Having a weatherman in the family can be very convenient. Rod could see the front coming through on the WX charts that brought all this nasty cold, so he said we had about two hours to play before the front came through.
We dropped what we were doing and headed out to enjoy the snow. Caleb took a while before he got the hang of sledding though.
It helps to get down the hill if you have a little weight behind you. It especially helps if the weight can steer too.
This was one of B and Hannah's early runs down the hill together. They really pick up speed about half way down.
Rachel came out later and stayed out so long, she froze to her coat!
Betsy and Caity Grady flew down the hill for this screaming ride...
I don't know who gave Leah those shades...she really makes a statement, doesn't she! She won't have to worry about going snow blind!
Betsy took all the little people to play in the snow at the bottom of the hill once they were tired of making the trek back up. What a fun day. Today, we've been watching these videos of the fun we had yesterday. It's too cold to go outside!
We have a sad and continuing situation...our picture windows are bird killers.
We have a bird feeder on the deck ten to fifteen feet from the nearest picture window. We even have paper snowflakes on the window to give the birds warning that things are not what they seem, but the poor creatures aren't getting it. In the last few days, we keep hearing "CRASH" and look out the window to see another bird dazed or dead on the snow drift outside the window. We brought in a female cardinal birdie to revive in front of the fire, but she expired.
Anyone have any suggestions for keeping the birdies at bay?
We spent New Year’s in Griswold, Iowa with the Turacks. We tried to get them to come over to our house, but they had to open the shop at three even on New Year’s Day. So we made the drive and spent an encouraging and fun afternoon with their family.
The young folks played a huge round of Apples to Apples that lasted at least two hours. During the game, Daniel made lunch. They bought at least 30 little Totino’s pizzas, and he cooked all of them in his two professional pizza ovens. He kept putting pizza out, and the kids kept eating and eating and eating. He did get a chance to play Apples to Apples with them once the last pizza was baked, and Hannah said he started winning round after round! Good things come to them that wait. Thanks for serving and serving and serving!
The Turacks have a very large big screen TV in the back of the shop where they offer movies for the community at times. They showed us a homeschool production called ‘The Widow’s Might.’ You could tell the folks in the movie weren't professional actors, but knowing they were fellow homeschoolers made it much more enjoyable! You could see the different families represented in the cast and extras because of family resemblance!
The movie lasted two hours and then it was time to eat again. Rod had wanted to leave while it was still light but that is usually hopeless if the children are having fun. Angela offered to show the girls how to dance ‘The Wagon Wheel’ so they were game to stay, eat and learn a new dance.
Daniel got pegged to cook dinner too. He must like to cook. He didn't mind missing the dancing and cooked multitudes of hotdogs for our dinner!
We danced, ate hotdogs and wondered where the afternoon had gone so quickly. Thank you, Turacks for your Texas/Iowa hospitality. We really appreciated the chance to spend New Year's Day with your family.
We had discussed earlier in November/December about giving Alicia a baby shower when she and Justin were back for a visit at Christmas time. We left the discussion at the 'That's a good idea' stage and went on with life and Christmas preparations.
Anna called right around Christmas and asked if we were serious about throwing a shower for Alicia and would we like to go ahead and do it? Of course...anything for Alicia, dear.
The first step: enlist good help! We wanted to get to know Kelly and her girls better, plus we know she has quite an eye for decorating so we emailed her right away. Later, we learned that she didn't even know Alicia, but she was still very willing to help! We also enlisted Jubilee, our neighbor. She loves helping with these kind of events.
Kelly brought the adorable little pacifiers her daughters made from lifesavers and jelly beans, glued together with frosting! They graced all the tables. So cute!
Kelly also artfully arranged beautiful draping balloons to hide our ugly, I mean utilitarian looking back door!
Rebekah ironed and ironed yards of drapery to cover up the coat rack.
Beanie and Cecil spent some of their time decorating and some of their time playing with the decorations!
We got done decorating early and had some extra time to kill. With all those wide open spaces, the girls couldn't resist teaching Mrs. Klostermeyer the Virginia Reel! It was a little difficult with no music, but we managed. She catches on quick! Have you taught your girls yet?
Guests started arriving right on time...Kelly made the lovely guest register and put all the little pink baby feet walking across the white tableclothes.
We had a full house even with only four days notice...a testimony to the high esteem everyone has for Alicia, dear.
We started the evening with prayer and a hymn followed by Alicia sharing what she and Justin had been doing for the last year and a half. It was so good to get caught up with what God has been doing in their lives since there are so many of us and only one of her!
After Alicia told us her news, we had a devotional time of sharing. I had asked several ladies to share a scripture and what that meant to them pertaining to child rearing. I also asked the ladies if they had any stories related to how God gave them names for their children and what if any fufillment they've seen in the life of their child.
Mrs. Wulbecker shared how she marks her bible with scripture she prays for her children. Praying scripture is very powerful. One of her favorite portions of scripture to pray for her children has been to personalize Ps 119:34-37. "Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes and I will keep it to the end..."
Other ladies shared the meanings of their children's names. Mrs. Klostermeyer's husband picked out the middle name Emily for their first daughter, Blake, which means 'fighter.' Blake was born prematurely and fought for her life. That was a well chosen name.
One of the mothers named a baby they lost 'Elias' which means 'God is good.' God is good whether times are hard or not...another good reminder.
Mrs. Beasley told the Daniel 'Trust' Beasley story. They trusted God for their family size/spacing of children starting with Dan. She also told a humorous story about when Dan worked at Dick's Sporting Goods store. A woman asked Dan's opinion on a jacket for her son. He told her what he thought and added, "You can trust me. My middle name is Trust." The lady didn't believe him so he showed her his driver's license. She was tickled pink and told everyone she talked to in the store..."Did you know his middle name is Trust?"
Kelly suggested a very fun matching game for the shower. Each card had a word pertaining to pregnancy and labor and the ladies had to remember where they saw the word to get the match. The fun of the game came with the prizes for each match...
For example, for the word 'pregnant,' the prize is a box of Sugar Babies
stomach - Mounds bar
ob gyn - Butter Finger candy bar
doctor bill - 100 Grand bar
conception - a bag of Hershey kisses
baby bottle - baby bottle candy
baby girl - Baby Ruth bar
baby boy - Junior Mints
dirty diaper - Raisinets
pacifier - a candy ring
umbilical cord - licorice
nursing - a Milky Way bar
labor - a Crunch bar
premie - a box of Runts candy
We had 17 different words to match, but that's all I can remember...
We skipped the next game, because it was already late and Alicia had so many gifts to open.
While Alicia opened gifts, the rest of us helped ourselves to the yummy spread. Most of the ladies brought food to share, with lots of 'good for you' food since Alicia likes to eat healthy. The ladies did manage to finish off the chocolate covered turtles we brought. Leah put them at the end of the food line, hoping the ladies would have full plates by the time they got there. Then maybe I'd bring some home for her to eat. Nice try, Leah!
Alicia got some really nice presents. I made the mistake of putting 'diapers' on the gift list forgetting that they had to haul all this stuff back on a plane. Her brother, Luke, is going back with them so he can just take his toothbrush and fill the rest of his suitcase with sweet baby girl clothes. (and diapers!)
Anna made Alicia an adorable little girl dress with a cute pink flower...in all her free time. How did you find time to make that?
When the party's over...you find out who your true friends are...the ones who give up their sleep to help you clean up! People were still visiting when we broke out the vacuums. I'm sorry. We were tired and had a long drive home yet. But after cleanup, we floated home on sweet memories of a delightful evening. We hope everyone was as blessed and encouraged as we were...and especially Alicia.
Congratulations on your new baby, and may God bless these next few months with His peace.
We were looking forward to Anna and Esther’s arrival so the New Year’s festivities could begin. Rod was standing at the door as we heard the children announce, “They’re here. They’re here.” The next thing I heard from Rod as I was working in the kitchen was, “Oh no, don’t stop at the top of the driveway.” For those that haven’t seen our driveway, it is a pretty steep hill…good for sledding, bad for driving. Anna had stopped right at the top before she got over the crest to the level area. Now it was hopeless. She just spun on the ice. Since it was the only thing to do, she decided to back down the driveway. Announcements from various windows kept me up to date on her progress. There wasn’t much hope of successfully backing down either since the driveway curves and Aaron went off one edge while he was plowing so it was hard to tell exactly which way the driveway went in the twilight. She made it about halfway down and got stuck right where Aaron had gone off in his truck before. Coats and hats flew on and the big Dodge started up. Rumble, rumble, rumble…Aaron, Rod and lots of middles and littles to the rescue. Betsy was following Anna back to our house after a day of shopping with her and her sister Abby. Fortunately, she wasn’t following too closely and stopped at the bottom of the driveway to wait out events.
Rod took over driving the Beasley van and Aaron hooked the van up to his truck via a tow strap. They tried pulling the van up the hill, but Aaron could get no traction even in 4x4 low. They switched tactics, and Aaron tried to pull the van out going down the hill, but that didn’t work either. The van couldn’t make it up over the lip and back onto the driveway. It just slid down the hill next to the driveway. The tow strap broke so Aaron went to the barn to get the chains and try another new tactic. He dug a place to drive his truck into on the orchard side of the driveway so he could pull from a different angle. This tactic finally worked, and the van made it back up onto the driveway much to everyone’s relief.
We thought that should be the end of our problems, but hadn’t banked on Betsy having trouble getting up the hill. Anna and Leah were in the back of the Blue Taurus with Betsy driving. She didn’t make it up the hill either because she could never get up enough steam even from the bottom of the driveway. She came to a spinning halt at the steepest part of the driveway and thought she put the car in park. Aaron was right near the car and told her to get out so he could back the car down the hill and avoid a repeat of the earlier performance! As Betsy got out, the car started to roll backwards...slowly at first, but picking up speed. Anna and Leah were terrified in the back seat. Aaron thought Betsy would get back in and step on the brake, but when she didn’t and was getting pulled down the hill by the car door, he grabbed her and threw her out of the way, jumped in the car and stepped on the brake. He later apologized for the rough handling, but Betsy didn’t mind a bit. She was just glad he had been there to save the day. The car had never quite made it all the way into park. It sometimes has a problem with that.
After all this excitement, Aaron plowed the driveway a couple more times to get the snow out of it. Rod formed a bucket brigade with the middles and littles to sand the driveway on the steep part so we could get more traction and hopefully make it all the way up the hill and home. Aaron hopped into the blue car to drive it up the hill and right as he got to the steepest part, Caitlin, his youngest sister started moseying across the top of the driveway spreading sand, oblivious to the car hurtling up the driveway. Unused to the Taurus, Aaron beat on the steering wheel trying to find the horn. Caitlin got out of the way in time, but we sure could have lived without that last adrenalin rush.
And as we got all the cars parked and were ready to head into the house, Matthew Miller came walking over to join us for dinner. Good timing! We were just thankful he hadn’t driven over!
The rest of the evening was pretty ordinary.
Dinner: Shrimp Scampi, noodles, meatballs, carrots, peppers and stuffed mushrooms…an odd assortment of food. Matthew even tried a stuffed fungus, I mean, mushroom, and ended up eating three though he said he could have lived without the last two. Anna decided she liked shrimp so we gained another convert there!
The men played ping pong, and everyone danced a few rounds of the Virginia Reel and the ‘Emma Dance.’
Matthew went home and the rest of the young folks ended up watching a movie that lasted right up to midnight. We toasted in the New Year with frozen sparkling cider. Frozen sparkling cider is dangerous when you take off the cap. Poor Esther got sprayed a bit when Aaron removed the cap from the grape kind. Sticky!
They made it a bit longer, but everyone was in bed and asleep by 0100. The Beasleys had to make it home by 10 the next morning. Anna has never missed a curfew! Good girl!
Don’t forget to make your New Year’s resolutions!
1) Never stop at the top of Grady’s driveway, snow or no snow!
2) Never forget to thank God for His mercy, especially when driving.
Each child's favorite gift is their coupon for time with Dad. Rod forgot till Christmas morning since Christmas was going to be delayed and then was rescheduled again at the last minute. He had his ideas already in mind and quickly scribbled them down on 10 sticky notes and stuffed them in the top of the overstuffed stockings.
The little middles got to go with Dad to Hobby Lobby to spend their gift cards that Grandma Donna sent them for Christmas, plus dinner out at the restaurant of their choice. They branched out this year and went to Golden Corral and ate them out of house and home. Rod only had to pay .99 for Leah who eats more than all of them!
Rod said two of the girls get to flunk math for the year. Each of them spent $5 over their allotted amount of $25. They could have sworn they only had $25 worth of items. Kind Dad had to bail them out in the checkout line. Leah won the prize for coming closest. She spent $25.10.
Leah did spend her money the most. She picked out and put back more items than both her sisters combined! They purchased small doll furniture for their sock dolls and some craft items for drawing.
Thanks, Dad, for the fun day! Three down and seven more to go!
Snow, snow, snow...we prayed for this, but never considered the idea that too much snow would put off celebrating Christmas...
"Good bye, Christmas!"
The children were bearing their disappointment well...for their dear sister Abby's sake (and a slight bit for Aaron who doesn't really care about Christmas!) they were willing to put off opening presents for a whole day in hopes that Aaron would be done plowing and could bring A&C and the pickles out. I know it doesn't sound like much, but they've never had to put off Christmas before. Betsy had declared it 'pajama day' and had a whole long list of interesting things to do to keep everyone's mind off their troubles. We went ahead and had Christmas breakfast and started in on Betsy's list...Dad reading "Jotham's Journey" while the children did puzzles in their pj's in front of a toasty fire.
Aaron had gone off to plow around 0400. Usually, his boss waits to plow till the snow is done falling, but there was so much snow Wade tried to start plowing early. He decided to call it quits after two hours of pushing snow that would just be there again in a few hours. Aaron, Mr. Christmas Spirit in disguise, gave C&A a wake up call to wish them a Merry Christmas and tell them to get ready...Santa and his reindeer...I mean Santa and his Dodge Ram and snow plow would be there shortly to transport them to their destination...to Grandmother's house we go!
The unsuspecting souls at Grandmother's house were startled to hear the distinct noise of a straight piped Dodge truck rumbling up the driveway. I looked out the window first declaring, "Aaron is home!" Then after a moment's pause, "Aaron's home, and he's got Caleb and Abby with him!" This news was met with squeals of delight and dismay. Delight at the prospect of Christmas on Christmas day and seeing Caleb and Abby and dismay that they were still in their pjs and the presents weren't out!
We have Chinese on Christmas Eve and saved some for Abby.
Everyone dispersed to the four winds to get dressed and bring up presents. The chilly travelors came in and shook off the snow, ate some breakfast (real and Chinese) and with grateful hearts, we converged on the living room to hear the Christmas story and celebrate with the whole family!
Elise had a little smidge of breakfast while she waited for her aunts and uncles to get ready for Christmas.
Yelena and Betsy
Keeping Elise occupied till it's time to open presents...
At last...it's time!
Betsy and the little people pass out the presents...
Aaron opened presents first this year since he had to pick up Matthew and go plow. He didn't mind a bit! Normally, we go in age order around the family opening one present at a time, and he gets kind of bored waiting, but not this year. You can always tell which presents he likes...He's not too crazy about towels, though he did ask for them!
He did like his silverware! Aaron doesn't have too many quirks, but one of them is the desire to eat with "substantial silverware." He doesn't like the mismatching pressed aluminum junk we have in the drawer! His favorite place to eat is the Nelson's because he likes their heavyweight, stainless steel silverware! I asked Barb if she'd trade me for a couple of new sets I bought at Sam's, and she did! Boy, was he tickled!
Opening the silverware...
After Aaron (alias Santa Claus) left for the next 19 or so hours, everyone got a chance to open their gifts. Each family member gets gifts from Mom and Dad and we draw names so they get gifts from their special person! Benjamin had Tootsie and bought her a set of cute glitter. She was a happy girl.
Betsy has been on a 'purse kick' lately and made this bag for Hannah from swatches of upholstery fabric we got from a neighbor!
Elise really liked Grandpa's new beard. She kept feeling his whiskers!
Leah, the silly goose...
The corner club, waiting their turn...
Abby opened a gift for little Yelena. Look at Yelena's eyes. She likes clothes already. I wonder who she takes after?
Another silly goose!
Abby just loved a huge ornate mirror she found at ReRunsRFun last spring. It was still there on half price day, so we bought it for her and waited clear till Christmas to give it to her.
Peek-a-boo!
A video of the presentation!
Caleb was happy after he got his Skittles and a book, '501 Destinations' to read.
Nice beard!
Sweet little Yelena with Aunt Leah...
Caleb got three sets of matchbox cars. He needed no more presents!
Caity Grady and her treasure chest...
Rachel's favorite present were some black flat soled shoes so she doesn't have to borrow Betsy's anymore!
The after Christmas carnage!
After we cleaned up, everyone moved into the dining room for stockings!
Rachel and Caleb
The whole crew opening the toys and candy in their stockings...
Surprise!
Betsy feeding Elise forbidden sugar!
Leah set the table and coordinated lunch. She really wanted to get out the china so we did. To 'decorate' means to 'add honor' so we added honor to our Christmas celebration by using the good dishes even though it meant washing alot more dishes!
Lupper...we ate between three and four.
Rod received the movie "Up" for Christmas so we watched that. After the movie, Caleb wanted a road condition check to see if there was any hope of getting out and going home for the night. I wanted a walk anyway so slid my way down the driveway to the road. Aaron had plowed before he left so there was only 5 or 6 inches of snow on the driveway, but as I came down the hill conditions worsened. An eerie glow came from behind the pines at the end of the drive. When I got to the bottom, a truck was in the ditch just a few yards from the end of the driveway. The roads were so bad that a 4x4 vehicle just slid off the road into the ditch five minutes before I arrived. His buddy in a Jeep had turned around and had his headlights shining on the situation, hence the eerie glow. I hightailed back up to the house and got the Grady/Beasley shoveling team ready for action. We shovelled and shovelled, and the Jeep tried to tow him out but it was hopeless. The truck was high centered on the icy snowbank left in the ditch from the last snow. A neighbor truck tried to get up the hill past him to pull him out, but couldn't make it up the hill and about slid into the truck in the ditch. Yikes! He went home. Then another neighbor with a bobcat came trundling up the road to help. The bobcat had chains on the tires and still got stuck in the ditch and had to lever out using its bucket. Rod came up with the idea to pull the truck down the hill and out of the ditch verses up the hill and out of the ditch which finally succeded in getting the truck out and on its way again. Some adventure! Several items of interest that only God could have orchestrated...the timing of my "road check," the placement of the truck...the night was bitter cold with a sharp north wind, but where the truck landed was sheltered from the wind. God gave me the song "The Joy of the Lord is my Strength" and as we prayed that, we got the truck out! What a great way to end Christmas...giving of ourselves to help a stranger.
Aaron got home the next morning around 6:30 a.m. and crashed. When he could function again, he took C&A home. They only had one more diaper so it was time to go home.
He made the rounds on his way home, 'Santa with the snow plow' and plowed out some friends and some not so friendly! He picked a good winter to buy a plow.
Since we couldn't sing at nursing homes with the church this year, we knew our neighbors, the Stangls, would be singing so we asked if we could join them. Singing at nursing homes is one of the highlights of our Christmas season.
Between our two families we had 26 choir members to make a joyful noise!
Not all of the family members sang...some of them snoozed a bit!
We sang at the Crowell assisted living area, then moved over to their high care area and sang. One of the ladies from the assisted living walked over and listened to the program again! The Stangls sing at this nursing home quite a bit and know quite a few of the residents well. One of the sweetest ladies was standing up, dancing and clapping in the back. We were sad when the nurses shushed her. Her daughter was there with her, and after the program when we went back to greet them, the daughter pushed some money in my hand and said to give it to that young lady with the little ones! (Abby)
Our third performance was a few blocks away at the Lutheran nursing home. Mrs. Stangl had warned me that this place was pretty dead so we prayed daily that the Spirit of God would liven it up!
He answered our prayer and then some. The first lady we met was Eva, and she was very lively! She moved to the Omaha area from Denmark and spoke 6 different languages. Her joy of life was contagious, and she clapped and smiled and sang along with us. The rest of audience smiled some (or slept some...we did come right after lunch which is naptime!) and sang along too. The staff was very pleasant and gave the children candy canes after the performance!
We did the same program each time with Joe playing a "Christmas Polka" on the accordian.
Lydia gave her testimony at each nursing home on what God has been teaching her about speech. She brought little Naomi with her to sing and "Make people happy!" What a little doll!
We got to meet Mr. Donald Lippencott afterwards. He's 93 and had just arrived at the nursing home at the beginning of December. Lord, bless him...
Mrs. Stangl arranged for a treat after the last program...pizza at Pizza Hut for the whole crew! We had the whole restaurant to ourselves, and they set up the buffet just for us. We even sang 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas' to the Pizza Hut staff before we headed for home...Fun!
Thank you so much for the wonderful time, Stangls. Now Christmas is complete. Who needs the toys and gifts when the best gift is sharing Christ and His love with others.
We left as fast as we could when the wedding was mostly done. We had to beat the guests to the reception and mix up the punch. We jumped in the car for our quick getaway and waited and waited on Rachel. We almost decided to leave her to come with the family later on, but she finally came out, and we flagged her down. As we zoomed off toward the reception hall, she explained her mortifying predicament. She had gone downstairs to get her jacket, and the door to the room was closed. She opened the door to get her coat and leave, but a certain pair were using the room and disturbing them was not an option! Thank goodness, they had to get back upstairs to dismiss the guests, or Rachel would have just had to abandon her coat!
When we got to the reception hall, we mixed up the punch and stood hanging around the punch table waiting for the guests to arrive. For some reason, Andrew and Cory were hanging around the punch table too. Andrew explained that they were there to serve the punch. Ooops! My bad. I didn't get the memo! They served, but Betsy and helpers stayed busy for the whole reception, mixing and mixing and mixing punch. We came with 49 bottles of 7 Up and left with 4.
Hannah and Suzannah took over serving punch after the initial rush was over.
The guests arrived and were supposed to head right to the serving line, but for some reason they just kept milling.
Later, we learned the ovens weren't working so all the chicken had to be fried on the stovetop which took a little longer than the oven method! Faithful Seth to the rescue. He fried and fried and fried, and Mrs. Larsen scrubbed and scrubbed those burnt on pans.
Angela made the lovely wedding cake, and Abby decorated it with flowers and ribbon. Angela discovered the extra sheet cakes they had ordered had major issues the day before the wedding, so she reordered them from a bakery in Omaha with less than 24 hours notice. Those sheet cakes were a miracle because normally a bakery cannot do that much cake without more lead time. Thank You, Lord.
Ben and Ruth
The head table and decorations at the reception were miracles too.
Caleb and Rachel
A small company in town that decorated for weddings as a business knew a FOW. (Friend of the Wissmanns) He asked them if they could decorate the cake area as a favor to him. They not only decorated the cake table...
Joe and Elizabeth
...but decorated the guest book table and the head table as well. It was so beautiful. What a tremendous gift.
The bride and groom
Luke Nelson, flower provider extraordinaire, found roses at his secret flower recepticle (trash bins behind a florist shop) and provided the roses for the rose petals that graced all the tables. He never knows what will be thrown away from one day to the next, but God provided lots and lots of red roses.
The cake cutting
Story telling and encouragement for the couple...
Dan sang to his new wife in keeping with Beasley tradition...
Thomas was once again in charge of car decorations.
And for a send off, Dan got his wish...Silly String...lots and lots of Silly String
These are just some candid shots we took of the wedding and the reception. Aaron and Rachel took the wedding photos, and Hannah was busy, busy taking pictures at the reception.
The Ulmers were instrumental at the reception...they worked and worked and worked. This photo must have been taken at the end because I never saw any of them taking a break.
The food was wonderful, Esther. You did a great job.
Anna, squared...
We picked an out of the way corner for our "Grady Spot." The reception hall was vast.
Brotherly love...
Aaron, on one of his few breaks from kitchen duty... He and Luke scrubbed baking sheets with Mrs. Larsen.
Abby was done with her wedding work and got to enjoy the reception. She was very thrilled when the wedding coordinator asked if she would be interested in doing wedding flowers for other weddings she coordinates in the future!
Peter and sweet, little Emily...
Dan and his personal cellist/accordian player, Mr. Hess
Valerie and Yelena at the wedding...
Alatheia, dear
Hannah at her post
Some of the well loved guests...
Abi Wissmann...see I got it right! (I'm forever calling her by her maiden name)
Bethany's Grandparents
Michael just got through one of these weddings...his own!
Aaron and Thomas...
Besides car decorating, Thomas is a professional usher as well!
Betsy and her faithful punch mixing friend, Jubilee
Joe and Rachel...it's not your turn yet!
Jess, Esther and the little Pickle!
Now Sasha has the little Pickle...
Michael's bride, Sarah
Peek-a-boo, John and B!
The reception was a little long for the younger set, but John B. came prepared and provided the evening's entertainment.
Clapping for Uncle Dan...
Rachel and her rose...
Anna at the head table...
Rachel and Elizabeth
Hannah and her rose...
Sasha was the wedding coordinator for Abby and Caleb's wedding. It was nice to get a chance to catch up.
Uncle Doug and Aunt Scherry with their "great niece." Is there such a thing?
I hope you enjoyed the pictures as much as we enjoyed being there and taking them...
The two young men that took pictures at the wedding were excellent wedding photographers. They were everywhere, continually snapping, but so unobtrusive. The perfect combination. The Wissmanns have the link on their family blog to look at the wedding photos posted on the photographer's website. The photos are phenomenal...very creative!
Mrs. Rehm's sister, Tammy, coordinated the wedding. She kept things running so smoothly yet was unobtrusive as well. Well done!
Mr. Hess trying to be unobtrusive... He and Staci provided cello and piano music for the wedding with prelude music from harpist Heidi Beran.
Heidi and Staci
Mrs. Klostermeyer made the guest book pages...each one a separate masterpiece!
And Abby, dear, did all the boutonnieres, corsages, bouquets, altar pieces, wedding cake...anything with flowers...well, except Dan's boutonniere. She forgot about that, but made one up in the nick of time!
Esther, with her right hand chief cook and bottle washer, Mrs. Nelson, made the kitchen hum with keen efficiency. Team Ulmer...all (unmarried) Ulmer siblings twelve or older...formed the core kitchen staff, but there were a few extras that volunteered or happened to be passing by at the wrong time!
Anna...you are amazing...Anna was in charge of the reception overall. Things went swimmingly, dear, and God provided so richly. These young ladies are 21 and running receptions for 600...
Thomas was head usher and chief car decorator. He's a man that can be trusted!
Aaron worked with Luke and Mrs. Larsen, scrubbing and scrubbing. You'll have treasure in heaven, my dears! Look at those nasty pans...and they washed them over and over till all the chicken was fried.
Angela made and put together this lovely wedding cake, plus handling all the myriad details with the sheet cakes...along with her trusty side kick and child watcher, Christina. What a team!
And last, but not least, the punch mixing team. We kept the punch out back in the freezing cold wintry weather. The door to outside never did get unlocked so whenever they went out to get punch ingredients, they had to knock till someone let them in! Brrr!
Fun memories! It's all the details that don't go quite right, but God works them out for our good and His glory that make these occasions SO memorable.
This has been a 'Weatherman's Christmas' and a 'Snow Plow Man's' Christmas!
Though it is sad that the snow plow man will be out plowing all Christmas day and night. Duty calls!
Dad has a friend at work with a weather station at his home on the south of Omaha so he always likes to "compare notes" with how much snow we got up here...I think there is a little competition going on.
The children have had more fun taking icicle photos than sledding!
We won't have to dream about a White Christmas this year.
God bless you and keep you as you travel and Merry Christmas!
Air Force parties take on the flavor of the host or hostess. They can either be fun and tasteful as most have been in the past or bawdy and loud. I will not say how this one went this year since it is prudent to say something nice or not say anything at all!
They did have some beneficial activities. On every table sat a shirt box with tape, string, tissue paper and cotton balls. Each table was given five minutes to design a Santa Claus from said raw materials. The boss offered his adult beverage bottle as a form, and his wife hurriedly taped together an interesting looking Santa while we cheered them on.
Most of the tables used the raw materials and taped them on someone's face to look like Santa Claus. I thought the Santa mask idea was creative, but the commander judged each table's efforts and gave us second place. We didn't realize what a good deal we got till much later in the evening. The first, second and third place winners got to go through the buffet line first. An hour later, the last of the tables made it through the line.
Our handsome Santa...beauty is in the eyes of the beholder!
The other good thing that happened during the evening was the prize lottery. They had about ten prizes ranging from a digital picture frame to a 42" flat screen TV. We didn't win anything which was fine with us. We're not really into electronic gagetry. But in the spirit of Christmas, the officer that won the TV asked to give his prize to the most junior military member present. A very young airman had to be prodded to the front, and it didn't ever seem like he quite comprehended what was happening. He was only there because he was the unit 'designated driver' for the evening!
Candlelight and Christmas...candles produce a soft glow and encourage the feeling of wonder as we think about what God really did when He came to earth as a baby...so we spent the evening praising Him as a body of believers for the great things He has done for us.
Mrs. Abels works so hard to help us make a joyful noise. The children's choir sang "Oh Little Children come, draw near..." with battery operated candles in hand. The candles are a bit distracting when they don't work, right Josiah?
The Teen choir sang "Mary's Boy Child."
My favorite song was the one Josiah and Grandma Twila sang. God smiled when He heard that one. Grandmother and grandson praising His Name together... Interspersed with the music, the men and boys from each family in the congregation read the scripture of the Christmas story.
The events that led up to Alatheia, Betsy and I going to the Les Miserables at the Glenwood High School in IA were quite interesting. First, it looked like we wouldn't be going because the day of the play we had to sing in a candle light service at our church, and we were a good chunk of the sorpranos. Sencond, we didn't quite know how to get there or whose car to take. We ended up finding out that the play was at 2:00 in the afternoon and that we could get back in time to sing. We got lost by taking the wrong exit, but wonderful Alatheia got us back on track and we got there just in time.
Mrs. Pena, bless her heart, had bought us tickets and reserved them for us so we had reassurance that there were seats somewhere in the packed auditorium. We got seats very close up to the stage so we could see the expressions on the actors faces. It was very fun!
I have enjoyed going to several performances with the Penas. Their family has amazing talent. Maggie and sometimes Luke, play in the band for almost every performance though Luke is normally on stage acting. He has a really good voice and got to use it quite frequently in the musical Les Miserables.
It was a wonderful play and was quite convincing in several parts especially when they all died at the barricade. There were alot of props for the barricade scene. After all the good guys got killed, they drew the curtain shut so they could pick up the scene. One of the"dead" guys was too far out and had to roll in to avoid being caught in the curtain. I couldn't resist a laugh! Many of them had beautiful voices, especially the fiery revolutionary in the play. Luke got to play the part of Marius.
Though we had to leave right afterwards it was worth going to see it.
To celebrate on how well the actors/singers had done we headed over to Subways and enjoyed $5.oo foot longs. Thank you Alatheia for getting us there and back so safely. :)
The rehearsal was in the very capable hands of Tammy...Mrs. Rehm's sister and head wedding coordinator of one of the largest churches in town.
She knew exactly what to do and when and quietly led the whole group through wedding practice in about 45 minutes. That's efficient!
There was alot of music in the wedding. Ben and Rachel sang a beautiful love song.
After the rehearsal, Mr. Beasley took charge of the evening. Dan used to do the job, but he was otherwise occupied tonight. The goal was to get everyone fed, entertained, blessed and off to bed by 9:00 p.m.
Uncle Doug with vocals and Mr. Hess on the accordian sang a very catchy love song from the 50's originally sung by Dean Martin called Good Mornin' Life...thanks, Mrs. Beasley for the link!
Joe's Rachel, Ellie (just back from Germany) and Elizabeth
Nicole, Rachel and Anna, dear
The kitchen staff: Esther B. was in charge of preparing the dinner for 120. That's alot of responsibility for a 16 year old. Good job, Esther! The Beasleys have had the most experience putting on rehearsal dinners of anyone in the church.
Mr. Cherry video'd the evening's entertainment, and the girls helped with baby holding!
Anna Beasley was in charge of decorations. She picked a Christmasy theme with lots of greenery and red and gold ornament accents.
Very pretty, my dear. Everyone did a superb job pulling off the rehearsal dinner...step one on the fast approaching track to matrimony.
We had the privelege of witnessing the Christmas story in the little town of Woodbine Iowa.
Mrs. Rehm called on Thursday to say her children were acting in a homeschool play...would we like to come watch? Always ready to support our friends and home schooling, we told her we'd be glad to come.
The play was in a big metal Morton building north of town...Mrs. Rehm warned us to dress warmly. They had a big tube heater to warm the place that looked and sounded like a jet engine. They turned it on and off as necessary since you were either warm and couldn't hear anything or cold with a better chance of hearing! The heater added to the country charm along with the tumble weeds strung with Christmas lights!
The H/S group did a good job of including the little whipper snappers in the show as well as the older children...
But the family that figured the most prominently in the play was the Rehms. They are a dramatic family!
The first Rehm to make his appearance was Mr. Rehm, who played Zechariah. He did a smashing job...I felt sorry for him since he has problems with his knees and had to kneel during most of his part. Ouch! God gives grace to the humble.
Rebekah played Elizabeth. It helps having a sister who is expecting. She looked very convincingly pregnant.
David played Joseph and got to sing twice. He has a very nice voice.
Julia had a variety of roles in the play, but I never got a nice photo of her. My bad. Her voice carried very nicely despite the wide open spaces in the Morton building.
Even Thomas was in the play. He was King Herod. Someone has to be the bad guy!
The Rehm goats also had a role in the play. They must have really liked acting because they had to be physically removed from the stage!
The children really enjoyed the evening. They liked the play, but it didn't hurt having unlimited hot chocolate and marshmellows. Thank you so much for inviting us out.
Glorious, majestic...Handel's Messiah...what an incredible piece of music.
We drove over to Lincoln on Sunday to hear the University of Nebraska at Lincoln (UNL) choir sing it at Southwood church. The church was beautiful, the music was glorious and the company, well...
The company was very interesting. Phyllis Nelson, an old friend from our early days at Millard Alliance came in and sat down right behind us so we got to have a lovely chat before the music started. (You know you've been some place for a while when you start running into old friends! Most places we've lived, we've never stayed long enough to have old friends!) Betsy, Rachel and I were originally the only ones going, but Josiah being a great music lover, asked if he could catch a ride over too. Caleb, Abby and Squeak 'ums arrived a bit late, but we saved them seats.
Squeak 'ums did really well through the first half of the program, but the second half was a bit nebulous...too many pieces she'd never heard before so she opted to cry her way out of the sanctuary and get some walking time in with Auntie Rachel. She rejoined us for the last few choruses since the walks wore her out. What a sweet baby!
Ben Stangl, neighbor at large and member of the UNL choir was the main reason we knew about this performance of the Messiah. He's the blond head right up front in the high tenor section if you look very closely! Abby complimented the choir's performance when he came up to greet us. She's heard the Messiah 3 or 4 times and said this was the best one she's ever attended. Thanks for the invitation, Ben.
And last but not least, praise the Lord for getting us home safely. When we came out of the church, there was a layer of freezing rain on the ground and the sound of many window scrapers on dozens of ice covered windshields. I couldn't join them, because Aaron took his scraper and put it in his truck so the little green car was scraperless. I did have a trusty Baker's card that works well as an ice scraper in a pinch. Fortunately, our ice was not too thick. The roads were nasty, but we only saw one accident on our slow trek back to Omaha. Two and a half hours and dozens of 'Guess Who' games later, we were very thankful to be home safely. Praise the Lord for traveling mercies.
The Millard Alliance Ladies' Christmas party is a highlight of our year. This year, the little middles begged to go, but the evening goes so late...In the past the answer has always been "No." I must have lost my mind this year or gotten lost in wishful thinking so I let them come. They had a great time, but we didn't get home till midnight. Yikes!
Barb, our pastor's lovely wife, runs the Secret Prayer Sister ministry each year so she also gets to coordinate the Christmas party where the SPS's are revealed.
We enjoyed the hors d'eourves first...The ladies bring such pretty food at Christmas, that you almost hate to eat it. But we got over it and helped ourselves. The little middles love having licence to eat at a table spread with sweets!
The most encouraging part of the evening is the sharing time, when the ladies discuss what the Lord has taught them through the last year. Usually, the ladies just take turns sharing, but this year, the topics created interesting discussion between older and younger...
There is alot of accumulated wisdom in this group. Most of the topics centered around enjoying our daily (mundane or otherwise) tasks, trusting God and His sovereign hand working in our lives...we even discussed football referring to the latest Husker game as an example of how God orders events. Then Mrs. Beasley shared about the trials they've gone through this year, and we cried with her in her pain and rejoiced with her in her victories.
But the part the little middles really came for...opening presents. We all like that part! Susan P. had Abby for a SPS again this year...it's becoming a tradition...and made her a big apron and two little aprons that matched!
Did you like your present, Leah?
The funnest present was Elizabeth's to Anna B. Elizabeth took Anna's gifts and wrapped them up in a ball of yarn. Anna had to unwind all the yarn to get to the presents in the middle. Fun!
Mrs. Beasley turned to Liz and asked, "Who's your Secret Prayer Sis?"
Liz answered, "You." Surprise! Liz definately had plenty to pray for this year...
Angela brought her sweet little girls...
Anna is still unwinding and unwinding...
Abby brought little Squeak'ums, so the aunts all took turns holding her. She was awake for the whole party!
We were so glad Valery got Rachel's present. Rachel was worried that if her present got into the wrong hands, it might not be truly valued...it was an old fashioned Coke bottle full of Skittles. A special present for a special someone...
Lydia and Rosie have made it a tradition to exchange gifts with each other as well as join in the general gift exchange.
The little middles were so happy with their presents. Leah's expression tells all. She is one happy camper with her very own bag of Skittles. Thanks for coming, girls...so what's a little sleep compared to the wisdom gained and the fun to be had.
Thanks, Barb and Anna. It was a wonderful evening.
Caitlin had a froggy, snowy kind of birthday this year. We learned at church today that the word 'decorate' literally means to 'add honor.' The girls 'added honor' to the dining room using more snowflakes and frogs. Perfect for a 7 year olds birthday...
Caitlin wanted Betsy's cinnamon rolls and sausage for breakfast. It turned out, she didn't even like sausage, but the 'sausage lobby' won her over!
The little girls have taken an interest in scrapbooking and card making lately since it is a good activity to do on snowy days. Rebekah found this wonder scrapbook kit at Tuesday Morning store for cheap. It won the prize for 'best birthday gift.'
Wednesday was also a snow day, so Dad got to stay home since we were drifted in big time. The kids had a great time playing in the drifts after the wind died down a little. The drifts were 4 feet deep in places...the perfect height for snow caves.
Caitlin is quite the helper in the kitchen and took great delight in helping Rachel make her birthday dinner.
Caitlin wanted homemade cream puffs for her 'birthday cake.' Praise the Lord, they actually turned out. We found the balloon candles at Tuesday Morning store too. They spelled Congratulations in the package, but with a little finnagling they spelled 'Caitlin' too.
Happy birthday, Caitlin!
Her last birthday present was her big brother coming home after a day and night of plowing snow. Aaron started plowing at midnight and finished at 7:30 p.m the next day. He made short work of our driveway, clearing it in about 15 minutes. We prayed for snow, and God sent us snow! Praise the Lord for snow covered birthdays.
The newest licenced driver in Nebraska has hit the road! Hannah's birthday was the 1st, but she had to wait till the next Wednesday to get her licence since DMV is only open one day a week at the courthouse in Blair.
The driver's test lady agreed with Hannah that December birthdays have it tough. They have to take their driver's test in the snow. I asked Hannah if she wanted to wait for clearer roads, but she said she was READY!
She passed with flying colors and they even let her smile for her driver's licence photo! Congratulations, Hannah.
We had the first warm day ever to pick out a Christmas tree. The sun was out and the breeze was warm. The kids loaded into Aaron's truck and Dad's car and met Hannah and I at the Christmas tree farm...(we beat ya' by a nose!) This was the first year we could toss the tree in the back of a truck and not have to sweep pine needles out of the van for weeks!
We were a bit worried that the good weather would not encourage a quick decision. We pick out trees in the cold very efficiently...but we found a tree in short order. Getting someone over to cut and haul took a little longer, but there were no dissenters in the group for this year's tree.
Another plus, Aaron got to come along on the family outing. He's usually working on Saturday.
Betsy got the coveted job of putting on the lights and everyone helped with the decorations.
And to top off the holiday celebration...The Texas vs. Cornhusker football game! The game was so interesting that everyone who was authorized to be up at the time watched it. That is a miracle in our house full of girls!
The game was full of spiritual lessons...we enjoyed the references at church the next day. But for me, the game dovetailed perfectly with the lessons God has been teaching about His sovereignty and how He orders everything right down to the last detail at the last second. Amazing! Amen.
The Grady Family Archives is a BLOG dedicated to remembering the antics and annals of God's dealings with our family. We have 11 children, homeschool and generally lead a quiet, yet busy life full of ministry and learning. Come visit our family and be encouraged!
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