Sunday Wrap Up--10/28/2012

Back to back Sunday Wrap Up posts provide clues to the kind of life I'm living at the moment--either boring or too busy to be reflective, or at least to write down such reflections.  My life is seldom boring, so there you have it--an oblique explanation for the boring titles that signal a busy life.

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Ervin Miller is steadily declining.   Since this past Wednesday he has not eaten, his kidneys are shutting down, and he is almost entirely unresponsive.  He is 94.

His youngest daughter, Lillian, left on Tuesday of this past week, after several months in Kansas, to return to her family's home in El Salvador.  A son lives in Romania.  A grandson, Ellis, also left for his home abroad last week, and a granddaughter, Regina, is traveling with her husband and family throughout the eastern US on a publicity tour concerning their ministry in an orphanage in El Salvador.  Another granddaughter, Norma, is  my co-teacher.  Obviously, what seems to be Ervin's final illness also affects many other family members.  I've named only a sampling of them.

Ervin's family grew up "out west," along with our family, although they were farther out west than we were.  Ervin and my Grandpa Levi rented land from the same Mr. Bostick.  Later, Grandpa's farm was inherited by his daughter Virginia MacArthur, and Ervin's land was inherited by another daughter, Georgeann Russell.  When the last of these two daughters died, the land was sold, and my uncles Ollie, Mahlon, and Perry bought part of it, and Ervin bought another part of it.  Dad owned part of it at one time, and Crist Yoder owns part of it now.  There may have been other purchasers of the land that I'm forgetting at the moment--Packebushes or Terrills, perhaps.

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We finished up the first quarter at school last week.  The first two evenings of this week we have parent-teacher conferences scheduled.  I do enjoy these usually, but it makes a long work day.  There is almost no down time between the end of school and the first conference.  The last appointment begins at 8:30 I believe.
I still have a bit of grading and a lot of averaging to finish up.  Grrrrrrr.  I thought I was working all quarter to avoid this.  Having two days of convention time last week with the attendant travel and disruption didn't help a lot.

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Our grandson, Tristan, had his first birthday on Friday.  We had a party for him the evening before, because it couldn't work for all his local closest family members to gather on the evening of his birthday.  He's a very typical one-year old--usually sweet and sometimes demanding--always loved and always fascinating.  He's not walking yet, but loves to climb.  The other night at his party, he tipped his yellow dump truck on its side in front of the book case (Shane's boss gave it to him, a truck like his daddy drives at work) and perched himself smartly on the wheel above the back axle, which gave him just enough additional reach to access the camera and other goodies on a shelf beyond his reach from the floor.

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On Saturday Hilda's sister Yolanda hosted a baby shower for the baby expected in about three weeks.  The shower was a lovely, dainty affair.  I think I was the only lady in the family who had not worked diligently on food or decorations.  I don't know when I would have found the time--one of the sad realities of having a regular job.  There appeared to have been no lack of good ideas and special touches for making the event memorable.

All our early face to face grandparenting for the expected little one will have to be crammed into the first six months or so of her life, given the plans for moving out of the country after that.   We plan to make the most of the time we have together.  How to do that we'll figure out as we go along.

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One of the unexpected pleasures of the shower was having Hilda's dear friend, Susie Peters, present.  She lives in Texas with her pastor husband, except that for the next few months, they will be living at Cottonwood, in Marvin's house, in Kansas.  They were in church this morning with two of their children.

Susie's husband is on sabbatical right now, and they are intentionally exploring life in various other church communities during this time.

Earlier, when Hilda taught school in Copeland, in the Old Colony Mennonite community, Susie's husband was the pastor there.  Hilda and Susie have maintained their friendship since then, and Joel and Hilda stopped in to visit them on their honeymoon.

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Brandi, the Corgi who lives here a lot of the time, went home with Shane the other day because he wants her to have her puppies in the warm place he has ready for her there.  They're due any time.  Clarissa has already put in her bid for any runt in the litter.  We're all smitten with the personality of these dogs.  They're just right for small children too--not overpowering, but ever-so-patient and friendly.

Brandi was busily digging a hole in the dirt floor of her kennel within the past few days--which is what Lexi, her litter mate and companion, had done before she had her puppies.  Lexi had the poor judgement to give birth in that "hole" instead of in her heated doghouse, and several of her puppies were dead the next morning--too cold.  Shane was plotting to lock Brandi into the dog house to avoid a similar development.

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The young people of our church had their annual retreat this weekend.  In an unheated building, with the outdoor temperature having gone down to 22 degrees the first night, they didn't all sleep well, apparently.  Several of the girls hurried home the next morning to thaw out with a warm shower and to gather warmer clothes to take back with them.  They were at Kansas Bible Camp.

The absence in church of the young people, members of the Ervin Miller family, and at least four of the ministers' families (the ministers were at Arlington, in Oklahoma, at Cornerstone, and at the retreat) made it the smallest Sunday morning gathering I can remember in recent years.  Sunday school classes dispersed and re-gathered all over the place.

Plainview had their church retreat this weekend, so Melvin and Gertie attended at Center, but they obviously didn't swell the numbers significantly.

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Sanford Yoder from here, who is one of our Sunday School superintendents, had the devotional at church this morning.  Later, Sanford Yoder from Costa Rica preached the sermon.

The Costa Rica Sanford is in his eighties, and with his wife, Martha, was here to visit their daughter Judy, and family.  Judy is my sister-in-law--Lowell's wife.

"I like Sanford's preaching," Hiromi said on the way home from church.  I agreed.  Sprinkled with stories and straight-from-the-heart admonitions, his sermon was proof that profound truths need not be subjected to severe organizational constraints or public speaking rules to be communicated effectively.

Among other things, Sanford said that as a young man, he hoped to continue his education, and he hoped to marry someone who shared that ideal.  Instead he married a wonderful woman who hated school with a passion, but he understood that the qualities she possessed were worth more than further education for him or her would have been.  Sanford started to give young people some advice along the lines of seeking a spouse, and then stopped and said, "I guess the young people are missing.  This is too late for most of you."  Everyone laughed and he went on to give the advice anyway.  To summarize, he recommended not being overly impressed with externals, but more aware of qualities that are important in filling the role of spouse and parent.

Sanford also freely admitted deficiencies and failures from his past, especially when it came to finances.  He always admired his in-laws' expertise in such matters and knew that he couldn't match their record, but recognized certain actions of his own that he knows now probably stemmed from misguided efforts to try to do so.

All of us who have  known Sanford for many years can see that he has accomplished much good in the Lord's work, and we don't see an overall picture of failure at all.  In an ironic twist, we know that having the humility to speak of  personal failure is part of what gives us the confidence that his was a life well-lived.  No pretense here--just honest striving to continue in a walk of faith and obedience.

Sanford also referred to the challenges of aging.  After a serious heart attack within the past year, he has adjusted his diet, which he admits is not always to his liking, but he is also having to listen to his children, who now have made it clear that he should not be driving any more--a development far worse than the food issue.  From the pulpit, he also acknowledged that his cardiologist says he shouldn't be preaching.  I guess Sanford is still insisting on making a few of his own choices . . .

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On the building questions our church community is considering--After a site selection vote in which a small majority (54%) favored a neutral site rather than a church campus site for the construction of permanent grade school facilities, the process has moved forward one more step. The Partridge Road site and the Pleasantview site will both be considered, going forward.

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Roland Marc, the newborn son of Joseph and Leanna, appeared in church the first time today.  He was apparently not overly happy right after church, and, at different times, I saw Grandma Elizabeth, Titus Y., and Melvin Fannie all try their hand at soothing him.  Melvin Fannie seemed the most successful, but I doubt that she could have kept up the vigorous bouncing for too much longer.  She's in her mid-eighties.

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Julia Stutzman turned 40 yesterday.  Friends helped celebrate her birthday.  She was unable to be in church today.

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 Most of you will not appreciate this as much as I do, but, thanks to Joel and Shane's help, we now have our monster treadmill residing in Grant's old bedroom instead of in the basement, which has increasingly been given over to undesirable environmental characteristics.  Granted, all God's creatures are marvelous, but I still don't idealize encountering a large sampling of them in our basement. Water on the floor is less of a problem since the pump that gathers condensation at the site of the furnace/air conditioner has been replaced, but it too added to the unattractiveness of the basement as a regular exercise site.  The low ceilings and the dark are other negatives.  So now that you know that the treadmill is in place in the light of an upstairs bedroom, ask me how it's going to make use of it.

As is often the case, the things I feel a need for are provided promptly once Hiromi feels the need for himself also.  Getting the treadmill moved upstairs was on my Christmas wish list last year.  In this case, his doctor has noted that his cholesterol and blood sugar are creeping up, and he's been told that watching his diet and getting regular exercise are usually effective counter-measures for both.  Now that a professional has told him so, and threatened him with prescription medications, he's on board with the program--even more so than I've ever been.  He's stabbing his finger every morning for a blood sample, he's measuring out his rice for the first time ever, and he's eating more tuna than eggs for breakfast.  He's also issuing reminders and directives regularly for my benefit.  No half-hearted measures here.

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We're enjoying a wonderful assortment of Japanese pickles which Hiromi made from diakon, Chinese cabbage, and leaf mustard--or takuwan, hakusai, and takana--depending on which language you're using.  I guess I've gotten used to it and don't really notice it, but Joel and Shane smelled "pickles" when they walked in on Saturday evening.  It's probably not something anyone would choose as kitchen perfume (think sauerkraut smells) but we all know it signals wonderful tastes, and don't really mind.

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Last week I reminded my comp class of several more written or verbal oddities I've encountered and hope to have them avoid.  On last week's list were these:

--"Supposed to" which is correct, instead of "suppose to," which is incorrect.  It's a strange expression though, when you think about it too long.
--"All of a sudden" which is preferable to "all the sudden."  It had showed up on one of the written reports I graded recently.  One of my students asked presciently whether it wouldn't be better to just say "suddenly."  Exactly.
--"Pored over" which should be used when intense study is being referred to.  "Poured over" doesn't fit unless you've just had a bad liquid spill of some kind.

Let me know if you think of other oddities I should cover in comp class.

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Speaking of spills, we had a fairly dramatic one at school during the regular Friday cleaning when a pen filled with liquid ink got whisked into the vacuum via the beater bar, and the pieces of the pen rattled up the long vacuum hose into the wall receptacle it was plugged into.  On the carpeted floor, however, a large ink stain remained.  We blotted at it fairly futilely, and our principal contacted the trustees for help.  Someone came over on Saturday and worked on the stain, and it was less visible than before when I saw it late in the day.  Unfortunately, it didn't all disappear, and I'm guessing it might not be possible to get rid of it all.  Bummer.