Recipes for Living Melanie Eddy

I was excited to be approved for the position of Education Coordinator for the church in time to coordinate the Vacation Bible School for year 2000. We had a marvelous time! More than 90 children attended for the five days! We used Cokesbury Publishing House materials Can Do based on Paul's writing in Philippians 4:13, "I can do all things through (Christ) who strengthens me." The most impressive aspect was the kangaroo puppet; Can Do. Until now I have been Jamie's Mom or Emily's Mom, but ever since Bible School, I have been Can Do. Whenever I meet little kids somewhere, they call out, "Hi! Where's Can Do? How is Can Do?"

My whole life is children. In addition to our own, I babysit. I have been doing this for seven years and have cared for children from six weeks old to12 years old. I am a registered family day-care home. At the present time I am babysitting five plus my three. I have built this into a reputable business and stipulated, when I submitted my resume for the position on the church staff, that giving that up was not an option. ·

For two years I have been a volunteer for 4-H. I am the leader of the K.W. Hustlers 4-H Club. We have grown from 15 to 33 members at the present time, and this includes third grade students, who are called Pre-4-H'ers. In addition to our monthly meetings, workshops, and projects, we have lots of fun activities: bowling, swimming, roller skating, hay rides, hotdog roasts, Christmas parties and others. We also have money-raising events like food stands and. bake sales. Just recently we served breakfast, lunch, and supper, at the fairgrounds. I was there from 5:00 a.m. until 10:00 pm., but it was fun. I am on the Outreach Committee for the new fairground facilities which will be moving from West Shaw to west of Osceola, just off highway 34. Our 4-H Club is making, a scrap book that will show the process of the relocation.

My love for children is a natural outgrowth of the loving home in which I was raised. Both Brian and I came from families who have their roots deep in this area. Both sets of my grandparents were farmers here-John ("Jap") and Juanita Webb and Arthur and Alice Fouche. They are all gone now but Alice. Outstanding in my memory of Grandpa Webb is that he raised honeybees. Mostly I remember when Grandpa took his smoker and got into his protective gear to work with them. We kids spent a week with our grandparents every summer and there were always bees in the air. I was only stung one time when I had my long hair wound up in a bun and a bee got caught in the bun. Whatever else, the honey was sure good! Grandpa would also take us with him to spray chicory (a weed) and give us a penny for every plant we found. Later we would take that money to Mrs. Benbow's grocery store and buy what candy we wanted for the week.

Whenever we dropped by to see her, Grandma Webb always had cookies made for us; and when we stayed there, she made us homemade noodles. She always made them, too, for the Lacelle church supper and all the grandkids knew that everyone came to· the supper just for Grandma's noodles.

Grandpa and Grandma Fouche were such an influence in my life! I think of Grandma Fouche at the sewing machine. It was an old pedal machine that was converted to a motor. I had so many neat times with her. She taught me how to sew and now she is teaching Jamie.

Grandpa Fouche was always an honest and hard-working man but never too busy for family. His grandkids and great-grandkids were the light of his life. He would do anything for us.

I write poetry in my spare time and this is a very special one that I wrote for him when he died.

The Lord has said come to me and rest,
my gentle Hands to you I stretch.
His loving arms will cradle you now,
and keep you safe the way you always knew how.
The memories of you I have in my Heart,
the times we shared and the dreams yet to start.
You always knew just what I needed,
whether a hug, or a look to be heeded.
The caring way you have always showed,
has touched so many both young and old.
We love you Dear Grandpa and want you to know,
that the love you have given to us will only grow.
So now dear Lord take him if you must,
such a special dear person I leave in your trust.
Just remember to keep him in your tender care,
and love him and hold him until we are all there.
Your loving granddaughter, Melanie.

My dad and mom, Jerry and Sharon Webb, are also farmers. Dad helped us with our 4-H animals and taught us what responsibility meant. Many people know my mom because she was an x-ray technician at Clarke County Hospital for 26 years before she retired in March of this year (2000). Now she is fulfilling a lifetime dream to take care of her kids and grandkids. The grandkids have decided she is the best shopper around. She can find the neatest outfits, always on sale.

I have a brother, Jack, who lives in Peru, Iowa and works for the DOT (Department of Transportation) and a sister Lynn who is a dental assistant in Des Moines.

I have only one recollection of my early years, and it isn't so much that I remember it as that it has been a family joke told over and over again. I suppose I was two or three years old when one day we were expecting company-an uncle and an aunt. My aunt was always neat as a pin. It had been raining. Mom put me in a dress and told me to sit on the porch swing until they arrived, but it must have seemed like a long time because when they arrived they found me sitting in the middle of a mud puddle. It doesn't require much imagination to picture how I looked. That story has been repeated whenever someone has gotten really, really dirty.

When I started to school we lived in the New Virginia district, so I went there until we moved a couple miles into the Osceola district, and from the middle of the second grade, I had all my schooling in Osceola. I was active in 4-H for nine years during that time and held various offices. I made educational presentations and entered working exhibits at the County and State Fair. I was also a member of the Clarke County 4-H and Youth Committee and had a part in putting together a 4-H cookbook which we sold and raised many dollars for the 4-H program.

In high school I was involved in basketball, chorus, band, tennis, SES (Students for Educational Services), and I was very active in FHA (Future Homemakers of America). In the latter organization I was the local president for two years and held a district office for one year. During my junior year in high school, I was chosen to attend the National Convention in Seattle, Washington. An article that I had written was printed in a national FHA magazine concerning the handicapped and how the younger people accept them.

My FHA advisor was my home Ec teacher, Effie Crawford. She was a mentor for me, always there, always someone I could talk to.

The most traumatic event during my school years was when I was a junior in high school. Our house burned to the ground and we lost everything. I think we never really recover from something like that. Even now, when I smell smoke, it brings it all back. Somehow our minds cannot absorb the total reality. In 1996, when Mary Lynn (Spencer) Olson asked me to teach Sunday School, I went to get the Bible I had received when I was in third grade and realized with a shock that I didn't have it. It, too, was lost in the fire. When the third grade Sunday School class received their Bibles in 1997, I was presented with a new one. What a special gift!

Maturity has brought me some realizations, however. One of them is that everything that happens has its good side. It is impossible to see that in the middle of a situation. It requires hindsight, and one of the good aspects that came from this is that even though our family had always been close, this brought us closer. We moved in with Grandpa and Grandma Fouche until our new house was built, and even though some adjustments were needed when the three generations lived together, overall it was good.

Brian and I went clear through school together but didn't pay much attention to one another. We both knew the other one was there but didn't do anything about it until graduation in 1979. We sat together that night and talked, and he took me home. Then he actually called the next day!

Brian had come from the same background as I. His family, too, were farmers in this area. He is one of four boys born to Oral and Lois Eddy-Marlin, Bill, Brian, and Lane. His Watson grandparents, Clyde and Margaret, lived in the Van Wert area. His parental grandparents, Merlin and Blanche Eddy, lived near Osceola and raised six children. There has surely never been a more closely knit family than they. Betty Eddy told of this in her story in the 1998 Recipes for Living.

The fall after graduation I started to work for Fareway Stores, Inc. I had a variety of responsibilities. I did a lot of the office work which included making daily deposits, balancing the cash register drawers, doing the account books for the end of the business day, and sending out monthly statements. I was also a cashier and in charge of ordering and stocking certain aisles of the store. During the 15 years that I worked there, I developed a lot of people skills, which are important when dealing with the public. That can be challenging at times. I really enjoyed my work and some customers became life-long friends, but I decided to quit and go back to working with kids.

Brian and I dated for so long that people began to wonder if we were ever going to get married. We wanted to be sure it would last forever. We were married in 1985, and moved immediately on what long-time residents refer to as the Wesley Ford farm, about two miles south of Osceola. Marlin, Brian, and Oral farmed together until Oral retired. We have what is called a cow/calf operation, and raise com, beans, and hay, along with the family dog and cat pets.

Jamie was born February 13, 1988; Emily, March 15, 1991; and Kimberly on December 22, 1994. Brian said that he wouldn't forget Emily's birth date and hour because she was born on 3-15 at 3:15a.m. He remembers when Jamie was born-10:42 a.m. because that is when the markets come on. Kimberly was born at the busiest time of the year but she says she doesn't mind sharing her time with Baby Jesus. Our children are wonderful! I wouldn't trade them for anything! They are not angels but they are wonderful.

Jamie is in 4-H and Emily is a Pre-4-H'er. Jamie showed hogs and steers this year, and an orphan bottle calf that she has raised. She has been bottle-feeding calves since she was five years old. She breeds heifers that she keeps to have calves and has made a study of the bloodline of purebred Angus cattle. She selected the last bull and named the calves using the previous names in the line.

As part of my qualifications to be registered as a family day-care home, I am certified in and required to stay current with CPR (Coronary Pulmonary Resuscitation), First Aid, and am a mandatory reporter of child abuse. I attend 15 to 20 hours of training for day-care. I have invested in many reproducible books for all ages and do activities with the younger children during the school year and to keep the older ones' minds working through the summer. For three years I have been on the Advisory Council for CR&R (Community Resource and Referral) under the umbrella of SCICAP (Southern Iowa Community Action Program). We put together training sections for childcare professionals so they can complete their yearly training requirements.

One reason I responded when the position of Education Coordinator was publicized, was that the church is important to me. I am an active member of the Osceola United Methodist Church and have served on the Education Committee, Administrative Council, Staff Parish and Memorial Committees, and have been a Sunday school teacher for a total of nine years.

Another reason was that I want my children to know it is their church as well as mine. I want their childhood to be filled with knowing the Lord and that being a Christian is more than going to church.

I was influenced, also, because I feel strongly about children and how they should be respected. I regard as very important that a child has a chance to belong and feel the support of a group. They need help in making good decisions. We live in a time when poor choices can have dire consequences and some of their decisions, particularly later in life, are not small. I involve young people in doing thing for others. It not only makes the recipients happy but contributes to the children's feeling of self worth and that in itself can do so much for them.

I wrote in my resume: "As Coordinator I would like to see the youth program expanded. Getting the kids excited will not only help expand the youth program but will also bring the adults. I really enjoy working with kids and am very committed to the church and its ministry. I am always willing to learn new things; because we all know when dealing with children you learn something new every day."

One of the new things my children can teach me is to use the computer. They begin at such an early age in school that it seems to come naturally to them. We bought a new one for Christmas which will help Jamie very much with her school work, and even Emily can already go anywhere on the internet. Kimberly is able to turn it on and plays games. It is a challenge to keep up with where they are in their education and abilities.