FAREWELL BIRTHDAY PARTIES AND FAMILY TIMES

This year Jt's birthday party, his 24th, was bittersweet. Everyone came over Friday night for our favorite family cake--4 layer chocolate with what we call "Amish" frosting. Would anyone like the recipe? I'll post it if I get requests.





Emma and Sophie are pictured suspiciously near the cake with my son, Jeremiah. I am prejudiced, but I think he's handsome. Sophie's fingers and toes ended up in the frosting before we got the picture done.





I remember the day JT was born 24 years ago like it was yesterday. He was a beautiful little baby. Went in for a checkup in the morning and he was born at 2:10 pm. Easy delivery. No mistaking him for a girl--he looked like a boy right from day one. He was a good eater and a big baby. He's been a blessing from God. Now tomorrow, he's moving to Colorado Springs to attend Bible school at Charis Bible college. Since I'm a big fan of Andrew Wommack's teachings, I'm kind of jealous! We did a similar thing to our parents when we were about his age--actually a little older. We moved our two kids to Ohio to attend Bible school in preparation for ministry. It's really hard to see them go. We've been so close for so long. It will be a change for him. He grew up in our church here at New Covenant and he's never attended anywhere else except for the few Sundays we were in Ohio and he was only 5. (We came home 3 out of 7 Sundays that year so Clint could preach at our home church in pastoral transition at the time).

So because they are leaving so soon, I'm including this family post with pictures of Emma Rose and Sophia Truth. Sophie is getting big so fast. See her posing as a princess?I suppose she'll change the most by the time we see her again. Emma is talking alot and amazes us with her two year old intelligence. In the one picture we are reading her "shapes" book. She can name all the shapes and colors without hesitation. I can't begin to describe how their departure will affect our family and church. JT has been a key part of the worship team for years and years. He plays four instruments and can replace almost any member of the team. He will be sorely missed especially since there is currently no one to replace him. Kori is talented in a number of areas and is a capable and dependable church member.
Pray for us when we come to mind. I am uncertain how this family separation will feel. I'm not liking the thought of missing those babies, but I know they are in God's will with this move. Early on when we found out they were considering a move I felt the Lord speak to me something like this: 'Don't whine about them moving. Many parents would give anything to just have their children show any interest at all in the Gospel let alone going off for Bible school training.' That has given me great comfort in these months of preparation.



The more we have learned about our family--even just in the last few weeks with our genealogical research has added to the bittersweetness of this separation. My ancestors have lived here since before the Civil War. Clint's family was here not long after that, but we've all lived in the midwest forever. To say goodbye is difficult. Yet, the stories are the same in all our research--it appears that our ancestors kept moving-- came here from Europe for a better life and then from New England westward to Ohio and Michigan with a pioneering spirit. Can we deny any less to our children? God bless them--the next generation of pioneers! Blessings, LORI

FRUGAL SEWING TIPS IN THE TRADITION OF PROVERBS 31

I was pretty excited about today's accomplishment! I got the piecing done on a patchwork chair cushion I had had in the works for years--yes, years! I started making a patchwork cushion cover to replace a very, very old one that still adorns my great grandma's chair. She was born around the 1873. The wicker rocker sits in my sewing room and I'm sure my grandma replaced the cushion sometime in the 1960's or 70's. But it's time for a new one....so that finally got done. Now I just have to finish assembling it.

Then I started a much needed repair on this black jacket. It's a lightweight blouse I found at a Goodwill a few years ago. I literally weaR this jacket over almost everything I own. It's my all purpose-matches everything-hides midriff fat jacket! I don't know what I'd do without this versatile wardrobe accessory. I wear it with jeans, crop pants, and fancy dresses. It is the completing touch for my WW1 style outfits I concoct. I couple it with black skirts, tapestry skirts, and use it over camisoles to be more modest. Because of the constant wear, it was getting kind of "ratty," and very seedy-looking. I had a special event to attend tonight at the church I grew up in--one of their special services for their 150th celebration. I needed to couple this jacket with a dress Clint bought me a few years ago that is now so tight it can't be used alone and still look good. (Oops! Get on a diet!) I slung this jacket over the dress--a black sequin-embroidered flapper style with handkerchief hem and then put a velvet print skirt of mostly black underneath the dress. What a beautiful combination! The muted colors of the skirt showed out from under the uneven hem of the dress.

These pictures are of a few of the construction details I used to "fix" the jacket and bring it up to new quality again. I meshed two strips of narrow lace together (because I didn't have the right width) and replaced all the lace that looks grey in the picture. It was faded from being washed so much. Then I replaced the wide lace at the hemline with a new strip of wide lace. When done, I carefully cut away the old lace underneath with very pointed, tiny sharp scissors. This saved me from tearing out hems and seams to fit the lace in.

When I arrived at the event this evening, an older lady told me my outfit reminded her of some antique necklaces she had at home and if I'd come over, maybe I'd like to have them! This was a very wonderful compliment for me--since I'm the queen of antique and vintage looking jewelry!!!!! Which brings up another subject....today Rhiannon and I think we found amongst my grandma's antique buttons a button from my great, great grandpa's Civil War Uniform. She spotted this miltary button and then checked online. It appears to be the original button. We wrote the manufacturer for imformation to confirm this. Will picture the button in question sometime in the future if it turns out to be authentic! Blessings, LORI

The Cost of Freedom--My Family War Heroes

I wanted to be sure to do a post for Independence Day! Here's my offering along those lines....


The first picture is of my great, great, great grandma, Huldah C. (Town or Tower?)Rice Hill Johnson, my grandpa Benjamin's mother-in-law. I have pictured her before and she is the daughter or granddaughter of our revolutionary war grandfather--we haven't yet solved that mystery completely so we are posting her picture in his place!

The second picture is of my great, great grandfather, Benjamin Franklin Bartholomew. He died on July 2, 1864 in a Union Army Hospital after serving for only a short time in the Civil War. Please do me a favor, readers, and go to my daughter's blog to read her touching post concerning him at http://www.loaded6string.blogspot.com/

Below is series of pictures of my grandpa and grandma Happel. This was before they were married. He was in WW1 and was a soldier sent to cut wood in the great forests of Oregon and Washington to help the war effort. I have written about them before as well. He wanted very much to go to France and do his part, only he was never sent. He and grandma married in 1920 after the war was over. I love grandma's dress. She was very stylish and the WW1 fashions are one of my favorite eras!

The picture (right) is of the Boughtins, relatives that we discovered by accident in a search for other family names. The lady, Mary is a sister-in-law to my Civil War grandpa. She is Huldah's daughter. Her husband William was in many major battles of the Civil War. He suffered injury and disease and still survived. He was honorably discharged and signed up to serve again. She and her widowed sister, my grandma Asenath (I love her name--it's Biblical) served as presidents of the Women's Auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic in our county!

More WW1 pictures of my grandparents. Note grandma's coat and hat. I think they were standing on the steps of a building in Battle Creek. He was stationed at Fort Custer for awhile before leaving for the west.





Next are some pictures of my mother's brothers, Uncle Tom and Uncle Alan (Uncle Goodie, we called him). They both served in WW2. I don't know too much about Uncle Tom's service, but I know my Uncle Goodie was stationed in the Phillippines and suffered from days in waist high water entrenched against the enemy. He contracted malaria and suffered with the after-effects for years.

Last, but not least is my mom. She was in the Women's Air Corps of the Air Force during the Korean War. Isn't she pretty? She served as a nurses' aid down in Texas at Fort Worth.

I am sure there are more heroes in the family, only I don't know about them. Just like Uncle Will Boughtin, there may be others that we are yet to discover.

The cost of freedom is not free. It was not free for Grandpa Benjamin on July 2, 1864 and it is still not free for those men and women in our armed services who are giving everything today to serve us. Will we remember? I am making a special point to be aware at this upcoming celebration that I probably had a grandfather who gave his time and maybe his life to secure freedom clear back in 1776. I believe we will someday soon be able to make the final connections that reveal his name. We know about him from a small paragraph in a book mentioning Huldah Johnson. It makes me feel more connected to the great sacrifices we so often take for granted. Today more than ever we need to get a grip on freedom, our constitution, our heritage, and realize it's worth saving! May God help us stay free! Please check Rhi's blog if you are not already a follower. Today when I read it, it brought tears to my eyes and the thoughts she wrote about affected my entire day! Stay tuned for some really neat pictures that I hope to post in the next few days. Have a great July 4th celebration. Blessings, LORI

REMEMBERING

I will be changing my practice of Friday posts and now doing what I will call, "Patriotic Posts" randomly. I thought it appropriate to include some Memorial Day pictures this week!

The pictures here are from the Colon cemetery just down from our house. This statue of a Civil War veteran is just across from the stone you see. The gravestone is that of William Boughtin, our uncle by marriage. Rhiannon discovered some very interesting history about him quite by accident while we were searching for other family history. He was a war hero if you ask me. We were amazed at the stuff we found out. I can't remember everything for sure without digging out the family history records, but he was in many major battles of the Civil War. He was wounded a few times, got sick and still returned to fight after being honorably discharged. He apparently was a man of great regard for his country. It was amazing to discover all this about his incredible service record in a book that we found while searching for other family members, never even realizing he existed.

We now refer to this man who lived generations before us as "Uncle Will." After learning about his amazing life quite by accident, we stumbled upon a picture of he and his wife in later years, probably in the 1880's. My grandmother had it in the family album and their names were right there all along--only we didn't know who they were or the stories behind their lives! His wife was the daughter of our widowed Civil War grandma. Both women were presidents in the Women's Auxiliary of the Grand Army of the Republic (I believe I have that title right!)--Mary B. a county president, and her mother Asenath president of a local chapter here in our home town! They are both buried here in our town cemetery not far from Uncle Will's grave.

It makes me wonder how many interesting lives are represented behind the many flags waving in the cemeteries on this Memorial Day? So many are now forgotten. Some soldiers' graves are so old that they didn't have a flag on them. As you celebrate Memorial Day, I hope it is a day of remembering to be thankful for those who are willing to fight to preserve our freedoms. Just today we learned of a friend that will be going to Afghanistan soon. His particular line of work in the service is very, very dangerous. It makes you realize the sacrifice people are willing to give. "Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends." Jesus John 15:13 May we all remember...and be thankful. Blessings, LORI