Well, friends, we haven’t written a year-end letter in so very long. But I think that taking a few minutes to
journal the highlights and lowlights and important things from this little
slice in time would be helpful right now.
My purpose is more the recording of family history than getting the bare
minimum out, so it may not be as succinct as the casual reader will want to
read. Sorry for that. I’ll bold type the basic bullet points.
Far and away the most life-changing and heart-piercing thing
to happen this year was that my Mom, Judith Karen Schuster, made the journey
from this earthen life to the next glory-filled, face-to-face-with-Jesus
life. This happened early Sunday
morning, September 18, earth time. :) I
will come back to more on this after our immediate family news.
Ben * In June, Ben ‘celebrated’ a dozen years at State Farm
Insurance’s corporate office here in Bloomington, where he works as an actuary
in auto pricing. 'Celebrated' may not be
the right word, but we thank God often for Ben’s job and the company for which
he works. In the summer, Ben made it
through the 4th running of the Howl at the Moon, an 8 hour ultra-race
in Danville, IL. Conditions were miserable,
plain and simple. His mom walked the
race as well....again. She's amazing! That’s a good bonding
event. :D This fall, Ben has worked very
hard to lay down new laminate throughout our upper level, and it looks simply
smashing. The house turned 25 not long
ago and that has necessitated numerous fixes and swaps such as roof and
HVAC. #joysofhomeownership We painted as well. Ben
and Susan celebrated- this time the word truly fits!- TWENTY YEARS of marriage
on December 28, just this last week. We’re
so grateful for these years, sweet gifts from God.
Susan * In the Spring, Susan facilitated the semester course
Perspectives on the World Christian Movement for the second time. This class has been offered every spring in
our area since 2001. [Check it out at
perspectives.org.] That ‘job’ simply
means inviting the 15 different instructor/speakers for each of the weeks,
handling each class’s logistical issues along with a coordinating team, and
generally keeping things going. Another
work I get to be part of is chairing our Global Outreach [read: missions] Team
at Grace Church in Normal. The team went from 6 to
8 members, which is superfab. We had an
excellent opportunity to focus on missions with the entire congregation during
the month of October. I love being able
to stay connected with our church’s global partners in that role. Lastly, I enjoy having a small volunteer role
at a nearby place, Immanuel Health Center, where my friend, Dr. Trina Scott,
leads the way in reaching out to the under-insured and -served community in our
area.
Whitton * This young man took Drivers Ed to start off the
year. He had a successful experience in
his Freshman Baseball season at Normal Community West H.S. in the spring. Fabulous coach [Beaty] and teammates, which makes all
the difference. His primary position on
that team was middle infield, but he did catch some as well. A bit of pitching. In the summer, Whitton tried out for then
played with a travel team [Gold/Paul] which took us to Indianapolis and Notre Dame in South
Bend, IN. Whitton does a great job in
school and as he's Mr. Social, loves going there! He went to
Homecoming with a good friend, Mara, in October, then happily got his driver’s
license after turning 16 in November.
Yay!!! He stands nearly eye to eye
with Ben at nearly 6’2”.
Being able to get tickets [at a much less than average
rate!] to the Chicago production of the musical Hamilton was a huge highlight
of the year for Whitton and Sylvia.
These two were more excited than words can say. They’d been fairly obsessed with the music and show for
months. The trip was a State Farm
activity, so they [Susan got to tag along] took a tour bus up to Chicago, where
we got to have Chicago style deep-dish pizza at Pizano’s with cousins Claire
and Emma. Too fun!!!
{As an amazingly wonderful sidenote, our trip coincided with a game of the World Series in which the Cubs schooled the Indians. Awesome to be in the city that day for Susan, the family's only Cubs fan! Electric!!! Go Cubs Go!}
{As an amazingly wonderful sidenote, our trip coincided with a game of the World Series in which the Cubs schooled the Indians. Awesome to be in the city that day for Susan, the family's only Cubs fan! Electric!!! Go Cubs Go!}
Sylvia * Sylvi moved from 7th to 8th
grade in 2016. She does so well in
school and excels in playing the cello [2nd from right in pic], which she was able to do for the
district concert after qualifying. In the spring, she was
on the track team and ran the longer distances and also continued in pole
vault. At the end of her 7th
grade season, she qualified for state and vaulted 7’6” at the state track meet
in East Peoria. It was fun to be there
with her friend, Bailey. Sylvi has been
doing a good bit of babysitting this year, learning all kinds of life
lessons and raking in the bucks. :) She turned 14 in November and
is starting to hear about high school orientation activities! Waahhh!
Maren * had the biggest school transition for our crew this
year. She finished elementary school and
moved up to Evans Jr. High, joining her big sister. Maren was chosen to give one of the speeches
for her 5th grade graduation.
Going to junior high also meant moving into the youth group at
church. She started the year with Upward
basketball and continues to play viola through school. Maren takes care of her pet guinea pig and
friend, Carlos, so very well. He’s just
about the cutest little fluffy guy you’ve ever seen. She once again went to Zoo Camp in the summer
at Miller Park Zoo. Mar is gifted in
caring for younger children and often helps Ben lead Children’s Church for the
1st-3rd graders.
She sees teaching in her future… and so does everyone else. She turned 11 in June.
Ezekiel * Zeke is 9 years old, as of April. He’s our final Pepper Ridge Elem kid. J Finishing 3rd grade, now in 4th,
Ezekiel does well in school too! He loves to
watch, play and learn about football.
His favorite NFL team is the Seattle Seahawks, since they're the team of Russell Wilson. Zeke takes piano lessons each week, took swim lessons in the summer and played
Upward flag football in the fall.
As a family, we are grateful that we were able to take a vacation this past summer. We rented a house in Gatlinburg, TN in early August and enjoyed our time there hiking trails and relaxing in the hot tub.
In our wider family, Emma graduated from high school in May and Seth & Alexa were married in early June. So happy Mom and Dad could make it to both of those events for their grandchildren! Also, Ben's brother, Andy, spent a good part of the year as a Marine on a Naval hospital ship called the Mercy, going from port to port in Asia.
Everything is Golden * Susan’s Mom & Dad celebrated
their 50th wedding anniversary on August 6th. The weekend before that [Sat., July 30] they were able to
host a wonderful celebration at their home in LaPorte, Indiana. Over 80 of their close friends and family
came and hugged them and smiled and told stories and congratulated them on this
amazing milestone. There were beautiful
cards, gifts, golden balloons, cake.
What immeasurable mercy God showed us all in giving Mom and Dad that
time of remembering and celebration.
Quite a few from their wedding party were present- 50 years later!-
Roger Schuster, Dad’s brother; Nova Quigley; Phyllis Hogerwerf; and Dawn
Crum. Marilyn Savich had also been at
their wedding, and at the anniversary party she took some fabulous photos for
us of Mom and Dad and the family.
Not too long after the party Mom fell one day and got a
little cut on her leg and the wound just did not want to heal. For those who don't know the background, Mom had Rheumatoid Arthritis [for almost 50 yrs], osteoporosis, COPD, and in more recent years, her heart was weakening significantly. She was on numerous medications that, of course, had their own side effects. Her bones were brittle. She had fractured her back in 2014, which brought an abominable amount of pain for months on end. It's nearly unbelievable that she endured so much pain and the breakdown of her body for so long. One of the main effects of the high-powered drugs that she took for her RA over the years, was that her immune system was compromised so that it was very difficult for her body to fight infection.
In the midst of all those things, my Dad was there caring for my Mom faithfully, year after year. He developed worsening pain in his back, which has been fairly extreme over the past 3-4 years. He also has Parkinson's Disease, which has a myriad of symptoms that he is beginning to deal with more.
Just a couple weeks after the party, my sister Jennifer and I went back up to LaPorte to talk about the need we could all see for something to change with their living situation. Either they needed much more help in their home, or they needed to move somewhere where they could get more help on a daily basis. There were options, but none of them were easy. They really tried to fight it mostly on their own for too long. On Monday morning, August 22, Jen and Matt decided and offered to invite Mom and Dad to go to live with them in their home in St. Louis at least until other decisions could be made. But there was a need for care, and we are all thankful beyond words that Matt and Jen were willing to open their home in this way. While this extraordinarily huge decision was made very quickly and sent shock waves to family and friends, Jen wanted to get our parents down there ASAP, so we all moved into HIGH gear to make that happen. Besides packing up ma and pa for the quick journey, Mom really didn't want to leave the house sitting through the winter. They decided to put the house on the market, which I thought was crazy, but turned out to probably be the best thing to do. Uncle Roger & Aunt Paulette, Uncle Jim & Aunt Dawn, my cousin Jill & Scott Carlson, and many other friends and family pulled together in an an extraordinary way to clear out and clean out the home that Dad & Mom had lived in for the the past 15+ years. Jill organized an estate sale for a few weeks later and sold TONS of mom and dad's stuff. God sustained us all in that time, which definitely had its stressors. [This pic is from that week before they left LaPorte. Taking pics of the furniture in order to sell. Mom was modelling. :) ]
The following Tuesday, August 30, Jen moved mom and dad with their medications, mom's oxygen, some clothes, and the bare essentials from LaPorte, IN, to St. Louis, MO. The Brummunds had transformed part their living room into a bedroom, since mom couldn't do stairs. There was an immediate, gargantuan task ahead of Jennifer when they arrived, that of finding new doctors- including many specialists- in St. Louis to get both Mom and Dad into. Getting mom to a wound care specialist was first on the list. A little cut that would have been almost nothing for you or me had turned into a horrid-looking wound for mom. Two weeks later on Wed., Sept. 14th, Jen had a joint appointment set up for mom and dad to see their new primary care physician. Since that would be a long, tiring day for all of them, I decided to go down for the day. I saw their new digs at Jen's house, we filled out forms, had a little lunch, then headed to the doctor's at the Barnes Jewish Hospital complex. After the doc gathered the health history and medication lists/info for both of them, she ended by looking at Mom's leg. It was at that point that she said she wanted to have Mom admitted to the hospital as she thought that wound needed immediate care. The doc left the room. Mom didn't want to be admitted. Not her favorite thing to do, stay in the hospital. But she immediately broke out into prayer as the 4 of us- my family of origin- sat there waiting. "Thank you, Lord... We trust you... We know You know what's best... Have your way... Help us... Thank You...." We then drove down a couple blocks and waited to get Mom admitted to her room. We all retold her medical history and issues 4-5 times, it seemed, that afternoon and evening. She had lovely, competent nurses and doctors. There was an extra bed in the room, so it made staying overnight till Thursday morning easy for me. She didn't like being there at night alone. [Here's the last pic I have of mom and dad together. Headed over to be admitted to Barnes Jewish Hospital.]
There were a number of tests done over the next couple days. The last time I saw mom was that Thursday morning. I had gone with her as they took her down for an Echo cardiogram- a 30 minute "sonogram" for her heart. She was on a gurney in the waiting room and they had this huge warming cabinet for blankets that people waiting for their tests could use. They covered her up all snugly and we talked. She was having a hard time getting comfortable. A kind technichian did the test and she talked with us- Jen showed up for a bit during this time- while moving the paddle around over mom's heart. We could see it pumping there on the screen. Before I left, I leaned over and kissed Mom's hand and said, "Love you, Mama." At that point mom was 84 pounds. She was increasingly weak and could hardly get up to walk at all. Swallowing was getting harder. Her body was simply tired out.
On Saturday, the 17th, Jen texted to say that Mom had had a hard day, but that at the same time, she was "stable" and the doctors were going to release her the next day, Sunday, to go home. Just after 3:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, Sept. 18th, Jen called to say that the doctor had called and told them to come in. Mom was not responsive and seemed to be failing. It would take me about 2.5 hours to get there, but they didn't know if I would make it down in time. She went on ahead to Glory a little after 5:00 a.m., her suffering over. I got to her hospital room a little after 6:00, but am thankful that Dad, Jennifer and Matt were with her at the end and that some of my nieces and nephews were also able to see her that morning.
The memorial service was at Liberty Bible Church in Chesterton, IN- their church of nearly 30 years- on Friday morning, Sept. 20, and it was beautiful. All 10 of the grandkids were involved in the service, reading Scripture or through music. [Seth sang and played piano and Sylvia played cello for the song Come to Jesus by Chris Rice. Perfect.] It has been a sad time for us. Grief. Part of life. But we do not grieve in the same way as those who have no hope. Stealing that truth from the apostle Paul. [I Thessalonians 4:13] We are so thankful that our God delivers. He delivers us out of the sin and death that entangles all of humanity... and he delivers us from the pain of this life too, in due time. He knew the number of days that were allotted for mom before she was born. I'm so grateful for the 74 years she had here, and I'm grateful that God took her Home to himself when he did. It was his perfect plan. Pray for my Dad, that he would have purposeful days and know the peace of the Lord in new ways each day as he enters this new stage of life.
We are grateful for our year. We are thankful for the journey, despite its occasional dark valleys. I want to thank my sister and brother-in-law, Jennifer and Matt, especially for all they've done this year to help care for Dad and Mom. I would best describe their efforts and service as heroic- or just overflowing with love. So many of you, our family and friends, have ministered to us in the midst of all these things. THANK YOU! We look forward to what God has in store for us all in the days and year ahead. These are exciting days to be alive for followers of Jesus. His love never stops, and we hope you know that in the most real and personal way. He rescues us from every fear, every bit of evil, every wrong thing done in the past. He forgives and heals. We hope that if you don't already, that you'll consider humbling yourself before him even now so you can become His own- adopted into his family. He's the King of all Kings and the Father we've always wanted. The requirement is our belief, our faith, our hearts. I say these things hoping not to offend, but God gives his people a command to let the world know that he is the One True God, and that one day, every knee will bow to Him and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord of All. It is far better to worship him now, in this life. He is coming back... which is great news! We do want to forewarn those who do not yet believe. It would not be loving of us to not share the opportunity that God has given us to be saved for eternity- to live with Him forever. It is too good of a thing to be passed up. [Happy to talk more about this with anyone! :) ]
Much love from all the Rices!!! Happy 2017!!!
In the midst of all those things, my Dad was there caring for my Mom faithfully, year after year. He developed worsening pain in his back, which has been fairly extreme over the past 3-4 years. He also has Parkinson's Disease, which has a myriad of symptoms that he is beginning to deal with more.
Just a couple weeks after the party, my sister Jennifer and I went back up to LaPorte to talk about the need we could all see for something to change with their living situation. Either they needed much more help in their home, or they needed to move somewhere where they could get more help on a daily basis. There were options, but none of them were easy. They really tried to fight it mostly on their own for too long. On Monday morning, August 22, Jen and Matt decided and offered to invite Mom and Dad to go to live with them in their home in St. Louis at least until other decisions could be made. But there was a need for care, and we are all thankful beyond words that Matt and Jen were willing to open their home in this way. While this extraordinarily huge decision was made very quickly and sent shock waves to family and friends, Jen wanted to get our parents down there ASAP, so we all moved into HIGH gear to make that happen. Besides packing up ma and pa for the quick journey, Mom really didn't want to leave the house sitting through the winter. They decided to put the house on the market, which I thought was crazy, but turned out to probably be the best thing to do. Uncle Roger & Aunt Paulette, Uncle Jim & Aunt Dawn, my cousin Jill & Scott Carlson, and many other friends and family pulled together in an an extraordinary way to clear out and clean out the home that Dad & Mom had lived in for the the past 15+ years. Jill organized an estate sale for a few weeks later and sold TONS of mom and dad's stuff. God sustained us all in that time, which definitely had its stressors. [This pic is from that week before they left LaPorte. Taking pics of the furniture in order to sell. Mom was modelling. :) ]
There were a number of tests done over the next couple days. The last time I saw mom was that Thursday morning. I had gone with her as they took her down for an Echo cardiogram- a 30 minute "sonogram" for her heart. She was on a gurney in the waiting room and they had this huge warming cabinet for blankets that people waiting for their tests could use. They covered her up all snugly and we talked. She was having a hard time getting comfortable. A kind technichian did the test and she talked with us- Jen showed up for a bit during this time- while moving the paddle around over mom's heart. We could see it pumping there on the screen. Before I left, I leaned over and kissed Mom's hand and said, "Love you, Mama." At that point mom was 84 pounds. She was increasingly weak and could hardly get up to walk at all. Swallowing was getting harder. Her body was simply tired out.
On Saturday, the 17th, Jen texted to say that Mom had had a hard day, but that at the same time, she was "stable" and the doctors were going to release her the next day, Sunday, to go home. Just after 3:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, Sept. 18th, Jen called to say that the doctor had called and told them to come in. Mom was not responsive and seemed to be failing. It would take me about 2.5 hours to get there, but they didn't know if I would make it down in time. She went on ahead to Glory a little after 5:00 a.m., her suffering over. I got to her hospital room a little after 6:00, but am thankful that Dad, Jennifer and Matt were with her at the end and that some of my nieces and nephews were also able to see her that morning.
The memorial service was at Liberty Bible Church in Chesterton, IN- their church of nearly 30 years- on Friday morning, Sept. 20, and it was beautiful. All 10 of the grandkids were involved in the service, reading Scripture or through music. [Seth sang and played piano and Sylvia played cello for the song Come to Jesus by Chris Rice. Perfect.] It has been a sad time for us. Grief. Part of life. But we do not grieve in the same way as those who have no hope. Stealing that truth from the apostle Paul. [I Thessalonians 4:13] We are so thankful that our God delivers. He delivers us out of the sin and death that entangles all of humanity... and he delivers us from the pain of this life too, in due time. He knew the number of days that were allotted for mom before she was born. I'm so grateful for the 74 years she had here, and I'm grateful that God took her Home to himself when he did. It was his perfect plan. Pray for my Dad, that he would have purposeful days and know the peace of the Lord in new ways each day as he enters this new stage of life.
We are grateful for our year. We are thankful for the journey, despite its occasional dark valleys. I want to thank my sister and brother-in-law, Jennifer and Matt, especially for all they've done this year to help care for Dad and Mom. I would best describe their efforts and service as heroic- or just overflowing with love. So many of you, our family and friends, have ministered to us in the midst of all these things. THANK YOU! We look forward to what God has in store for us all in the days and year ahead. These are exciting days to be alive for followers of Jesus. His love never stops, and we hope you know that in the most real and personal way. He rescues us from every fear, every bit of evil, every wrong thing done in the past. He forgives and heals. We hope that if you don't already, that you'll consider humbling yourself before him even now so you can become His own- adopted into his family. He's the King of all Kings and the Father we've always wanted. The requirement is our belief, our faith, our hearts. I say these things hoping not to offend, but God gives his people a command to let the world know that he is the One True God, and that one day, every knee will bow to Him and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is the Lord of All. It is far better to worship him now, in this life. He is coming back... which is great news! We do want to forewarn those who do not yet believe. It would not be loving of us to not share the opportunity that God has given us to be saved for eternity- to live with Him forever. It is too good of a thing to be passed up. [Happy to talk more about this with anyone! :) ]
Much love from all the Rices!!! Happy 2017!!!
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