To the Hills

When my husband was a teenager, his parents exchanged their home in a college town for a 160-acre ranch in the foothills.

This was a good place for him because he got a job at a sawmill and later drove a lumber truck when he finished high school.

After serving several years in the air force, he returned to the ranch and started working as a self-employed logger. After we were married, we bought 120 acres of the ranch and found it to be a good place to raise our family.

For a few years, we worked in logging during the summer and fall, but when the rainy season came, we looked for dryer weather.

For several years, we went to different places in Mexico, and then we heard of a new school starting in the mountains of southern Mexico.

There, we found a place we could volunteer.

My husband helped by cutting down trees for the sawmill and bringing supplies for the school from the city. Later, when our children were in school, I helped by teaching English as a foreign language. Our three children finished grade school and academy there and headed to college. With three children in college, we needed to spend more time working, so we spent more time in and around our foothill ranch.

That’s where we were living when I received the message, “Don’t come into town. You’re too old. And you’re taking care of someone who is too old.” Yes, the years had passed, and my husband no longer felt safe driving at ninety-nine.

I would go into town once a week to help at our church and take care of errands. But my husband always worried until I got home.

While the restrictions of COVID-19 stressed many other people, we were already in a safe place. We were together, and I kept busy cooking, cleaning, and caring for my husband. For three months, I didn’t go into town.

It was a happy time for us, and once again, we were thankful for our home in the hills. We didn’t realize what a blessing it would be to our family many years ago, but the Lord provided.

Betty J. Adams