End of the Books

    In 2003, I had 5,000 copies printed of my first self-published book, Annie's Day of Light. The book sold like hotcakes and in less than a year I had another 4,000 copies printed. Self-publishing means the writer pays for the printing and the books are delivered to his/her address. Then it is the writer's job to advertise and ship the books to buyers. We stored the book pile on pallets in a corner of the basement where there were no water lines overhead. This is how the book pile looked after a shipment.

   A book always sells best when it is new. By the time the second printing arrived, sales had slowed and continued to decrease as the years passed by. I could not afford to advertise just one book. Cost of advertising ate all the profits. Without advertising, sales kept dropping.

   Then I self-published a second book, A Home for Sarah, in 2006 and the pile was stacked high for the third time. Those 5,000 copies sold within six months and I had another 3,000 printed. That book sold out several years ago but I still had about 1,000 copies of Annie's Day of Light. I thought the pile would outlive me and I'd never see the floor in that corner again.

    Then a miracle happened. In June, two women who have the Honey I'm a Homemaker podcast did an episode on the  Annie book. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Hp319xMkeQ

    Sales skyrocketed. Today, three months later, the pile is gone and I can see the floor again. We hung the porch swing that had been in that corner before the books came. It had been in storage all these years and most of our grandchildren never saw it. The three cases still in the corner are an order I need to deliver and an assortment of my books I kept for my own use.

   

   It took 21 years to sell 17,000 books. I am not reprinting. I don't want to be bothered with it anymore. I have written ten more books since self-publishing these two but went through a publisher who handles the cost of printing, advertising and shipping of sales. The royalties are not as great as the profits in self-publishing, but it's a lot less work and headache. I'm just glad I lived to see the end of the books!

   

Off to School

    August 26 was the opening day of school for all but one of our younger grandchildren and great-grandchildren. The other school started August 27.

Grayson, grade 7

Nick, grade 6; William, grade 5; Emma, grade 4

Avery, grade 1

Colton, preschool

Abigail, preschool

   Our generations cross with the last two. Colton is a great-grandchild and Abigail is a grandchild. Avery is also a great-grandchild. Abigail was allowed to enter preschool this year because her fourth birthday is less than a month after the opening day. Everybody is smiling and looking happy to go to school. 

Rough and Tumble

    Leroy's dad was on the committee for many years of the Rough & Tumble Old Thresherman's Reunion at Kinzers, PA. It is always held the middle of August and boasts of being the "Most Complete Steam and Gas Show in the East." There are steam traction engines, antique tractors, threshing machines, Hit & Miss gas engines, stationary balers, antique wagons, miniature steam trains, and more.

    Because Pop was heavily involved, his wife and children went with him. Rough & Tumble became a family tradition. One of the grandsons took his place on the board when he died in 2004 but the tradition of going to Rough & Tumble is carried on by his children, grandchildren, and now the great-grandchildren.

    Gerald took Abi last year and she couldn't get done looking at tractors. He took her again this year and she had a blast. As soon as they got there she headed for the train.

   Then it was on to see the tractors and other things.

One of the Stauffer tractors

Row of steam engines

Barrel train

Smaller train

Corn box

Ice cream turned by a tiny steam engine made by a Stauffer

Digging in the sawdust

It was an exhausting day for  a little girl.

    

Fruits of Our Labors

    

    On a hot humid day in August one can sense the ripeness of the year. The earth is producing an abundance of fruits and vegetables that beg to be preserved for the coming winter. The four big canning and freezing jobs in August are corn, tomatoes, peaches, and applesauce. 

   Years ago, when I was feeding a family of six children, I canned fruit in two-quart jars and did 100 quarts each of peaches and applesauce. I don't remember how many dozen ears of corn we did but we needed six cups of corn for one meal. We all pitched in to husk a huge pile of corn. Now, I put only one cup of corn in a pack. Peaches and applesauce are in one-quart jars and that is enough for at least three meals. Green beans are in pint jars, pickles and relishes in half-pint jars. 

    I only did eight dozen ears of corn this year. A grandson came one day in July and helped us get it in the freezer. It was such a small pile I didn't think to take pictures that day.

   Today my supplies of the big four are complete and stored away for another winter, thanks to a daughter-in-law, Velma, who volunteered to help. Yesterday she came to help can peaches for another daughter-in-law, Kelly, who has two small children. I had done my own peaches earlier so these were all for Kelly.

Sam is six-months-old

   Today Velma brought the green beans and tomato products she canned for me at her house and helped can applesauce for both of us. Bless her heart!

    

Everybody helped, even Grandpa

Abi stirred the red hot cinnamon candy into some of the applesauce to make her daddy's favorite flavor.

   When we were finished we had thirty quarts of applesauce, nine quarts for me and nineteen for Kelly. I had also canned two pints and six half-pints of sweet pickles before they came to start on the applesauce. Before we are a full week into the month, the August rush is over for 2024. 

   I am grateful for the help with canning. It would have been a lot of work for me to do everything by myself. Thanks also to the people who had extra green beans and pickles in their gardens they were happy to share. We are blessed!

   

Fifty-seven and Counting

    We celebrated our 57th wedding anniversary on Monday while we marveled how fast the years had flown and remembered some highlights of the wedding. We were young, strong and naïvely confident of a rosy life together. Today we are old and don't have enough strength to do some of the things we once did without much effort. I am increasingly more stooped due to a combination of scoliosis, osteoporosis, and rheumatoid arthritis.  I asked Leroy if he would still have married me if he had been able to see how I look today. He turned the question around and asked if I would have married him if I had seen how he is today at eighty years old. We decided we probably wouldn't have believed what we saw.

   We have had a good life although it was not all rosy and my confidence was shot full of holes. I was not as wise or mature as I thought I was at nineteen. There were times I didn't know how to handle the problems in life and made a lot of mistakes. Two things were in our favor. We had a strong faith in God and commitment to each other. 

   The older we get, the more we realize either one without the other would be in trouble. He depends on me to keep the books and the calendar. I depend on him for maintenance of the property and car. We were raised in families with similar values and agree on most things. Sometimes when I didn't agree with him and he went ahead anyway, I found he was right. Our children say they never heard us argue. I'm sure they heard us disagree but never heard a loud blow out argument.

   Leroy worked until he was 77 and retired three years ago. All physical ailments aside, these are the best years of our lives. We enjoy the luxury of being together all day every (or most) day. We do volunteer work at several places as we please. It took a long time and hard work to get to this place. 

  Leroy got a gift certificate for Cracker Barrel for his 80th birthday last December. We saved it to celebrate out anniversary. We have learned that restaurant meals are too large for us and one entre is enough for both of us. We ordered a steak and shrimp dinner with two sides and an additional side of a loaded baked potato. The waiter brought us an extra plate to divide it and it was plenty. I asked him to take a picture of us because it was our anniversary. He obliged and when we finished eating brought us a slice of chocolate cake with chocolate frosting and ice cream "on the house." It was against Leroy's diabetic rules but what could we do when he set it under our noses? We thanked him and ate it!

Sneak Preview

   Last summer I was asked to write something for the 500th anniversary of Anabaptism on January 21, 2025. The book committee said they wanted something small and easy to read. I wasn't sure I could do it but after some thought and prayer decided to try. It turned out to be not as hard as I thought it would be. I told the story of the birth of Anabaptism by telling the stories of the five most prominent leaders in chronological order. It shows how the lives of Conrad Grebel, Felix Manz, George Blaurock, and Michael Sattler were intertwined in Switzerland and Germany. 

     Menno Simons was converted ten years later in the Netherlands after the four in Switzerland had died. The Mennonite church bears his name for he was the leader who united the scattered brethren and guided them safely through the turbulent early years of Anabaptism. His cautious, thoughtful understanding of Biblical principles led to the development of a reputable church that adhered to the founding principles laid down by the Swiss founders.

    My manuscript bounced back and forth between editors and proofreaders while an artist drew pencil drawings and another painted the cover. Finally, in June, one year after the initial request, the book was finished and sent to the printer. It is summary of the historical events suitable for ages fourteen and above. It is scheduled to be released in October and will be available through the 2025 anniversary year.  

This is the front cover

4th of July

 The older we get, the better we like it at home. We don't want to be fighting holiday traffic to get somewhere or jostling elbows in a crowd on a hot day. We like it just fine in our cool, quiet house. And so we spent this 4th of July at home and had an indoor picnic for two. This morning I thought I should have invited one of our children to join us but I did not have enough corn or hamburger buns for more people. So we had a "picnic" by ourselves. Leroy grilled burgers and I made potato salad and corn on the cob. The best eating season of the year is here!

Join Franklin Graham in this prayer for America

Lord,
We are thankful for the abundant blessings You have bestowed on America. Our forefathers looked to You as Protector, Provider, and the Promise of hope. But we have wandered far from that firm foundation. May we repent for turning our backs on Your faithfulness.
We pray that this great nation will be restored by Your forgiveness.
From bondage, You grant freedom.
Through Your own sacrifice, You offer salvation.
From the state of despair, You offer peace.
From the bounties of Heaven, You have blessed – not because of our goodness – but by Your grace.
You have given us freedom to worship You in spirit and in truth as Your holy Word instructs. May our lives honor You in word and deed. May our nation acknowledge that all good things come from the Father above.
President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed that our nation should set apart a day for national prayer to confess our sins and transgressions in sorrow, “yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon… announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.”
“We have vainly imagined in the deceitfulness of our own hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own… we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and preserving grace, too proud to pray to the God who made us! It behooves us then… to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness.”
Help us to pray earnestly for our president and leaders who govern, that they will humble themselves and seek Your guidance so that everything we do will shine the light of Your glory in a darkened world.
May our prayers as a people and a nation be heard and blessed for such a time as this. We make this plea in faith, believing in the mighty name of Jesus our Lord.
Amen