Day 138 (Oct 1) – A Great Day

This has been a great day – of joy and sorrow.

The day started at Shady Maple Smorgasbord for a yummy PA Dutch breakfast with corned beef hash and sweet potato pancakes (and much – too much -  more).  Then we went to Intercourse, PA (insert giggle here) for some shopping at Kitchen Kettle Village.  This is a quirky little shopping area with rows of stores of locally made goods (not Amish, just local), from jams and jellies to pottery to clothespin dolls.  They also had Kettle Korn, which made a nice light lunch after our heavy breakfast buffet.

(*Note about the Amish:  They mostly sell their goods from workshops at their homes, in their neighborhoods.  They don’t really sell at commercial markets.  Although we did see a few selling at the Reading Terminal Market in Philly.  I had thought about touring a farm, but that is all commercial too.  The tours aren’t done by the Amish.  So we chose to camp in their midst and enjoy the sights and sounds of their farms.)

Brad dropped us at camp after Kitchen Kettle so we could do laundry and school, and he went back to Adamstown for more antique shopping.  It was a beautiful day, the first sunny day we’ve had in a week.  The girls played together all afternoon (every second I didn’t have them doing school) on the playground and by Muddy Creek.  They haven’t played like that in a while.

Meanwhile, Diana Reed, a lovely lady from our church, is back in Nashville fighting for her life from a sudden illness that the doctors are having trouble identifying.  She is losing the battle, and when she goes, we will all lose an amazing woman of God.  Such sorrow.  This evening I received word that a young homeschooled acquaintance of ours is also in the hospital in critical condition struggling with a mysterious illness.  It’s terrifying and maddening.  I worry about other people’s children.  I worry about my own children.  God says not to worry.  That is so hard - hard to know that I have zero control - and sometimes hard to rest in the knowledge that He IS in control.  Is this a lifelong struggle?  Will I ever find peace amidst these things?  It feels like an endless circle and I am getting very dizzy.

I thought through all these things while we sat in the fresh air by the fire in our peaceful little campground, hearing the Amish buggies driving by in the dark.  I also thought about all the farmland we drove through today and how it made my heart happy.  I loved seeing the clothes out on the line; the children in their one room school houses; the big white barns and farmhouses; the horses, cows, chickens, goats, ponies and sheep; the fields of corn and lettuce; the farmer in a horse drawn wagon pulling his plow through the field; women walking along the road talking and laughing.  I realize these people are not without troubles and heartache.  During hard times, they turn to God and to community.  I am missing my community right now.  God is here, but I want Him closer.

Be with me, Lord

I cannot live without Thee.

I dare not try to take one step alone.

I cannot bear the loads of life unaided;

I need Thy strength to lean myself upon.

Be with me, Lord

And then if dangers threaten,

If storms of trial burst above my head,

If lashing seas leap everywhere about me,

They cannot harm, or make my heart afraid.

Be with me, Lord

No other gift or blessing

Thou could'st bestow could with this one compare.

A constant sense of Thy abiding presence,

Where'er I am, to feel that Thou art near.

Be with me, Lord

When loneliness o'ertakes me;

When I must weep amid the fires of pain;

And, when shall come the hour of my departure

For worlds unknown, Oh, Lord be with me then.

Amish Farms Pics