-hello from the endress family-

Hello to all our relatives!  We thought we'd just give a little update on our family since we don't get to see a lot of you very often!

Before Easter Program 

Heidi with one of our baby goats

"Aunt Liz" and Anderson

The most recent picture of all of us

Now for the update.  We're all doing pretty well and keeping pretty busy.  We've finished our homeschooling for now and are enjoying our break!  The most recent addition to our farm was some chicks.  They are growing fast and we are looking forward to getting eggs next fall.  We have gotten in a couple days of planting, and the men are anxiously waiting for the fields to dry out enough that they can get back in.

If you would like to keep up with our family, email us at bruceendress@gmail.com and we will send you an invite to our private family blog.

Hope everyone has a happy Mother's Day tomorrow!  We are planning on going to Gridley to be with the Perry Klopfenstein Family.

~the Endress'

(written by Sarah for Mom)

Mom and Dad Visit Pt. 2

Today we went to the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum on the 10th day it was open. I was afraid it would be rather crowded but it was a rainy day so the crowd was manageable.

Mom and Dad outside the museum. If you watched the dedication on April 25 you will recognize this as the area of the stage and podium.

Here is some of the twisted metal from the Twin Towers from 9/11. It's a dark picture as no flash was allowed.

Does this look rather presidential and First Ladyish? Mom and Dad at the desk in a replica of the W. Oval Office.

Mom and Dad helping make a decision on what to do with Saddam Hussein after hearing snippets of advice from CIA, congress, the UN, the White House, etc.

With 41 and 43.

One item on my bucket list is to visit a presidential site for each president. Today I crossed W. off the list. Within a 3-hour drive or so I will be able to pick up 3 other sites to cross off as well. The museum is very well done, and we had a very enjoyable time today.

Dallas Visit pt. 1

Mom and Dad flew into Dallas on Monday evening and we've been enjoying a wonderful time together.

Yesterday a couple they met on a tour of the Grand Canyon and other national parks in that area came to visit. After dinner we went to a local creation group's monthly meeting with the couple.

Today we shopped at Ikea. Mom helped me pick out some bed pillows as mine came up missing in the move. I always say she picks out such good pillows that I wanted to make sure we found some while she is here. Dad was impressed with the kitchen cabinet hinges that automatically shut the cabinets. We enjoyed a Swedish meatball lunch and a plate of salmon lasagna at the store for lunch.

Tonight we enjoyed dinner on the patio. This is the three of us after we were finished.

Here is Mom and Dad from a different angle so that you can see my favorite backyard decoration in the background. I found this at a very large flea market in Grand Prairie a few weeks ago.

Dad is showing the bowl I had asparagus in for dinner. If you enlarge you may see the tape on the bottom with "Anna Klopfenstein" handwritten. I am nostalgic every time I use this bowl to think of how often she must have taken it to potlucks to have her name on the bottom.

This is the swing we brought back from MI last week. Seeing Mom and Dad swing on it made me think of others reminiscing about Grandpa K. on the front porch swing. Later Dad was sitting differently on it with his right hand on the arm rest and his left arm up on the back of the swing. He mentioned how that is just how his father would sit on the front porch to swing.

More pics after tomorrow's activities hopefully.

FUN IN THE SUN

We picked Nathan up after school and brought him to our hotel. He and Grandpa had a great time in the pool. We bought a snorkeling kit for Nathan and he really picked up on that skill - didn't need much help at all. You can see that we have a nice pool area. Enjoy the pictures.

KELSIE'S GRADUATION

Here are a few pictures of Kelsie's graduation. (1)This picture is Nathan, Angela, Jerry, and Heater "patiently" waiting for the ceremony to begin. (2)A view of the "hugeness" of the mega church where the graduation was held due to the rain. (3)Our beautiful Kelsie received her Bachelors Degree from the Davis College of Business at Jacksonville University. We had no idea where she was amidst the 800+ students until she finally walked across the stage and they said her name.(4)Kelsie and a couple of her sorority sisters. (5)Does anyone recognize this man? If you're over 50 you are most likely to recognize him, but I wouldn't be surprised if some younger people might also. After the graduation, we went to a beach-side restaurant for a casual dinner. We ate outside, but the plastic shades were all down as it rained all day.

Update on Preston

Perry & Preston at Falls Park in downtown Sioux Falls

Preston's dining area and balcony 

Preston's balcony is second floor above the yellow car

Preston's bedroom with a dresser Sue Bajema (from Lester church) gave him and the bed he bought  at a Sioux Falls rummage sale. 

View from his kitchen of the free couch and the brown pillow we got at a rummage sale.

 

Friday, Perry II and I drove our van to Sioux Falls with all but the two front seats taken out.  We had many boxes of Preston's belongings (mostly books), a table and chairs set, and a four drawer filing cabinet in the back.  I felt like a migrant worker.  That night we unloaded and Perry and Preston went to pick up the donated couch and dresser.  Saturday morning we went to "rummage" sales (garage sales in Illinois) and found a double bed complete with mattress, box spring and frame for $15.  We managed to fit it in Preston's van but Perry had to sit in the front between us on the newly purchased pillow on top of a 5 gallon bucket.  After unloading, we went to Sam's club and Walmart for the many other things that were needed.  Perry II put together the lamp by the couch, a bookcase and nightstand. We sure were glad for his muscles and his talent for putting things together. After church on Sunday, the three of us visited the falls and had a nice relaxing evening.  Monday, Perry II and I drove the 9 hours back to Gridley.  Preston's apartment is practically next door to a large beautiful library.  Across the street is a large park and a biking trail (he uses for jogging) that goes all around the city.  Across the street the other way is a gas station.  He's got it "made."  Every day we look forward to Preston's emails and phone calls.  He is doing well, and we are adjusting well too. ---- Carol

 

 

Our Concern

Many of you know of our interest in creation versus evolution.   As a young person  I could never reconcile  school textbooks and the media with God's Word, especially Genesis.    About forty years ago we learned about Dr. Henry Morris and his progression from an evolutionist college professor to a Creationist, who believed in the authority and accuracy of God' Word.  After getting some of his literature,  darkness became light as we learned God had it right in His Word all the time.   Below is a very succinct description of the present day situation.   The source is:   creation.com 

By definition all thinking atheists must believe in evolution of some sort (and its co-joined concept of millions of years of earth history) to explain their existence without a creator. F. Sherwood Taylor (former Curator of the Museum of the History of Science, Oxford) summarized his belief about his country’s general apostasy this way; ‘ … I myself have little doubt that in England it was [uniformitarian, long-ages] geology and the theory of evolution that changed us from a Christian to a pagan nation.’
And as street preacher/evangelist Mark Cahill stated; “I think the real issue is if people know that evolution is true, they then know that the Bible would not be true and that then leads to the conclusion of atheism.” From their universities inner halls to their wide open streets, evolutions effect on the western nations has been the same. The obvious implication is that if the Bible cannot be accepted as plainly read then why trust it at all? 

 

National Day of Prayer--A First for Us

This noon we joined approx three hundred others at the Anderson court house steps to observe the annual National Day of Prayer, a part of our heritage since 1775 and more specfically since 1952, when Truman signed a resolution declaring an annual, national day of prayer.  The hour passed quickly with three high schools participating and seven speakers offering about five minutes of message and mostly prayer.  Among them were our U.S. Representative Jeff Duncan and our new Senator Tim Scott.   Would that we had more men with their convictions in D.C.  The event closed with a soloist singing "American Christian," a stirring song with a powerful message.   Although this was a first for us, if the Lord permits (remember we are not exactly young) we hope to attend next year.

CRAZY DAY AT THE AIRPORT

We arrived in Jacksonville Florida about 10 pm last night after a crazy day of traveling by plane. We left home on Tuesday afternoon and stayed overnight near Midway airport. The hotel had a "park/fly" deal where we were able to leave Jerry's truck while spending two weeks in JAX. We are here for Kelsie's graduation from Jacksonville University on Saturday. We left the hotel and rode the shuttle bus to Midway and arrived in Birmingham at 10:30 a.m. where we had a layover of about 2 hours. We should have arrived in JAX about 2:00 pm CST. As we were going through security at Midway, Jerry lost his Driver's License while going through the body scanner. It was obvious to the 150 people in line that "red necks" were traveling. A woman attendant eventually found the DL under the scanning area. We breezed into Birmingham very smoothly and thought all was going well. Our first clue of a real problem was when the flight attendent announced, "ladies and gentlemen, our aircraft is broke!" A brief 2 hour layover ended up lasting 6 hours!! The plane we were to take to Jax was grounded in New Orleans due to weather/mechanical problems. To say that patience wore thin is an understatement. And we were almost sick from eating airport junk food all day! We should have arrived in Jax at our hotel around 3:00 local time, instead, it was 10:30 p.m. We were anxious to see Angela, Jerry, Nathan, and Kelsie, but that has to wait until later today! To "kill" six hours in an airport, one spends most of the time "people watching" and it is an experience not for the faint at heart. Hopefully the rest of our time in JAX will go well. We will keep you updated with pictures included.

Dad Sells A Car to Uncle Ralph (for Cleve)

My dad is going through old papers and found this bill of sale from when he sold a car to Cleve and Uncle Ralph.  Sure wish we could still buy cars for that price.  The pictures may be hard to look at because of size, but if you click directly on the picture it should enlarge it.

Dad is going through a lot of stuff, so more may be coming--

She's a Farm Girl Now

I went out to Sam and Shelley's to babysit yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours. Life at their house is interesting, to say the least. It's a good place for boys...

This is Fred. Ben's pet turtle. Oh, excuse me, he will immediately correct me that it is a tortoise. He outgrew his smaller tank, so Ben constructed a new home for him. He hand cut all the boards and nailed them together. He rigged all the lighting. He completed the project all by himself at 9 years old.

Guess where he put it??

On top of his bed!
He now sleeps with Joe on the bottom bunk.

I had to go to school to pick the older boys up, because Ben couldn't ride the bus home. He was transporting something special!

Baby chicks! This is what he rigged up as a place to keep them until they get too big.

After the chicks were settled in, we went to the garage to see if the mommy cat had any more kittens in the flower pot. There was only one newborn kitten there.

Not to be outdone, Nate and Joe have a project of their own going. Can you guess what this is all about??

It's their pet rock village! Notice the hospital.

This is Joe's rock house. The rock is in the bathrub. And notice the toilet he made, complete with ......

We went outside to play awhile. Tell me, does anyone need a dog this big??



The boys wanted to go out and get a picture of the two cows behind the shed, but I declined.

Hope you enjoyed the images of the afternoon. I have to admit, my daughter amazes me!



                                                              

There she is...Catherine!

If you have been in the Blm/Normal area the last few days, you may have noticed the Healthy Cells magazine that can be found at many businesses, doctor offices, etc. around town. The May feature has been distributed and Mercy Creek retirement center is the featured article. As you can see, Mom is on the front cover, as well as in other pictures in the article in the magazine.

                                                                                              



Here she is having a little snack in the Bistro.




Here she is in the front lobby. Some of you may recognize Bernice Bachman in front of the fireplace. Dave and I teased Mom about the gentleman she is so easily visiting with. We told her she better be careful! Her reply: "That's ridiculous!"



Here she is doing a little Wii bowling.

Mom says she is very happy with her apartment, the new building is beautiful and clean, and the food is good at every meal. We are glad that she has adjusted to the move and that she continues to be in fairly good health. She is 86 years old. Just be sure to speak loudly to her, as her hearing loss continues to be her biggest problem.



Preston moved to Sioux Falls, SD

 

New employer

 

Pines at Four Hills

 

Most of you have probably heard that Preston moved to Sioux Falls a little over a week ago.  He took a job at TCF Financial Corporation at the call center doing customer service work.  He has 4 weeks of training before the actual work begins.  Perry and I drove out with him (2 vans) and went apartment hunting with him.  He was able to get a nice 1 bedroom apt in southeaster Sioux Falls which is 12 minutes from his work and 35 minutes to our Lester, IA church where he has been attending.  Today they had about 7 more inches of snow which is quite unusual for this time of year.  Perry II and I are planning to leave Thursday morning to take him some furniture, etc. because he moves into his apartment on Friday.  Up until now he has been staying with Arnie and Myra Wulf who live in Sioux Falls and have a large home and are glad to keep him.  Perry and I are adjusting to the empty nest.  It's been 40 years since it was just the two of us. ---Carol