Okay, Im on again to tell you about how we prepared for our Amish - TopicsExpress

Okay, Im on again to tell you about how we prepared for our Amish friends visit, and what we did while they were here. First of all, once we learned that they were coming, I started making out my grocery list so we would be sure to have plenty of food in the house. Meanwhile, my hubby cleaned the house inside and out, just as he would if we had English company coming to spend a week with us. (Yes, dear friends, my husband is the official housekeeper, although I do the laundry and cook most of the meals.) He helps me out so that I can get more writing done. Anyway, back to our Amish friends visit: In addition to planning what meals we would serve them, we made a list of places they might want to see around our beautiful state of Washington. When they arrived (we picked them up at the train station in another town about 1 1/2 hours from where we live), one of the first things we did was to give them opportunity to decide where all they wanted to visit and what they would enjoy doing while they were here. So, over the next several days we took them to see Seattle, Tacoma, Bremerton, Leavenworth, Toppenish, and a few other towns, not to mention crossing mountain passes, viewing waterfalls and the Columbia River Gorge. They loved all the beautiful scenery and we were pleased that we had sunshine almost every day that week. On the Sunday they were here, we took them to church with us, thinking they might like to see how we Englishers worship. After church, we invited our son and his family over, along with several friends from church, for a barbecue and a chance to get to know our special Amish friends who had traveled all the way here from their home in Goshen, Indiana. During the course of the visit, we shared many things. . .their family. . .our family. . .places we had visited, and everything in between. We enjoyed their fellowship and they said they enjoyed ours. Did we do anything different than we would have done if wed had English guests? Not really, except that we didnt turn on the TV, except briefly to check the local news. We didnt miss it, either. I mean, who needs TV when youre having such a good time just visiting? When we took our Amish friends back to the train station for their trip home, they thanked us for our hospitality and said they looked forward to their next visit, and wondered if they might bring some of their friends or relatives along. To that we said, Any time! Just call first to make sure were at home.