Janet's Blog

I have been blessed to have six aunts; my dad's three sisters, his two brothers' wives, and my mom's only sister, Aunt Ellen.  All have been an important part of my entire life, to some degree or another. Aunt Ellen is gone now, after an extended illness and a brief stint in a much-hated nursing home.  Since she never married, she was always present for every holiday and family celebration.  For that reason, I may have known her a little better than some of my other aunts. Aunt Ellen was my godmother when I was baptized at the age of three months. When I was three or four, Ellen painted my fingernails pink.  When I was a little older, she often transported Dan and Laura and me from Grandma's and Grandpa's house in Bloomfield, back to Lincoln, where Mom and Dad picked us up and took us the rest of the way home to Fairbury.  She always attended our Christmas programs.  She played cards and Scrabble with us, bought pearls for Laura and me, and ga...

Forty years ago, Mom was graduating from Concordia Teachers College with a degree in Elementary Education. Bill was graduating from Milford with an associate's degree in Electronic Engineering. And, we were all in the midst of last minute preparations for a wedding. Christmas festivities became somewhat incidental that year. Finals were our first priorities, then wedding activities kicked into high gear. Grandma Vawser and Aunt Marilyn pitched in to sew Laura's candlelighter's dress that cloudy afternoon.  Mom just hadn't had time until then.  Bill and I ignored the custom that the bride and groom should not see each other on the day of the wedding until the bride walked down the aisle.  We ran a few errands together throughout the day, and greeted out of town guests as they arrived at the house. Bill and I didn't stop to think that our future anniversary celebrations would forever be overshadowed by Christmas.  We were thrilled that the church was beautifu...

When I think of past Thanksgivings, I remember the Hotel Mary-Etta, where various permanent residents joined our family and extended family in our apartment living room, dressed in their best, sometimes straining to use appropriate table manners, always quiet and reserved at the thought of sharing a real Thanksgiving dinner with a real family.  I think of the wild turkey, and sometimes pheasant or duck, as well, that Dad had shot, and the stuffing Mom always made but never ate, the old-fashioned ham that Aunt Ellen always brought along, sweet potatoes with melted marshmallows on the top, mashed potatoes and gravy, and cranberry sauce, slid straight out of the can onto a plate for us to slice and enjoy.  We always finished the meal with homemade pumpkin pie and real whipped cream. Some years, we made the four hour trip to Bloomfield to share a Thanksgiving meal with Grandpa and Grandma Wegner.  The meal was virtually the same, except that Grandma usually made her cran...

It was a small worship team tonight, only five of us; one pianist, one on synth, a guitarist, me on bass, and a drummer.  Only two of us are singing this week, as we prepare to lead the congregation in Sunday morning worship.  Tonight, our ages ranged from early twenties to late seventies, a Bible college student and a youth pastor, a piano teacher, a preschool teacher, and a retired nurse. Our entire worship team probably consists of more than twenty talented musicians and technicians, including bus drivers and teachers, farmers and ranchers, students, construction workers, nurses, and self-proclaimed computer geeks. The faces may change a bit from one week to the next, but the focus remains the same.  Every time we come together, we implore God to help us focus on him, and to make us fade into the background on Sunday mornings, so the congregation can fix their eyes on Him, as well. I think I can safely say that we have become a family.  Not everyone was there ...

There are days when I just feel like packing up and moving to Finland.  No, I am not yearning for dark, frigid winters or midnight sun.  I am not anxious to move away from family and friends.  But, I am more than a little fed up with contemporary education in the United States. In a nutshell, I think our elementary school children are pushed too hard to learn too much too soon, with far too much testing and not nearly enough physical activity.  Too many schools "teach to the test."  Curriculum is boring.  Creativity is stifled.  Few allowances are made for differences in learning styles or innate abilities.  Children have little time to build relationships with their classmates and teachers.  Teacher burnout is high.  Student burnout is higher. In Finland, the national curriculum offers only broad guidelines, rather than stringent requirements for education.  All education is 100% state funded, yet Finland spends 30% les...

No doubt about it, this has been a gorgeous fall in the Nebraska panhandle. October has been filled with balmy, sunny days, most with just a slight breeze to moderate the sun's heat.  Light jackets have been appreciated in the brisk, fall mornings, but shirt sleeves are just fine in the afternoons.  Morning or afternoon, even recess duty has been a pleasure.  The only problem is what to wear when the mornings start out around 40 degrees, but warm up into the seventies by early afternoon. It has been so much fun for my students to rake the leaves into piles that just beg for someone to jump into them.  Even walking or rolling a wheelchair through the leaves has brought smiles of wonder to those little faces.  The sound of crisp leaves crunching underfoot is necessarily short-lived, but quite exhilarating.   This year, we have all been amazed to watch the swirling leaves play tag with the wind just outside our classroom windows.  And, what fun...

We needed to replace our garage door this summer and, as it so often happens, one thing led to another.  We had to clean out the garage so the installers could work in the garage easily.  That is why Bill decided to build a garden shed. I was a little skeptical at first.  I thought we could just throw out some old pots and other stuff we haven't used in years, and reorganize everything in our existing space.  But, Bill was determined to build a shed.   He searched the Internet for a plan, and came up short.  So, Bill drafted his own plan, based on several sheds he had seen pictured online, and got to work.  It would have been quicker and easier to buy a shed from Menards, but the sheds there seemed a little substandard.  There is nothing shoddy about our new shed.  It is fully framed with two-by-fours.  It has sturdy double doors, a raised, dark green wood floor, and a south-facing window, complete with a self-watering wind...

Let's face it; sometimes, life is just hard.  Work can be stressful.  Unexpected injury and chronic illness are always challenging.  The people around us may be hard to live with or work with.  Money worries may become overwhelming. Sometimes, the modern conveniences that we rely on just quit working.  And, why does it seem like we have so much to do and not enough time to do it? Then, there are those big things, like changing jobs or retiring from a lifetime of work, or moving to a new home or even a new community, or losing a loved one through death or divorce. Change of any kind is harder than we like to admit. Conventional wisdom says "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade!"  It would be so convenient to magically take all the negatives that life throws our way and turn them into something good.  But that is often easier said than done. This year, it seems like my family (and extended family) has had more than our fair share of the ...

I called the tree lady a few weeks ago because we needed to have our dying birch tree removed from the front yard before it fell on a car--or one of the kids. And, while we were at it, we asked her to take out several overgrown yew bushes, and trim the dead branches out of our mammoth blue spruce.  At the last minute, Bill decided to ask if she could give us some advice about the huge old hackberry tree in the backyard, right next to the garage.  He had noticed a small split in the trunk a few months ago, and wondered if she thought it would help relieve some stress on the tree if we removed a major branch or two. Bill did not realize just how long and wide that crack had extended since he last took a good look at it.  The tree lady recommended removing the whole tree as soon as possible, before the next heavy, wet snow or 60 mile-an-hour gust of wind dropped a large section of the tree onto our house.  And, what's more, she declined to take down the tree ...

I've been noticing lately that many people I know and respect, including plenty of Christians, have been bashing our president, publicly ridiculing him every chance they get.  Now, I can't say that Mr. Obama is my favorite president, and I will readily admit that I don't agree with very many of his policies.  Even though I dread the thought of another muck-filled presidential campaign that is approaching much too soon, I am looking forward to a change in national leadership.  I hope that a different president will be able to make wise decisions that will bolster our nation's economy and foreign relations.  Even more, I hope that a new leader will be truly respected by the majority of citizens from every state, every political party, and every walk of life. In the meantime, halfway through this president's second and final term of office, I have been feeling disturbed by all of the blatant disrespect I've been witnessing.  It is true that several politicians...

Right now, it seems as if this Earth is in a world of hurt.  Over the past couple of weeks, we've heard about terrorist activities, ISIS, a major plane crash, starving and enslaved children, massive flooding in Arizona (Arizona!), sudden deaths of well-known celebrities, an Ebola crisis in Africa, wars and rumors of war in several locales.  Closer to home, West Nile disease is rearing its ugly head again.  Early frost threatens crops, and late summer snow is predicted this week across Nebraska and surrounding states,  Some vocal Nebraskans question the decision to bring a missionary to Omaha for treatment of Ebola.  And, here in my little world, two nieces have endured car accidents, a friend is fighting encephalitis, the kids and I have been sick, work has been stressful. I could go on and on, but it's too depressing to continue. News media seems to revel in the latest glut of news.  When TV and internet and newspapers are plastered with graphic detail...

Finally, Evie's room is ready; her crib can be moved in as soon as her eye teeth erupt and she is sleeping through the night again.  For the time being, just as a cozy nest is the best place for a baby bird to wait for mama bird to bring a juicy worm, Mom and Dad's room is much more convenient for those inevitable middle-of-the-night awakenings.  Evie will get to sleep in her own room soon enough. I started painting the mural in Evie's room nearly a month ago, but school preparations intervened.  Finally, on Labor Day, after a couple of weeks of school, I had time to get it done.   Since both of Tobin's rooms (in the old and new houses) had a farm theme, we wanted Evie's room to coordinate, at least a little, while maintaining a unique atmosphere just for Evelyn.  Tobin was the one who insisted that Evelyn needed pink roses in her room, as well as a scarecrow in the garden.  And, what little girl (especially one with Vawser heritage) doesn't lik...

Finally, the end of the longest week ever!   School started yesterday, but teachers started on Monday, and we had an open house for our students and their families for most of the day on Wednesday.  It was not enough time to get ready for the new school year. Victoria has pitched in to make my week much easier than it could have been.  She painted lines on the playground, helped move classroom furniture and playground toys, and stuffed folders with essential information for all of our students' families. The first two days of school went well.  The inevitable criers settled in within a few minutes of arrival, and were smiling by the middle of the morning.  My aides and I worked so hard that we were exhausted by noon on the first day, but our students were enthusiastic and generally well-behaved. We feel especially blessed to have two new foster grandparents, a husband and wife team, in our preschool program this year.  It is always a joy to hav...

One of the first weddings I ever remember attending, when I was three or four years old, wasn't a real wedding at all.  It was a mock wedding, in celebration of my Great Aunt Ella's and Great Uncle Henry's Golden Wedding Anniversary.  I seem to remember a huge tent that was set up in their farmyard, with dozens of friends and family members in attendance.  Back then, in the late 1950's, fifty years of marriage was something to celebrate! Since Aunt Ella and Uncle Henry had no children of their own, several of their nieces and nephews, along with a few in-laws, got together to provide the entertainment.  I don't remember who pretended to be the bride and groom, but one of my uncles was the preacher, and I seem to recall that my Aunt Marilyn was the flower girl.  And, I know for sure that my mom was the soloist, because Mom intentionally sang a horrible, off-key rendition of "Oh Promise Me," a wedding song that was very popular at the turn of the twentieth...