Happy Birthday . . . to who???

Can you guess who this is???

Jessica Renee!

This is how her birthday started, with a special breakfast. We wanted to post more pictures of her, but, blogger just won't let it happen today! So, throughout the week we'll post some of our favorite Jessica pictures from throughout the years.

We LOVE you Jessica!

A Post!

Greetings all!

This blog has been a little quiet this past week due to bad weather. Well, sort of. See, we used to have really great wireless internet service. Then they upgraded the tower and it hasn't been reliable since. But over the past few weeks it seems to have settled to a nice predictable schedule: on rainy days it doesn't work, on sunny days it does. Still not good, though. But then, the company said that certainly wasn't the problem and it was on our end, and they'd send someone out to check this morning. Well, it's been raining since late Saturday night, we haven't had a connection since Saturday. It's sunny today, we have a connection today. Nobody ever came out and fixed anything, so we are obliged to remain on a "sunny day service" schedule.

But all that is beside the point. The fact is, that as of right now, we can update you all on all the fascinating news you've been missing out on due to our absence from the cyberworld.

Before we move onto what everyone's up to these days, however, we've got an important headline to mention:

265 years ago today, September 14th - after 23 days of uninterrupted labor - George Frederic Handel completed writing his much beloved oratorio masterpiece, "Messiah."

For those of you who like to plan early, on Thursday, December 21, 2006 at 7:00pm we will be attending LaSalle Bank's annual "Do-It-Yourself Messiah." So mark your calendars and come on and join us for this incredible and delightful event (click here and here). If you're coming from afar, we'd be happy to reserve rooms for you the Erber Inn! For those of you who have come before, you will want to make note of the fact that they have a different procedure for procuring the greatly coveted tickets this year.

Okay, on to news on the homefront:

This past week both Joseph and Josiah finished their former math books and started new ones. An event certainly worthy of great rejoicing!

Jonathan continues to do well in the music courses he's taking at Rock Valley College (RVC). This past week he sang with the RVC choir in a 9-11 memorial service. He also spent a few minutes at the blackboard before the teacher arrived to teach the theory class earlier this week, diagramming and explaining certain things for some of the other students. As assistant accompanist for the choir, he has also worked one on one with various other choir members. Jonathan was also asked to sing the national anthem at the college's homecoming football game later this month! I'm sure there are other highlights to the last few weeks of classes, but I can't think of them right now...

Joanna and Josiah continue to excel in their respective studies of the violin and cello. At the urging of their teachers, this fall they joined the Rockford Music Academy's orchestras. Last Saturday was the first time they met with the orchestra, and I think they are both excited about participating in them.

On Saturday, Nathan & Jeanine, Jeremy & Sara, and the C's & W's, joined all of us (aside from Mom, Joanna and Josiah who were in Rockford as mentioned above) for a multi-purpose visit to Grandpa & Grandma Erber's home.

Purpose 1 - celebrate Grandma's birthday
Purpose 2 - business meeting for Jeremy, Joshua, and Nathan
Purpose 3 - introduce Winston to Aunt Jill
Purpose 4 - seal Grandpa's blacktop driveway

Purposes 1-3 were happily accomplished, but rain in the forecast required us to cancel the fourth purpose of our visit. But as that gives us a reason to go back again soon, that isn't all bad!

Saturday was a busy day, however. After arriving home from Grandpa and Grandma's house, we packed back up and headed 'cross the border' into the wilds of Wisconsin for an adventure. Okay, so it is only about 10 miles to the Strands house and the adventure was a birthday party for their now 9-year-old son, Evin. Oh, what fun! Arriving in our cowboy gear, we were brought out to the barn where - after some instructions and a brief demonstration - we were invited to try our hand at fencing! Having worked up an appetite after several rousing encounters in the lists, we headed towards the house for pizza. Following dinner, the Strands introduced us to a fun new group game, which defies description...

This week has been fairly eventless. School work, music lessons, 'round the house projects, and the like filled our days.

Yesterday evening, however, we had the pleasure of meeting new friends in the form of guests of Jeremy & Sara's. Mr. & Mrs. B are friends of Sara's family and as they were in the area they stopped by to visit with J&S for a few days. Last night we had them over for a dinner filled with interesting conversation - although a church men's meeting drew the men elsewhere for part of the evening.

This morning, we again had visitors as friends from Chicago that we haven't seen in awhile were out our way and stopped in for a pleasant chat.

Looking ahead to this weekend, we'll be spending it with most of the families from our church at a nearby campground. So far, the weather forecast looks good, and we know of nothing else to spoil the enjoyment and edification that can be found socializing with such a great group of families - excepting, perhaps, the thought of spending several hours pretending to sleep in the delightful atmosphere created by spreading sleeping bags on the floor of a canvas tent in the midst of a field in Wisconsin on a cold autumn night. Ahhh....

[Wouldn't you know it. By the time I finished typing all the above, it was dark out and our solar generated internet service had also gone to bed... Heavy fog covered our area early this morning and was followed by a couple hours of overcast skies which are just now clearing up. Hopefully, we will soon be again the beneficiates of full sunshine and possibly once again hook up to cyberspace and get this post up before it is too terribly outdated.]

A beautiful day for a ball game!

One of the highlights of this past weekend and our visit with Justin Kelly, was having a softball game and barbeque on Saturday with several families from our church. It was a serious game. Men and older boys only. The teams, players, and line ups were discussed, compared, rearranged, and discussed some more in hopes of designing the most even game possible. The ladies and children watched this spectacle of strength, skill and strategy, cheered on their men, took photos, played at the playground, got the food out, and, of course, sang "Take Me Out To The Ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch. The game was tied going into the bottom of the ninth inning. A good time was had - aside from sore muscles and various injuries - and a desire to do it again was expressed by all!

Just a small selection of pictures from the day...


Play Ball!




In the dugouts



Some of the fans visit with their favorite players



The Ump


Caroline enjoyed the flowers more than the game


Corrine heard that dinner is ready!


Food, glorious food!


Seth


Was it REALLY fair, or was it foul? No one will ever know for sure.


William with his Uncle Josh


Young friends

15 years later...

October 1991

Josh & Justin. They've known each other since the 80's. They've lived most of their lives several states apart. They're both competitive. They have a reputation for sending each other to the ER. Somehow, they're still friends.


September 2006

A Weekend of Rejoicing

Josh and I (Jessica) just got back from one of the most delightful weekends of our year so far. The occasion for our travel this time, was the wedding of Peter Bradrick and Kelly Brown - a truly joyous and beautiful event.

We flew down on Thursday morning - well, we tried to fly down on Thursday morning, but we ended up instead with the opoprtunity to observe how travelers respond to being stranded/delayed in O'Hare airport for several hours due to inclement weather. But by evening, we did finally make it to North Carolina.


All day Friday and through much of Saturday, we enjoyed helping with clean-up, set-up, decorating, meal preparation, flower arranging, lawn work, and anything else that needed to be done before the wedding and reception. They kept us busy, but it is truly delightful to work with and for people that we love and enjoy. As an added blessing, we also got to meet new friends, and reacquaint ourselves with others that we haven't seen in years!

As the hour for the wedding drew near, those of us left at the reception site (aka the Brown's Farm) hurried around trying to get all the last minute details in place before we left for the ceremony.


The wedding itself has been well documented elsewhere (check here and here), but what a joy it was to witness the ceremony that united in marriage two people so entirely devoted to each other and to the glory of God, and to see the love and support poured on them by their families and by friends from across America.

The celebration continued the next day as many of the 700 guests remained in town and attended church together on Sunday - and then stayed and visited through the afternoon and evening hours and into the night. Many varied conversations (from theological controversies to favorite family recipes), and much rejoicing, laughter, singing, prayer, ah yes, and the tears of parting with those you love, filled the weekend, and our hearts, as we celebrated this wonderful occasion with the Bradrick and Brown families and friends.

Monday found us all moving a little more slowly, and in the early afternoon hours, Josh and I said our goodbyes and headed to the airport - where we had the opportunity to observe how travelers respond to being stranded/delayed in the Raleigh/Durham airport for several hours due to inclement weather in Chicago. By late evening, we did make it home, where Mom and Joanna had a lovely hot dinner prepared for us and where we stayed up late retelling stories and conversations from the weekend.

Looking ahead, we have longtime friend, Justin Kelly, here for a visit this weekend. Tomorrow a number of the men from our church will be getting together for a "serious" game of softball followed by a BBQ. I'm personally delighted that Nathan, Jeanine, Jeremy, and Sara, and their children, will all be in town this weekend and so am I! Can't wait to catch up with them again! (It will be the first time in over 2 months that we're all together.) The rest of September looks to be fairly slow and easy going - at least, compared to the last several months, that is! No major events or traveling on the calendar for us at this point.

Changing the topic entirely, as I started this post I was informed of the sad demise of our old frog, Bert, as he was found in his aquarium this morning looking, uh, very dead. However, he now seems to have revived - apparently having suffered a stroke, as one leg appears paralyzed. He was only supposed to live 1 year, and he was 2 years old when we got him... about 7 years ago. Apparently, if you don't overfeed him, he lives longer. He's escaped from his little home 3 times now, once bouncing around our house for over three days before we finally found him under the dining room table... and he lives on looking ahead to more adventures, no doubt!

Lovely Ladies

Guess who showed up in our yard today!

Can you guess???

Birthday Boy!

Today we celebrate the gift God gave us 10 years ago - Josiah William Erber! Happy Birthday, young man!!

Grandma Muligano & Aunt Clorinda visit!

We're so glad that Grandma Muligano came up from Florida and visited for a week. Here she is with Winston - her great-grandson!



Here's everyone on our back porch (which is still under construction).



It's August so, of course we had to husk some corn from a local farm. Yum.



Corrine peaking up at everyone.



Four generations!



Joanna gets a special violin lesson from her wonderful Aunt Clorinda.

Texas

Greetings from Plano, Texas! We are currently working at the NTHEN conference, but things are a little slow right now and we have a wireless connection, so... here's a quick update from the field!

We've been in Texas for 11 days now and have really had a very enjoyable time. For the most part. We left on August 7, intending to drive through the night and get to our destination (the Huber home) on the evening of August 8.



But just one quick hour down the road and Josh's suburban started shaking, and then smoking... After sitting on the side of the road for about 1/2 an hour, we made it to a gas station, where we spent the rest of the evening.



Three hours later, the guys had the vehicle in running order again, and we were able to restart our journey - at 10:30pm. Not the most exhilerating hour to start on a journey. But nonetheless, we made the rest of the trip safe and sound, and pulled into the Huber's driveway 24 hours later. Wednesday, August 9, was a day of shopping, set up and relaxation.



August 10-12, was the reason we were down there. Vision Forum's Entrepreneurial Bootcamp. Josh - with his right hand man, Luke - was there to record the conference, and, despite having an inexperienced crew and some last minute computer errors, all went well for Resounding Voice.



Across the street from the conference center was the McAllister building, wherein resides the Guadalajara Grill on the main level - and a quaint upper room, where Anna and I kept busy.



Having two meals a day ready for close to 90 staff and speakers was our responsibility, and with the help of Mr. & Mrs. Howell, and the chauffering service of Nikkae, we were able to do it.



Lots and lots of laughter and fun accompanies any adventure with this crew, and this trip has certainly not been an exception. Thanks to you all for the help and fun you brought to us!



After the conference we spent Sunday night through Thursday morning at the Huber home.



On Tuesday night the Zes family joined us, and Wednesday was a day spent out of doors!



A game of baseball - blondes vs. not blondes - played in the early afternoon Texas sun...


followed by a couple games of volleyball, then dinner, football...



some English country dancing, and funny movie clips filled the day and sent us to bed exhausted.


Now here in Plano, the conference is going well. We had our share of excitement yesterday with the police and paramedics showing up for two separate instances, and then a small fire broke out - but it was under control before the fire department had to be called... Right now the morning keynote session is being held and the rest of the sessions will start shortly and we'll hopefully be busy again soon! Tomorrow morning early should see us on the road headed home. We've had a great time here, but I don't think any of us will be sorry to be back home in Illinois!

Cousins!

Home and away...

The last few weeks at home have been quiet and refreshing! But, there are a few things of note that we really ought to mention here.

Despite being haunted by vehicle problems, Josh and crew did make it back home from the Arizona convention. (They took it to a mechanic in Phoenix who "found the problem" and replaced a part... which same part was retested after arriving home and works just fine. Go figure! Hey, at least they made it back!)

Last Monday, Nathan & Jeanine moved into their cute little apartment in Greendale, Wisconsin - just a couple doors down from one of their previous homes. Unfortunately, they choose one of the hotest days of the year to move, and their new apartment doesn't have AC! Everyone more or less survived the ordeal...

On Thursday night, we welcomed an honored guest to our home when Grandma Muligano flew into town! So far we have spent a delightful weekend together including visits with Nathan, Jeanine and children. On Wednesday of this coming week, Mom's older sister, our Aunt Clorinda, will be flying in from Maine and spending a couple of days with us here. Then on Friday morning, Grandma, Aunt Clorinda and Mom will be flying out to California for our cousin Anna's wedding. They are eagerly anticipating beautiful weather and a fun time with family in Santa Barbara this weekend!

Oh, I must be sure to mention one odd item of note. Yesterday morning a local farmer discovered that one of his cows had delivered a two-headed calf! It really truly has two heads and one body - we aren't making this up. Some of us went over to see it last night and did get a couple of pictures. The farmer thinks that if he had found the calf sooner, they might have been able to keep it alive...

Looking ahead, tonight Josh and I hit the road south for two conferences in Texas. We will be joined by Anna and Luke VonHolten and the Gould family (excepting Mr. Gould). The Goulds will be traveling down with us and attending Vision Forum's Entrepreneurial Bootcamp in San Antonio this weekend. Josh is recording said event, I'm in charge of the meals for the staff, and Luke and Anna have graciously agreed to help us! The following weekend, Josh, Luke, Anna, and I will head up to Dallas for a conference and then will head on home. However, as our estimated time of departure is only 5 short hours away, I think I'd better get back to work!

We miss you!

Jeremy, Sara, Caroline & William are in Ohio. Jeremy has a job building a house two miles from Sara's parent's house. So, needless to say they've been in Ohio for a while and will be for some time. Ohio has been incredibly hot - 110 degrees! And they've experienced severe rain and flash floods... not ideal conditions for building. Jer, we're praying for you (for Sara & the kids, too)!