For as long as I can remember, Grandma and Grandpa Bisel's house has always been there. Grandpa built the house when Dad was a young boy. My Dad built his family a house, which was across the driveway from Grandma and Grandpa's. We always called this house, "The Little House." I can recall living in "The Little House," but I cannot remember moving to Grandma and Grandpa's house. I do remember we lived there before I went to kindergarten. This house has always been filled with family, love, service, work and a family whose parents tried very hard to live and teach the gospel of Jesus Christ. Many children were raised in this house. Many lessons were taught. Love and hard work were taught and lived. Our lives in this house were blissfully happy. 
At the house today, the trees are taller, the fence has changed and the porch is covered in...but the memories live on.
You can see the barn in the background of where the family is playing. This is the barn where we taught that obedience is not only the first law of heaven, but also the law to a succesful family. We were taught to milk cows, feed calves, clean the barn and corral, catch and bridle horses, saddle horses, feed pigs, irrigate and be responsible. This is where we learned that hard work makes a person strong, organized, capable, cooperative and confident.
This is the barnyard where the calves used to be fed when I was a young girl. This later turned to the pony pen where Mom and Dad loved and played with their miniature ponies. We filled this area with sawdust to have a family rodeo for the last family reunion Dad would ever attend. 
Many, many holidays were spent in laughter and good times within these walls in Mom and Dad's house. This was Halloween just a few days before Dad left us. For the last eighteen months, my siblings and I have spent cleaning Mom and Dad's home. These days have been enlightening to me...realizing that some of the things we work so hard to possess are just earthly possessions. Yet, these earthly possessions really do mean so much to each of us. As I look back over these many months of cleaning and making decisions, there have been some times I would say are sacred...sacred because we discovered things we thought we knew but have been driven home very hard about the kind of people our parents were. We have had to learn to share and be considerate of each other's feelings. These are lessons we thought we already knew... but we grew closer and more appreciative to our parents for teaching us those principles which we have needed to know to make this task less daunting. 
Our goal was to be out of Mom and Dad's house by the end of February. We are not quite there...there will be one more day of dividing the picture albums and the old items we think are the greatest treasures. Funny...these great collectibles are not the diamonds, the turquoise, the paintings, the silver nor the furniture...they are an old dress, an apron, the root beer bottle capper, Dad's boots and hats, church books with expressions of love written to each other and their Riding Club jackets. We DO NOT have to divide the principles they taught us as we lived with them in this house. We DO have to live those principles we were taught...because Mom and Dad would not expect any less. This house was a wonderful place to be raised. Mom and Dad were wonderful people.
The time has come for another generation to "move" in to the Bisel House. This will be the third generation of Bisels--just as my Dad wanted. This time, it will be my brother and his wife, Trudy. I am please they want to live there and carry on. It will not be "my" home any longer, but I will always remember the home where I was raised and the things I was taught.
4 comments:
The farm, the little house, and Grandma and Grandpa's house hold MANY wonderful memories for me. I loved growing up on the farm, and those memories were some of the reasons that Rick and I wanted to have the same for our Children. I am excited that my kids can grow up like me...on a farm across the driveway from Grandma and Grandpa. I know it has been LOTS of long hours cleaning out Grandma and Grandpa's house, but again it has provided such wonderful memories.
what a beautiful post. as sad as it could have been, when we cleaned out my mom and dad's house it turned into just weeks and months of remembering all our fun times with them. and like you everything we learned. also the treasures for me were little bits of handwritten letters. aprons, my mom' old bits of china. things that were "them". you hit on it perfectly.
I, like Olivia, feel so lucky that my kids will get the chance to grow up with the farm life. I love that I got a chance to live in the Little House and spend so much time in Grandma and Grandpa's house. What a special time this has been for you to remember your sweet parents. Love you, mom!
The majority of my childhood memories exist on that farm and close to both of those houses. I can remember standing in the driveway as the big milk tanker would come to get the milk. If you stood still as it drove by the silver tank was like a fun house mirror and would make you look short and fat. I also remember the yellow roses that would bloom along the side of the driveway and smelling them each time I rode my bike past. Then there are the days of climbing in the apple trees, playing in the broken down trucks, and feeding all types of animals with my dad or grandpa. I will say that those sweet times have made me who I am today and who I hope the become. Grandpa and Grandma left more than an a farm... they left a legacy! Each child, grandchild, and great grandchild they knew can be a testimony to that. Love your post as always!
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