first entry is in!

Cousin Reggie Groff says:
"I am going to go with 1998"

more hints about my mother's letter (what year was it written?)

"Christina still going to corps, has become best friends with Cookie's girl (they live up the street)."

"Katherine has moved to Saco."

"Danny still comes home every weekend and drives cab."

"Debbie is planning to buy a house."

"You know Vi & Craig have put their house up for sale?"

Okay, you guys, who can guess what year this letter was written?

Love,
Evelyn

what the wisest man who ever lived said!

PR 18:22 He who finds a wife finds what is good
and receives favor from the LORD.

these are hints!

сбежать с возлюбленным/-ой

DT 14:5 the deer, the gazelle, the roe deer, the wild goat, the ibex, the antelope and the mountain sheep.

EZE 16:7 I made you grow like a plant of the field. You grew up and developed and became the most beautiful of jewels.

MT 17:5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"

Evelyn

what theme do these pictures have in common?

Paul said it, not me!

1CO 7:36 If anyone thinks he is acting improperly toward the virgin he is engaged to, and if she is getting along in years and he feels he ought to marry, he should do as he wants. He is not sinning. They should get married.

another contest for you losers who ignored the first one!

Okay, another contest, and you're going to want to pay some attention to this one!

This is a jeopardy-like question. I give you the answer, you have to guess the question!

"His initials are A.G."

Hint: I am NOT talking about Andy Groff!

Write me if you want another hint or have the answer: evelynclark@juno.com

Evelyn

P.S.
This is actually really important!

a letter from my mother (this is a contest!)

When Elizabeth was unpacking in Tallinn, she came across a notebook that was mostly blank. But it included an undated letter that my mother had written to Mary-Kay.

First person who correctly guesses the year, with substantiating evidence, is the winner!

So here are excerpts of the letter:

We've had fog & rain off & on for 5 weeks, hard to believe it's June. When it clears a bit, I run around doing flower things & Dick mows the lawn & paints a bit (he's painting the house outside, has started on the back, where the sunroom is) & then the fog comes back or worse yet, the rain.

We have beautiful rhodendrons & all kinds of flowers I can't identify, have made the mistake of pulling up what I tho't was weeds & then found out they were a rare flower, ugh!

Had a good talk w/John's doctor. He is amazed at how well he is doing; when he first saw John, he was almost catatonic & of course now he's ... going to all the activities at Brentwood Manor.

I think I told you I had him examined so he could go back on solid foods & liquids, & that now he eats everything in sight! He calls our house his second home & loves to be here. We used to take him out to a restaurant every week, but he actually loves just being here & will ask to come here instead.

...

Gloria & I went to Home League. We are going to try to go as often as we can. Mrs. Fisher was surprised to have 13 when she restarted it on Thurs. @ 6 pm.

...

Before I forget -- We will be having a get together August 8th, so don't make plans. Camp meetings are on, but we'll have a cook-out (or in) & invite the Henrys etc. Is there anyone you'd want to come? We'll plan it for noontime.

And the letter ends without being signed. And obviously wasn't mailed. But as I sit here in Estonia this June, I feel quite emotional picturing my mother sitting down to write this letter during a June that now seems so long ago.

If you need more clues that weren't included in this excerpt, or better yet if you think you have the right answer, e-mail me: evelynclark@juno.com

Evelyn

"wicked good"

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/060625soupkitchen.shtml

"Being homeless this past year has been very trying," he said. "These people have been wicked good to me."

My grandmother always hated this phrase, considered it a contradiction in terms. How could something be both wicked AND good?

But we really do say "wicked good" where I come from.

Evelyn

news from Chris's blog

I'm ALIVE!!!!! i made it to america!!! i totally rock!!! let me tell you it was great. i'd never been a plane alone before

really it was great, i had lots and lots of fun. it's so much more easy to fly alone then with a big family stuck to your butt (no offense). the only problems i did have is that my one plane from heathrow took forever to board and then once we started boarding they loaded everybody at once creating a huge bottle neck. got to go, write more later. bye!!

ch. 23 of Jane Eyre: Midsummer

http://www.online-literature.com/view.php/janeeyre/23?term=midsummer

Maine ... Moose ... Munjoy Hill

This is where I'm from.

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/060621bull.shtml

Evelyn

PBS Funding

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2006/06/08/gop_takes_aim_at_pbs_funding/

I love the title of this book!

Crunchy Cons: How Birkenstocked Burkeans, gun-loving organic gardeners, evangelical free-range farmers, hip-homeschooling mamas, right-wing nature lovers, and their diverse tribe of countercultural conservatives plan to save America (or at least the Republican Party)
by Rod Dreher

So here's my new desciption of myself!
Birkenstocked,
evangelical,
hip-homeschooling mama

:-)

Evelyn

"Do not hang on to the things of this world too tightly."

I've actually been following this story pretty closely because one of the sets of grandparents lives in PORTLAND, MAINE (my hometown)!

http://www.lauravanryn.blogspot.com/

"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade - kept in heaven for you.... In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith - of greater worth than gold.. may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." - 1 Peter 1:3-7

This will be our last post from this website and we want to thank you for your prayers and the support you've shown throughout this entire situation. We continue to lean on the Lord for our strength and will need your prayers throughout these coming days, weeks, and months. We know and trust that God will take care of us - he is always faithful and will remain so as his Word tells us.Our final encouragement to all is this: Do not hang on to the things of this world too tightly. Life here is but a vapor and there is an eternity ahead. Consider what God calls us to do -

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where theives break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where theives do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

Let us continue to reach out to those around us who need prayer, love, and encouragment. As you remember the Van Ryn and Cerak families, let us encourage you to look to your neighbors as well. God calls us to love.Within the next 24 hours we will be getting rid of this blog. How the Cerak's choose to update on Whitney's progress is up to them.Thanks again.

Posted by the Van Ryn family.

And let's not forget about Chris. Here he is playing Yu-Gi-Oh with friends Martin and Ats. 

emotional abuse

Last night I started reading Jane Eyre. I'm not very far into it; she is 10 years old and has just left Gateshead.

This morning, I came across this definition of emotional abuse.

And my heart breaks for all the "Janes" (and "Johns"!).

Evelyn

Learning by experience

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/local/060605outwardbound.shtml

Sounds like homeschooling to me! :-)

it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck

http://pressherald.mainetoday.com/news/state/060605childmolest.shtml


"My first reaction was, I didn't believe it. I tried to defend him, though it was indefensible."

"Just the shock of learning that a loved one could be capable of inflicting such abuse can be traumatic."

"It was almost worse than losing someone to death, because the person I thought I knew never existed."

"First I did the Christian thing and said, 'I'll get you help.' Then it was little by little realizing there was nothing to save. There was nothing to save anymore. There was no trust."

FYI

http://www.state.me.us/corrections/Facilities/mcc/index.htm