OLD ORDER MENNONITE - ROOFING, SIDING AND CONSTRUCTION

I saw a group of Old Order Mennonite putting a roof on a house, a while ago and of course, I didn't have my camera.  I was looking where the man's house, where he lives, and I finally found it.  Hope you enjoy the pictures as much as I enjoyed finding them.

Thomas and his lady are still taking new names on the previous post.  She will decide what name she will use on Friday.

NAME THOMAS' FUTURE WIFE !!!!

Thomas called me this morning.  He has a rye sense of humor.  Thomas told me, as I said before, his future wife does not want to use her real first name on New York State of Mind, and I understand that.  As yet, she has not picked a named and Thomas is getting tired of having her Thomas' lady.  So he came up with the idea of seeing if the people on New York State of Mind could come up with a name for his soon to be wife, that she approves.

Now here are the rules:  Most Old Order Mennonite and Amish names are from the Bible, so Thomas would like it to be a name from the Bible.  Also, it must be a name different from anyone else's on New York State of Mind.

I asked Thomas if he has her permission and he put her on the phone - she agreed to this.  So here is a bit about her.  She is 18 years old, as is Thomas.  Of course she is Old Order Mennonite as is Thomas.  She is a hard worker, Thomas says. She is kind and does for others.  Also, she does quilting, sewing, canning, crochet, and more.  What put her at the top of my list is she loves dogs and cats - especially dogs.

So here it goes.  What do you think her name should be?

BISHOP ELI ANSWERS YOUR QUESTIONS

I will try to answer some of your questions today.  Don't know if I will get through all of them or not.  If not, I will do another post.

Are their rules to become a Bishop?  Yes.  They must be baptized, married, being in good standing, and be raising their children in the way of the Lord. Now to get a little off here, if someone is Bishop and their wife dies - they don't have to marry again.  If they find the right person, they marry again, in fact most do.  But you don't have to. Only a man can be Bishop in our church.  Women can not be Bishops or Deacons or Ministers.

Does the Bishop have to be a certain age?  No.  Most Bishop's, that I know were in their 30's on up when they became Bishop.  I was in my 40's when I became Bishop.

Does the Bishop require special training?  I believe you mean like going to school, taking courses, etc.  No,  Although I do a lot of study of the Bible.  I try to get an hour or two every day, alone, in my office to read, study and pray.  This doesn't happen every day especially during planting and harvest season.  But I do try.  Emma and I also read the Bible and pray together. We also discuss Bible passages.

How is Bishop elected or chosen?  Our way is the same as when Bishop Joseph became Bishop.  We have a Bishop, deacons and our ministers there.  To start each person who is a baptized member of the church in good standing goes in the room and tells who they feel should be the Bishop. Men and women both do this.  When this is done, if there are more than 6 people chosen, the Bishop tells who the men are.  The Bishop usually has a time of prayer.  Then he asks the people to come through again and chose which of the ones they feel is chosen.  If they get done and there still are over six men, the people with the highest counts  go on to the next.

There are six Bibles.  In one of them, the Bishop puts a note with a Bible passage in it.  The six men are asked to come forward.  Usually they sit at a table in the front of room.  Bishop then mixes the Bibles, the deacons mix the Bibles and the Minister mix the Bibles.  Sometimes the Bishop mixes them one last time.  Then the Bibles are laid side by side on the table.  One by one the men chosen open the Bible.  If there is no Bible passenger, there are not Bishop.  The man that opens the Bible with the passage in it - is the Bishop.  We feel that God chose the person He wanted for Bishop.  I went through that - so I hope I put everything in there.

Do I perform marriages, yes I do.  Do I have to be licensed in the state?  I didn't really check into it.  When I became Bishop, I was given a beautiful certificate signed by the Bishop, deacons and ministers that took part.  Before I had to do my first marriage, I took it down to the county seat in Pennsylvania and they copied it.  When I came to New York, I did the same thing and they copied it.
Being Amish, I don't think I HAD to do that, but I did it so there wouldn't be any problems with the state or county.

I know there are more questions, but I think I end here for this post.  Will see if I can talk Emma into putting a post on here.

Honor the Lord,
Bishop Eli

THOMAS, JEAN AND DAVID'S SON, CALLED ME.  WE ARE GOING TO HAVE SOMETHING DIFFERENT ON TOMORROW, WE HOPE YOU ENJOY.  WE NEED YOUR HELP.

ELMER TRIES TO CATCH UP

Baby John is doing well at home.  Sarah called Anna the day after she got John home from the hospital and said he doesn't cry.  Anna asked if he is breathing right, eating well, etc.  Sarah said yes.  Anna told Sarah to thank the Lord, and enjoy it because none of her other babies will be like that.  It's true he rarely does cry.  You go to get him after a nap or feed him, he is in his crib, happy and doesn't cry.  Sarah will check when she brings him into the doctor next week, but Anna says he just isn't a baby that cries.  They are few and far between.

Michael and I had our Birthday party on October 31st.  It was suppose to be at our house, but because of all we had going with Baby John, Jean decided to have it at her house.  When we got there, all the men were taking the pumpkins and storing them in the barn.  Last year, they didn't take them in and someone smashed them, so I helped to get them in the barn.  Even David Jr., helped us by carying some small pumpkins.

We had a delicious dinner and played some board games.  Michael and I exchanged gifts.  We talked about going hunting.  Right now, you can hunt with bow, but gun season opens on November 21st, Marilyn's birthday.  All us men are planning on going.  Jean and Anna decided they want to go, too.  Someone has to stay home to answer the phone if someone wants a deer slaughtered and packaged.  Thomas said he would stay home as he doesn't care to go hunting.  If he gets a call, he will call David to come home and do the job.  In a way they want someone to call, but in a way David would rather be hunting.  I can't blame him.

Amos and Fannie, Olive and Albert left for Pinecraft on November 1st.  Olive and Albert are coming back for Thomas' wedding next month.  They all went on Amtrak and Porter, their friend,  was on so they enjoyed the trip down.

The year has passed since Sarah's Father passed, so she doesn't have to wear black all the time anymore.  She is now able to wear dark blue, brown, or burgandy color dresses now.

Anna and my wedding anniversary was November 14th.  We have been together 31 years.  Our daughter Alma, had us over to her house on Sunday as it was not a church day.  All, but two of our children was there.  One and his family were coming, but one of his children got sick and it was going through the other children.  They thought it was better to stay home that spread the cold.  Oh, John and Sarah didn't come either because they thought that would be too large a crowd for Baby John to be in yet.

Alma invited Eli and Emma, too  We had a great dinner.  We sat and talked.  Later we sang hymns.  Some of them gave us gifts, which we opened.  Alma had made a cake and had ice cream for desert.  We all enjoyed ourselves.  Eli closed with a prayer.  We got home in time to milk the cows.

The ladies were discussing who would have Thanksgiving Dinner this year.  Sarah wanted to, but with the new baby, Anna thought it would be too much for her.  Anyway it went all around and guess whose house it is going to be in? Ours.  That's where it was last year.  After a lot of discussion it was decided that with Hannah and Moses, their family and Anna and Hannah's Mother and Father, our house would be the best.  If their Mother isn't having one of their good days, Hannah doesn't have far to take their Mother home as they live right next door to us.  So Thanksgiving will be at our house.  I really think Anna enjoys it.  She will get help from Hannah, my Mother, our daughters and daughter-in-laws so it doesn't all fall on Anna.  They will decide who will bring what and they will help Anna do the rest.  We hope Baby John is cleared by the doctor so John, Sarah and Baby John can come, too.

Well, I guess that has us all caught up on what has been going on here.

Trust God's Wisdom,
Elmer

DOG RULES

I am taking Saturdays and Sundays unless it is a special day or holiday.

PIERRE WELCOMES HIS NEW FRIEND - MURPHY

Hello, You may remember me as Marilyn's friend, Vickie, with two toy poodles.  We have been on this blog before showing Mable and Henry.

Mable is our grey toy poodle we have had since she was a puppy.  She has some slipped discs in her back.  You have prayed for her in the past when Marilyn asked for prayer for her when she was not doing well.  Now she is doing fine.  She can not jump onto or off of the furniture or use the stairs, but otherwise is normal.

We rescued Henry from a breeder 2 1/2 years ago.  He lived in a cage a lot of the time.  The breeder told me that all he wanted to do was be on her lap, and she did not have time for that.  Well, Henry, is very happy here.  Henry and I visit the elderly at a nursing home, monthly.  The elderly love him.  He is perfect for them.  He is only 6 pounds.

Over several months I have been pondering a problem out there in the world of the elderly.  Many elderly own a pet and then they have to go live in a nursing home, or perhaps they die.  Then the care of their pet, falls on their adult children. Many times these adult children do not want the pet.  Sometimes, these adult children lie to their remaining parent and tell them the pet died, and they actually give it to the humane society.

Well, we went and adopted a poodle from our local humane society.  Murphy is a miniature poodle (like Pierre).  He had a rough time.  His elderly owner went to a nursing home.  The woman's adult daughter did not want to keep Murphy, so she took him to the shelter, who transferred him to our local humane society.  Murphy began straining to urinate there.  The veterinarian determined be had bladder stones and needed surgery to remove them.  He was so confused.  He is 12 years old.

Our humane society has a program called fostering-to-adopt, for animals that have special needs.  Since he was recovering from surgery (we got him 3 days post-operation) and he needed medicine daily.  We brought him back for the vet to take the staples out. We cared or fostered him  until his lab report came back on his bladder stones.  We now know what kind of dog food Murphy needs to eat the rest of his life to prevent bladder stones from forming again.

All three poodles got along from the start.  Murphy truly prefers people to dogs, but that is because he was an only dog of one elderly woman.  Henry has figured out that Murphy allows cuddling.  Murphy loves to sleep on your lap.  When I read in the recliner, Henry and Murphy are both with me.  We take turns letting one on my lap and one next to me in the recliner.  We switch the next time I sit to read.  It is a good thing Mabel does not prefer lap sitting.

If you are looking for a pet and maybe you do not want a puppy or a kitten, the humane society is a good place to look.  Older pets are overlooked all the time.  I had never thought of them until several months ago.  We are so glad he will be in our loving home the rest of his days.

JEAN'S CABBAGE AND NOODLE DISH

JEAN'S CABBAGE AND NOODLE DISH

8 slices of bacon
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 cup vinegar
1 medium sized cabbage
6 - oz medium sized egg noddles, cooked
1/2 cup sugar

Cut onion in pieces and fry out, add onions until glassy.  Drain off fat.  Add vinegar and sugar.  Set aside.  Cook cabbage in salty water until crunchy done.  Drain.  Cook noodles in salty water. Drain. Combine noodles and cabbage.   Stir in bacon dressing.  Serve hot.