Here In Pleasant Valley

I read about the highway widening project going on between Berrryville and Green Forest and I remember when the widening of the highway in front of our home was happening a couple of years ago. Things have quieted down here in Pleasant Valley where we have lived for 30 years.

Except for a few days of cyclists this time of year, our peaceful little valley couldn't be more serene no matter the season. Except for the male cicades making a shrill sound and an occasional airplane flying overhead all is quiet.

We enjoy the spring when the big trees down by the little stream leaf out and shade the gazebo John built. We like summer in the cool of the evening, listening to the night sounds and looking at the stars. We watch for the falling leaves of our maple trees and the smell of burning leaves indicating that fall is in the air. When the snow is falling in winter, we know that we can enjoy hot chocolate and popcorn, kicked back in our easy chair; a purring kitten lying in front of our fireplace.

There is just something special about our little bit of Pleasant Valley. Our place and 400 surrounding acres was home to families on the paternal side of my family all the way back to the early 1800's. My grandfather built the second house to the west of us when my daddy was small. It has been remodeled, but the big front porch is still there; the porch from which Daddy road his tricycle off into the rain barrel situated the end of the porch.

Behind the home just west of us, the building still stands that was once the Pleasant Valley church. My mother and daddy attended church there during their courting years back in the 20's. When he was in his late teens, my daddy gave his heart to the Lord while riding his horse home after attending a revival meeting there. Our daughter #2 played the piano for a revival there when she was in her teens.

A stones throw to the east of us, was the Thornton School in Pleasant Valley my daddy attended as a child. It's now the Family Vet Clinic. My daddy passed just before we bought our home here in Pleasant Valley, but I know he would be happy that we are back in his old stompin' grounds.

I have often wondered what life was like in our area back then. I know few people had cars. They either walked or road horse back when traveling from place to place. I remember my mother talking about how they use to go to what she called play parties. The young people would get together and square dance. They had pie suppers, they played card games. Everything was homemade; the food, the music , and other things. And, a lot of their time spent together was at little country churches and schools much like the ones my parents attended close by. Although for the country folk like my family, the 1920's was a time of hardship, they found time to be together as families and they enjoyed friendships without the benefit of televisions, computers or IPhones.

C. S. Lewis once said , “Is any pleasure on earth as great as a circle of Christian friends by a good fire"

I know families back then helped each other. When you needed a house or barn built, friends came in to help. When there was tragedy in the family, friends gathered, doing what they could to ease the burden.

I know God is pleased when we come together and enjoy each other as a family or when we gather with friends.

"A true friend is always loyal, and a brother is born to help in time of need." Proverbs 17:17 TLB
And, I think God smiles down on our little piece of heaven here on earth in Pleasant Valley.