Serving the Poor

Hannah and Sarah are part of a group called Servants on the Mount. It's for 5th and 6th graders and Sarah is a teen helper. A few weeks ago they visited a Nursing Home where they lead worship and prayed for people. This week they went to the inner city and helped a group called Hope City feed the poor. They lead worship, helped cook the food and served it. John went along as the driver and chaperon.

Changes- Out with the Old and In with the New

Sometimes we just need a change. Hope you enjoy our new look.

This is Day 28 of the fast. We're still waiting, searching, resting-sort of, seeking what's next.

Our Home Warranty is Paying Off

When we bought our home our realtor pushed a Home Warranty into the contract. I'm so glad she did. Since June we've had the air conditioner looked at because the line outside had formed ice on it, the refrigerator had a new circuit board put in, and yesterday they totally replaced the garbage disposal with a new one. In all 3 of these incidents all we had to pay was the deductable.

Blessed With Peace and Rest

A couple of weeks ago we were told we needed rest (we knew that to be true) and this person knew where to get it. She sent us to the foothills of the Ozarks to a place that caters to people in ministry who need rest. So we found a couple to stay with our kids and headed south. We had no idea what to expect, a backwoods cabin perhaps. It has been very hot on the way down and my only thought was, "I hope there's air conditioning". We arrived 3 hours later to a ranch where we had to drive across a brook to get in.

The land was wonderful, there was a spring coming out of the hill, a pond stocked with fish, and a very inviting pool.

Our hostess had us follow her to the cabin. She was on a 4 wheeler and we were in a borrowed car. Up a hill and through the woods are nestled 3 cabins around a pond. When the door to the cabin was opened I was elated. Not only was there air conditioning, it was simply beautiful. Everything we could have possibly needed was there. There was a bookshelf loaded with books for ministry, there was a flatscreen TV for viewing movies and teaching videos, no detail was overlooked in how these cabins were created. The woman prayed with us then left. We didn't see any people for 4 days. May I just say it was GLORIOUS. We did a lot of talking, reading, going to the cross, and just resting. It was just what we needed. We hope to make this a yearly habit.

I also got to play with my camera. I took lots of pictures of the beauty that surrounded us, both indoors and out.

This was our porch where we spent a lot of time. In the picture below there are 3 butterflies.

We had this pool to ourselves. The Precious Moments Chapel was on the way.

Should Have Known Better

Yesterday the kids and I met with some old friends at Hernutt to do an afternoon of swimming. Everybody was covered in sunscreen front and back, except my legs. Today I have red hot legs, only on the top though. Sorry, no pictures. They would remove my blog if I showed such an image.

Fast Day 11

God is good, all the time. Last year's 40 day fast seems like it was practise for this year's. John is spending extended hours in the prayer room, from sun up to sun down. We see him occasionally. The refrigerator repairman has been here 3 times. Still don't know what the problem is. We had no refrigerator for 4 days over the 4th of July weekend. The freezer side was cool enough so we put what we could on that side and fed the kids everything they would eat. I didn't have to throw that much away. On Monday the guy manually defrosted it and said not to load it up with food for a couple of weeks so we could monitor it and not have to spoil the food. All seemed well until yesterday morning we woke up to frozen eggs and iced milk and juice. So it's gone from warm to way to cold. He came back today and turned down the thermostat. I could have done that. He says he is being cautiously optimistic. We will keep our eye on it. I wonder if it could have anything to do with the 9 gawkers in the house who stand in front of the refrigerator for endless hours a day waiting for something to jump out at them or grow or something. Maybe I should get a clicker on the door and find out just how many times a day it gets opened. It works out great that we're fasting and I don't have to have as much food around. The kids are eating a lot of p & j sandwiches lately.
On a more serious note- it does seem like we are hearing better on matters of the future and we are going to exit this fast with a plan and strategy for the future. I'm holding on tight for the ride.