Welcome

Please forgive the lateness of this letter. I have needed to write to you for months, but hopefully when you read this you will then understand. You have all been so wonderful and caring and I want to thank you and I need to be honest with you as I finally had to be honest with myself. I hope that you will understand that I need your support and friendship now more then ever and I pray that maybe my story can help someone else out there.

So many of you prayed with me, and for me and for my husband. Yes, he really was and still is ill. What I hid so well for 18 years was that my husband was abusive. I am a victim and fighting to be a survivor of domestic violence. You never think it can happen to you and then it does. You think you can fix it and you pray that your love can change them. Now and then I believed I could “out live” it so to speak because when he got very ill I felt he was going to die and that then I would be free of the abuse and that my “secret” would be buried with him. But on December 15, 2007 he became so violent I was more afraid that he was going to kill me that night, then a time he had a gun pointed at my head. I had only given him two choices for dinner. I had surgery on my right shoulder on February 1, 2008 to repair 2 tears in my rotary cuff, 2 ruptured tendons, muscle tissue tears and my shoulder bone was shoved under my collar bone. Something he did very often was to back me into a corner and spit in my face (can’t get too much more degrading than that you think?) It never mattered how much I did or how hard I tried; it was never enough and never was I appreciated. He constantly degraded me and told me I was worthless and useless and so on. Hopefully you get the picture.

He really has the kidney disease and the heart disease but he has really milked it to get as much sympathy and more out of me and every one else. He was still able to go hunting and to do all the things he wanted to do and beat the hell out of me when ever he chose and no, I never fought back because of his kidney disease. His skin is very fragile so when he would get me in a corner and repeatedly spit in me face, he would say “Hit me, Grab me, I dare you!” You see if I had grabbed him, his skin would have broken open and bled. Then he could have said I abused and attacked him, so I would just let him spit in my face until he got tired of it. But on the night of December 15, he shoved me so hard into a wooden peg; I thought it had gone through me. It left an instant huge bruise which enabled me to have him arrested because there was physical evidence.

I am still going through court and all the legal games with him, but although I do cry, I do get discouraged, I get tired and I cry some more; I am fighting back. I am not going to play the victim any longer, I will not allow him to take the rest of my life, he broke my heart, he physically and emotionally abused me more then any person should endure. But I will not let him break my spirit, my faith, my God; my Lord and Savior has brought me through so much. I believe God is changing this negative into a positive for his glory. That I can help to maybe help some one else who otherwise feels helpless. I forgive my husband. I had to do that, but I cannot forget or ever trust him again that he would not hurt me or worse kill me so I can’t allow that to happen.

Now Mariah is fighting for Mariah - to keep the store going, to release the me that has been so suppressed, to live, to be a victor, not a victim! I ask for your prayers. But not only for me, but for him, I visually have picked him up and laid him at the foot of the cross and handed him to God and said please help him, I can’t. I did all I could do. I loved with all I had in me and then loved more. But I couldn’t tell him to stop hurting me so I had to give him to God and yes I am going through with the charges and I am fighting to keep the business and my home. This is my life and where I want to spend the rest of my life and keep Maple Leaf going for future generations to be able to come here.

How can you help? Pray, come visit and come shopping. I know how economically tough it is out there. If you come I promise I will give you the best price I possibly can. I have so many bills to catch up on and to those of you who had to wait for your orders, it’s because I am having to get all of my companies caught up, but I will not fail - I will not buckle, I will not give up or quit, in spite of the fact that on top of all else, “someone” busted out my front and side door. No, nothing was stolen, only a scare tactic and to cost me more money. My security system does work and the police patrol my area now more then ever, so whoever was paid to vandalize me need take heed and beware! I know who did it, the police know who did it and more importantly God knows who is responsible and you will not escape God.

I thank you all and may God touch your heart in a very special way.

Sincerely,
Mariah Neff
 

The wassail's a cookin' - the tree's brightly lit - the presents are waitin' for your shopping trip.  The boots and the hats escort the rest - the finest of suits and dresses a'best.  The Car-Mate trailers have filled both lots, everything for your horses - a'waitin' to be boxed.

Check through the site - find a warm coat, a nice pair of gloves, and even some angels from heaven above.  We know this year's been economically rough - but if you'll stop in - we'll do our very best to help you get all the right stuff.

Have a joyous Christmas and remember most of all - Christmas starts with Christ.

God Bless You Always,
Mariah

With all my heart, I want to thank everyone for sticking with me.  Last year was a very rough year - emotionally, physically, and financially.  Thank you for your prayers and for your continuous thoughts for Russ.  He is still with me - Praise God - but he has his good days and his bad.  I have to tell you I have been so emotionally drained sometimes, I'm not sure, but by the grace of God and my faith, how I made it thought a day.

I'm sorry some of my stock has been low and it's taken me a little longer to get orders in, but I will not quit - I will never quit and I'll get back on my feet with God's help and yours.  When you come in, let me know how I can be of help to you.  Together we can make a difference.

God Bless You Always,
Mariah

A Note: To those of you who know why I closed on Sunday to begin with, I did not go back on my thoughts of giving God his day and taking my day of rest.  I had made an agreement with Russ and when it came time to "ante-up" so to speak, I lost so I had to re-open.  A person is only as good as his/her word and we shook hands on it.  So please don't misjudge me or think I turned away or gave up on God - that will never happen.  I did what I had to do.

One of our blessings is being able to bring something from The Holy Land to our customers. We proudly display items from Jerusalem - all for sale; books, jewelry, candles, crosses, menorahs and many other things. As we buy and sell these items, we know in our small way we are helping Israel.

We pride ourselves in serving 3 generations of customers. On the outside sales lot we carry Car-Mate cargo trailers. You must come to see our store to appreciate the love we put into our business. Nostalgic wooden clothes racks, rail fence and the old wood stone take you back to the old west. As you enter the store you'll be greeted by the "cigar store" Indian. The lady manikin aptly named "Patsy Cline", stroll towards the boot room and meet the life size stand up of John Wayne. On the way to the back room you'll meet "Indian Joe". When you glance along the walkways up to the ceiling and on the walls, you'll see cowboys of the old west, Indian chiefs and country music entertainers. We pride ourselves in being the largest and mot well stocked store in our four-state area. We are the country store in the country easily accessible from all interstates in taking the scenic routes through the small towns on the way.

Our customers are our friends and we don't mind special orders. We do not sell online, but give us a call - we'll ship it to you. We look forward to meeting our new customers and always seeing our old friends. May God Bless and keep you always.

Sincerely,

Mariah & Russ Neff
*"Baby Suzy"