And the Battle Continues

Hershey Elementary is blessed with a great staff. From teachers to administration, to bus drivers, lunchroom workers, and custodial staff, we get along with each other while doing a good job of educating the kids. I love working there.

Richard, one of the afternoon/evening custodians, enjoys practical jokes. And I am often the recipient. I might arrive in the morning to find a note that reads, "This room cleaned by an IU fan" in the center of my desk.

Another time, when I was using my walker occasionally and had left it in my classroom overnight, he decorated it with red crepe streamers and attached a note that said, "Go, IU!" Yes, Richard is an ardent Indiana University fan and the Illinois orange in the classroom gives him plenty of opportunities to give me a hard time. (Even though I tell him that the "I" for Illinois REALLY stands for "Isenbarger." He doesn't believe me.)

Summer break was no exception. As I was unpacking things yesterday, I found this:

Oh, I knew right away what it was and who was responsible! It was my Illinois trash can, a gift from my last class at Yankee Ridge School when we moved back to Indiana! And Richard was the culprit.

But I was determined to get Richard back. So, feigning innocence as to why he would cover my trash can in a garbage bag, I left the following note (written on ORANGE paper, naturally) taped to my classroom door:

Making Chaos Out of Order

School resumes in just two short weeks, and packed into that time is Curt's wedding and Kyle's graduation from BYU. Needless to say, I felt it wise to head over to Hershey and get my classroom ready for fall.

I walked in to see everything cleaned over the summer with the things I had packed still neatly stacked on counters.

My desk was completely clear and had been washed (Nice woodgrain pattern! Hardly ever see it once school begins!) and the screws on the chair had been tightened up. That's my desk on the right underneath the Gyotaku octopus print.

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Several hours later, my desk looked like this as I began unpacking and sorting items.

This is a view of materials I had stacked in late May so the carpets could be shampooed over the summer break. Love that Illini orange theme!

I made good progress. All those things were cleared from the counter and most put where they belonged. But it wasn't time to pat myself on the back...

... because I soon filled it back up. The large bookshelf was bowing and I wanted to redistribute the weight on the shelves. EVERYTHING had to come off. Sigh.

Today's agenda is to go shuffle more things around and finish unpacking. Fix that bookshelf, too. Hopefully on Monday I will be able to begin lesson planning.

The clock is going, TICK, TICK, TICK loudly and quickly!

Making Progress

The odometer on Onyx hit 200 miles this morning, so I had to stop and take a picture with my cell phone. (You can see me reflected in the handlebar - my orange safety vest is hard to miss!)

It's a far cry from my goal of 500 miles, but I still have 5 months to attain that. Whenever I feel discouraged, I remember two incidents when I was in situations where, despite being heavier than my friends, I was able to outpace them, one going up three flights of stairs without becoming winded, the other while cycling and my friend had a difficult time keeping up. Both times I was surprised, and realized that every little bit helps and makes a difference fitness-wise.

I'll be off to the doctor later this morning for my fourth knee injection this summer. We tried cortisone to no avail; now he's injecting a joint fluid replacement. Dr. Morris also said we'd hit the end of what these could do, and that I needed to have the knee replaced. (I am shooting for next summer.)

So, all things considered, I am happy with having cycled 200 miles!

Some of Our Quiver

"Children are an heritage of the Lord... Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them."

Psalm 127

I love the Isenbarger quiver-full!! (More photos borrowed from Ashley. Thanks, sweetie!!)

In and Out, In and Out!

An old Sesame Street song goes,

In and out!

In and out!

That's what a dog

Is all about!

Well, they're certainly not dogs, but the door to our home this summer is like the one in the song - in and out, in and out as people come for visits, to stay for a few days, or to move!

Curt and Cole are both moving, and since we live in the same town and have plenty of space, we invited them to make use of the house. Every evening Cole and Emily are driving over with a couple of carloads to store in the garage and Cole's old bedroom.

Curt is changing from his apartment with James to the one he will live in with Vanessa after their wedding. He is taking some of the things he has kept here since moving in with James and moving them into his new apartment as well as moving out of his old one.

But the new place doesn't have power yet, so he came back to spend the night. Craig and I invited James to stay with us since he didn't have a place to go, either (although we teased him about sleeping in his van down by the river; apparently he has done that before so there is an element of truth in there! )

So, last night went something like this:

7:30 Go upstairs, me to work on a sewing project, Craig to transcribe some patriarchal blessings.

8:30 Storm hits with lightning, heavy winds and rains.

8:45 Curt and a friend, Kyle Harrison, arrive with the truck to get stuff. It's raining too hard to load the truck, so we invite them to eat the dinner we had saved for them.

9:00 Curt and Kyle load the truck with help from Craig. (Neither Curt nor Cole will let us help them move or clean. Bummer.)

9:30 Truck is loaded and they drive off.

10:00 Cole calls. He and Emily are here but my car is blocking their stuff in the garage. Can we please move it? The car is moved and they begin unloading. Big pile in the living room that gets sorted and moved upstairs or into the garage.

10:45 Cole and Emily leave. I notice Emily forgot a casserole dish she had set aside because she needed it for a BBQ tonight, so I give her a quick call, hoping to catch her before she is too far away.

10:55 Emily returns and gets her dish.

11:00 I go upstairs, move some things off Cole's bed so James can sleep there, set up a bed for Curt in his old room, and turn on the Curious George and Fort Ouiatenon nightlights. (Figured it would make the guys smile as well as help them find their way in the dark!)

11:30 I go to bed.

12:30 AM Curt comes back, lets himself into the house, and goes to bed.

1:30 AM James arrives, lets himself into the house, and with Curt's help, finds Cole's room and crashes.

Of course, then this morning we had more in and outs, but... that's another journal entry.

Braggin' Rights on a World Level

President Ezra Taft Benson counseled us to avoid pride. So I will be modest as I inform everyone that three, count 'em, THREE of my children now are world record holders.

What records do they hold? See below.

Most Humbly Signed,

Their Mother

Proud Mom of Jessica Isenbarger, 2010 World Record Holder in Water Balloon Fighting

Proud Mom of Kyle Isenbarger, 2010 World Record Holder in Water Balloon Fighting

Proud Mom of Lisa Isenbarger, 2010 World Record Holder in Water Balloon Fighting

P.S. I hear they were on the orange and blue team - go, Illini!!

"Cougar Cooldown" breaks water balloon fight record

• See coverage by KSL TV
• Fox 13 gets close to the action
• KSTU gets wet
• ABC 4 in the middle of it
• Daily Herald records the action
• BYU photogs' slide show goes to the heart of the maelstrom

Brigham Young University broke the record for the world's largest water balloon fight Friday and produced plenty of smiles along the way.

With 3,927 participants and 120,021 balloons, the event unleashed a massive barrage of colorful cool for six minutes. It had taken students three days to fill that many balloons. A free lunch, music, and a blood drive added to the festival.

The previous record, held by the University of Kentucky, used 3,902 participants and more than 119,000 water balloons. BYU has to wait for official word from the Guinness Book of World Records, but event organizers say they are confident their record will be verified.

The BYU fight started at 12:20 p.m. and lasted about six minutes. Students were divided into two teams and given bags of about 30 balloons each.

Student volunteers started filling balloons Wednesday morning. In order to have enough balloons to break the record (120,021) some students worked all night long; some volunteers started at 9 a.m. on Thursday morning and stayed until the event concluded on Friday.

Organized by BYU Student and Academic Advisement Services, the balloon fight is just for fun, to add to the fun of summer term at BYU. Following the water balloon fight, students were served free lunch. More than 100 students had also signed up to be part of an American Red Cross blood drive.

During the water balloon fight, students from BYU's Ad Lab also filmed a music video, in conjunction with recording artist Kyle Andrews (and ad agency McCann Erickson). Andrews is in Provo shooting a music video for his song "You Always Make Me Smile." For information about BYU Ad Lab or the music video, contact Jeff Sheets at 801-422-3524.

Joyful

These are pictures from Adelaide's first birthday party and I couldn't resist poaching them from Ashley's blog and posting them here. Adelaide loved her special day!

Addie's smile reminds me of her Aunt Sarah. When Sarah was little (and not so little) and really happy about something, she smiled the same way. Don't believe me? Check out Sarah and Todd's wedding picture in my dining room, the one where they are coming out of the St. Louis Temple, and you will see what I mean!

The theme of the party was elephants; even Adelaide's outfit echoed it.

Like father, like son. Braden "Nintendo" Isenbarger waiting for the festivities to end so he can play Wii.

Even the cake had elephants, and you can see the birthday pillar candle I sent. You burn it every year on her birthday, but this one is so large they may need to burn it daily just to tame it!

A Little Bit o' Wedding Adversity

A little over a week ago, I posted pictures of Vanessa at the Chicago Temple. She's in a wheelchair because the previous evening she had been riding tandem on an ATV only to have the driver flip it with the vehicle coming to rest on her, specifically on her ankles.

She's better and hobbling around, but it is going to be weeks before she's healed.

Bad luck for the bride, eh? But guess what? Now it's the GROOM'S turn for some pre-wedding adversity. (August 6 is only 11 short days away!!)

Curt has been feeling ill most of the summer with a sore throat and tiredness. We chalked the fatigue up to working full time, planning a wedding, and having a busy ward calling (Activities Chair - and are those singles A.C.T.I.V.E.) He's been on some antibiotics, but just hasn't gotten better.

Thursday he went to the doctor yet again. I had my suspicions as to what might be going on; sadly, I was right. Curt has...

MONONUCLEOSIS.

Er, also known as the kissing disease. (Vanessa has sworn off kissing Curt; let's hope it is not too late for her!)

He's off work for at least a week and is supposed to be staying home sleeping and getting better. The doctor asked about the plans for the honeymoon but gave them a thumbs up (there is a risk of rupturing the spleen when you have mono so you can only do quiet activities) as they are going to be hanging out at the beach.

The recovery time is weeks, so Curt has a long row to hoe ahead of himself. But, typical Curt, he's seeing the silver lining and remarked that he is sure this has happened for a reason and that things will be fine. Plus, having a week off from work is allowing him to catch up on wedding details and other things. (He says he's resting, too...)

Curt and Vanessa are going to have a great story to tell their children and grandchildren when all is said and done!

Back to School Supplies

Look what I found sitting in my classroom. New, pretty, shiny laptops!! Six of 'em!

For those of you wondering why we needed to lay-off 115 teachers yet can still afford new technology, the funds to pay for each are separate and by law cannot be used to pay for anything else besides the fund's designation.

Personally, I'd rather have the laid-off teachers back. Makes this computer gift quite bittersweet.

The Wisdom of Lisa

Lisa wrote the following on her blog. I found it incredibly profound, perhaps because I, too, went back to school at an age later than most. (I got my Bachelor's from the University of Illinois when I was 39.)

I share this with her permission. I hope you are touched by it as I was.

"It's Never Too Late!"

Today was my first day of classes. I was nervous, I was anxious, and when I saw my jerk ex-boyfriend Shawn in the hallway right before my class started, I got a little angry and resentful. But moving on.

I walked into class and immediately noticed that I was one of the oldest people there. There was one woman who looked like she was in her 40's, but for the most part, it was the young crowd. I couldn't believe it. I had been told that there would probably be a lot of older people- especially during summer term. I grabbed a desk and slouched down, feeling completely miserable for myself.

As the professor came in and started class, I was just going over in my head how embarrassing it was to be sitting in that class. I was so out of place and just had the worst attitude.

Then the door opened.

In walked this man, probably in his late 70's. He had a cane and a rolling backpack, and settled himself in a seat next to the door.

And I cried.

I cried for his courage. I cried for my selfishness. I cried for his strength. I cried for my lack of strength. I cried for his perseverance. I cried for my wallowing in self-pity. I cried for his determination. I cried for my weakness. I don't think anyone else noticed my crying, but I sure as heck remembered a VERY valuable lesson. It's never too late.

A few months ago, when I was contemplating quitting my job and going back to school, I came across an article about a courageous Kenyan student who went back to primary school at the age of 84. I couldn't believe his courage and determination in doing that. I printed off the article, and it now sits right on my desk in plain sight. I doctored it up a little, and added the saying "It's never too late" to the side, just to remind myself to keep going. I look at it daily.
[Image]
We all experience hard things. We make decisions and accept consequences. I have made decisions in my life that have led me to this point, and by heck I'm going to do it! This has become my mantra- "It's never too late!"

It is Finished!

After 38.25 hours of cutting, coloring, and sewing and I-don't-want-to-know how much money, Adelaide's Quiet Book is done!

My mom helped me with it from the beginning and we decided to see just how much time one would take to make. I estimated 40 hours; I've made 9 others, so I had a pretty good idea. As for cost, my guess is around $150 by the time you purchase the page and cover fabrics, the appliques, velcro, etc. (Not counted in that cost estimate are the scraps of fabric, thread, fabric markers, and other notions already on hand.)

Regardless of the time and cost, Quiet Books are treasures to me and, I hope, to my children and grandchildren. A true labor of love, although it really isn't labor. I love making them and was just curious about the time involved and the cost. (Next time I am going to tally the number of time I change the thread color and bobbins. Currently I am thinking 75-100 times.)

Having Granny Slash help out was a treat. I enjoyed her company and her creative ideas and twists on patterns I had made many times. She would like to do a religious themed book, and had ideas for Jonah and the Whale, Joseph's Coat of Many Colors, and a two-page Noah's Ark that was way cool! Sure hope we get that put together!

Of course, we would HAVE to include a page or two from the Book of Mormon. We laughed about designing one for every Mormon kid's favorite story of Ammon defending the King's flock and cutting off the arms of the Lamanite thieves! We imagine lots of severed arms (tastefully done, of course) velcroed all over the page that the kids could put on and off the thieves. As you might imagine, at that point we were a bit tired and getting silly, and having a hilarious time laughing at the whole idea.

I cannot wait to give this book to Adelaide when they come out here for Curt and Vanessa's wedding next month.

Just What IS A Blue Butt Pig?

Okay, I found the answer to that burning Question of the Day.... What is a blue butt pig?

Pigs referred to as "Blue Butts" are usually a cross between a Hampshire and Yorkshire or a Hampshire and Chester White. The resulting coat color is white hair with a "blusish" color on the rump, thus, the "Blue Butt" pig.
And, yes, this pig would make an excellent 4-H animal.
See the following web sites for information on Swine Breeds:
http://www.ansi.okstate.edu/breeds/SWINE/


Sincerly,

Gilbert Hollis
Extension Swine Specialist
Department of Animal Sciences
University of Illinois

From 4-H Swine to Web Design

Today I was up school-day early. Swine judging was on the docket for the 4-H Fair! And I had three, count 'em, THREE students showing their pigs! Only one really knew anything about them, but her enthusiasm for showing her pigs had rubbed off on the other girls who found a farmer to let them use his piglets as their 4-H Projects.

The judging began at 7:00 AM, and I had no idea when the girls would be in the arena. Plus, I had signed up for some web design training at Central Office for the morning, so if I was going to see the girls, it had to be early. I arrived a bit after the show started.

The Midway was deserted and looked so different in the soft early morning light - no garish colors and loud noises at this hour of the day!

I found Sophie right away. She had two pigs and had named them Ricky and Lucy. Her whole family was there, and her brother Cole (one of my former students) had really gotten into the swing of the fair and had even been selling pork sandwiches to hungry fair goers!

This is Lexie, the girl who got the other girls involved. Lexie knew what she was doing; her parents showed pigs in 4-H and her grandfather is a hog farmer. She knew EVERYTHING about pigs until I asked her the breed of one of hers. "It's called a 'blue-butt,'" she replied. Try as I might, I did not find any classes for blue-butt pigs in the class list, so I think that must be a nickname.

Sophie gave Lucky a good scrubbing early in the morning. Gotta have a clean animal to catch the judge's eye!

I had to laugh - she is using the same scrubby puff you find in your stocking at Christmas!

This is Kyle, also a Hershey student. I don't know him well, but apparently his family raises hogs. He knew a lot about the animals and was very helpful to Sophie. (I wish now I'd asked him about blue-butt pigs!)

Lexie and her sister get Girlie ("I couldn't think of a name for her") brushed off and ready for her ring appearance. (That's her blue-butt pig on the left.)

I wasn't there when any of the girls showed, nor did I ever find Kamryn, my third student, but I did watch a few classes. I even picked out a couple of blue ribbon winners!

All too soon it was time to leave for my seminar on web design. Still need to google "blue-butt pig," too!

Adelaide - One Year Old!

Happy Birthday, sweet Adelaide!

The Storm Defined

Last night Chad Evans, weatherman for Channel 18, did an examination of Saturday night's storm complete with maps et al.

What did we have? Well, it was a severe storm with 80 mph winds that had a macroburst right over West Lafayette.

Ground Zero was University Farms, Arbor Chase (our neighborhood), Barbarry Heights, and Amberleigh Village. Arbor Chase is the newest subdivision and so did not have as many big trees to be damaged. And, the homes are really well-built, and so the damage to them was not as great as it was in the other neighborhoods, especially Amberleigh Village.

A macroburst is a sudden downburst of winds, straight down onto the ground and then fanning out in a circle when it hits the ground. It has a diameter of 2.5 miles or more; a microburst has one less than 2.5 miles. (Ours had a diameter of 2.9 miles.)

So, as you might imagine, when winds of 80+ miles come straight down in a diameter of nearly 3 miles, and then scream across the surrounding countryside, you get a lot of damage. (Now I know why my heavy patio furniture was out in the yard; thank goodness it didn't get tossed the other direction and into our windows!)

Add to that a very heavy and localized rainfall of 2-3 inches, several rounds of hail, and numerous lightning strikes, and no wonder our streets were knee deep in water for several hours!

Even though our neighborhood did not have a lot of structural damage, basements were a different story. Yesterday there were many commercial vehicles parked in front of homes with people working on water removal and pulling out damaged furniture, carpeting, storage tubs and boxes, all sopping wet and being set out for today's garbage pickup.

It is interesting to note that while West Lafayette is still cleaning up (and will be for some time), Lafayette was relatively unscathed.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

Mom and I spent the day together working on Adeliade's Quiet Book. We chatted about Dad (he would've been 87 today) and even went to his favorite restaurant, Arni's, for lunch together.

Always, always a sense of humor. His memory may have been foggy, but he was still a clown!

With his three great grandchildren. (Adelaide was not born yet.)

Miss and love you, Dad!

University Farms Damage

This is the subdivision across Kalberer from our subdivision. Those aren't boardwalks - they're privacy fences that blew down.

Amberleigh Village Damage

Storm Damage at Soldiers Home

The west entrance to the Indiana Veterans Home (Soldiers Home). This is the tree that was blocking us when we tried to get home last night.

A massive tree fell onto the children's play structure at the day care facility. Don't miss the "lake" in the background! It's not supposed to be there.

And a tree behind the playground lost a couple of large limbs.

As you come down the spiral east entrance, you see this. It had NOT fallen when Craig and I drove through, trying to get home.

After looking at the 20 or so old trees that were felled by the storm, and all the broken limbs and branches, I feel very lucky that we drove through that place unscathed.

Storm Couds

These are some of the clouds in the sky after the storm. They are mammatus clouds, and are often associated with tornadoes. In fact, when we were hit by the tornado in Urbana in 1996, these clouds were present. Not knowing their name then, I called them "egg carton" clouds. The tornado hit about a half hour after I observed them. I later learned their name and that they are often a harbinger of tornadic activity. This picture was taken right here in my neighborhood (as was the second picture.)

These are the storm clouds I kept an eye on as we drove home from Chicago. Sure look innocent, fluffy, and pretty, don't they?? The picture was taken after the storm vented itself on us and was moving away.

What a Storm!

As we were coming out of Chicago on the drive home from the temple, I noticed a thunderstorm forming in the south. It was HUGE, so I texted a friend in Lafayette and asked if it was storming there. She replied that it was not, but I kept my eye on the storm as we drove. It continued to puff and rise, then began turning dark as we approached it.

As we were driving through White County, the storm cut lose. I had to pull over (as did most of the other traffic on the interstate) and sit. The car shook in the wind; it hailed on us, and the rain was so heavy you could barely see anything. Lightning was hitting the ground repeatedly right next to us. Really scary!

Getting home was tough, especially since the rain was still very heavy. We tried to come up Soldier's Home Road off 43, but a tree was down and blocking the road. So, we nervously tried to drive through the Veteran's Home (chock full of lots of old, old trees, some already down, and I was afraid more would topple) only to find the west entrance/exit was blocked by yet another tree which had fallen.

Next we tried to go south on 43 to Happy Hollow. We drove past my mother's home (and saw some limbs from her cottonwood tree had broken off) but were stopped by... yep, another tree down over the road.

So, we had to turn around, go back toward the interstate, and then cut over 500. It was relatively open, but there was a tree that had fallen across half the road. We were able to get around that one.

Thinking we were past the worst, we turned onto Kalberer Road and headed home. The stop light was out, and University Farms, the neighborhood across from ours, was a mess! Fences down, trees broken off, roofs damaged...

And then we turned into our subdivision and saw this:

Wakefield, the only entrance to our neighborhood, was flooded so deeply a car had stalled out! We watched neighbors carry the kids inside the car out to safety, and sat there wondering how we would get home. We decided to go into Arbor Chase Village, park the car, and then hike through the park to our home.

As we came out of the park and onto our street, we saw this disheartening sight:

Yes, that's our street, underwater!! At this point I was wondering how our home had fared. To my relief, we did not sustain any damage aside from having our patio furniture overturned and tossed about, the bird bath uprooted, and some water that came under the door and into the kitchen. The power was out so we could not come through the garage per usual. Fortunately, I had a house key in my purse.

The lake and creek were inundated with all the extra water. It was scary watching the creek rush over the rocks and under the bridge.

What happened? Good question. There was no prediction of severe weather; in fact, the newscasters were broadcasting right up until the storm and did not see it coming! Apparently it was a rare type of storm that arose abruptly, turned into a supercell, and then as it was over West Lafayette, had a microburst. There is structural damage in Amberleigh Village, another neighborhood close to us, University Farms, and Arbor Chase (where we live.)

More sever weather predicted for tomorrow - stay tuned!

Vanessa Goes to the Chicago Temple!

Look at that gridlock! Chicago is NOT my town. I get stomach aches just thinking about driving up there. And unfortunately the temple is located beyond downtown and further north, meaning you are in that nerve-wracking traffic for a loooooong time.

But, having said that, you do what you have to do, and once I am at the temple, I relax and enjoy myself. Today was no exception - we went up with Curt, Vanessa, and her family to be with Vanessa when she took out her endowment.

Er, notice the wheelchair? Yesterday Vanessa was riding tandem on an ATV with another counselor at Camp Straight Arrow. Somehow he flipped the vehicle, and it rolled on Vanessa, coming to rest on her ankles. No breaks, thank goodness, but her ankles and feet are so swollen she cannot get shoes on, and they are bruised and abraded, too.

Despite (or maybe because of) being on powerful painkillers, she went anyway. She's on crutches, and the temple provided the wheelchair.

Left to right: me, Craig, Cole, Emily, Sarah, Paul Cramer.

Kneeling: Curt, Vanessa, Nancy Cramer.

Anyone who knows Curt is not surprised that he decided to surprise Vanessa with a fast ride around the fountain. You may not be able to tell, but he's running!