The Last Shall Be First

A first for me--in the first annual Kekionga 5K Gallop/Walk, I came in dead last. However, I came in 3rd in my age group, of females 50 and over, so I got a medal. My time (43:41)was a little more than a minute less than my average. Not bad for last place finisher. :)

A Treasured Friend

Weekly visits with Linda are special times. She and Dick have lived in Berne for 12 years now! I remember the first time I met her at her daughter Tina's house. I thought right away I would like her. :)

4-H RAGBRAI

454 miles across Iowa with Heat, Humidity, Hills and Headwinds. What a guy!!! Someone has to be kind of crazy to spend the last week of July riding between the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers. So glad he could choose to do such a "crazy" thing. Sure is better than the prospect he was facing 25 years ago. Thank you, Jesus!

KCA Comforters

A little late. . . but I finally made comforters for Brooks and Mary Catherine as their high school graduation presents. They are done in the colors of their high school, Kiev Christian Academy. They graduated in 2008 and 2009. Project completed in 2011. It's nice to finally have it checked off the to-do list. :)

A Promise Kept

 Back in May I presented the girls in my SS class an incentive to learn the six verses in the Roman Road (Romans 3:23, 6:23, 5:8, 10: 9-10 and 10:13). The promise was that they could come to my house for a cookie-baking party. Twelve girls met the challenge. I didn't want the noise and flying flour that would be inevitable with 12 girls in my kitchen at one time. Three groups of four sounded more reasonable. After a busy summer I decided I better keep my promise before school starts again. On Friday, I had two girls, today I had five and tomorrow five more will come. Each group has (or will) bake three kinds of cookies including Snickerdoodles (so they can roll the dough in cinnamon and sugar), and Funfetti cookies (so they can frost some cookies) and Chocolate Chip Cookies (because they are a favorite).

I don't remember a single lesson taught by Marie Chave, Jean Coffey and Mary Russell. I do remember the special things they did to make me and other students in the class feel special. I hope Addie, Cassie, Madi, Alyssa, Kylee, Shaelynn, Ashley, Audra, Anna, Hannah, Julia, Kayla, and others will remember my Sunday School class as a place where they felt loved and learned to love the faith by example.

The Beauty of Accoustical Music

Berne is so fortunate to have great music for such a small town. I attended "Singing in the Sanctuary" today at First Mennonite Church. Dr. David Crow, a music professor from Ball State University, brought his church choir from Muncie. The 30-voice choir performed all their music a cappella. The accoustics in the sanctuary at First Mennonite is ideal for such music. The hour-long concert included old hymns, songs from the South, from Shakers and some great current hymns. Dr. Scott Lehman also played an organ solo and the congregation sang Festival Doxology with the organ. It was a great way to spend part of  a Sunday afternoon.

34th Anniversary

As has become our custom, Neil and I froze sweet corn today. I purchased 11 dozen at dasMarit this morning. Excluding husking, it took us a little less than 3 hours to blanche, cool, cut and package 22 1-quart bags. We'll enjoy it all year. "Wuv, twu wuv."