Our Christmas Letter - the Year in Review

Merry Christmas to all of you! I have been enjoying the letters that many of the family members have sent as a way of keeping us all updated as to what has been happening in your lives this past year. Perhaps we should just all publish them to the family blog - think of the postage we could save! (So brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews - if you would like yours posted, just let me know - an electronic copy would be helpful; otherwise I will have to retype them all!)

Elvin and I have had a busy year - at least it seems like it - I really don't know where 2009 went. Seems like such a short time ago that we were celebrating the beginning of a new year and now it is almost time to welcome in 2010. One of my coworkers and I were discussing this week the fear and trepidation with which many welcomed in the turn of a new century in 2000 and the preparations that were made "in case everything crashed, etc." And here we are just 10 years later and not much thought about the transition from one calendar date to the next!

Anyway, in 2009, Elvin and I have continued to live in the same house and work at the same jobs! Elvin is still working as a TSS (therepeutic support staff) with TW Ponessa and Associates. He very much enjoys working one on one with the two or three boys that he has at any one time. He looks forward to going to "work" everyday and loves the challenge of helping them to grow emotionally. The downside of his job is that when the boys are ill and not in school, he doesn't have any work and therefore doesn't get paid unless he can substitute for another TSS or can use a "vacation" day. The beginning of the summer is also difficult as he needs to transition from school hours to summer hours and sometimes it takes a month or so to get back to a full time schedule!

I continue to serve as the administrator of the Wonder Club Early Learning Centers, one of the five divisions of Water Street Ministries. Last spring we underwent a name change both in the overall ministry and in my part of the ministry. It is amazing how much is involved in changing a name - all the forms, etc. that had to be rewritten. I love the challenge of working with the teachers and children, but when a teacher is ill and I have to step in as a substitute, I come home at the end of the day thankful that I am not actually the preschool teacher!

Elvin's passion continues to be cooking and he loves making soup twice a month for our home group, now known at our church as the "Soup Group." We meet the first and third Sundays following our first service; therefore, we have lunch of soup, bread, and dessert before our discussion and prayer time. As a group we enjoy the fellowship time that comes with lunch.
Elvin loves developing new soups for the group to try and the soups are always met with enthusiasm from the group. My passion continues to be reading and scrapbooking, neither of which I seem to have enough time to do.

We enjoyed some vacation and traveling time as well. In June we spent 4 days at a B & B outside of Lexington, VA. We camped at Knoebels with church friends, spent a day with the family in Cape May (a belated 60th birthday trip for me), and in November spent a couple days in Smithville, NJ. That last trip was quite an experience since it was weekend of Hurricane Ida and we were just north of Atlantic City where all the flooding took place. It was a very rainy and windy couple of days. Lorraine also enjoyed a few days of scrapbooking with a close friend at her vacation home just outside of Rehobeth Beach, DE.

Of course, one of the things we enjoy most is spending time with our children and grandchildren. You can see updates on what has been happening in their lives by reading their blog posts (Jeff and Nean: Rodney and Alicia). Elvin and Dante enjoyed planting a "purple" garden this year and we've had lots of time playing in the backyard with Dante and Zoë - one of the advantages of living right next door! We love grandparenting! It is a joy to watch them grow and learn so many new things on a daily basis. We continue to enjoy relatively good health even though our bodies indicate that we are getting older.

To all our family and friends, we wish you well in the New Year.


Love to all,
Lorraine and Elvin

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

Today would have been my father's 100th birthday. Ira H. Dombach was born February 21, 1909 to Harvey and Mary Dombach. I don't know much about my father's childhood. I don't recall hearing stories from his childhood when I was growing up. Perhaps my older brothers and sisters recall stories he told, but I don't have any. But I do have a few memories of my father during my childhood.

Daddy used to go to a chiropractor in Ephrata. Strange as it may seem we loved to be the one to ride with him when he went to his appointments. When the appointment was over, he would often take us for an ice cream cone at Ephrata Cloister Dairy. And it was there that he would buy the 2 1/2 gallon tub of ice cream that would become our Sunday evening supper. Often it was chocolate, but in the early spring and summer we sometimes enjoy the fruity flavors of strawberry and peach. Being invited to go on errands with Daddy was always special and some sort of treat was usually included in the outing. I remember going for drives with our parents when we were young or to Palmyra to visit our relatives. For many years (at least until Linda was about 4), I was always the one nudged to ask Daddy if we could stop for ice cream. And then we all waited with bated breath while Daddy asked Mom (in Pennsylvania Dutch) what she thought about the idea. My parents spoke to each other in Pennsylvania Dutch when they didn't want us kids to know what they were saying; however, though we never learned to speak Dutch there were certain things we learned to understand!

Before I was born my dad owned a greenhouse. During this time he built his own home on a small plot of land. When I was 6 months old my parents sold the house and moved to a farm near Landis Valley, because, I am told, the growing family needed more space. So my growing up years were spent on the farms that my parents rented - first at Landis Valley, then Millersville, and finally Manheim. At Millersville I remember helping to farm tobacco. When I was old enough my job was to drop the lathes used to string up the tobacco and then to drive the tractor to load up the tobacco and take it to the barn for drying. I also remember times in the "stripping room" helping to strip and size tobacco. It was a family job; everyone worked together to get the jobs done.

One of the legacies our father left us was the legacy of love for his wife and the evidence of strong marriage and family relationships. My memory may be dim, but I don't remember ever hearing my parents fight. They respected each other and valued each other's ideas and opinions. And though my father was not demonstrative in his love toward his children, we never doubted that he loved us. He may not have spoken the words "I love you" to us but his love for us was genuine. We just knew that we could count on Dad even when we "messed up." He encouraged us by working along side us, gently showing us the way to work, to live, to love, and to believe in God. And even though they may not have had much money, he always took Mother out to Kegels for an oyster dinner on their anniversary and for a banana split on her birthday. And Daddy never went away without first coming and giving Mother a good-bye kiss. On the night he died, he got up from the table and gave Mother a kiss before heading back out to the field. She asked him where he was going. Somewhat surprised he said, "nowhere." An hour later the tractor upset and he died on the way to the hospital. It was as though he knew he was going Home and he wanted to tell her "good-bye." Daddy died on May 24, 1963. He was 54. I was 14. I wish I had more memories of him than what I do, but I will always cherish those I do.

Happy Birthday, Daddy! I wish you were here to celebrate!

Snowy Thoughts

The snow this week and last got me to thinking about snowy memories involving our family - the most recent one the "off again, on again" family cabin weekend last February. While we all wanted snow, we really had hoped it wouldn't start until we were already there. But looking out the window into the beautiful snowy woods was breathtaking and being together made it all worthwhile.

One of the memories we talked about was the snowstorm of 1958 when Arlene's boyfriend at the time got snowed in. As the story went Bob and John were not allowed to go away that evening because they needed to put chains on the tractor so they could use the tractor to bring their sisters home. Arlene, her boyfriend, and Joyce were attending a Valentine's dinner at a friend's house in Millersville. There were some disagreement on the details of how they actually got them home, but we all agreed we were snowed in from Saturday night until Thursday. Some of the younger of us remembered that as being the time when John and Bob made a bobsled. We had so much fun sliding down the Blue Rock Hill on that bobsled, something we could do because there was no traffic on the road. Story goes that Arlene and her boyfriend broke up soon after that snowstorm - I guess the Dombachs proved to be too much for the poor guy. (But that's okay; we're happy to have Ken in the family instead!)

I remember a second snowstorm that same winter; for that one we were out of electricity for several days and I was sick in bed. I remember Daddy and the boys bringing the stripping room stove into the family room to provide warmth and Mom even making soup on top of that stove.

I also remember a snowstorm when we lived on the Metzler farm near Manheim. It snowed on Saturday and church was canceled, but that didn't stop us. We hitched the bobsled (I'm guessing it was the same one) behind the tractor and went to the Ginder home for church on Sunday morning. With two pastors and a bishop in the neighborhood, it wasn't hard to find someone to provide the morning meditation - I just can't remember if it was Henry, or Wilbur, or Clyde. The neighborhood home church and potluck which followed will long live in all our memories, I am sure. It was probably one of the few interdominational services held in that day and time.

Just this week I was reading a comment by someone on the impending storm and the "run out to the store and get milk, bread, etc. philosophy. This person wondered why all the fuss; do we really think we won't be able to get out for days on end? Guess maybe that person didn't have the same memories we have, but then I have long gotten past the "run out and stock up idea" - unless I really am out of bread and milk - and then I am going to get those items. Not because it is going to snow, but because I really do need them.

Christmas Past

Thanks Lorraine for starting this. Not sure how much I can add to your memories about our Christmas presents from Mother than to say I still have some of the dolls and doll clothes that she made for me.

If you thought waiting till your older brothers and sisters got out of bed on Christmas morning was hard at least you didn't have to wait till they all came home for Christmas or we went to their house after they got married and moved away. I know Ken and Arlene have some pictures of me getting a doll for Christmas at their house. I'm sure that that didn't happen on Christmas day. How about the year we had snow on the day the family was planning to get together and we had to wait till John and Doris made it through the snow in the late afternoon from either Maryland or Delaware.

I know in my teen years we usually had Christmas on Christmas day with those of us who were home instead of waiting until New Year's day when we all got together. That was a much better arrangement. I always enjoyed the tradition of Cookies for breakfast Christmas morning but was not able to convince my family to continue it.

It was good to be together again on New Year's Day and meet the new future family member. Mike thinks he had it easy compared to Troy. Hope everyone has a great 2009

Wisdom from Mother

The following article written by my mother, Earla Dombach, was probably written between 1955-1960 and was published in Millersville Echoes, a newsletter of Millersville Mennonite Church. Those of us who knew her well would agree that she practiced what she wrote.

GIVING OF TIME

Giving of our time is one of the hardest things for us as Christians to do. We are so busy, we think, that we often feel we should do differently, but we don't have the time. Getting up a half hour earlier so we have time for Bible reading and prayer can prove to be a well-spent half hour and can prove itself to be a great blessing. For when we meet God in the morning, He goes with us throughout the day. Taking time for family worship is also a great blessing. This is especially true when your child is faced with a problem and he knows you prayed about it as a family. Even in the midst of baking your preschooler comes and takes your hand and says, "Mama, come look," do we go with them only to find it's just a dandelion flower? Do we take time to tell them of God's creation? Do we show appreciation for the weed flowers that are always in our home? Or when your elementary school child asks why everything must have a daddy, do we brush him off and not take the time to explain the simple facts of life? Or when those teenagers come home from school with problems that seem like such a little thing, do we sit down and help them or are we too busy? Do we have time to sit down and listen to the interesting little things that happen to our children during the day or evening? Taking time with the children, encouraging them, and giving them the assurance that we are praying for them gives much satisfaction, especially when they tell you, "Thanks, Mom. I knew you'd have time to listen." These little acts of thoughtfulness make a child happy and then we, too, are happy. What about that letter you meant to write to someone who needed sympathy and understanding, that visit to the sick and aged, that word of encouragement you meant to give that Sunday School pupil? Did you take time to stop and chat with the friend whose burdens were so heavy that they needed you to just sit and listen? "Oh, I didn't have time," you say. But just a moment to listen, send her away with a smile, and her load was lighter because you took time to lend a sympathetic ear. Are our homes open to our children's friends? Do our children feel free to bring their friends in and spend the evening in our home? Do we see through the eyes of our children? "Read me a story, Mommy," they cry. "I'm too busy." What a disappointed look on the face that was all smiles a minute ago. Even teenagers like to listen because they understand it better when Mother reads it. How many blessings do we lose when we don't give our time to others. I can truthfully say I received many blessings when I gave my time to others, but often I have been rebuked for not giving my time because I thought I was too busy. It's not the big things in life that count; it's the time we take to share with others that really counts. If our Lord had time to receive a visitor by night after a hard day's work, we, too, must be willing to give our time that others may be encouraged to go forth. It's the little things that will mean so much in eternity.

I have only just a minute,
Only sixty seconds in it
Forced upon me--can't refuse it
Didn't seek it, didn't choose it.
But it's up to me to use it.
I must suffer if I lose it,
Give account if I abuse it
Just a tiny little minute--

But ETERNITY is in it.