Update

Here's another update on the progress of the church project. It's under roof now.
This is the new entrance on the back which faces the parking lot.

And this is the front facing the street.

There will also be a door on the end which does not show on these pictures. It's coming along but there's a long ways to go to the finish. The basement of the old building has been gutted down to the bare stone walls.

A new heating system is being installed now and there will be a new kitchen. The only thing left of the Sunday school rooms are the doors.

They were hoping to have the project finished by November but I'm not counting on it.

Emmaus Tour

Emmaus was settled in the 1700s as a Moravian community. Other Moravian towns in Pennsylvania were Bethlehem, Nazareth, and Lititz. I'm familiar with Lititz and often thought I'd like to visit the other Moravian towns but it never happened. On Saturday we took advantage of an opportunity to join a bus tour going to Emmaus. This is our tour group at the last place we visited.

In addition to the town and it's founders, I learned some things about the Moravians. The Moravians trace their roots back to John Hus (1369-1415), a Catholic theologian who challenged the corruption of the Roman Catholic church and called for reforms. He was burned at the stake as a heretic in 1415 because of his insistence that Scripture is the final authority rather than the canon of law in the church.

Some of the Hussites wanted more radical reforms and formed a community in 1457 they called Unity of the Brethren. Separate from the Catholic church, and therefore illegal, the Unity of Brethren suffered persecution. Initially, they were similar to the Mennonites and Hutterites who appeared during the Reformation. Eventually there were three major branches of the Brethren within the Unity: Bohemian, Moravian, and Polish, named for the kingdoms where they were established. It is from the Moravian branch that the Moravian Church in America takes its name. 

The Unity of the Brethren was largely destroyed by war and persecution during the mid-1600s. The rebirth of the Moravian Church came in the 1720s in Germany under the leadership of Count Nicholas Ludwig von Zinzendorf. In 1732, the Moravians began sending out missionaries to the Caribbean, Labrador, Greenland, South Africa, and North America. They were more successful than any other denomination in evangelizing the North American native Indian tribes. 

Bethlehem was the center of Moravian activity in colonial America. They were known for their music, excellent schools for boys and girls (at a time when girls did not normally attend school), and missionary zeal. They were ecumenically minded and very persuasive in presenting their teaching. 

The Moravians were similar to the Mennonites is some beliefs such as nonresistance and noncomformity. But they are not Anabaptists as they practice infant baptism. Like the Hutterites, they lived a communal lifestyle. The community was owned and tightly ruled by the church. Detailed records were kept every day of the activities of the community which are a valuable resource today.

Clothing patterns were plain and simple. Until age 5 all children wore white dresses. At 5, they dressed like their parents with boys wearing shirts and knickers, and girls wearing dresses like their mothers. From age 5 to 12, girls wore red ribbons on their dresses and caps. From 13 to marriage they wore pink ribbons. Married women wore blue ribbons, and widows wore white ribbons. The dress included an overblouse, apron, and scarf. 

The oldest building at Emmaus is the Zuflucht Haus or Shelter House. It was built in 1734 near an Indian trail along the slopes of South Mountain. A small addition and second floor were added in 1741. It was seen as a shelter in case of Indian attacks but was never used for that purpose as the Indians were friendly and never caused any trouble.

The house has been restored and is on the National Register of Historic Places. The house was constructed in the typical three-room German floor plan. The front door opens into a long narrow Kuche (kitchen) with an opposing door at the back which provided good ventilation. The two windows on the right were the Stube (stove room) with the Kammer (bedroom) behind it. 

The Moravian culture touched the area after 1741 as missionaries began to branch out from Bethlehem. Community life centered around a small log church built in 1742 on land donated by Jacob Ehrenhardt. He and Sebastian Knauss eventually donated land to the Moravian Church for a new congregational village which was laid out in 1759 and after a time was named Emmaus.

The first log church building stood beside the God's Acre (cemetery). Although the church is gone, the cemetery contains memorial stones for nearly 400 individuals, including the founders of Emmaus and some Indian children who died while attending the Moravian school.

The Moravians laid their stones flat in the ground because they thought having a stone standing upright was a sign of pride.

The present Moravian Church in Emmaus was built in 1834.

In 1777, Heinrich Knauss built this log house for his father, Sebastian, who was one of the "fathers" of Emmaus. Sebastian died before the house was finished, so his son lived in it. Seven generations of the Knauss family were born in this house.

The day we were there they had a special event to recognize the 300th birthday of Sebastian Knauss. The town crier made some announcements and the current mayor (in top hat) read a proclamation. The mayor, Winfield Iobst, is a descendant of the first Burgess (mayor) of Emmaus.

 

In 1803 Jacob Ehrenhardt Jr. built this Federal style stone home for his family. As the son of one of the fathers of Emmaus, Jacob grew up in the closed Moravian village. Today the house is listed on the National Register and is cut off from Emmaus by the railroad track which runs right in front of the house.

The kitchen is attached to the back of the house, as was typical of the wealthy class. Their houses were to live in and everyday tasks such as cooking and laundry were not done in the main house.

Inside the kitchen.

I enjoyed the tour and learning a little about the Moravians. Someday I will go to Bethlehem and learn more.

Short Notice

I'm the kind of person who likes to work ahead make plans in advance. I like to know when things are going to happen and follow the plan. I get frustrated if the deadline is approaching and things are not ready to go. But I found out this weekend that sometimes I can go on short notice and things can happen without advance notice. 

My nephew, Jonathan, and his family who live in San Diego have been here on vacation for over a week. They have not been here for seven years and their time was pretty well scheduled full with his own family. There did not seem to be a time for the extended family to see him. We had been to San Diego a couple years ago and had seen them then. We thought we might have to be satisfied with that.

Then a window of time opened last evening. We had to drive over an hour to his parents home but that's a lot closer than San Diego. Amazingly, all four of our sons were also able to see him that day. Two of them had only a half hour notice. He was surprised when they showed up.

Some of Jonathan's sisters also were there and my sister had a full house for supper. I made some cole slaw to take along and other contributions appeared on the table. Jonathan and his wife are standing at the end of the table.

Everything worked out and everyone had a good time in spite of no prior planning. That said, I really don't see it as a life-changing event. I think I shall still prefer planning and preparing in advance.

Progress Report

The work at the church is continuing and the addition is beginning to take shape. The walls of the new entrance are up. Framing the second floor is scheduled to begin next week.

The inside of the old building is also undergoing some remodeling. The work of tearing out the old is still being done. The old heating system with all the pipes and cast iron radiators is gone. Currently, the old tongue-and-groove board ceiling in the basement is being removed so the duct work can be installed for the new heating/cooling system. 

This building was constructed in 1876 by the Church of the Brethren. They remodeled the building several times before building a new facility down the street. In 1923 they dug under the building to provide a basement where they could cook the food for their Love Feast. This also provided Sunday school rooms and indoor bathrooms. It was modern and up-to-date for the time. Now, we are basically gutting the basement and upgrading to today's standards. 

So far we have been able to hold regular services but some adjustments had to be made due to the lack of Sunday school rooms. In October we will reach a point where the church will have to be closed for two weeks. By the time we are finished, we will have a new building inside an old shell.

Crafty or Thrifty?

I never subscribed to Pintrest because I'm not a very crafty person. I like to see how people make something nice out of little bits of nothing but my attempts to duplicate such things usually wind up lopsided or worse. I'm not artistic enough to paint cute little faces on jars, etc. But I do love to put things together to make something without laying out a great deal of cash. It's not the crafty spirit within me but the good old tightwad German genes. Today's activity is a case in point.

I've been thinking for several years that I should replace the curtains in the garage. They were so thin I could see right through them and they were falling apart. They had lived in a bedroom for many years before being demoted to the garage but even their second life was expiring.

On an impulse, I decided today was the day to do something about it. But I did not have any old curtains to move out there or any fabric to make new ones. Or did I? A rummage through my scrap box yielded a piece of green plaid that was big enough for the valance. What could I use for the panels. Heaven forbid that I should spend MONEY for fabric for garage curtains.

Ah! A flat bed sheet! That's would do it. I went through my little pile of spares and found a flat yellow sheet I never use that would go nicely with the green plaid. The garage is the domain of a John Deere man so green and yellow were the perfect colors. (Why on earth did I even have a yellow sheet seeing as I hate yellow? I have no answer.)

Okay, I'm all set. I rip out all the seams, stitch away, and viola! New garage curtains! It isn't the kind of thing that would rate a spot on Pintrest but I am quite pleased with the results. Especially since the only cost was time and thread. That's all it takes to warm a thrifty German heart.

 

 

Hats Off to My Boys!

Eleven years ago our youngest son dreamed of becoming an RN with an added certification as a PHRN (pre-hospital RN). He graduated from Alvernia University with a BS in nursing in 2010. A year later a wife joined his life. That put the rest of the dream on hold for awhile. In 2013 he took the course for the PHRN. Yesterday he took the final State test and passed! He is now a certified PHRN. We're happy for him and commend him for his persistence.

The second big thing that happened yesterday is that I got Grayson to say "Grandma" for the first time. I've been keeping him one day per week since he was about 3 months old. He definitely knew who Grandma was but he didn't say the word. Yesterday, after a little coaxing, he finally got the word out for the first time and after that it was easy to say it again. That made a happy grandma!

A Word To The Wise

The old saying is, "A word to the wise is sufficient." I guess I proved I'm not one of the wise and it takes more than a word to get through to me.

A couple weeks ago my son said I should keep my Social Security card in a safe place and not carry it in my wallet. Someone whose Social Security card is lost or stolen is likely to have all kinds of trouble due to identify theft. If someone has your Social Security number they can do all kinds of business with it in your name. You cannot change your number for protection if the card is lost or stolen. The best you can do is to put a fraud alert on it and watch for suspicious activity. You very seldom need to show your card. All you need to do is memorize your number. Keep your number in your head and your card in a safe place. I agreed he's right but didn't take action.

When I checked in at the doctor yesterday I discovered my insurance card was missing. In fact, the entire pack of cards was missing. My drivers license, credit, and bank cards were in another part of my wallet and intact, but the other thingy with the insurance and Social Security cards was entirely missing. There were some other small cards in it that were not critical but I knew I'm in big trouble if my Social Security card fell into the wrong hands. I didn't remember when I had last used anything in that pack and feared I had lost it somewhere between here and South Dakota last month.

A day of searching and praying ended without finding my cards. This afternoon when I got in the car to go to the dentist I found the whole pack of cards in the door pocket on the drivers side, hiding behind a road map collected on the trip. Nothing was missing. I have no memory of when or how it got there. 

I vowed if and when I find it I will immediately take my Social Security card out of it and put it in a safe place. I kept my vow. 

A word to the wise may be sufficient but for me it took a good scare. I'm telling you this story in case you are carrying your card in your wallet. Don't! Be wise and put it in a safe place.