10.23.13

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!)

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