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There is Someone Raking Our Yard!

It was late afternoon when our daughter-in-law, Kristen, stopped in to pick up their little boys, who had been here a short time so she could take care of some business.  After going to the car, she came back to the office and said, “Do you know there is someone raking your yard?”

I came upstairs (from our basement office) and looked out the window to see Nate Minnich and Sarah Crouse raking leaves.  You can see a better photo of them at http://www.xanga.com/Nateman64. 

They said they were out looking for someone who needed their yard raked. 

  I think they came to the right place!

Before long they had the leaves in a lot of neat piles.

 I didn’t know how to react to having someone doing something for us. 

But soon realized they weren’t necessarily doing it for us – or for themselves – they were doing because they are living for Jesus.

Our daylight hours are very short right now, so it didn’t take long until the sun was setting.

Imagine Cerwin’s surprise when he came home, shortly after they left, to discover he didn’t have to rake leaves on Saturday. 

Newsletter Mailing

 The newsletters are ready for today’s volunteers.

 17 volunteers began arriving shortly after 8 AM.

Cerwin had to load the van two times in order to deliver 64 mail trays to our post office.  Thanks to the great volunteers, we were finished by noon.

Remember I told you yesterday that the sun would come out today?  

It did!

A Dreary Day

The clouds and rain matched my spirits today!

This morning I took my two oldest brothers and step-mother to the funeral of my Aunt Anna Mae.  Even though the funeral was a wonderful celebration of a godly life, and it was fun to see uncles, aunts, and cousins, being with her family caused me to miss my mom.  She died suddenly in 1974 at the age of 52, so it has been 32 years since we shopped, laughed, cried, and prayed together.

My body is weary from a busy week – getting ready for a large newsletter mailing tomorrow. 

I also received several prayer requests that sadden me – serious illnessess and broken relationships. 

~~~

I am glad to serve and trust in an awesome God and know in my heart that the sun will come out tomorrow – if not then, the next day!

I will praise You forever  for what You have done;

in Your name I will hope,

for Your name is good.

I will praise You in the presence of Your saints.

Psalm 52:9 NIV

When You Place

Your All

In God’s Hand

You Have No Need

To Be Worried About

Your All.

Grandson Josh Stopped in Today to Show Me His New Braces

Sunday

Morning

Our day started when the alarm went off at 3:45 AM, so we could be on the road by 5:30 with TFC’s promotional chapel.  This time we were heading to Line Lexington, PA, (northwest of Philadelphia) for Mission’s Sunday at Line Lexington Mennonite Church.

Two hours later we were at the church where Sam Rittenhouse and his wife attend.  Sam is on TFC’s Leadership Team as Associate of Chaplain Care.  In the above photo he (right) helps Cerwin set up the chapel steps.

While they got the chapel prepared for visitors, I set up our display in the spot reserved for us, along with about fifteen other local and foreign missionaries supported by the church.

Because the rig is so large, we must always arrive at a church before anyone else.

We enjoyed the morning service where a dozen missionaries were present to give a three-minute presentation on their work.  Afterward, in place of adult Sunday school, church members visited everyone’s display.  The chapel was a popular place to visit.

Our youngest daughter, Deb, asked for permission to use our garage to host a baby shower for her sister-in-law.  When we got home at 5:00 PM people were arriving in an effort to surprise the young couple.

I only took pictures during the early part of the evening, before the expectant couple arrived.  When I looked at the pictures I also realized that I didn’t take any pictures of the men, who were visiting in the back room.  You can see a few of them in the first picture.  Deb told me there were 70+ people here.

Pray For These Truck Drivers

Mark, called tonight.  He was laying over in Indiana.  His life is lonely and falling apart.  I told him that I only knew of One Person who could give him wisdom for life.  He is 37 and grew up in a single-parent home.  His mother was always ill.  He never knew his father.  He knows about Jesus and tries to read the Bible.  After a lengthly discussion, he prayed and asked the Lord to come into his heart and transform his life.  I told him about our chapels and chaplains and invited him to stay in touch with us.

Peter, is a Christian driver who calls occasionally.  His last call was a few days ago.  He is also discouraged with life.  Many of his circumstances are similar to Mark’s.  Both are struggling in their marriage, finances, and with making wise decisions.  Both have children they rarely see.

These stories happen multiplied hundreds of time in our country, and remind me to be thankful for my godly parents, and compel me to continue sharing and showing the love and wisdom of God with our children and grandchildren.  Both of these drivers are almost forty years old and have no idea of what it means to make wise decisions.

Parents, teach your children how to be godly and wise.

Friday

I was prepared for a day and night of having Jere and Kristen’s four children, as they went to a Marriage Seminar at Calvary Church in Lancaster.

We played some and worked some!

Jared has taken on the responsibility of taking out the trash when he is here.  Someday his wife will bless me!

A Treat After Church

Our ten-day revival meetings are coming to a close, and since we had Josh, Jana, Ian, and Jared, we promised Jeff and Chris’ five children that we would treat them all to ice cream at a local restaurant after church on Friday night.

Twin Kiss ice cream is so-o-o good.

Jeff and Chris

Jenna

Jana and Diana

Jared doesn’t like ice cream, so he and I shared a root beer float.  He drank the root beer – I ate the ice cream.

Diane wanted a photo of her eating!

Jordan

For some reason I didn’t get a picture of Nathan, so will use this one from August. 

He loves to take pictures and when he was finished eating, asked for permission to use my camera (He knows the condition.  The strap must be around his neck.)  

He is so creative with a camera!  Check out the next four pictures.

Josh

Ian

Diana, Gloria, Jana

Diana, Gloria, Jana, Ian

A Funny Story

I’m not exactly sure when it happened, but a couple of the boys went to the bathroom, including two-year-old Jared, who asked to use the toilet like the other boys, so Nathan tried to help him by partially removing his pamper.  Before long one of the boys came to us, laughing, and asked if I have an extra pamper along. 

I said, “I think there’s one in the diaper bag in the car.  Why.”

“Jared’s pamper fell in the toilet!”

The camera caught Jenna and Cerwin laughing, but this is what we all looked like, trying to imagine the boys dilemma – having to fish a wet pamper out of the toilet.

The Swans

Last night we went back to the butcher shop to pick up our venison sweet bologna.

It was neat seeing the swans again.  This time they were in the water.

If you look closely, you can see a bit of orange reflecting on the pond, but nothing close to the sunset I was seeing in the western sky.

Sunset

Venison Sweet Bologna

Thirty-three pounds of venison made three large rolls of bologna.

For those of you not familiar with Pennsylvania sweet bologna, this is what it looks like.

There are a variety of ways to serve this meat, but one of my favorites is to cut it into very thin slices, sautee slightly, and serve as a hot sandwich.

A fried, sweet bologna sandwich and a cup of tomato soup is supper fit for a king  – or queen!

That Made My Day!

This morning our daughter-in-law, Kristen, called and asked if I would check on the progress of their driveway, and take pictures of the blacktopping job, since she couldn’t be at home.  (She is an avid scrapbooker, and likes lots of pictures.)

On my way to their house one mile away – with camera in tow – I went by my brothers’ farm and noticed a familiar rig unloading feed.  I stopped, backed up, and saw that it was my favorite White Oak Mills driver!

Our oldest son, Jeff

He gets into our area periodically, and may stop at the house for a coffee break about once a year, but I have never seen him on the job – so that was neat.

I know the cows are going to appreciate the delicious grain he left in their bin.

~ ~ ~

The Driveway 

I was surprised to see so many pieces of equipment were parked at Jere and Kristen’s house – in preparation for blacktopping their driveway. 

I went back an hour and a half later and was surprised that nothing had been done, and most of the equipment was gone.  I later found out that they were trying out a new piece of equipment that did not work, so they scooped up the blacktop they laid.  They will come back on Tuesday to finish the job with their regular equipment.