And the Wall Came Tumbling Down...

This is Adam's Rib old dining room.

(With Larry & Daddy)

Note the wall in the back.

And this, after my brother and Dad tore the wall down...(well, half of it.)

Tom, of the Tom & Rick duo (and the mastermind of the remake) varnishing the wood.

And..."voila"...as they say. The new dining room. (Well, part of it.) Badly documented, I know...But the wall used to be where the wood ends and the painted wall begins.

Here's the story: At some point in time over the past five years of being open, (exactly when is impossible  to say) two guys started coming into the restaurant. Their names were Tom & Rick. They drove a delivery truck for a big store in the nearest big city over in Indiana. They only did that on the side though -in their real jobs they were firemen and paramedics. They were fellow believers and hard-working, intelligent, and good adapters. As they came more frequently, and stayed longer, we had a lot of opportunities to sit down, talk and get to know each other.

Tom is a visionary. He has many great ideas, that Rick good-naturedly goes along with. (Like becoming delivery guys!) Tom is a quasi-modern-day Jimmy Stewart. Laid-back in his discussions of his schemes, but high-strung in the execution. He's done a lot over his years, and even went to Port-de-Paix, Haiti, when he was in college. Rick, is laid-back no matter what the situation. Always the same, he can stay humorous in any situation, but because he is ex-Army and fought in Desert Storm Operation, he has a serous "get-'er-done" work ethic. He likes to "spread the Love, man." Rick has even worked with me in the restaurant on two occasions, one scheduled and one impromptu. He is an excellent front-of-house-man. While he was working on the electrical re-wiring, during the remodeling project, I was left alone in the kitchen and got slammed with five customers. When the phone range, Rick calmly put down his tools and wandered in with a smile and a "Need help?" and answered it for me, as I frantically run around. "Hey, fellas! What can I get you?" He good-naturedly took charge of the cash register, so I could make the orders.

Inspired by my dad, Tom & Rick are opening their own restaurant, in which my dad will become an equal third partner when opening comes. Artistic and detailed, they have been remodeling and reconverting an old firehouse building into an authentic, barbecue restaurant for about a year now. Opening will probably be sometime this spring. But in the mean time...they wanted to help out my dad - whose restaurant desperately needed a 'face-lift.' So, they did an extreme "dining-room makeover" and thanks to their server's hearts and hard-work we now have a new dining room!

Now we need to get them in our ghetto kitchen and fix that...I'm getting tired of crawling around on the floor to turn the hot water on...

From customers...to friends...to business partners. You  never know what can happen.

Thanks Tom & Rick!!

I love this place. Really. I do.

Grateful

I find myself thinking constantly in my mind like I was writing...and I would love to write about my life; anecdotes and stories to practice incorporating humor into my writing. But somehow the temptation is too strong when I sit down to write, and out of the deepest part of me - the part that shrinks back and often refuses exposure - is what gets put down into words.

I could write about my town - one day, promise myself, I will write a book about this place. But it might bore you  now. I mean - why would you care that Lisa Ludy went off her rocker again from a chemical in balance and robbed the Village Pantry late Sunday night? She acted like a clerk and even told Mark, who was in there to buy ginger ale for his wife after closing up the Bar & Grill, that Jesus was coming back on His birthday. She finally called the police on herself.

That was just one night.

I'm telling you, you can't make up the small-town gossip that happens in this town. I love my strange life.
One day, I know I'll miss it.


Since tomorrow is Thanksgiving, I'm doing some thinking, and I know I have so much to be thankful for. Developing a heart of gratitude is something that the Lord is teaching me. Complaining comes so easily, and though it's been said so many times, it is often still so taken for granted - we, Americans, have so much to be thankful for! We don't know.

We don't know.

I am tempted, sitting here now in sleety, icy weather, to complain about the cold - but I am thankful that I am not living in a tent, terrified that I or my children might contract cholera. So I am grateful for the $400+ worth of fuel for our stoves that the Lord provided us with last week, which will last us well into the winter. I'm grateful for my warm bed and warm clothes. I am grateful for the food that goes into my mouth.

I am grateful for my family - for the contribution, joy, friendship and investment that each member, my mom and dad, brothers and sister, have put into my life. If what we have is suffering, then I am happy to be suffering with them. :) I am grateful for the continued good health and protection that God has blessed me, my family, and all of those I love.

I am grateful for my dear friends, brothers and sisters in Christ - His glorious body - that He has blessed we with all over this world.  I am grateful for each and every one who has blessed and invested in my life in a personal way this year.

I am grateful for people, like my friend Cody Lee, who leaves for Basic Training next week...and the thousands like him who are willing to sign up to defend this country, our freedoms and what we stand for.

I am grateful for every lesson, blessing and opportunity that has come my way this year. I am thankful for my Father's deep mercy.

I am thankful for Love. For the Love of the Father - and for my Lover, Jesus, who loved me and gave Himself for me.

We have so much to be thankful for - wherever we live, and whatever our path. I am not one of those disgusting, Candide type of optimistic personality -but perspective make a great difference in the way you choose to live each day. I like to get in the habit, during life's little frustrations and sometimes great disappointments, to say, 'It could always be worse.' Because it always could.

There is an old hymn that says, "Count your blessings, name then one by one; Count your blessings see what God has done..."

Would you join me in counting your blessings, and expressing gratitude to our Maker, this week and all of out lives?

"Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits; who forgives all thine iniquities and heals all your diseases; who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns thee with loving-kindess and tender mercies; who satisfies your mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the eagles." Psalm 103:2-4

"I thank my God upon every remembrance of you." Philippians 1:3

Of Caves and Yokels

Since I am faced with the depressing reality that my old blog is gone forever and everything I ever wrote on it is lost in cyberspace as well, I do have the exhilarating ambition to do this blog "differently." I suppose when I say differently I mean - more honest. Social websites are the perfect place to put on a mask and hide behind words. It is easy to fall into the trap. Not that my day to day life is exactly - effervescent with interest. Still, there are exciting things to find in this town and secrets to uncover. And what better place to expose secrets then on the internet, right?

I like secrets.

Well, I like discovering secrets. Other people's secrets. Yes, I am nosy. But dead people don't care, right?

OK, I will explain my cryptic post. Ever since I returned from my recent trip to Haiti, I have gotten a renewed sense of belonging here in my hometown. It was almost as if I always got pulled back and ended up here in this funny little town, full of interesting people, rich history and it's own very definite and distinctive culture. So, I decided to settle down mentally for a while and see what happens. When I told God that, I was referring to starting relationships with people, finding more opportunities witnessing for Him, helping build up our family business etc...What I did not expect was to be dragged into a historic mystery spurred on by local legend and my own morbid curiosity.

Have you ever been in a cave? I haven't, but I am going to. Not one that is already found and is open to the public - that is far too boring. I am going to find it first. Behind old cemeteries and historic statues are perfect places for secret tunnel entrances and I am also going to get to the bottom of the mystery on why it was sealed up in the first place and forgotten about. (And how do cave owners end up getting kidnapped in South America?) And - if my original hunch was right, and the information I have received from a "local yokel",there is a big, missing "track" of the Underground Railroad, right underneath our dinky little town. So, it doesn't surprise me when I saw the paragraph about the K.K.K. in that 1922 newspaper article in the library archives.

Yeah, you're interested now - aren't you? Well, when I find out more, and put together more hunches,  I will be sure to write about it.

I can't disappoint my large audience, now can I?