The Event ~ A New Church Community

Switching churches is not an event to take lightly.  Belonging to a church family is an important element in a healthy and happy lifestyle.  Fellowship with other believers stirs the soul and spirit within me.  It has been part of my life forever.

Trinity Lutheran Church, Terry, MT

I was raised in a Lutheran Church and I have many memories of church functions as a child and I can vividly recall many of the congregants during my first 18 years.

Faith United Church of Christ, Bayard, NE

Following marriage, I joined Tim's church, Faith United Church of Christ, in Bayard.  For 16 years, we were active members of that church family.  Neither churches really fed my soul or nourished my spiritual development, but church has always been a priority in my life.  I didn't know what I was missing until I truly let Jesus into my life as a personal friend.

Emmanuel Congregational Church, Scottsbluff, NE

For the next 25 years, because of a move from the farm to the city,  our family was faithful members at Emmanuel Congregational Church in Scottsbluff.  The people within became our church family.  Many memories were made there. I grew in Christian dicipleship, knowledge, and faith.

However, no church is without some spiritual warfare within, but many churches know how to disengage it and continue to grow and continue in positive spiritually health.

Emmanuel Congregational fell victim to much spiritual warfare within it's walls, and lack of spiritual welfare outside its walls.  Tim and I patiently stood by our church family, tried to be part of a solution rather than part of a dissolution.  But, alas, the day came when we walked away from our church family and wandered lost through the valley for several months in early 2012.

This was not an easy decision for either of us.  We struggled a long time, feeling a loss of community.  But we soon discovered new joy in the fellowship and family at Monument Bible Church.  We have made new friends, renewed old friendships, become involved in Bible studies, and now realize how much had actually been missing in our desire to worship in harmony with other believers.

Changing churches is not an easy thing to do.  One just doesn't do it on a whim.  There is no perfect church.  A church body is made up of all kinds of people with lots of different opinions, even differences on church matters.  But respecting differing beliefs, opinions, traditions,  of others while worshipping the same one true God goes a long way in living in harmony and fellowshipping with others who believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. 

A change can always be good, and in our case of changing churches  the beginning of 2012 and taking nearly nine months to feel that it was the right step for us, we know this change is good for us in our life right now.  We feel a genuine belonging to a church family again, a better and healthier church community.  What a blessed event to share!

The Event ~ Go Wayside!

"Go Wayside"  is a Christian network of people 55 years and older who like to travel and/or enjoy sharing the gift of hospitality.  It is Christian homes that are open to other Christian travelers as "bed and breakfasts" throughout the fifty US states and into Canada. 

Tim and I both enjoy visiting in homes of friends, we enjoy meeting new people, and we enjoy sharing our home with others - be it friends or strangers.  So it is a natural for us to enjoy this concept.  Some of our friends  thought this was wierd and said "You mean you are going to let strangers come stay in your house?"  or "You are just going to go to some stranger's house and spend the nite there?" 

YES, on both accounts!   On our recent trip to Pennsylvanis, Virginia and Maryland, we met new friends in five different homes and stayed seven nights in the five homes.  Each nite was a highlight in our travels.  Visiting with these people and accepting their offers to drive us around the area, dutch treat dinner dining with them at restaurants they selected as some of the best, was so much better than checking into a hotel and dealing with hotel clerks.  Wayside rules are to pay the hosts $20 couple per nite for the bed and breakfast accommodations.

Nite 1:  We met Jim and Esther Rittenhouse in Morgantown, PA.  They drove us around their beautiful countryside, we went to a great Amish restaurant.  After dinner we played a new game we had never heard of before.  They shared some fresh whoopie pies with us and then sent more whoopie pies with us on the road. 

We had the whole second floor & private bath to ourselves.  Their front and back yard was beautiful.  Wild turkeys made themselves at home in their back yard.

Nite 2 & 3:  We met Art and Mim Saunders in New Holland, PA.  They had a great duplex home in a retirement village.  They weren't home when we got there, but had left the keys in their mailbox for us.  We went to Yoder's Smorgasbord for dinner together. Then they went on to their evening conference and we nestled down in their home.   Mim played the harp, so she entertained us with harp music after breakfast. 

Art and Mim were the ones who arranged for us to visit the dairy farm of their Amish friend Jake Esh; and they also arranged the dinner in another Amish friend's home.  We went to church with them on Sunday and shared lunch with them at their retirement center dining room. 

Nite 4:  We Chuck and Joyce Siebert in New Freedom, PA, near Gettysburg.  Again, we had the whole second floor of their beautiful rural home.  The bedroom was like a huge living suite.  We shared raspberry dessert in the evening and  a fabulous breakfast of a puff pancake filled with sausage and apples, and they introduced us to "scrapple", a meat type food popular in that area. 

The view out the bedroom window was filled with autumn beauty, as was the beautiful woods surrounding their house, where deer played in the back yard.

Nite 5:  We stayed in a motel in Gettysburg.  It wasn't nearly as nice and hospitable as the homes!

Nite 6 & 7:  We met Ray and Kathy Steckman in Amissville, VA.  We were suppose to stay in a home in Barboursville, VA farther south.  However, we were right behind an accident where a tree fell on a car in front of us and killed the driver, so the road was closed for several hours and we were directed back in the direction we came from.  The Steckman's had already encourged us to spend two nites with them, so we called and asked if we could show up on their doorstep a nite early.  They were wonderful and gracious hosts.  The second nite we all went to a great seafood restaurant for dinner. 

We discovered many similarities:  Kathy is Norwegian/German like me, and also makes lefsa for the holidays.  Her best friend married a classmate of my best childhood friend up in ranch country near Jordon, MT.  She was raised in Montana as I was.  Their daughter is the same age as Cash and lives in Denver.  We are hoping her and her boyfriend get together with Cash and Annie as they all share similar interests.  It's a small world.   Again the setting was lovely and it was a pleasure to stay there and share in their fellowship and friendship.

Nite 8:  We met John and Kathy Steyer in North East, MD.   Upon our arrival, we went for an outing to the North shore of Chesapeake Bay where we hiked a mile into the woods to one of the few remaining lighthouses.  We needed the hike!  It felt good!  Then on to a great fancy restaurant  for all you could eat shrimp. Again, it is a small world, because they recently returned from a mission trip to Peru with the young man who is the praise team leader in our church here in Scottsbluff.   Who would have thought there would be connections like that with people across the country?

Meeting these new friends and fellowshiping with them, sharing conversation over the breakfast table, and starting our daily travels covered with prayer from these couples made this trip so much more memorble and special.  We hope we have the eventful pleasure of hosting them at some time in the future. 

The last nite we stayed in a historic bed and breakfast right in Independence Square, Philadelphia, all furnished in period furnishings from the 1700's.   It was very quaint. 

Go Wayside ~ an eventful way to travel!   

The Event ~ Philly and More. . .

For some reason I always wanted to go to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell.  I wouldn't consider myself a history buff, but there was a yearning to see a part of where America got it's start.   Now that I've been there, I am filled with desire to relearn history and filled with a greater appreciation of the forefathers who founded America.

Philadelphia was great.  It was interesting to see what I once studied in history books.  All kids should have an opportunity to see these tributes as they study American history.

However, the best part of our 10-day trip back east was the beautiful countryside, away from the traffic of the city.  We can drive and drive and drive through rural countrysides, but neither Tim nor I have a desire to be a part of big city traffic.

And travel the country roads we did!  We discovered Lancaster County - known for the 2nd largest Amish settlement in America.  Three days in that area was not long enough.

We had the privilege to have our own non-commercial tour of an Amish dairy farm, a personal buggy ride with Jake Esh, the farmer; and a personal invite into an Amish home for dinner.

I have much respect for the Amish community and their way of life.  They have hung unto their values and the simplicity and sacred things this country was founded on, and have not let technology steer them away from family, faith and lifestyle. I'm not saying I don't appreciate technology and progress that we have come to enjoy, but I do recognize that we have allowed the same to corrupt the home and family environment. 

We enjoyed browsing through a large farmers market in Ephrata.  The Amish baked goods were awesome and delicious.  Tim bought a new leather belt handmade by an Amish leather craftsman.

The food, especially in Pennsyalvania and Lancaster County, was the best.  The warm pretzels that were so popular, the famous whoopie pies, the shoo-fly pie, the huge smorgasboards in Pennsylvania Dutch country.    We stopped in  Dundalk, Maryland, east of Baltimore, just to eat at the Boulavard Diner which was featured in Guy Fieri's Diners, Dives and Drive-Ins.  I had to try the show's  featured sour beef and dumplings, and Tim went for the meatloaf tower!

Our most favorite eating place was the Historic City Tavern in Philadelphia where we enjoyed a great meal, new beers, and Martha Washington's famous chocolate dessert.  It is the same tavern that George Washington and other president's ate in, and the meals were all served by staff in period costume.

We also walked to Reading Terminal in Independence Square in Philly and orderd what was declared the best sandwich in America on a recent Food Channel sandwich contest.   Reading Terminal is a huge farmers market with eating counters where one can eat ANY ethnic food imaginable!  A great fun place to experience!

The countryside was dotted with covered bridges.  I wish we could have seen more than the 6-7 we came upon.  There is such an ambience about covered bridges.

We enjoyed a beautiful 66 mile scenic drive on Skyline Drive on the peaks of Shenendoah Mountains.  The day was 80 degrees, 35 mph, driving with the windows down and stopping at all the overlooks to take in the beauty of the Shenendoah Valley.

President Eisenhower's farm

We enjoyed a full day at Gettysburg where the Civil War was fought.  Again, history came to life, and I wish I remembered more from the history books.

Part of the battleground on which the Civil War was fought.



We enjoyed a tour of the Luray Caverns in Virginia, an underground cavaern of stalactite and stalagmite formations.

We visited the North shore of Chesapeak Bay

We enjoyed the wonderful musical theatrical production of Jonah while in Lancaster County.

It was a beautiful road trip, enjoying the fall colors at their peak!

We made it home one day before the historic Hurricane Sandy, the worst storm in the history of the US hit the very areas that we travelled through in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, and Maryland.

It was a very eventful and relaxing trip.  I thought I could easily live  in Pennsylvania until I realized it still wasn't far enough from the eastern coast to avoid the effects of strong hurricanes.  I think I will live in western Nebraska for all the remaining days of my life.  But I want to enjoy many more roadtrips. . .

It was an eventful trip filled with many eventful memories!

The Event ~ Fall is in the Air!

My front yard in autumn.  How splendid!

Autumn is my favorite time of year ~ especially when the colors come out.  God's beautiful creations burst with reds, golds, orange.  Weather is mild, providing relief to the hot summer months, and teasing us with the promise of winter's rage to set in a few months from now.  

Autumn is an eventful time of year.  I feel so blessed to enjoy a scene like this through my front picture window!  Merle seems to enjoy it just as much! 

The Event ~ Dreamin'

More appropriately, I should title this "Nightmares".  I'm sure everyone has at one time or another wondered why they dream the things they dream?  Why certain people come in and out of our dreams?  People who are mere aquaintences, people who really have nothing to do with our own lives?  How do these people with such vivid clear faces enter into our dreams?  Why do dreams appear to be so real?  What triggers certain dreams?  Where do we find the answers to these questions?  Maybe a little research on line.

I had another tornado dream the other night.  This one was so real and so vivid, I awoke feeling like I knew exactly what it is like to be in a house blown away by a tornado and flying through the air.  My cat literally looked like it had been jolted by severe shocks of electricity.  What a sight!

I've had dreams (nightmares) of tornadoes several times in past years.  One time I remember I was trying to make friends with the tornado, talking to it through a basement window at a mechanics shop on mainstreet in Bayard!  The tornado had a face with eyes and a mouth and talked to me.

At a recent family gathering Alexis shared that she also dreams of tornados and our dreams are very similar. 

I also have recurring dreams of plane crashes.  I am never in the plane.  I am always on the ground watching a plane spin, fall and crash.  Often the big planes crash in fields close to our house.  I'm usually the one that calls 911.  Sometimes I help rescue survivors.  Sometimes they are really gory!  I'm not afraid of flying, but in reality, when a plane flys over, I keep my eye on it for a long time, making sure it doesn't go into a tailspin and lose altitude. 

I don't chew gum because I've had numerous dreams of not being able to get rid of the gum.  The gum never ends in my mouth and I'm digging all around the inside of my mouth with my fingers trying to get all the gum out of my mouth.  How can there be that much gum in my mouth?  It's really a yucky dream. 

Another recurring dream that I've had several times in the past but not in recent years is losing all my teeth ~ that my teeth would just start falling out for no reason.  I would feel something in my mouth and ~ oops ~ here's another tooth laying on my tongue.  They would just keep falling out, one at a time!

Of course there are always the dreams of being chased.  I think everyone has dreams of being chased, of having to run away from something, frantically.  Those can be really scary.

And then there are the really stupid dreams that put me in all kinds of weird places with all kinds of people from the past or people I don't even know.  When my kids are in my dreams, they are usually little kids again.    Some are just funny, some very weird, some very scary. 

Where does all this come from?  I guess I will have to do some research about dreams!

The Event ~ Puzzleing

Puzzleing - the act of putting puzzles together!

At family gatherings during my childhood years ~ and beyond ~ I remember there always was a puzzle in progress.  I spent many hours with cousins bent over a puzzle scattered on a table.  It was a social activity.

We still do that today, especially on the Corneliusen side of the family.  I recall the last three reunions of this family, there was always a puzzle or two or three in progress.  Family members would casually participate in the puzzle for minutes at a time or hours at a time.  One couldn't walk by without stopping to try and add one more piece to the puzzle.

This puzzle was put together at the 2012 reunion in Montana.  Working on the puzzle are Alexis, Connie, and Evelyn.

I have always enjoyed puzzles and occasionally would have one out to work on when family was around.  But I never had a good place to lay out a puzzle for an extended period of time.  And I didn't like having a wobbly card table taking up space.

At our last auction we worked, I bought a really nice drop leaf occasional table that looks nice wherever I put it.  With the leaves up, it's big enough for a puzzle.  Now I have a puzzle scattered out on it and enjoy spending a few moments here and there to connect a piece or two.  I find it a mental challenge as well.  It's a good brain activity.  Perhaps guests that come and go may also feel drawn into this activity.  How long will this eventful project take?  I thought this would probably take me several months to finish when I started it last week, but I only have about 40 pieces left to place.  I predict I will finish it tonite!

Then I will put it all back into the box and get out another one!  What an eventful challenge!

Finished first puzzle and then finished second puzzle.  It's an addicting event!       10/8/12

The Event ~ Gifting

I have three very small items (gifts) in my home that I have recently realized bring a smile to my face when I happenstance come face to face with them.  That said, I will elaborate a bit on  "gifting".

We gift to those we love, or friends we are close to, because we are following in the example of our Lord God who loved us so much he gave us His son as a gift to us. 

God gave us the gift of his Son that first Christmas; and people ever since have celebrated Christmas by giving people they love gifts at Christmas.  Even little children get caught up in the spirit of giving gifts to people in their family whom they love.   Children give simply and from their heart with enormous joy. 

OK, that said, back to my original train of thought. . . I have three specific items in my home today that could easily have been tossed out,  added to a garage sale box, or lost in the moves. However, these items have managed to stay the course and resurface from time to time and currently hold not only a safe place in my home, but also a special place in my heart.    They are just 3 crazy little things that have gained a spot of honor among my "treasures".

These items are gifts from my children in their younger years.  Two of the items were carefully selected for me for Christmas by Janel and Alexis when they went shopping with Dad at Western Auto store on main street Bayard years ago ~ they must have been maybe 6 and 4 years old ~ I don't even remember the year. But I do remember how pleased and proud they were of the gifts they each had selected. 

Through the years, they were probably packed away, lost, but always resurfaced.  I think its a miracle that I actually still have them.  Through the years I actually forgot who gave what.  I always remembered the majorette was from one of the girls, but which one?  And the lady pin cushion I had actually forgotten it was gifted at the same time as the majorette.  The majorette is in my display hutch with my Americana collection.  And the pin cushion is kept close at hand and in use in my sewing hutch.  But it wasn't until recently during a conversation with Alexis that she reminded me she gave me the pin cushion and Janel gave me the majorette and that they bought them at Western Auto when they went shopping with Dad.  I have no idea the course of our conversation to cause these items to surface in our discussion.  But her remembrance of the occasion, and jogging my memory has made me cherish these two items immensely.  My two special gifts from my two special girls! 

The third item is a special gift from my son.  The gift hangs on the wall amidst more Americana collections.  It is a counted cross stitch flag ~ an unfinished project ~ that Cash made about 1992-1993 when he was 11-12 years old. 

The country quilt shop had recently opened across the street and he went over and asked Donna Considine, the owner, if there was something he could make for his mom.   The counted cross stitch flag was the end result.  She showed him how, and Cash worked diligently on the project, but in the end didn't finish it, leaving it undone with a row of white stripes to finish.  The needle and white thread remains with the unfinished project.  I just placed the remaining thread in the shape of the USA around the flag and stuck the needle in the fabric.  Then I framed the piece.  It is a gift of Cash's love and diligent handiwork at a young age. 

Through the years I have received numerous gifts from my children and my husband.  Today I can't tell what they were and probably most of them I don't even have anymore.  I do know that they were always given out of love. 

I wish I would have kept a journal from the beginning of our married life noting simple little things like what we did each Christmas, the meaningful gifts we were blessed with, etc.  It would be fun to recollect some of those memories.

My grandfather kept a journal for many, many years.  Just a sentence to note something about each day.  Be it the weather, the amount he sold eggs for that day, the price of something he bought, etc.  I remember reading through some of its pages.  That journal still exists and is kept safely by some family member somewhere. 

It's not that we need to put alot of memory and importance on material possessions, but its the memories and love that are part of certain possessions that make them treasures.    And my pin cushion, my majorette, and my unfinished flag are three treasures that I cherish.  They are not tucked away.  They are placed prominently where I can daily enjoy, see and feel the love that was put into each gift.  They are events in my life, my past.  They are eventful memories. 

The Event ~ Worry

Worry is an event ~ an unpleasant event.  An unpleasant event that strips valuable time and resources from my day.  An unpleasant event that fills my head with negativity.  An unpleasant event that weighs heavily on me and creates an unnecessary burden for me to carry.  An unpleasant event that stirs trouble in my soul and mind.  An unpleasant event that causes me to want to be a control freak, which makes me an unpleasant person.   Worry can be a daily event that wears a person down. 

So why do I worry?    And what do I worry about? 

I think I worry most about my children.  Why?  Is it because I love them so much, I don't want them to suffer through trials,  and I only want absolutely the best and most perfect of life for them, and when it is anything less than that, I worry?  I worry about my husband ~ especially when he doesn't come home from the field or somewhere in the time frame that I expect him.  What bad thing has happened?
I worry about the future ~ I worry about the kind of society my grandkids will have to survive in (in a time when I will not even be around anymore!)  And I worry about their safety in a world filled with kidnappers and murders and drugs and peer pressure.   

STOP!  This is all useless negativity.  First of all, my children are all beautiful, well educated, capable, hard working, selfless, giving, thoughtful, and loving.  They can take care of themselves and only need my love, not my worry.  My husband is the best event that has ever happened to me, and the most meaninful daily event in my life.  God is in control of all of them, not me. 

So when I was reading my latest issue of Guideposts magazine, I was severely hit in the head when I read an "Upside Quote"  ~ "Worry is like praying for what you don't want!"   OMG  If all that "mind time" went into prayer instead of worry, my entire family would benefit.  That quote has stuck into my mind and nearly rid me of that wicked word, leaving a prevailing peace.

After all, comfort and prosperity have not enriched our lives as much as trials have, when I consider that trials draw us closer to God.  And as the song goes, "Just a Closer Walk with Thee,"  is what I most desire for those I love most.

It is my understanding that God will never leave us or forsake us and He will walk with us through the trial.  In the middle of our worst trials, we can hold onto God’s promise that He will always be there for us – even when He remains unseen and unfelt.  That promise is sure.  I expect God to remain with me and my family in any storm, lead us through it, and make us stronger and more faithful and better off because of it.

So my goal is to let go of worry and let God work according to His will in our lives.  Can I let go of all these pretentious fears?  I don't know.  But I'm not going to worry about it. . .  Just give God the glory for enriching my life through the family he has blessed me with. 

The Event ~ The Tree

This is a tree.  The reflections are the event. . .

When my Dad died in 1998 (14 years ago now, already), we came home from the funeral in Montana and found a small two-foot potted tree on our back steps.  The attached card reflected the tree was a gift from my work place, Farmers Irrigation District, in honor of my Dad.  In the years since, the tree has grown into a magnificent, stately, living memorial.  It's a beautiful tree, and everyday when walking past it, I think of my Dad.  If this tree were not here, my thoughts and reflections of life with Dad would be few and far between. I appreciate the significance of this tree and the memories within its branches!



The Event ~ Reaping the Red Beet Harvest

My little tiny small garden is producing a small harvest.  So far I have picked 3 huge cabbages, cucumbers to eat fresh, an abundance of zuchinni, of course, romaine lettuce, only 1 red tomatoe so far (lots of green ones show promise!), and a small harvest of red beets.

I like to raise red beets maybe every two-three years, because the only time we eat them is with hamburger pie, also known as Shepherd's Pie.  So hopefully one season's canned red beets will last at least two years.

Red beets are really easy to preserve.  After plucking from the garden, cut off the tops within 1" of the beet, hose down outside before taking to the kitchen, cook in boiling water till the peelings slip off, probably a good half hour, remove and submerge in cold water, slip off the peelings, cut off the tops and tails, quarter, and reheat thoroughly in water/vinegar/sugar/pickling spice as follows:

About 10 cups more or less quartered diced red beets
2 1/2 cups vinegar

2 1/2 cups water

3 cups sugar

2 Tble pickling spice tied in cheesecloth     

When tender and hot (30-30 mintues) pack into jars and seal!  Enjoy.

HAMBURGER PIE

1 lb hamburger browned with onion
Salt & pepper to taste
1 can french cut green beans, drained
1 can tomato soup

Mix all together, heat through.  Put into serving bowl.  Top with layer of mashed potatoes.  Sprinkle shredded cheese over all. Heat in oven till cheese is melted.

Now I like to take my red beets and mash them right into my individual serving of hamburger pie!

An eating event to savor.  And a family favorite!