Leaving Ohio

When I got up on the morning I was going to leave, Aunt Wanda was concerned because the fog was thick as soup.  We had our morning devotions, ate some breakfast and talked for nearly an hour.  By that time the fog was letting up a little.

 Good-bye until another time!

When I was a couple of miles out of town, the fog lifted.

I headed south to Highway 36.

 Ohio windmills

As I got into Indiana, I came across a couple of these signs.

I saw evidences of horse poo on the wide buggy lane.  I went off the main road, north and south to see if I could see some Amish folks.

Clothes on the line,
     but not Amish.

Not any Amish names
        in this cemetery.

 All the houses I saw had vehicles in them, although I did come across this horse farm.

Couldn't find any Amish this day.  Hiding perhaps.

I find the group interesting since it is part of our heritage.

And some similarities in the way I was raised.

My laundry room is decorated with several Amish things.

Driving through Noblesville, Indiana I saw this courthouse.

I had to stop!   Don't you just love it???

There were cute shops all around the square so I took a walk.

Continuing on....

Hmmm.  I pulled over to get a picture of this oddity.  A farmer slowed up.

"Need help, Ma'am?"  Friendly, and nice to know kind people are around if I do have car trouble!

"Just getting a photo!  Thanks, anyways!"

I got on Highway 74, a 4 lane highway for awhile.  There was so much construction, I would have been better off staying on the 2 lane highway.  

There were orange barrels for MILES, and 45 mph speed limit, yet the road was only being worked on for about 1 mile of it.  ??  I guess orange is an October color, right??

                                                     

 I made a stop at Starbucks.  My shoulders were in knots.  I found some Salonpas patches and put those on.  Have you ever seen that commercial where this woman sides up to another woman in the grocery store and says "You smell like my Walter!"  Well, I smelled like Walter!

 When I got back to my car, I couldn't find my keys.  

Oops!   Luckily we have keyless entry! 

 I looked on my phone to see about a place to stay in Hannibal, MO.  1 hour away!   There was a bed and breakfast that had 3 rooms and 1 was still available!  I booked it.  I was so ready for a stop and needed a hot tub!

Luxury for these aching muscles!

Visiting my Japan "family"

Living close to my uncles are 2 missionary families I knew in Japan.  They were co-workers with my parents.

I first stopped to see "Uncle" Carl and "Aunt" Sandy.

I first met them when we went to Japan together on the Brazil Maru in 1963.   Do you like how my mother dressed us all alike?  Ha!

We just thought this new missionary couple was something else!

かっこいい (KAKKOII)  "cool" "great"

"Aunt" Sandy was so pretty and one day, we had the gall to go to their cabin when they were out and try out her lipstick.  She doesn't remember it and I'm glad.  My mother gave us a licking!!

They are the couple on the right.  Our missions nurse is the far right but next to her.   My parents are on the left, next to Leonore Friesen, who was single until age 60 when she got married at the church Al and I attend now!

 After a too-short visit, I went a few blocks to see "Aunt" Alice Ruth.

Here we are in 1961.

Rosie, Joy (her daughter), me and Alice Ruth.

Uncle Bob has passed away.  I was so sad not to make it back to Ohio to see him.  My parents and I visited with them both once, but I had hoped to go again.  It just didn't work out.  Here they are in Japan with Mark, Joy and baby Sue.  Sue and her son were also there that day I visited!

 I drove back to Uncle Wally's for the night.  I was going back to Kansas the next day.

 But first....

 I HAD to go on this road toward the church.  There is a little hill (okay, "bump") that my Dad always drove real fast over so we would get tickles in our tummy.  Of course, I had to do that for memory sake!!

Zoom!

Visiting family in Ohio

While in Ohio, I stayed with my Uncle Wally and Aunt Wanda.

They used to be missionaries in Paris.  Doesn't Uncle Wally look French?

 Here is Uncle Mahlon when he visited us in Japan on his way from Korea back to the States. 

Both uncles live in Ohio now.  Uncle Wally's live in town, but Uncle Mahlon lives on the old farmstead.  The house was sold but he still lives on the farm in a newer house.

Here is the old farm house.

My grandparents

The house today

We lived with my grandparents for 6 months in '57 when we were in the States for furlough.

In 1962, Aunt Treva was in Mali, Africa, but the rest of us were able to be together.  With us living in Japan and Uncle Wally's in France, and Aunt Treva in Africa, it was 18 years before all were together again.

The barn today

Uncle Mahlon took me inside.  The smells brought back such fond memories of playing there with my cousins!  Here is a toy that my grandfather carved for the kids to play with.

Uncle Mahlon has been enjoying puzzles.  Of course they are Buckeye fans.  

We watched Ohio vs. Penn State.  Uncle Wally's and I went back to the house and went to bed, thinking Ohio had lost for sure.  In the morning we found out Ohio had made a surprise come back!

We went to church Sunday morning.  

My parents married in this church.


 When I was little I didn't understand why my mother didn't pick ME to be the flower girl!
Uncles  Mahlon and Wally at far left.

1957, brother Doug with Grandpa Geiger.  The well is no longer in front of the church.  Well water there is sulfur water and takes getting used to.  My mother used to tell me she missed it.

 I had a surprise at church!  Uncle Wally and Aunt Wanda were interviewed!  They were asked about their story; how they came to know Christ as Saviour, how they met one another, and their decision to go to France.  What a joy to be there to hear it all!

After their testimony, 3 young people were baptized.  Very sweet!

After church, we walked behind to the cemetery to see Aunt Treva's burial place.

 We also went to see Grandpa and Grandma's gravestone.

In the mornings we had devotions and prayer time.

 Aunt Anne puts raw sugar on top of the creme brulee.

Uncle Wally browns it.

What a precious time with my family!