I love where I live.  Northeastern Pennsylvania is a truly beautiful place to live and work.  The people here are hard workers, dedicated to their communities and very accepting of outsiders, considering the reputation of "Yankees" being somewhat...snooty?  We definitely have the reputation of being rude, unfriendly and quick to judge.  I don't really find this to be the case, but I think that this is my opinion because I've lived in either New York or Pennsylvania all my life.  Living in a culture definitely makes you less sensitive to it's idiosyncrasies. 

The picture above is the field right next to our home.  Its a beautiful time of year and while my oldest suffers from "hayfever," watching the bright green John Deere "poop" out the big, round bales and then being present for the process to begin all over again really allows you to understand who the people of Pennsylvania are.

They are dedicated.  They are patient.  They are content.

It takes an awful lot of patience, dedication and contentedness to mow these fields three to four times a year in the blazing hot sun, then teach your children to not only do the job well, but love it and want to remain where they grew up. 

Depending on how you interpret the data, Pennsylvania is experiencing a slow growth.  I was reading my issue of Penn Lines magazine that comes to the house every month and Kathy Hackelman wrote a eye-opening article about the population of rural PA in contrast to the rest of the rural United States.  Hackelman has concluded that Pennsylvania is a snapshot of the United States as a whole; PA reflects the U.S.'s rural population ratio.

Cool fact:  There is a thirty-eight minute difference from when the sun rises on the eastern side of Pennsylvania compared to the western side.

I thought that was interesting!  Having lived on both sides of PA, I never noticed the difference.  I bet no one else has either.

This is a picure of our home here in rural northeast PA.  We have a chocolate labrador, a ranch home with a walk-out basement and a minivan in our driveway.  Does it get much more "American" than this?  Why yes, yes it does!  This is one of the truly amazing aspects of being an American.  There is no "one way" to be American.  We all hear the sterotypes of baseball and apple pie, but chop suey, gyros, and naan are just as "American."  We are diverse and I, for one, revel in that diversity.  Truly.  I mean, I hear people say that they love it that there are all different types of people in the U.S., but boy-oh-boy, when it comes to illegal aliens being taken care of by our tax dollars, phew, the real opinions begin to fly! 

Now, I'm not saying that the people here illegally shouldn't be dealt with, but how can we do it in a way that is kind and helpful?  Deporting them just so they turn around and come back might not be the most helpful thing either.  I don't know the enswer, but I do know that they are people.  Human beings that have souls and matter to God and therefore, must matter to me too.

I have so many many thoughts floating around in my head today.

Pintrest ideas, packing, laundry, what will I make for supper tonight, who will I vote for this November, selling this house and purchasing another...so many thoughts.

Anyway, on to packing and laundry because those are the two easiest today.  Have a great day and I'll be posting again soon, I'm sure.