Our Family
Hello! I am Marietta, the blessed wife of Maynard, the mother of 4 amazing daughters and one incredible son named Benjamin Eric. You may call him Benny, Ben, Honey-poo, Bubby, or anything else that would describe his beautiful soul! He has the great and terrible ability to make or break our days, but we love him so much! We are instilled with a holy, righteous instinct that knows no limits to protect, care for, and love our Bubby with all that is within us. He always loves us back unconditionally. This blog will be a whole lot about him, and a tiny bit otherwise.
We have a son in law!! On October 8, 2016, our daughter, Laurie got married to a wonderful guy named Paul! We are absolutely thrilled to welcome him into our family. He is good and kind to Benny, and Benny adores him. This is how we know if someone has a good soul. It’s called the Benny thermometer. If Benny don’t like you, you’re out! By by!
Our Likes
We are first and foremost a family serving God. As much as Benny allows, we serve others, because we believe this is a vibrant part of the child of God. Sometimes we can only serve Benny because this is where we are most needed. Other times things fall into place and we are able to reach out in some way to bless someone. Yay!
Another thing you need to know about us right off the bat is this: Our ducks are not in a row. In fact, there aren’t even any ducks in sight. Not a single one. They have all gone off to Duck Land, and they never come visit. Who needs all their ducks lined up perfectly anyway? Live, love, and let loose!
We enjoy taking walks with Benny at a local State Park. Beaver Creek is beautiful year round and has many wheelchair accessible trails for Benny. He is completely ecstatic, boisterously noisy, and delighted to be able to cruise along the blacktopped paths. They even have a swing we can put his whole chair in, and give him swing rides. How awesome! No matter how long we stay, he cries in heartbreak every time we head towards our van to leave for home. He makes valiant efforts to steer his chair in the opposite direction trying to tell us, NO.
We love the “Big Sky Country.” We have dear friends in Montana, and every few years we make our way out through the great wild west to visit them. The landscape is breathtaking and refreshing. My husband enjoys hiking the mountains, ever seeking the elusive elk. We have always traveled by car, but it seems this is getting hard for Benny, so we see flights in the future for our Montana visits. We love flying too, but we will miss seeing that first majestic mountain that takes our breath away. One minute it’s not there and suddenly it’s like God opens a floodgate and behold, there is a Rocky Mountain. Whew!
I love Florida. Key word being “I”. Everyone in the family says, “Let us move to Montana.” I say, “Nay, let us move to Florida instead.” Mountains are majestic, but palm trees and beaches, hmmmm. So we are staying put in beautiful Ohio until we get it figured out, living without mountains, palm trees, beaches and the salty ocean air.
We love coffee. The entire family (except Ben) slurps coffee all day long. We have seen terrible things in our lifetime, things like empty coffee cups. It’s tragic and we try to make sure it fails to occur in our habitat.
I love to sew. Absolutely LOVE it. It is like a balmy walk on the beach on a sunny Florida coast. Oh the sensations that hit me when i walk into a fabric store. My creative juices just start flowing and my teeth start itching. 🙂 Not to brag, but I made my daughters wedding dress. Okay, I bragged! I enjoyed it so much and was delighted for the opportunity.
I love life, and I love people. I love laughing and having a great time. I was raised Amish and I’m still a little bit Amish, and a tiny mite crazy! Who’s up for a hair raising game of Dutch Blitz? What on earth is Dutch Blitz? Let me tell you…in a post. Later. It will be too loud for this page.
When it comes to cooking, we have held fast to our Amish ways. Yum! We totally enjoy cooking up an Amish storm and baking like mad. BUT…then one day it all caught up with my forty young years. I noticed I was carrying around an abundance of unnecessary padding. I heard about the Trim Healthy Mama way of eating and went for it. I will write a whole post soon on how i lost 30 pounds all while eating delicious food, and as much of it as I wanted. I am totally passionate about not lugging around extra weight!
I love couponing, being frugal and never paying above Aldi prices no matter what grocery store I happen to be in. I know my prices, yes I do. And I confess I carry an Aldi price list with me wherever I go, with everything nailed down to the price per ounce, pound, or whatever it may be. I am a Giant Eagle fanatic. Say hello to double coupons and a free tank of gas about every fourty-five days with their awesome fuel perks. Keep in mind the “never pay more than Aldi!”
I love buying brand new clothes. This comes from me previously being a dedicated good will shopper for all things clothes. But not shoes. Never will I buy a pair of used shoes and place my size 6 feet into someone elses shoes! Ew! That being said, I never pay above clearance rack prices for clothing or shoes. It’s cheaper than thrift stores and you get something NEW! Love me some new clothes!
In Summary
We live for God and we adore Benny, we love serving, taking walks, eating, drinking coffee, pinching pennies, laughing together as a family and traveling west and south together. I love being with my husband, my ever patient, steady man. He gets me through the difficult times. My daughters are my best friends. We love talking about everything under the sun, solving problems great and small!! 🙂 That’s about it! This is us!
“Enjoy the work you do here on earth. Whatever work you do, do your best.” ~Ecclesiastes 9:9-10
Dear God, Bring me a spirit of joy in doing the work you have called me to do each day. You are worthy to be praised. Amen.