Happy 101st Birthday, Muriel!

Today, our very own Muriel Kaercher turns 101!!

Join us for cake and coffee in our dining room at 3:00 today to hear stories about all the things Muriel has seen in our world. Scroll down to find some interesting events happening on Muriel's birthday throughout her lifetime:

2006 Ethiopian troops eject the Islamic forces from Mogadishu, Somalia

1997 Hong Kong begins slaughtering all its chickens to prevent bird flu


1997 Russia signs agreement to build a $3B nuclear power plant in China

1994 B737-400 flies into a mountain at Edremit East Turkey, 54 killed

1994 Bangladesh government of Zia resigns

1991 12th United Negro College Fund

1991 Boeing 747-200F of China Airlines crash into mountain at Taipei

1989 Jane Pauley says goodbye to NBC's "Today" show

1989 Wayne Gretzky and Martina Navratilova, named athletes of decade by AP

1988 Victorian Post Office Museum in Australia closes

1984 Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi claims victory in parlimetary elections

1983 U.S. announced withdrawal from UNESCO

1982 Bob Marley postage stamp issued in Jamaica

1982 Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant ends his career with Alabama (323 wins)

1978 Spain constitution goes into effect

1975 11 killed, 75 hurt by terrorist bomb at LaGuardia Airport in New York City

1972 Eastern Tristar Jumbo Jet crashes near Everglades killing 101

1972 Life magazine ceases publication

1968 Israeli commandos destroy 13 Lebanese airplanes

1967 Star Trek's "Trouble With Tribbles" 1st airs

1965 CBS purchases NFL TV rights for 1966-68 at $18.8 million per year

1955 Barbra Streisand's 1st recording "You'll Never Know" at age 13

1954 Kingdom of Netherlands, with Netherlands and Netherlands Antilles as autonomous parts, comes into being

1948 Canada recognizes Israel

1948 U.S. State Department announces work on placing objects into Earth orbit

1940 Germany begins dropping incendiary bombs on London (WW II)

1937 Ireland adopts constitution (Irish Free State becomes Eire)

1934 1st collegiate basketball doubleheader (MSG)

1933 Yankees refuses to release Babe Ruth so he can manage the Cincinnati Reds

1930 Fred P Newton completes longest swim ever (1826 miles), when he swam in the Mississippi River from Ford Dam, Minn, to New Orleans

1922 Dutch Constitution proclaimed

1920 Yugoslav government bans Communist Party

1908 Patent granted for a 4-wheel automobile brake, Clintonville, Wisc

Clay County Union Article

Santa's Pit Stop for Milk and Cookies

Cookies are simply a necessity for this wonderful time of the year; and none of us here at Serenity Assisted Living were about to go without this classic holiday snack. That’s why we held our 4th annual Holiday Cookie Bake where all our families came to Serenity to bake some delicious treats for the holidays. And what a success the event was! Not only was it fun to mingle with our family members, tell stories and have an overall great time, but we also baked 526 sugar and gingerbread cookies! To top it all off, we made a few other scrumptious treats including spritz and fig cookies, chocolate haystacks and waffles, fudge, carrot cake bars and glass candy.

Now that we’ve had our fill, we just need to make a few more friends who would like some of our holiday treats. It’s a good thing that Santa will be making his rounds on the 25th; he can take a break for milk and cookies right here at Serenity!

Just take a look at these pictures to see all the fun we had! Pictured above is Gen smiling as she frosts a sugar cookie. To the left is Lois who we caught snacking on a cookie; and to the right is Mary laughing as she mixes a new batch of cookie dough!

Santa Claus is Coming....to Serenity!!

'Tis The Season!

Here at Serenity we have decked the halls with all sorts of fun holiday decorations; and it’s been a blast for all of us to take a stroll down the halls just to look at all the different décor that engulf our home. And when we wanted, we were able to help out!

John and Mary Joan certainly had a lot of fun decorating their Christmas tree this past week. While Mary spent most of her time putting the decorations on the tree, John seemed to have trouble untangling the lights! Just take a look above at a happy Mary as she finds the perfect spot for one of her decorations! To the right is John tangled in his mess of lights, and below is a snapshot of Mary smiling as she continues to decorate her tree. If you’d like to see their tree, just stop by for a visit!

God Bless Cleo Havlis!

The November Greats

Twas the Night Before Christmas

“Twas the night before Christmas at Serenity Assisted Living,
And all us individuals were looking our best,
Our glasses, how sparkly,
Our winkles, how merry;
Our punch bowl held prune juice plus
With three drops of sherry....
Our bed socks were hung to
Each walker, in hope
That Santa would bring us
Soft candy and soap
We surely were lucky to be
With our friends
Secure in this residence
With our Depends
Our Grandkids had
Sent us some crafts,
Like angels in snow suits
And penguins on our rafts.
The dental assistant had borrowed our teeth
And from them they crafted a holiday wreath.
The bed pans, so shinny all stood in a row,
Reflecting our candle’s magnificent glow.
Our supper so festive – the joy wouldn’t stop
Was creamy warm oatmeal with raisins, sprinkles on top.
Our salads were Jell-O, so jiggly and great.
Then puree of fruitcake was spooned on each plate.
Denise then had us play a few game, like “Where we are living, and “What are our Names?”
Old Grandfather Sonny, was feeling his oats,
Proclaiming that reindeer were nothing but goats.
Our security lights filter the new fallen snow,
Made the outdoors to seem noon to Abbie and others below.
Then out on the porch there arose such a clatter that Claryce
Even heard – but to the rest it just didn’t matter.
A strange little fellow flew into the door,
Then tripping on the sill and fell flat on the floor.
“Twas just our chef Jake, all decked out in red
He jiggled and chuckled and patted each head
We knew from the way that he strutted and jived
Our social security checks had just arrived
We sang –how we sang
In our monotone croak
Till the clock tinkled out its soft 8 pm stroke
And soon we were snuggling deep in our beds
While the night shift distributed our nocturnal meds
And so ends our Christmas story at Serenity
For as long as you be with us, we wish you the best.

Santa Claus Is Coming To Serenity

Serenity Assisted Living welcomed two very special guests this past Saturday; and what an exciting visit it was! Since this is a busy time of year for both of them, their surprise stopover was unexpected; but Santa and Mrs. Claus decided to take a break from their seasonal festivities to catch up with all of us here at Serenity. Indeed, Santa had been watching us and saw that we had been pretty good over this past year; and it was nice that we even had some milk and cookies to share with the unexpected visitors. Santa spent the afternoon giving all of us a few early gifts and asking us what we wanted for the holidays. It was a blast to hear his jokes and laugh with Mrs. Claus as he sat us one by one on his knee. Now we know we’ll have to keep on being good so we get more treats!

After spending the afternoon, it was finally time for Santa and Mrs. Claus to head back to the North Pole; but we were able to take a few pictures to share with you! Take a peek above at Santa and Mrs. Claus as they surprise Esther Olson, Muriel Kaercher and Henrietta Van Dyke last Saturday. To the right is Florence Tingum who is laughing as Santa surprises her with an early present. And take a look to the left as Santa makes John Grubb sit on his lap before he gives John a gift. Pictured below is John who is helping Mary open her present after all the excitement of the day!

Serenity's Bell Ringers

As all of us at Serenity know all too well, Henrietta is just one of those people who always wants to help out; and this is exactly what she did this past week. Michele Schuering and Henrietta took a short trip to K-Mart in Moorhead where they volunteered as bell ringers for the Salvation Army.

For those of you who may not know about the Salvation Army, it was founded in San Francisco in 1891 and has significantly grown over the past 100 years. Last year more than 25,000 volunteers earned the organization over $130 million; and the money was used to purchase food, clothing and toys for nearly 30 million people in need!

You will see the bell ringers until December 24th this holiday season; and all donations are used for needy citizens around the United States. So do a good turn and help out those in need through the Salvation Army!

Take a peak above at the picture of Michele and Henrietta volunteering for the Salvation Army. To the right is a picture of Henrietta actually ringing her bell!

(Source: www.salvationarmyusa.org)

God Bless Carol Thompson

Feeding America

Pennies for Chairty collected $23.21 this month for the 'Feeding America' organization. Thanks to everyone who brought in their pennies for this cause!

4th Annual Holiday Baking

Save the date for December 12th! Join us at Serenity on December 12th for our 4th Annual Holiday Baking Day! Just R.S.V.P. to Denise with either your recipe or needed ingredients and a time you are planning on coming.

Everything else will be ready for you! Don't forget to bring some empty containers to bring home your goodies in!

Operation Christmas Child

Shoe boxes, wrapping paper and toys were EVERYWHERE on Wednesday, November 18th. Youth from the churches of Dilworth Lutheran and St. Elizabeth's churches joined forces to pack 153 boxes for Operation Christmas Child at Serenity Assisted Living.

For the past month, members of these churches and communities have been donating empty shoe boxes, hygiene items and toys for this cause. It is an event grass rooted by Samaritans Purse and these wrapped boxes get delivered to needy children all over the world. Just think of how a box you could have wrapped changed the life of a little girl in the Middle East!

Last year Dilworth got 146 boxes and this year we surpassed that amount with 153! I think we should try for 200 next year! The organization alone sent over 8 million boxes to destinations all over the world!!

Samaritan's Purse | Operation Christmas Child | OCC Impact

Samaritan's Purse | Operation Christmas Child | OCC Impact

Hay Bales?!

Even though we have been enjoying the nice weather, we all know that winter will eventually arrive in all its freezing glory. Because we’re hoping to construct our newest building in the near future, we have been busy getting hay bales on the land where we will eventually build. As Tim informed me, once the bales are scattered, the hay will help keep the ground from freezing thoroughly so that digging can start earlier in the spring if need be. Bonnie has also been wondering about the process and informed us that there are 47 hay bales out there!

Exercise Group

We all know the importance of exercise, and we aren’t the kind of people to miss out on healthy physical activity. This afternoon a few of us gathered in the dining room to have a little fun with a beach ball – and we soon found out that some of us are regular soccer players! It was a blast to just kick the ball back and forth to each other and have a few good laughs in the process.

Pictured above is Henrietta, who put quite a bit of force on that ball! To the right is Mary who would definitely be our forward if we had a Serenity soccer team!

Enjoying the Weather

Winter in Minnesota

It's winter in Minnesota
And the gentle breezes blow
Seventy miles an hour
At twenty-five below.
Oh, how I love Minnesota
When the snow's up to your butt
You take a breath of winter
And your nose gets frozen shut.
Yes, the weather here is wonderful
So I guess I'll hang around
I could never leave Minnesota 'Cause I'm
frozen to the ground!

-Anonymous


Yes, Minnesota can get down right cold in the winter; and all of us here at Serenity know it. That’s why when we were blessed with some pretty nice weather this week we weren’t about to waste it. Every warm day this week we have been enjoying the weather by taking short walks and simply lounging outdoors. Esther Olson and Abbie Moe have really been enjoying the wonderful weather and have been outside as often as possible. Just take a look at this picture of the two catnapping together in the courtyard!

Homeless & Hungry 2009

If you live in Dilworth, MN...you may have seen a group of people walking around the town with grocery carts filled with non-perishable foods. Though they may have looked a bit ragged, they were actually collecting these foods and items for the area food pantries and shelters. In a short hour, over 100 pounds of donations were collected from individuals living at Serenity Assisted Living and the other residents of Dilworth.

Homeless and Hungry took place all over the Fargo-Moorhead area this last weekend. Over 750 people participated in a 30 hour fast, slept in cardboard boxes in the rain, attended an all-city worship, collected donations, participated in service projects and more. Serenity Assisted Living was one of many host sites in the area, and the first for Dilworth.

A simulation was held at the Oak Grove school where fleece blankets were being made and deliveries to the area shelters were headquartered. Three large groups including people of all ages were either helping at the area shelters, sorting donations, assembling fleece blankets and more!

Three youth from the Dilworth-Glyndon-High School and Dilworth Lutheran church particpated in this great opporunity. They were Amanda Kennedy, Brooke Bjerke & Amanda Heitkamp. These girls, along with leader from Dilworth Lutheran Church (Tara Ulrich) also prepared three meals and delivered them to the Dorothy Day house to be used in the upcoming days.

To finish off the weekend, everyone attended an all-city soup kitchen at the FargoDome. Food, clothing and blanket donations were available to our guests of the community, those who really needed them.

Thanks to our Dilworth crew and EVERYONE else who made this weekend a possibility. We look forward to another succesful year in 2010!

Food Donations

For Homeless and Hungry, our group at Serenity made a few homemade frozen meals to donate to the Dorothy Day house in Moorhead. Here is one of our recipes below:

Home-Style Meat Loaf

• 3/4 cup ketchup, divided
• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1/4 cup minced fresh onion2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 2 large egg whites, lightly beaten1
• 1/2 pounds ground round
• Cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Combine 1/2 cup ketchup, oats, and next 6 ingredients (oats through egg whites) in a large bowl.
3. Add meat; stir just until blended.
4. Shape meat mixture into an 8 x 4-inch loaf on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray.
5. Brush 1/4 cup ketchup over meat loaf.
6. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 10 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.

September Serenade

Happy Birthday, Arlene Tangen!

Happy Birthday, Arlene Tangen!

She looks good for 18 doesn't she?! :-)

Homeless & Hungry Video

Homeless & Hungry Concert

Get your tickets now for the Leeland, Brandon Heath & Francessca Batistelli concert at Concordia to the kickoff for Homeless & Hungry.

The concert is Thursday, September 24th at 7:00 pm in Concordia's Memorial Auditorium.

Tickets are on sale on the Homeleses & Hungry website (http://www.homelessandhungry.org/), First Lutheran Church in Fargo, Family Christian Bookstore, The Rainbow Shop, Melberg's Bookstore and by phone at 701-235-7389.

Even better, sign up for Homeless & Hungry TODAY! Serenity Assisted Living is a host site for Dilworth. You can sign up to particpate, volunteer, bring donations or even to pray for the real homeless and hungry of the Fargo-Moorhead area.

Peace & God Bless.

It's Corn Season

It seems everywhere you look, there's someone on the corn selling sweet corn. Many of the ladies and gentlemen at Serenity remember doing the exact same thing in their younger years.

We often celebrate this past by picking up a big load of corn, sitting outside while listening to Patsy Cline and shucking the corn. Just take a look at our photo!

Happy Grandparent's Day

Oh, it was a glorious day. At about 78 degrees, families and friends came from all over for a BBQ at Serenity Assisted Living to celebrate Grandparents Day!


National Assisted Living Week is always started on Grandparent's Day...how fitting! Jacob Birkemeyer (he prefers to be called, Master Executive Chef) spent the afternoon on the grill making bratwursts, hamburgers and steaks. Even though it was the first day of Sunday football for the year, Jacob gladly slaved over the hot grill. :-)


The food was DELICIOUS. How could we forget Elaine Anderson's famous baked beans...I think I had three servings alone!

Ron Evans, musician extraordinaire, entertained the crowd in the courtyard with famous old time tunes. I think almost everyone was tapping their feet and Ron's wife, Twila, was up and trying to get some dancing going.

And of course, we had to have the Vikings game on in the All-Seasons room!! We couldn't miss Brett Farve's big debut as the Vikings quarterback...too bad Adrian Peterson stole the show! They came out with a win and it added to the terrific day.

The total count for the end of the day? We had over 130 people in and out the doors of Serenity today...we couldn't ask for more. These families are an inspiration to us all! Happy Grandparents Day!!

Pictured above is Esther Olson with her family.

Happy Birthday, Arlene Marshall!

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday to you...

Happy Birthday dear Arlene...

Happy Birthday to you!!

Now let's eat cake!

Where in the World?

Where in the World? Or should I say,

'Where's Waldo?'

Valerie Bostrom was spotted in London, England recently at Buckingham Palace.

Look closely and you can see a guard in red.

August Edition

Box Tops for Education

Please save your Box Tops from General Mills products and bring them to Serenity! Leonie Borden's son is collecting them to raise money for his school...let's help him out!

Congratulations, Gretchen!

Serenity has instilled a new rewards program for its staff this month. Our wonderful workers have been working hard towards perfect documentation in order to win a mystery gift card plunged in a small bucket of candy.

Our finalists for the month of August are:

- Amanda Allen

- Gretchen Christensen

- Oriana Peterson

- Becky Sallberg

And...the lucky winner of a $50.00 Gift Certificate to Herbergers is....

Gretchen Christensen!!

Congratulations to ALL of our finalists on a wonderful month of perfect documentation! You all make us proud!!

Goodbye, Lorna!

We’re so sad to see you go, but so excited for the road you are now traveling on! We will miss you so much, thanks for all the hugs!

Love,
Serenity Assisted Living

Welcome, Tyler!

On behalf of all of us here at Serenity, I’d like to introduce our newest team member! Tyler Gress is a recent Concordia College graduate who has been studying to become a doctor; and because of this interest he is now our newest PCA here at Serenity. He will be helping all of us with whatever daily needs we have – including friendly conversations!

Tyler is very excited to help out here, “Serenity will be an excellent way for me to get experience working with people who need my help. I’ll be going to medical school in the near future so this will be a great way to learn some things about my future career.”

So far Tyler’s favorite part of Serenity is the great conversations he has had with all the new people he has gotten to know (and Jake’s food)! He’s looking forward to playing bingo, being a chauffer, getting to know everyone a little better and all the other fun things that will come up on the way. So next time you drop by Serenity be sure to give Tyler a warm welcome!

Pictured above is Tyler opening his fortune cookie on a trip to a Chinese restaurant.

Where in the World?

Where in the World?! Denise Anderson from Serenity was spotted all over Scandinavia with her grandparents (Erling & Evonne Anderson).

They spent almost two weeks visiting the countryside and researching long lost relatives.

Relatives were found in both Norway and Sweden. The trio spent many hours looking at the headstones of lost relatives in cemetaries that were hundreds of years old, drinking pot after pot of coffee and feeling blessed to be able to go on such a journey in the first place!

Homeless and Hungry

I am writing to inform and invite you to participate in Homeless and Hungry! This is an event is a 30 hour fast where participants sleep in cardboard boxes overnight…all while praying, making blankets for the needy and collecting food and monetary donations for the homeless and hungry of the Fargo-Moorhead area. My brother, Richard, and I will be participating and hosting the event at Serenity. We will take care of everything.

Last year, there were over 1,000 participants and this year, Serenity Assisted Living is a host site for this event!! The overnight in the cardboard boxes will take place at Serenity. We are encouraging everyone and anyone to participate (young and old)!!

You can check out the link below for some more detailed information. If you are interested in participating or could pass this e-mail along to anyone you know who may be interested…please pass God’s word. Please ask if you have any questions at all. There are a few attachments to take a look at regarding the event as well. If you would like to participate, please fill out the survey for registration and get it back to me at Serenity and I can mail you more information.

Thank you for your support!!

Love,
Denise

Grandparents Day Picnic

Join us for lunch and games to kickoff National Assisted Living week and most of all, to celebrate Grandparents Day!

Please just bring yourselves and families…we will provide everything else! There will be a picnic lunch, games for ALL ages and entertainment.

Please R.S.V.P. by September 1st to Denise Anderson at Serenity. We hope to see you there!

Bird Crazy!

Next time you decide to stop by Serenity make sure to bring your binoculars! This summer we’ve made a lot of fun crafts for the birds such as birdbaths and our most recent project – Pinecone Birdfeeders. This afternoon a few of the ladies of Serenity decided it was the perfect day to get started on yet another of their exciting projects. We started by simply mixing a little vegetable shortening with corn meal and oatmeal to make the birdfeed and then we got our hands dirty by rubbing this mixture into the pinecones. Now all the birds around Serenity have food to eat, birdhouses to sleep in and birdbaths to clean up with. You could say that we just completed Serenity’s Bird Hotel!

Take a peek at these fun snapshots of our fun craft! Above is Claryce, Sandy and Henrietta who are all preparing their Pinecone Birdfeeders and to the right is a picture of Lois who is laughing at one of our jokes!

A Busy Afternoon

Here at Serenity it is important for us to keep busy; and did we ever have a busier day!? After lunch today we kicked off the afternoon with some old-fashioned tunes and sit-down dancing. It’s always fun for us to just relax with our friends and have a bit of fun getting a workout! And once we were finished with our dancing we decided to head to the kitchen to take a break; but Nathan was waiting for us with one of his projects.

We quickly started making Chubby Crayon Crafts which was a blast for all of us! First we found some old crayons, broke them into small pieces and then put all the different colored crayons into muffin pans. Then we melted the crayons in the oven and mixed the colors together once the crayons had turned into liquid. Once the crayons had hardened again we took them out of the pans and voila! Our Chubby Crayons were super colorful and fun! When we had finally finished the project we all took a well-deserved coffee break.

Take a peek at these pictures to see the good time we had. Above is a photo of Sandy, Bonnie and Gen getting the crafts prepared and below is a snapshot of Muriel, Henrietta and Lois who were waiting for the Chubby Crayons to melt.

Elvis is in the Building!

You won’t believe who visited Serenity this weekend! Elvis Presley stopped by for an exciting party complete with some of his favorite foods and best tunes. The King brought hamburgers complete with ice cream sundaes for dessert. Aside from a few other fun games there was even Elvis trivia to test our knowledge of Rock ‘n’ Roll! The whole dining room was decorated with fun Elvis paraphernalia including posters and guitars. We even had the chance to get our pictures taken with The King!

Take a look at these snapshots to see the fun we had! Pictured above is John who is rocking out with Elvis and to the right is Muriel who is trying her hand at the guitar!

Candy Bird Nests

Here at Serenity we enjoy bird watching. It’s a fun pastime to see those feathery creatures hopping around in the birdbaths or to watch them eat from our feeders. And today we decided it would be fun to make some “bird treats” for all of us to eat! This afternoon a few of the ladies at Serenity gathered in the kitchen to make Candy Bird Nests out of chocolate, crispy rice and yogurt covered raisins.

First we melted chocolate chips, added crispy rice and mixed these two ingredients to make a mess of chocolate! Then we carefully scooped some of the mixture into muffin trays to create our nests. And to top off the fun snack we added yogurt covered raisins that looked like bird eggs! It was a blast for all of us to step outside the box and make “bird treats” for ourselves!

Just take a look at these pictures to see all the fun we had! To the left is a picture of Claryce getting ready to make the bird nests and to the right is Sandy hard at work.

Congratulations, Maren!

Serenity has instilled a new rewards program for its staff this month. Our wonderful workers have been working hard towards perfect documentation in order to win a mystery gift card plunged in a small bucket of candy.

Our finalists for the month of July are:

- Leonie Borden

- Gretchen Christensen

- Emily Cole

- Renata Krull

- Maren Anderson

- Becky Sallberg

- Linda Wallace

And...the luck winner of a $50.00 Gift Certificate to Target is....

Maren Anderson!

Congratulations to ALL of our finalists on a wonderful month of perfect documentation! You all make us proud!!

Where in the World?

This month, a Serenity supporter has been spotted in Ityehoe, Germany. Brandon Horpedahl spent a month abroad in Germany. He is pictured in front of the school he attended while in Germany!