FARM MACHINERY

All the pictures except the last one were taken in April.  As I am not a farm  lady, I have no idea what all these are used for.  The last picture is a tractor I was behind while driving my friend's truck. last weekend.

JEAN TELLS ABOUT HER ADOPTED CHILDREN

Marilyn read me an article off her computer a few weeks ago telling about Foster Homes.  How children go from one house to another with only a bag of used clothes and maybe shoes.  Shoes that are worn and torn.  Also, someone requested that maybe for the new people, I tell how we obtained our adopted children.

Susan and David are our natural born children.  After them, I had to have a serious operation and thought that we would not have any more children.  Little did I know what would be provided.

David Sr. and I decided to become Foster Parents.  At first, we had several children that came for short stays, then either went back to their parents, family or other Foster Homes.

Michael was the first to come and stay.  His parents had been sentenced to jail for a long time and he was to stay to finish out the school year as he was going to public school at that time.  Like, in the article Marilyn read to me, he came with a bag of little clothing.  David and I took him into town and got him some new clothes and shoes.  He finished the school year and was sent to another Foster Home for the summer, but he wanted to come back to our office.  We wanted him back.  Susan was so thrilled to have an older brother.  To make a long story short, he did come back.  His parents gave permission for adoption and we adopted him.

Second was Edward.  Edward lived with his Grandmother.  Both his parents were gone - his Mother deceased and his father's whereabouts is unknown or if he is even alive.  Edward's Grandmother had cancer for a long time.  One night Edward called Michael and explained that his Grandmother was being taken to the hospital and the Police were there to take him to a Foster Home.  He wanted to know what a Foster Home was like.  Michael asked us if we were prejudice against blacks.  We said of course not.  The color of a person's skin does not matter.  So he explained to us Edward's situation.  David got on the phone and talked Edward into giving the phone to the Policeman.  David explained that we were a Foster Home and that Edward and Michael knew each other.  If it was all right with the police officer, we would like to take him into our Foster Home until his Grandmother could take him.  We were given permission.  David went to get him.  Edward's Grandmother gave us custody at her own will.  Edward has been with us ever since.  His Grandmother passed, he became a member of our family so we adopted him.

Katie was our third to adopt.  Her parents had been killed in an automobile accident - Katie had been in a children's seat in the back of the car during the accident.  Another Old Order Mennonite Foster Home had been called.  The lady there knew how bad we wanted another girl and when she saw Katie knew she belonged us to us.  The only family Katie has are her Great-grandparents and they are unable to care for her do to age and health.  At that time we were moving from our old farm to our new.  David was at one house and at the other.  When we got together, we got a driver and went to the hospital to meet Katie.  We knew as soon as we saw her, she was for us.  They kept her at the hospital for a couple of extra days so we could get moved into our current farm and we took her home.  Her Great-grandparents bought her clothes from her former house, which she had lots of fine purchased clothes, shoes, etc.  Great-grandparents weren't too sure they wanted her living with us taking her from cars to horse and buggy, no television, wearing our style clothes, our religious beliefs and more. It took a while, but we worked most things out.  We still have a few problems sometimes, but we were allowed to adopt Katie, which we did.  Susan was so happy that she now has a little sister.

Thomas is our most recent (we are running out of bedrooms).  He has spent most of his life in Foster Homes going from one to another.  Along his way he was never adopted.  It seemed when someone was about to - something happened.  Like one Foster Family were but the husband got ill and all the Foster children had to go to different homes.  Another family were going to, but got transfered out of state before they could and more.  The last Foster Family did not work out - not on his part.  I think they were just to young and just starting with a teenager was difficult with them.  We brought him into our home.  Another person that came with only a bag of worn clothes and shoes.  David and I took him down to the store and got him new clothes.  Since then, Susan and I have also made clothes for him.  He came with an Old Order Mennonite background.  He said he got it from being in so many Mennonite Foster Homes.  We are so glad he comes knowing the Lord.  He immediately fitted into our family although he is insecure that this is his home and he is not going to another one even though we asked him if he wanted to be adopted.  Of course you know, we are adopting him and he will become an official member of our family.

David said to make sure I have all of the children we adopted on here.  We don't want to leave anyone out.  We say, we aren't adopting anymore, but we really never know who God will send to our door.  Susan and Katie still want another sister to even up the score.

I hope I am not boring you telling about our children.

Be With God,
Jean

NEW YORK HAITI BENEFIT AUCTION - JUNE 19 - 20, 2015

NEW YORK HAITI BENEFIT AUCTION
Penn Yan, New York

Bring your family and friends to enjoy the day !
Something for everyone.
Items to be sold:
Bedroom Suites, Wagon, Pole Barns, Furniture, Lawn Furniture, Tables / chairs, Quilts and much, much more.

Friday June 19

4:30 - 7:30 PM Fish Fry & Roast Beef Dinner
6:30 PM Cattle Auction
6:00 PM Misc. Auction (Flowers, Toys and more)

Saturday June 20

Breakfast  6 - 9:30 AM
Lunch  10:30 AM - 2:00 PM
Auction  8:00 AM
Furniture  9:30 AM
Quilts  10:00 AM
Large Items  1:30 PM

ANNA'S POT ROAST RECIPES

I make my Roast Beef different ways depending on what Elmer or I would like or what hits my mood when I go to make it.  So here are a couple of the recipes I make.  The first one is the one I made last Sunday, it comes from Betty Crocker.

Pot Roast In Foil

4-pound pot beef
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) cream of mushroom soup or you can use homemade mushroom soup
Bouillon - Onion Mix (recipe bellow)
8 small potatoes
8 medium carrots, cut crosswise into halves
2 Tablespoon water

Place piece of foil, 30 X 18 inches, in ungreased pan, 13 X 9 X 2 inches.  Place beef in pan.  Mix soup and Bouillon-Onion Mix (below); spread over beef.  Add vegetables, sprinkle with water.  Fold foil over and seal.  Cook in oven at 300 degrees for 4 hours.  Skim fat from gravy; serve gravy with beef.

Bouillon-Onion Mix

Mix 1/4 cup instant minced onion, 2 tablespoons instant beef bouillon and 1/2 teaspoon onion powder.  (To make soup, stir mix into 4 cups boiling water, reduce heat.  Cover, simmer for 5 minutes).

NOTE: 1 package ( 1 3/8 ounces) onion soup mix can be substituted for the Bouillon-Onion Mix.

Pot Roast Recipe II

2 pound roast or larger
1 Tablespoon A-1 sauce
1 envelops Lipton Onion soup
1 can cream of mushroom soup (or homemade)

Place roast on large enough heavy duty foil to cover and seal.  On top of meat put A - 1 sauce (more if needed) to cover.  Add onion soup and mushroom soup.  Pull up foil and seal.  Bake at 250 degrees for 4 to 5 hours.  Do not salt.

ELMER ANSWERS SOME OF YOUR QUESTIONS

I guess this first questions I answer, was the most asked.  Yup, I got that piece of apple pie that Anna said she might be able to come up with.  After supper on that Sunday, she came up with the apple pie with one piece missing that she have given to someone at dinner.  The rest of the pie was there, so we each had a piece at supper.  I tried to sneak another piece, but Anna caught me, and told me two pieces in one day was enough.  We both put on a little weight in the winter and Anna wants us to lose some.  But over the next couple of days, we finished off that pie.

Our church is every other Sunday, all year around.  The only exceptions are the two times a year we have Communion.   We have Communion on Good Friday and the Sunday before Christmas.  Our church services are held in peoples homes.  It is rotated around so you only get to hold Sunday service in your house once or twice a year.  If we are having a big dinner after like for Mother's Day or Father's Day when we and the Old Order Mennonites get together, it is usually held at Bishop Eli's house as he has the most yard area.  This year Mother's Day was held at Jean and David's.

The reason for every other Sunday goes back to the days before the Amish came to the United States when our fore fathers were being persecuted and had to hide in peoples homes to have a service.  Even when they came to the United States led by William Penn, in some places, we were not wanted and were persecuted.  During that time, they did not know when they may be able to meet again to have services, sing, pray and have fellowship.  Sometimes they stayed together for many hours to worship.

Today, we do not forget our past persecution.  Although sometimes we still have problems today, not as severe as we did back then.  But we remember our past.  We have services in peoples to remind us of former days where our people were persecuted.  Also, there is so reason to build a church when we can use our homes.  Our services are about three hours long.  After which we have a meal together.

Now that I said, Amish don't build churches - most don't.  There are some areas where they do build churches, but I am talking about our Old Order Amish.  Most Amish groups meet in people houses, but like I said a while back, there are different Amish groups that do some different things from other groups.

We have a pony living at our place now.  There was an add in the local Ontario County paper, someone was looking for a home for it.  I called, got a driver, a friend of mine and went out to see it.  Our driver had a horse trailer in case we brought it back.

I think the fellow was a little concerned when he say we were Amish.  He leveled with us and said he had heard bad things about Amish taking care of animals.  I explained that a few Amish, not doing the right things, have given us all a bad reputation and if he wanted to drive out to my farm to see my animals, that was fine with me.  He would find that all of our horses, cows, pigs, chickens, dogs, or cats are far from being maltreated.  Finally, he let me have the pony.

We took it home and let it get use to us before we told our grandchildren know that we had it.  All of them wanted to take it home with them.  Anna and I decided it will stay on our farm.  Not that our grandchildren are cruel, but we want to make sure the pony is safe and taken care of.  Anna said it will also get the grandchildren over to our house more often so we can see them.

Pony was saddle broken and gets along well with the children and the children with the pony.  The man that owned it did come by our farm after we had it for a few days.  He saw our animals and agreed that we did not torture them or injure them.

When the man got there the pony was gone.  He thought we sold it.  We had him in for a cup of coffee and told him one of our grandchildren was riding it and he would be back.  About fifteen minutes later one of our grandsons came back on the pony.  Not knowing we were waiting for him, he took the saddle off the horse and brushed it down.  Made sure it had food and water.  The man was impressed.

If one of our grandchildren is going to ride the pony, they have to check in with Anna or myself first.  Just want to make sure the pony doesn't get over ridden and worn out.  Also, we check up on them to make sure they take care of the pony. We also let Jean's Susan, Katie and Little David ride on it - one at a time not all three on at one time. They really enjoyed it.  It has been a big hit with our grandchildren.

Trust God's Wisdom,
Elmer

MEMORIAL DAY PARADE - MAY 25th, 2015

Memorial Day Parade pictures.  It is a very small parade.  When I was a child, the parade was a big one.  As a Girl Scout, we marched the Palmyra Memorial Day Parade and then got in cars and marched in the Macedon Parade.  Every year the parade gets smaller and smaller.

FLAGS ON THE VETERAN'S GRAVES AT PALMYRA CEMETERY FOR MEMORIAL DAY

Drove through the cemetery and took pictures of some of the Veteran's graves.  These flags are put out for Memorial Day, every year.  One Veteran was left out and I knew the family so I told the American Legion.  I see they gave him a flag this year.

MEMORIAL DAY - 2015

WE THANK OUR MILITARY IN ALL BRANCHES FOR YOUR SERVICE - THOSE

LIVING, THOSE THAT HAVE PASSED AND THOSE THAT GAVE THEIR LIVES FOR OUR FREEDOM.

                                      FREEDOM IS NOT FREE

JEAN'S TELLS OF MICHAEL

First I want to wish everyone a Happy Memorial Day weekend.

Michael feels kind of left out with all that is going on with Thomas and Edward.  He helped over there with the plowing, and fixed the tractor after Thomas hit the rock, but he still feels he is being left out.  David told him that his time will come.

Michael's family were wordly people.  They are both in prison for something they have done and signed papers for Michael to go up for adoption. We adopted him, several years ago now. Because he was born on October 31, Halloween, Michael's parents told him he was evil.  Elmer was also born on October 31st and has helped Michael realize that the date your were born has nothing to do with the person you can be.  As Elmer puts it Michael goes to a different tune than we do in some ways.

As he was not brought in a Christian home as Edward, Thomas, and Katie, his views are different than ours in some ways.  He does know the Lord, but thinks some of our ways are beyond times.

Michael wants us to sign so he can get his drivers license and a car.  David and I have refused.  We told him how we do not believe in owning and driving cars.  Of course, we did tell him, of when David had a drivers license and drove a car that Joseph, use to own, but that was before they were baptized and they see their wrong ways now.  Michael said he will get one when he is 18, which we told him he could, but not before that and we would still not approve.

One of the items he likes to work on the most are cars.  He and Kevin talked about working on Marilyn's car, but it has a computer on it.  They said if it didn't have the computer system, they would have fixed it for her, but not with the computer.  Some things you can do on a car even if it does have a computer, but what she needs, they might mess up the computer working on it.

Michael has not been baptized.  It is a hard decision for everyone, but especially Michael.  He told us he doesn't know if he could live a life driving a horse and buggy, farming, no TV or computer, dressing the way we do and more.  Many times Michael did not want to go to church on Sunday, but David does not accept no unless you are sick, so Michael has come.

Michael said he feels that there is a whole world out there to see.  He believes that success is money.  We have tried to explain that money can be nice, but it's how you get it, receive it and spend it that matters.  Material things and how much you have in the bank are not everything.

He is a hard worker and would do anything for anyone, but he does slack off sometimes and he admits it.  Depends on the job he says.  He would rather be working on cars, tractors, machines, furniture and alike than farming.

We know that he sometimes does things that we would not approve.  He came home one night smelling of smoke and not walking to straight.  He admits that he is going out with an Englisher.  Every time we say something he reminds me that Martha was once an Englisher.  Also, he goes to a friends house to watch movies, TV shows and sports on his TV.  David said he can get upset with movies and TV shows, but he can't say much about sports as he is interested in the Yankees and the Buffalo Bills.

People ask what if Michael marries someone who is not Old Order Mennonite?  What happens if does not come Old Order Mennonite.

Michael is our son.  If he lives the Old Order Mennonite, we would like if he remained Mennonite in another group.  There are different groups that drive cars and are not farmers.  We will not disown him - he is our son.  Also, we wish that he would marry a Mennonite lady - whether Old Order or another Mennonite Group.  Michael will never be without a home.  He will always be a member of our family.

We are thankful that all of the children we adopted and our natural born children are good children.  Each one is different and special.

Yes, I did let Michael read this before I called Marilyn and he gave me his okay.

Be With God,
Jean

MY FRIEND'S GARDEN - PART II and CHANGES NEXT WEEK

Here is the rest of my friend's garden.  Pictures 7, 8, and 9 are the flower she likes the best so I took more pictures of that one than the rest.  Hope you enjoy these, too.


NOTE:

As Monday is Memorial Day, I have a post going on Saturday.  If I get to the parade on Monday, I will add a late post on Monday.  Elmer's post will be on Tuesday.  I think the rest of the week will be the same with recipes on Wednesday and so on.

Also do you like having Elmer on Monday and Jean (or Anna) on Friday?  Or would you rather we went back the way we were with Elmer on Monday and Jean (or Anna) on Tuesday?

Marilyn