to accommodate the needs.
Tomorrow the Miggiani children are likely to be back in school for the first time since the accident. Mr. B requests prayer for this time. He is the 5th and 6th grade classroom teacher.
Having this many days off early in the year will have us scrambling for makeup days if we have many more days off for funerals or inclement weather.
******************************
The state fair is underway in Hutchinson. We often have rain during state fair week. Although SE Kansas got part of the aftermath of the hurricane in the Gulf, we here in the central part of the state missed out on nearly all the precipitation, and rain would be welcome here again.
******************************
I think the FDA should consider hiring Hiromi whenever they have a food recall issue on their hands. Last week, in a stellar Mr. Mom performance, he canned eight quarts and four pints of okra pickles. But a problem developed. For some reason, one pint jar and one quart jar broke in the early stages of processing them (too big a temperature change, probably). Instead of discarding the contents of those jars, he salvaged them and placed the okra in new jars and sealed and processed them. I was a little surprised he did this, but I didn't say anything, assuming he had assured himself that it was safe. He's usually quick to discern a potential danger and proceed very cautiously.
But this time, the danger did not occur to him till some time during the following night. He woke up with a plan to dump all of those beautifully canned okra pickles because he didn't know which ones were the ones with potential glass shards. I protested, obviously with no authority or credibility in the matter, and the plan was resolutely carried out. He reminded me that the ingredients were not expensive, and the labor was not mine, and I should not mind. All true. But it still seems a shame.
***************************
Today I recalled my first meeting with Kelsey, who got married yesterday. I was at a farmer's market meeting in Wichita when a pleasant young lady in braids who saw my name tag asked me if I used to write for Keepers at Home. I said yes, and we had a nice visit. She was from a homeschooled marketing family.
Later we met again at a workshop in KC on setting up processing kitchens for farmer's marketers who wish to sell value-added products. By that time they had learned to know my brother Lowell's family through the camp meetings near Perkins, OK. They have remained close ever since.
Joel, who married Kelsey, is the daughter of Mildred, who came to teach at Maranatha School years ago right after I left. She moved into the living quarters I vacated, and lived with my former housemate.
The Hobbs family now fellowships in a church of about ten families--all of them homeschoolers, and all of them with large families. Among the four elders, they share 36 children.
************************
Last week at school the members of the nutrition class each brought a loaf of bread they had baked at home, and a sample of jam or jelly they had prepared at home. It was quite a tasting party during class on Wednesday. All the bread looked beautiful and tasted good, and there was a variety of shapes, flavors, and textures--from bread sticks to cheese bread, to French bread, to some serious multi-grain bread to well-sprung loaves of wheat bread. It was to be yeast bread of a sort that would be served during a main course. The jam or jelly could be canned or frozen, with a ready-for-storage jar required, as well as a for-sampling jar. We rearranged the class schedule a bit to allow for the tasting party to come at the end of the school day instead of right after lunch, when 14 samples of bread and jelly might have been a little more difficult to enjoy.
I always ask the students to evaluate the others' products on a five-point scale for appearance, flavor, texture, and nutritional content. I do this partly to make them more aware of these factors in their own productions.
Another project for Wednesday involved the collection of a log sheet the students were supposed to fill out for the previous week. They tracked their whole-grain consumption, and their fruits and vegetables consumption. There were varying levels of compliance in the tracking tasks, but a universal impression seemed to be slight chagrin at how little of these foods they were eating. None of them came close to recording the suggested 21 servings of whole grains, with three each day, or the 35 fruits and vegetables, with the bare minimum of five a day being suggested. I suspected that this would be the case.
We're going to keep working on this one, with better planning and grading on compliance being part of the picture in the future.
**************************
Several weeks ago my Uncle Edwin and Matthew N. had a birthday on the same day. Edwin, who was born in 1921 turned 89. Matthew, who was born in 1989 turned 21. What are the odds of that happening?
**************************
At the carry-in after church today we sat across from Harold and Susanna Friesen. Their son Eugene is Shane's friend, and stayed in our home overnight while Shane was still at home. Susanna is my second cousin and lives now in Texas. I hadn't seen her in years--probably not since she was a teenager living in Ohio while I was teaching in a nearby community. It was nice to re-connect.
**************************
Justin Y. is leaving this week for a two year term of service at Fairplay at the Wilderness Boys' Camp. I wish him well, and am pleased at his willingness to serve in this way. His contribution here will be missed.
***************************
I taught our Sunday school class today. It's mostly an over-65 (over 75?) crowd. I substituted for Grace, who is off with Lorne on an extended trip north and east--to his family in eastern Ontario, all the way to the easternmost Canadian provinces, and then looping into the US to see their daughters in Ohio and Virginia. Mostly, she plans to teach the first six months and I the last six months, but we will substitute for each other throughout as needed.
**************************
I napped much too long today, so I'm thinking I'll try to get in an editing job Hiromi sent my way by email--something I promised him yesterday that I would look at "later."
posted by Mrs. I at
5:19 PM
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