The Swann's Swimmings

Hello, hello!

My brother Dave came to visit for a couple nights and we sure had fun
with him!  The boys all went paintballing.  Sarah played with a
neighbor friend meanwhile.  I tried to watch them but it isn't too
entertaining for a spectator sport.  So I read for awhile and then
curled up in the warm sun on the pickup bench and took a nap. 
Evidently, Dave's camp has quite a few more rules than our games out
here in Herreid.

On Good Friday, I just about had to sell a kidney to buy and fire
roast a leg of lamb.  I can't believe how expensive it was but I
guess sometimes memories cost money.  So I prepared a traditional,
well significantly modified traditional Passover Seder meal.  I
finally used my cool wood stove outside to sear the lamb before slow
roasting it in the indoors oven.  Unfortunately, we found out in the
little book that Steven read during supper that Jews no longer eat
lamb at Passover because the second temple was destroyed in 70 AD. 
THat doesn't exactly make sense since the command to eat lamb was
given to the Jews long before the temple was even built, but
whatever.  Anyways, so we also had water crackers, bitter root
(horseradish), bitter herbs (our store had none so I served broccoli
and red kale which at least looked weird), and roasted eggs
(remarkably similar to deviled eggs to the untrained eye :), and of
course our lamb.  This little booklet also called for a desert called
Afikolomen or something like that.  I figured that must be Jewish for
our local dessert favorite called Cottage Cheese Kuchen.

 It was all progressing solemnly until we had to eat the bitter root
on crackers.  The purpose is to remind us of the tears of the
Israelites while they were slaves.  At the meal, the kids just did
whatever I did.  Unfortunately, I forgot how very strong horseradish
can be.  This jar definitely hadn't been made by Kraft.  I spread it
on thick, like you would put a cheese spread on a cracker.  We all
took a bite, except STeven who just put the whole thing in his mouth
so he could keep reading from the booklet, and then just about died. 
The kids were both in tears and ended up running to the bathroom to
spit it out (politely).  Amazingly, it was quite easy to remember the
tears of the Israelites!

After all of the extra EAster services and work, we took off camping
for a couple days but got winded and almost rained out the second
night and went home earlier than planned.  Nevertheless, it proved to
be relaxing and recharging before this week of preparations for the
Ordination that will need all the battery strength we can muster.

We are so looking forward to seeing many of you and sharing this
special time together as the church lays their hands on Steven to
publicly ordain him for ministry.

Blessings,

Marcia for the Swann's

P.S.  ANd no, I still haven't taken the time to figure out how to
hook up the camera to this new operating system on my computer. 
Sorry.

The Swann's Swimmings

Hello Dear Ones,

We have been busy preparing our home and hearts to see many of you
next week!  We moved Sarah's room to the main level after completely
redecorating it.  Unlike those popular TV shows, it took more than
half an hour.  I don't have the indoor window shutters up yet but the
rest of the room is supposed to look sorta like a French cafe with a
shabby chic style.  I'll guess you'll just have to come see it for
yourself since I still haven't reconnected the camera to the computer
after reloading all the programs.  Okay, I do nothing.  Steve does
all the computer maintenance around here.

Speaking of coming to visit, we have realized some awkward news that
turns out for the best.  There is road construction on Hwy. 83 south
of Selby and directly north of our Herreid.  Which means our tiny
local motel is fully booked with some of the workers.  Yay hooray,
however, our church has an official hosting committee to let visitors
spend the night(s) with them.  We've also had a couple friends offer
their homes to any of our out of town guests.  Of course, they would
prefer a little advance notice.

Sooooooo, if you would like to stay the night or know of someone who
is planning on staying the night in Herreid, please let us know which
nights for how many people.  Our double bed and twin bed are taken
Friday and Saturday nights.  We still have a double futon and short
single futon in the living room available.  Even if you get to stay
with some of our new friends here, we hope you will join us for meals.

Speaking of which, we are hoping to have a big cookout on Saturday
night, starting about 6:00pm.  Sunday morning can either be a baked
oatmeal extravaganza at our house, cereal at your hosts' or skipped,
whichever you prefer.  Sunday noon would probably be a few crockpot
roasts with potatoes and carrots.  Something simple to cook ahead of
time like that unless I get another grand idea.  After the
ordination, the church ladies plan on serving a sandwich luncheon. 
It would definitely be easier on me if I knew a better idea of how
many to expect.

Basically, keep in touch and let us know how we can be a blessing to you!

Lord willing,

Marcia for the Swann's