Today we felt almost caught up on sleep which was a good thing, because we had a full day planned. First stop - the Bread of Life Cafe in Liberty. It’s run by the Galilean Children’s Home, which is our favorite ministry. We discovered the Home years ago when the church we attended made regular trips from Illinois, bringing donated supplies and volunteer labor for a day or two. The Children’s Home is the result of two people - Jerry and Sandy Tucker - who couldn’t have children and decided to care for children who needed a home. Eventually they did have biological children but by then they had found their calling. Over the years they adopted nearly 30 children and have cared for many, many more - somewhere around 800. Their children include many who were mentally challenged from birth, some who were abused to the point of destroying their intellect, and now they all have a happy home for the rest of their life. Some children had debilitating birth defects, which the Tuckers correct with surgery as much as possible. Children from other countries needing surgeries they could not afford often find a home here for a few years while the Tuckers arrange for life-changing treatments. They also started a ministry of taking care of babies born to women in prisons, making sure the babies visit their moms every week until mom is released. And they don't receive or accept any assistance from the government. They rely on volunteers for the amount of work it takes now, and private donations fill much of the financial need, but they have also been working to create revenue-generating industries of their own. The Cafe is one of these; besides generating income, it provides training and jobs for some of the residents.
But for those interested in the culinary side, it’s worth noting that the food is really good! This is Amish country, so the food is definitely home-made and tasty! We had the breakfast buffet and I got a small bowl of what I thought was apple butter, but one taste told me it was chocolate. Not knowing what chocolate was doing on the breakfast buffet, I asked the waitress what it was for. She said “why, that’s chocolate gravy, for the biscuits….It’s a southern thing.” I may have to move here!
Being in Amish country means sharing the roads with horse-drawn buggies, and farmers plowing their fields with a real six-horse powered plow.
This particular weekend in Liberty, something special was going on. It was the Casey County Apple Festival, which is celebrated by a street fair and by baking a huge, huge apple pie! The pie contains about 45 bushels of apples, 300 pounds of pastry and a bunch of spices. It’s baked in a special pan that is 10 feet across, and it takes a forklift to move it from the one-of-a-kind oven to the pavement.
They make a big deal of cutting it, with the local dignitaries such as the mayor and the Apple Festival princesses. But it’s worth making a fuss over because it really is a good pie! They served that pie all day long, and were smart enough to keep the crowds away until most of it was gone so I didn’t get a picture of the whole thing. At this point it doesn’t look appetizing but that is deceiving - it was a great apple pie, sweet and juicy with just the right amount of spices.
The rest of the fair was similar to was we are used to, but there were some differences. For example, there was a booth serving things like Gater on a Stick, Red Bean and Rice, and Frog Legs. And in booths offering raffles, the prizes were usually rifles. And this might be another Southern thing - prison inmates helped with the cooking and cleanup in some areas. They wore bright green shirts with “INMATE” on the back, but otherwise you’d never notice them.
To finish the day, at 4 in the afternoon we went to the Green River Lake Park where Amazon was hosting a picnic for their employees. As someone who worked at Enterprise, I would say this is similar to Enterprise’s Summer Event. They had free food (hot dogs, hamburgers, side dishes, desserts and sodas), door prizes (not rifles), and lots of things for kids to do. We met up with some of the people we have been working with and just relaxed for a few hours, chatting and enjoying the view.
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