Old-fashioned Fun, Food and Friends

Last night the "Potter's Clay" Flock (S.S. Class) had the opportunity to mingle with our Amish neighbors, and enjoyed a fun evening. We started out at the church and took the church bus to the "Essen haus" Restaurant in Antwerp, Ohio. (I know! we live in Indiana, but we are only about 8 miles from the Ohio line). They had a seafood buffet and of course, I ate too much!

We had been cordially invited to the home of one of our members, Burnell & Ruth Bender, after our dinner. They live across the road from an Amish family that they have become friends with, and the Amish neighbor had agreed to take us on a wagon ride. Now, you will have to use your imagination here, as once again I found myself without my camara! How does this happen? (Guess I need to get myself a camara phone, like my friend Rebecca, as I almost always have my phone with me.) But I digress!

This wagon is very similar to the one we rode in, but it had a frame built up and then had a covering just on the top; so we could still see out the sides. There were padded benches along each side. There were 22 of us so we also had a few chairs down the middle. It was a beautiful evening--clear with a little breeze, just the right temperature to be comfortable. We took quite a long ride around the countryside, waving at passers-by and folks outside at their homes. Our wagon was pulled by 3 horses, instead of just 2. It was a good thing, as I estimated we probably had about 3500-4000 pounds in the wagon! Actually the one horse, named Judy, got very tired and needed lots of encouragement at the end to make it back.

Back at the Benders, we had wonderful homemade ice cream with lots of choices of toppings, cookies and soft drinks or coffee. And of course, throughout the evening, lots of fellowship and laughter.

Ok, I'm telling the truth! My bowl wasn't quite this big! However, as a courtesy to our hostesses, I had to have a small second helping, as they didn't want anything left over. Did I mention , I'm supposed to be on a diet? Well, let's just say, I'm apparently taking a break from my diet routine. I hadn't had homemade ice cream in a very long time, and it tasted so good! Yum, Yum, (as they would say on Hee-Haw). Wow, I guess now I'm really showing my age!