mt eaton harness and shoe repair – a tour of an amish business
If you would like to visit Larry and take a gander at what he sells, you can plug his address in your GPS and head that way.
Mt Eaton Harness and Shoe Repair
10265 Winesburg Rd
Dundee, OH 44624
Phone: 330-359-5862
I checked their Facebook page tonight to link to it and alas! It is no longer there. I’m not sure what happened, but if I find they have it up again, I will link to it for everybody. Last time I had checked their page had more than 500 “likes” so they are doing something right on there.
If you do stop in to see Larry, please tell him that you read this. He seemed really happy that I was going to blog about his business. He is a very friendly fellow and if you are in the market for a good work boot or shoe, he is the man to help you out.
If you liked this article and would like to be prompted when I do more of them, I invite you to go to my Facebook page and “like” it so we can stay connected.
a full saturday
what kind of conscience do you have?
The Function of Conscience
May cause guilt and shame when we sin
May warn us when we contemplate wrongdoing
May approve us when we do what we believe to be right
I think these three points explain the conscience so much better than to simply say “my conscience is a still small voice inside my head that tells me what is right and wrong.” These points help us think it through.
Your Conscience can be Many Things
You can have a weak conscience
You can have a defiled conscience
You can have an evil conscience
You can have a seared conscience
You can have a pure conscience
This is where I had to start looking at things a bit differently. I had never thought of it like this before. Maybe my conscience is weak because when I watch a television show that portrays sin as funny and I laugh…I’m going against what God would have me do. Or a friend tells me something and I agree verbally, but disagree in my heart just because I don’t want to offend them. Maybe, just maybe I have a weak conscience and I need to figure out how to have a pure conscience.
In great detail our pastor gave us a definition of having a seared conscience…not in his words, but the gist of what he said, it is when you are involving yourself in something that goes against scripture and you “justify” your actions. That is big stuff. You don’t have to look too far, too deep or too wide to see it happening all around us, folks justifying their sinful ways. Our pastor gave us the word picture of branding a calf and how once that skin is branded the nerve endings are dead and the calf no longer has feelings in that area. The same can be said for our hearts, once our conscience has been seared with sin being justified – there are no more feelings of wrongdoing.
That is a bit scary for me because I wonder if there is anything in my life that I’ve justified to the point of almost no return?
It really brings me pause to think of this.
Train Your Conscience…..
With knowledge of God’s word
Learn and live the commands of God
Grow in faith
Serve God in love from a pure conscience
Basically, we have to keep on keeping on, doing what we know we should do to remain strong and not have a weak, defiled, seared or evil conscience. Our goal should be to have…..a pure conscience.
The last point…is what really made me pause and question myself.
Protect Your Conscience
What defiles the conscience?
Apathy
False Doctrine
Willful sin
I am probably overly cautious when it comes to all the happening preachers and teachers out there, but this is a good example of why, because I do not want to fall under false doctrine and so many big mainstream preachers and teachers can be a little bit shady and we have to protect ourselves from such things. I would rather not be the most knowledgeable in the room and use the Bible for my main source of spiritual inspiration than to be misled by someone who honestly doesn’t have all the pieces to the puzzle, or has intentions that are not good.
The main thought I had through this whole sermon today was that when we left the Amish we were told by former Amish folks themselves that we need to forget everything we have been taught and relearn how we think of God. I still believe we needed to do that from the bottom of my heart, but I wonder, is there anything that I’m missing, not from the Amish, but more from an attitude of “I am free from being told what to do and so now I get to do what I wanna do.” I know I’ve had a change of heart a long time ago from that kind of mentality, I have come to learn that there is great responsibility in having that kind of spiritual freedom, all of a sudden I have to be responsible to know why I do the things I do and I have to talk to God and learn from his word and form conviction with his word in my heart.
This sermon made me think about things and want to explore more deeply how I allow my conscience to work. Do I do “willful sin”? You know, watching something on television that is laughing at sin and I laugh with it? Or listening to music with lyrics that are nasty…in fact…very recently…I had looked up a particular song on YouTube…I wanted to see what the video would look like and maybe have more insight on the meaning of the song and right there in the middle of the song, there was an occultic symbol and I was taken aback by it, and YET…when I page through the radio and that song comes on, more than not I linger, because the music is so catchy. I’m totally convinced that I’ve been willfully sinning by giving that song any second of a listen and so I had to repent this afternoon.
As I travel through this world I’ve been inspired to be more mindful of my conscience, to listen to it, and to give it the proper training and protection so that I don’t have to live with a seared, defiled, evil or weak conscience.
tornado alley in amish country
The tornado siren is in the grounds of my workplace for the surrounding community and it went off between 2 and 3 pm, I believe, and it went on and on and on for at least five minutes. I thought my ear drums were going to bleed or burst because the noise was so shrill and intense…for so long. My goodness, if you weren’t awake, you were gonna be awake by the time that five minutes was over. Whew! I guess they need to blow that siren for so long, but there is no mercy for those in close proximity.
No tornado actually hit our area, at least not nearby that I know of, but the clouds that loomed were daunting enough and made one take notice and breathe a bit of a prayer for safety.
As I left my 9-5 this afternoon I knew I had a bit of free time as my plans had kind of fallen through for this evening. I had planned on going to watch our friend’s son play a game of softball. He belongs to Little League and I wanted to go support him, but because of the heavy rains after the tornado scare the game was cancelled. Instead of coming straight home, I went home via “the long way” and was able to get a few photographs of my Amish Country that I love so very much. At one crossroad I wondered which way to go and felt prompted to make a right and oh mah goodness! I was totally blessed with some of the things I found to photograph. I will try and share some of my adventures after I’m finished writing. I don’t edit my pictures, you get them as I shoot them, but it still takes a bit of time to go through them and decide which ones are post-worthy and which ones are just for me.
This week I’ve been a bit quiet on here. I have many irons in the fire at all times, but one thing that remains important to me is to fellowship with other ladies, old friends and new ones too. Last night I met with a new friend and I had no idea how long our dinner would go, but we ended up having a two and half hour conversation. We laughed, we shared and got serious and then we laughed some more. The week before was the same way, I met with a new friend who has been an inspiration for me via the blog world for at least a year and then I got to meet her and next thing we knew we had scheduled a dinner to get together and visit and talk all things blog and beyond. Next week I have plans to meet for dinner with an “old” friend…not in age, but we’ve been friends for a good long time now…so that is why she is an old friend. I don’t care, new or old friends, if they are true friends, they are priceless and can only enhance ones life.
Last week I didn’t cook a lot, we had some leftovers around here and then we went out to eat once or twice and ended up not needing me to cook. I missed not cooking, so tonight, after my excursion via “the long way home,” I came home and baked a pork roast, made sweet potato fries to go with the pork and then I also roasted a lot of garlic and made a roasted garlic spread to add to sandwiches or to put on top of meat or whatever we wish. I am totally addicted to roasted garlic. It is so delicious and enhances food to the nth degree! If you’ve not tried it, then you should. You will not be let down.
After cooking and cleaning up the kitchen and then sitting down and eating the delicious homemade food I felt….complete. I love to cook and when I don’t spend some time in the kitchen creating something I start to feel incomplete. At home I’m almost never dismayed at the food, but so often when we go out to eat I’m totally underwhelmed at the flavors that get thrown on a plate with an $11 price tag or more attached to the dish.
At this point…I’m rambling, so I am going to go upload a few pictures for you and have a bit of a show and tell and then I have to get to bed. Morning always comes so quickly. Can anyone relate???
This isn’t the prettiest picture in the bunch, however, I noticed the colors, the deep blue sky against the green grass and the two very dark horses, and fence. Lots of color going on.
my week in review
Dear Diary – May 9, 2014 – Fiction
Dear Diary,
Ellie here.
I didn’t want to think today. With everything that I learned this week, I needed a break.The girls had been begging me to do a picnic in the woods when it gets nice. They have been going to the bookmobile now that school is over with for the year and the nice librarian, Ellen, who comes along with the bookmobile has introduced my girls to this series with a little girl who goes on all kinds of adventures. Trudy is her name and Ellen thought the girls might be interested in reading of her adventures. Well, Ellen was correct and Trudy has opened up the girl’s eyes to so many things. One adventure Trudy had was when she went on a picnic in the woods and the animals started to talk to her.
Anna reads the Trudy stories to her two sisters in the evenings at bedtime and the three of them daydream of having similar adventures as Trudy does. So after the breakfast dishes were finished this morning I told the girls that since their dad and Simon were going to be helping Mose Miller with some of his farm work today we would go on a picnic if we got all of our cleaning and the laundry done before lunch time.
All three girls were squealing and jumping up and down to the point that I had to bring them back to reality and calm them down. After they settled down I made a list for each of us to look on and see what else needs to be done. I let the girls work on the housework detail and I got busy downstairs with the laundry. The laundry always seems endless and while the loads are washing I busied myself with sweeping down the porches and washing a few windows in the basement. I could hear the girls upstairs moving chairs around and scampering from one room to the next dusting the furniture, sweeping the floors, and cleaning the bathroom and kitchen.
In record time things were cleaned and after I was finished with the laundry I created a new list and this one was for the picnic.
Going on a picnic list:
Find the prettiest quilt in the cedar chest.
4 small vases
4 cloth napkins from the middle drawer in the china closet
4 each of plates, glasses and silverware
4 tablets
The colored pencil set
4 pencils
sunscreen
When the girls saw their list there was more squealing and jumping around and asking questions, like, “you mean ANY quilt, mom?” I told them they could choose any quilt because I knew that my Oxy Clean could get out any grass stain we might get on the quilt and I wanted this to be a special day for my girls.
I busied myself in the kitchen. Since I had been planning this picnic last night already I had made some finger jello in reds, oranges and purples, the girl’s favorite jellos, and now I quickly cut them in flower shapes with cookie cutters and placed them in a small Tupperware container. Fresh cookies had been baked yesterday afternoon, this time I had made Whoopie Pies and now dessert was spoken for. The main course was going to be chicken salad sandwiches. I am using my neighbor, Karen’s chicken salad recipe, it calls for halved grapes and walnuts and the sandwiches are so delicate and delicious. I had baked bread on Wednesday and so I cut a loaf into very thin slices and quickly assembled my sandwiches. Along with the decadent chicken sandwiches I had vegetables and French Onion dip and potato chips. I placed everything in Tupperware containers and gently placed each container into the ice chest. Already packed in the ice chest were cans of Dad’s Root Bear and Orange Crush to drink at the picnic.
We were finished with our chores at just the same time and so we got out our Radio Flyer wagon and packed the ice chest and all the goodies the girls had on their list on to the wagon and we headed down the past the barn and trekked back to the woods until we got to our creek. There is a beautiful spot back there that John always says he hopes to make into a camp site for our family one day. He would like to add a fire pit and some permanent seating and clean it up just a bit more. I hope he does because being back there makes one believe that maybe animals can talk just like in Trudy’s adventures in my girls’ book they have been reading.
When we arrived at our little wooded nook beside the babbling brook I asked the girls to spread out the quilt. I was pleased to see they had picked out the pretty lavender and green one that my grandmother had pieced together. It was made with love for such a time as this. I believe if my grandmother were alive she would approve of us using it today for our picnic.
After the quilt was spread on the ground we all set about to set the table. Arie and Amy arranged the plates and napkins, Anna and I set out the food in the middle of the quilt and poured out the root bear and orange crush. On the way to our picnic area we had found dainty little lavender flowers and a few bright yellow dandelions and so we picked all the flowers we could hold and Anna quickly arranged those flowers into the four vases we had brought from home, running them down to the creek and filling them with water before placing a small vase at each place setting on the quilt.
When we were finished setting everything up the four of us stood there and looked at our beautiful picnic but then our hunger overtook us and we quickly sat down Indian style and dug into our scrumptious meal. The girls laughed and reminisced about how in Trudy’s picnic adventure the animals had come out and talked to her. Just then we all saw a squirrel scampering down a nearby tree and the little girls giggled harder than ever because Trudy had talked to a squirrel in her adventure. They wondered if the squirrel might stop to talk with us and just thinking about it made Arie and Amy giggle until they were both rolling around in the grass.
We lingered over our nice little picnic lunch. I sat there and let them talk. Usually at the dinner table John and I are so often busy discussing the incidents of the day that we tend to push the children aside and so today I let them talk and talk they did. After we were finished with our picnic luncheon I reached into my bag and pulled out the book of Trudy’s Adventures. I had found it at Kohl’s the last time I went shopping on our neighborhood grocery day. It had all ten Trudy stories compiled into one thick hardcover book. When I pulled out the heavy book and the girls realized what it was they all started to squeal and get excited because now they had Trudy all to themselves to read whenever they had the urge to. I’m so glad to have a trusty librarian such as Ellen to guide my children toward good reading material.
The girls plopped on their bellies, Anna in the middle, Arie and Amy on either side of her and they began to read their new book. I quietly cleaned up the dishes and packed the leftovers into the ice chest and then I settled back on the quilt, flat on my back, hands under my head, my covering tipped up so not to wrinkle it and I closed my eyes and I rested and tried not to think. As I drifted off to sleep I started to dream about a man who was looking for his daughter. It was a strange dream and when I woke up I wasn’t sure what to make of it. I had never seen the man in my dream before and I don’t have a name for him, all I know is he was walking all day, every day, looking for his daughter.
I felt unsettled after waking up.
When I woke up I noticed the girls were not reading their book any longer and I heard splashing and more giggling and so I went to check and sure enough, there they were in the creek laughing and splashing in the water. They were soaked from head to toe, but I knew as warm as the day was today they would be dry by the time we walked back to the house.
I called to the girls and after some reluctance they finally came and we packed everything back up and went back to the house to finish our day. The girls kept telling me how fun this had been and wondered if we can do it more often. I wanted to say yes to them but I also know how hard it is to keep such a promise when we are so busy.
Diary, it has been a good day today. John and Simon brought back a good report of all that had gone on at Mose Miller’s farm, the girls and I had a good time cleaning and doing the household chores and then spending the afternoon on a relaxing picnic. I didn’t think much about the letter sister Ina shared with me earlier this week. I’m still so confused and not sure what we should do with what we know. I won’t stress out about it tonight though. Tomorrow holds a new day and maybe an answer to what should be done, or not done.
Either way, dear diary, goodnight,
Ellie
Dear Diary – May 8, 2014 – Fiction
Dear Diary,
Ellie here.
It was a warm 76 degrees today at the warmest. In the house the temperature read 80 degrees. It was so warm that we opened all the windows and let the curtains flow in the breeze. It feels good to have the feeling of summer in the air.
The last few days, when we could we’ve been planting the garden, the girls have been helping me. Anna always helpful, Arie likes to imitate Anna and she is starting to pick things up quickly. And then there is little 3 year old Amy who is quickly becoming like her two sweet sisters. I can say that to you dear diary because this is just between you and I, but I could never admit to those around me that I think my children are sweet and lovely. That would be showing too much pride. Sometimes dear diary, I’m not sure I was supposed to be Amish. I don’t always feel like I’m supposed to on the inside. I understand what Karen, my Mennonite neighbor, says when she tells me, “my children are my pride and joy, if I could have 20 of them I would.”
Diary, who am I kidding? I’m rambling about my girls when in fact I am blue and upset tonight. I’m not sure how to say this, but I received the most disturbing news this week and since then I’ve been trying to figure out how I feel about things and what to do about them. On Tuesday sister Ina stopped by and picked me up to go spend the day with sister Ruth and while we were in the buggy making our trek back home from Ruth’s house Ina reached into her dress pocket and pulled out an envelope. She told me that last year after our mom had passed away and we were getting ready for children’s sale that she was cleaning out mom’s bureau drawers and under the paper lining of the top drawer she found this envelope. She had paused for a second and then opened it and could hardly believe the content of the letter. She was so stunned and horrified that she quickly placed the letter back in the envelope and placed it it in her dress pocket before any of us other children would see. She decided she wanted to take it home and discuss it with Steven first and see what he thought she should do.
Her husband didn’t know what she should do and told her to hide the letter in their safe until they could figure out what to do. For the last year that envelope has been burning a hole in Ina’s heart and has caused her many sleepless nights because she didn’t know what to do. Tuesday morning she figure it was “now or never” and she brought it along to Ruth’s house with the intentions of telling all of us sisters together or to see what my reaction was before she decides what to do with it. She decided to go with the latter option and on Tuesday afternoon on our ride home she pressed that envelope into my hands and said, “I want you to read this and then we will discuss what you have read.” She looked relieved and pale all at the same time. I was honestly very apprehensive when I saw how pale and shaken she looked, but as she handed the envelope over to me there seemed to be a burden lifted in her heart.
Diary, the problem is now I am the one with the sleepless nights. I could not believe the content of that letter and it was a long letter at that. There were ten handwritten pages, all written in our mother’s handwriting. If I didn’t know her handwriting so well, I would have to doubt that any of the contents were true, but as I know my mother, she never lied and was not one for making up stories and so this letter and its content must be true.
Tonight, dear diary, I do not know how to feel. When I told John about it he seemed to have the same reaction as Steven, it was up to us sisters what we wanted to do with this information. He did say that maybe we should go see Bishop Sam about it and see what Sam has to say, but Ina and I are not sure if that is the right thing to do either. Our mother’s reputation is at stake, if the content of this letter makes it out to the public our mother’s name will be shamed forever, even in her grave.
My heart is so heavy tonight. The house is quiet, the family is all in bed and here I sit at the library table, mostly staring into the flame of the kerosene lamp that once was my mother’s. The oak library table itself has been handed down through several generations on my mother’s side of the family and a year ago I purchased it for $800 at her children’s sale.
The morning of the children’s sale John had handed me the checkbook and had said, “Ellie, this is your parent’s sale, the last of what they had, look at the amount in the checkbook, you can buy whatever you like with the money that is in the checkbook. I remember looking at the amount that was in the checkbook and wondering if I could ever spend that much money at the sale. Be as it was, I purchased small items all day long, thinking about my children and items they might like to have as keepsakes from their grandparents, but all those things collectively had cost very little and so as it came time to sell the furniture I knew that I wanted the library table and so I bid my brother Alvin up and finally when the number hit $800 he smiled at me and shook his head and said, “let her have it.” Everyone laughed and I have to say, I felt a little bit guilty, but I love that I have it, especially tonight as I sit here writing out all my thoughts.
Diary, is it possible to sit so close to things that were my mother’s and yet feel so far away from her and wonder if I ever really knew her?
I am getting tired, my eyes are as heavy as my heart, I hope the “Good Man” allows me to get a good night’s sleep and maybe in the new day some light will be shed on what to do with what Ina and I know.
Ellie