Thankful Thursdays~Small Praises 4

This week's theme could be considered "Nostalgia". I have some very painful memories of growing up~ yet I also have some good memories. The more I looked for the good, the more they came flooding into my mind. I am not yet 40, but over the age of 30 LOL, so I have had some unique experiences of old fashioned things, especially early in my childhood. I am thankful for the memories of:

1. A creek. Sliding on the creek in the middle of winter, with no ice skates ,but our boots. We had it slippery enough to go from one edge of our property to the other, and maybe even a little beyond. :)

2. A driveway. In one of our houses growing up, we had a 1/4 mile driveway mostly downhill (coming from the house to the road). It made an EXCELLENT sledding hill for us in the winter, and a hard driving for my father! I remember him parking the car often at the bottom of the steepest part and walking up.

3. A wringer washer. This was in my early years, helping with the laundry, we would put the clothes from the electric washing tub, through the wringer, into a metal tub with rinse water, and then again through the wringer, into another metal tub filled with rinse water, and then again through the wringer into the basket, and then we hung them out on the line.

4. Outhouses. I remember my grandparents having one. Even though they had indoor plumbing, it was so convenient when playing outside to use it without having to go inside.

5. Potbellied stoves. I remember as a teenager, when we were looking for a new church, visiting one that had its source of heat from two pot bellied stoves, one on each side of the room.

6. Old fashioned drugstores. Up until my teens, I remember getting prescriptions at a drugstore that sold magazines, candy and had a counter with a fountain~ a soda (pop) fountain. The counter had stools we could sit on and look up into a big mirror, and other nostalgia items. I think we could also get ice cream. The pop was served in a nice tall "Coke" glass with ice and a straw.

7. Historic church. Up until I was a teenager, the church we attended was dated back into pre-American Revolution times, the early 1770's.

8. The desks we used in our elementary school, had a hole cut out for the ink well. It was no longer used, but the writing top lifted to reveal a storage space underneath.

9. When I was really little, I remember my mom being a camp counselor, and us kids went along for the week. I remember sometimes having to fill a sack the size of a sleeping bag with straw for a mattress. Within a few years those 'straw ticks' were all replaced with real mattresses.

10. Hymns and choruses. I know music is so subjective. I am old enough to appreciate the hymns and young enough to enjoy the praise choruses. So I enjoy both. I found a website with some of the old hymns. I have sung these hymns down through the years in small country churches, in ornate 'Gothic' type churches, in mission churches with wooden slat benches on the reservation, in mega churches with the most comfortable pews available and room for hundreds, in Mennonite, Catholic, Presbyterian, Assembly of God, Baptist, Methodist, Independent, Four Square, and other churches, all praising the Lord. To me what else can lift the soul than a rousing chorus of "Wonderful Grace of Jesus"; "To God be the Glory"; "Victory in Jesus"; "There Shall be Showers of Blessing"; "I Saw the Light"; "Up from the Grave"; "He is Lord"; "Shout to the Lord", "Majesty"; "Humble Thyself" and many many others.

So I praise the Lord for the many wonderful experiences He has enabled me to experience despite the many dark days of my past.

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