Hello Dear Friends,
It’s hard to write while driving this wagon but I’ll see what I can do 🙂
Okay, I wasn’t really driving the wagon, my dear friend Lydia was driving and her sister Ruth and son Malachi and I were riding along. Two weekends ago, October 12th and 13th, I had the joy of spending the weekend with these two “sisters” of mine in Caneyville, KY. Mike had a Presbyterian pastor’s training in Louisville, KY and so we drove down in our van packed with other “almost” pastors and after I dropped them off I drove on to Caneyville. Caneyville is not an Amish or Mennonite community but a Plain Old Order Anabaptist community. They observe many of the same general patterns in their day to day living but worship in English and welcome seekers. We met Lydia and Ruth Stoll 7 years ago in a Amish community in Ontario, they were single then and I also became friends with three of their other sisters, Naomi, Rebekah, and Rachel (there is 11 siblings altogether) as well as two of their brothers Simon and Alvin (they DO NOT have a brother named Theodore and no, you’re not the first one to ask) . They moved to the U.S. and then joined the Caneyville community that their cousin helped found. Lydia was married a year and half ago. Her and her husband Luke are in the process of building their house (I can relate!)
Little Malachi was a complete joy to behold and will be just past a year when baby Geiser #2 arrives (or may have already arrived, we kept joking about the baby coming any minute while I was visiting). Even though the visit was much too short we packed as much fun in as we could. We sat, ate, talked, and took wagon rides around the community to visit neighbors. Luke’s parents own a plant nursery and store where I bought some very fine popcorn.
We also went a few miles in the wagon for a hike to some caves at a local park
.
Ruth is a school teacher at the community school
and teaches first, second and eighth grades!
She especially has a heart for the special needs students at the school who are mainstreamed into the classes.
We really enjoyed discussing teaching and the challenges and joys of watching little people learn. Ruth and Lydia are so much fun to be with, they are such hard workers and yet they know how to have good time too. I brought my muck boots, ready to pitch in and see where I could help but instead they had planned for all fun. While were exploring the cave on Pine Ridge Knob Luke was introducing Little Malachi to spelunking. Malachi thought it was great fun until they climbed up into one completely pitch dark hole and then he started yelling.
But after a few pats from dad he was just fine, and though he was done with caving for that day,
he was ready for more action out in the open. (The community has no opposition to photos being taken and they even have some family albums.)
It was a lovely and soul satisfying visit and I look forward to seeing them again hopefully soon, since Luke has family somewhere in PA and they have been thinking about going for a visit.
Since we have been back things have been busy as usual, but somewhat compounded due to the damage to our Honda. Sadly it is still not fixed and we have had a real challenge between the Honda dealership and the insurance adjuster, but we are hopeful that we can finish sorting out the details this week and get it to another, more trustworthy dealership and maybe even fixed by next week. Pray for our patience as it is being put to the test by this process.
Speaking of praying for patience, Mike completed a 2.5 hour philosophy midterm today that was so incredibly demanding I am encouraging him to rally his class to petition for no final exam! He is in week seven of this trimester and has only 3 weeks left and then just one more 10 week trimester after that! Mike preached this past Sunday at Bellefield and you can listen to it at http://bellefield.org/podcasts.html, (though I had a problem getting it to download maybe you’ll have better luck). He did a great job and received a lot of encouragement. His experience at the Pastor’s training in KY was eye opening and we are still seeking God to understand how and where he should serve.
I have used the last two weeks to do a little writing (just click here to see the latest), get the garden closed up for the fall, bring in the houseplants before a freeze, and get out everybody’s coats and hats. I was finally able to get the front porch cleared of all the extra junk that had piled up over the summer and lo and behold we have a pretty nice deck out there! Feel free to come over and share a bite or a cup of tea on our un-buried cafe table and chairs, though these days you’ll need a jacket!
Have a lovely week Blessings,
Nicole
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