Pics from Limberlost and Update

Isaac got out of the hospital yesterday afternoon. He is doing better. They believe it was a stomach virus. He is feeling better and playing. Melissa is not doing too good though. She has been sick today with the same stomach thing. I have used a couple of cans of Lysol hoping I won't be next in line. Here are some pics from our Amishville trip the other day. Notice the hitching post at Mickey D's and the tag on the back of the buggy.

Return to the Land of the Limberlost

Yesterday, Isaac got to go for a three hour get away. This is the first time in 14 months that he has been more than 30 minutes away from the hospital. After hearing of my story from the Amish country the other day, he decided he wanted to go there. So we did. We went back to the Land of the Limberlost. We rode around for a few hours just checking out the Amish area. We saw a one room Amish school with about 30 kids playing outside. It looked like something right out of Little House on the Prairie.(Not that I watched that show when I was a kid. Well maybe a few times. I didn't really like Nelly though, she was pretty much spoiled. Half Pint, now she was my favorite. I liked Mr. Olsen too. He was too hen pecked though. He really should have stood up for himself more. Anyway back to my story..) We stopped at a McDonalds in the town of Berne and behind the restaurant was a line of hitching posts where the Amish would park their buggies while they ate their Mickey D's. Who'd of thunk it? Amish eating with Ronald.(I took pictures I will post tommorrow but I am at the hospital with Isaac and don't have my camera.) We stopped in several Amish stores along the roadside. It was a step back in time. No lights, no electricity, no electric heat. They used natural light and wood burning stoves for their stores. We visited the horseshoe putter on person. Not really sure what you call him. We were at the Amish hardware store and a couple pulled up in their buggy to get a new wagon wheel. Pretty cool to see. We stopped at the Amish bakery and the food was delicious.

Two things that really struck me about the Amish: 1. They probably were the nicest people that I have ever met. 2. They displayed a level of humility that I don't believe I have ever seen before. I would like to be like that.

Some interesting facts about the Amish
1. When a couple gets married, they spend their honeymoon night at the home of the bride's parents so that they can get up at dawn to help with the morning chores. And yes the brides parents stay at the house also. Not more to say here.
2. An Amish young man keeps his face clean shaven until he is married and then he will grow out his beard but never a mustache. Mustaches are forbidden.
3. The largest population of Amish is in Ohio and not in Lancaster,PA as many people believe.
4. Their church services meet every other week in one of the family homes. But when they do meet their service starts at 9:00 a.m. and lasts til noon.
5. They have nothing inscribed on their grave stones but rather they have a map that is passed down from generation to generation telling who is buried where.
6. And last... this is my favorite.... On the morning of a wedding, several ladies arrive at the family home just after dawn and begin food preparation which usually consists of 250-300 pounds of chicken. Now that is one meal I want to go to.

Check in Tommorrow

Melissa,Isaac and I had an interesting day out today. Check back tommorrow afternoon for "The Return to The Land of Limberlost - Part Deux". I am tired and going to bed.

Land of the Limberlost and Loblolly Marsh

Sounds like a made up story right from the start. But I promise that the story heretofore contained in the aft metioned post is 100% unaltered and entirely true based solely on my recollection from todays events that began at 5 a.m.. If you agree to read further in this post, you must subscribe to the terms and conditions as set forth by the people of the Land of the Limberlost. Just kidding the terms and conditions thingy sounded official though. But, the story is true. So today my father in law and I had to make a trip over into Indiana to pick up something. As we were driving we began seeing signs saying Land of the Limberlost and Loblolly Marsh. We left at 5:30 a.m. so at first I thought I must still be alseep and for some unknown reason to me, I was dreaming that I was playing the board game Candy Land and my character was lost in the Limberlost Forest. But then I realized that I couldn't be asleep because I was driving. Anyway as we got closer I had one of the most surreal moments I have experienced in quite a while. As we were driving along, we realized that we were in the heart of Amish country. There were buggies going down the road everywhere. These were the Amish of Geneva,Indiana. It was amazing to see. It was about 35 degrees out and everyone of them were travelling in their buggies. Then I saw something that I haven't ever seen in all my years of youth ministry. I saw about 15 or so teenage boys and girls awake at 7 a.m.. And not only were they awake but they were all going into the chicken house to work. Imagine that, teenagers in our country working at 7 a.m.. I know right now that some of you parents are wanting directions so that you can send your kids there for camp so that they can learn to do chores and not expect $100. It was probably one of the coolest experiences that I have had lately. I couldn't help but think that these people seemed so at peace with life. They were in no big hurry but yet they seemed purposeful with everything they did. Just going to town required them to get up, go to the barn and ready their buggy and then hitch up the horse and then head off to town.
One of the last things that I saw reminded me that in many ways the Amish are like us also. As we were heading out of town, I saw an Amish man teaching his daughter to drive. Many of you remember when your parents taught you to drive and all of the headaches with them screaming at you and telling you to watch out. Well just imagine if they had taught to drive when you were 8. That's right, as we were heading out of town there was a man teaching his 8 -10 year old daughter how to drive a buggy. It was awesome. And so ends my day in the Land of the Limberlost and Loblolly Marsh.