March birthdays

March 23, Darryn & Dwight's birthday.

 Where's Darryn?

Dwight - 14 years

 Darryn - 19 years

March 30, Ericka's 17th birthday

Enjoying hanging out with her friends Brianna, Meghan, & Mary

Ericka's Nicaragua Trip

I had the opportunity to go on a missions trip to Nicaragua with my church in the beginning of February. The week I was there, we worked at CICRIN Orphanage on the Island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua. A lot of our time was spent getting to know the kids. We did Bible stories, crafts, and games with them. One of the highlights was being able to give each kid a gift that was prepared especially for them. They included socks, underwear, clothes, school supplies, and of course some toys.

Acting out the good samaritan

Gifts

On two of the days, we went to two local churches and did women's and children's ministry. This included songs, a story, crafts, and presents for everyone that came. 

Some of the fun things I got to do....

Hike to a beautiful waterfall

Go swimming in it!

Go to the beach and kayak with all the kids from the orphanage.

Eat DELICIOUS ice cream.

Get to know the kids really well and to be able to play with them.

Eat a whole fish

This & That

....Calves # 2 & #3 were born on Valentines Day.  Unfortunately calf #2 didn't make it.  It died a few hrs. after it was born which we discovered later was due to a birth defect.  So sad.  Calf # 3 was born late afternoon.  We knew the mom was in labor, but it was too cold to just stand outside and watch so we missed the actual birth.  We were there minutes after the birth and all stood by the fence watching the calf try to get up.  Pretty amazing.

....Ericka spent 10 days in Nicuaragua with a group from our church that went down with Lyn's sister Maryann & Kirk.  I am hoping she will do a post about that.

....We spent time at our Pastor's Conf. which was in southern IN this year.  We flew to Louisville for that and then we flew from there to another conf. in St. Petersburg, FL which began the day after the first conf.  Kinda crazy, but nice to get away.  The second conf. was held at a hotel right on the beach and it had some free time mixed in so we were able to enjoy the beach and the warm weather too.  The kids were all still alive when we returned so I guess they made out ok in our absence.  It's nice to be able to do that, although the mom still wonders and worries.

....It was also the month for science fair projects.  Not the most favorite event in our house.  We were all pleasantly surprised to see that Dwight's project took 1st place, Renae's got 2nd and Devan got a 100%!  Maybe all these years of helping kids with projects is starting to pay off.

Unfortunately, not one picture of these events.  :(

Byler Family Addition

Friday morning, February 7, we received the call from Grandpa Byler that there were 4 cows in the pasture. The kids jumped from the breakfast table to run out and see our first calf before they left for school.  Lyn's dream of having cows was fulfilled this past fall with the purchase of 3 pregnant Black Angus; looking forward to 4 becoming 6.  Grandma can watch the cows from her sewing room window and periodically calls with "concerns" or updates on what they are doing; since the calf has been born it's been calls of "the calf's been laying down all afternoon" to "I think there's another one in labor."  I think both of them are enjoying their neighbors as much as we are.

Happy Birthday, Renae

Renae always shares her birthday with Mr. Groundhog (Feb. 2).  This year she got to share it with the Super Bowl as well.  She wasn't very thrilled about that, but I think it turned out ok after all.  Her friend Mary was able to be here for lunch and the evening so that made it fun.

12 years old

More Winter....and other adventures

We have had several nice snows this year that did not begin or end in rain!

We even had cold enough weather to go ice skating on our pond which lasted for about 5 days.  The first day that we were able to skate was a Sunday so we invited our church friends to come over.  We were having a really nice time and Lyn decided to grab my hand and take me for a romantic spin.  He was pulling me quite fast and on the third time down the length of the pond, when he was spinning me around (think crack the whip with 2 people), I lost my balance on a rough spot and came down hard landing on my wrist.  I could wiggle my fingers but when I removed my glove it was quite clear something was broke.

Lyn was not feeling very good about himself for doing that to me!  While everyone spent the evening skating, we were in the ER.  We were hoping they could set it and I could be on my way, but the orthopedic Dr. said my wrist was broke in more than one place and it needed surgery.  They couldn't do surgery Sunday night so they wanted me to spend the night and squeeze me in early before the scheduled surgeries.  If I went home, I would have had to go to the Dr. office on Monday and then get scheduled for surgery.  They felt it was important to have surgery asap so I kinda grudgingly stayed.  The pain meds helped me sleep pretty good.  There was a more urgent emergency in the a.m. so instead of going to surgery by 5 a.m. it was more like 10 til they took me to anesthesia and so I came home 24 hrs. after it happened with a metal plate in my wrist.

Still knocked out Sunday night in ER after they set wrist.

Lyn thought it funny that I drew my legs up when I went out.

I am thankful that I do not have a hard cast; instead I have a removeable velco arm splint.  It feels good to take it off and mesage my arm.  I am glad to be off narcotic pain meds (wrotten side effects); trust me, there is still lots of pain if i try to use or bump it.  I will go in to have the stitches removed after 2 wks. and I understand that they will give me exercises to start.  Sounds better than wearing a cast for 6-8 wks!  

Since it is my right wrist, I am quite handicapped.  I have ditched make-up and got my hair cut as short as I dare.  Lyn's sisters, Erma & Ida, brought in food which lasted for 5 days.  Everyone has to pitch in to keep the house in order, do the laundry, and get food to eat.  Hey, if nothing else, maybe my family will appreciate what all "the mom" does around here! :)  And as my mom said, at least I was having fun when it happened!

The Helmuth's

It has been 7 years since we have had a Helmuth family picture!

Christmas 2013

On left - Jolene & Lyn, Dwight (13), Devan (10), Ericka (16), Renae (11), Darryn (18)
Middle front - Mom, a.k.a. Grandma/Ida
Middle back - Brian & Tina
Middle right - Bill & Tammi, Naomi (5), Gracie (8), Rachael (16), Caleb (18), Colten (12)
On right - Joy & Shaun, Elena (6), Landis (23 mo.), Greta (4)

True colors shining through!