Today ...

[Valerie]

April's been a very long month. Mowing. Taxes. Got started painted the cabinets today. Before I could do that I had to clean up the garage so the doors could be out of the weather and easier to keep the bugs out. I made a kind of painting booth with plastic sheets. Sanding them is really dusty work so I had to get a face mask that keeps it out of my lungs. The pollen's been bad enough I don't want to add to it. I need to get it done before the the 22nd when the backsplash guy installs the tiles.

Oh! I’m interested. What were your cabinets and what will they be??

Ours are the golden oak which the Amish told us “have fallen out of favor” ( kind way to say outdated!)

[JohnL]

April's been a very long month. Mowing. Taxes. Got started painted the cabinets today. Before I could do that I had to clean up the garage so the doors could be out of the weather and easier to keep the bugs out. I made a kind of painting booth with plastic sheets. Sanding them is really dusty work so I had to get a face mask that keeps it out of my lungs. The pollen's been bad enough I don't want to add to it. I need to get it done before the the 22nd when the backsplash guy installs the tiles.

Oh! I’m interested. What were your cabinets and what will they be??

Ours are the golden oak which the Amish told us “have fallen out of favor” ( kind way to say outdated!)

These are the inexpensive cabinets with a dark brown maybe walnut stain. My wife chose navy blue. She picked a shiny brass hardware for the pulls.

[JimFoxvog]

Today, I plan to attend a presentation by John Sharp on Anabaptism at 500 at the Illinois Mennonite Historical Society in Metamora. I'll attend with a few others from our church.

Join us: Saturday, April 12 10 AM - 12:30 PM
Faith, a deep conviction to follow the example of Jesus, persecution, and migration are facets that have shaped Anabaptist history, spanning 500 years in 2025.

John E. Sharp, History and Bible professor Emeritus of Heston College, will provide reflections on 500 years of Anabaptism.
[...]
Admission is free. Open to the public! If you are curious about Mennonite history or interested to learn more about our museum, archives and library, this would be a great time to visit.
https://imhgs.org/

[Robert]

Today, I plan to attend a presentation by John Sharp on Anabaptism at 500 at the Illinois Mennonite Historical Society in Metamora. I'll attend with a few others from our church.

That would be interesting. Good thing I am not going. If there was a question and answer period, I am sure I would get myself in trouble.

I seem to know of John Sharp from somewhere. I may be confusing him with someone else. All those Mennonite look alike.

[Robert]

Today, I am recovering from going to a rock concert last night. "Fleetwood Journey" was the band. They were covering songs from Fleetwood Mac and Journey. They were good, but I sat in a chair after a week of physical work and almost feel asleep. My wife wanted to go and she really enjoyed it. I joked with her that I left this music and only listen to Amish Music now. I actually don't listen to any music now. She knows that.

This morning I hoped to recover, but my 17 year old came in needing his drive shaft put in, my 19 year old came in needing guidance on doing facia work at the sister in laws, and my mother called to inform me she is moving to Austin Wednesday and if I wanted anything I needed to come over this weekend to get it.

At the same time I am trying to address the suggested changes here. Fortunately, the Tylenol (generic of course) have started to kick in and stopped the back spasms. Painting eves and sitting in plastic chairs last night seems to remind me of my age.

[temporal1]

Today, I plan to attend a presentation by John Sharp on Anabaptism at 500 at the Illinois Mennonite Historical Society in Metamora. I'll attend with a few others from our church.

[img]
Join us: Saturday, April 12 10 AM - 12:30 PM
Faith, a deep conviction to follow the example of Jesus, persecution, and migration are facets that have shaped Anabaptist history, spanning 500 years in 2025.

John E. Sharp, History and Bible professor Emeritus of Heston College, will provide reflections on 500 years of Anabaptism.
[...]
Admission is free. Open to the public! If you are curious about Mennonite history or interested to learn more about our museum, archives and library, this would be a great time to visit.
https://imhgs.org/

^^Very interesting link that goes to their website and FB page, which goes to many additional Anabaptist sources.
i recommend it! i intend to spend time digging into it.

Illinois Mennonite Historical and Genealogical Society

i believe Metamora was the trainstop where my dear father in law, in The Depression, out of the Ohio orphanage, landed on foot after leaving Chicago where he was starving, to “go as far as possible” on a train to find work. i think he had a dime. He found a farm that let him work. He told us it was poverty for all, but “farms had food”. Food is important to a young man.

i have wondered if any of the farms he worked on, in Ohio or Illinois, were Anabaptist.

His experiences in the ohio orphange, being sent to farms to work in summers, gave him needed skills.
His mother died when he was 5. In that short time she had with him, she taught him about faith, which carried him to age 90.
5 years was enough for her to give him what he needed for life. Awe-inspiring. i pray to do as well.

i cannot describe what wonderful people came before all of us.

[Szdfan]

Today, I plan to attend a presentation by John Sharp on Anabaptism at 500 at the Illinois Mennonite Historical Society in Metamora. I'll attend with a few others from our church.

That would be interesting. Good thing I am not going. If there was a question and answer period, I am sure I would get myself in trouble.

I seem to know of John Sharp from somewhere. I may be confusing him with someone else. All those Mennonite look alike.

Former history professor at Hesston College. His son was M.J. was murdered a few years ago by a militia group in the Congo while he was doing investigative work for the UN.

[Robert]

Former history professor at Hesston College. His son was M.J. was murdered a few years ago by a militia group in the Congo while he was doing investigative work for the UN.

Yes. Thanks for the reminder. That is him. I may not be in as much trouble with him. I have found his stances to be quite balanced before.

[JimFoxvog]

It was a good gathering at Metamora. About 100 people attended, crowding their little meeting room. Here are my sketchy notes that I bothered to take. There was much more.

Anabaptism at 500
John Sharp, Illinois Mennonite Historical Society in Metamora, Illinois
April 12, 2025

The first Anabaptist baptism was serious civil disobeience. It was the beginning of a new church without the sword's protection. This was in a (pictured) building very close to the cathederal, thumbing their nose at a thousand years of state-church fusion. This was an act fo rejecting the social order, of rejecting the state. The church/state authorities soon found a way to make this legally an act of rebellion against the state, making persecution and execution a legal duty.

The early Anabaptists reclaimed Jesus as an example for our lives, his teaching applying to current life, not just some Kingdom of God in the millenial age.

The new church renounced violence and hate, choosing to love all, even enemies and persecuters.

Repeated much from his Golden Calf article in Anabaptist World. https://anabaptistworld.org/our-golden-calf/

Former history professor at Hesston College.

Yes, my son Samuel was in his Bible Literacy class.

His son was M.J. was murdered a few years ago by a militia group in the Congo while he was doing investigative work for the UN.

Yes, one of the questions was about that and he gave a few details that were new to me. There was a UN investigation and the murder was traced to a corrupt army colonel who was involved in illegal arms trade which M.J. and his coworker were about to uncover.

[JohnL]

All the cabinet doors have their first coat. While they were drying I sanded the cabinet frames while I had help with another family member holding the shop vac nozzle close to the sander. It kept the sawdust down but our meals are still tasting like sawdust. After the first day wife started cooking our meals on the gas grill. I think sawdust taste might be my leaky mask.