A new beginning!

Hello Friends!
I hope this day finds you healthy and happy! I woke up this morning filled with incredible joy and excitement! I woke up praising God for who He is! He is an AMAZING God!

Today, an article will be published in the Globe newspaper about our purchasing the Tavern! The article lists the blog site address, so if you found your way here.... WELCOME! I'm glad you are here.

I created this blog to keep people informed as to what is going on with the Tavern. A buzz has been created and we've been getting a lot of phone calls and people coming into the Neshannock Creek Inn Restaurant asking questions! We love it! We love the excitement. We are so very excited, probably even more than you are!!

Feel free to email me and ask any question you'd like, if you can't find the answers here on this blog. Our email address is thetavernonthesquare@gmail.com

Let me start by introducing myself. My name is Susan Hougelman. I grew up in New Wilmington. My maiden name is Short. I graduated from Wilmington Area High School in 1983! This year we will celebrate our 25th year class reunion! I also attended Westminster College in the evenings,while I worked in the mail room during the day (great memories !!!)studying Business Management.
I am a hometown girl!

My husband Joe, graduated from Sharpsville High School in 1982. He then went on to attend Penn State University and graduated with his engineering degree.

Joe and I met in 1988, fell in love and got married in 1989. Soon after getting married Joe and I moved to Pittsburgh. Joe worked in the Steel Building designing furnaces, and I, Susan, was a pre-school teacher in downtown Pittsburgh.

About a year and a half later, I became pregnant with our first child. Also during that year, I became a Christian. My heart was changed, and I began to ache to be back home near my family. I prayed that God would find us a way to come back home and guess what? He did!

My husband lost his job at the Steel Building. Yes..losing his job was an answer to prayer, although we didn't realize it at the time. My dad called us up and said that he found a little restaurant in Volant that was for sale. He thought it would be a great opportunity for us.

Now I grew up in the restaurant business. But Joe.. he was an engineer. Although he did work at Perkins while going to school, he didn't have much restaurant experience. But we prayed and we trusted God that this was the right path for us to take, so we did it! We became the owners of the Neshannock Creek Inn Restaurant in Volant Pa.

That was 17 years ago! Joe learned how to cook and he became really good at it! He also grew to love cooking and it shows in the incredible food that he creates in Volant.

During the first ten years of owning the restaurant, I stayed at home to take care of my girls, Ally and Lauren. After the girls started school, I began waitressing at our restaurant. I loved it! I loved meeting new people and serving them. I loved being that friendly welcoming face, when people walked through our doors. I loved making people feel comfortable and I loved feeding them! Joe and I made a great team in the restaurant business.

So..that is where we came from. Our Past. Our story. I can't wait to tell you what we plan for the future!! Like I said many times before, we are so excited we can hardly wait, for the Tavern to open. We have so many dreams and plans and a vision to what we want to be.. FOR YOU.. For NEW WILMINGTON! We want to serve this community, not just with a good meal, but with our hearts. We LOVE New Wilmington. This is our hometown! We love the people here. We Want to breathe life back into that corner on the square. Like a City on a Hill, we want to shine with the love that God has given us, to give to others!

Well that's my post for today. There's so much more to come. Next I will share with you what we hope the Tavern will be like. We plan to put a bakery next door in the little house. We plan to be open seven days a week and serve lunch and dinner! Oh we have so many plans!!

I hope you have an incredible day today! Make it Incredible! : )
With love, Susan