Saturday, March 22, 2008

B&B in Holmes County, Ohio












I realize I'm a bit late with this blog entry, but this past week I was being lazy with my entry.
So, last weekend we decided to take a quick trip to Holmes County, Ohio. For those that aren't familiar, it's the largest area of Amish in the country. We decided to stay at a bed and breakfast called The Barn Inn, which was absolutely beautiful. Unfortunately, that area wasn't exactly scenic last weekend. With all the fog we drove through to get there, and then all the flooding from the previous snow melting, there wasn't much to take pictures of. I think we may go mid to late summer next time, when there is more to see.
I was good about my shopping. the only thing we came home with was cheese from the Guggisburg Cheese Factory and a basket that I bought from an Amish girl alongside the road. Other then that, we had some great food at a couple of restaurants and just enjoyed the beautiful B&B.
This was my first experience at a B&B, and I was completely amazed. From the pictures, you can see that it is an old barn that has been completely redone into a B&B. There were 11 rooms all decorated differently along with a beautiful sitting room and dinning room. Paul and Loretta are the resident Inn Keepers and they are both very welcoming. They also made our breakfast on Sunday morning which included, stuffed french toast, a quiche-like dish, local sausage, homemade bread and cinnamon rolls. OH MY GOODNESS!! IT WAS AWESOME! I have posted some pictures of the inside and out. You can also go to www.thebarninn.com and see pictures of all the rooms to choose from. If you are looking for a few days away, this is the place to go. When we go back to Holmes County, I won't even think twice as to where we will stay.

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Medical Update

It appears all is well at the Yoder house. Jonathan is finally healing from his pilonidal cycst. We spent most of the weekend inside just trying to keep the cyst draining. The more it drained the better Jonathan felt. After 4 days of being holed up in the house, Jonathan finally got out of the house Saturday night. He was anxious to get to his 4wheeler at his parents house to do some plowing. The trip over there ended up being too much, so he ended up comming home and just let his dad plow our drivway. But on Sunday we managed to make a quick trip to Walmart and he seemed to be doing much better. We were both nervous about him going back to work on Monday. I tried my best to prepare him for every possible scenario, but ended up worrying for nothing. So now, he doesn't have any pain, and very little drainage to worry about. WHEW!!!!
Now that he is better, we are now planning a quick weekend trip this Saturday. If the weather cooportates, we should have some good pictures to share.
Stay tuned!!

Friday, March 7, 2008

A Week of Woes

Well, here I sit at the computer on a night of a blizzard. I had been meaning to blog earlier in the week, but I'm glad I didn't. This week has been the first time that Jonathan and I have had to deal with "in sickness and in health". Though, it's not exactly life threatening, I feel it's a good example of what this phrase means.
Last Saturday, Jonathan started to feel some pain on his tailbone. Buy Monday evening, the pain had developed into a large bump. When I came home Tuesday night from work, Jonathan wasn't able to walk right or sit straight. Sadly, Tuesday was the Gods Great Outdoor Expo and needless to say, he never made it. If you may recall, Tuesday night was also the night of the ice storm. We decided that we needed to see a doctor that night, since the bump had gotten so painful for Jonathan. So, Jonathan crawled (not literally) to the car and we headed off to Wayne Hospital. When we arrived, I was very surprised to see a practically empty waiting room. Just a few sick babies and us. While we were there, the hospital lost power twice due to the storm. The lights went dark and then the generator kicked in. The nurses were saying that they had never seen this happen. Part of there computer system also went down. But they had enough to get what they needed. We finally got to our convenient care room and saw the doctor. She knew immediately what Jonathan had as soon as she saw it. She said he has a Pilonidal Cyst. It is actually very common especially among men and can be hereditary. It's a large cyst that grows on the end of your tailbone and dangerously close to your spine. She said that we could try to treat it with antibiotics and letting the cyst drain on it's own or surgery to completely remove it. Eventually he will need surgery, since the cysts inevitably come back. If he has surgery, he would be off work for 2 weeks and would require much nursing of the affected area. So, we opted for the antibiotics for now, and maybe be prepared for the surgery later on down the road.
So we headed home through the ice storm, having to take the long way, due to all the accidents blocking the main roads. When we got home, we found that our power was out, which means no running water. So Jonathan, in his state, headed to the garage to try to start our generator. After about a half hour of fighting with it, he had to give up. I began to make plans on how to handle things without power. I mainly just worried! But luckily, the power came on after being home for about an hour. We ate dinner and got ready for bed. About 1am we woke up to discover the house was really cold. The power had gone out again. We just put an extra blanket on the bed and went back to sleep. I think the power came back on again between 4am and 5am. So, we were fortunate again.
When we woke in the morning, Jonathan was still in a lot of pain. He ended up taking the rest of the week off, because the cyst had not started to drain yet, resulting in the worsening pain. Now, since I have known Jonathan, he hasn't had the need to see a doctor and hasn't called off sick from work. He also has a high tolerance for pain. So when he says something hurts and calls off work, I know it's bad.
The Dr. instructed him to soak it twice a day, and hopefully it would open up. So after 3 days of Jonathan taking long showers and taking the advice of moms on both sides, the cyst finally opened up tonight. I have never been so happy to see something so gross. It's just real slow right now, but hopefully by the end of the weekend, it will have drained enough to ease the pain and get Jonathan back to work on Monday. I am praying that this is all that needs to happen to make it better. If it's not, then I guess we are going back to the doctor on Monday.
For now, I guess I will just watch the snow fall the rest of the weekend and take care of my husband. Maybe later I can get Jonathan outside to play in the snow on Sunday.

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Venison Chili



This Tuesday, our church is hosting the God's Great Outdoors Sportsmen's Dinner & Outdoor Expo. This is a chance for outdoor/hunting enthusiasts to gather for an evening of guest speakers and dinner while also hearing the Word of God. It's a chance to gather with beleivers and a chance to reach non-believers all with the same interest. It's definitley mostly men that attend but women are not excluded.
As I mentioned, this is also a dinner. When some of the GGOD wives came to our Sunday school class begging for volunteers to help cook Venison Chili, I heard CHALLENGE!!!!!!!!!! I have never cooked with Venison before. I thought this would be a good way try it since they were providing the meat. I volunteered to make a double batch with 4lbs. of meat.
So after church and dinner, I headed to Sutton's for the rest of my ingredients. Luckily the church already had a recipe for me that they will put together with all the other volunteers.
After about an hour of prep. time, I had 2 frying pans of meat, onions and peppers. The final product ended up being about 7 quarts of chili. Yes, we cheated and tried some. Now I just have to find a container big enough to get it to the church.
So, if anyone is interested, the expo is at Community Grace Brethren Church in West Milton, this tuesday March 4 @ 6pm. The cost is $10 at the door. Come one Come all!!