Granddad - SFC Bruce E. Carter

Granddad had an accident on October 28th which resulted in severe (3rd-degree and worse) burns over nearly 1/2 of his body.  He was on hospice for around a week.  Mom and her siblings were all able to be with him for most of that week, which was a blessing.

Granddad passed away on November 5th.  Following are a few of the passages he had marked in his Bible.

“The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?  The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

Psalm 27:1

“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.  For God sent the Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.  He who believes in him is not condemned; he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.”

John 3:16-18

“For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God – not because of works, lest any man should boast.”

Ephesians 2:8-9

“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears my word and believes him who sent me, has eternal life; he does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”

 John 5:24

“. . . If we have died with him, we shall also live with him”

II Timothy 2:11

“Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.  In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?  And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”

John 14:1-3

“Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another with brotherly affection; outdo one another in showing honor.”

Romans 12:9

“Be watchful, stand firm in your faith, be courageous, be strong.  Let all that you do be done in love.”

I Corinthians 16:13-14

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”

Colossians 3:2

Obituary

SFC Bruce E. Carter, 87, of Mesa, formerly of Montgomery, IL, died on Wednesday, November 5, 2014 at Hospice of the Valley’s Arbor Rose facility in Mesa, AZ.  He was born on Jan. 16, 1927 in Sioux City, Iowa, the son of Homer Bradford and Nellie (Neiberger) Carter.

Bruce was united in marriage on Nov. 29, 1952 to Eleanor Wilson and they spent the next 60 years together.  He was a U.S. veteran.  Bruce originally enlisted in the U.S. Marines, followed by a short time in the Wisconsin National Guard.  He then re-enlisted, choosing the U.S. Army as it would be more family friendly.  Thirteen of his 22 years were spent playing the sousaphone in the U.S. Army Band.

Bruce is survived by his children, Eileen (Dale) Andersen of Mesa, AZ, Alan (Jill) Carter of St. Charles, IL, Paul (Barb) Carter of Thawville, IL, Sandy (Bill) Mueller of Montgomery, IL, Linda (Darrell) White of Fort Worth, TX, and Steve (Cheri) Carter of Hampshire, IL; 30 grandchildren; 22 great-grandchildren; his brother Sidney Carter, of Milwaukee, WI; his sister Gwen Volle, of Glendale Heights, IL and his sister-in-law, Marge Wilson, of Melvin, IL.

He was preceded in death by his parents, his wife, Eleanor (Wilson) Carter, two sons, Philip and David Carter, and one grandson, Grant Carter.

A memorial was held on Friday, Nov. 7 at his assisted living facility, Brookdale, in Mesa, AZ.  A family memorial will take place in Montgomery, IL on Saturday, Nov. 15.  Bruce desired his body be given to LifeLegacy for scientific study, so interment will follow at Abraham Lincoln National Cemetery in Elwood, IL when his ashes are received by the family.

Memorials in Bruce’s name may be directed to the Cedine Ministries, Spring City, TN @ www.cedine.org.

Some Pictures

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were glad we got the opportunity to honor Granddad as a veteran through the Honor Flight program last year.  That meant a lot!

We miss you, Granddad, but we look forward to seeing you again someday!
 

Chicken at the Mueller B&B?!

This morning, when Zachary went out to enjoy the great outdoors for a while, he was startled to be greeted by a chicken saying, "Good Morning!"  :-)  No, seriously, one of our farmer neighbors recently acquired a stray chicken that is still bent on straying. . . and it spent the night in our garage!
We found it very humorous!  :-)

 My family tried to get me to confess to sneaking it in. . . but I can't.  It's against our subdivision rules.  :-)  My research has shown that we are allowed to have a pot-bellied pig, if we like,

but not chickens.  :-)

We knew the chicken was wandering around a lot yesterday,

we just had no idea that it came into our garage!  :-)

In summary, as the title implies, we did have a chicken at the Mueller B&B. . . but, while it did stay overnight,  you can be sure it didn't get any breakfast from us!  :-)

First Day of School!

Our second young man began his first day of college. David is receiving training in auto mechanics at the Universal Technical Institute.

David - the college student

Classes started bright and early this morning!

We pray God's blessing on him in this new endeavor!

Adventures in Iowa

The last post was focused on the arrival of Baby Weston, with some extra photos of his siblings.  This post will be about some of the things David and I (Heidi) did while we remained at Becca & Jared's house for an extra week after everybody else headed home.

Julie and Derrick came over to spend last Thursday with us and help us put up some good fresh bi-color corn - picked just that morning!

Part of the crew at work

We didn't get pictures of the first few steps, but after bringing it home, we shucked it all out on the driveway.  Then we headed inside.  The next steps were to blanch it, then cool it.  (That was my job this time.)  Here's a picture of my set-up at the stove.

After the corn was sufficiently cooled, I delivered it over to the table crew, who then cut off the corn and scraped the cobs to get out all the flavorful juices!

Finally, the corn gets bagged and heads to the freezer to be preserved for some excellent meals throughout the upcoming year!

If they calculated correctly, the 3 bushels/15 dozen/180 ears that we did should last both the Knox family and the Barta family for the whole year.

 Weston spent some of his time just chillin' in the bouncy seat.  He is such a content little guy!

 A few Derrick photos

Later that evening, Jared's parents - Nana & Papa Barta - came over for a while.  Here is a picture of the older kids enjoying a book with Papa Barta.

The next day, Uncle David took the older ones fishing for minnows in the creek while Cody and I stayed back to attend to some things around the house.  They went off all decked out with their fishing poles, nets, and buckets!  :-)  Though they were all on a mission to have a bunch of fun with their uncle, sweet Conner turned back to wave to Cody and me on the deck.  Awww!  :-)

 Savannah came back after a while, ready for a bit of a break.  When we headed back out there to call the boys in for lunch. . .

. . .this is what we found!  :-)

Siblings  :-)

Heading home

Upon arrival back at the house, the boys unloaded their buckets, dumping their minnow catches into a water table on the deck.  They then proceeded to observe the product of their hard work play.  :-)

 Cody was pretty intrigued as well.

I got caught - He must have heard the camera!  :-)

And here is one final picture from my time out there - Willie thought it would be fun to try on his daddy's 4-wheeler helmet.  I think there's still a bit of growing room, Willie!  :-)