April 10th Mary Wrote

Well I'm out of order but I want you all to know that Bill is the only one to call me and make sure I was still alive. Thanks Bill.

I am alive and I have alot of things to say so listen up (read up) oh my humor this early in the morning stinks.

Several weeks ago Paul and Aaron boarded an airplane for Kansas, to meet the family Aaron will be spending his summer with. He will be leaving in the middle of May to work on a Harvest Team. The family he is working for is in their fourth generation and consists of 2 brothers working together at this time. They are from a Mennonite Church north of Witchita and they require their guys to attend church with them while on the road. They try not to work on Sundays but some of the farms they get to tell them that if they don't come on Sunday, they don't have to come on Monday, so they go to church in the morning and then work later in the day. This was very good new to us. Aaron has wanted to work on a harvest team for a long time and when he was out in Colorado several summers ago he was told that there are good teams to work for and some pretty bad teams. He found an ad for this team in the Lancaster Farmer Newspaper. They buy 6 brand new combines every season. They have converted 4 Big moving trailers ( like Atlas moving trailer) into sleeping quarters. Each brother has one and then two for the crew they hire. They try to hire 12 guys but they were still short several when Paul and Aaron were out there. The first thing Aaron will do when he arrives is practice driving a dump straight truck to pass the test for his CDL liscence. It will be a temporary liscence for the purpose of working the harvest. While he was out there they took him out on the truck. He has driven something like this at Gehmans so it was not brand new. The big difference is they speed shift in stead of using the clutch so Aaron will need to learn how to do that.

I am glad for the opportunity he has to do this, and I trust God to be going with him and protecting him. It will make things different at our house. He has been doing youth group taxi driving so I guess I may have to take that hat back. If you have any other questions about it call Aaron.

David has been away since Sunday with the VICA organization through the tech school. They had state competition in Pittsburgh that David was invited to go along to. He was not competing this year but went along as a delegate and the experience for another year. He ended a second term with high honors at the tech school. He really enjoys the Diesel Tech class and the things they are learning.

Nathan is really involved with his violin. He is part of Tohickon Creek String Orchestra and his instructor has given him the chance to do some teaching and directing. The big challenge for Nathan right now is to put together a country sound with more fiddling that he will be teaching. He was picking music and writing parts for different instruments. He meets with the orchestra on Tuesday nights, practices with a more advanced group on Wednesday morning and has lessons with his teacher at our house on Thursdays.

Samuel recieved a perfect score on his spelling test this week. He was so excited that he called Paul at work. I was really pleased because when I had looked at this list I dreaded the thought of trying to learn them. He rose to the challenge and got them all. We have come up with some different methods for learning words.

Mom, how have you communicated to me about your commitment to living a life to please God. I have many memories of coming down in the morning to find you reading your Bible and often studing for Sunday School lessons. Daily devotions is a very important time of the day, to be alone with God and read his words to us, but just as important to quiet ourselves and listen. Thankyou for the example you have given me in those memories.

I am in the midst of some body repair work. I will be having root canal and a cap put on a tooth next week. I went to the dentist about a month ago to have a tooth capped and after he dug into it found the tooth was dead and needed root canal work. He was out of time that day so he temporarily filled the hole. I am also doing some footcare medical repair work. I have a pain in my left heel that I had x-rays taken of. I need to see the doctor for that in another couple of weeks. I am still on blood pressure medicine and really enjoy and need to walk, but when your foot hurts it is hard to walk.

Well I have come to the end of my letter.

IMPORTANT Annual Easter Egg hunt, Easter Sunday 3:00 P.M. Bring your lawn chairs and hang out for a while.

Take Care God Bless Mary