Thursday was the wedding of my great niece, Sarah, and Samuel in Bryant, Indiana.

Sarah is my brother Albert and Sarah Irene’s oldest grandchild. The bride is the oldest child of Elizabeth and Amos. Elizabeth is the oldest of Albert and Sarah Irene’s children and had a baby in January named Susan. She was brave to prepare for a wedding for her oldest daughter while having a 3-month-old baby to care for.

Elizabeth is 38, and if my memory serves me right, they have eight children. When Elizabeth was born, my sister Emma and I helped out with the household duties. I have a diary every year during my teenage years and that was in 1987. It is interesting looking back through those. I can tell I have grown up a lot since those years. Haha!

The van driver started picking up wedding guests at 5:30 a.m. He started at my daughter Elizabeth’s house and picked up her and her four children. Then they headed to my daughter Susan’s and picked up her and her seven children. Then they came here, and the eight school-age children stayed over with daughter Verena, and she put them on the bus at 6:40 a.m. I went with Elizabeth and Andrea and Susan, Ervin Jr. and Sharlene and we picked up my sister Verena.

Then we headed to pick up niece Elizabeth and niece Emma and her four children. We headed to pick up sister Emma. Niece Emma left her daughter Jessica with nephew Ben’s wife, Crystal, so she could go to school with Crystal’s son, Isaiah. Menno Ray stayed with nephews Jacob and Steven. Jazlyn and baby Michael went with us. Then we were all loaded and headed for Indiana. It took more time than we had anticipated to get car seats and seat belts fastened. We made it to the wedding about 20 minutes after the service started, but at least we made it there.

Brother Albert was greatly missed at his granddaughter’s wedding. We got to see Sarah Irene and all of her family and sisters, Leah and Liz (and Levi). I also got to visit with Joe’s sister, Salome, and some of my cousins, nieces and nephews. It was fun catching up with everyone. We headed for home around 3 p.m. I was the last one dropped off and arrived home around 6 p.m. It was an enjoyable ride together.

Our whole family and Emma’s whole family were invited to the wedding, but the menfolk decided to go to work. Traveling is really expensive when we hire a driver, and with so many of us going, we could divide the cost of the trip.

We passed through Berne and Geneva on the way to the wedding. The Berne Elementary and Geneva Elementary schools, where I attended all eight years of schooling, are no longer there. Daughters Elizabeth and Susan also attended Berne Elementary before our move to Michigan 22 years ago. Elizabeth was in third grade, and Susan was in first.

On Wednesday, my daughters and I spent the day at my daughter Lovina’s, helping her to prepare for church services to be held there on Sunday. I made a pizza casserole the night before for our lunch.

Friday night, our family gathered at Tim and Elizabeth’s house for our monthly “Family Night.” I had to take the snack tray. It was a nice, warm, sunny day. This worked out great with them, as they are living in smaller living quarters in their garage, so some of us could eat outside. The highlight of the evening was watching the little chicks hatch one by one in the incubator. They ended up with 32 chicks.

A few readers sent me books, coloring books, etc., so I took the books along and left the grandchildren to pick out a few. They were so excited. Thank you to Dee from Pennsylvania and Kathleen from North Dakota. God bless you for your kindness.

Also in one of the packages were four little Jesus figures. When granddaughter Abigail came here, she hid them all and told me I would find them around here the next week. Before she left for home, she told us bye, then she told Joe, “Grandpa, I hope you find Jesus.” Joe didn’t know anything about this and couldn’t figure out why she said that. It was so sweet and innocent. But seeing Joe’s surprised face did make us smile.

God’s blessings to all!

Rhubarb Dream Bars

Crust:

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter (room temperature)

Filling:

4 eggs

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup flour

4 cups diced rhubarb

1/2 teaspoon salt

Crust:

Mix ingredients and press into a 9x13 cake pan. Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Filling:

Mix ingredients and spread over the hot crust. Bake another 40 to 45 minutes.

• Lovina’s Amish Kitchen is written by Lovina Eicher, an Old Order Amish writer, cook, wife and mother of eight. Her three cookbooks, “The Cherished Table,” “The Essential Amish Cookbook” and “Amish Family Recipes,” are available wherever books are sold. Readers can write to Eicher at Lovina’s Amish Kitchen, P.O. Box 234, Sturgis, MI 49091 (please include a self-addressed stamped envelope for a reply), or email questionsforlovina@gmail.com and your message will be passed on to her to read. She does not personally respond to emails.