Dear Paulding, Please Don't Apologize

Whenever you move, one of the common questions you get is, "Where did you move from?"  To keep things simple, Ian and I usually answer, "Denver".  Some times people will chuckle when they hear our answer and a lot of times people will ask, "Why would you move here!?!?"

And in some ways I get it.  As far as I know, Paulding, Ohio is not a vacation destination for the masses.  It is not know for its great weather or lack of insects.  No one has "Native" bumper stickers to claim their pride in being born here.

photo via Google Image Search

And yet Ian and I would pick Paulding over Denver.  I guess the biggest reason is we feel that God called us here and has a plan and a purpose for us here.  But there is something else - something that is hard to put into words.

When we go to Susie's Bakery, she knows my kid.  She will give him a donut hole or show him how her clock moves.  If she has time, she will come out from behind the counter and visit for a bit.

When you go to the grocery store, you may just bump into someone you know.  It is not a mass sea of strangers doing their own thing at their own pace.  The cashier will give the receipt to Samuel because she knows he likes to hold it (and then shred it in the backseat).

And then there is this:

There is something so beautiful and magnificent about fields of corn or wheat (or even soy beans).  To see the cycle each year of planting, growing, and harvesting is powerful to me.  Whenever we were in Korea or Denver I would always wonder, "How tall is the corn now?  Does it look good?"  I want my kid to know that food we eat started as seeds and had to be planted and cared for and prayed for and harvested.

It just doesn't magically appear in the grocery store.  Some years are good and some years are not.

The meat we eat comes from cows and chickens and pigs and turkeys.  Cows are big and they have a specific smell.  Chickens are little dinosaurs and pigs are mean.  It takes work to bring food to us.

So folks of Paulding, be proud and don't apologize.  Ian and I choose to live here.  We are excited for our child to grow up here.  It is something that we say to each other often.   

We don't have to live here, we get to.