Living in "Mayberry"

Rushsylvania, Ohio. Population of about 650 people. Future home of the Gibson family. On Tuesday morning Scott and I left the kids to sleep in the hotel room. (we didn't get in until 3 am in the morning, so they were tired) We went to the look at the property. It had snowed and was windy so the cornfields had snow blowing across them. Unknown to me until this trip, Rush Creek Township has some of the highest spots in Ohio. (1200 feet above sea level--the highest spot being 1500) Sooo...there is some wind. We found the land and Scott wanted to get out and look it over. (It is a nice, slightly rolling 6 acres) Being the good wife that I am, I got out too. I had on jogging pants and sweatshirt, a coat, and tennis shoes. I mentioned that it had snowed and was melting. Let's just say that tennis shoes get very soggy, as do the socks and feet in the tennis shoes, when a woman steps into melting snow. I tried to be a trooper and not complain, even though by this point my feet had turned blue and were feeling very much like ice cubes. Note To Self: Buy a nice pair of winter work boots and make sure they are waterproof!

Scott had set up an appointment with some men from a local concrete company. They met us at the land to look it over. They were super nice guys. They are locals and have lived there their entire life. They know everybody--and I do mean everybody! God definitely had his hand on this meeting. They gave us names and numbers of people. They took us to meet their brother who does excavation. We learned a lot about what needs to be done. Then these guys told us about a house that they had just poured for. Would we like for them to take us over there to look at the place? Now, just let me say that going to this mans house was an interesting experience!! We turned onto this country road between cornfields. It was mud and water...and lots of it. Good grief! It was a good mile back this road (more like a mud pit) to the house. By the time we got there Scott and I looked like we had been mudding. The van was literally covered. We could hardly see out the windows due to the mud splashed everywhere. (I took pictures!) This man had a shop that was built similar to what we are looking at. He had Amish men build it. He told us 6 Amish men built that building in just 3 days. (4800 sq. feet) I was incredulous . It was like a barn raising. All that work and with no electricity. All hand tools. Amazing! Of course, if one wants to work with the Old Order Amish one must meet with them in person, as they don't use telephones or computers. The next day Scott and I did go by this Amish man's (Mr. Miller) house, but no one was home. It was a nice drive though, beautiful farmland. You could tell it was an Amish farmhouse because there were no lights on, and in the driveway one could see very thin marks made from the buggy wheels, no big tires! Oh, and that same day we passed a one room Amish school house. The children were playing outside during lunch. There were some buggies parked in back. The kids were interested in the Amish people. Kendrick wanted to know why they wore such dark colors? (We saw some Amish couples in town in their buggies too.) I explained to him that the Amish are very plain people. They try to live very simple lives and they don't feel they need the bright colored clothing, electricity, or other "modern conveniences".

Another funny kids story... When we were out and about in the country side we had taken a wrong turn. We turned around at a small farm. They had some animals in a pen near the road. We couldn't decide if they were baby deer, baby donkeys, or baby llamas. Kendrick said that we could call them the "llama-donka-deer." That is what we did. We had a good laugh about our "new" animals. Have you ever seen a "llama-donka-deer"? Well, we have!!!

The village of Rushsylvania is small, that is true. (I'm learning how the whole town system works in Ohio. It's all new to me.) It starts with the unincorporated areas, they are very small. Then the villages, next bigger are the towns, and then then there are townships which are like districts. Finally, there are cities. So we will have a Rushsylvania address (about a mile out of Rushsylvania) but we still live in the Rush Creek Township. I know that once we move everyone in town will know everything about us probably within a week. That is fine. This is the type of small town that I read about in my Jan Karon books. (Mitford Series) I'm sure I'll have a lot of interesting people and things to blog about.

Well, I guess that is it for now. I'll keep everyone posted about the ongoing building process, travels, and getting used to the small town life. (Well, Bellefontaine --remember it is pronounced Bell-Fountain--is only 10 minutes away, it is the county seat of Logan County. Bellefontiane is there when we decide we need a Wal-mart trip, some good coffee, a home improvement store, or church.) This is going to be an adventure......

Voice of the Martyrs

I get a magazine from VOM (Voice of the Martyrs) each month. It is always an eye opening and heart wrenching experience. As a Christian I never realized how many brothers and sisters in Christ are persecuted EVERY week because they have chosen to follow Jesus Christ. Pastors in Asian countries are hauled out of their homes with no warning and are thrown in jail indefinitely. Unlike our prisons in the states, these jails don't have TV, work out rooms, or decent food. They suffer for the name of Jesus. Young Indian people who are disowned from their families (some even killed by their own family members) because they have "brought shame" to the family name, all because they proclaim the name of Jesus. They suffer isolation or even death because they love the Lord. Middle Eastern families that fear for their very lives. If it is found out that they are followers of Christ they will be killed. They suffer for their faith. Children in African countries that attended Sunday School classes, where militant Muslims chased the children into the fields, then set the fields on fire. One little boy was burned over most of his body--all because he proclaimed the name of Christ. He suffered for THE NAME.

How dare I ever complain about going to church. How dare I say something if I don't like a certain song, or I think the pastor is preaching too long. I drive to church and park without fear of being shot at or bombed. I don't have to sneak into the building to worship. I get to sit in a padded pew with other Christians who shake my hand and smile at me. I can sing as loud as I want without fear someone will hear me. My family hasn't disowned me and my friends aren't spying on me to see if I am a follower. I live in a country where I am still free to worship Jesus Christ.

God forgive me for my complacency. Forgive me for when I become spoiled and ungrateful. I pray for these brothers and sisters who live for You and die for You all over the world. If I were in their place, what would I do? Would I stand up for You? Or would I be too scared to utter Your name? Would I give up everything I knew, in order to be Your child? Would I boldly proclaim the name of the Son of the Living God? Would I suffer profound persecution knowing that it is all for Your glory? Lord, I am so thankful that I live in the USA where I don't have to worry about these things....but what if I did? What if it came to that in this country? What would I do?

But rejoice that you participate in the sufferings of Christ. 1 Peter 4:13

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? ...We are more than conquerors through him who loved us. Romans 8:35,37

Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life. Revelations 2:10

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away. Revelations 21:4

Ow! That really hurt.

You ever have one of "those" kind of days? I'm bumping into everything. I'm not a clumsy person, normally. Honest. But you'd never know that from how today has gone! Earlier this morning I was coming down the hallway and I crunched my toes on the vacuum cleaner. Now this vacuum cleaner is a Kirby. It is big, strong, has a headlight and sounds like a 747 taking off. Well, when my toes hit THAT I let out a yelp and went into some sort of convulsing chicken dance as I hopped down the hallway. Bradley, who was in the living room, said, "Mom, are you okay? What happened?!" My toes were killing me and through the moaning and squirming around I managed to squeak out that I think I did something terrible to my poor foot. He did give some momentary sympathy. Next, I burned my hand when getting some lunch out of the microwave. Another LOUD ouch on that one. Finally, I went to open the door in the kitchen, it stuck and I didn't realize this until too late. Whack. Forehead against door.

I think I will go sit in a dark closet and wait for this day to be done. I'm scared to fix dinner tonight. It could be dangerous.

Quotes of the Day

"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there." ---- Will Rogers

"Success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome." ----Booker T. Washington

"Begin with the end in mind." ----Stephen Covey

"What we obtain too cheap we esteem too little; it is dearness only that gives everything value." ----Thomas Paine

"The best mirror is an old friend." ----Proverb

"Don't be so busy making a living that you forget to make a life." Author Unknown

Stringing Cranberries

Last night the two younger kids and I decorated the Christmas tree the old fashioned way. It was a lot of fun. I had a bowl of cranberries, a bowl of popcorn (that Scott fixed for us in our cast iron skillet) , a bowl of fruit loop cereal, and a bowl of beads. I gave each of the kids a needle and some yarn. We strung the various foods with the beads and made some really pretty strands to put on the tree. We also added some pine cones and cinnamon sticks to the tree. We finished off last nights decorations with tying bows of silver ribbon onto the tree. I think the tree looks very pretty now. It is not going to win any awards for "perfection", but I don't care anything about that. What is important is that we had fun as a family. The tree smells really good too!

Entertaining Angels?

Hebrews 13:2 "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some have unwittingly entertained angels."

Scott and I had an interesting experience last night. Well, let me just tell you the story and then you tell me what you think...

Scott and I were winding down for the night after a competitive game of Boggle:) Scott had gone downstairs and realized that we were totally out of the cat litter...and the situation was dire. He asked me if I would go to Wal-mart with him to get the litter? Now, I didn't want any cat accidents so I said okay, even though at this point it was late and very cold outside. Well, I thought, Wal-mart is only 10 minutes away, we will run in get the litter and run out. So off we went on a cat litter run. We took the back way to Wal-mart which has some houses on it, but other stretches that have no houses and are very dark (no street lights). There are also some parts that have overgrown vegetation and no shoulder on the road. As we were driving along talking we were practically up on this little girl before we even realized she was walking on the side of the road. We drove by her, as there was no time to stop that quickly. Scott and I looked at each other. What is going on here? She is young. I estimated no more than a little 13 or 14 year old. What is she doing out at 12:15 in the morning, in the pitch black and freezing cold? We turned around and came back. Scott rolled down my window and as we stopped next to her I asked her if she would like a ride somewhere? (Now, Scott and I are not ones to pick up just anyone on the side of the road. These days that can be a scary prospect. This little girl just looked like she needed help.) She did accept the ride and we turned the heat on full blast in the car. All this girl had on was a pair of denium shorts, flip flops and a cotton-knit shirt. She was a very attractive little girl...which made me think, "what if someone with less noble intentions had stopped to "help" her?" I shudder to think. She thanked us for the ride and said she was on her way to Wal-mart, could we please take her? She mentioned something about her parents and running out of gas, and they thought she could walk to Wal-mart. We didn't know if this story was true but, she didn't say anything more. Scott and I got the feeling that her parents were somewhere else. (not nearby) She said she had been walking and couldn't feel her fingers anymore because she was so cold. Scott asked her if she was going to be okay? She said yes and that she was supposed to have a relative meet her at Wal-mart. We watched to make sure she got into Wal-mart.

Scott and I went to get the cat litter. After coming back down the main aisle and after having both come to the same conclusion, we stopped at the junior girls dept. and picked up a fleece jacket and a pair of gloves. We hoped she would still be at the front of the store in the entrance when we got there. Sure enough she was. She was hugging herself and was obviously just cold to the core. So I said to her (Scott thought that  I, as a woman and a mom should be the one to talk with her.) "Hi. Listen, you don't look much older than our daughter. We know you are cold and we just can't stand to see you freezing. We bought you a jacket and some gloves. Please just take them. You know you want them." She smiled and thanked us and put them on immediately. We asked her again if she would be okay. She said yes and and thanked us again. We left her sitting on the bench inside the Wal-mart entry way. At least she was in the store and in a lighted area. We both wished we could help more, but what else could we do? We got in our car and came home, but we prayed that the Lord would protect that little girl and keep her safe.

Home Tours

Breanna and I went out Saturday night for the Christmas Home Tour. We had a lot of fun. These houses were just beautiful. The period Christmas decorations were extraordinary! The people who took on these restoration projects really had "the vision" of what these houses could once again become. Many of these homes were from the turn of the last century. I was amazed at the heights of these ceilings. Many of the homes had butler pantries. A lot of the bathrooms had the antique claw foot tubs. Now, I think those tubs add to the bathrooms, but in looking at them I realized one would really have to be able to lift her leg high to get in the tub. I never realized how deep those tubs are. A lot of the bathrooms were huge. Also many of the staircases were steep and narrow. There was a very heavy set lady on the tour. Nothing against her at all, but watching her on the stairs made me consider the size of people 100 years ago. Honestly, it would have been difficult to maneuver up narrow stairs and under low eaves in many of these houses for someone who was big. I just think it is interesting the way these houses were laid out (esp. since Scott and I are in the process of working out house plans for our own house building project). These houses had staircases that led down into the foyer area. Most of these houses had fairly large foyers. The bedrooms were on the small side. ( I guess back then people only slept in their bedrooms so they figured they didn't need that much space there...unlike today where people like to hang out in their bedrooms and read, watch TV, maybe workout on the treadmill etc.) Something else I noticed was the parlor and large dining area rooms. The kitchens were not very big, but the dining rooms were huge. They could hold a large table and still have a bunch of space. I assume that meal times, esp. with large families, was a big meeting time where everyone gathered around the table. Oh, and as Breanna pointed out there were A LOT of fireplaces throughout these houses. Almost every bedroom and all the downstairs rooms had one. I'm assuming that these were main sources of heat, so each room required one? It's really pretty funny, thinking about all these things and how so much has changed. Scott and I are concerned with energy efficiency, the layout of rooms--creating a "good flow", high traffic areas, flooring choices etc. I wonder if 100 years from now people will look at OUR house and think how quaint it is and how people in 2008 lived:)