Site of Amish schoolhouse shooting
Well, last night and this night we are in Lancaster County, PA, also known as Amish country. We are actually staying on an Amish farm, and we spent a good part of today playing around with a few kids from the family who owns this property. It’s a beautiful house, and they have several barn-like structures and even a few silos.
The little guys have been playing with nine-year-old Jason and his five-year-old sister, Marlene. They played football in the front yard, and the kids also showed our chubs some new puppies that they have. The chubs spent hours holding and playing with the puppies. I’ve got to admit, they were pretty cute!
Marlene, who is just an extremely adorable little girl, showed me around the building where they keep their 100-plus cows. She also was chasing a kitten around, introduced me to some calves, and even showed off their pony, Buddy. I’ve got to say, she is a fearless little girl! It’s so cute to see her interact with the puppies and the cows alike.
Late in the afternoon, our whole family went for a drive through some back roads and passed by the West Nickels Mine School, which was the site of the terrible Amish schoolhouse shooting that happened on October 2nd and has been in the news so much. Mom and Dad were relaying different facts they learned about the incident, and this evening I’ve even spent a little bit of time on Google and Wikipedia learning a little bit more about it.
I guess I’m feeling kind of sick after seeing that small building with the windows boarded up and police tape surrounding the entire area and then hearing the stories and reading the articles detailing the day. It’s just such a tragedy, such a terrible thing that happened. How hard it is to lose anybody at any time, but to have kids so young murdered in such a way, with the parents and family members outside of the schoolhouse at the time the shooting took place — it’s just unthinkable. I’m praying for the families of both the shooter and the victims, that God would comfort them and bring them peace.