Tuesday 10-5-1957 10-8-1957
[one week after I was born – see the next post for the 10-7 letter]

My Dearest John,

It is such a beautiful day that I feel like working in the yard – but not really as my back is not yet strong enough for that.

David is feeling better this morning and wants to go to school this afternoon. Their room has a football game this afternoon. But this morning they were fixing shredded wheat and a bowl of the hot water tipped on him —his stomach— and really blistered it. A large patch just above the navel. So he won’t play. He had hoped to even though I said that it was too soon for that after being sick. [A Harper weirdness? We ate the pillow-shaped biscuits this way: pour boiling water over shredded wheat, let it sit 30 seconds, drain off the water, add a pat of butter and a spoon of sugar.]

Dorothy went to a 4H meeting last night to see what it was about. Hesper took her and Norma, for cooking and sewing. They would enjoy it, but I was disappointed when she came home smelling like smoke. She said the leader smoked right during the meeting.

Mary Dillon came over last night to see if she could help any. They had a CEF [Child Evangelism Fellowship] class at her place yesterday – 19 children came out. David was home sick and Dorothy didn’t stay, as I had asked her to come home to do the washing, which she did. They have really been helping out very well, and I have been getting my rest. Little jobs are piling up, but I hope to soon be able to do more and get at them.

I made some home-made noodles last night. The children really went for them with some boiling beef. I’ll have to do that from now on – very simple and good.

Strat Shufelt has a 15 minute program on WSTR this week – 8:30 a.m. I didn’t know about it until Margaret mentioned it. So I listened today. I think he is using some of his own recordings of music and then the message part is live. I am going to try to get out on Friday night. I haven’t told the youngsters yet, but if I feel up to it, I will try that.

Now I must get lunch ready. Scrambled eggs for my invalids. Danny, the clown, holds his stomach and groans, so that he can crawl up on the davenport with David! That was yesterday as David has been up today doing school work.

Je t’aime beaucoup, beaucoup – that will fool David; he has been looking over my shoulder.

Always,
Nellie