Pastor Stepp

We have our new pastor! After 13 months of meetings, reading profiles, meetings and did I say meetings! We are so blessed to have found Pastor Stephen Stepp, a native of FonDuLac, WI., married with 4 grown children, just recently graduated from the Dubuque seminary. Formerly worked in the restaurant business in Wisconsin and even in Cedar Falls, IA. He will start the last Sunday in November; move into the parsonage the week before, be ordained at his home church in FonDuLac the day before starting at our church. We can hardly wait. We had to give Pastor Mark, our interim, 30 days notice, or Pastor Stepp could have started Monday as far as I'm concerned. He gave a great trial sermon. Even mother said she could hear him and thought he would be "fine". Our search committee sponsored a dessert reception Saturday afternoon after which we took Pastor Steve and his wife Jean to the 3-30 club for dinner. Sunday after church the search committee served a meal to the Stepps and the church council. Now we are ready to have one last meal (and party) together.

Caleb is home here for this week. He has been running the combine for the guys. The corn has to be trucked to Sunbury (because of some different gene in it or some such thing) so Caleb is combining, Ben is keeping the trucks full and Larry is driving the semi and Bill the straight trucks. I was told there were 48 rows left for today and they should be done combining. Just in time as the weather is changing back to fall/winter.

I was volunteered to go with the Pre-K and kindergarten classes on Halloween to the nursing home in Clarence to sing some songs. The music teacher and one of the teachers are unable to go so I was chosen! It should be fun and I'm looking forward to it. The kids are so adorable at that age.

Corn harvest

The guys started doing corn last week and I haven't had to help yet! The first fields they worked in had corn that was laid down, twisted and darn right hard to combine in that they couldn't see the rows ahead and had to only guess or try to look ahead and see a root system to help guide them down the rows. Larry has his fields at the hog farm, across the road from there done,the bin full at Grandma Elijah's and they started here yesterday. Only here, the rest of Grandma's and 112 acres at the Fisher place left to do. Larry said his dad must like the new combine; as he can't get him out of it! Ben has been good help; he is taking tests at the Kirkwood center in Tipton in conjuntion with his classes at DMAC early in the morning. I don't know when he has time to study, but hope it is going well for him.

At our Evening Circle meeting Monday night we put ribbons in our hymnals. We thought having ribbons to use as book marks would help. Do any of you use them at your church? Bonnie Kintzle and I worked together; did the first six wrong so had to re-do them. All the hymnals got finished in good time; but still didn't get home in time to watch Dancing With the Stars.

This weekend is our pastoral candidate weekend. Hope everyone votes yes and we have a new pastor starting the last Sunday in November. We are making desserts for the dessert reception Saturday evening; are taking Pastor Steve and Jean to the club for dinner after that; and are fixing a meal for Sunday noon to (Hopefully) celebrate Pastor Steve's acceptance. THEN soemtime later we are having one big bash (just our search committee) to celebrate being DONE!

Beans done!

We finished the bean harvest on Sunday. We finished ours on Saturday afternoon and then moved over to do Don Stolte's beans. He has been sick and we did his 107 acres with 3 combines, 2 semi's, 2 straight trucks, 2 dump carts and drivers in just six hours; some Saturday evening and then again Sunday. He brought sandwiches to the field for lunch and then had us over for beer and food after we got everything moved back home. Ben was pulling the grain platform home on the cart when he noticed the front tire on the cart was shredded! He pulled over to the side of the road; and when he came here with only the pickup we were very scared he had lost the cart with the expensive grain platform. We were glad it was just a flat tire! We pulled a tire off the other cart; changed the tire; and were good to go again. I was so glad I wasn't driving! The guys are doing some corn but it is slow going. The corn is down (from all the wind) and it is hard to see to keep the combine on the rows. Therefore, I haven't had to run the combine yet. There is a lot of ears dropping on the ground, either they have been blown off or when the combine hits the stalk the ears drop to the ground. Hopefully all the fields aren't as bad as the one they are in.

Friday night's Legion fish fry went very well. We fed over 220 people and thought that was good considering the weather was good and people were in the fields and the fact there was a football game.

Our search committee is busy making plans for the candidating weekend with Pastor Stepp. We will have a congregational dessert open house on Saturday (the 22nd) afternoon and after that the search committee will take Pastor and his wife to the country club for supper. Sunday after services we will have lunch with the Stepps and the church council. Can't wait for it to be all over!

Is it October?

Really, it is too warm outside for October! We have been combining beans for the past few days. It is really dusty in the fields and on the roads. Please be careful driving on the gravel roads! The beans are doing good; so far we have had only a couple break downs; and I don't have to start work till noon or so! All is well.

Tonight is Jay Weiland's visitation. He was only 47 and suffered two years with cancer. Although you could never see it in him; always upbeat and working. Jay was in Larry's class in school and a very hard worker. Lowden will miss him.

Our search committee has finished our work! We have a trial sermon Sunday set for October 23. We visited a neutral puplit in Ryan, Iowa; had a second interview and all of us on the search committee feel we have found the right person for our congregation. Hopefully they feel the same way and our new pastor will start with us for the first Sunday in Advent.

I finished typing the book from 1910. To find the bio on Christian Fehling go to iagenweb.org; then to IAGENWEB Project; then click on county projects on the left side; click on Cedar. On the Cedar county page click on Histories of Cedar Co. From there go to Volume II Biographical and you will find an index, go to Fehling and there it is. There are other names familiar to Lowden and also one of Bill's ancestors, Edmund Elijah.

Caleb is back!

Caleb got back to NC yesterday. Hoorah! Ellen and Larry were out to greet him and to meet Vanessa's parents. I will learn more when they get back which I think is today or tomorrow. What a nice birthday present for Ellen.

We had a good weekend on our annual Wisconsin cruise with the old cars. We met in Anamosa and cruised northeast toward Viroqua where we spent the night. We visited Amish country and a threshing bee on Saturday; Sunday we drove through some awesome country where the leaves were turning colors. Very pretty. We saw Amish children walking to church dressed in their best; buggies pulled by horses with families going to church; and saw corn shocked in fields. This all on the way to Gays Mills where we stopped at Sunrise Orchard and then went into town to see their festival. We were to be in their parade, but since it was raining (almost all weekend) we opted out and came home. We stopped in Fennimore to get some cheese and Bill noticed some old tractors so we stopped to look at them; Bill talked to the guys while I bought some homemade kettle corn (which may be the reason my tooth hurts today). The windshield wipers on the Edsel turn on from the inside; but turn off only by getting under the hood. Sometimes we had to drive a long ways with the windshield wipers flapping on dry windshield.

Ben has one more race (I think I have said that before!) in Tipton on Sunday afternoon. He tried racing in Marshalltown Saturday night but got in a wreck and needed a new A-frame among other things. Good thing it is raining so he has time to work on the car.

Caitlin got to go to Sioux City to a hair show over the weekend. She said she learned a lot and enjoyed the trip.

Amana a bust

Due to the icky weather on Sunday, not many cars came for the charity cruise and show. Bill and Sue took the Edsel up as we were to work in the registration booth with others as they were expecting a lot of cars. I was told one person could have worked the both and not been busy. Anyway, Bill and Sue took the cruise and came home with chocolate, wine and peanuts. Sue got to go shopping with Lee and Deb.

I got to go with our search committee to hear a prospective pastor. We left Clarence at 8:00 and got home around 2:30. It rained part of the way there and all the way home; not a hard rain but wet nonetheless. I went to Tipton for some groceries after we got back. Then I tried making the salad I wanted to take to Circle Monday night. It was a cherry jello & cherry pie filling base, with cream cheese mixed with crushed pineapple top. Well--I couldn't get the cream cheese stuff to spread at all, and it only covered part of the top. So--Monday I made a carrot casserole to take instead. Yesterday I scooped the pineapple stuff off the top, put the jello into dessert dishes and put some cool whip on it for Ben, Larry, Bill & me for lunch. Was better that way anyway!

Went to Fox's pond for our Circle meeting Monday night. So very pretty there; the pond was as smooth as a mirror and the reflections at late afternoon beautiful. All but 1 member was there for a pot luck supper and bingo and a short business meeting for us women.

Amana a bust