During the last thirty days…

My mom’s memoir was published,

Our daughter got married,

I hosted two garden tea parties,

Fractured my knee (again),

Then canceled our annual neighborhood tea,

and…

This is apparently my 100th post!

In January 2018, I created a website where I could post short devotions sharing what I learned as I searched for God’s involvement in my daily activities. Coincidentally, a month later, I received a prompt to write several vignettes about my childhood as an MK–either happy or sad stories. This request came from a mission organization to use as part of their training for new missionaries. That started me on a journey of processing my childhood memories and led me to delve into the challenges of going to boarding school beginning at age six.

Together Mom and I have worked through the pain, both hers and mine, as the mission required her to send all five of her kids to Kent Academy (KA). Sudan Interior Mission (now called simply, SIM) had set up this school in central Nigeria because at the time it was the accepted way to provide a good education for all the mission’s children. Thus, we would be on academic par with our peers when we returned to the US or other home country to enter university. The boarding school concept was common among missions during this era. However, many children suffered because not enough consideration was given to a child’s need for parental nurture.

A few years prior, my mom began writing her memoir, discussing and reliving the memories with my dad, Herb Jones, while he was still alive. A small group met monthly at their retirement center in Reedley, California. The goal? To encourage each other while putting their life story down on paper for their children, grandchildren, and future generations.

Throughout the process, Mom did a great job capturing the highlights of their life for the book. The hardest part was knowing what to keep in and what to leave out. She still has a file box of letters she wrote back then to her family and friends in the US, full of details she didn’t have the time or space to include in the manuscript.

I’m proud that at age 92, Marcella (Marcy) Jones is still going strong and has published her life story. Incidentally, the working title of the book was “Our Life Story.” While we neared the end of the editing phase, I asked her to think of a title that more closely described the book. She quickly came up with the published title, Harvesters Needed: Farm Girl Applies. Reading the back cover will show you how aptly that fits!

Below I’ll share a snippet from Chapter 22, giving you a peek into our home life in 1966 on the mission station at Egbe, Nigeria, when the baby of our family, Cindy, was just a few months old.

While Larry and Debbie were at KA, Mark and Grant returned to playing with Cindy as though she were a new toy. Whenever I put her on the floor to see if she would crawl, Grant would kneel on the floor beside her and urge her along.

Of course, there was great excitement the second week of December when Larry, Debbie, and the twenty-three other children returned from KA. Mark couldn’t wait to show them the wrapped Christmas gifts from America–but he still had to wait until Christmas Day to open them.

Our dear little Cindy felt unwell, and the children were disappointed she wasn’t her usual lively self. They all adored her and with those big, dark eyes, she just wiggled her way into each of our hearts.

A few days before Christmas she developed a high fever….

Was it malaria? Polio? Meningitis? Did Cindy survive this ailment? You’ll find out if you read the book. Of course, you may already know, if you’re acquainted with the Jones family 🙂

Here’s a link to the book on Amazon: Harvesters Needed: Farm Girl Applies. It’s available as a paperback and e-book, and we priced it low so it’s accessible to all.

We owe a debt of gratitude to our friends and family who served as beta readers, offered edits for the memoir, enhanced photos, gave publishing advice, and donated other invaluable assistance. Thank you, Bev Jones, Brenda Wilbee, Dan Deister, Dawn Watts, Glenda Johnson, Jeanette Madsen, MaryLyn Jones-Wiebe, Patty (Marler) Hawkins, Peter Jackson, and last but not least, Ken Hoffmann.

A big shout-out goes to my brother Grant Jones-Wiebe who scanned all the photos for this book–and is scanning many more for our family archives.

Mom and I were especially pleased when Eileen (Porter) Allen, my friend and roommate from Hillcrest School in Jos, Nigeria, agreed to paint the picture for the cover of the book. Mom wanted to use the photo of Dad standing beside our orange VW Variant on a jungle road. We all loved that photo. However, we also wanted one that included my mom, so we sent Eileen two pictures. Our master artist skillfully combined the two and created the cover artwork.

Now I’d like to say Happy 4th Anniversary to our oldest son, Andrew, and his lovely wife, Sarah. On 10/24/2020, they had a gorgeous wedding in Santa Cruz, California, with only seventeen of us in attendance because, well, COVID. Then on their first anniversary, we enjoyed their #idoredo, a repeat ceremony and reception with many family members and friends in attendance. We’re so glad they found each other to share this amazing life with.

Next month, I’ll share another highlight from the memoir. Or perhaps I’ll post a few photos from Heather and Aaron’s spectacular wedding on October 6.

I’ll end with bonus content. Since we’re talking about weddings, here’s a photo of Herb and Marcy Jones on their wedding day, July 14, 1956, one of the many photos in the memoir.