Good 'Ole Days!

The Illinois funeral dinner was held at a little country church just down the road from the old Asbury Pilgrim Holiness Church, which is the only church my dad ever attended during his growing up years. It is the church where he was healed as a little guy, the church where he heard the intercessory prayers of God's people for the lost teens (which included himself), the church where he gave his heart to Jesus many times, and the church where, at the age of 18, God totally and completely forgave him of his sins. Dad stayed in that church for one year after high school to prove to himself and to God that he could serve Him before heading to Bible college.

 

My parents with Noah and Aaron...
you never know which little guy God will lay
His hand on next.  My dad was Noah's age when
God very definitely called him to preach.

During all of our growing up years, we loved visiting Asbury because it had some distinctives: a main sanctuary that could be packed out with 60 people in it, two Sunday School rooms at the back of the sanctuary, and an entry door that was just between the two classrooms. There were two paths leading from the church to the back of the property; one for the boys and one for the girls. :-) Our favorite part was getting to be with grandma, and seeing our precious friends from Illinois. Nothin' flashy, just genuine.

We were able to take our friends from Lima out to the Asbury
Pilgrim Holiness Church property.  The congregation didn't
actually own the facility, but were able to use it rent free for
years and years.  I think it is scheduled to be torn down.

Dad sharing stories with our church treasurer, Dennis Estes.

The last time we worshipped at Asbury, we were into the service a few minutes when we noticed several "extra" cars pulling into the lot. There had been a wedding in the area the day before, and several of the family members stayed over and found the church the next morning. After they were seated in the service for a few minutes, one of the men leaned up to Greg and said, "Are the restrooms...?" Greg pointed out the window to the path. The man said rather seriously, "That's what I thought." I was cracking up...whoever walked the path could be seen basically from the sanctuary windows all the way to the outhouse, and then all the way back in, of course! When he made it back into the church, I slipped him a wet wipe out of my diaper bag. :-) You would be surprised how not having a drinking fountain and indoor plumbing cut down on the running in and out in church! Our bladders are capable of a little more than we give them credit...lol.

Noah, Allison, and Aaron...totally enamored with
the whole outhouse idea. 

They were brave enough to do what I wouldn't!

Inviting Olivia to join in the outhouse exploration...

And they're in!

Eeek!  One poor lady was scared out of her mind when she
found a black snake wrapped around the toilet seat.

Down the other path to check out the boys room...

You should have heard the kids laughing hysterically
when they saw TWO toilets side by side!

Al and Jarilyn Motter

Denny and Brenda Estes with grandsons,
Aaron and Noah

Josh and Crissie Estes

About 7 years ago, the people of the Asbury church were given the opportunity to buy a property in Greenup. They were so excited, but it seemed like an impossibility for such a small congregation! At a membership meeting, Pastor Hopkins began discussing the option of purchasing the new church building, and excitement started building. Grandma Nichols piped up and said, "I'll give the first dime!" It happened to be all that she had with her at the time, and I'm sure she was giggling when she gave her "widow's mite." Throughout the last five years, Granny continued tithing to Greenup to help support the church there. About a month before she died, Bro. Hopkins called to tell her that the church mortgage was down to about $185.00. He wanted to share the excitement with her, knowing that the new building held a special place in her heart. In March, Granny wrote a check to complete the mortgage on the Greenup PHC. It's ironic that she gave the first dime, the last dime, and was in Heaven within a month. What an example of what God can do through little means and great faith!

In Memory...

Grandma's homegoing celebrations were a beautiful tribute to the amazing Christian woman that she was. In Lima, we had a visitation and funeral service. Adam led the congregation in two of Grandma's favorite songs, The Solid Rock and Satisfied.  Bro. Spencer read the obituary, shared Scripture, and gave remarks. Renee' Hunsaker sang a beautiful solo, and Bro. Southerland gave a message.

Eric gave closing remarks, including memories and
leading the congregation in the family verse that grandma
claimed for us years ago...Psalm 48:14

Many people came through to show their respects.  Although Grandma
had only lived in Lima 5 years, she had developed an incredible
amount of relationships.  She touched people wherever she went.
She never met a stranger.

The next morning, all of us from Ohio made the trip west to dad's
hometown of Greenup, IL.  We had an evening viewing, and
viewing and funeral at the church there the next morning.

Photo collages - in Lima these were framed, but the
funeral home didn't allow us to take them to Illinois.

Beautiful flowers...

from one end to the other!

Pastor Gary Hopkins performed the Illinois service,
Adam Profitt sang a solo ,Barbara Devall, Dan Devall, and
Delores (Devall) Marrow sang a beautiful trio,
 and Ray Blair read a comforting passage of Scripture.

During the funeral, my dad spoke about a few little
childhood occurrences, including about when his mom
would spank him.  If my dad didn't cry during his spanking,
Grandma would say, "Ok...drop 'em!"  Little Aaron was
sitting on his papa's lap laughing his little head off.
I'm sure it was fun for him to imagine his preacher getting
a whoopin'!

Pallbearers were: Eric, Josh, Brian, Chris, Greg, Mike

Alli and Reese were so pretty!

<> It was as if God smiled on us the day of Grandma's funeral. In the country cemetery there in Rose Hill, the weather was almost heavenly.

Grandma would have loved every detail.  :-)

Allison, Reese, Braydon...doing a little exploring

Josh Nichols

Adam, Annie, Uncle Jerry

The girls could have stayed all day and played with fresh flowers.

There's a story:
My sister was four when my Grandpa Nichols passed
away.  At the cemetery, Valerie accidentally bumped
the "drop" button, and one end of the casket suddenly,
well...dropped.  :-)

Mom, Melissa, Ray

Kaitlynn and Emily

Chris (police chief) and Mike (probation officer)...eek.  :-)

Our oldest three kids had so much fun with Ray and Melissa's kids,
Emily and AJ. They had a couple of sleepovers, and lots of
craziness!

Annie says her goodbyes

Precious. 

Since Greenup is 300 miles from Lima, we weren't counting on anyone from home coming out for the funeral.  However, we received a couple of surprises: three couples from our church (who had already come to the Ohio funeral) gave up part of their time at IHC and drove out to be with us.  That was such a blessing!  We are also thankful that Greg's parents were be there with us. Although we were exhausted physically and emotionally after the services, there were still more memories to be made!  I'll share those tomorrow!

What We're Up To...

Lord willing, we will be experiencing a few changes this spring.  To read about them, click here.

Cincinnati Trip

The day after Easter, Greg and I took my class to Kentucky to visit the Creation Museum.  Most of the students have visited the museum more than once, but who's gonna complain about a field trip that lasts 14 hours?  :-)

The weather was perfect...could not have been better! 

We scheduled a campus tour at GBS, and they were kind enough to feed the kids dinner.  Thanks, Adam and Kent!

Seems as though I found some of my relatives in Mt. Auburn!
Aubrey was in love with the sandals I brought her.

Annie Marie

Ryan's the one who first made Valerie an aunt.  I think he has
a bit of a special place in her heart.  :-)

We made it home around 9 o'clock that night, tired and happy.  Within an hour, we received a call that Granny was not well, so I showered and dressed quickly, knowing it would be a long night. 

And that is the story of the Cincinnati trip.

(I know it wasn't much, Aunt Donna, but hopefully it will suffice for today.  :-) )