Archive for July, 2006

Conference this weekend in Ohio

Monday, July 31st, 2006


The Ohio portion of the tribe is enjoying CMC Conference this weekend. It has been fun to see Sim & Janelle every day, and I had a chance to chat with Janelle’s mom the other day, which I enjoyed. Tirzah is around, but haven’t really seen her other than when chorale sings on stage. I imagine that means she’s having fun. We are enjoying seeing lots of old friends like Sidney Penner and Stehpanie Nisly, as well as lots of current people who we want to get to know better. Priska is holding up okay. She’s working on another tooth….I am of the opinion that she has enough for quite some time. So all is well out here.

meanderings

Monday, July 24th, 2006

well deb and aram have this support group newsletter thing going where they give a state of the union address and keep us posted on what they are thinking and i think that that is a good idea since winds of possible change are blowing here..

SSoooo  two years ago bill went to see cris mcclosky and did a bunch of testing. cris does "life coaching’.. the conclusion was ‘’go get your masters'’  ( o.k. so the boys just turned on the ‘german tape’ which is NOT improving my typing)  time passed, after all, that was two years ago and that is what time does in two years time…..            and  in that time bill has begun to look for a way out of his prison.. some prisons we can escape, some we take with us..          and i have been moved to join every relief or humanitarian effort that i have heard or read about, and i read alot.. so i’ve had a new idea at least every week..            our dear children donated their lives and got us out of major medical debt…            this summer i became aware of other debts that have crept up and climbed into Sugar Daddy’s pockets, so i have, with his blessing, sewn his pockets shut and become the carrie nation of debt reduction. which brings me to the purpose of this letter…          this weekend we are having an auction and auctioning off several dill-pa-dated trailers, an amazing technicolor pick up truck, the entire rescource pile,  four cats, one very loud love bird and our two youngest offspring.  so that i can go to tibet..alone..          and bill had an afternoon with wendell, his free counselor, and the conclusion was the same, go get your masters..          so he found this school in newfoundland, in the city that is the eastern most point of north america, and they have the program that he was looking for. ..the weather there is the coldest, windyest, foggyest, in canada and they count their sunshine in hours/per/year . my enthusiasm for the idea lasted about 5 minutes. .                 . but does he really want his masters..?     maybe we should go to kenya.. i’ve got ibrihims email address… compliments of debbi, and clair good’s too, for good measure,  of course i can find mcc on the internet .                         then well, there was a series of events .. and i had an anti-materialism spasm and we decided to go live at koinonia in south georgia or on The Farm in tennessee..                      but there was this school in southern indiana,, now i could handle that .             .the boys got wind of this and cant imagine, or face, life with out the beaty kids.    what is the impact of moving on 11 and 13 yr olds       .maybe we could rent the house and just be gone for a year or two then come back.. would we want to ?                  geneva college in western pa. has a program that he would like and its a christian school.. son, can you cope with presbyterians?  .             . i sure do love my farm and still think that MO is one of the nicest  places to live.. but this place is TOO much maintainance.. so lets sell it and buy a place on the river..i’ve always wanted a place on the river… and then figure out what the next step is.                BUT if we sold this we could buy a duplex  in columbus, live in 1//2 of one and rent the rest and be out debt.. or buy two and be on our way to financial independence..but WHY?? would i want to live in the city?                        so lets sell the house, quit the job.. is this sounding familiar? and do volunteer work somewhere.. how about strawberry lake?   maybe dad would go with us.. nope, probably tooo painful..                        ooohhhh i want to work in ocean city for the summer.  walk around bare foot and wear tie dyed shirts.. a wholesome atmosphere to take 2 young boys into…              then 2 nights ago bill found a masters in ‘’experiential education'’ program at minnisota u. in southern minn.  yeee haa.. 
 so that brings you up to date on at least one level of our mental meanderings… as you can imagine there are many levels.. issues of  isaac and zion.. big kids getting married and having kids, mom’s dislike of transplanting, relationships here in mo., my dad,  bill’s need for a change, etc   but it does seem that there is something of change in the air… maybe we will buy new toothbrushes…  stay tuned ..to us and HIM,, you know who HE is, dont you?  mom di 

tribe 12

Saturday, July 22nd, 2006

this is mom,
not tobias..
many of you know that when bill and i got married we decided that we wanted to have a dozen children..
well it seemed that we were doomed to be a couple short as time and strength gave out, but..
today i counted. and we have arrived!! not that more additions arent welcome but..
count…
jessica, aram, tobias, simeon,tirzah, isaac, zion, debbi,robert, priska, janelle,and moravia!!!!
all together now in a good luthren monotone,, Now, lettest thou thy servant deparrrrrrrrt in peace ….
(sorry, annie)

Childs

Thursday, July 20th, 2006

here is Mom with her newest treasure..

Wait, here’s another picture…

Bike ride

Monday, July 17th, 2006

This evening I went for a rather hot bike ride. Even though it was 7:00 it still was around 90 degrees but I was able to go about 22 miles in 78 minuets. The way I go takes me right past a swimming pool, which plays little significance in the story on my way out, but on the way back the sound of splashing and cool water was too much. I went to find out how much it would cost for me to cool off my sweaty body, but it was closing. I just went on home and hosed off. The reason for my more pressing riding is that I am working on toughening my butt so that when I ride for three days straight next week I don’t die. I’ve also been working on riding my unicycle but I’m not quite good enough at it yet to take it on the long haul. I did ride over to Aram and Debbi’s the other day on it and I only fell off a half a dozen times each way.
By the way, if anyone is interested in sponsoring me on my ride that would be great. All the money raised goes to Rosedale Mennonite Missions. So far I’ve not had too much success in finding people to sponsor me. Let me know if you are interested. We are going to ride from Goshen IN to Rosedale OH next mon, tues and wednesday. It is about 220 miles all together.

On Sunday Jeremy, Tirzah, Janelle and I went to Alum Creek (a big very populated lake) for the afternoon. The only available grill was out in the middle of a very sunny field, so we had to improvise some shade. The ranger to a couple looks at us but left us alone. Despite our efforts we still ended up rather pink by the end of the day.

–Simeon

and she packed her bags with burquas and socks and scarlett leaves and gold…

Sunday, July 16th, 2006

i just found out that i’ve been put on the 2006 morocco reach team. after training, three months in i believe fes in language school and then three in a orphanage in the south. i wonder how much i’m not supposed to say on the internet. my friend holly yoder, as in mark and polly, is also on my team, but other than that, i don’t know anything else about my team. i’ll meet them at conference, i guess, where all good things happen. so that’s the story and i’m terribly excited and a bit nervous about a few things. like money, and where it all is going to come from, especially when i keep getting rained out of work. and chadwick and how much fun i’m going to have being without him for nine months. not. and the other day i had a “coincidental” meeting on the street with a chick and come to find out she’s from a city a half hour from where we’ll be. she’s very excited about teaching me stuff i need to know and wants me to hook up with her family while i’m there…”my family will be your family!” she also made sure i knew that she had a brother my age. so i’m really excited about getting together with her. and that’s all. and if anyone has any good advice for me or thinks of creative (and legal) ways to raise some money, let me know. and by the way, i’m not debbi, i’m just signed in as her.

new stage

Tuesday, July 11th, 2006

As of this morning, we have turned a new page in this house. Priska had her debut at strair-climbing, and was very pleased with the experience. So here we go!!!!

In Memory

Wednesday, July 5th, 2006


It grieves me to announce the passing of our friend and companion Brown Buttons II, known to his friends affectionately, and otherwise, as “Bunny”. Brown Buttons was attacked less than a week ago by an unidentified predator in the middle of the night. His cries awoke his friends who rushed to his aid and discovered that his cage had been pulled open. A coon or a large grey Tom Cat are suspects but no arrests have been made. Bunny’s wounds appeared superficial and there was every expectation that he would recover, but, alas, this morning he seemed to be sinking fast and was gone my noon. Brown Buttons will be sadly missed. He is survived by many friends, four friendly cats that enjoyed his company, a small ear puller in Columbus, a few electrical cords and a small amount of baseboard. Internment will be at One Step Farm, with Isaac DiGennaro officiating.

notes from home

Wednesday, July 5th, 2006

I’ve got the sheets washed…
They are still on the line…
We found Aram’s green notebook.
And Jeremy’s cell phone charger.
I’m still finding cherrios..
I don’t cry, just stick out my lower lip..
Where is my little Priska?
I found some purple underware…
On the ground in the shop..
With a nursing pad.
The van is clean..
There are three gallons of hair on the compost pile.
I hung Tob’s holy green hat on the cedar post.
The fridge is empty.
The drive is empty..
So are the cupboards.
So are the beds.
The table has shrunk.
Alot of toothbrushes disappeared.
We go to bed at nine.
We just finished the leftovers…
..except for the cayanne.
And I need a haircut.

Gypsy auntie and baby

Tuesday, July 4th, 2006