Old Pictures

I love pictures. I love new pictures but I love old pictures even more. We are in the process of organizing some old photos my parents have collected over the years, and I brought some home to scan.Sadly, some of them are in bad shape, but it's fascinating how they show such a different world. Back in Nebraska in March 1961, here are Galen, John, Mark, and Linda, with my dad holding me in front of a snow-covered tractor. Look at the jeans hanging on the clothesline! Makes my Saturday laundry day seem pretty easy!

Pictures of children are some of my favorites, so it has been fun to discover some photos of myself and siblings. Here are some of us, all dressed up for church. Mark holding the big Bible, Linda, little David, Hope, and myself gracefully posing as I peek over David's shoulder.

Then someone must have decided we should have a pictures of just the girls. This time someone apparently understood that I couldn't be trusted to sit like a lady!Such fun! And below is how we looked on non-church days! My mom only had eight children, but apparently good hair days weren't the top priority! We look quite happy anway!

Embarrassing Parents

Why is it so fun to embarrass your teenager? Last night Nick came in the front door after the football game to find me in my jammies, big fluffy robe and slippers getting comfey on the couch as Will and I prepared to watch a movie. Nick's overnight guest Derek was due to arrive any minute. After questioning us about what we were doing, Nick graciously offered to hook up a Dvd player in our bedroom so we could watch the movie there. We took him up on the offer so he quickly installed one there. He came back downstairs announcing we could go on up. Sadly for him, we were quite comfortable and decided to stay downstairs to watch the movie. "But you don't want Derek to see you like that do you?" Just tell him to look the other way when he passes through!

Then today they were playing video games when I came downstairs after making an exciting discovery. While trying to find some pants to wear, I found a neatly folded a pair of jeans that I didn't recall ever seeing before. Obviously used jeans, but quite nice. And believe it or not, they fit me. They even fit me quite well. I was somewhat pleased when I looked in the mirror. That doesn't happen very often.

So I came downstairs and asked Will if he recalled putting any jeans on my shelf, like perhaps he had actually folded some laundry once and this pair of jeans was in there? He said no, they probably belonged to his girlfriend. Except his girlfriend is quite a bit heavier than I am. "Quite a bit uglier too, I assume?" I asked. Oh yes, he assured me. "Is she also a lot dumber than I am?" That gave him pause. He looked to Nick and Derek for help. "Boys, what do I say now?" Derek advised him it was time to eat a Twix bar. Nick urged us to make a house rule that mom and dad are not allowed to talk when he has friends over.

So it was fun embarrassing him, but I was quite mystified about the jeans. Had I accidentally packed a pair that belonged to one of my roommates from women's retreat two weeks ago? How does a pair of jeans just show up in your closet, under all your other jeans?

After a few hours of reflection, I believe I recall that there was a pair of jeans in a bag of clothes that my sister-in-law Carol gave me last spring. They were a little tight at the time. I thought I gave them back, but apparently I kept them.

It's a great day!

It really is a shame that I would enjoy embarrassing a nice boy like Nick. Especially after he gave me a proud parent moment last week. He was standing at the front counter at our school office one day when an assistant doing bus duty came in. "Nick, I'm so glad to see you! There's a dead bird outside. Could you please find a broom and dust pan and pick it up for me?" Nick did not grimace, didn't groan, or in any way display how he truly felt. He cheerfully asked where he could find a broom. I directed him, he picked up the disgusting carcass and disposed of it. Way to be a hero Nick! That is true school service!

Dad's 80th BD - Group Photos

Our last planned activity was group pictures on Sunday afternoon at Brownsville park. There were actually more family members there on Saturday night for the official birthday dinner. According to my calculations, which are probably wrong because I did them, here are the numbers for the birthday dinner.
Immediate family (Parents, we children and our spouses, the grandchildren and spouses/girlfriends etc, and great-grandchildren): 70
My aunts/uncles/cousins/cousin's children: 17
Krabill side of family (dad's inlaws): 29
So the unofficial tally for the birthday dinner is 116. If somebody wants to challenge my accuracy, go ahead and correct me! It was very convenient that my parents live right next door to the Brownsville Mennonite Church, so we could eat our two indoor meals there and use the kitchen.

Here are my parents and all my dad's surviving siblings with their spouses. What a wonderful group of people to look up to - great examples in their character and long marriages. Best of all, they all love Jesus.
Here are my parents with all ten of we sweet children!
And here we are with our spouses added! Two of my brothers wives were not able to be present. We all did a very good job of finding spouses who appreciate the family and are nearly as cute and fun to be with as we are.

Here are my parents with their adorable grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

And a group boys picture - my nephews and sons and my great-nephews, plus Aunt Lela's grandson who accompanied her from Nebraska. What a handsome group - expecially those tall boys in the back.
Here is a group girl's picture taken on Saturday afternoon at my parents house. This is only some of my great-nieces plus one niece. Aren't they cute. Sadly we did not get a picture of all the nieces and great-nieces together.

I'd love to see everyone again...My immediate family should have gotten an email from me yesterday about the Oswald Reunion to be held in Oregon next July. If you didn't, it's because I don't have your email address. Your parents will share it with you. I want you all to be there!

Wasn't God amazing to create families?

More Dad's 80th Birthday Pics

Friday night, Galen and Steven put together Galen's "new" (Father's Day gift!) firepit. They had some great help!

Then we enjoyed sitting around the fire. JD, the little boy in the black shirt, kept begging Great-Grandma to play tag with him. She finally left the fire with himand he immedately tagged her. She chased him, but everytime she'd get too close, he'd say, "I'm in the safety! You can't tag me here!" It was a no-win situation! But what great exercise!

Craig and Eric noodled around with guitars. Somehow the group got Will to sing the "Dog named Blue" song, (the one and only song in his campfire solo repertoire!) then Steven accompanied some group singing. I think my favorite was "I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy down in my heart", with little JD's cute little "Where?" and his own special additions!
A delightful evening!

Women's Fall Retreat

This weekend I was blessed to be a part of our church's annual fall retreat. The biggest blessing was that my aunt Margie Oswald flew all the way out from Nebraska to be our speaker. She was her wonderful warm funny self, and it was a joy to listen to her speak and spend time with her. What a woman of God! Of course she's not perfect - we actually seem to share some very minor character flaws. But then again, being a little ditzy once in awhile is not exactly a character flaw. I prefer to think of it as being blond on the inside. I was very flattered when someone told me we seemed so much alike it seemed like we had to be blood relatives!

Margie's presence caused other family members to come to the retreat as well. Do we look like we're having fun or what?
We had a very fun, refreshing weekend. I laughed until I cried at the skits. One night we played a wild and crazy game they called Mennonite Madness that involved many shrieks and laughter. This morning I was privileged to share with the group about the miracles God has done for our family in this past year. I'm afraid I went over my time limit. Margie was very good about sticking to her time limit!

Sadly I missed a phone call from Craig Saturday morning. Will got to talk to him though. Here's the last picture we took of Craig a week ago with his uncles, Galen and Doug.

Aren't they cute? Does anyone know how to photoshop the glare out of glasses?

I am in desperate need of sleep!

Craig is back in Germany - already!

Yesterday we took all the boys out to breakfast at Denny's before Will and I made the trip up to the airport with Craig. I am still amazed at how much food they can put away!

We had a nice family dinner Saturday night and finished it by sharing the chocolate bars that Craig brought me from Germany. He wasn't so sure that I should share them because he brought them for me, but I convinced him I was truly happy to share. The chocolate is wonderful, and I shared a few squares of the milk chocolate with hazelnuts with everybody after dinner again tonight.

It's hard for a mother to see her son go halfway across the world, knowing you won't see each other again for a long time. But it is balanced by the joy of seeing him happy and excited to be where God wants him to be. When he left last November, there was the potential of what could happen. The reality of what God has done is truly above and beyond anything I could have thought or imagined. The light in his eyes and the joy in his face show how God has transformed him from the inside out. As Will said one evening as we were out on the deck chatting, "Craig, what I want to know is how is it possible for you to mature so much in just ten months?" Craig said, "I remember you telling me once during my high school years that in four or five years I might be a very interesting person to talk to - I guess it finally happened!"

It was wonderful to have our little family all together again. Would you believe I had to photoshop (with Nick's help) three spots from Eric's lunch off his shirt!

The time went so fast we didn't get to do everything I wanted to while he was home. We squeezed in some shopping Thursday evening after dinner at Izzys. His main requirement for clothing is still that it must be very comfortable - preferably something that looks and feels like its been through the laundry 20 times already! That's why Goodwill has always been his favorite store! Here he is in a new shirt, posing for a picture to send to his special friend Sarah, who wanted to see how he looked with his new glasses. He feels very awkward about posing but he can be pretty good at it!He sent an email this afternoon letting us know he was safely back at the castle in Germany. The house is quieter now. He and Nick tend to wrestle and rough house much more than Nick and Eric do. We had a nice dinner with Eric, Nick and Molly tonight, but we'll have to get used to not having Craig here again.

We love you, Craig. Our time together was very precious. You are a blessing.

Dad's 80th Birthday - Friday Night

The party was kicked off with a barbecue last Friday night. Jean, Jewel, Carol and Galen appeared to have a great time watching the buffet line, which was set up in the garage at my parent's house.

Uncle Cloy was kind enough to share some of his wisdom with us regarding Eric's long-overdue-for-a-haircut style. Uncle Cloy suggested a 'fro, to Eric's amazement, because that's exactly what Eric was thinking he needed. Cloy's suggestion to dye it green took him by surprise though. I thought it might be fun if Cloy dyed his hair green to match - but that idea didn't go over very well with him.
Since it's a little incriminating, we won't mention any names, but one uncle was telling my boys that he is approaching his 60th wedding anniversary, and "We've never even considered divorce, but I'll tell you what, murder was considered a time or two!"

Aunt Grace and Aunt Lela appeared to be a little reluctant to share the blackberry pies they requested. Fortunately their kind and generous nature won out. How could you deprive your great-neices who came all the way from Canada?

The blackberry desserts were definitely a hit with all of us!