September 2011

Our healed awning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Well, this certainly has been an eventful summer. First, the wind-destroyed awning which has now been healed. Praise the Lord! Then the air-conditioning went out right in the middle of a heat wave. We thank God that the a/c was fixed within 24 hours. We also thank God for insurance, our ability to pay the deductible, and God’s provision for our safety and protection.
The next thing that happened is we had a 6.0 earthquake ON THE EAST COAST! What a shocker that was. Marilyn’s first thought was What state am I in? That very same week we began to have warnings of Hurricane Irene. Our thinking was We’re almost 20 miles inland from the ocean, surely we aren’t in danger here. But we felt restless, so we decided to send a note out to our e-mail list and see what they thought. We received many notes back from readers saying: “Get out now!” “Drive, drive, drive.” Your sense of urgency sort of woke us up, but we decided to extend one more fleece: If we could find a space in a campground in Lancaster, PA, we would leave. The next morning we called our favorite campground, knowing that they never had openings on the weekend, at least not the very same day, but they had two spaces left. What more sign did we need? We left that  morning.

The brown grass is where our RV was normally parked

The drive was horrendous. Apparently everyone else decided to leave the area, too. The drive that normally took two hours, took four! But we finally arrived in Lancaster. It did rain, and the wind did blow, but not like it did at Keswick.
We knew we had done the right thing when a friend sent us a picture of the tree which had fallen right where our RV would have been! We could not go back to Keswick for several days. They were waiting for the Power Company to make sure the tree was cleared for cutting and the power lines could be restored. That did not happen until Wednesday, so we got back on Wednesday afternoon and were allowed to park in our usual space, minus the tree.
While we ‘vacationed’ in Lancaster, we had lunch with Jack Noel and enjoyed treating the Bitler family to a pizza dinner at CiCi’s. We also rode the steam engine train to Paradise, PA. We had the 1st class parlour car all to ourselves. The views of the Pennsylvania countryside were spectacular.

The view of the countryside from the train's parlour window

We love dining at the Amish-style restaurants that serve such good food, and we also found time to stop at the ice cream shop in Strasburg.
We got back to Keswick in time to enjoy a couple of sessions of the Young At Heart conference and this month’s Hymn Sing.
We will probably stick around for the five-person piano concert the latter part of September. We have no deadline, but we do plan to attend Glen’s 55th High School Reunion, October 1 in Indianapolis. Afterwards we plan to visit Niles, Michigan, Kentucky, Virginia,  Memphis,  Tennessee and Branson , Missouri, as well as a few other places. We don’t have our dates set yet, but  have set most of the locations.
Marilyn did experience quite a fall in the shower while we were in Lancaster. She thankfully escaped serious injury. Her fall resulted in a couple of very large and colorful bruises, but thankfully her fall did not involve a visit to the ER.
We would appreciate your continued prayers for Marilyn’s sister-in-law, Karen who is continuing her battle against Ovarian cancer. She will return to the chemotherapy treatments in October.
Please continue your prayers for our good health and safety.
In Him,

Glen and Marilyn Heavilin

Sunset at Keswick

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