OswegoNislys

verdamae — Fri, 28 May 2010 02:37:59 +0000

Today I gained a new hero. It was neat to hear what people remembered about Grandma at the special family service before the funeral. She wrote the missionaries every week. She loved to learn (including ham radio, morse code, and email) and she loved people. Her world was soo BIG because it wasn’t all about her. I thought I’ve been learning something new and amazing when I learned that study is so that we can enjoy God’s big world, not show off. But listening to the stories about Grandma is what helped me even put that part into words! She loved piecing quilts–made all of us grandchildren one. She is a natural role model because our personalities and giftings are very similar.

Grandma wanted the message at the funeral to be evangelistic, and not all about her. It was, too. I enjoyed the originality of the song selection–which fascinated me because fancy singing was not her thing. Luke (my brother) led a congregational song (”My Faith Looks Up to Thee”), and a group a special group sang “We have this moment”, “Somewhere in the skies”, “It only takes a spark”, and other songs I don’t remember because they were actually heaven songs.

At the graveyard it was a simple commital service with singing, shoveling and a few words. There is something so satisfying about the earthiness of helping shovel. I wished I had a camera with me when David Yoder and his young grandson were shoveling side by side, the grandson with a small shovel. How right it seemed that he would already know about death, and that our children get used to got to funerals at an early age. My aunt Grace brought quite a few roses, and I got to put one on the grave. Once I saw a few others planted theirs instead of laying it there, I went back and planted mine upright.

Grandma’s grave is beautiful–roses on the heaped dirt, with a simple temporary wooden marker: Edna Nisly, May 23, 2010.

Somehow the mute beauty of the roses was deeply powerful. This reminds me of something that was said at the funeral: Grandma’s prayer partner a couple of years ago, Marilyn had an idea for the Prayer Partners Banquet, the theme of which was Servant Beauty. She had wanted to take a picture of Grandma (maybe her hands?). Wow. I don’t know that I had even put those two words together yet: servant + beauty, but they go well together. And Grandma loved beauty. Flowers and quilts. A giving woman.

Rose Mary

Pictures by Verda

verdamae — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:15:20 +0000

One day we chopped and hauled fire wood for our fire place. For dinner we ate out in the good, old Kansas wind and under the blue sky!

Not for the faint hearted. Nathan and I caught a huge rat along with a dogs help.

Teamwork!

Huge load of firewood! (Actually, from a couple days earlier, but it shows what were doing on Friday.) ~Verda

Mark and Esther

verdamae — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 13:11:09 +0000

The happy couple with their new garden!

verdamae — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 19:46:49 +0000

My big brother turned 21 today! Happy Birthday, Virgil!

verdamae — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 16:49:23 +0000

We enjoyed a fantastic evening with the Mitchells recently, and here are a few pictures.

Playing Up Words (a form of Scrabble)

Dave’s and Kathy’s Visit

verdamae — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 15:42:45 +0000

PA Trip

verdamae — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 05:32:23 +0000

Click here to see pictures of our Pennsylvania trip.

people pictures from this past week

verdamae — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 21:50:50 +0000

Mark graduated!

picture in front of Mark’s house

Pictures with Rhoda before she left for CO today

Why does Nathan have such a pained look on his face?

Now for the next rat race… We’re leaving early tomorrow morning for PA. The wedding is in less than two weeks! Hold your ears while I scream! Verda

Heart Transplant

verdamae — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 02:28:18 +0000

Dad and Nathan removing a motor to put in Dad’s truck, so it will work again. (I doctored up this picture. What do you think?)

Labette Avenue

verdamae — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 21:49:12 +0000

Rose Mary asked to see the pictures I took that got put in the Labette Avenue, so here they’re. The first picture is of some Christmas trees in the Chetopa Bank. Seriously, in all my (few) days I haven’t seen a place so full of Christmas decorations as this one. According to a employee, most of the decorations came from a wedding that took place last year. Everywhere I looked, there was signs of Christmas.

The second picture was taken on main street in Oswego of Joan Allen, a former art teacher. Now that she’s retired, she paints signs and pictures on local businesses for a few extra bucks. I stopped to take her picture, and we were friends instantly because of her friendly nature. This picture was taken in front of The Heirloom, where she changes the picture monthly.