Last weekend in cold, northern Ohio

Yes, in case you are wondering, it's cold in southeastern Ohio, too. Ohio's weather is completely different usually between northern and southern Ohio. Down here, we don't get a ton of snow; up north they get blizzards. While we were up there, we woke up to ice covered steps, roads, cars, and gravel!

We drove 300+ miles in two cars on Saturday morning/afternoon to Kinsman, Ohio.  We were 28 miles from Ashtabula, the highest point in Ohio. We slid into the bed and breakfast the church rented for us and got ready to sing. Dad and Wes flew over to the church to set up the sound. They got back right at 5 and we left at 5:30; slid into the church about 10 minutes before 6. We set up our CD table and started sing about 6:05. Let's just say, it took a little longer to get there than we anticipated. It took us 6 hours, including a couple pit stops. You know, girls will be girls, if you know what I mean....

After we sang Saturday night, the church prepared a delicious dinner of ham, potatoe salad, my favorite-- potatoes, and other foods. It was Mmm...Mmm... Good! We went back to the bed and breakfast and played the board game 'Sorry.' Well, the girls did. Wes watched and Dad watched football on TV.  When morning came, we were fed bacon, pancakes, and fresh fruit. When we arrived at the church, they also had breakfast, so we ate a little there too. It was all delicious! We sang again that morning. After church, we ate lunch with the church--Mom's very very favorite, spaghetti!

We really enjoyed our mini-vaca to northern Ohio. None of us had been to that part of Ohio before, so it was nice to experience. It actually reminded us a lot of our home town. Very small, rural, mostly farms, little churches, and Amish people. On the other hand, it was flat and you could see for miles. I mean, there was only 2 curves in the road! I think we have one straight stretch in Gallia Co. It was kind of funny to have to explain where we were from. They said we talked like we were from Tennessee. This happens EVERYWHERE we go. We finally just say "You heard of Bob Evans?.....We live 9 miles from the original restaraunt and homestead." Then you can kind of see the light bulbs click on. It's the only thing people have heard of. One man did know that we have good flea markets around here. Too funny!

So, anywho, we loved the little historical church. It was built in 1877 and had truly gorgeous architecture, and Christmas decorations.  The people were truly gracious. You could tell they had a huge desire to serve others (by feeding so many people)and to serve God. He is a GREAT God, like Pastor Duane said.  We are very eager and excited to be back to northern Ohio in the spring to meet our new  friends again.

Until next time,

Elizabeth <3