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Country Living
David and I are enjoying living in the country. Our son, Paul, traveled from Vermont to celebrate our new home and our birthdays with us. It was the first time he came to see us in Virginia. We so enjoyed his visit. He was a tremendous help with the preparations and cleanup for the housewarming…
Read MoreA Beautiful Day in our New Home
Our windows are open, allowing the early summer breezes to flow through our new home. The birds are singing sweetly. The sun is shining. We are settling in. Life is good. We have had so much rain. Today is the first sunny day since our closing on May 22. People here in the Shenandoah Valley…
Read MoreHappy Spring Day to Mothers Everywhere!
I hope all you mothers out there have enjoyed this beautiful spring day. Here in the Shenandoah Valley it has been so awesome. David and I have so enjoyed our day. We first attended a church service at our beloved community at Park View Mennonite Church. David then offered to take me to Lexington, Virginia,…
Read MoreA Day Among Old Order Mennonites in the Shenandoah Valley
Spring has arrived in all her glory and what a splendid day it was here in the Shenandoah Valley! David and I are both taking a class called Mennonites in the Valley through the Lifelong Learning Institute of James Madison University, and taught by the pastor of our church, Phil Kniss. Today we took a…
Read MoreOur Search for a New Home
Our long search for a home has finally come to an end. It led us to a modest ranch home in a little town called Broadway, just fifteen minutes north of Harrisonburg. We had hoped to find something in closer to town, but when we looked at this house, we realized that it met so…
Read MoreWide Open Spaces of the Southwest
Those of us who live in the East often travel north or south, but forget that there is SO MUCH country west of us. When I was traveling through the Southwest, I was just so amazed at the wide open spaces and the diversity of landscapes. It is something everyone must experience in person to…
Read MoreA Visit to the Petrified Forest National Park
There are so many aspects to the Petrified Forest National Park. I’ll provide photos for the various “stations” of our tour through the park in pretty much the order in which we saw them. The Painted Forest Overlooks: These were aptly described in Mem’s travel journals in my last post. Below is a reminder photo.…
Read MoreA Long Way from Middlefield, Ohio
As promised, I am bringing you part of Mem’s travel journal from her cross-country trip. Her trip began out of Middlefield, Ohio on May 1, 1950, when she was 30 years old. I am now 60, twice the age Mem was when she took this trip. I thought of her often during my trip out…
Read MoreTrains and More Trains
Every time I saw a freight train during our trip to the Southwest, I thought of Datt. He loved trains. He seemed to have a nostalgia for them, likely from his days of working on the railroad when he was in his twenties. He had left the Amish to join the military when he was…
Read MoreMountains and Freedom
I have always loved mountains. I often wonder where this came from, given I grew up in northeastern Ohio, where barely a hill, and no mountains, are to be found. During my Amish teaching days, when I lived in a little house of my own, I had a calendar picture with the Psalm quoted above,…
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