Sunday Wrapup--July 23, 2012
It's been quite a week, and the week before that was quite a week. Right in the middle was the reunion of my grandparents' descendants, Levi D. and Clara Miller. Since the DLM family was in charge this year, we did a lot of food preparation ahead of time, and a lot of work during the event, especially at the beginning of the weekend. Afterward, when some of my siblings were still here, we did more family events, and ate up more of the leftover food. Time at home was at a minimum.
While Caleb and Kara were still here on Monday we got word that Hiromi's mother had died.
On Wednesday evening, my cousin Norman from Iowa was here for the evening with his family of nine children. They were traveling home from a Western trip.
The next day we heard that my uncle, Earl Beachy, had died in Iowa. He was 91. My parents would have gone in time for the funeral tomorrow if someone (a driver and a caretaker for Mom) had been able to go, but no one could quite make it happen.
Continued hot and dry weather makes watering garden things a big chore, and the tomatoes are going great guns right now, which means a lot of time harvesting and getting them ready for market. I canned 40 quarts last week--of leftover market tomatoes and seconds that never went to market. Flowers are abundant, and time-consuming to pick and get ready for market as well. Today I sent home big fistfuls of flowers with eight children in the primary Sunday School class at church. Doing everything outside on days when the temps rise to over 100 degrees adds to the exhaustion of the gardening work.
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Before last week's reunion, my local siblings and I had finally settled on focusing our reunion reminiscing time on Levi and Clara, the two people whose roots intertwined with each of ours who are their descendants. I was planning to talk about Clara, and Lowell would talk about Levi, each of us asking people for memories of both of them ahead of time, and then talking about it and dividing things appropriately before the event. It was a great plan, but Lowell somehow did not get the memo that he was to do part of it--maybe because he thought all along I should do it all. Soooooo, the evening before this was to happen, when Lowell and I talked, it became evident that if someone were to make the plan happen, it would have to be me. Lowell agreed to do the setup in the church sanctuary. Getting a microphone operational proved to be one of the hurdles. Jeff to the rescue.
It was not a lecture, but a guided discussion. Fortunately, people chipped in with their personal memories, and made it worthwhile. I think everyone there learned something. I know I did. I hope to write up what was shared and post it here at some point. Linda took notes during the event, and Dad filled me in a bit later on more of Levi's character and personality--the part of the reminiscing that got short shrift because of my abbreviated preparation time.
Thinking about the challenges that my grandparents faced put my own challenges into perspective. I think, to some extent, that happened for all of us who heard their stories at the reunion. Profound admiration for how they "pulled it all off" grew as we thought together about their lives. I'll give just two examples: The year they both turned 26, their sixth child (my father) was born between Levi and Clara's birthdays. The family had 2-year-old twins at that time. As a comparison . . . Shane is less than a month away from his 26th birthday. In 1929, when the Great Depression hit, they had seven children, with the oldest being eight years old.
********************
My brother Ronald preached one of the best sermons I've ever heard--in my unbiased opinion, of course--last Sunday, July 14, at Center. Duane W. confessed to having been "blown away" by the sermon. When the recording committee gets caught up on their sermon posting (Josh and Hans--we miss you. The older guys have trouble figuring things out.) it should be available online at centeramishmennonite.org. Afterward, Ronald told me that our cousin Lloyd B., who was visiting, suggested a word he wished he would have thought of using in all the places where he used the word "extremes." "Polarities" would have worked well. I think having painted a more detailed word picture of a tightrope walker's use of a balance bar might have made some things clearer for people who have never seen a tightrope walker perform. All critiques aside, (I guess we Millers can't help ourselves.) the message brought eloquent clarity in areas in which I've heard some confused and confusing discussion.
While Caleb and Kara were still here on Monday we got word that Hiromi's mother had died.
On Wednesday evening, my cousin Norman from Iowa was here for the evening with his family of nine children. They were traveling home from a Western trip.
The next day we heard that my uncle, Earl Beachy, had died in Iowa. He was 91. My parents would have gone in time for the funeral tomorrow if someone (a driver and a caretaker for Mom) had been able to go, but no one could quite make it happen.
Continued hot and dry weather makes watering garden things a big chore, and the tomatoes are going great guns right now, which means a lot of time harvesting and getting them ready for market. I canned 40 quarts last week--of leftover market tomatoes and seconds that never went to market. Flowers are abundant, and time-consuming to pick and get ready for market as well. Today I sent home big fistfuls of flowers with eight children in the primary Sunday School class at church. Doing everything outside on days when the temps rise to over 100 degrees adds to the exhaustion of the gardening work.
*******************
Before last week's reunion, my local siblings and I had finally settled on focusing our reunion reminiscing time on Levi and Clara, the two people whose roots intertwined with each of ours who are their descendants. I was planning to talk about Clara, and Lowell would talk about Levi, each of us asking people for memories of both of them ahead of time, and then talking about it and dividing things appropriately before the event. It was a great plan, but Lowell somehow did not get the memo that he was to do part of it--maybe because he thought all along I should do it all. Soooooo, the evening before this was to happen, when Lowell and I talked, it became evident that if someone were to make the plan happen, it would have to be me. Lowell agreed to do the setup in the church sanctuary. Getting a microphone operational proved to be one of the hurdles. Jeff to the rescue.
It was not a lecture, but a guided discussion. Fortunately, people chipped in with their personal memories, and made it worthwhile. I think everyone there learned something. I know I did. I hope to write up what was shared and post it here at some point. Linda took notes during the event, and Dad filled me in a bit later on more of Levi's character and personality--the part of the reminiscing that got short shrift because of my abbreviated preparation time.
Thinking about the challenges that my grandparents faced put my own challenges into perspective. I think, to some extent, that happened for all of us who heard their stories at the reunion. Profound admiration for how they "pulled it all off" grew as we thought together about their lives. I'll give just two examples: The year they both turned 26, their sixth child (my father) was born between Levi and Clara's birthdays. The family had 2-year-old twins at that time. As a comparison . . . Shane is less than a month away from his 26th birthday. In 1929, when the Great Depression hit, they had seven children, with the oldest being eight years old.
********************
My brother Ronald preached one of the best sermons I've ever heard--in my unbiased opinion, of course--last Sunday, July 14, at Center. Duane W. confessed to having been "blown away" by the sermon. When the recording committee gets caught up on their sermon posting (Josh and Hans--we miss you. The older guys have trouble figuring things out.) it should be available online at centeramishmennonite.org. Afterward, Ronald told me that our cousin Lloyd B., who was visiting, suggested a word he wished he would have thought of using in all the places where he used the word "extremes." "Polarities" would have worked well. I think having painted a more detailed word picture of a tightrope walker's use of a balance bar might have made some things clearer for people who have never seen a tightrope walker perform. All critiques aside, (I guess we Millers can't help ourselves.) the message brought eloquent clarity in areas in which I've heard some confused and confusing discussion.
posted by Mrs. I (Miriam Iwashige) at
10:09 PM
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