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.

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!!

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.

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!!

A Trying Week With A Happy Ending

This week was definitely a trying week. Along with the typical overload at work, the weather merely added to the stress. I only love the snow when I am in the comfort of my home looking out the window. Jonathan loves it any time. Not much stresses him out, not even the icy roads. One morning this week, the drive in to work was crazy. I think my hands were sore from having such a death grip on the wheel. I breathed a big sigh of relief when I finally made it. The ride home was a different story though. It was perfectly clear and the sun was shinning beautifully on to the snow. When I got home, I ran to get the camera. Above is a picture of the sun going down while still shinning on the snow.


Since Jonathan is getting home before me right now, I came home on Friday to find him cooking dinner. He has cooked breakfast a few times already, but this was the first time for him to be cooking dinner for me. I came home to him cooking our favorite quick meal of smoked sausage and mashed potatoes. This is a picture of him beating up on some potatoes. After my stressful week, this was just what the doctor ordered. I jumped into the shower to destress and had a hot meal ready by the time I was done.

Our weekends have been pretty slow lately. Just not much going on these days. I'm pretty content right now with a good book on a cold day. But today we did get our taxes done. We ended up having to take them to someone this year. With all of the new changes in 2007, there was no way we could have done it on our own. We managed to come up with enough deductions this year to give us a decent refund. I think this will help with planning our vacation this summer.
I think our schedule should be picking up in about a month or so. Hopefully then I will have more exciting things to write about.

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Well, another first! Our first Valentine's Day as husband and wife. Another hoiday that we have spent together before, but this time has a different feeling.
These beautiful roses were waiting for me when I got home from work. Jonathan had his favorite Reeses waiting for him when he got home. And now we are off to dinner.
I hope everyone had a beautiful day!

Christmas in Indianapolis

Mom with Bear Bear
Nick an Betsy with a picture of there new baby furniture
Betsy checking out the cool Kaleidiscope
Jonathan with a really nice Manger Scene
Aunt Retta on the left with Mom and Bear


Our Christmas season officially ended this weekend in Indianapolis. Jonathan and I along with my brother Nick and his wife Betsy spent this weekend with our mother in Indianapolis. Do to every ones busy holiday schedule we had to have it kind of late.
We headed out early on Saturday. I've been having a pretty stressful time at work lately, so I was ready to get the heck outta dodge for a few days. I figured a change of scenery for a few days would help me destress. when we all finally arrived to moms house, we were ready to do some shopping. We found out that my brother and sister-in-law are expecting there first baby in August (I'M GONNA BE AND AUNTIE!) So we were on our way to find some baby furniture. They found what they wanted in Castleton at the USA Baby. They have some really beautiful stuff there. I meant to take pictures while they shopped, but I forgot. So when we got back, I took a picture of the brochure with the both of them. HOW FUN!!
Later on, my aunt Retta came over to visit. Mom made us all a yummy ham dinner and provided the sinful desserts. After dinner it was time to open some gifts. Mom got us some cookbooks and some Christmas deco for the house. My brother and sister-in-law got an old fashion kaleidoscope and a decorative motorcycle that had wheels that were actually table coasters. Before we knew it, it was late and time for bed.
In the morning, mom woke us with coffee and a breakfast casserole. After a day of relaxing and talking, we headed home in the afternoon.
No offense to my husband, but it's always nice to have mom taking care of ya when life becomes a challenge. Thanks for the fun weekend mom!!!

Simple Pleasures

This past year, one of the many changes I have had to face was the shift change with work. For seven years I had worked mostly second shift at the airport. It hadn't occurred to me that I was missing out on one of the most beautiful and also simplest daily pleasures in life. I was either working late or sleeping in.
Now with my new job, I totally get to splurge and not feel guilty for over indulging.
At about 7:15 AM every weekday morning I make my journey east to Dayton for work. That's right! I am talking about the sunrise! I have really gotten to love this time of day in the car. Some days I am absolutely in awe at how beautiful it is. I only hope that everyone speeding past me are seeing what I see. ( I assure you that I am a totally safe driver while I drive in my state of awe).
While I was driving home today, I noticed at how beautiful the sunset was. I began to drive a little faster, hoping to get home in time to get some pictures before it went down. I'm pretty sure Jonathan thought I was crazy when I got home and ran through the house looking for the camera. Unfortunately, by the time I got outside it was too late.
Last summer, Jonathan and I had gotten into a habit of taking an evening walk about the time the sun was setting. If we were sitting in the house, the sun would set right in front of our living room window. In our little country house, we got a million dollar view, every night. Jonathan frequently heard me saying "oo oo come out here babe! check it out! Quick"
The picture posted was a picture taken last fall from our house just after a thunderstorm. We had a fast, hard hitting storm that came through. The storm moved out just in time for a clearing sunset. The picture doesn't even come close to describing what we saw that night. It was somewhat erie with the storm that just came through but absolutely breathtaking as the clouds slowly passed over.

I hope that others get the chance to see what I see and enjoy every minute of it. It seems hard to believe something so simple and FREE can bring such joy to our lives. I can't imagine science creating something so beautiful. I think God has created these perfect sunrises and sunsets to remind us exactly who is running the show. Something to slow us down, give us a time of reflection and a time for thanks.

A Slight Change in Plans

As I mentioned in a previous blog, we were planning on getting a new stove after Christmas. Our current stove still works, but it's a bit old and doesn't really have any convenient functions. After weeks of doing our research on what the best option would be, we decided to go a completely different direction.
We saw the Walmart and Kmart adds last Sunday and they were featuring there workout equipment. We were suddenly pumped and ready to do some new research. We were leaning toward an Elliptical machine or a Treadmill, both of which were on sale. So, Friday night, we were out running our errands and strolled into Walmart and Kmart. Both places had there equipment sitting on a shelf out of reach. We weren't able to test drive any of the machines. Since the sales were going on for one more day, we decided to wait another day to think about it. So this morning, we decided to head to the Sears in Piqua. We knew they always had work out equipment on display. We were lucky to have someone helping us that knew what he was talking about and was very helpful. We also got to test drive several different machines
In the end, we ended up buying the Treadmill from Sears. A little more money, but definitely better quality. Sadly we had to sacrifice a stair stepper that I already had, to get the new treadmill in the spare bedroom. Currently, the stepper is sitting in our driveway marked "FREE". So, if anyone is interested in a perfectly good stair stepper, that's free, just let us know. We will gladly give it to you.
I guess I'll have to put up with my stove for a little longer. I think the Treadmill is a bit more needed right now.

Happy 6 Months Babe. Love Ya!!