The Event ~ Family Fun Time

I feel so blessed to have grown children that want to come back home for visits, and that want us to come to their home to visit.  Not every parent is so blessed in this manner.  We recently enjoyed Janel and Tim and grandkids at our house for a four day weekend.  Then just spent a day in Denver with Cash, Annie and Penny while Val and Alexis were also there enroute home from visiting Val's parents in Canada. 

It is just good family time together, no matter what it is we do.  We enjoy time together making blackberry dumplings.  I think this is one edible I can make better than Janel!!

Or maybe it is making cinnamon rolls with my granddaughter Mathilda.

 Or maybe it is watching the boys play football on the front lawn which they always do when we get together.

 It could be working on a project together as Tim and Cash did preparing for a new cement deck. 

 or hanging out on the patio together with the grandkids .

 Maybe its just hanging out in the kitchen while everyone pitches in to help prepare a barbeque dinner, as we did in Denver at Cash and Annies.



 

 

A good margarita always hits the spot on a hot afternoon!

 

It's always fun to go somewhere new, like the recently renovated Union Station in Denver where we just hung out with coffee while Aunt Lexi and Uncle Val enjoyed precious niece Penny!

 

Since I'm talking about good family times together, a little catch up is due. . .   Family time while in Phoenix six months ago in early March. . .  Enjoying another meal around the table at Vern's house with brother Allen and Suzy, Vern & Melinda, and niece Kadi.  It's even a blessed event when siblings want you to come to their home to visit!  Not always the case in a lot of families, but I feel blessed that my siblings still want to see me!!!

 Couldn't ask for a better Phoenix evening with food around the pool.  Melinda is an awesome cook!

A rare occasion to get three of us siblings together in one room!  Me, Vern and Allen in Phoenix.



 Oh my gosh, three sibling together again in one room!!!  Me, Kelly and Allen, with Mom!Another blessing for sure!  This time at Mom's home in Billings. 

It's always good to get those mother/daughter pictures taken Easter 2014. 

Yes, family is the greatest blessing of all!    It's a blessed event to have close and extended family that loves each other to eternity!  I love you all!  I am glad you are all my family!!

 







The Event ~ Josh on the Farm

A year ago, Josh started talking about spending the following summer here on the farm.  That's kid talk ~ dream talk.  Kids think it would be fun to spend the summer on the farm,  and say they are going to, but more fun stuff like baseball and sleeping in and being lazy ends up taking priority.

So for a year Josh talked about coming to the farm this summer.  Yeah, right!!  Wait a minute. . . . .
Oh my gosh - Josh is here - to stay - for seven weeks!  And work!  And get up early!  Oh, that's because he's not just a kid.  He's an eager young man, wanting to learn, and embracing the farm life, and appreciating nature and valuing time with his grandfather, and building memories.

One day Josh will look back and recall the summer of 2014 when he went to a country rock concert with Grandma, and then to a baseball movie with Grandma, and then dancing to 50's music with Grandma, and out for ice cream with Grandma.  Oh, and we went to the Cattleman's Ball together too!  And his time here is only half spent!  Oh, Grandpa was with us (except for the movie), but there is something sweet in these "grandma dates"!

The Cattleman's Ball is a big event on a ranch in Nebraska.  This year it was at a local ranch nestled in the hills south of Gering.  Tim's real estate office helped serve the breakfast brunch to those wealthier people who paid the $350 for the two-day tickets.  So Josh even put on an apron and helped serve the brunch.

Josh is putting in a lot of hard work.  He first started out by helping to rebuild a John Deere tractor.  A lot of hands on experience in mechanics.

 

Oops, Grandpa didn't tell him "No sleeping on the job!"

Then he learned how to drive tractor and move big round bales and brought in about 100 bales from the fields to the stack yards.  And loading by hand, hauling, unloading and stacking by hand 60 bales of horse hay.  In His daily chore is feeding the eight steers in the corral at 6:30 a.m. 

 



One evening we went to the Sugar Valley Rally, an antique car rally held here every year.  While there, he picked out a few of his favorite cars that he'd like to own someday.

Guess this isn't an antique. . . .

 



At least it's mobile. .  .

 

In between farm work, Josh has painted shed doors, corral gates, trimmed trees, dug holes, cleaned barns, mowed lawns, and has been offered jobs by three other people!





A noon power nap!

After several attempts and some lack of confidence, Josh finally regained his confidence and learned how to run the stacker of small square bales.  And then learned to bale small squares.  When not driving tractor in the field, he was kept busy with many small fix-it projects around the yard, like tearing out the back deck so we can replace it, painting the bench in the rock garden, mowing Great-Grandpa's lawn every week, etc. 

 

 

Tailgate suppers are always my favorite part of hay harvest.  Food just tasted better on the go and in the field!  It was an eventful time having Josh here for seven weeks.  We will miss him when he returns home in mid-July.  Grandpa is going to be lost without Josh's help.  I hope he goes home with some real life-enduring and eventful memories.  And I hope he remembers to turn his socks right side out! 





You gotta love this face!

 

Another Grandma date!

 



 

The Event ~ Phillippians 4:6

“Don’t worry about anything.” (Philippians 4:6)

 

The following is copied from Rick Warren's Daily Devotional.  I so enjoy listening to his Daily podcast on the computer and reading his daily devotional on line.  It is so right on and so applicable.

 

The number one source of stress in  life is not work. It’s worry. Work doesn’t keep you up at night; worry does.  God is very clear in the Bible what he thinks about worry.  Philippians 4:6 says, “Don’t worry about anything”.   Why do I need to let go of  worry?

Worry is unreasonable for a couple of reasons. First, worry exaggerates the problem. Have you noticed if somebody says something bad about you, the more you think about it, the bigger it gets? Second, worry doesn’t work. To worry about something you can’t change is useless. And to worry about something you can change is stupid. Just go change it!

Worry is unnatural. There are no born worriers. You might think you are, but you’re not. Worry is something  learned. Since worry is unnatural, it’s also unhealthy. Your body wasn’t designed to handle worry. When people say, “I’m worried sick,” they’re telling the truth. Doctors say a lot of people could leave the hospital today if they knew how to get rid of guilt, resentment, and worry. Proverbs 14:30 says, “A peaceful heart leads to a healthy body”.

Worry is unhelpful. Worry cannot change the past, and worry cannot control the future. All it does is mess up today. The only thing that worry changes is you. It makes you miserable! It’s never solved a problem. It’s unhelpful.

Worry is unnecessary. God made you, he created you, he saved you, and he put his Spirit in you. Don’t you think he’s going to take care of your needs? There’s no need to worry.  The first step in stress management is to refuse to worry about anything. Why? Because it’s unreasonable, unnatural, unhelpful, and unnecessary.  The Bible says in 1 Peter 5:7, “You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon him, for you are his personal concern”.  God personally cares about you and for your needs. You know all those things you’re stressing, anxious, and worried about? Let it go. Give it to God.  What does worry say about how much you trust God?

The Event ~ A Penny for Your Thoughts!

It's not just a popular saying anymore!  PENNY is our latest grand daughter.  Our third granddaughter.  Our eighth grand child.  PENNY ESTHER was born April 26, 2014 in Denver, Colorado to Cash and Annie Stricker.  Their first!  Esther is a Biblical name and the name of my mother, Cash's grandmother, and Penny's great grandmother!   Grandmother was delighted to have that name carried further into the family. 

It seems funny to write a post about the birth of a new grandchild, because I have no posts about the births of the first seven.  Attribute that to not having a blog when any of them were born.  Another difference,  I was able to get pics of Penny by I-phone immediately.  I didn't have that luxury with the first seven grandchildren.  But I have since made up for it by blogging many times and including many pictures of the grandchildren since this blog started about four years ago! 

Penny weighed  6 lbs 12 oz, the smallest of our grandchildren.  Her head was covered with a lot of strawberry blonde hair, at least 2" long.  I've never seen so much red hair on a newborn, and it seems that no one else has either, because so many have made beautiful comments about her beautiful penny-copper hair!

 

 

Penny will have the blessing of growing up with lots of family and cousins nearby loving her and praying for her and with her.  She is certainly a beautiful gift from God.  What a blessed event to welcome Penny Esther Stricker into our family!

 

On June 1, Penny and parents made her first trip to Grandpa's farm.  Great Grandpa and Grandma Stricker finally got to meet her. 

Great Grandpa Leo, Annie, Cash, Grandpa Tim, Great Grandma Wilma, Grandma Sandi,
all admiring Princess Penny Esther!

 

Great Grandpa Leo, Cash, Grandpa Tim, Penny

Grandpa and Penny

 



 

Much love to Penny Esther Stricker from Grandma and Grandpa Stricker!

 



The Event ~ Lost! and Found AGAIN!

In 1997 when we hosted Daniel Muerer as a foreign exchange student from Germany, his parents came over to the United States to share in the celebration of Daniel's high school graduation from SHS.  They came laden with gifts for the entire family ~ several gifts for each family member.

One of the gifts they game me was a beautiful ring with a small sappire, a jade, and a amethyst and 18 tiny zirconios.  I've had it for almost 17 years now.

And I have lost it twice.  Just today I found it again.  The first time I lost it was several years ago, not sure just when.   Then one day I found it in the bottom of my tea towel drawer in the kitchen.  It must have just fell off when I was digging through the towels in the drawer.  I was so happy to have found it.

Most recently, I wore the ring to Grandpa Leo's 90th birthday party.  Or so I thought I did.  When I got home and taking off my jewelry, the ring was not on my finger.  I was devasted.  I looked in the car, all over the floors of the house.  I remembered drying my hands with paper towels both at the church and at the restaurant that evening, and was sure I slipped it off into the paper towels and threw it away.  That was 56 days ago.  Today, as I was sweeping the basement, I reached into the freezer room for the dust pan, and there on the floor lays the ring, in front of the filing cabinet beside the freezer.  Now I have been into the filing cabinet several times in the last month and a half, and into the freezer almost daily.  You'd think I would have seen it on the floor.  

Once again, I was so happy to have found it once again.  

But to add to this story, I also have a small black sapphire pinkie ring that I have also lost and found twice.  The first time I lost it was just another day at work maybe about 10 years ago.  Same thing.  Got home and no ring on my pinkie finger.   About a week later, Alexis calls to tell me the package I sent her arrived and in the bottom was this ring, and she wondered if I meant to send that to her as well!  She quickly mailed it back to me!

About seven years ago we were in Phoenix eating at a restaurant with family members.  Before we left the restaurant, I noticed my sapphire ring missing.  But that time, I did remember having it on earlier in the day.   I was in the restroom while at restaurant, again drying my hands with paper towels.  I went back to the restroom, but the garbage container was a locked container.  Melinda and I got someone who could unlock the disposal, and sure enough, laying precariously on top of some paper towels was my ring!  Found again!

Speaking of lost jewelry, I lost a turquoise dangle earring, and could only think that it came off when I was bending over picking rhubarb at the neighbors.  But nothing found there.  A few weeks later, I found it inside my shower cap that was hanging on a bathroom hook.  I had used the shower cap several times, but it always stayed tucked inside the elastic gathering.  Crazy!  

Now I try to be more attentive when drying my hands so as not to slip off any rings.  However, my wedding ring and my anniversary ring fit tight enough that I can't take it off even when I try without a little soapy lubricant.  

It's such an eventful feeling when something that was once lost-- again and again --  is found again -- and again -- and again.  

The Event ~ Celebrating 90 Years!

February 28, 2014 my father-in-law turned 90 years young!  It was an occasion to celebrate in a special way.  Kathy, Tim and I planned a special birthday open house to honor him.

We planned the celebration for Saturday afternoon March 1 at his Faith Church in Bayard for his many family and friends to share in the event with him.  Unfortunately, weather did not cooperate.  It blizzarded early that morning for most of the morning, and cleared about two hours before the event.  Fortunately, his immediate family who had to travel a distance arrived in Scottsbluff on Friday nite.    A few close relatives ventured out to join us on Saturday afternoon, but the weather cut the expected attendance in half.  Only a few friends ventured out in the cold and icy roads, and several expected relatives didn't make it.

But it was still and eventful day for those of us who had the privilege and blessing of celebrating 90 years with him.  He received so many cards in the mail that he so much enjoyed.  His nephew put him in headlines by putting his picture on the cover of Newsweek magazine.

It was a special event.  Leo has been and still is an inspiration to all of his family.  He has been blessed with a good and healthy life, loving children, grandchildren and great grandchildren, and I am so blessed to have him as a wonderful father-in-law.  I thank him for loving me like a daughter.

 

The Event ~ Childhood Friends Reunited

Last week Tim and I had the pleasure of reuniting with my bestest childhood friend.  We visited Heidi and her husband Dave at their new  retirement home in Chino Valley, AZ.  It was the first time I had seen her in about 32 years.  I stayed at her house in the summer/fall of 1981 when I went to Missoula for my Grandpa Gallwas' funeral.  What a treat it was to see her again and catch up through the years and reminisce. 

Heidi and I - Feb 2014

Heidi Gasser and I met at church camp either the summer before or the summer after 4th grade.  Camp was held in the mountains of western Montana near Big Timber.  Heidi was from Sand Springs, a remote tiny dot in the bare, desolate ranch land somewhere about 150 miles northwest of Terry.  I don't remember what led us to become such soul mates back then, but we did.

Heidi at church camp - 4th grade (?)

Heidi and I remained pen pal friends through all these years.  We continued to meet at church camp in the same location through 8th grade.  Throughout high school we maybe got to see ech other once a year.  I remember visiting her at her ranch home.  And I remember her coming to Terry a couple times to visit.

Heidi and I at our house in Terry - 1966 or 67 (?)

We would write letters faithfully almost weekly.  Since her last name was Gasser and my last name was Corneliusen,  I would  "buy" gas from her and she would "buy" corn from me in our snail mail correspondence.  It was so silly.  It was so funny. 



Heidi's wedding

We were "maid of honor" in each other's wedding.  She was also the wedding singer at my wedding.  Heidi always wanted to be a writer, journalism was her major, and today she has authored three books based on the life of her "cowboy-rodeoing" Grandmother.

Having a long-time friend is really something special.  Long-time friends enrich one's life, and Heidi has certainly enriched my life.  Friends are a blessing, but long-time friends like Heidi are extra special. It was an eventful time to renew our childhood ties.  Hopefully, we will see each other again and not wait so long!      

NOTE ADDED JULY 2014:  Heidi's husband Dave died July 30 due from reoccurring cancer and other health-related issues.  My heartfelt prayers and sympathy extended to Heidi during this time.