And this Church is still standing. It is located in Laurel, Delaware, not far from my Aunt’s house. I have been to Laurel many times over the years, but I never noticed this little Church. If you didn’t know it was a Church you would think it was a barn and keep on driving.
One of the days that we were at my Aunt’s house and heading out to do a bit of shopping, Hubby remembered seeing this Church in a book on my Aunt’s coffee table the year before. Hubby loves old buildings and Churches and is always wanting to stop and look at them. We looked it up in the book and got the address onto his GPS and headed over. It was beautiful. Not that it is fancy or anything, but the sheer fact that it was built 300 years ago using timber from the land and iron from the Nanticoke Indian Tribe. And the fact that it has boxed seating and the interior has remained unpainted for 300 years is amazing.
I guess you are wondering how I know all this? Well, after Hubby took a walk about, I got the kids out and wanted to take some photos. When I was finishing up and we were getting ready to pack everybody back in the truck a little red car pulled up. I was thinking, that we were going to be in trouble for parking on the land or walking around or something, but no. The couple that pulled up asked us, “How would you like to take a look inside?”. How would we, we would love it!!! They were the keepers of the Church! They attend the Christ Church in Town and nobody had been taking care of the Church for a few years, so they offered to do it. There are at least four weddings a year, one of which was theirs some 20 years ago, and every Sunday the Pastor holds services there during the summer.
Here is a photo from inside the Church. Each box was owned by a family, the pulpit is on the right wall (This photo has it cut off a bit), and there is a balcony for visitors, which is where I took this photo from. The couple wanted to open all the windows for us, but I stopped them at one. It was such a treat to be able to see inside this piece of history, we felt blessed. For all the years I have been going to Delaware, it was nice to see a little something extra.
Not to bore you all with photos of my trip, but I am trying to drag it out as long as possible, if only so I don’t feel like we didn’t have a vacation at all. We haven’t even been home a week and J keeps saying that he has forgotten all about his fun at the Beach. I know for a fact that this isn’t true because he talks about how much fun he had at other times during the day. J is a lot like me and because he doesn’t want to admit that we aren’t there anymore, he pretends like he can’t remember.
The kids were fabulous on our trip. J only really started to like the actual beach last year. Previous years he spent in the stroller or sitting on the blanket. Great for me as he was easy to clean. This year it took him about fifteen minutes then he was playing in the surf and chasing the waves onto the shore.
Apple was fantastic. Unlike her brother she loves the sand and the surf and would take at least one nap a day on the blanket. I kept her in the carrier for a while each morning while we would stand at the water and watch the water, J, Hubby, other kids playing.
My cousin is in the process of moving from Virginia Beach back up to Maryland, but their house keeps getting pushed back, so my cousin-in-law and their two kids came up to the Beach a couple of times to play some games, walk the Boardwalk and just basically hang out. J loved it. Their eldest is 13, but he is fantastic with young kids and let J hang off him and wrestle him and colour with him. It was great because honestly 11 days with Mom, Dad and baby Sister is not always fun.
I’ll try not to go into overkill with my Beach vacation, but it does have to keep me going for a whole year. And thank you for your well wishes for my Uncle. He is still in his induced coma, but they are now bringing him out slowly. His condition is still critical, but we are praying for a full recovery.
For several years now I have dreamed of living in this beach house. It is next door to the one that we have rented for the past four years. The yellow brick and white trim have taunted me, begging me to come inside. When you walk by you can see the beautiful chairs on the porch and the long table in the sun room, everything I have ever wanted in a beach house is here in this yellow house.
So think of my joy and surprise when we pull up this year to see that the Yellow House is actually for sale. By Joy I mean, if I won the lottery. And by surprise I mean, the family that owns it actually lives there for the summer and does not rent it. So it was a shock.
Every day the Real Estate Agent would fill up the information box on the For Sale sign. And every day the papers would be gone by noon. Imagine the excitement I felt on Wednesday on returning from the Beach that I saw there was an Open House. Usually, I am not one to go to open houses. Hubby will visit all the houses in the neighbourhood when they go up for sale but not me. This was my chance, my chance to dream big. With my Sister in tow, we headed over (after our showers of course). The hefty $1,695,000.00 price tag did not stop me. Instead I was honest with the Agent. I told her I did not have the money, but if I won the lottery, I would be first in line. She did not mind at all, in fact most people who were looking were all sandy from the beach and just as curious as I was. Truth be told, I almost cried.
The furnishings are all included and the decor was straight out of a magazine. In fact, they were in Cottage Style Magazine (no longer in print) for their great use of space and decor. There are two full bathrooms and two half bathrooms. Three bedrooms and attic (with three double beds) and a basement (unheard of so close to the beach) with bunk beds and a play room that walks out to the spacious back yard. There is a back deck and a front porch both of which I can see myself sitting on relaxing with a coffee.
I don’t know if my ship will come in in time to make the purchase, but a girl sure can dream. Can’t she??
