In the night I've been remembering. Each room in the old house has memories. The living room. It's where we met for prayer meeting. Every Wednesday night for a long time until we began sharing in other homes. People came there so Grandpa wouldn't have to go to town. He and Grandma would have had to pack up his wheel chair and all. We all walked over to Grandma and Grandpas. Even now I can feel the warmth of the stove on the east side of the room where Grandpa sat as he conducted the services. His 3 in 1 laying on his lap. I watched strength in his weakness as he lead. First we sang, then prayed, then sang, then gave testimonies, then sang and ended with a prayer. Always the same. I never grew tired of it but I suppose others did. Sometimes it was funny like when Ken fell asleep and almost fell off the chair or when one of the little kids did something funny. Sometimes it was precious like when Dennis was leaving for college and we sang, "Old Old Path" and "God be with You Till We Meet Again." It changed as different people came and went from our little, mostly Sacry congregation. For me, it provided a place to build my faith as I listened to others share theirs. The Holy Spirit (or Holy Ghost as we called it then) was as real as the heat from the stove.
That room was also a place for Christmas where we gathered until Mom decided we should have our own Christmas at home and we were mad at her. We gathered around and waited for Santa to arrive with a sack of presents. We children were the center of life there. We knew we were precious by the way everyone laughed at our cute sayings and wanted hugs and kisses and for us to sit on their laps.
It was a room filled with love and laughter. I especially remember when the little ones were just learning to walk we'd lean them in a corner and encourage them to walk to us.
The other night Jim said, "The house doesn't matter. Whatever is right or wrong with it you just get used to it. This house is so comfortable and really nice. It's a great house." Yes it is. It was made nice because of the welcoming spirit that always met us there. By the love and laughter and fun.
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I remember many prayer meetings in that living room with Grandpa and Grandma. I remember Grandpa's little black hymnal. One time when we were traveling from MT to OR, Grandma gave the kids a shoe box filled with things to keep them occupied. In it was Grandpa's little black hymnal, which I quickly took for me!! I also remember watching "The Wonderful world of Disney sitting in that spinning rocking chair, with 3 or 4 kids in it. Now it'd only fit one of us! Good memories.
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