Days two & three ~

Today was a nice slow, relaxing day. It's so weird eating by yourself!! After a drawn out breakfast I brought in the rest of my things and got all unpacked. At that time Freida came down with some orders to be filled out. That was a nice break from unpacking and organizing. Then I shoveled the cement area in front of my door, how nice to get some good exercise. After that I went on a nice long walk around. I saw an Amish lady riding her bike through the snow, I'm sure I would fall over but she seemed to be doing quite well. When I came home Freida had me run some errands, I'm actually learning my way around! The roads are narrow in places and up and around lots of steep little hills. I went to the post office and store in Walnut Creek, what a cute little Amish town. There are Amish all over the place. Freida sent me to Walnut Creek Cheese to get a few groceries, quite the name eh? It's a completely Amish store, I was so excited, it's quite the cultural experience. When I arrived home we worked on making lunch, Freida made a raspberry pie with coconut oil instead of lard so that I could eat it, and it was really good. We had such a pleasant time cooking together. Two ladies came over for dinner and then we had a prenatal visit. I will get really good at using the fetoscope by the time I leave! I cleaned up from dinner then came to my room and got online and read a bit from the testimonies.

Day three ~ ~ ~

Now I'm getting ready to go for the day. We have a busy busy day. We have appointments from 8-5:30pm. It's my first day wearing the head-covering :)

What a day!! Busy it definitely was! We went to so many different kinds of Amish homes today. It became a game trying to figure out what type of Amish each family was. I never had any idea how many different kinds there were!!

Our first house was "Old Order" yet a new version of Old Order, her name was Miriam Yoder, it was her 3rd baby, I think, just the little boy was there. She takes so many supplements it's unbelievable and has some unique ideas about what is healthy. We had a nice visit.

Next we drove to a "old order" Mennonite home for a prenatal, the little girls look adorable with their little bonnets on. As we were driving around the snow was gently falling through the air making everything all white and beautiful. We were driving up and around all the steep narrow roads and every so often we'd see a little girl or little boy running threw the snow with their wide brim hat or pure white bonnet on and simple blue clothes. How picturesc. (sp?) It was so hard for me not to take pictures of the adorable little children. At a few of the homes I took a few with my phone as to not be disrespectful yet to still try and capture some of the new and intriguing sites.

We went to the oldest of the "Old Order" Amish homes and they all looked quite similar. A lot of the homes have two wood stoves to help keep the house warm. There was one big house that we went to that had the steepest steps up to the house, and nothing ever seems to be shoveled so you have to take caution when you're walking, especially now when everything is snow covered and icy. We were climbing up the stairs and I could just imagine how completely graceless it would look if I accidently slipped and fell all the way down. Oh my, they hang all their clothes out to dry even in this blustery freezing wheather!

We discovered at least one, maybe two sets of twins today! It was great. Freida let me do a lot of the prenatals and help feel around to see if I thought there were two babies inside. I'm getting a lot better with the fetoscope. Quite unfortunately my watch decided that now would be a good time for the battery to die. We would walk in the homes and warm our hands on the cookstove before going in for the examination, oh my do the rooms behind the shut doors ever get cold!! Tomorrow I'm off to explore the areas around here, how fun, who knows what I'll find.

We went to this one house, they had sheep and pigs, and as we were walking up the dog started barking at us. Doing Bible-work you learn to not be afraid of dogs, or at least act like you're not, so I walked confidently up to the door when all of a sudden this huge turkey came out from under the deck and started coming at us. Freida was sure we were fine and calmly walked to the door and knocked, as the door started to open Freida went in and right at Emily and I the turkey started charging, we quickly ran into the door and shut it hard behind us. A bit startled the Amish woman looked at us a bit suspiciously, yet we quickly explained to her why we had acted so un-ladylike by our abrupt entrance. She understood our plight and informed us that if he came at us while we were leaving that we could kick him away. I opted to take the prenatal bag and run for it. One thing we take for granted is indoor bathrooms. Here the Old Order Amish all have out-houses.

I learned to inspect buggies to find hints on whether the people were Old or New Order Amish. After a really nice prenatal visit where we did a pregnancy test and found the woman to be about 14 weeks pregnant (oh and they have the three cutest little girls) Emily and I decided to find the buggy and check out the wheels. I told her we wouldn't turn on the light, but then remembered that there wasn't a light!

Oh my, at the oldest order home, I forgot the technical name of the Order, they don't even have foucets, just hand pumps and cold running water. But one of these homes that the most adorable 6 week old baby. I was hoping the mom would leave the room so I could get a picture with my phone but she sadly never did. I wore the head-covering all day today. I think it makes me look younger, the women were guessing that I was about 18-20. At my age most of them are married with 1-2 children.

The second to last home we went to was an Amish home of a newly married couple. They're baby is due one day after my brother and sister-in-laws. it was so fun to get to do her prenatal because I could just imagine that it was my little niece. They are new "New Order" Amish, they had a phone, pictures, but still a horse and buggy.

It was quite the adventure today, and oh such a blessing. I'm really wondering what they think I "am" because I have the Mennonite veil that I wear yet I don't wear dresses like the Mennonites yet I wear skirts. We arrived back to our winter-wonderland home around 6:30pm after being gone for 10 1/2 hours. Then I helped Freida put together some birth kits. Who knows when we'll be called to a delivery. Could be any minute now. I think that's it for now. it's quite the adjustment getting used to being alone. I'm not accustomed to really ever being by myself for any length of time, and ya know, I don't really like to either. But it's good for me, I guess. Please continue to keep me in your prayers. I really do love it here. It's so serene and wonderful.