Good Friday meditation

We spent Good Friday at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, in Cincinnati, Ohio. We've visited once before; this time I felt we were coming onto holy ground, as we approached.
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This cabin was along a slave trading route; its second story was used to house slaves until they were auctioned off, or transported further south.

A middle-aged man described its history to the group of school children filling the lower level. He choked up for a moment. When he continued, he explained that his ancestors were from Alabama, and they would have been slaves. "It always reminds me someone paid a price for me to be here."





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A woman who called herself Miss Sadie described the elements of her costume, and what her role in the house would have been, for a group of school children around the corner from the cabin. She sang Follow the Drinking Gourd, which gave slaves directions for escape. According to her, winter with its long nights was a good time to leave--and Friday was the best day of the week to head for freedom. (Escaping slaves had to travel during the night. Slave owners could not leave the plantation for fear the remaining slaves would escape. They had to hire men to chase the escapees. The offices of the contractors were closed over the weekend, so if slaves escaped Friday evening, it would be Monday before the hunt for them could begin.)
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A light from the Rankin house at the top of a hill in Ripley, Ohio (a free state), on the north side of the Ohio River, from the vantage point of an escaping slave on the south side of the river, in Kentucky (a slave state). The Rankins, John Parker, and their friends helped many people on their road to freedom in the north. (Many escaping slaves continued north to Canada. After the Supreme Court's Dred Scott decision in 1857, they could be returned to their "owners" in the south, if captured in a free northern state.)
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About halfway through the tour, you enter a round room with a lighted pillar in the center. The walls are molded cement rock, with names carved into them--names of of slave transport ships and "castles" in Africa where the captured slaves were held. Aside from the pillar, the only light comes through the translucent blue ceiling, giving one the feeling of being under water. The pillar is covered with translucent blue and green pebbles. The pebbles represent the souls of the estimated one to two million Africans who died in the ships, during the Middle Passage, and in the "castles."














The room is silent, except for the sound of a choir humming John Newton's Amazing Grace. (John Newton was a slave trader who underwent a dramatic conversion.)
Holy ground.
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He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted.
But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.
Isaiah 53:3-5, King James Version

Ohio's Hocking Hills: Ash Cave

Far above, cave ceiling.














Beside, stairs connect roof and floor.











Below, waterfall lands in pond.

The trail back into Ash Cave is handicap accessible. It's paved and level, and our son walked the entire distance. Trails to other geological highlights in the Hocking Hills are more challenging:
Old Man's Cave
Rock House
Conkle's Hollow
Cedar Falls
Cantwell Cliffs

Vacation 4: Olbrich Botanical Gardens

English garden

















Hollyhock













Perennial garden
The Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison are well worth taking time for. I've never seen such a wide variety of plants so well organized and cared for.

Vacation 3: Wisconsin Dells

My husband had visited the Wisconsin Dells as a child, and was interested in seeing them again, on our way south through the state. We boarded a boat and chugged down the Wisconsin River between sandstone cliffs and rock formations. Twice the boat docked, and we were able to go ashore and trek through some of them, to concession stands.

Henry Bennett invented the shutter that makes possible stop-action photos. To prove it, he had his son jump to and from Stand Rock until he was caught mid-air (1888). The photo was exhibited at the World's Fair, and brought fame to both Bennett and the Dells. Today, dogs demonstrate the jump for tourists. (You can see the back end of the dog on the edge of the cliff on the right.)

Vacation 2: Naniboujou

Nancy asked if we were able to visit the Naniboujou Lodge and Restaurant, on the northwestern shore of Lake Superior, during our recent visit to Minnesota. We actually ate lunch there, the day after we arrived. The Naniboujou is an amazing place, a feast for the eyes, artistic beauty within and panaromic views without. Its story charts a fascinating slice of U. S. history. Original investors included Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey, and Ring Lardner. The lodge was built just before the Stock Market Crash of 1929, and has had a succession of owners since.

The scenic road north, past the lodge, travels the edge between forest and Lake. Going up the last hill, we met a couple cyling down. The man was seated low on his bicycle, turning the pedals with his hands. When we got to the lodge, we found he was Tim Ramey, owner and operator of Naniboujou. His story is shared in the history of the lodge.

The autumn of 1998 brought a profound change to the Ramey family, as well as to all of their staff and friends. Tim Ramey, while fighting to save the home of his Hovland neighbors as a volunteer firefighter, suffered severe injuries when a tall fireplace collapsed on him. Crediting God and thousands of prayers for his life, Tim miraculously survived his severe injuries. He suffered neck and back injuries that have kept him paralyzed from the chest down. After weeks in critical condition, major neck and back operations, months of physical therapy, and the loving help and devotion of his wife Nancy and the children, Tim has taken on the task of redefining life with limitations. As staff members and guests offer prayers of thanks and continued hope for Tim's improvement and recovery, we all recognize how we are affected by one another. We feel greatly blessed to still be a part of the loving presence of Tim and Nancy at Naniboujou. The spirit of Naniboujou lives on.

The rest of our party got to meet Mr. Ramey after lunch, while I was walking out on the shore for a few minutes. (I saw him from afar.) What an inspiration. That was one of the iconic moments of the vacation, being reminded in the midst of idyllic natural beauty that heaven is not yet here. But life is still good.

Vacation 1: North by northwest

Lake Superior, viewed from Grand Portage Lodge and Casino, on the Grand Portage Reserve, in northeastern MN.
Many years ago, Native Americans created the nine-mile Grand Portage trail from Lake Superior along the river to bypass waterfalls created as the river descended to the lake.
















Walking through the woods to High Falls.













High Falls, Minnesota's highest waterfall, on the Pigeon River, near the U.S.-Canadian border.

Rearview mirror

Several years ago I got a tape of Philip Yancey's presentation at a Calvin College Festival of Faith and Writing. He made several statements about the limitations of writing, one of which was that it reduces. We experienced great hospitality on our recent trip to Chicago, and I will not reduce it to a blog post. However, I will share a few things I learned.

Aurelio's has the best pizza in Chicago, and the best Aurelio's is the original one, in the suburb of Homewood. The first few bites of thin crust pepperoni had me thinking, "This is as good as chocolate!"

You can bake bacon evenly in the oven, on a jelly roll pan, at 375 degrees, until it's done.

Stores are closed in observance of the Sabbath, in South Holland, a Chicago suburb.

Sand Ridge Nature Center, a 235-acre nature preserve in South Holland, is part of 21,000+ acres set aside by the Cook County Commissioners in the early part of the 20th century. They foresaw the future growth of the city and the need for natural preservation. Chicago magazine designated Sand Ridge "Best Family Outing" in 2003. Its butterfly garden contained plants which are also native to our area. It fights some of the same non-native aggressors we do: garlic mustard, Japanese honeysuckle, purple loosestrife.

You may eat shrimp on the sidewalk at the Navy Pier Bubba Gump Shrimp Company one hot summer day. Six years later, you may return in autumn; it's cooler. You get the "best table in the house," with windows on two sides, and a couple signs hanging over your son's head.*

Speaking of whom, he made it clear during the trip that he appreciates a king-size bed and McDonald's hot apple pies. Either of which is preferable to pizza, chocolate, or shrimp.

*And the very cool waiter at the next table will stop to tell you he has an 18-year-old brother with Down syndrome, who is ornery, like your son.

Summer Joy 11: Vacation

Father and son

". . . . the time cannot be long, . . . number. . . every moment, charging it with meaning. Love in ignorance squanders what love, informed, crowds and overfills with tokens of eternity."
--from Ellis Peters' An Excellent Mystery: The Eleventh Chronicle of Brother Cadfael, 1985

(Thanks to the Lean Librarian for recommending Cadfael, and to Sparrow, for passing along Circle of Quiet and Wittingshire's appreciation of him.)

Once more to the lake

For the past few months, I've read of your travels: to the sea, to Texas heat and tornadoes, to Disney World, Italy, Yosemite, a writing seminar in New Mexico, England's New Wine conference of caravans, the family farm in Iowa, the Florida sister, CBA in Denver, romance in New York City, the Norwegian fjords, historical and scenic sites of western Canada, the RWA conference in Reno. (Sorry if I missed anyone. :-)

(Here I sit in the flat Midwest, where we slowly grow wheat, corn, soybeans, beef, chickens, and dairy cows to feed you all.)

Tomorrow we take off for a few days.

I will take along "Learning the Ancient Rhythms of Prayer: Why charismatics and evangelicals, among others, are flocking to communities famous for set prayers and worshipping by the clock," an article originally published December 9, 2000. Paul Boers, the author, is pastor of Bloomingdale Mennonite church in Ontario. Christianity Today has linked it on their website as part of their observance of the passing of Brother Roger, the founder of Taize.

If you have time to surf, Barbara of Being Barbara, Being Mum, Being Me has a thoughtful post about letting go of one's children, a theme that has also recently surfaced on Circle of Quiet and Wittingshire. Barbara's post is especially interesting because she lives in Great Britain, and she reflects on changes in family life over several generations there.

Mel of Actual Unretouched Photo also has a beautiful post on taking her son to visit her aged grandmother, who is about to pass the century mark.

Enjoy.

View from the road 2

Mother and foal, Holmes County, July '05

This foal is probably destined to pull a plow and/or a buggy. Eventually, it will be separated from its mother, through death or auction.

Thoughts expressed in the previous post, combined with sentiments generated by this picture, bring to the forefront the area of my greatest concern, and that of many parents of children with significant handicaps: what will happen to our child when we are gone? Can I give God "free range" of that time and space? Believe His love will be practically there, for our son?

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39 KJV

Recommended reading: Friendship Ministries
Laying Community Foundations for Your Child With a Disability: How to Establish Relationships That Will Support Your Child After You're Gone, Linda Stengle
Recommended by a friend: A Good Life, Al Etmanski

View from the road 1

Cheerful chicken eggs for sale, Holmes County, July 2005

Yesterday we traveled several hours northwest to visit relatives. When chickens in their area are cheerful, it is because they are free-range (not caged).

Today, in church, a singer sang his view of God had been too small. He had not thought God would be able to help him. In the chorus of the song, he came to see that God had free range across reality. Free range.

If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; Even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me. If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee. Psalm 139:8-12 KJV

Kentucky Caverns

Kentucky Caverns, Kentucky Down Under
Enroute to National Down Syndrome Society Conference, 2002