It's hot off the press!!!

At last....

"The Twig that would not Bend"

Approx. 12-13 years ago my  Dad began to write his life story.  One of his dreams was to see it printed. 

Taking all his manuscripts I typed it on the computer for him.  Every  winter we would spend time working on his manuscripts...adding, critiquing, correcting,

 looking for more information and details,

editing out things we didn't want after all, etc...

About five years ago I decided to play with his story and see how it would sound in story form (third person) instead of first person (I).

We all kind of liked it so on we went. 

 As a story it needed more details and more information

 so each year we would try to add more. 

 Every person really should have their life story written. 

 We each live such unique lives and have things of interest that the future generations should know about.

Here are some interesting facts about my dad:

He was born into an Amish home as the youngest of six children.  His father was an Amish minister and died when Dad was six years old.  His family house and barn burned to the ground one year and the fire threatened to burn down the entire town nearby.

Dad was drafted into the army, registered as a

Conscientious Objector to war but it was not accepted. 

He served two years of a five year sentence in state prisons. 

 Pleasant experience? No, but beyond price now.

He and Mom were married at ages 32 and 29

and welcomed eight children into their home.

  He sometimes worked two jobs to provide for his family. 

Our family lived in ....Hillsdale/Jerome, Michigan...

Seymour, Missouri and Faiview, Michigan.

(If you are from any of these areas you may be familiar with some happenings and people mentioned in the book.)

May I present to you.....

Last summer Dad spent a week in the hospital and was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.  Nagging my mind were the thoughts of how near we were to being finished with his book and how sad if he would pass on to glory before he saw it completed. 

I know in glory none of this matters anymore

but those of us left behind would regret it.

I determined that by the power and grace of God

 we would try to bring it to a close when they were here this winter.

This past winter was an exceptionally busy winter but before they left this spring.....we declared it finished!!

Dad and Mom don't know a whole lot about computer language but when they found out the files had been emailed to Carlisle Printing

they were quite happy and all of us breathed a sigh of relief and almost pinched ourselves to believe that it was actually happening.

Mom put alot of time into this book, too.

 Writing, editing, remembering, etc. 

His dream had become our dream and

has now become a reality!

Carlisle Printing from Sugarcreek, Ohio

 has been a joy to work with. 

They treated Dad and Mom with utmost respect

and were very interested in Dad's story.

The books are available for $5.00 each if you pick them up directly.

It will cost an additional $3.00 to have one mailed.

There is a limited supply of them

and they are available through:

Aaron & Sylvia Yoder (pick up only)

941.356.5573

Fairview, Michigan

(until Sept. 1st)

Brenda Troyer (pick up only)

Holmes County, Ohio

330.276.9100

To have books shipped or for pick up:

Mary Ann Weaver

2513 Wells Ave.

Sarasota, Fl. 34232

941.356.0641

dreamteam86@comcast.net

text, call, email, or facebook

We experienced several obstacles in actually getting the books sent down here and it was an emotinally moving experience for me to actually see and hold this book that we had invested so much in.

Dad sent us a personally autographed one. 

This will hopefully be a family heirloom

 for future generations in our family.

Dad and Mom's legacy will live on...

It was also moving because....

I have a dream, too!

Someday I hope to write a series on the

"DAUGHTERS OF AARON"

...beginning with my story!

I have had such an interesting life so for years

I periodically record interesting happenings in journals,

hoping to someday put them into story form.

and then maybe someday beyond that I will write the

"SONS OF AARON"

series!!

For now though...

it's just a dream!

Honoring our Men

After enjoying a pampering time on our girls' weekend away.......we wanted to share it with our men at home.  We planned a special evening at home last night.  First we served them taco salad and grilled ham and cheese sandwiches.  Then we made some cool drinks for them and popcorn. And then...


Oh my word.....did they ever eat it up!!  We didn't know how well they would receive it, as men, but they ate it right up and possibly enjoyed it more than we wanted them to.....we heard comments about maybe this being a weekly thing!!

Dustin, Duane, and Riley

Derek and Kyle

JR and Erica

(We stole JR away from his studying for a brief time)

KaShondra and I

Look at them!  Loving every bit of it!!

Even admitted how good it felt and smelled!

Look at those smiles!

The lotion station...

not to worry, it was unscented or masculine scented!

...should have taken their phones away.

Boy, will he ever be able to study anew now!

Gotta pamper the workers, too!

 RELAXED!!!!

Sure thing...men enjoy candles and nice things, too!

Dare you to try it on your men!

Spoil them a little!  They work hard!

We are blessed with men in our family who pamper us and treat us like queens and princesses (most of the time!)  :)

They work hard to provide for us, they take time to listen to us,

 are interested in what we have to say, 

are respectful to us, and love us.  

What a small way of showing honor to them!

We think of men of being tough and not enjoying the finer things in life, but their feet get weary and tired, too, and there is nothing unmasculine about a good, hot, foot soak and scrub.

Now....that was a good thing but how are we going

to get out of this being a weekly thing?!!!

Girls Weekend Away!

"Princesses"

and

"Color Me Beautiful"

For all you old-timers out there who remember the Color Me Beautiful book...

this was our theme for the weekend.

While we all know that real beauty comes from within and that a very 'beautiful' woman can appear as very unbecoming if she has an ungodly character and 'common-looking' women can appear so beautiful when they glow with Godly character, sometimes I fear we have neglected to allow ourselves to enjoy womanly beauty, in fear of becoming proud.

In hopes that we used it in balance, we had a delightful time exploring our colors: 

are we springs, summers, autumns, or falls?

Let us begin.  We sponsor ladies were planning to leave several hours ahead of the girls to prepare their rooms and get ourselves settled in before the girls arrived.  To our surprise, when the girls found out we were leaving early, they asked to come, too!  We didn't mind at all so all who could get off work early left around 3:00 p.m.  Our standing joke rule was that the 3:05er's would be coming with the 6:00 load.

We loaded up and arrived at Hampton Inn. 

Four girls to a room kept our prices very reasonable.  We assigned everyone to their rooms earlier that week so everyone knew ahead of time who they would be rooming with.  We also assigned a group/room devotions person for each room to be in charge of  a time of sharing and prayer in each room.

We made the girls stay in one room while we went into each room and added some special touches.  

By each pillow we put a personal size sparkling grape juice bottle, 

a small goblet filled with chocolates, and a glittering princess stick. 

We had a weekend of many 'blonde' moments!  

The first began when we got in the elevator to head for the third floor.  Chatting excitedly we waited and waited for the doors to open and let us out.  Alas, one of the girls finally asked if anyone had pushed the button.......No, no one had so we were still on ground level waiting to go up!  Had this happened once, no problem.....but I know of at least three times that this exact incidence happened!  Now I will try to be very discreet with names here, so I won't get in trouble for identifying which age group had the most problems with remembering things!  I did see one age group stand at the elevator doors for awhile waiting, then they knocked to see if it would open.  I also saw a  person try to open a motel door with a remote from her car keys.  I also saw tears rolling down several people's faces as they laughed themselves silly.

Bob Evans was within walking distance of our motel so after some of them swimming, cleaning up, etc. 

we had a good dinner at Bob Evans Restaurant.  

The 6:00 group arrived and settled in and by 8:30 we were ready to start our "Color Me Beautiful" session.

We purchased 1/2 yard pieces of fabric ahead of time and had four samples of each season plus a few more.  We had each girl take a turn setting on a chair in front of all the others while we held different colors of fabrics to them and enjoyed seeing the differences it made in their skin tones, eyes, and hair.  I won't show any pics of them because most of them didn't turn out too flattering! 

The first thing to discover is whether you look better in warm tones (golds, creams, etc.)

or cool tones (silvers, whites, etc.) 
 By the way, only winters can truly wear black.

The motel staff treated us very well and allowed us to use a room they normally wouldn't have allowed people to use other than for breakfast.  

We soon discovered the motel was quite understaffed, well, actually, we discovered that most of Brandon is understaffed!!  We waited and waited and waited everywhere we went.

Yep, 16 girls........one room!

We took time out to watch the high wire walker walk across Niagara Falls.

Saturday morning after waiting and waiting on breakfast...........

we left for the mall.  We shopped at Ross first,
 then Homegoods, then Brandon Mall.

So many stores........so little time!

We ate lunch together at the Food Court then spread out through out the mall until a designated time.  
Then we got lost, got lost again,
 made some loops around parking lots, 

I guess that's letting out enough secrets about how 
directionally challenged we were...

and then on to Ikea......or wait, we thought we were.....
okay, we tried.

Finally, a younger member of the group took the lead in our caravan of vehicles and at last, we see Ikea on the horizon, right off to our side, all we needed to do was exit off the express way.

How we bragged on her until...........

she flew right past the exit......... so the caravan followed!!

No problem though, she just flies right on to the next exit, makes some turns confidently(the caravan questioningly follows) 

and back on the expressway we go.

At last, we really did pull into the parking lot of Ikea.

Again so much store.....so little time!  :) 

Most of the day we ran at least three hours behind our
 suggested schedule but no one minded. 
 It was a very relaxed and flexible time for all of us.

After shopping til we almost dropped

we went home to rest just a bit before our evening dinner out.

Need I tell you that we had a fine looking bunch of young ladies

all dressed up for dinner at Olive Garden?!

Look at them in their "colors"!!

Our beverages appeared........

But because Brandon is "under staffed".....

..... later our breadsticks.......

and quite awhile later our salads........

and awhile awhile later our dinners!

One dear soul was o so hungry, she ate before she prayed!

Much chagrined at herself she quickly prayed before the next bite could jump in her mouth!!  :)

Now the stories being told at this table are all under lock and key!!

Nope, no telling!!!

Next on our 'schedule' was foot soaks and scrubs for everyone!

By this time it was about 10:30 p.m. 

and most of the girls were very tired!

Us 'older' ladies thought maybe we should just save 

the soaks and scrubs for another time 

but the vote was "No, let's do them tonight!"

Uh-huh.........16 of them!!

So after changing into p.j.'s.........

the pampering began!

Tubs filled with hot water, scented epsom salts and scrubs, 

heated rocks, warm towels......

they really were princesses!

Armed with their goblets of sparkling grape juice 

our room began to fill up....

(are you serious?! some of you knocked at the wrong door?!)

Good evening, princesses! Welcome to our salon!

For your epsom salt soak, 

would you like the eucalyptus scent or the lavender?

For the scrub, you may have your choice of lavender 

or sweet jasmine scent...

A couple of them took the 'princess' thing to heart 

and even began to demand for refills!!

Oh well, let them be real princesses for the night!!

What a sisterhood they had!!  

When the tickle became more than one could bear

all the others shared her giggles and one even held her hand!!

"....Ahhh, I could get used to this!"

From Station 1 where they got their soaks and scrubs

they moved to Station 2 where they got their feet lotioned!

and Station 3 was shoulder massages...

...and from there this zombie look came over them 

and they looked so relaxed!

Our room smelled like a salon all weekend!! 

Sunday morning we all moved down to an end room 

and two of the girls were in charge

of our worship and sharing time.

Wow!  What a time we had!  

How would I ever describe it in words?!

Wish you could have been there!

Music that gave you goosebumps.......

Prayer....

Sharing from the hearts....

more prayer and sharing....

Crying...

(out of Kleenex's (understaffed) so used a roll of toilet paper)

Hugs....

Smiles...

Love....

Bind us together, Lord, bind us together

with cords that cannot be broken!

And then it was time to clean up, pack up, load up, and leave.

I was so blessed by the girls who left tracts 

of "Steps to Peace with God" in their rooms

 along with hand scribbled Thank You notes 

and chocolates for the cleaners!

All weekend we were aware that we were not there

by coincidence but by appointment.

We knew that from staff to clerks

we were there as Christ's ambassadors.

We had lunch at Applebee's, 

one stop at McDonald's for ice cream 

and then the journey home!

I love each one of these ladies who were along this weekend

and pray God gives them the desires of their hearts 

as they continue to SEEK God and

FOLLOW Him with all their hearts!

(and by the way, they voted in the foot soaks 

and scrubs as an annual thing!)

....and as you can clearly see.......

....their behavior began to rapidly deteriorate as time went on!!!!

Time to get them back home to catch up on their sleep!!

A Promise of Friendship

I've been thinking alot lately about friendship, loyalty, brotherhood/sisterhood, unity, peace, conflict.... sometimes my head is so full of thoughts I can't keep up with myself!

"Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Thy sight, O Lord."

What are the real meditations of my heart? Are they acceptable to God?
Sometimes I have alot of 'uglies' inside that dare to spill out my mouth.   Sadly, they will usually spill onto those that I love the most.  Not good.  And sometimes I have a lot of 'uglies' that don't spill out but they brew inside.  The only cure I've found for that is time alone with God.  He alone can cleanse me from the inside out. He alone knows the cries of my heart.

Last Sunday our teacher read some very thought provoking words.  They've been rolling in my mind all week (in this context, written for women).

"You have been hurt by women.  I can see the pain in your eyes...And I've never done this before but...I feel prompted to make you a promise of friendship."

"I promise I will never speak an unkind word to or about you.  I will never be jealous of you.  I will never compete with you.  I will never abandon or betray you.  I will love you.  I will pray for you.  I will do all I can to help you go far and wide in the Kingdom.

I will accept you as you are, always.  I will be loyal to you.  Before our loving God of grace, you have my words and my heart in friendship for this life and forever with Him."

I hear loyalty, commitment, safety, love, peace...and those words move me.  God did not bless me with many physical tears (and He and I have had many meetings about that until He told me I have 'heart tears' that are just as important to Him) but those words will almost always evoke tears.  Those words go deep with me...and very little hurts me more than the opposite of those words. 

In reality we will probably never make such a vow to each other and I'm not sure we could completely keep it if we did; but what if we at least tried?  How would my friends like to know that "I've got their back"?  How would they like to know that I will not talk about them in negative way to anyone else?  How would they like to know that I will not be jealous over them or try to compete with them but instead I will do everything I can to make them successful in God's Kingdom and in life?  How would they like to know that I will not abandon or betray them?  How would they like to know that I love them and will pray for them?  How would they like to know that I will accept them even when they do things differently then I would? (And I'm not referring to accepting sin)   How would they like to know that I will be loyal to them?

By God's grace and power I want to be and have tried to be that kind of friend.  Keep me accountable...if you hear 'uglies' come out of my mouth-- call me to the table on it!  Don't let me get by with it. 

I truly believe that there is some thing so hugely powerful about love, loyalty, and commitment that if we could truly live that way.........there would be an evangelism explosion!  Jesus said, "By this (love) shall all men know that ye are my disciples...by your love for each other." 

So why don't we love like that? 
When I'm hurting, I want to hurt others.  True, sometimes we hurt others simply because we are hurting and it is SO important that we address our hurts with God. 

 ....but sometimes it is simply because we are ME centered creatures. I want what I want, I want my way, I want things done my way, I, I, I.  What does Jesus say?  In James 4 we read "What is causing quarrels and fights among you?  Don't they come from the evil desires at war within you?  You want what you don't have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can't get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them."
When I am perfectly honest with God, most of the time that I don't love and let the 'uglies' spill out it is because I have evil (self centered) desires warring within me.  I want to kill with my mouth and scheme how to get what I want.  And *gasp* sometimes it is because I am jealous (did I just say that?!) of others!  Do I ever wage war?  Really?   And sometimes I have the 'uglies' because *cringe* I don't esteem you better than myself.  Boy, that's embarrassing!

I got my work cut out for me or should I say "God's got His hands full with me"?  I need His grace every day, every  hour of every day.  I need Him to show me how to love His way, how to esteem other's ways better than mine, how to show the world I am His Disciple by my love for my friends.  You know, sometimes it's easier to love those in the world than it is to love those in the church or even in our own families.

Is this kind of love possible or are my hopes, dreams, and prayers not reality?
I would love to hear your feedback on this. 

Presenting the Graduate of 2012

Amazing.... my third child is preparing for Graduation from high school!  Preparation for graduation takes me down memory lane as I work on his dvd, scrapbook, etc.....from new born through grade school.  It's incredible how much happens in 18 years.  I am exited to present you with Derek Landon Weaver, the 2012 graduate!!!   Derek worked hard to complete his schooling and I am proud of him for sticking it out to completion.

God bless you, Derek, as you finalize your high school years and step into the future God has planned for you!  We are confident God has big plans for you and will lead you one step at a time. 

Thank you for the joy you have been to our family!

We love you and will always be here for you.

Looking forward to the future with you...... Love from Dad and Mom