Day 4: Our little church.

When I started dating my farmer, I knew his family attended church regularly.  This was not part of my upbringing so it took me awhile to figure out why.

In our small town, church is more than the service.  It's a community.  It's a place where people gather for worship, stay for fellowship, celebrate, serve, and comfort one another in bad times.

Each week a different family serves treats in our church basement after the service.  This morning the basement was packed.  After visiting with some good friends, an old neighbor, a long time family friend, and the grandmother of one of my son's best friends, I wanted to run home to do a few chores while the kids were in Sunday School.  I had to drag my farmer away from the other four farmers he had been talking with.  This is a common occurrence because: 1.  My farmer likes to talk and 2. 95% of our congregation has ties to agriculture in some way, giving my farmer a lot to talk about.

The relationships we have with the people with whom we worship are important.  From time to time we've talked about trying churches in one of the nearby larger communities.  The people and the relationships we've formed have kept us at our little church.

Our church is also our home and an important link to our past.  Three very important events in my life have happened in that building.  Forgive the pictures.  It was prior to digital photography so I had to scan photos.  Am I really that old?

We got married on a very snowy day in front of 250 of our friends and family.

We baptized our son.

We baptized our daughter.  Both were wearing the family baptismal gown that their grandmother and great uncle wore in that very same spot years before.

For my farmer, there are even more moments. 

One of my favorite things to do is roam around and look at the memorial plaques attached to the stained glass windows and other objects.  See the baptismal font above?  It was given in memory of my husband's Uncle Ralph.  There's at least one window that bears his mom's maiden name.  There's a bench out back that honors a little girl from our play group who was taken way too early. 

Our little church - One of the 30 reasons why I love being my farmer's wife.

Stay tuned for the 26 other things I love about my life on the farm and 26 more things that converted this Sycamore girl into a small town girl:).

And, check out my friend Holly's blog and the list of the other 30 day bloggers at 30 Days on a Prairie Farm.

Day One: Grandma Millie
Day Two: My Clean Car
Day Three: He's helped me be more flexible