Tuesday, August 10, 2010

A Week of Events


 

This post will be disconnected, busy, and hardly coherent...just like our days/world/life right now.  I have just spent a week in the company of my two parents traveling to Barb's funeral in Michigan... and back, also having them here at home with us till this morning.  

It's a long 12 hours to Newago, MI!  It's 12 hours if you go over the top of the lake and it's 12 hours if you go through Chicago and around.  So we took the top route along lake Michigan, through the endless forests on a two lane highway for hours and hours.   

Arriving at Dave's we found other Kauffmans gathering to surround the family, to visit, laugh and cry together.  Funerals are sad, no doubt, but they're times of refreshing too, for those who have put their trust in Jesus.   Friends of Dave's family opened their homes to all of the in-gathering Kauffmans.  I stayed in a lovely, gracious home with Galens, Dales,  and my parents. I thoroughly enjoyed the aunts and uncles.  You can learn a lot just listening to the 65-year-olds.

Thank-you Danette, Sharon, Janette,Charlene, Yvonne, Sam, Cynthia,  Violet, and Nadine for the wonderful visiting we enjoyed.  

Mom, Dad, and I came home Saturday back through the woods and along the lake. 

Sunday, Amy was baptized along with three other young ladies.  The singing was rather enthusiastic and the "house was full" at church on Sunday.  My mom and Aunt Pearl thought the singing was too loud, but I heard a few others say that they enjoyed it.  We went to the boat landing where the four girls were immersed/baptized.  It was a beautiful day, perfect for the outward sign of an inward cleansing.






In the meantime behind all these scenes of family and faith is the ongoing struggle that my sister and her husband face.  Behind daily joys and duties we share is the knowledge of a burden to pray and yearn over.  We are all wearing this on our faces just behind the smiles and tears of normal days.  "Grandma seems different, " says Lance, knowing full well why. 

Sunday afternoon and evening our little stone house filled up, as usual, with family, friends, and overnight guests.  Dru had invited two of his friends to stop by to use our home as a bed and breakfast.  They're nice guys, and we enjoyed them.  And Lisl had invited Elv's mom and Aunt Pearl to stay overnight as well.  Dru's friends helped us sing for the old folks.

I must mention that Adam and Sana were bid farewell on Sunday as well.  I took a picture of their car sitting in the church yard Sunday morning.  It was loaded to the gills.  I hope nobody opened either of the back seat doors...it would have been rather difficult to put back!

Monday morning Elv went to work and I started a huge washing.  I had put Dru in charge of making breakfast for our house full. Lisl got up to help him and they served us delicious pancakes and eggs. 

This week we've had very humid warm weather.  The AC runs all day long providing us an oasis in this heat.  Mom and Dad joined our world of work and play till today.  We picked black berries yesterday and Dad helped Dru fix a deck at Clarks.

Next is the family reuinon.





4 comments:

  1. Oh I would have loved to stop by and say hello to every one. What fun!

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  2. Thanks for coming to Michigan, I enjoyed the visit and the catching up of the years gone bye.

    I like your blog. Thanks for sharing it with me.

    Jeanette

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  3. Arla, That picture of Mom and Dad ... it's perfect! I want them to have it framed and hanging in there house to remind them of happy times. They need us to help them through the stuff by that kind of encouragement. Wasn't it great to be together again? I think our family reunion was a smashing success...OK. I will stop.

    ReplyDelete

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