I have my mom’s (reluctant) permission to “reprint” this letter in this particular forum. (Typing as fast as I can before she changes her mind.) I found this treasure a couple months ago when Bethany and I were at Mom and Dad’s helping them wade through (and purge!) years of clutter.

There are some things, though, that should never, ever, EVER be thrown away.

This letter is one of them.

Let me set the stage. Mom and Dad graduated from the same high school in 1969. They supposedly met for the first time in the church nursery, but they weren’t exactly childhood sweethearts. Their first date was their Senior Prom (Spring 1969). In the fall of that year, they both went away to college. Dad started at Cedarville College (an hour from home), and Mom headed off to Grace College in Indiana. For those of you who know my own story, this may sound oddly familiar to you. Yes, I went to Cedarville and Gabe went to Grace.

So, not long after they went their separate ways, Dad realized there were a lot of other fish in the sea and felt the urge to go out with one of them. So he broke up with Mom. Mom tells me now that they weren’t really even “committed” to each other, but apparently, she was just crushed by his decision.

HOWEVER, just prior to February 2, 1970, she made a conscious decision to MOVE ON. No more whimpering and crying over some dumb boy who obviously didn’t know how good he had it. Who needed him anyway? Certainly not her.

In a big, long, paragraph-less (I broke it up for you. You’re welcome) letter to her parents (that has me ROLLING every single time I read it), she fills them in on her new, happy, independent life.

Without further ado… Oh, one more thing. Take a mental tally, if you will, of the number of times she says, “Well.” Quite comparable to my over-use of the similar “Anyway.”

Monday, February 2, 1970

Dear Mom and Dad,

Hi! How is everybody back home? I’m just fine. You know–you were right! You said I hadn’t given anyone a chance here because I was always hanging on to someone back home. Well–I quit hanging on to anyone back home and boy did it work! I can hardly believe it. I wish I woulda let go a long time before this.

Well, I’ll tell ya all about it. First of all, there was a music recital on Friday night, January 23rd, and this guy named Joe asked me to go with him. Well, I’m really not too wild about Joe, but I had to go to the recital anyway, so I told him I’d go. Well, see, I didn’t want Joe to ask me out again, so I thought if I looked real icky at the recital that he wouldn’t ask me out again. But I decided that wasn’t such a good idea so I wore my new outfit and coat.

I prayed about the evening ’cause Joe has a reputation for being fast and conceited. Well–I was sure glad I was dressed up! I had washed & dried my hair Friday afternoon, so it looked neat. Well, we went to the recital and sat in front of a whole row of guys. They all whistled at me. One guy especially told me I looked beautiful. His name was Dave.

Well, after the recital was over at about 8:30, Dave asked me if I wanted to go mess around on the piano with him. (We were supposed to play a piano duet in the Talent Show.) Well, he looked at Joe and then at me and said, “Oh, I’m sorry, Joe, you probably wanted to take Chris back to the dorm didn’t you?” Joe said “yes.”

So he took me back and I ran up and got my music and went over to McClain with Dave. [I told myself I wouldn't add commentary, but I'm dying here. Really. Truly.]

We played piano and sang together until midnight. He plays beautiful! Just like a dream! Well, right before we left, he asked me if I wanted to go to the basketball game on Saturday night with him. I said I’d love to. So he picked me up at 7:45 and we had a wonderful time. We smeared Los Angeles Baptist with a score of 122-108! Afterwards we had a victory party in the gym. Dave had to play a honkey tonk piano for entertainment the first half hour. It was really neat!

The party was over at 11:00 so we went to McClain again and played the piano and sang together until midnight again. He told me I had the tuffest voice. (That’s pretty funny.) Then I went to church with him Sunday night to the Fellowship Baptist Church. We doubled with his roommate, Jim, and one of my girlfriends, Brenda. After church we went to Penguin Point and ate. We had a riot.

Well, I saw him through the week and we talked and stuff. Then Friday night, January 30th, we were together from 6:00-12:00. Part of that time he had to work in the college building, so I talked to him. Then we watched T.V. in the lounge and played the piano & sang until midnight again. It was so much fun.

Well, [I'm up to 11 "Wells." How about you?] the freshman class decided they couldn’t get two pianos in the gym for the talent show, so I played for Dave to sing a solo–”You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me.” It was so tuff! The spotlight was on him and everything. He’s got such a tuff voice. I also accompanied a girl to sing “People.” She did a beautiful job.

Well, after the talent show, Dave and I doubled with Ken and Pam to get a pizza. It was really a lot of fun! Then yesterday morning I went to church with Dave again and we went to dinner together. It was really great! He treats me like I’m worth something. (Unlike someone else I used to know.) [That would be my father.]

I sat down and added up all the hours I spent with him those 2 weekends and it came out to 29 hours and 15 minutes. Wow–how’s that! [Wait. It gets better.]

I like him, that’s for sure, but there’s some others I like too. Like: Daryl, Larry, Gary, Asher, and Keith. I don’t want to go steady with Dave because I don’t want to get tied down with one. Understand? [Totally.]

I hope you don’t think I’m a big flirt. [Why in the world would we think that?] Just making up for lost time. The next time I come home I’ll explain everything in more detail–whenever that is. I miss all you guys a lot. I’m behavin’, believe it or not and I’m much happier than I’ve been for a LONG time!

God Bless You–every one!

Love, Chris

Two months later, my mom and dad were back together. Sometime later they got engaged. And on August 26, 1972, they got married and have been SUPER-HAPPILY married ever since.

Thanks, Mama, for enduring embarrassment just so I could get a few laughs on my blog. You have done a great service to the world. And you’re one of the tuffest women I know.

I wish we would’ve thought to take a big family photo before Grandma (and several other people) had already headed home. Oh well. Next time. All of us in this pic add up to less than half of Grandma and Grandpa’s descendants. They have 7 kids (+ spouses), 26 grandkids (+ spouses) and a crazy-exponential number of great-grandkids.

Gabe took this pic with a timer and his mini-tripod, and I am SHOCKED that you can see everyone (except beautiful little Abby tucked behind Asias) and that almost everyone is smiling. Miracle.

Did I mention that Saturday supposedly set some sort of record for July 24 in our small town in Ohio? It was close to 100 degrees (I hear you Texans scoffing), and we had 56 people and NO AIR-CONDITIONING. And you Texans are no longer scoffing, because you can’t fathom being outside (or in an un-air-conditioned house with 55 other people) for 10 hours in the heat. Am I right?

I must confess that some of us did find some relief midway through the day.

My brother Josh, my cousin Sara and I took our nine kids plus my Aunt Jeannie’s three over to my Mom and Dad’s to swim for awhile. So much fun.

Another shift of people came over after we went back to Susie’s. Not sure what the limit is for Mom and Dad’s pool, but I’m pretty sure it’s less than 56.

Next on the agenda: Magic Show with Uncle Rod! Always a good time.

I love that my girlies looooove their first cousins and second cousins and first cousins once-removed. They play and play and play together until they drop.

And they have such a beautiful place to play. We may not have beaches or mountains or deserts (thank you, Jesus!), but Ohio is awfully pretty in its own right.

Can you guess what we’re all doing here? Okay, I’ll tell you. Watching my brother-in-law, Stewart, fly one of his remote-controlled airplanes. He’s amazing, really, and it’s always a HUGE hit with any crowd.

And last, but not least, a sweet pic of two of my favorite girlies.

Thank you, God, for the amazing blessing of family. A family with a godly heritage, full of wonderful, beautiful people. I love you guys!

It’s going to take something pretty spectacular to get me talking about a topic unrelated to Cambodia for the next long while.

My extended family fits the bill.

Saturday was our Annual Yoder Family Summer Get-Together at Uncle Tim (my dad’s brother) and Aunt Susie’s (isn’t that a sweet picture Gabe took of the field behind their house?). Not all of Grandma and Grandpa’s descendants could make the trip, but over 50 of us did. And for the first time in a long, long while, all of Grandma’s seven kids were together.

And Aunt Jeannie went to great lengths to bring Grandma from the nursing home. It was a super-special day, and I don’t think Grandma’s grin disappeared for one second of the two-ish hours she got to spend with all of us.

Here she is with the youngest of the Yoder clan, Heidi Jaye Mayo (my cousin Rachael’s youngest of three girlies):

And with all seven of her kiddos. Doug, Chris, Jeannie, Nick and Tim in the back. Ron (my daddy), Grandma and Terry in the front.

And Grandma got her socks knocked off when her “baby brother” Russ showed up and surprised her. Word has it he wasn’t supposed to be driving, but I won’t tell. Grandma had two brothers, but Uncle Tom and his wife Betty are gone. And so is Russ’s wife, Miriam. And Grandpa. So Russ is all Grandma has left. Well, him and her oodles of descendants.

Here are some of those characters doing what they do best. Eating.

We Yoders do a lot of eating. And hoo boy, is it good! (This is my brother Josh, my sis-in-law Jess and their kiddos. And my mama.)

Here’s cutie-pie Preston and his pretty mama, Christy. We like to tease my cousin Brian (Christy’s husband) that he is sooooo lucky to have snagged her (but it’s true). Love you, Christy! You too, Brian.

Here’s Grandma leaving to go back to the nursing home. It’s easier not to think about how things used to be. Getting together at Grandma and Grandpa’s farm (right down the road from Tim and Susie’s). Grandpa taking everything in from his seat on the porch. The days when we were the ones who left, not Grandma.

Bittersweet for sure.

I heart my family.

More pics tomorrow for you cousins, aunts and uncles stopping by! (Magic Show! Pool party! Flying airplanes!)

Second of all, Date Night was short but sweet. A resounding success. Pei Wei for 2 (and we tried NEW things!!), Barnes & Noble with a gift card (where I skimmed through writing books, bought 2 adorable little journals for Cambodia, and Gabe surprised me with a 2-inch x 2-inch wooden blue “M.” Be still my heart), Chick-Fil-A for free milkshakes (thanks, Amanda!), Bed Bath and Beyond for neck pillows for the million-hour flight to Cambodia, and a 5-minute tour of Target.

Click here for an iPhone pic of me with pool hair, new glasses, modeling a plate of edamame.

And yes, Nicole, Gabe earned his 20 points later on (and then some). Oh my, I’m blushing.

So MK e-mailed me the Wife part of the test today, and I read through it at the pool this afternoon (the first time I’ve gone to the pool w/o swimming–will someone please tell my children that 70 degrees is NOT swimming weather?). I’m pleased to announce that I’m a stellar wife. (I actually probably would’ve made a better wife 75 years ago than I do today. Well, okay, maybe not.)

Here’s a smattering of some of the Demerits I DID NOT earn:

Puts stockings to soak in wash basin. Insists on driving the car when husband is along. Smokes in bed or has cigarette stained fingers. Talks too long on the phone. Walks around house in stocking feet. Seams in hose often crooked. Wears red nail polish. Shoulder straps hang over arms or slip is uneven and shows. Serves too much from tin cans or the delicatessen store. Doesn’t like children. Goes to bed with curlers in her hair or too much face cream.

I’m good, huh? (Never mind that I spend too much time on the internet, walk around the house in bare feet, my toenails are painted blue, and I serve too much from the freezer/Little Caesar’s.)

Here are some Demerits I DID earn:

Slow in coming to bed–delays till husband is almost asleep (not always, but definitely sometimes). Fails to sew on buttons or darn socks regularly (darn those socks). Tells family affairs to casual acquaintances (hello, Blog World!), too talkative. Often whining and complaining. Fails to wash top of milk bottle before opening it. Wears pajamas instead of nightgown.

Merits I DID earn (hooray for me!):

Can carry on and interesting conversation. Personally puts children to bed. Encourages thrift (panties from the thrift store, anyone?). Laughs at her husband’s jokes and his clowning. Ambitious for her family (52 zoos, anyone?), urges higher attainment. Has spunk–will defend her ideals and religion. Praises marriage before young women contemplating it. Reacts with pleasure and delight to marital congress (i.e., likes to have sex).

I don’t suppose it would do a whole lot of good to ask husbands to tell me one thing they love about their wives. Most guys only venture over here when Red Rover, Red Rover, Gabe sends them right over. But it’s worth a shot. Feel free to send your own hubby right over.

If you’re a married guy, tell me one thing you love about your wife.

And girls, prayer request for you. My cousin K is serving our country in the military, and he commented this week that a lot of young married guys in his platoon could use some prayer. A lot of their marriages aren’t surviving their deployments, and it’s breaking their hearts. Breaks my heart too. Please take a moment to pray for military marriages.

One final Cambodia sale tomorrow! I’ve got some really cute things to show you! Have a great night!

p.s. Here’s the full survey for wives, the full survey for husbands, and the blog where MK found the surveys, if you’re interested.

Happy Birthday, beautiful Ava! You’re EIGHT today! I can hardly believe it! I can still vividly remember the day you were born. Don’t tell your sisters, but it was, by far, my favorite Birth-Day. You made it so easy. You gave me time to get pretty, you didn’t make my belly contract painfully, you let me get to the hospital in time for an epidural, and I didn’t feel a stitch of pain the whole day. Bless you!

The first two hours of your birthday have been rough. You’re feeling a little gypped. We don’t get to go to your favorite place (the pool) today, and you aren’t too thrilled about going to your class at church on your birthday. I’m so, so sorry you inherited your Mama’s Moody, sweetheart, but those are the breaks.

Thankfully, you got a lot of my good traits too. And a lot of your daddy’s. And quite a few of your very own.

You are something else, girlfriend. And I mean that in the most awesome way.

You’ve got spunk, you’ve got spirit, and you make friends like nobody’s business. Your teachers have told me from day one that “everybody wants to be friends with Ava.”

You know what you like (except when you don’t–your chronic indecisiveness is from your mother). You’re going to look smashing in your new Brazil soccer jersey you got from your Grandma and Grandpa Yoder (I love that you studied Brazil all year in school and know so much about it–even some Portuguese!). You’re going to look amazing in the U.S. soccer jersey you’ll get this afternoon from your Grandma and Papaw Taviano.

Speaking of soccer, I LOVE watching you play. You’re a natural (thanks, Daddy!), and you make it look effortless. I’m looking forward to the fall when you and Livi are on the same team.

Speaking of Livi, you’re such a good middle sister. Such a good buddy to Livi AND to Nina. I love watching you interact with each of them, and while you three have your moments, for the most part you are great, great friends.

I love that you’ve learned to swim and have overcome your fear of the diving board and are excited about swimming lessons starting tomorrow.

I love that you wanted art supplies for your birthday and that you love to draw and create and play school with your sisters and friends.

I love watching you with little kids. You are going to make one heck of a mama or aunt (or both) some day. You are such a lover and nurturer, and little ones light up when they’re around you.

I love your heart for hurting people. I love your love for animals (and your persistent begging for a dog–maybe in 15 years). I love your love for life.

I love that getting-ever-blonder hair, those getting-ever-kinkier curls, those gorgeous popping-up-all-over freckles and your beautiful smile.

I love listening to you laugh. I love listening to you tell stories. I love your contagious enthusiasm and zest for life.

We love you so much, Ava Marie. We are so stinkin’ blessed to have you in our family!

I hope (and pray) that your birthday gets a thousand times better than it is right now!

Love,

Mommy

When I told Gabe, he said, “Ava’s not going to be happy that she has to go back to school on the first day of break.” He obviously does not understand the joys of purging and organizing and helping your teacher when school is already out. Ava is thrilled! And so are her sisters.

Then, if the rain holds off, we’re heading to the pool and buying our first pool pass. I can count on one hand the number of times we’ve been to a public pool in their lifetimes. And I decided this would be The Year of the Pool.

Honestly? I’m not a big fan. I’d rather sit on the back porch (or in bed! or on the beach!) and read all summer long. But those little crazies love water, and since I don’t have any babies anymore, I’m thinking it will work.

This is also going to be The Summer of Intentional and Purposeful Mommy-Daughter Quality Time. I’m a girl of many ideas and ambitions, and this summer I intend to raise one of my ambitions high, high above the rest. To have fun with my girls.

Yes, there’s Cambodia (woohoo!!) and yes, I’ll do some writing, but I’m reeeeeeeally feeling an uncomfortable crunch right now. By the time summer chills into fall and fall freezes into winter, my oldest will be in the Double Digits Club, and my youngest will turn five. FIVE.

These are the glory days, and I want them to drag by in slow motion. (Although I have a feeling they won’t cooperate.)

So, things might ebb and flow here at the blog. I’ll try posting every day for awhile, but I may cut back to Monday, Wednesday, Friday or something like that. We’ll see.

Thanks for making my blog a place I love to be. And for loving my family so sweetly.

Happy, Happy Summer, friends!!

Everything was going great until Nina walked into the kitchen, marched up to me, and said, “Mommy!”

I stopped singing mid-note, held my clap-happy hands apart and raised my eyebrows as if to say, “Yes?”

She pointed to the journal I’d been writing in before I lost myself in the “music” and said two little words with big attitude.

“Just write.”

Well. I never. Hmph.

At about 7:45 on Wednesday evening, the dark sky got darker, the wind started blowing like mad, and the rain started to fall. Then the lights started to flicker. And flicker some more. And some more.

And then poof. Gone.

It wasn’t completely dark outside yet, so I had light enough to walk downstairs, head to the kitchen cupboard where I keep the matches and start lighting all the cinnamon, cinnamon-apple, sweet cinnamon pumpkin, and cinnamon gingerbread allspice hallelujah candles I have scattered all over the house.

84 candles and not a single flashlight.

“Is there going to be a tornado?” the girls wanted to know. Nina especially was quite worried.

“Should we go to the basement?! We should go to the basement!”

I assured them that we’d be fine, that there was no tornado, just some wind. Then our deck chairs started flying across the deck.

Um, let’s meander on down to the Underground, said Ma.

We took candles and matches down to the basement and cuddled on the couch. The girls were scared. Oh, the unknown! But never fear! Captain Apple was here! Gabe pulled out his trusty, rusty, fully-charged iPhone and checked the weather. 70mph winds, lots of rain, possible hail.

“But no tornadoes,” he said.

“See? No tornadoes,” I said.

A millisecond later, a loud siren.

“The tornado siren!” they yelled.

Mmmm, yes. That would be correct.

So, we prayed and snuggled and talked about how blessed we were to have a basement. “Remember our friends in Texas?” I reminded them. “THEY DON’T HAVE BASEMENTS!!”

Gasps all around.

But this storm probably didn’t reach all the way to Texas, I reassured them. (Or did it?)

Daddy sat in his old, broken recliner that got relegated to the basement, and read us funny tweets. Then Livi and Nina joined him in the recliner, and Ava and I laid down on the couch (love seat). We all chatted about soccer and our summer plans and reminisced about Hurricane Ike that took down our favorite tree back in 2008.

“This is really nice, spending time together like this,” Gabe said.

Warm fuzzies.

Then it was over just like that. Gabe loves storms and hated being so far away from the action. The girls were none too happy when Photo-Happy Daddy left the safety of the Underworld to go up not one, but two, flights of stairs, OPENED OUR BEDROOM WINDOW, and then LEANED OUT OF IT WITH HIS METAL CAMERA. (or is it plastic?)

Finally, the siren stopped, the rain slowed, and the wind died down, and we crawled out of hiding. We lit more candles and the girls found books to read. More warm fuzzies.

I sat at the kitchen table with a candle, my pen, and a manuscript that needs much work. I felt like Louisa May Alcott.

Then they asked me to read to them, and I picked this book, the first one I saw, which ironically is a story about the man who invented electricity. (He did, right?) I held the iPhone (with the handy-dandy flashlight app) in one hand and the book in the other, and we read about life in another era.

Eventually, Nina fell asleep on me, we put the girls in bed, lit a candle so they weren’t scared of the pitch dark, blew the candle out when they fell asleep minutes later, and got ready for bed ourselves. Gabe used the iPhone flashlight to help me make sure I got my contacts in their case okay. Too bad he didn’t think to shine the phone on the bathroom mirror where I had a nice purple sticky note reminding me to take my last typhoid pill.

At about 10:45, while my family snored away and I was playing iPhone Scrabble, everything kicked back on with a bang–lights, printer, air conditioner. I got up, turned everything off, shut the windows, and got in bed.

And felt a little sad that the romance hadn’t lasted just a bit longer.

See you tomorrow!

Thank you, God, for fun and food and family. And for the men and women who sacrifice that we might enjoy all those things and freedom too.

In other news:

1. Thanks for your questions for Pete! I’m going to pick 3 for him to answer (and a few for Mrs. Pete as well!), so stay tuned. But first, go buy the book!

2. If you want to put together a box of fun supplies for the kiddos in the orphanage, let me know! I’ll send you a brochure of their smiling faces, so you can see who you’re buying for.

3. I’m extending the coupon book offer until Monday, June 7. I have 1 order so far.

So tell me: What was the highlight of your Memorial Day Weekend?