The Real Purpose of Sliding Boards

On one of the cloudy cool Wednesdays in May, Awstin and I went to Muddy Run Park so he could enjoy the playground. We took his tricycle along because there is also a nice macadam area where I thought he might like to ride. We were the only ones there so he had the whole place to himself. After riding his tricycle a little and climbing on the playground equipment he went back over to the macadam and retrieved his tricycle. He began pushing it through the grass over to the playground. I asked him what he was doing but he ignored me and kept intently at his task. He succeeded in getting it through the grass and to the play area. He proceeded to push it over to the steps of the playground equipment. As I watched fascinated he grunted and heaved and somehow managed to get the tricycle up all the steps until he was perched with it at the top of the slide. At first I was afraid he was going to ride the tricycle down the slide and I was prepared to jump quickly to stop him, but as I watched, he carefully let go of the tricycle and laughed with glee as it whizzed down the slide and went crashing to the dirt at the bottom. He enjoyed it so much that he did it again and I took a video of him this time. By the time I got the video going he had already hauled the tricycle up one step to the first landing and was starting on the next two steps. Enjoy. Make sure to listen for his laugh at the end of the video. (Unfortunately you will hear mine as well.)

The inventive mind of a young child never ceases to amaze me. What in the world ever made him think of doing this? I know that is not what slides are intended for and obviously if other children had been there there, he could not have done this, but in this circumstance all I could do is laugh along with him.

Lydia Day

Selfie!

This year I decided that for each of the grandkid's (those that are old enough to appreciate it) birthdays, I would invite them to stay overnight and we would have a special day together. Lydia turned five last Thursday, so she came on Friday evening and stayed until Saturday evening. We had such a great time together and I think Lydia liked having Grandma and Grandpa all to herself.

We brought her home with us on Friday after the public auction for Steve's mom's house. We stopped for an ice cream cone at House of Pizza and were delighted to see my brother Les and his wife Marian there. We sat together at a picnic table, and caught up with each other while eating our cones.

On Saturday, we left Grandpa at home while we did a little adventuring. Our first stop was the Doll Outlet off of Route 30 in Ronks. This place has dolls and doll clothes and accessories all throughout the two story building. Upstairs there was even a nurse on duty and she let Lydia hold one of the "babies." The babies look pretty real and they are up for adoption. It was an amazing place and maybe even a little overwhelming for a 5 year old to choose just one outfit for her bitty baby. In the end, she made a cute choice of a little purple jumpsuit and then we also picked out a pretty dress for one of the American Girl dolls that she likes to play with at my house.

From there we headed to Ci-Ci's for a pizza lunch. Lydia had never seen a macaroni and cheese pizza and she looked at it doubtfully but did take a taste and even said she liked it! The next stop was the Choo-Choo barn in Strasburg. This is such a great place and we stayed there a long time just watching the miniature trains chug around the track. We admired all the other miniature people, animals, houses, etc. You can't begin to take in everything. Every time you look away and then look back you notice something that you hadn't seen before. Outside the building there was a kiddie ride with Thomas the Tank Engine. We took a picture and video of her riding it just to make her brother and cousin jealous!

After we left the Choo-Choo barn we drove around the Strasburg Railroad. We didn't get out of the car but just looked at all the big engines and railway cars. At one point we had to wait for the train to pass over the road in front of us, so we got to wave at the passengers and hear the train whistle as it whizzed by in front of us.

Back home we watched a video of Thomas the Tank engine that we had purchased at the Choo-Choo Barn and spent the rest of the afternoon playing dolls and games together. It was raining so we couldn't go outside but we didn't mind. It was nice and cozy inside.

Jay and Kristen and the rest of the family came for supper and Lydia shared with them the things we had done. As they were leaving to go home, Alexis informed me that in just three months it would be her turn! J

The "baby" the nurse gave Lydia to hold

At the Choo-Choo Barn

Lydia's cake (this was at her birthday party last Sunday)

Splish Spash

We are all a little tired of rain around here. It seems like in the last two weeks it has rained at least once a day. Sometimes we would catch glimpses of the sun, but always the rain would return. With so many days with so little sun, it can be difficult to stay positive. I've heard a lot of people remark that they are a little depressed and have no energy. Maybe we all should take lessons from Awstin. Instead of getting cranky because of the lack of sun, he just jumps into the puddles that the rain leaves behind and splashes around and has a great time. This may be a good lesson for life. When we hit bumps and discouragement on this journey through life, we should just find a way to make the best of what the situation gives us. Who knows, we may find that we even have fun with it!

Maybe the weather has affected me too, because I have had no desire to write anything on this blog. My mind can't think of one thing to write about. Thankfully it doesn't really matter because I am under so obligation to post anything. However, after spending the day with Awstin yesterday, I decided that a couple of videos of him enjoying the day might be fun to share. As I've said before, there is nothing like a little child to make you smile.

Even though it was cloudy all day, it was warm and we were able to be outside. We tramped down to our favorite place--the park. We started out with the playhouse...

Then we moved on to the hammock...

While Awstin was swinging in the hammock, I got a text from Steve wondering if I could bring sweet corn seed out to the shop as the guy was there to plant corn. I told Awstin that we needed to go up to the shop, but that I needed to go into the house first to get seed for Grandpa. He took off for the shop and after glancing around to make sure no big trucks were around, I figured he would be fine until I caught up to him. I went into the house to get the seed and when I came out I saw Awstin happily playing in this mud puddle.

He was having such a good time that I left him go for awhile. Why should I ruin a little boy's fun? Afterward, as we were walking into the house and his clothes were dripping with mud and his shoes were squishing he told me he needed to go to the "wash down." Clearly the boy watches too much of Thomas the Tank Engine! J

A Little Garden

Even though this blog is going to be about my little garden, I just had to start out with this picture. Isn't it beautiful? I am always sad to see the cherry blossoms come off the trees in the Spring, but I get to enjoy them a little longer when they fall and make a soft, pretty blanket on the ground and driveway.

I was home from work yesterday because the stomach bug that has been hitting everyone else finally found me. I woke up to nausea in the middle of the night and spent most of the day in bed. By late afternoon, I felt better and it cheered me up when I walked out to the mailbox and saw this lovely sight. Fortunately, this bug only appears to last for about twelve hours. Unfortunately, Steve said he is starting to not feel so good.

Last year I had no garden at all, and I really missed it. Megan got married right at the beginning of May and there was just so much stuff going on that the garden never materialized. Gardening was never my thing and I don't want much of one, but I do like to be able to go out and at least pick my own tomatoes off the vine.

We have an area at the back of the house, underneath the steps that is actually pretty messy. Years ago we had built up a little garden plot, piled dirt in it and put logs around it and planted things in it. As the years went by, it was often neglected. I usually put a few things out like tomatoes and eggplants but that was often the extent of it and most of the rest of the area was just grown up in weeds. Since it isn't really noticeable from the road, it is easy to just ignore this unsightly area. The other year Steve laid plastic over the entire plot and that has definitely helped with the weeds but not with how it looks. The black plastic doesn't make the area any more appealing.  

Last Saturday, we had Jay and Kristen's children for the day and decided to plant a few things in our garden. Steve and Mark went to a local greenhouse and picked up lettuce, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, lima beans and green beans. Steve cut out holes in the plastic and he and the children planted the vegetables. I know my garden doesn't look that great, but I am excited about it and that's what counts. I am looking forward to picking those tomatoes!

Alexis and Lydia watering the plants.

Mark  :)

Mark was Grandpa's helper, bringing him the plants.

This girl makes me smile :)  I love how this picture makes the cup look huge.

This and That

Well, our store is officially open and now we just have to hope for the customers to come. We have had positive feedback from those who have stopped by and we realize we have to be patient and wait for the word to get around. One Amish lady told us that "this is too good to be true" so we were very happy to hear that. Our community has a lot of Amish and we hoped that our discount groceries would appeal to them. We are anxious to get the food pantry up and running too, but will have to wait and see how well the store does before we open those doors.

Even though everything has gone fairly well with the store, it has still been kind of stressful, so I thought a couple of things to make me smile would be appropriate to post on my blog. 

How can you not smile back at this adorable face?!?!

On the third Tuesday of each month, I keep children for a Bible Study that Jay and Kristen attend at New Danville Mennonite Church. It is usually just their children and two other sisters (Ashlyn and Sarah) that I watch. This past Tuesday, I was reading a book to them, and Alexis grabbed my phone and snapped this picture. I love the expressions on the childrens' faces.

I wonder what part I was reading that has them so captivated. I think it was a book about Peter Rabbit.

Awstin and I like to walk down to the park on Wednesdays and sit on the swing and sing. In this video we are singing "Here Comes the Bible Train." Take notice of the pink candy that he has in his mouth. We had just come from Megan and Jeremy's house after watching the train in their basement and he always pilfers a few candies before we leave!

Don't we sound good together?

How fortunate we are to have little people in our lives to make us smile!

A Soft Opening

Ten months after purchasing the property that was known as the old Mt. Nebo Store, we are finally ready to open to the public the new Mt. Nebo Center, home of  Martic Store and Martic Pantry. This has certainly been an interesting journey with lots of twists and turns but through it all we have continually been amazed with the encouragement that we have received from friends and community and with windows that have opened when doors were slammed shut. 

Tomorrow we plan to have a soft opening for Martic Store which is a discount grocery store. Most of our items are close to expiration date so we are able to sell them cheaply. We also plan to offer breakfast and lunch sandwiches and coffee. Hopefully, soft ice cream will be available in the near future. Many have been working hard the last several weeks to get the store up and running. There seemed to be a never ending list of things that needed to get done, from cleaning, painting, wiring, and remodeling to purchasing groceries and stocking shelves. When we look around, there are still things that need finished but we believe we have come far enough to open our doors to shoppers. If all goes well with tomorrow's soft opening (which is by invite only) we will open to the public on Monday.

The plan is to use proceeds from the store to fund the pantry.  Persons who come to us that need help with food, will be given a gift card to use at the store. This will allow them to purchase items that they know their family will use as opposed to just giving them a bag of groceries as most other food banks do. We anticipate that the pantry will be operating by summer. We have already received some monetary donations for it and once we get a feel of how much income the store brings in, we will be able to anticipate the amount of funds we can put towards the pantry each month.

This is all new territory for us and sometimes it feels overwhelming. We are trusting God with each step we take and I can honestly say that I have come a long way from my initial doubts and opposition to it. I can see the way God has provided for us when we thought we were coming up against a brick wall and this has increased my faith. I am excited (and a bit apprehensive) to see how the journey unfolds.

If you are reading this, you are probably a friend or family member as I don't think anyone else would want to bore themselves with my blog. Consider this your invitation to join us tomorrow for our soft opening. The store will be open from 9:00 until 2:00. Come out and look around and do some shopping as well!

Happy Birthday Julissa!

What do I say about this lovely lady that was only a figment of our imagination last year at this time? Maybe she was a little more than that, because we knew she existed, but we had no idea that she and Josh would actually become a couple and we were only hoping and dreaming that it would happen. 

I first met Julissa Rochelle Lehman (Eberly then) at a Second Tunic banquet last April. At that time, we knew that she and Josh were communicating but we really didn't know any more than that. We didn't know if they liked each other or if they were deciding not to pursue the relationship. We had gone to the banquet with Steve's parents and it was a little awkward when we realized that she was there. Did we talk to her or just ignore her? Steve's mom solved that dilemma when after the banquet she hopped up from the table and said, "let's go talk to Julissa." I can usually make small talk but I honestly did not know what to say to this charming young woman. She was pleasant and friendly and we managed to talk for a little about nonsensical things and then as she was leaving, she said, "well, I'm sure I will see you again!" Steve and I were ecstatic!  Maybe there really was something going on between her and Josh. On the way home I texted Josh, "she seems really nice." He soon texted back, "I know." It's amazing how two little words of a text can make you so happy. That's when Steve and I realized that the two of them really were serious about their relationship!

I have so enjoyed getting to know Julissa. She is fun to be around and easy to talk with. Having just officially joined the family three months ago we still have a lot to learn about each other but she is fitting in so well that it all seems so easy. Since their marriage, she and Josh have joined us for Wednesday evening suppers. I was hoping she didn't feel like it was an obligation, but when she made the comment that it was nice to have a day when she didn't have to worry about supper, it made my heart happy. It was also nice to see that when Josh had to work a little late and couldn't make it in time for supper she was comfortable to join us herself and take a doggy box home for him. 

Julissa is a woman of many talents who loves Jesus, music, reading, baking/cooking, and exercising among other things. (Well, maybe she doesn't love exercising but she does it and has even run a 5K.) Josh's bachelor pad has been turned into a lovely home thanks to her woman's touch. Josh has always been a pretty happy guy but having her in his life has added an extra spark in his eye and spring to his step that has been wonderful for this mother to see. As I have said in previous posts, seeing my children happy in their relationships is what makes me happy.

When I look back over the past year and think how our lives (especially Josh's) have been blessed by the addition of Julissa to our family I am thankful. Thankful to God for his faithfulness, thankful to Steve's parents for their part in getting them together, thankful for Josh and Julissa that they found each other, and thankful that she is now part of our family.

Happy 28th birthday Julissa! I am so glad to call you my daughter-in-law!