A Little Bit of History

Tim and I often get nonplanned days off in various parts of the country. Sometimes we get a chance to be tourists. This was one of those rare occasions that we were able to spend quite a bit of time and very little money to enjoy an interesting tourist attraction!


This is the Railway Cafe. We started our little visit by having a yummy lunch here. They had a Sante Fe Chicken Soup that was scrumptious! This is the information center. They were a wealth of information. If we ever get a chance to visit here again, I plan to spend more time finding out about the area attractions from them.

I just love fall. The leaves are turning! I love that we get to see the seasons in all the different parts of this country!

The austere Mrs. Grant. This statue of the First Lady is located just outside of the Grant home. I'm not sure if we should feel welcome or not. Her expression is not very pleasant.

This is a picture of a picture. I thought it was neat to see what the Grant family looked like.

You can't visit a Civil War Memorial site without having a picture taken with the cannons! :o) I think the Yankees would have been a bit intimidated facing down this guy! (I'm talking about Tim, not the gun) It's my camera that's slanted, not the ground. :o)

Ain't he handsome, though?

What a beautiful view from the top of the hill near Grant's house! I was trying to decide if it would be worth the money to take the tour of the Grant home when we saw the sign saying it was closed on Mondays. Decision Made! :o)

This cute little trolley took tourists on a tour of the town. Of course, they charge you an arm and a leg to ride in it and they don't even let you get out to take pictures, so we didn't do it. But, it's cute! :o) This is the Civil War Memorial that is in the park.

And last, but certainly not least...the statue of General Ulysses S. Grant!

Summer Fun!

Our family came to visit! We had lots of fun and ate lots of food!
Laurie and I had to try out this playground toy to make sure it was safe for the chilluns!

It was nice to look at the lake, but it would have been even nicer if we could have jumped in! It was SOOO hot!!

Phillip and Randy took turns fishing.

These kids make me smile!

Stay tuned and I'll try to publish a few more pics from that visit!

Old Sturbridge Village

Tim and I did a little sight-seeing a couple weekend ago. We went to Old Sturbridge Village in Sturbridge, MA. It is a "living museum" all about life in New England in the 1790-1840 time period. There are 59 buildings on 200 acres where you can meet people that are dressed for that time period and know many of the historical facts pertaining to that time. There is a working blacksmith shop, cobbler, water powered saw-mill, grist mill and carding mill as well as a print shop, tin shop, pottery maker, and cooper. We had a wonderful time (it sure was a lot of walking, though). I'm going to post some of the pictures from our day so you can enjoy some of the sights we saw.

A Most Interesting Weekend....

Julie, Beth and Wanda

We spent this past weekend with the family that owns the truck we drive. They belong to a German-Baptist Church. I wasn't exactly sure what that meant until we spent some time with them and went to church with them Sunday. What a fascinating experience! I am going to try and relate our church-going experience with those of you that are interested!

We arrived at the meeting house at about 10 til 10AM. Our hosts pointed out that if we needed to use the restrooms we would have to go to the outbuildings (and it would be MIGHTY COLD). The men and women sit on opposite sides of the church. We were told we could sit together, but we wanted to follow their traditions as much as possible, so for the first time since we've been married Tim and I didn't sit together in church. Another of their traditions is that they greet one another with a holy kiss (fortunately for us that does not include "outsiders" so we were able to greet with a handshake). The benches were just simple wooden planks...one to sit on and one across the back for a bit of support. (Let me just insert here that I REALLY appreciate the cushions on our church pews!) The service began at 10 with a song. They do not use instruments, but sing in 4 part harmony. It was beautiful, just a bit slower than I'm used to. They each have their own little hymnal which they are responsible for bringing along with their Bibles to the service. After the song, a minister stood and read a chapter from the Bible. Then, we sang another hymn, then knelt for prayer (my rear end was welcoming the break from that wooden bench). Next, another minister got up and read another chapter from the Bible and talked about praise and how important it is to continually give God praise. Then, the main speaker for the morning got up, read another chapter from the Bible and started his sermon. It was a wonderful message full of depth and meaning! He used many more scripture passages throughout his message. (Tim and I were both amazed at how much scripture they read during the service). After his message (by now it was about 11:30) we knelt for prayer again (big sigh of relief). Then, the final minister got up and summed up what had been preached that morning. Finally, we sang another hymn and then we were dismissed. The entire service lasted 2 hours (not much different from our Sunday School and church combined). I thoroughly enjoyed the service (I'm thinking I may have to bring a cushion with me if I go again, though).

There were about 250 people in the service, many of those were young people. It was really interesting to find out about their youth activities and singings. Their worship and traditions are VERY similar to the Amish churches, but their doctrine is much closer to ours. We had a great time visiting them and learning about their faith. I can hardly wait to go back and visit again!

As you can see, we had much laughter! :o) These girls were a real hoot! You may notice Wanda's two girls did not wear coverings or the hand made dresses. They are not baptized members of the church yet, so they do not have to follow all the rules and traditions of the church.

Bibles And Cell Phones

I just read this little article and thought I would share it:

Do you ever wonder what would happen if we treated our Bible like we treat our cell phones?
What if we carried it around in our purses or pockets?
What if we turned back to get it if we forgot it?
What if we flipped through it several times a day?
What if we used it to receive messages from the text?
What if we treated it like we couldn't live without it?
What if we gave it to our children as gifts?
What if we used it as we traveled?
What if we used it in case of an emergency?
Oh, and one more thing, unlike our cell phones, we don't ever have to worry about our Bible being disconnected because Jesus already paid the bill!


This little article really challenged me! I thought I would pass it along. :o)

Playing Ball in the House?? Shame On You!

Visit with Family

Just before Christmas we were able to meet my Aunt Jenny and her daughter, Katie for dinner. It is one of the "perks" of our job. I try to keep track of who we might be near and take the opportunity to spend some time with them. We had a nice visit (they brought me homemade Christmas cookies)!