News Bulletin  

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Happy Birthday Nevin!!! 

Several weeks ago on a Saturday evening we had four couples in our home to celebrate this special birthday. I was so disappointed..... I forgot to take a group picture. Nevin knew this celebration was going to continue as Barb and Jere invited us to their home for supper Sunday evening. Barb really surprised her Daddy! She invited Nevin's parents, his sisters and their husbands. What a meaningful evening! Here is a picture of our gracious cook! Her meals are always sooooo good. (When Darin was three he said to Barb one day, "Mommy, you're a good maker!" )

 Nevin didn't know who was joining us. He is just ready to hug his Mother here.

Were you trying to guess his age?  Where did the last 10 years go?!! I remember so very well turning 50 and it doesn't seem like it was very long ago!! These glasses were beside his glass of water when we were seated!

Marj is Nevin's youngest sister and beside her is her husband, Kevin.

This is Nevin's Dad. He's in the process of trying on these glasses.  He is 86....look at his hair and then scroll back and look at Nevin's....well, try to look at Nevins!!!    

Barb asked the family if they would bring along some memories of Nevin. We had fun with that as you can see from this picture. This is Nevin's sister, Pat and her husband, Darwin.

Pat and Marj had a box of special snacks for Nevin and some crazy things included...this being one of them. Marj's notes attached to these items made them extra enjoyable!

This gift took some Patches' time before presenting! There are 60 one dollar bills. Nevin looked at that and said, "I'm going to water that baby." And Kevin quickly added, "I'm going to help prune it on weekends!"   

Seth, Matthew, and Darin - I just love them! Three precious grandchildren nearby and four precious ones too far away!!

 Thank you Barb and Jere for this fun and meaningful evening.

 I'm switching from a light heart to a heavy heart...

Some of you have been praying for Glenn and Dawn...our entire family appreciates that so very much. I wanted to update you;I also wanted to show you their family.

Left to right:  Dan and Wendi (expecting their first child,) Doug, Beth and little Mikayla, Gwenda holding Megan and Matt behind Gwenda, Dawn and Glenn - Glenn is holding Braydon, Matt and Gwenda's oldest child.

This picture was taken last fall when all of our families go to the mountains together. Each family takes a main meal for this time; Dawn's family chose Saturday evenng's meal and had a mystery supper. It was just so much fun! Glenn and his boys have all been involved in our local fire company so that was their theme for the evening.

Late afternoon, June 1st, Glenn (53) came into the house with his right foot dragging a little and he could not write with his right hand. They immediately went to the hospital and were told he had a stroke. They did several tests and treated him accordingly. His hand improved but not his foot. Going up steps goes better than coming down; coming down is very difficult - he cannot do it on his own. Friday they discharged Glenn. Dawn and Glenn stopped at the neurosurgeon's office before coming home. It was then the doctor told them  - it was not a stroke but rather he believes the tumors are growing. This was quite a shock as he has been having MRI's periodically and it's always been the same report; the tumors are there but nothing is changing...the size stays the same. This was very hard to hear because they cannot do surgery; it would paralyze him as they are back too far in the brain. This is why I showed you the picture of the children; it's been difficult as they are very close to their parents and each other. That part is a wonderful blessing as they have been used to pulling together. As of now he is scheduled to have a biopsy in about two weeks. He is having therapy at home until then.

Saturday evening, June 6th, I was so amazed when I talked to Dawn by phone. She had a wonderful peace and you could hear it in her voice! Glenn did also. I believe that is an answer to all the prayers ascending to our Father for them. I know the enemy of our soul does not like that. Thank You for remembering them when they come to your mind.

Please pray for Glenn and Dawn -

he had another seizure late Tuesday afternoon.

Because of my schedule, I am going to take a two week break from visiting and journaling.  See you then!

~Blessings

Love Feast

I thought some of you might enjoy seeing how we prepare for Love Feast.

Saturday Schedule

Our deacons and their wives meet at church and prepare for our Love Feast which is held Saturday evening. Today you'll find the ladies in the kitchen filling 544 cups with water for our evening meal. They are then placed in the fridge until it's time to set the tables.

Meanwhile the men are busy in the fellowship hall. Left to right: Randy, seated is Jere (our son-in-law) and Marv are filling the small cups with grape juice for communion. There are also other jobs that keep the men busy until lunch.  

My caring friend, Phyllis (who keeps me calm in busy times) is ready to set this steaming dish of potatoes on the table for our lunch. 

This is a special time of fellowship as we stop our responsibilities and have lunch together. Each of us brings an item for this meal. We start with prayer, eat, visit, and end with a song. (Now why couldn't the healthy food be in full view for you to see!! We do have a balanced menu!  )

As we do dishes after lunch, we get into fun and meaningful conversations. As you see, this one is more serious. The bonding we experience is precious. (Our daughter, Barb, has the pink sweater.) Some of my Mennonite friends will probably know a few of these ladies. (We are Church of the Brethren.)

This meat needs to be thinly sliced as we make a sandwich with this at our evening meal. These ladies put a lot of time into this day - Mary Kathryn on the left, my cousin, Martha, on the right, and I missed getting Martha Copenhaver on here. I'm sorry Martha. Martha C. and Mary Kathryn are sisters and have been doing this "job" for years and years and do so well with all this responsibility! Today they have 260 lbs. of beef.

Early afternoon we have worship service. It's a time we each examine our hearts so we are prepared for the evening as we remember Jesus' sacrifice for us. This isn't a negative time but encouraging. We have visiting ministers here for this service and it is just so refreshing to hear their thoughts as they have prayed and studied. I truly enjoy this time to search my heart and purpose to be in right relationship with God and my brothers and sisters in Christ.

After the service, we move!   On the back of each bench there is a narrow table top that is on a hinge that can be lifted - that becomes our table to place our food items. Most of the deacons and their wives work at this while a few are in the kitchen making rice soup.

After the tables are set, the ladies slice the beef. Nevin was asking if anyone needs their knives sharpened.

This beef preparation is started Friday evening. Early Saturday morning it is placed in a large cooker and by the time we arrive, the aroma at church is wonderful!!! You think you are hungry even if you're not!!

Above, Phyllis and Becky are placing the beef, that the rest of the ladies sliced, in bowls that then go on the table for the sandwiches that I mentioned. 

This rice soup is sooooo tasty! Now it is soon time to start the evening service. By now the tables are completely set except for the soup. We keep the soup as the last item to accomplish so it stays hot. Martha is dipping it from the brazier into a large stainless steel bowl. (You can relax; this dipper is used for food only!  I grew up on a dairy farm and it reminds me of  something we used in the barn!)  

We really DO have cheerful ministers' wives!! They are concentrating as they dip this very hot soup into these small bowls. The deacons' wives and some of their daughters place lids on the bowls and they are then passed from the kitchen to each table in the sanctuary, by hand.  Leave me try to show you.

We are working to the left of this counter top and now Kathy starts this process..........

This is not a top quality picture but I just love it. This is how we do it....all ages helping! The three men on the left are older men and it blesses me to see them being part of this! You notice we stack by two's and hand over hand they are passed until the entire sanctuary has a bowl of soup at each place setting.

Notice across the front of the sanctuary the bowls are being passed.....then the whole way back and gradually the job is accomplished! What a blessing to have so many helping hands. This picture is from my friend Doris.   I have not seen her pictures yet; I know you will enjoy seeing them because she always has quality!  The tubs you see on the floor are for washing feet; I will mention a bit more about that.

I wasn't sure if you would like to hear about each observance we have....I know it will get lengthy. I'll go ahead and place it on here...you are welcome to read it or skip ahead. It is a most meaningful evening as we read scripture to remind ourselves why we do what we are doing!

I don't have pictures of this part of the evening. Somehow it doesn't feel comfortable taking pictures at this time. We start with prayer. Then we wash feet...it's more like rinsing. I have an apron I can easily put around my waist and with that I dry my sister's feet. Then the tub is passed to the next lady and also the same apron. We continue doing that until all the ladies on our bench have had their feet washed. For regular worship service, we sit together as families but for Love Feast we have the men helping each other and the ladies as I mentioned. We do the feet washing because of what we read in John 13: verses 1-17. It's interesting to me that Jesus didn't have the disciples wash their own feet but Jesus washed their's.....this is a symbol where we are telling each other that we are committed to reach out and help when needed.  

We now have what we call the Lord's supper.  (We have wipes for our hands before we eat!  ) The supper is a symbol of brotherhood and peace....a picture of  Christian love. We also take this from John 13. I cannot fathom Jesus eating when He knew exactly what was ahead of Him!

Throughout some of the evening we have singing....with this size group and four part harmony, you feel such a spirit of worship! It's beautiful!

The communion service - Matthew 26:26-28 and I Corinthians 11:24-25. We take the bread first and break a piece for the person sitting next to us - remembering Jesus' broken and bruised body....He was wounded for our transgressions! We feel this is a very sacred part of the evening. Later we sang the song: " He could have called ten thousand angels to destroy the world and set Him free. He could have called ten thousand angels,  but He died alone, for you and me."

As we are about to close the evening, we sing again until everyone has had their grape juice. Our hearts ring out in praise for what Jesus has done for us! "For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise His holy name!!" Psalms 103:11,12,and 1

As you can imagine, there are a lot of cleanup chores. As deacons we all are so very, very grateful for the many people who remain afterwards and help put things away and have the sanctuary ready for Sunday morning worship. This is only a small number of our helpers we deeply appreciate.

Lucille and Stephanie...

I enjoyed getting this picture of my dear friend, Cille, and her oldest granddaughter.

I keep an apron just for this job as I use clorax water to wash these foot tubs.  My, that looks like tired eyes! And by now I'm sure you are tired of reading!! I'm almost finished!

Nevin is a steady Eddy....he just keeps moving and inspires me to do the same. He soon has these stacked so they will be dry by morning and we can return them where they belong.

Review of our day:

Weary in body but strong and rejoicing in spirit!

(Other then my church friends, are any of you familiar with Love Feast?)

Dawn, Connie, and I were pondering what we could do

for our dear Mother for Mother's Day......

(an earlier photo)

In 2008 Connie came up with the idea that the six of us could sing and record it for Mother's Day. Mother loved it! Sometime after our pondering as to what to do for Mother this year, she asked us if we would sing and record it again. Now you need to know that we all enjoy singing but we would not win any prizes!! Glenn would; he has a beautiful tenor and bass range. In the church where he was raised, he had an excellent choir director and he will tell you he learned a lot from Arlene!

We made a huge mistake; we ate our evening meal - before we sang!!!

We got together at Dawn and Glenn's home,  enjoyed supper together, and then TRIED to sing! We all know better! (They have four precious grandchildren under four and one due in November!!)

This will make some of you cringe!     It's called  high tech mic stand!!

We each chose two songs for this concert to bless our Mother.  

No - we didn't sit to sing!

We had so much fun! Caleb and Nevin needed Glenn to help them with their bass part from time to time and then Glenn would switch back to tenor again. I mentioned in an earlier post that Glenn is one of our song leaders at church so tonight he was our director.

This is Nevin's "tired of singing face!" Occasionally we got really silly when it just wasn't coming together!  He really doesn't look like this when he sings!!

Taking a break - we chose some songs that were Daddy's favorites. He had a beautiful tenor and bass also. When he would give an invitation to accept Jesus Christ at the end of the message ( Daddy  was a pastor for a little over 20 years in VA.,) as the congregation sang, the mic picked up Daddy's singing. It is a precious treasure to us to hear that today!

Nevin's checking the sound level on our portable recorder.  (This is the only thing that was top quality tonight! ) 

This was right after we all just lost it and it took awhile 'till we got serious again.

None of us knows when we will be called Home. But when you know that you are dealing with a serious illness, these times of togetherness are very, very precious.

By the way, Mother loved the end result! I took the best and placed that first on her tape. Then I recorded the fun and silly times we had  so she could enjoy that also.

P.S. As I looked over these pictures again, I thought maybe I should point out  to my friends who don't know Glenn the reason his hair is thin on the left side; it is where he had radiation about 20 years or so ago when the doctors first discovered a brain tumor. After radiation he had a clean bill of health for about 16-17 years.

Aunt Marian

Several weeks ago my Mother's oldest sister, Marian, called and asked if we could come that Sunday for dinner at her home. Oh my - with joy we would! After our phone conversation was over, my mind immediately went back to childhood days and I enjoyed reminiscing!  Aunts, Uncles, and cousins would gather together and have a wonderful time at mealtimes and visiting together! At that time they lived in a BIG farmhouse; the kitchen was very long and could seat 24 people. As their family grew, the overflow went into their dining room when guests were invited. This farm house had five bedrooms. Yes, it was large and plenty of life flowing from every nook and corner it seemed. After Nevin and I were married she would have us for a meal with other church friends. It's a place you always enjoyed going for fellowship and food! She was/is a wonderful cook!

Marian's cooking skills go way, way back as they went to several markets for years. In time Earl and Marian build a home bakeshop there on the farm calling it Minnich's Bakeshop. They made and sold many wonderful items from rolls, soups, salads, cookies, cakes, and pies and more that I haven't mentioned! It was one busy place! (Before I was married I helped them to prepare food when they still made their food in the farm house!)

Aunt Marian was diagnosed with macular degeneration which affected her eyesight in 2001. Earl began experiencing shortness of breath so they sold the farm and moved to a cottage at a retirement community. Earl went to be with Jesus in October 2004. Earl was such a blessing to Marian with her limited eyesight; she handles his loss so graciously and speaks of him lovingly. I marvel at Marian!! With her very limited eyesight she continues to cook for guests. There is a little "notch" made at the 350 degree spot on her oven so she can know where to find that starting point. I have never heard her complain. When I think how many things have changed for her, you would think she has a "right" to complain!! But she has a heart to serve and bless others with her cooking and hospitality - and that she surely does! I could say much more about her and Earl (and the growing up years with my cousins) but you would be reading for a long, long time then!!

I really looked forward to this invitation as it is our first time to have a meal with Marian since she moved from the farm in 2002.

I will introduce you to the guests Marian had today. Do you remember Jim and Faye? They are the grandparents of little Gavin who went to be with Jesus as you would have read on an earlier post in 2009. Jim is one of our ministers.

John (my cousin) and Lois....John is one of Marian and Earl's sons - and one of our greatly appreciated Sunday School teachers.  Today they took Marian to church and when they returned, helped her in  the kitchen.

Have you ever become frustrated with saran wrap?! That's like asking if you ever get tired! Jane is helping Marian to cover the homemade caramel pudding after our lunch is completed and we are putting things away. This pudding is soooo good - Mother taught us girls how to make it while growing up. It's easier to grab the cooked pudding today at the grocery store but it doesn't near match the flavor of this "gesture of love!!" Our other desserts were a fruit pudding, raspberry pie, lemon sponge pie, ice cream, and coffee!!!   This is how my Grandma cooked! (Marian made all these things!!) Then she passed pretzels and candy....as if we might have room for that!!

The men are visiting while we ladies put the dishes away. This is Jane's husband, Carl.

Lois (her daughter-in-law) is not just creative but very creative. A small sample of that is seen in this pin cushion she made and gave to Marian today.  

I like this picture of Marian....she doesn't see much of this but can examine it with her hands. She's studying it.

She's a remarkable lady. Just recently I found out that she spends time memorizing portions of scripture. She has a light table that magnifies letters for her.

Well, I took you down memory lane for a bit. I thank the Lord for these precious memories! It was a blessing to spend time with Marian and her guests and our friends, today.

♥

To my dear family and friends -

Happy Mother's Day!

Tuesday

"I exult in the free, confident access You have provided,

so that I can come into Your Presence for warm fellowship,

for refreshment, for mercy when I've failed, for grace when I'm in need."

(Hebrews 4: 14-16 NIV - I found these verses during my morning devotions and was blessed!)

On my list of favorites, this is one of them!

Keller cousins/sisters/aunt Day!

Once a year, each Spring, six of us meet about 8:30am to spend the day together. Sandy (right) has about a two hour drive so we don't get to see her as often as we would like. So we really look forward to this day together. Leah (left) is my aunt, Kathy (tallest) and Sandy are my cousins and Connie (pink) is my sister. My sister Dawn should be with us yet. You will remember her from my last entry. She had off work on Wednesday and instead of going with us for the day, chose to stay home - to spend that time with Glenn.  We really missed her; she is quiet but when she does get talking, she adds life to the party!!

We each choose a place we would like to stop and see and then agree on a place for lunch. Don't you just love kindred spirit?! That is what we experience together in this group. After we all climbed into my van, Leah prayed for our day and asked the Lord to bless our time together! Love it!

We usually go in the direction of the Amish country. We found this location interesting.....especially the carving.

As we drove to our next requested place, we came to a stop sign and this scenery was across the road. No cars were in sight so I quickly took this picture. Here in Lancaster Co. this is so pleasant to the eyes as we are now getting some beautiful flowers and budding trees.

We soon came to a place called "The Valley of No Wires." Kathy had seen this on a bus tour and thought we would enjoy seeing it - and we did. It was a valley of all Amish farms and as you know they do not use electricity. I think it was five or six farms we could see - NO WIRES anywhere! 

It was soon time for lunch. The girls didn't know I took this picture; Kathy is asking the Lord's blessing on our meal. We eat but then we sit long and talk together!  We talk as we drive also......which is about a 45 minute drive until our first stop but when you don't see each other as often as you would like, somehow we don't run out of things to talk about!!

Sandy wanted to take some yummy doughnuts from this area back to her school students so she and I went into this wonderful grocery store for just that! We stopped here before getting to the doughnuts!

I'm not sure how to describe this moment in my day without getting too lengthy! I'll try. After Sandy and I purchased the doughnuts, we walked across the road to the other girls to meet them at Good's Store. It's a wonderful place to buy cards......meaningful - and - 20% discount. I was concentrating on what I was doing, looked up and my eyes saw this dear, dear friend - Billie!!! I think she lives about three hours from here so it was a huge surprise to see her!! You know how special it is to bond with someone; with some people it comes with time. The next person it seems to happen immediately! And that is how it was with Billie. I was at my very first Creative Memories Cropping with Susie a few years ago and I was a bit apprehensive as I was going alone and figured I probably wouldn't know hardly anyone. Susie and the Lord had me placed between two special ladies - Elma and Billie! And the bonding happened! She is a precious sister in Christ. This is a picture of their family taken in 2007 and since then the Lord has blessed their home with a little daughter! (Billie speaks at ladies' meetings.)

I had a set time to meet my sister, cousins, and aunt so we didn't have much time to talk - a hug, a few words, and a praise to the Lord for this timing! I could so easily have missed her! 

If you find time to read this Billie, I couldn't believe I forgot to take a picture of you and your precious little girl!! I would have loved to introduce her to my xanga friends!

Near the close of each Spring day that we have together, Sandy always gives something to each of us that has much meaning. We find a pretty, quiet spot and this year it was on our way home to stop at this gazebo again. She tells us she finds these blessings at Ollie's! This year it is a three-ring notebook and on the front cover the printing says, "God Bless our Home" and is a recipe keeper as that wording is on the inside (by Karla Dornacher.) I'm tempted to use mine as a photo album because it is so pretty!  

She ALWAYS personalizes her gifts so after we took the gift wrapping off, we found this warm note tucked inside.

The giver of our gift, Sandy, - up close! She had such an interesting story to tell us about this Recipe Keeper! She and John were at Ollies in Harrisburg and saw just a few of these notebooks on the shelf. Then she happened to see a man with a cart, full, of these notebooks and she asked him gently what he was going to do with these! Because they were so inexpensive he told her he was taking them home for his children to use them as coloring books!!!!! I think Sandy about lost it but remained very calm and asked would he mind if she took some!!! She just praised the Lord that she was there at that spot - at that time! So did we!

Kathy is listening intently to Sandy. She is a cousin to treasure! And I do! Kathy lives about a half hour from me, goes to another church, is in another school district so I don't get to see her very often at all.....not enough! 

We use the word "nippy" for the weather we had today! Connie is keeping ONE ear warm!! This girl is one I can dump my heart onto....my joys and my concerns and I know those thoughts will be brought, by her, to my Heavenly Father. She is amazing and her walk with the Lord is - I'm searching for a word - so intimate.

Leah often talks with her hands!! She was single until she was 60 so she always gave us nieces and nephews a lot of attention - therefore making her very special to all of us. She is Daddy's sister. Daddy was the oldest in the family and Leah next to the youngest. (seven children) You guessed it - we sit here.....and talk some more!!

We soaked in a little more beauty of our surroundings before packing ourselves back into the van. We were grateful for this blessing to be together today. I think each of us would say that we thoroughly enjoy the little things in life! Back at our meeting place we gave hugs and were soon all headed toward our homes with more memories and Sandy's gift. 

P.S. Nevin looked over my shoulder and said kindly, "Isn't that post getting a little long-winded!"

Sorry ladies - I don't know how  to describe this day with less words!!!

April 18, 2009

Kick Off Tournament

This is a special tournament involving four teams: our current two teams and then men who used to play on the teams pick up a team for this day (Ryan Miller in the red) and a visiting team is invited (the man on the left.) This turns into a fun family day.

Ken (on the left talking to his father-in-law) is known to have a big heart.  This is only the second year to have this special tournament and Ken talked to his wife, Dorinda, about giving the proceeds from the food stand to Glenn and Dawn. Glenn is Nevin and my brother-in-law who has a brain tumor. In the last six months he's had three seizures....each time the doctor increases his seizure medication. Then his body needs to adjust all over again as this  leaves him very tired. Glenn was/is a hard working tractor mechanic, caring husband, loving father, and dear friend. He can now only work several hours a day....and on some days, not that.  It pulls on our hearts to see this big, broad-shoulder guy so tired!

Before you bought your food, they had this picture of Glenn and Dawn. We were asked to sign our names on the matt. I know this will be very meaningful to them!

As family to Dawn and Glenn, Nevin and I want to ask the Lord to bless all of you who had a part in this day. Thank You, Thank You for blessing our loved ones.

Some of the items above were donated....the baked items were made by different ladies and were so  enjoyable!! This was a quickie stop for us as we had guests coming for Sunday lunch and I had plenty to do at home in preparing for this meal. But we wanted to support Glenn and Dawn in this way and when we left home I grabbed my camera as a last minute thought.

When we arrived back home and I looked at our pictures, I realized I did not have any pictures of the busy Mothers doing the behind-the-scene work!!  There were many helping hands there on Saturday. It was a joy to get a picture of these three girls serving the hot dogs and cheeseburgers...two of them are in my Sunday School class. Left: Joanna, Stephaine (moved on to the older class) and Abigail.

Colleen cheerfully served our sodas.

Abigail is serving my Mother a cheeseburger.

Nevin bought french fries.......they were oh so good! This is Tiffani, Ken and Dorinda's daughter. I admired her diligence at this warm and greasy job!

Sarah serving some fries to Jesse....I thought this would be a hard job for me - to not be taste testing!

~Sabrina's job

~Lelan on the left and Dave making our burgers

I'm not sure if this rice krispie is for little Caleb or his mother!  Isn't he precious!

I see I did get one picture of a very busy Mother - behind Nevin is Dave's wife, Bev.

If you want to bless Nevin, make him an oatmeal whoopie pie!!

This was my treasure of the day!! I brought it along home as I thought tea would go soooooo well with this! I heard that Dorinda made these and my mind went immediately to her Mother.  She died of ovarian cancer in her very early 50's and was my dear, dear friend.  She enjoyed making items with yeast and she passed that on to her two daughters. Ruth Ann taught me how to make whole wheat bread when I was a young Mother. I called Dorinda about 8:30 Saturday evening and, bless her, she was still in food and equipment cleanup. (She said the cinnamon rolls are easy to make.)

This is one of Glenn and Dawn's sons, Dan. On the left is my "bestest" dearest friend.

We are very grateful to belong to a caring church family!

And this is a picture of the ones we love who are leaning on the Lord. We continue to lift them to Him in prayer.

I Can Sing Again...

Can you hear the joy in each letter above?!!

Almost three weeks ago I woke up at 2am with fever, sore throat, and headache. That all was gone in about 24 hours but left me with a deep cough. You know when you start to sing you take that deep breath. When I tried to sing, I would start coughing.....and coughing....and coughing.  I may not have thought about it too much because I don't sing a lot here at home. (I should!!) But right in the middle of these three weeks,  we had a 10 day revival meeting! I had two choices....sing and have to walk out because of this cough, or not sing and be able to be blessed by the messages. I heard someone say years ago that "Revival is to a believer like a tune-up is to a car!" So I chose not to sing for these meetings. Last evening we had a meaningful Good Friday worship service - and I could sing for the first time in almost three weeks!! I am SO grateful!!

One of our evangelist's messages was titled, "Are There Stones in your Place?"

Luke 19:38, 39, and 40 - The disciples were "joyfully praising God;" this irritated the Pharisees and they told Jesus to rebuke His disciples. Jesus replied,

 "I tell you if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out!"

Leave me explain further with this song......

~Lest the Rocks Cry Out!

"As I travel through this land all the beauty I behold, from the glory of the mountain to the mysteries untold. How I marvel at the wonders that my God has set in place; I'm reminded He's the only One deserving of my praise!

Chorus: Let the rocks cry out if I won't lift my voice!

All creation shouts the glory of His Name.

Lift your eyes to the skies, see His banner lifted high,

Praise the Name of Jesus Christ 

 Lest the rocks cry out!"

Easter Joy to you, my Friends!

Thank You, Lord, for saving my soul;

Thank You, Lord, for making me whole.

Thank You, Lord, for giving to me

Thy great salvation so rich, and free!

April 8, 1949!

Yes, the number is 60 - today!! (She has had beautiful white hair for years already!)

Our friendship goes way back to high school, double dating, working at the same place of employment after graduation, bridesmaids in each other's wedding, phone conversations about raising our children and now....sharing grandchildren joys!

Happy Birthday my dear Friend!

You've met Theda on here before as she celebrated her birthday in February. Today we scheduled the same restaurant.

I enjoy the laughter we share, the reminiscing, but the deep joy is having a challenging and meaningful conversation as happens so easily with these two dear friends. Theda shared some thoughts she has gleaned from some of the Old Testament books she's been reading...Isaiah to Ezekiel. Cille has been in the Psalms....especially mentioning different verses about "our hope in the Lord."  You leave encouraged and challenged!

This is so much Cille - a thinker......she also is very good at thinking before she speaks!

If you are at this restaurant on the day of your birthday, you are given a coupon to go next door to their bakery and choose a cookie to take home! Even though we had just finished our meal, everything looked delicious!!

This caught my eye as we entered the bakery.

Well, another special memory to tuck away in our hearts! I'm so very thankful our hearts can hold SOOO much!