Throwback Thursday - Kristen in her Christmas Dress and her first "Piece"

Christmas 1974; Kristen was 2 years old.

Just a little background.  Bethany, our church, in 1974 was not nearly as big as it is now.  It was located on the corner of Springfield and Armory Streets in Springfield.  Every Christmas season back then Bethany had a Children's Christmas Program where the Sunday School kids would say their "piece" up on the pulpit in front of the whole church.  Sometimes there was a little pageant that would go along with it playing out the Christmas story.  Afterwards the kids would all receive Christmas candy in an orange web type stocking or Christmas box.  I remember saying my piece when I was a kid, so this had been going on for a long time.  I'm not sure when they stopped doing this, probably when the church got bigger.

At any rate, back in 1974 they were still doing it.  Kristen came home from Sunday School with a "piece" to say.  She was only 2, so I wasn't sure if she would do it.  Paul's mom, GG, bought her a new dress and when the time came, she got right up  there and said her "piece".  She was the youngest one to do it.

I had written it down in her baby book and this is what it was:

Shining for Jesus - "A little star up in the sky can shine for Jesus, so can I."  I'm not sure if anyone else understood her but I sure did!  Needless to say, we were all so proud of her!

She also sang a song with two other little girls, Pammy Bennett and Heather Sorcinelli.  So cute.

Also, in looking through her baby book I found that in 1975 when she was 3, her piece was called My Wish for You - "A wish for you, it comes from me.  May your Christmas very happy be."

These pictures were given to me by someone from church years later.  I don't remember who.  The one above was from 1975.

The one below was from 1976 but by then I had stopped writing in her baby book and I don't have her "piece".  I do know that all three years she sang a song with these same girls.




PS - In looking through Mark's baby book, I never wrote down any of his Christmas "pieces."  The one thing I do know is that he did not start at 2 years old, lol!

Happy Birthday Paul!

This is a picture of Paul (right) and his good friend Ralph Lathrop.  It was taken at our church, Bethany, on December 6th, 2015.  When I saw them standing in the foyer together looking like twins with their bald heads and gray goatees, lol, I just had to take their picture.

This was Ralph's first time in church since his stroke in the beginning of November, 2015.  He went to Brigham and Women's in Boston and then to rehab.

These are the scrapbook pages that I made of this time.

Ralph had been diagnosed with breast cancer in November of 2012, and had been doing really well until this stroke three years later.

A few days after he got home from rehab, Ralph's brother flew up from Florida and drove Ralph and Linda down to their condo in South Carolina where they have been spending the winters for quite a few years.

He has had his ups and downs health wise but had been holding his own until this Saturday, May 6th when he had a massive aneurysm and was placed on a breathing tube until his sons could get there on Sunday, May 7th.

What has all this got to do with Paul's birthday?

Unfortunately, the day Ralph passed away was the day before Paul's birthday and the day we had his birthday party with the family.  We all tried to be upbeat for his party but there was an underlying sadness.  I'm sure, every birthday for Paul from now on, he will remember his friend Ralph.  Maybe that's not a bad thing.  Rest in peace Ralph.  The Radtkes love you!

Throwback Thursday - Father/Son Campout

This week when we took Dot out for a ride we were driving on Stony Hill Rd. in Wilbraham and Paul said that he would love to know exactly where the boy scout camp was that the Royal Rangers used for their Father/Son Campouts.  He knew that it was somewhere on Stony Hill Rd. and so we set out to find it and take pictures of it.  I wanted to show the pictures to my son Mark and see if he recognized it at all.  

We found it and I got out to take some pictures.  Paul recognized the building and the grounds.  I'm not sure how many times Paul and Mark went here, but I found pictures from 1982 and 1983.  Mark would have been 8 and 9.  Paul thinks it was the first time they went that he made a walking stick.  He cut down a small tree and started whittling it.  Long after the campout was over, he was still putting polyurethane varnish on it to fill in the cracks.  He still uses it.  

These are a few of the pictures I have.

1982 - Mark is in the middle.

Mark is on the right.  The bunks were built right onto the wall, three high all around the room.

Mark is the boy standing.

1983 - Mark is in the front row, fourth from the left.

Mark is the kid looking at the camera.

I hope Mark has good memories of those weekends.  I know Paul does.  

This is the walking stick Paul made.  He still uses it (this picture was taken in 2010).  

These are the pictures that we took of the boy scout camp that we took this week.  Does it look familiar to you Mark?

Prims "Ruls"

I think this is so cute!

Last night in Prims (girls club at my church), some of the girls that got there before me decided to write the "Ruls" out on the board.

1.  Do not stand on chaise (of course they were standing on chairs writing this, LOL).

2.  Do no tack your shoes of with out sox.

3.  Do not throw your Bible.

4.  Do not be jeales.

5.  Do not push.

6.  Do not fight.

7.  No going on the stacked chers.  (We keep the overflow of chairs stacked 2-3 high).

8.  Do not areguw.

9.  Do not climb on toys.

10.  Be good.

11.  Be quiet when the teacher is talking.

These girls are 1st and 2nd graders.  I think they did a great job.  Love these girls!

Throwback Thursday - Bethany Pictorial Directories

Tonight Paul, Marley and I are going to Bethany to have our picture taken for the newest Bethany Pictorial Directory.

This will be the 5th time Bethany has done a book, and the 4th time we have done it.

The first time was in 1984.

The second time was in 1994.

Bethany did another book in 2002 but we didn't have our picture in it.


The third time was in 2008.

The fourth one is tonight.  I'll post it when it's available.

UPDATE***

We got our pictures back finally that were taken on March 19, 2015

It was so much fun having them taken with Marley.  She is almost 14!

Digital Project Life 2014, Week 10. Scrapbook pages Pennies for a Purpose and Hello Winter

It seems good to be only working on one year now.


I also did a couple of scrapbook pages from 2012.

Honor Ceremony

Tonight Marley was crowned an Honor Star at the Girls Ministries Honor Ceremony at Bethany. For the younger clubs, it means that the girls have attended three out of four Wednesday nights and completed all of their badges.

For the two older clubs, Stars and Friends, there is a lot more to it.

This is what the leader read before Marley was crowned:

"WHAT IS AN HONOR STAR?

AN HONOR STAR IS A GIRL WHO HAS PROVEN HERSELF FAITHFUL TO GOD, HER CHURCH AND THE IMPACT STARS PROGRAM FOR THE PAST THREE YEARS.

MARLEY HAS EARNED AT LEAST 27 UNITS IN THIS TIME.

THIS MEANS THAT SHE WAS IN CLASS AT LEAST THREE OUT OF THE FOUR WEEKS THE CLUB WAS WORKING ON EACH UNIT.

SHE MEMORIZED THE SCRIPTURE VERSES, COMPLETED THE ACTIVITY PAGES, AND FINISHED HER PROJECTS.

IN ADDITION TO BEING FAITHFUL DURING CLASS, SHE WENT OVER AND BEYOND WHAT SHE DID IN CLASS AND EARNED 9 HONOR STEPS WHERE THESE STEPS HAD TO BE DONE AT HOME.

TO ACCOMPLISH THOSE HONOR STEPS, SHE HAD TO MEMORIZE SEVERAL SCRIPTURE VERSES AND ALL OF THE BOOKS OF THE BIBLE, WRITE AN ESSAY ABOUT INTEGRITY AND MEMORIZE THE ASSEMBLIES OF GOD STATEMENT OF FAITH ON WHICH SHE WAS TESTED.

MARLEY ALSO HAD TO READ THROUGH THE ENTIRE NEW TESTAMENT DURING HER STAR YEARS AND THEN BE TESTED ON 27 MEMORY VERSES UNDER A REVIEW BOARD.

MARLEY IS GOING TO BE RECOGNIZED AND HONORED TONIGHT FOR HER INCREDIBLE ACCOMPLISHMENTS THAT SHE HAS WORKED SO HARD ON.

WE ARE PROUD OF HER AND CANNOT WAIT TO SEE THE WONDERFUL THINGS GOD HAS PLANNED FOR HER LIFE."


One thing I can say for my church is that they do so much for the children and teens. Tonight was just an example. It was a wonderful ceremony with refreshments afterwards.

We are all so proud of you Marley. You worked hard for this!

Stars Retreat

Marley left today for a weekend at the Stars Retreat in Pittsfield, MA. It is at the same campground that Kristen and Mark went to as kids at Lakeside Christian Camp.

This is the whole crew.



Rain is forcasted for Saturday. I'm sure the kids will still have fun, but I'm not so sure about the counselors!

Daisy/Prims Rally Day

Today was the Daisy/Prim Rally Day in Charleton at the Southern New England District offices. This is the third time that I have gone. It is a fun day for the girls. We meet at the church at 8:30 am and travel in the church vans. This year we had 10 Daisies and 11 Prims, which is the biggest group yet. There are all sorts of activities for the girls and a picnic lunch.



Even though the adults are all exhausted when we return, everyone agrees that it is a wonderful day!

The picture above was of the whole group.

This is the Daisy group (kingergarten)...



and this is the Prims group (1st and 2nd grade).

Dot's gift from Bethany

Tonight I brought Dot a gift from our church. Bethany honored all of their "50 years and over" members last week. It was a beautiful music box. Daisy received one also.

I am so thankful that Dot has such an old friend there with her at the Atrium. They both remember "the old days."

Girls Ministries Sleepover

Tonight Marley and I went to the annual Girls Ministries sleepover. This is our 5th time going to this. Twice I have slept over. I think twice is enough. That floor is really hard.

Marley and I got there at 4 o'clock to help set up, and I left at 12:45 a.m. after the movie was over.

It was a Hawaiian theme tonight. As the girls entered they were given a lei and had the option of having their hair styled with a big hibiscus flower.



Miss Pat really got into the Hawaiian theme.



Me not so much. I did wear a hibiscus in my hair and a lei.

After a little introduction and song worship, we had pizza and then a speaker. I thought the decorations were really cute.



After that there were tons of activities. My job was painting fingernails and little flower decals. Do you know how small some of their fingernails are? I could barely see them much less paint them. Luckily, as long as there was lots of glitter, they weren't fussy! Some other activities were tattoos, a craft, musical Hawaiian beach towel (like musical chairs), beach ball volleyball, the limbo stick, hula hoops, and learning the hula dance. After the activities there was decorate your own volcano cupcakes.

The last thing was to get in your pj's and sleeping bag and watch a movie. They watched Ramona and Beezus. I had never seen it and I thought it was really cute. The hope is that they will fall asleep during the movie, which ended at 12:45. I left then, and I would say that 80% of them were still awake!

I asked one of my little Prims if she was having a good night and she said it was the best night of her life. That makes it all worthwhile!

Throwback Thursday - The Judge

This picture was taken some time in the 1980's and was given to me just a few years ago. Kristen (and Toby) were in Bible Quiz when they were in high school and Toby's Aunt Susan and I were judges. We had fun times going away on weekend quizzes with the kids. I really don't remember if this was an "official" sign or just a joke. Bill Hildreth, who was basically the head of Bible Quiz at our church, must have taken this picture. He is the one who gave it to me. Too funny!

Marley wins second prize!

Marley's Sunday School class has been having a contest this month. They have been saving their "pennies" for Pennies for a Purpose. This is to benefit The Jubilee Market that Missionaries from our church are involved in.



Marley won a prize for the second highest giver in her class. Her prize was this Sari headband, made by women in India. She was quite happy about this!

Tom....

"The world lost a superhero today." This was what Tom's son posted on Facebook on the day of his Dad's death.

Tom was only 61. He had been battling cancer for a little over a year.

The thing that I remember most about Tom was his big smile; he always had a big smile.

This picture is of (l to r) Mark, Andy, and Tom's son Jason in the summer of 1991.



This picture is of Kristen and Toby's wedding in 1995. Tom's daughter Heather (second from left) was in their wedding.



We went to Tom's wake tonight. Some things are hard to understand. All I know is that we have to trust that God has our lives in his hands.