October 26,
2017
Our first excursion for the day
was Luray Caverns. Dave and I have been
in many caverns, so our expectations were low – but we were shocked to see
these were the best caverns we have ever been in. They were magnificent! Stalagmites and Stalactites everywhere. There were shallow pools of water scattered
throughout that made a mirror image so it appeared there were even more! At the bottom was a stalactite organ – this is
an organ that was made by having a rubber hammer bang a different stalactite
for each different pitch. It played “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” Unfortunately I thought I was videotaping,
but somehow didn’t get it! They say
these caves are 450 million years old and they know this because the stalactites
grow 1 inch per 120 years. What is interesting,
is Dave said there are were 10-12 foot stalactites under the Lincoln Memorial
when he was there as a kid, produced in less than 100 years. When I asked how they know the rate of growth
they say it is based upon the rate they know these grow at. So then I asked where they have seen them
grow recently and charted it to come up with this rate. They stammered, and said they weren’t sure –
then made some comment about some people believing the world is only a few
years old so it’s all based upon opinion.
We then headed up to Shenandoah
National Park. We quickly began
ascending the mountain into beautiful fall colors. We have noticed there are several things that
make their fall colors different in the NE compared to the NW. In the NE 99% of the forest is deciduous –
only 1% being evergreen. (this is my
scientific opinion though of course. But
I can show you evidence to back up my opinion.) So the NE has a lot more trees
changing color, a further drawn out fall which causes the trees to change color
over a much longer period of time, and their large population of sugar maple
trees erupt in the most brilliant red.
However, this causes leaves to begin to turn brown and fall early with
different trees turning colors and falling at different times. The forest here is also much less dense
because there aren’t blackberries here like the NW and without the evergreen
trees the forest is much more “see through.”
It makes it look like a playground of fun to run through – brings the
stories alive of Native Americans running through the forests in their moccasin
feet. The road runs along the crest of
these mountains for about 100 miles – we have to chuckle knowing that no road
could run along the crest of Cascade mountains!
The terrane gradually changes maintaining an elevation of about 3400
ft. To the east there are beautiful
views of hill after hill and to the west there are valleys with small towns
nestled down in them.
October 27,
2017
Today is an exciting day we have
looked forward to for many years. We are
headed to see our cousins – the Dale family - in Summersville, WV.
God must love orchestrating cool
things. It all began December of 2012
when our family, along with my mom, went on a mission trip with Maranatha to
Panama. While riding on the bus, my mom
began chatting with the gentleman sitting beside her; she asked where he was
from; he said West Virginia. She asked
asked him if he perhaps knew Wesley Olson.
The gentleman said he was married to Wesley’s daughter. Wesley Olson was my mother’s cousin. He had brought his oldest two sons on the
trip as his wife had just been diagnosed with breast cancer and had stayed home
with the younger two sons. The Neuharth and
Dale boys were thrilled to be 3rd cousins and they spent a lot of
fun time together. Last year, the Dale
family was on a family roadtrip and they spent one night at our home. For years we have been saying that someday we
would come and see where they lived, but realistically didn’t know when that would
ever happen. So today is the big
day! On the way there we drove through
beautiful fall colored “mountains.” I
say “mountains” because for us West Coasters – they are more like hills.
We arrived, and what a fun time
it was! At first as always, kids were
silent and awkward – I said “Get playing!
Don’t waste the moments! You know
at the end you will have wished you had spent every moment together possible!” So they quickly went outside and started
playing soccer, football, and riding scooters, skateboards, etc.
October 28,
2017
We had a wonderful church
service at their little country church.
Reminded me a lot of Startup. We
all at lunch together at Wes and Judy’s house.
Wes is my mother’s cousin. They
own large acreage here and the Krista,
my second cousin, and her family purchased a little section and built
their home. It was interesting talking
to Wes and finding out about his mother, grandparents, etc. and comparing what
I have heard of the family from my grandma.
There are definitely a lot of similarities and Wes confirmed a lot of
what my grandma had told me about her childhood.
Wes and Judy have an amazing
testimony. He finished medical school at
Loma Linda and was ready to enter into a prominent pediatrician assignment,
when they got a random letter about doctors desperately needed in Guam and God
lined up events and suddenly they were headed to Guam with their two small
children. As Judy put it “God sent us to
Guam to save us.” She said they were
actively involved in church at Loma Linda and attending Sabbath School classes
that seemed very advanced in deep thought and philosophies from the Bible. However, in Guam she started reading and
listening to other things and found a personal relationship with a personal
Savior. When they finished their time in
Guam, another doctor friend and Wes decided they were going to return to the
U.S. together and start a practice together.
They were looking for a good country lifestyle to raise their children. They wanted to go to a community that needed
but didn’t have medical providers and they wanted to go to a place that did not
have an Adventist church and they wanted to plant a church. Wes had the impression that when they found
the right place “the bells would ring.”
They returned to Southern CA where they had grown up. Both doctors purchased little camper trailers
and these two families started driving looking for the right place. They really wanted to be in the
Northwest. They drove through Oregon,
Washington, Idaho, Montana, but no place seemed to be the right place. One place they stopped the previous doctor
had quit because a patient had come in threatening their lives with
weapons. They quickly left there! They kept driving wondering where God was
sending them. When they stopped in the
Washington D.C. area to visit Wes’s parents, a conference president spoke to
them about this little valley in West Virginia that matched their
description. So they drove to this
little spot in West Virginia and it seemed to line up. So both doctors rented homes and began and
emergency room. But no bells rung. They took turns working every other night. Before long one of the other doctor’s house
had the pipes freeze and break and both family moved into Wes’s house: 4 adults
and 6 kids in a 3 bedroom house. The
rest is history – they eventually purchased large acreage, built homes, had a
thriving practice, and a thriving church.
One set back was after a few years the other doctor decided to move away
and Wes was discouraged – but he saw the Lord’s leading as a few years after
that the doctor divorced his wife and left the Lord. The funny thing is a year after they moved
Judy was sharing this story with a coworker and the coworker said “Wasn’t the
house you rented across from the Methodist church?” Judy said “Yes.” She said “Then I don’t understand why you
didn’t hear the bells ring – that church’s bells play a hymn every hour on the
hour.” It was then they realized the
bells had been ringing every hour on the hour – they just hadn’t recognized
them as their sign from the Lord until a year afterward. Wes and Judy have began a free medical clinic
for the working poor who don’t have any insurance in this area and they have
also began a Christian daycare center that now has over 200 children in it ages
6 weeks to 13. God truly uses those who
give their lives to Him!
We went back to the church in
the evening for a Shawn Boonstra series called “the pale horse.” It was very interesting – about the groups of
people through history who God has led to keep the truth. Did you know St Patrick was never a catholic –
in fact opposed the Catholic church and that he was a Sabbath keeper and took
the gospel to Ireland? He was kidnapped
as a child out of his room in the middle of the night and was a slave in
Ireland to ruthless people – like pirates.
He worked for them for many years and then escaped back home. But he kept feeling the Lord’s calling to
return to the barbarian people in Ireland and take them the gospel. He returned, and amazingly enough the
accepted the gospel truth – learned to read – and studied the scriptures
themselves and followed the teachings they found in the Bible. God is so amazing! It wasn’t until 200 years after Patrick’s
death that the Catholic church claimed him as their own and turned him into “St.
Patrick.” God is just amazing how he
uses those who are willing to submit to Him as miracle-workers for His kingdom!
October 29,
2017
Sunday Jon worked and the rest
of us found work to do. Kids did some
schoolwork, filled potholes in their mile long driveway, did a garbage run,
etc. Dave looked a broken equipment
throughout the “farm.” We of course had
lots of fun too – especially when the snow began to fall! We specifically came here this week instead
of the end of November so we could avoid the snow. The Lord has a sense of humor!
October 30,
2017
Monday we woke up to several
inches of snow on the ground. It was
beautiful! West Virginia is gorgeous all
seasons! Dave worked on a broken
four-wheeler with Jon. One of the boys’
cousins, Nathan asked Levi if he wanted to try to play the trumpet. I was thrilled because Levi has wanted to
play the trumpet for years, but I don’t want to buy an instrument that then
sits around. So I figured Levi would see
how hard it was to play and change his mind.
Nathan showed him how to blow and taught him a scale and within a few
minutes he was playing hymns very well and loved it. So we now need to purchase a Levi so we can
have another budding musical talent in our family develop. We all loaded onto fourwheelers etc. and
headed through an expedition through the woods.
We had a blast! Krista made “Thanksgiving
dinner” – mashed potatoes, gluten steaks, corn, etc. She spoiled us rotten!
Please keep Krista and family in
prayers. Her sons, Zachary 16, Nathan
15, Micah 12, and Caleb 7. Krista was
diagnosed with breast cancer 4 years ago and not given a good prognosis. She did experimental treatments and was doing
extremely well. Last year they
discovered tumors in her brain. She has
undergone more experimental treatments.
It is by God’s grace Krista is here.
Because of the cancer in her brain a lot of things can be a challenge
for her and there doesn’t at this time they seem to have exhausted all human
intervention possible. It makes me
realize we truly need to thank God for every day of life and live it 100% for
His glory and to be a blessing realizing how frail life is. May we live each day truly doing what is
important in light of eternity with no regrets.
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