The Joy Of The Lord Is My Strength

I know I have been way to silent for way to long. There were to many things happening in my life! And now things have settled into a bit more normal routine and I feel like I can live again like a normal Mennonite mom.

an inside picture

Its hard to believe I spent the entire summer of 2018 getting ready for grand opening for Java Blend Café. September 13th will go down in history as a very exciting day. There were a lot of people that showed up for the ribbon cutting ceremony. Family, church friends, the town mayor and others from the town council as well as folks that were eager to support the new business. John Beiler, a pastor from my church led in a prayer of blessing, the town mayor said some encouraging words and the town manager also said a nice speech. I was standing in front of the building with my family on my left side and my workers on my right. The ribbon was stretched out in front of us and I was handed the scissors. On the count of 3 I cut it. I kept my emotional feelings tucked tight inside of me tho my eyes got teary and my chin quivered! At long last my dream came true and my heart could barely handle the reality of it all! It was an awesome moment of overwhelming thankfulness to My God who made it all possible!

the front of Java Blend

The summer was by far not without struggle. In fact there were several times when I asked God where He was and what He was doing. I had the best support group behind and around me, praying for me sending me songs and lots of encouragement. My children put up with a busy summer and did lots of extra work. My daughters-in-law saw less of their husbands because they were helping their mother. They were very kind even tho' everyone was tired of all the extra work. In the midst of all the hard work was the delay with the natural gas line. Frustration was high and I could not get anyone to move even a little. Finally I took it to the town manager and told him my problem. Somehow he made the right connections and found the person that was being stubborn. I had made phone calls to some other higher powers in the system, my brother took it upon himself to make some calls and plead for his sister and wow!!! After they finally got things rolling it took them 2 days to install the pipes. They fought over an issue for 3 months and took exactly 2 days to get the job done! Really I do not understand why!!

my lovely employees on our Christmas outing

Somewhere in the mixture of all the work my fryer that I use to make fry pies went on a blink. Honestly, I felt like that was surely the last straw! One week of making no fried pies was a kind of nice break when I didn't think about finances, we were waiting on the part to come in. When the part came and was the wrong part and I lost another week of sales....well lets just say, I did not handle that very well and I needed to repent, so I did. It was during that time that someone sent me the song Over and Over Again and Again God is Faithful...by Jeff and Shari Easter. I listened and I believed but I did not understand. The fryer got fixed on the 3rd week not by a fryer fixer person but simply by my contractor Jeremy Miller who bent over backwards to help me. He worked all day to find the problem, and he found it. He finished at 5:30 pm. Four girls came over at 9 and we made fried pies all night. I crawled into bed at 4 am, tired but happy! The first week of the break down when I was blissfully unaware that it was going to be 3 weeks before it would be fixed I was on the road, troubled about my fryer and wondering why this had to happen to me and I had a very troubled spirit. I was doing what I do a lot of. I was talking to God and asking questions, singing and just driving along by myself. Suddenly I stopped singing because the words that I heard coming   out of my mouth shocked me. I was singing....The Joy of the Lord it will be my strength, when the pressure is on He's making diamonds. I know that song but I did not know why I was singing it... I needed to hear those words, at least the first part. The "making diamonds" well I pondered that for awhile and then I said " Lord, you know I'm really tired of these lessons, whatever they are, this pressure, I'm ok with just being a lump of clay, can we just forget the diamond part"? My vehicle stayed silent, God didn't send me a divine revelation and I still don't know why that all happened, and its very likely that I never will. But its ok. I hope I learned to rest in God and Trust Him. You would think that I have had so many opportunities to have learned to quietly wait on God and trust His timing but really, it still does not come naturally! God is still working on me!

widows dinner

We are now almost 6 month past grand opening and I am loving my spot at Java Blend. I love when friends passing through the area stop in, we are only a short distance off of I81. I also love the interaction with many local folks and I have made many new friends. I connect very well with other widows and was blessed to be able to host a Valentine Dinner for widows. 34 ladies attended that evening and we had lots of fun. My family and several of my employees served the food and also sang several songs. The ladies want me to do it again and it feels like my dream of a Widows Ministry is just beginning. Only God knows where it will go.

play dough with the uncles

I have always enjoyed bookkeeping to a certain degree although I never did large amounts for any reason. Now suddenly I find myself working with QuickBooks, doing payroll, and stressing over all those tax dollars that have to go to certain places by certain dates. Thank God for son Randall who is still doing some of that for me! I comfort myself with the fact that I should not get Alzheimers! I have heard that to keep alzheimers away one should constantly keep learning new things. I have never stopped learning and all the brain cells that die off after 40 are surely being replaced with active healthy ones!

Zoey Pearl

I am also so happy to announce that my new grandbaby arrived safely on Nov 11th. Zoey Pearl weighed 6lb and 11oz. Both mama and baby are doing great and I feel very blessed to have 3 little granddaughters. I'm still amazed at this "Grandma" title! It's such a cozy feeling, a little old, I'll admit but I don't really stop to think about that. I absolutely love when they come to my house! Mckenzie loves to push a chair to the counter when I am doing dishes and she "helps". Usually she needs a dry dress afterwards but that's ok. She also asks many questions! Did I mention that being a Grandma is so much fun!!

4 generations...my mother is 86

 I am so thankful for the strength that my Loving Heavenly Father keeps giving me....yes I have had plenty of hard knocks but His Faithfulness is amazing!