New Hampshire

Home from New Hampshire. Have you been there? Think of north woods Wisconsin - maybe hillier. This is the ugly time of year for those states that experience 4 seasons - you know, mud, brown trees and grass, some lingering snow. Even so, I could tell it is a beautiful state. I'd love to see it in October when the leaves change - I bet it's stunning.

Colin and I flew to Boston last Friday, got our rental car and headed north on I-93. We landed during rush hour. Why is it called rush hour? You can do nothing even close to rushing! We had Jeff's handy GPS with us so our "lady friend" directed us all the way. After about two hours on the road, we arrived in Henniker, NH. Well, almost. The hotel I found online was south of town and turned out to be a ski lodge, right under a ski hill. I was hoping I had made a mistake - you know, had arrived at the wrong hotel? Alas, they had our name. Okay, we'll deal with it - it was clean enough. Definitely not 5 star, 4 star, or 3 star - well, maybe 3 star. We were only going to be there two nights - we could take it. Later that night, I had my doubts. I awoke in the middle of the night and heard what sounded like a mouse. Hmmm. Did I hear right? It sounds like it's coming from near the bathroom and right about now I could use a potty break. I laid still, listening. Scratch, scratch. That's a mouse, I know it. Should I try to check out at this hour? Or in the morning maybe? Geesh, I get mice in my house - shouldn't I be understanding of them, in this remote, woodsy ski lodge? Nah. They should do a better job than me! After all, I'm paying for a mouse-free bed!

Well, I've got to go potty. Out of bed, I slowly walk toward the restroom and turn on a light. No mouse outside the bathroom. Hmmm. I peer inside and look in every crook and cranny. No mouse here. Good. I do my business and head back to bed. After a few seconds I hear the sound again. Where IS that critter?!! As I moved my feet under my sheets ever so slightly, I realize what's happening. My feet sound like a mouse scratching - and the scratching I heard before was Colin's feet, moving under his sheets! The mouse was my dear son! Whew! Now I feel better.

This reminds me of the time I almost got up to answer the call of one of my young sons in the middle of the night. I heard one of them say, "mom . . . mom?" It turned out to be Jeff's nose. He was squeaking and it sounded like "mom!"

The next day we visited a Christian residential program called, His Mansion. It is a wonderful place with wonderful staff and residents. We ate lunch with them in their communal dining room (think lumberjack dining room with a fireplace). Afterward, Fritz gave us a tour. We saw the barn (cats, cows, pigs, chickens), the maintenance shop, woodworking shop, log piles, a map of the gardens, dorms, chapel, offices, etc. It is located on an old 1700's farm and some of the buildings are that old. You should see one of their stone fireplaces. It towered over Colin by about 3 or four feet and receded two levels into the wall. The outer level had stone seats on the side, where you could sit to warm by the fire. The opening was an arch that rose high over our heads. It was stunning.

After the tour, we met with Fritz in his office. We have some info to get to him and then, of course, Colin needs to decide if he wants to go there. At this point, every word out of his mouth has been super positive. He likes all the staff and all the residents. He feels accepted by them and can tell they are nice guys who did some bad things - but are now getting their lives together. Some are there for other types of reasons. Apparently many of the girls had experienced being raped and are dealing with the trauma of that. We left after our interview and came back the next morning for their church service. Have any of you ever heard of Plymouth Brethren? That's more or less what they are. Fritz compared it to Baptist. A cool thing about their church service is they have a 10 minute silence period, where you are to sit quietly and meditate on scripture or pray. After that, they have a short time they call "The Priesthood of the Believer". This is when anyone can share a scripture, or a testimony of what God is saying or doing in their lives. It's pretty cool.

After church we drove back to Boston, hopped our plane and got home around 9 pm.

Colin is unsure he wants to endure the cold winters working outside. That IS something to think about. We're praying for God's will. Thanks for any prayers you offer up for us.

Being Blogless

I have nothing to write. I thought I better get on here and try to come up with something before I forget how to blog. It's sort of ironic that in years past, when I think I would have had much to write on a blog, it hadn't yet been invented. Now, it's here, I have a blog, and I have nothing to write! You see, my mind is in a sort of a brain-freeze mode. It's like I've fallen on my head and can't get up! Has anyone else ever had this experience? You know, life can be just a bit too painful to be able to function normally. All is not hopeless though as I can still laugh and joke around a bit. Send me your jokes please! In fact, I'll tell you one I heard recently. Stop me if you've heard this one.

A very shy man was smitten by a young woman. Because he was so shy he could not bring himself to tell her his true feelings, even though it seemed she liked him also. He decided to send her an anonymous love letter every day in the mail. Every day he wrote loving, devoted, passionate letters to her, expressing his true feelings without reserve. After a year, he decided he felt brave enough to speak to her, telling her his feelings. When he arrived at her home, he was flabbergasted to discover she had gotten married! And her husband? He was the postman.