End of Year and End of Decade Rambling

Well, here it is, the end of 2019 and the end of a decade. This has certainly been the most challenging decade of our life, at least the last three years when it has felt that everything went wrong.  I should correct that to say one major thing went wrong. 

We lost the *com-post business because of irate neighbors and a govern-ment agency that found fault with issues that weren't really important but because of who they are, were able to convince a judge that they were important. It never ceases to amaze me that although there were never any environ-mental issues (tox-ins, water pol-lution, etc.) found with our com-posting, the govern-ment agency was able to "prove" that our operation was an environ-mental hazard and needed to be shut down. How in the world did they manage that? Simple. They had all the money they needed to fight us and we exhausted what we had and that wasn't enough. 

Although Ame-rica is a great country and brags of the liberties that every individual has, we found that not to be true in our case. We certainly don't compare our nightmare to the holo-caust but in a very small way, we felt persecuted and afraid. To this day, I can't see a white pickup go past our house without a small twinge of fear. I can't open our mailbox without dread and I hate email. Too often these latter two things brought very bad news. The other evening I rode along with Steve on his D-A-F run and we decided to stop at Sheetz for supper. We used to do this a lot, but over the past 3 years we have normally chosen another place to eat. After our order came and we sat down to eat, Steve suddenly had no appetite. It was too hard to come back to a place that we had enjoyed before our lives were turned upside down. We no longer want to be around people, especially me. I like to be alone. Steve does crave people (he always has more than me), but he is very selective of who he chooses to be with.

Fortunately, there has also been exciting and good things that happened in our lives over the past decade.

Opening the Mar-tic Store and the Mar-tic Pantry has turned out to be a blessing. While it is ironic that the only reason we bought the property was because the com-post business was doing well, it has kept our lives busy over a time when we desperately needed something to take our minds off of the demise of our com-post business. I am surprised at how much I enjoy the challenge of the store. While it isn't breaking any records financially, it is doing better each year and I am proud of our accomplishment. 

The Pantry has also been very positive for us. We have been amazed by the outpouring of support that we have received from the community for this ministry. We are grateful we can help people by giving them free groceries each month. Some bigger things that we have assisted people with like home repairs and building projects have complimented Steve's talents and has been huge in keeping him occupied and feeling useful and needed.

I am thankful for my part-time job as Office Coordinator at New Hope. I have now been there for 14 1/2 years. It is always a safe and comfortable place for me to go, when the rest of my life is in turmoil.

We are thankful for D-A-F. For those of you that don't know what that is, I don't feel like explaining, but it has been a constant source of income for us over the past 15 years or so. For that we are grateful.

Our health has been okay. I have noticed more aches and pains over the past couple of years (arthritis?) and Steve struggles with some issues as well. I'm pretty sure some of our physical ailments have come about because of our circumstances but for the most part, we seem to be weathering our age all right. Mentally, neither of us is as sharp as we once were. I'm not sure if that is just common aging or mental fatigue.

One HUGE blessing over the past ten years has been our children and grandchildren. We are so happy to have added a son-in-law in 2015 and daughter-in-law in 2016 to our family. Six of our seven grandchildren were born in this decade. Just look at this little cutie pie. How can you not smile at that?

Bryce

Of course I had to update my Scrabble Board after Bryce was born. I had to move things around but I was able to add his name without too much difficulty. I will be adding another name to this board in May when Jay & Kristen have their baby J

It's getting pretty full but I believe I can still get quite a few more names on it.

I reread what I have written and the beginning sounds pretty depressing. I don't want to paint a morose picture. We are doing okay. The ongoing saga still isn't over but thankfully it is coming to an end. I hope and pray that by the middle of 2020 it is behind us. Although sometimes it was/is hard to believe it, I know that God is faithful. We will survive and we will laugh again. It is time to put this decade to bed and look forward to what God has in store for our future.

*I hyphenated some words because I didn't want my little Blog to show up on a Google search if someone is searching certain words. Probably not necessary but it makes me feel better.

Christmas 2019

Here are a few snapshots of our Family Christmas Eve Celebration 2019

We had these five grandchildren all day on Christmas Eve. We made gingerbread houses and did other fun stuff.

Busy with their gingerbread houses

Awstin hard at work

Alexis & Lydia contemplating their next move

Mark & Hannah diligently working on their creations

Megan decorated her basement beautifully for our Christmas Eve meal

Love this!

Aren't the snowmen table settings so creative?!?!

Family picture. I believe everyone is actually looking at the camera. I realize everyone smiling would be asking too much :)

Our favorite littles (although some of them are getting pretty big!). Isn't that little fellow in the yellow shirt just adorable?!

A Trip Down Memory Lane

This summer, my siblings, our children and grandchildren had the privilege of touring my childhood home. This was such a special and meaningful event for me. The current owners were so gracious in opening their home to us and wanted to hear all the stories that we had to share about growing up in this house. I realize that this post is not one that most people will enjoy because it is difficult to view pictures of homesteads with anything but a passing interest if you do not personally have a connection or history with them. However, for me, each picture is  special and takes me back to childhood memories. This blog is mainly for me, but feel free to read through it and learn a little bit about this old house that I grew up in.

The house as I remember it in the 1970s. The two windows to the far right above the porch was my bedroom.

The house today

Another view of the house in the 1970s

Another view of the house today.

The chicken house as I remember it.

The "chicken house" today. It is a warehouse for the owner's business.

The backyard in the 70s

The back yard today. There are so many trees that you can't even see the house :)

This picture was taken around 1964

This picture was taken this summer on the same walk and in front of the same stone wall.

Another picture with our spouses.

All of us walking to the porch to begin our house tour

Still waiting to go in. I remember that concrete curb in front of the house. It was always a nuisance to mow around. 

Love their porch table and chairs. This is walking into the dining room.

Guarantee our front porch didn't look anything like this :)

Here is a picture of the kitchen as I remember it. The small island in the middle separated the kitchen from where we ate. Back then we didn't call it a dining room. We just considered it all kitchen. 

Here is a picture as it is today. It still has the counter coming out separating the kitchen from the dining area. This room fascinated me. I wish I would have taken more pictures.

This is  picture of my brother Gene (taken around 1976) sitting at the table and stuffing a donut into his mouth. See next picture for as it is today.

As you can see, this room looks quite different. The man standing in from of the flag is the current owner.

Another picture of the dining room. The door is the one we all came in off the front porch.

My dad enjoying a drink in his living room probably around 1975.

The living room as it is today. In the previous picture my dad would have been sitting right where the sofa ends

Another view of the living room

Basically the living room is a long narrow room. The section that was on the previous pictures was where the sofa and chairs were placed. That is how we used it also when I lived there. In this picture you can see the other part of the living room that has the fire place. When I lived there, we had a few easy chairs around the fire place that we could sit in on those cold winter evenings but for the most part, we used the same section of the living room that they do for relaxing, talking, and visiting.

This picture was probably taken around 1968. In the next picture you can see how it looks today.

Where they now have the TV is where the piano was in the previous picture. The door opening that you see is to the dining room. Basically there are two entryways from the dining room/kitchen that open into the living room. When we were kids we used to chase each other around the "circle."

I sure remember those stairs! To the right of the owner is where the fireplace is. To the left behind Duane would be a doorway into the kitchen. This is not the same doorway that we saw in the previous picture. It's not until you look at these pictures later that you notice what isn't in any pictures. I never got a picture of the second archway into the kitchen.

This is the upstairs bathroom and it looks nothing like when I lived there. They did major renovations and it is quite unique. They even took out a window. I think all of my siblings and I just stared at this room and couldn't believe it.

Shower and tub.

This is my old bedroom! It is now used at the master bedroom. 

My bed was where the dresser is and I had my desk in front of the window.

My closet :)

The owners had these last two pictures hanging in their house. I don't remember what year this picture was taken but I think in the late 40s or early 50s.

Another picture that includes the barn. This barn was actually taken down by my dad.

It was really nice to see my childhood home so well taken care of.  It feels good to know that this house is loved and cherished. For me, living there is a long ago memory, but a good one and I am thankful to have once again had the opportunity to walk in those rooms and view where I once lived.

All-in-One Birthday Special

Well, I never managed to post birthday pictures for the grandkids this year, so I decided to do an all-in-one birthday post that includes a picture of each of them around their birthdays.

The first birthday of the year was Lydia on May 19.

8 years old

Awstin's birthday was July 12. We celebrated his birthday the same day as the reveal party for Bryce.

6 years old

Clara's birthday was just 4 days later on July 16. This picture was taken the same day as Awstin's party.

2 years old

Moving on to August we celebrated Alexis' birthday on the 8th.

10 years old (How do we have a grandchild that's 10!?!?)

On October 9, Bryce joined our family. This isn't his birthday picture because I already posted them. This was taken a few weeks later.

Isn't he just the cutest?!?!

Later that month it was Mark's turn on October 29.

7 years old

And finishing off the year, Hannah's birthday is December 21. (We celebrated it early which is why I already have the picture.)

5 years old

That's it for grandkids birthdays in 2019. We love these children so much and are so happy to spend time with them. We are already looking forward to our annual gingerbread house decorating day on December 24. It will be a fun time and I'll make sure to post some pictures!