Happy Birthday, Dad!

Today I would like to wish my precious Dad a Happy Birthday! His nickname is "Gentle Ben". And he truly has been a gentleman! (Although his Amish upbringing would deny such "airs".) What I remember most about my Dad when I was growing up was his quiet, gentle strength. I always felt safe in his care. And he was very hardworking and steadfast in his provision for our family. Thank you once again, Dad! You set the example in your faith, gentleness, and example of serving God!
God's blessings on you today!!






















Dad in 1950 in Portland, Oregon




















Dad in the middle of his "kids" in 2006.

Wordless Wednesday--Friends

Please join Dixie at French Lique for more Wordless Wednesday.

Happy Birthday, Elena!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my baby sister, Elena, a Very Happy Birthday! I was seven years old when we brought her home from the hospital on our Dad's 30th birthday. I remember looking down into the snowy receiving blanket in Mom's arms and seeing a little round red face with lots of dark hair. A week or so later, I got to go to a baby shower with Mom, that the ladies of our church were putting on for Mom and my new baby sister. I thought it was so cute that Elena just slept right through it laying on her tummy across Mom's lap! I was always so proud of my little sister. She was just adorable with her soft, dark curls and chubby cheeks with dimples. When she got to be a toddler, she was a challenge to watch when we were playing outside. She kept wanting to put little pebbles in her mouth and then run away! The trick was to get them out of her mouth without her choking on them, or biting me!--lol! She didn't much like minding me when she was older and I was left in charge, either! :-) However, as we grew older, we got along better and better. We seemed to like a lot of the same things: doing arts and crafts and flower gardening, especially. But the best thing of all is that not only are we sisters in the flesh, but we are sisters in the Lord! And I was oh, so happy when my dear sister, after many years of waiting, found her precious husband. And then the Lord gave them a beautiful baby girl of their own! Now their family is complete.

Elena is the one who got me into the blogging world. She started a blog in 2008, and kept encouraging me to start one of my own. So here I am! Thank you, thank you, Sis!! After you watch the little slide show I put together here, why not pop on over to Elena's Garden and tell her Happy Birthday, too!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Loving Reminders

I am joining Kelli's Show & Tell Friday with a little doll quilt that I have had for 53 years.


It is 16 X 21 inches and made of plain white muslin with narrow blue binding machine-stitched on the edges and as an inner border on the top. The picture of the puppies in the middle and the lettering is done with fabric paint pens. The quilted grid is hand-stitched in blue thread.

What makes this little quilt so special to me is that it was made for me by my grandmother (my father's mother) who was of the Old Order Amish faith. Of course, it is not in the style that one typically thinks of Amish quilts, but then again she made it for her "English" (non-Amish) granddaughter! My father had left the Amish way of life when he was sixteen. My grandmother lived in Indiana and we lived in Portland, Oregon. She had never seen me and I had never seen her. The Amish didn't believe in photographs or telephones, so mostly we kept in touch by the occasional letter. Then she sent this little quilt and a matching one to my sister, Linda, just before my third birthday. Mom and Dad had gotten Linda and me baby dolls for Christmas and Dad had made little wooden beds for the dolls. The quilts from Grandma fit the beds perfectly! So they got played with a lot! It didn't occur to me until I was much older what loving care had gone into their creation. I think the baby dolls and even the beds were given away at some point when we outgrew them, but Mom made sure we put the little quilts away as keepsakes. I only got to see my grandmother for one visit, when Dad, Mom, Linda, and I, along with our Cocker-Spaniel puppy, took a trip from California to Indiana during the summer of 1958. To my five year-old mind that trip seemed like something out of a storybook: experiencing the old-fashioned farming way of life of my Amish relatives. But when we came back to the West Coast, I always had the little quilt to remind me! ;)