Family Letter Greetings to all of you this nice Sunday eve! I have about 5 minutes to get this started before we go to our church singing, now need to help a little boy find a belt, somehow he slipped out without it this morning & I want him to wear it as his shirt slips out too much, but now I can’t find it either, Jenny must have put it elsewhere when she unpacked his suitcase. Back from church, Jeffrey wore one of Kendall’s old belts. Jennifer is on the way home from Lincoln, Mo. where she had been for April’s baptismal today. She & Kathleen went with Sharon Nissley & Hannah Yutzy yest. p.m. & picked Elaine up at Bloomfield on the way. Was nice that she had a way to go as we felt rather “tripped out” & didn’t feel like packing up the whole family again to go. We took the family to Penn Valley for family week last week, there were a lot more families there this year than there ever were before for this seminar so you didn’t get to know everyone that was there like we did 2 years ago when we were there. The topics & sessions were good & we enjoyed it in spite of the crowd. I think there was a total of @ 30 families. Last Sat. night or more like early Sun. morn. I woke up, heard people yelling & jumped up thinking the building must be on fire or something! Soon I heard it’s coming from outside so I looked out & there were 5 or 6 boys outside chasing something, one yelled “ get a stick” our window was open a few inches, just like that a strong smell drifted up into our room & I immediately closed the window, but still smelled it strong. Ev woke up for a bit then soon went back to sleep, but sleep was gone for me. About 30 minutes later I stuck my nose out in the hall to try to figure out if it’s just in our room since the window had been open. Then I heard someone coming up the stairs & a boy appeared with t- shirt & shorts on, appeared he had changed, he was carrying his suitcase. He went in a room a little down the hall from us. I soon figured out the smell was coming in through the air conditioner as I started smelling boys’ cologne mixed with the skunk smell, & it got worse every time the air conditioner went. The next morning Nathan Overholt was quoting scripture, in everything give thanks, & added even give thanks for skunks! We found out the Penn Valley staff were seeing a skunk around there a lot lately & these boys decided to make rid of it. They chased it quite awhile, one time it got in one of the basement window wells & sprayed there too, hope those people had their window closed!! The parents of one 15 year old boy were not impressed that he was out there doing that, they thought he had been in bed. When we were getting ready to leave we saw him on top of their van tying his shoes to the top, I guess they smelled too bad to take inside. Some of the boys put their clothes in trash bags & sealed them shut. Their poor Moms!! I don’t know how many boys actually got sprayed. This is Mon. p.m. now, I’m starting to wonder if we’ll ever get this done, & you are probably wondering if we are ever going to remember that it’s our turn to write. Kayla typed some this forenoon & didn’t save it now it’s all lost. Thankfully I had saved mine thus far! The church is raising sweet corn to sell this summer & this morning some of us ladies helped pick, we had the back of the tracker piled full & then a pickup bed full, we started at 5:30 & picked @ an hour, then there was sorting etc. to do yet. Some of the smaller cobs & wormy stuff was put in freezer 4 some of the church people who need it. They did it at Yoder Bros. I didn’t help with that, was in the bakery several hours today, Jenny helped Hannah with the pie but she has this bad cold that some of us were getting so decided I’ll help with cinnamon rolls & washed a big pile of dishes so Hannah can get done earlier. She got the message this morning that her 90 year old Grandfather passed away in Kalona, Iowa so she wants to go to the funeral, haven’t heard when the funeral is yet. Since Hannah plans to teach school this fall she is only planning to work at the bakery this month yet so we are rather undecided what to do. Raymond wants us to keep on baking for his store but it’s a lot of hassle to dirty up dishes for not more than he sells at the store & isn’t really worth paying anyone to do it, neither do I want to be tied down to an obligation like that, it makes too much of the house work & sewing get neglected if 2 of us are out there so much. We like baking for the market as we can do it all in 2 days, 1 ½ day of baking & 1 forenoon to sell it & we don’t have to do it when it doesn’t suit plus it’s only seasonal, May – October. Anyway at this point we are just hoping & praying that something will work out. Millers store is almost more than Raymond can handle anymore especially since Barbara passed away. Some of the church people were helping him out some. Jeffrey experienced a few wild golf cart rides recently. One morning the girls were in the garden & had the golf cart parked there facing 54 with Jeffrey sitting on the seat, when a puppy that we don’t have anymore got on the floor board & sat on the pedal which made the golf cart go. I was in the bakery & saw the golf cart flying past & looked to see who it was & all I could see was Jeffrey on the seat but he doesn’t usually drive it, then I saw Kayla running behind it trying to catch up, she called the dog then & he moved off the pedal & the golf cart stopped before anyone got hurt. Jeffrey was scared & screaming. The day before we left for our trip the 3 little boys took some stuff to the shop with the golf cart, then when they were ready to come to the house Kendall decided he wants to be the cruise control & pushed the pedal , Austin had the steering wheel, they were headed for the pond, going fast so Austin made a sharp left turn & Kendall & Jeffrey flew off on the gravel, both were scraped , bumped, & bruised, but seemed ok otherwise so we took 2 boys along on the trip with ugly scrapes on their faces. We lectured the children on golf cart safety too since those episodes! Kayla~ last night after everybody else was in bed I was still out here trying to get a circle letter ready to mail when Jeffrey called out “Kayla, the night light blinks!” so I went in to check it out and there was nothing wrong with it but I told Austin to watch it for a while to see if it actually blinks and I got back to my letter after awhile Austin says “Kayla , I know what’s wrong with it , Jeffrey looks at it and then he blinks and thinks its the night light!’ after that everything was quiet for a bit then Jeffrey says “Kayla , I’m scared of my shadow!” I asked why and he says “it looks like an animal” after that he refused to go to sleep so he ended up on the floor beside my bed. We had an enjoyable time at Penn valley. one of the girls there was saying that one time when she was in a hurry eating supper her little brother asked her “ Joy Lynn do you love me” “Of course!” she answered and he just asked her again “Do you love me?” “Of course I already told you!” and again “ Joy Lynn do you love me and she says “ stop it u know I love you!” And he says “feed my sheep” This after noon we had a little thunder shower, Jeffrey opened the door and stood there with a toy cross bow every time it thundered he shot and said “ that thunder is dead!” Mina~ Jonathan Millers got foster babies again yesterday, preemie twins, a boy & a girl. They don’t think they’ll have them very long, maybe 6 months, as the Mom very much wants them but has to go through a program first to stay off drugs. Jonathans little Brendalou had her first birthday Sat. so Mary Kathryn has her hands full, but Louise lives close & Kathleen plans to help too. The babies weighed 3 & 4 pounds so they are a bit tinier than Jeffrey was, they were a week earlier too & were in the hospital 3 weeks. Well Bottoms up and we need to send this out. Ev Mina & Family.
I added an article that might be of interest to you.
The 11 Best Foods You Aren’t EatingMaybe you should be eating more beets, or chopped cabbage. Nutritionist and author Jonny Bowden has created several lists of healthful foods people should be eating but aren’t. But some of his favorites, like purslane, guava and goji berries, aren’t always available at regular grocery stores. I asked Dr. Bowden, author of “The 150 Healthiest Foods on Earth,” to update his list with some favorite foods that are easy to find but don’t always find their way into our shopping carts. Here’s his advice. Beets: Think of beets as red spinach, Dr. Bowden said, because they are a rich source of folate as well as natural red pigments that may be cancer fighters.
How to eat: Fresh, raw and grated to make a salad. Heating decreases the antioxidant power. Cabbage: Loaded with nutrients like sulforaphane, a chemical said to boost cancer-fighting enzymes.
How to eat: Asian-style slaw or as a crunchy topping on burgers and sandwiches. Swiss chard: A leafy green vegetable packed with carotenoids that protect aging eyes.
How to eat it: Chop and saute in olive oil. Cinnamon: May help control blood sugar and cholesterol.
How to eat it: Sprinkle on coffee or oatmeal. Pomegranate juice: Appears to lower blood pressure and loaded with antioxidants.
How to eat: Just drink it. Dried plums: Okay, so they are really prunes, but they are packed with antioxidants.
How to eat: Wrapped in prosciutto and baked. Pumpkin seeds: The most nutritious part of the pumpkin and packed with magnesium; high levels of the mineral are associated with lower risk for early death.
How to eat: Roasted as a snack, or sprinkled on salad. Sardines: Dr. Bowden calls them “health food in a can.'’ They are high in omega-3’s, contain virtually no mercury and are loaded with calcium. They also contain iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper and manganese as well as a full complement of B vitamins.
How to eat: Choose sardines packed in olive or sardine oil. Eat plain, mixed with salad, on toast, or mashed with dijon mustard and onions as a spread. Turmeric: The “superstar of spices,'’ it may have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer properties.
How to eat: Mix with scrambled eggs or in any vegetable dish. Frozen blueberries: Even though freezing can degrade some of the nutrients in fruits and vegetables, frozen blueberries are available year-round and don’t spoil; associated with better memory in animal studies.
How to eat: Blended with yogurt or chocolate soy milk and sprinkled with crushed almonds. Canned pumpkin: A low-calorie vegetable that is high in fiber and immune-stimulating vitamin A; fills you up on very few calories.How to eat: Mix with a little butter, cinnamon and nutmeg. In my own house, I only have two of these items — pumpkin seeds, which I often roast and put on salads, and frozen blueberries, which I mix with milk, yogurt and other fruits for morning smoothies. How about you? Have any of these foods found their way into your shopping cart? | 
