Year End Review

Well, here we are at the last day of the year, and I believe I said that I would check in and give an update with how well I was doing with my empty-nest goals that I set in September.

Read through the Bible.  I am still working on this. I got a little behind with all the excitement of our trip and the holidays but I am trying not to be too hard on myself. I will continue on and what does it matter if I don't complete it in a year. I will still have read through the Bible and if it takes me longer than a year, so what.

Clean my Upstairs. I did manage to get one room cleaned out and organized. That leaves me with two to go if I don't count Megan's room. I think it would probably be a good idea not to touch her room. I'm afraid she takes after her mom a little with the thought, "if no one can see it what does it matter." Anyway, I hope to continue on and clean out another room, but it does get a little difficult in the winter because we don't heat those rooms and so I always have the excuse that it is too cold to work at it. And believe me, if I have an excuse, I use it!

Lose some Weight. This is probably the goal that is actually going the best. I have now officially lost 18 pounds and I was delighted to shop for new jeans and find that I had gone down a size! I was also pretty happy not to put on weight while we were on vacation. Thankfully we walked a lot and I think that really helped me.

I plan to continue on with my goals as the new year starts. I would like to lose another 15 - 20 pounds and I would love to reach that goal by summer. I will continue to read through the Bible and I will conquer my upstairs. Some other things I hope to accomplish are to make a digital scrapbook of our European Christmas Market trip and to make a homemade soup once a week this winter. I had made soup once a week last winter and Steve, Josh and Megan loved it and I actually found that I enjoyed planning and making the soup so I want to do that again.

I believe I will stop there and not make any more goals, because sometimes they are hard to keep and then I feel like a failure. However, I think a few ambitions that seem manageable are good for a person. It helps me feel a little bit organized and motivated in an otherwise chaotic world.

As I reflect over the past year, it was a good one and I am thankful for my family and friends and for a job that I enjoy. I am looking forward to 2014 and I hope and pray that it will be a year filled with plenty of laughter, love, and peace.

Happy New Year!

PS. I just had to share this picture of my family. We tried really hard to get a family picture this Christmas and this was the best one. As you can see, even though the end result isn't what you typically see in a family picture, it is obvious that we were having a lot of fun!

My Christmas Angel

Well we are back from our trip and it was a wonderful, relaxing time but it didn't start out that way. Let me tell you about it.

We were on a European Christmas Market Tour with TourMagination which is based in Canada. The plan was for Steve and I, Bob and Julia and the tour leader's stepmother, Anna Blanche Martin, to catch a small plane from the Harrisburg Airport and then connect with the rest of the group at the Toronto airport to fly over to Munich, Germany.

The morning of December 9 dawned snowy and cold. The first thing we found out was that our 10:40 am flight to Toronto had been cancelled. The tour leader booked us on a 4:40 pm flight instead. This would make it really tight to make our connecting flight which flew out of Toronto at 7:45, but as long as everything went smoothly we would be able to make it. Of course things did not go smoothly. The flight was delayed and then delayed again. When we finally left Harrisburg it was 6:10 pm. We were losing hope that we would make it on time.

We landed in Toronto at 7:25. We had no idea where we were supposed to go but Steve took off ahead of us to try to find someone to help us. Bob, Julia and I and 80 year old Anna Blanche walked as fast as we could down a long endless corridor that seemed to go on forever.  We finally caught up to Steve who had asked an airport personnel for some help and he had pointed us to the desk where we had to declare if we were taking anything out of Canada to Munich.  The man behind the counter slowly looked over our documents as we waited impatiently. After a while he looked at the flight we were scheduled to go out on and commented calmly, "This flight is leaving in a few minutes." Duh! We assured him we knew that and asked where the gate was that we needed to board at. He told us to just follow a certain hallway. We began walking as fast as we could and although we thought we were going in the right direction there was always the feeling that we weren't. Several times Steve and Bob tried to stop a shuttle going the other direction to see if they could give us a lift but they always said they couldn't turn around! We felt lost in the huge airport and were desperately afraid we would miss the flight. Suddenly a man appeared ahead of us. I'm sure he had heard us talking and it was obvious that we were flustered and hurried. He asked where we were going and when we told him we needed to catch Flight # 745 to Munich, he said "I know where that is. Follow me." And follow him we did. He walked briskly and we matched his strides. For an 80-year-old, Anna Blanche was amazing. She kept up with the rest of us. The man brought us right to the gate where are tour director was anxiously waiting. All the passengers were boarded and our leader was pleading with the airline to wait for us.

We were so happy and relieved to have made it, that I am not even sure if we thanked our "angel" who guided us to our departure gate. I have no idea who he was, but he was not an airport employee. He was just dressed in casual attire and I believe he was carrying a briefcase. After entering the airplane and settling into our seat just as the door was closed behind us, I wondered if he was an angel sent to guide us.

We had a wonderful time with our tour group enjoying the European Christmas Markets. The Alps were truly magnificent and sometimes we could only gasp at the beauty of them.  God certainly made a beautiful earth for us to enjoy. I am also grateful that he takes care of us by sending "angels" to us when we so desperately need them.

Have a blessed Christmas. Enjoy this brief video of a band playing Christmas carols in the square of Oberammergau, Germany.

Happy Birthday Melissa!

Today is my daughter-in-law Melissa's birthday. Melissa and Shawn have been  married for almost eleven years and have just welcomed their first child, Awstin, into their family this summer. Over the years, I have come to deeply appreciate Melissa and here are just a few things that I love about her.

I love her laugh. Once she really starts laughing, it turns into a deep belly laugh and comes bubbling out of her and if she laughs hard enough, the tears will come gushing out of her eyes and she tries vainly to wipe them away with her hand as they just keep coming and she keeps on laughing. Just watching her laugh, makes me laugh.

I love her creativity. Melissa is so incredibly talented. She beautifully decorated their home that they bought and renovated. She chose colors that I would never have been brave enough to try, and put them together with other colors that I would have been afraid of and the result is spectacular. I love to walk into their house because it is so warm and inviting. Another way that she uses her creativity is through scrapbooking. I love looking through the colorful and creative pages that she puts together with pictures and journaling.

I love the way she treats animals. If you have been reading my blog, I have introduced you to her dog Indy. Indy adores her and she adores him. She also loves to show dairy cows at the local Lampeter Fair.

I love her work ethic. Melissa is a hard worker. She works for Quarryville Herd Health and I am not sure of everything she does for them, but I know she vaccinates and dehorns calves and does a lot of lab testing for them. She also milks cows for a local dairy farmer over the weekends and some evenings. I have noticed that she likes to be busy and she isn't afraid to get her hands dirty.

I love watching her interact with Awstin. Having a baby after 10 years of marriage was a major world upheaval for the two (3 if you count Indy) of them and Melissa has handled it amazingly well. She is a good mother and Awstin is absolutely thriving. Of course, Awstin is still really little, but I love watching the way she talks to him and seeing Awstin's response to her.

Most of all, I love that she loves Shawn. As a mother, we always want our children to be happy and what more could we wish and pray for then a spouse who loves them. I am incredibly thankful for their love and dedication to each other and to the Lord.

I am blessed to have Melissa Kay (Charles) Lehman as my daughter-in-law. Happy birthday!

It's That Time of the Year

Well, here we are at the busy time between Thanksgiving and Christmas. I usually never feel settled at this time of year for a number of reasons. Although I absolutely love Christmas music and beautiful lights and the significance of Jesus' birth, I always have the feeling that there is something that I need to do, and someplace that I need to go, and something that I need to buy, and that somehow I never quite do the whole Christmas season as well as everyone else does. I suppose it is just too much looking at what everyone else is doing, how beautifully they are decorating, and how many dozens of Christmas cookies that they made etc, that makes me feel inadequate and think that I don't do this time of the year justice, and that my poor family suffers because of it.

This Christmas season is either going to be even more stressful or else (as I hope) more relaxing then any other. On December 9, Steve and I, and his brother Bob and wife Julia, are taking a one week vacation to Germany and Austria. We are traveling with TourMagination on what is called their European Christmas Market tour. This will leave me with less time at home to deal with the pre-Christmas stuff. I am hoping this will be a positive in that there will be things happening while we are gone that we obviously can't attend so I won't feel so overwhelmed with rushing around to this and that. However, I am smart enough to realize that getting back a week before December 25 will put a lot of pressure on those few days before Christmas. I am trying to persuade Megan that putting up the Christmas tree and decorating might be something that her and Jeremy would enjoy doing while we are gone, but I'm not sure I have convinced her.

As I jet across the Atlantic Ocean and back again, I want to keep in mind how blessed I am and  I am going to try to keep this wonderful season of the year in perspective and enjoy it to the fullest and to remember that Jesus came to earth as a tiny baby for ME! Why should I stress out about little things that don't even matter?

In my last post I mentioned things that I am thankful for. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving and here are a few snapshots of our family time together.

Thanksgiving Eve

Jay and Steve chatting while Awstin grabs a quick nap

Checking out a You Tube video. Notice all the Black Friday ad papers on the table. The children love to look through them and discuss what they will buy although usually they never actually make it to the store.

These two have been really shy about getting their picture taken together,

but I persuaded them to pose for me.

We spent the Sunday after Thanksgiving with the Lehman Family at the Kauffman's. I am so blessed to have these people in my life!

Sofia and Alaina

l-r  Krista, Nancy, Gina holding Brycen, Anna holding Katrina

Jennifer and Brendon (Judy in background)

Tasha and Zach

Mom

Julia (she is taking a picture of me)

Joel

Dan and Bob

Cheryl, Mom, Marie (Mom's sister), Doris

Zach & Brycen 

l-r Andrew, Megan, Joel holding Brendon, Dad

It's the most wonderful time of the year! :)