May 2019

May was a busy month with end of school activities, and getting our house on the real estate market!

 On May 2, our assistant pastor's family welcomed their new little baby girl!  Ellisyn Grace is well loved by her parents, Andy and Sherilyn Stroud, brothers Wilson and Marshall, and sister, Karilee.  We are so thankful for her safe arrival.

 Emily and Elizabeth got to see them in the hospital and hold her.

 She is precious!

 This family picture was taken on Mother's Day I believe.  

I think I "stole" it off Facebook!

 

 Rowen put new rails on our deck in preparation for putting our house up for sale.

 Rowen and Emily changed the landscaping by the front of the house.

 How it looked when they got it done.  My purple Sweet Williams bloomed so pretty this spring.

 Rowen got these flowers for me for Mother's Day.

 These flowers were from the church for Mother's Day.

 The rose bush the Conleys gave me has outdone itself this year!

 (This one taken June 2, so it's out of order, but shows how many blooms it has had)

 We had the Dickinson Family over on May 5.  It was a pleasure to have them here and enjoy good conversations and music.

 

 A random picture of Emily and Jason as we wound down to the end of the school year at God's Bible School.

 Emily and her friends Melanie and Jenny

 Eating in the cafeteria with the Harms family has its comical moments!  Daniel is getting so big and his head had to be protected while his mommy ate!

 Emily loves to get to hold Daniel, every chance she gets.

 On May 12, we had Jimmy and Danette, as well as Stephen and Brooke St. Germaine over for Mother's Day dinner.

 Our Mother's Day portrait, photo credit Danette Teed

 Karilee holding Ellisyn's hand in church. 

Our house went on the market on May 13.

 SWSE's Spring concert May 14

 Chick-fil-A workers who came to hear Emily at the SWSE concert

 Emily with three of her amigas from Mexico, Gabby, Karen, and Karina

Elizabeth eating with the Smiths and Bishops at the GBS college and staff picnic

 Elizabeth helped the campus kids have a fun day.

 Zach and Rebekah Barkman at the picnic.  We will miss them a lot.  After graduation, they move to Pennsylvania...

 On May 16, Emily and Elizabeth went on a canoe trip with other Division of Professional Studies students. 

 We were privileged to make a new friend and have her stay with us through the graduation weekend.  We enjoyed getting to know Dessi.

 Graduation day, May 18.  

Bible teachers, Drs. Phil and Allan Brown

 Curtis Epp and Betsy Poe.  Janet worked with both of them in the GBS kitchen.

 Graduating class of 2019.  Elizabeth had planned to graduate, but decided in the last couple months to take two more years and get two BAs.  She is starting on her Teaching Education classes this summer.

 It's tradition to throw the caps.  I heard they got the right ones back...

 Jorden Messner and Rebecca Pohl with Emily and Elizabeth

 We went to Zach Barkman's graduation party, which was in the shady and cooler woods.  On that hot day, we were glad for shade and that it didn't rain!

Janet worked in the GBS kitchen for her last day. She had a break and got a picture with Rowen.

 On May 19 Sunday, Elizabeth and Melanie served the drinks at the noon meal.  This helped the lines move with ease.

 Karen getting to hold Daniel Harms after service on Sunday.

A sweet picture of our pastor with his granddaughter, Karilee in the GBS chapel.

 A light meal with Dessi on Sunday evening.

 Monday, May 20, we celebrated the home-going of Erma Stamper, a dear lady in our church who lost her fight with cancer, but won the race and made it to heaven!

This flower was on the spot where she usually sat.

 The Collingsworth family sang beautiful songs about heaven.  It was such a precious service, as God's presence settled down.

 Our pastor preached a wonderful message about heaven.

 Karilee and her cousin Kate playing after the funeral.

 Rowen and Janet took a little trip to West Union, Ohio to an Amish area and enjoyed looking at Amish furniture and lawn swings and gliders.  We had a picnic in this swing that had a part in the middle that folded down into a table.

 We tried out several swings. 

We spent the day away from home because of Open House at our home.

In the evening, we and our girls went to Drs. Allan and Nadine Brown's home for supper and a nice visit.

Nadine explained about all the interesting items from different countries in her curio cabinet.

On May 26, Memorial weekend Sunday, three of us had on blue with white polkadots:  Valorie Stroud, Regina Stetler, and Janet

 We were privileged to have Judy Johnson Sutherland for dinner.  We hadn't had her over since the Sunday before she got married last July!  Emma and Elliana Wilson also spent the afternoon with us, so they could help Elizabeth on the children's church bus run.  We are switching Junior Church to Sunday evenings for the summer. 

 Judy is so special to us and we loved having her over.

(You will notice that we moved the book shelves out of the dining room and changed out the round table for our rectangular one, made as small as it can go.  This is part of having our house ready to sell.)  We are trusting God for His timing for the right buyer and then the right house for us to buy.

Starting May 20, Janet is working a new summer job at GBS in Donor Records.She is enjoying the computer work and not being on her feet all the time.

On Memorial Day, Janet went to see Beulah and had a very nice visit with her and Brenda Conley. She still remembered me and was very sweet and loving.

On May 30, Janet got to visit with our friends, Jim and Anna Tremaine who were on GBS campus all week for Piano Camp with their granddaughter.  We got to have them over for Sunday dinner June 2--but that's a picture for a different blogpost!  This picture was taken in the GBS Commons.