THE HOT WATER HEATER

For the past week, Chad and I have been hearing

some strange noises coming from the basement.

Sometimes the noise even dimmed the lights.

~~~

Alan, who has read all the Agatha Christe,

and Sherlock Holmes books including all

The Cat Who........books, had already

figured out what was making the noise.

~~

After realizing that the hot water heater could not be fixed,

he called the plumber. Oh yes, and that is when he fainted.

My neighbor asked if he fainted when he saw the bill!

~~

The plumber ran into another problem.

The new furnace had been installed after the hot water heater.

There was no room to get the hot water heater out.

The plumber left.

~~

This morning Alan tore out the door facing hoping that there

would be enough room. When the plumber came, he still could

not get it out. They called the man who had installed the furnace.

He came and removed something around the furnace.

Three men are still working on it.

~~

I hope that Alan doesn't faint again when he sees the bill!

I hope I don't either!

WEEKEND RETREAT

This morning when we got up

we didn't have any hot water.

Alan thought he could fix the water heater when he got home

from work this evening. When he opened the water heater

he saw that the bottom was rusted through.

He called the plumber to install a new water heater.

Alan was watching the plumber work on the heater

when Chad saw his dad fall over on his side.

Alan had fainted!

Now that has happened twice in one week.

I called the doctor and he said to take him to the ER.

They put him on a heart monitor.

They did an EKG.

They took an X-ray of his chest.

They took blood.

They did an exam inside and out.

They found no cause and sent him home.

For a while, I think I better be the designated driver.

Maybe he better wear a helmet too!

AN ABUNDANT CROP

The rainy, humid weather that our county has had this summer

has been good for some things, but not so good for others.

For instance the ornamental grasses are in their glory.

This one is pushing my "bird plant" out of its bed.

Our zucchini has taken over the entire side of the garage.

Our peach tree is so loaded that the limbs are resting on

Ornamental grasses in the circle garden.

The limb on the backside of the tree has already

touched the ground.

But, who has time to brace them up again?

(First things first.

We had no hot water this morning.

I have spent the morning gathering replacement

parts so when Alan gets home, he can drain the water heater

and replace the heating elements. )

Because of all the rain, our Gold Mound Spirea has developed mold.

We talked to the gardener at the store, and she told us about

a spray we needed to apply in order to save them.

(All ten that line the front of our house.)

Gardens take constant care.

GARDEN TALK

Yesterday morning I walked into the flower gardens

bright and early. Everything had grown out of proportion.

As I looked around I will have to admit that it overwhelmed me a bit.

I decided to attack the gardens a little each day.

I worked for about two hours cutting, prunning,

and pulling. The sweat was burning my eyes and dripping

from my nose. It was humid.

This morning I did the same except I bagged everything

and cleaned up the yard for tomorrow's mowing.

About two weeks ago everything was in bloom.

My computer crashed so I didn't get to post pictures.

I have six bushes of daisies. If you need some,

just let me know. They need a good thinning.

DINNER FOR SIX PLUS FOUR

Ruth and her son, Dave, served us a VERY fine meal.
Ruth and Dan have a lovely large home and are

well able to accommodate a large group.

You may remember the pictures I posted about

them when we were here before.

Nevin and Ruth are new to our church, but
they are old friends to us and to the host and hostess.
We all had a good time with them again.







Alan is feeling very well and is loving this little gathering.
I think I see Chad's knee in the lower left.

We sat in their large living room after dinner.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ruth served us a lovely meal.

She had stuffed Pork chops!!!!!

I thought they had a delicious flavor,

but Ruth called me this morning to apologize

because she thought they were tough!

I have never eaten a stuffed pork chop in my life,

but I didn't think them tough, and I thought they were really good!

After talking to Ruth on the phone,

I said to Chad, "Did you like the pork chops we had last night?"

Chad said, "What pork chops?"

I said, "The pork chops that Ruth served last night."

He said, "Oh, I thought it was turkey, and I thought it

was pretty good turkey!"

I had to laugh!

Ruth is so full of fun.

She will laugh when she reads this!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ruth served so many good dishes. Along with the stuffed pork chops,

she had red potatoes, spinach souffle, Copper Penney Carrots

which were so good that I could have eaten them for dessert,

rolls, I had brought a layer salad and Lyn had made two desserts.

She had TandyCake and a fruit salad that was out of this world!

Well, we all ate too much!!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After dinner we retired to the living room where

Dan, our Host, asked us to each share a story about

how God has helped us in our journey of life.

I wish I had the space and time to write about all the stories

and ways God has led us. The evening was a real faith builder

and one that we will not forget for a long time.

Thank you, Dan and Ruth, for such a lovely evening.

MUSIC, ICE CREAM, AND FRIENDS

Alan was well able to go to church last night.

We thank the Lord for his quick recovery

from such a traumatic weekend!

We are thankful for your prayers that carried us,

for the visits from three pastors,

for the phone calls from family afar,

encouraging comments right here,

and for all the doctors and staff

who took care of Alan

while in the hospital.

We are even thankful that Alan passed out in the ER

because the staff was trying to figure a way to admit

him then after he passed out, they had a reason.

They not only admitted him,

they put him in I. C. U.

That is like being bumped up to first class

on an airplane.

He had wonderful care!

I was so glad we went to church last night.

The music program was so refreshing.

Dan and Cathy Foster who are so talented,

and on staff at our church led the program.

Cathy sang two songs.

In Heaven's Eyes

was one of them.

I think I could listen to her sing all day!

What amazing control she has of her voice!

Dan is a marvelous piano player.

I could listen to him all day, too!

Then our own Tom Ford sang.

He is our minister of music and has done

wonders for the music program at our church.

Not only does he have a tremendous voice

but he is a wonderful director of music

and he does it all in humility.

We also enjoyed hearing guest singers,

Karen Knight and Josh Keefer.

They were amazing!

IN HEAVEN'S EYES

sung by Sandi Patti and written by Phill McHugh.
A fervent prayer rose up to heaven,

A fragile soul was losing ground

Sorting through the earthly babble,

Heaven heard the sound.

It was a life of no distinction,

No successes, only tries.

Yet gazing down on this unlovely one,

There was love in Heaven's Eyes.

The orphaned child, the wayward father,

The homeless traveler in the rain

When life goes by and no one bothers,

Heaven feels the pain.

Looking down,

God sees each heartache,

Knows each sorrow,

hears each cry,

And looking up,

we'll see compassion's fire

Ablaze in Heaven's Eyes.

Refrain: In Heaven's Eyes,

there are no losers,

In Heaven's Eyes,

no hopeless cause.

Only people like you,

with feelings like me

And we're amazed by the grace

we can find In Heaven's Eyes.

After the program,

ice cream was served in the social room.

We were so pleased to see some visitors

from Lititz Grace Church.

They have been long time friends

of ours and have always been such a blessing

to us. I know that they enjoyed the music of the evening.

There was such a sweet spirit of fellowship after the service.

FIT AS A FIDDLE

I went to the hospital this morning and waited in the waiting room

for Alan to come out of "surgery." That is what I call it because

they went in knowing what they had to do. They put two clips on

the offending vein. The doctor made sure that it wouldn't bleed again.

They gave him Propofol as the anesthetic.

He liked it because when they were done, he was wide awake.

The nurses said that Propofol was the drug Michael Jordan took to sleep.

Alan was ready to go home!

The nurses walked him around a little to make sure he was doing well.

Within two hours, they dismissed him, and we were out the door.

When the girl who pushed him in the wheel chair took him to

the outside door she said, "God is good, so that is why you are

going home today!" We said, "Amen!"

Alan came home, ate a little lunch, took a shower, and now he is

resting. He is planning to go to the musical program at church tonight.

We are thankful to all of you for your prayers.

We surely felt them.

It is like riding on eagles wings!

We thank the Lord for His Spirit who abides in us and

carries us along.

UPDATE ON ALAN

Alan had his colonoscopy and endoscopy on Friday.

They found and removed three polyps.

They found some other troubling issues in the

esophagus, but we will wait for the lab results

before we get concerned.

Alan had the procedures on Friday.

This morning he began hemorrhaging.

We called the doctor, and he told him to go to the ER.

While in the ER, he passed out when the nurse was talking to him.

He leaned over to me and passed right out!

Within seconds thirteen staff and one doctor were in the room

carrying him to the gurney and hooking him up to EKG and fluids.

They thought he had had a heart attack.

Needless to say, they admitted him.

He is in the I. C. U.

He will have another surgery in the morning to see

where the blood is coming from. They feel sure that

one of the polyps that was removed is still bleeding.

He is in good spirits but is a little put out at having
to use the bedpan. They will not let him up for fear

he will pass out again.

Our pastor stopped in to see Alan. He said,
"It looks like you two have switched roles!"

Yes, I got well just in time to take care of Alan,

which he did so faithfully and so well for me.

We appreciated the pastor's visit because we knew he

was very busy today. There was a funeral at our

church today.

Also, our friends, the Mackeys, came.

Of course, Fred had to tease him about doing anything

in order to get attention.
We REALLY appreciate our church family.

Thank you for your prayers and concerns.

His surgery is scheduled for 8 AM in the morning.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It is 8:40 PM.

I just talked to Alan.

He drank all the preparation for the surgery tomorrow.

I feel sure he will be up most of the night.

He seemed in good humor.

He said that Pastor Marv had been in to see him.

Alan really appreciated his visit.

I hope that Alan can get some sleep tonight,

but knowing how close a check they are keeping on

him, I doubt it.

FRUSTRATION

Maybe you have heard frustration in my voice as of late.

Well, this morning my computer is completely down.

We have so much work that we are doing so there is little time

to fix it. Alan has taken everything off, but he has to go to work

and there is not time to reinstall.

This will be my last post for a while.

(I had pictures to post of our neighborhood ice cream party,

pictures of a picnic with our church friends,

a video of Cody, and many pictures of our flowers.

Maybe when I have nothing to post about, I will gather

them from old files and post them later.)

Please pray for Alan.

He has his procedures on Friday.

His blood pressure is fine at the moment.

Oh, I talked to Ainsley, daughter-in-law and mother of Cody Asher, and

she is doing really well. She is just tired because

she is not getting sleep since Cody wants to eat

really often. But cowboys are always hungry! RIGHT?

CODY ASHER

What a BEAUTIFUL name!

Look at all that hair!

He is a peach!

I LOVE THIS PICTURE!

Here is Momma with her cowboys!

Look at the excitement on Dylan's face!

Wyatt and Dylan look so proud of their little brother.

THE LORD GIVES

We are thankful this morning for the safe arrival of

CODY.

To me he looks a little like Dylan.

I think it is that beautiful mouth.

He has those almond shaped eyes too.

What a sweet looking baby!!!!

His opened mouth makes me think he is going to be a singer!

We can't wait till they take him home so we can visit with him

on the web cam. It will be fun to hear what Wyatt and

Dylan think of him. I think there will be some interesting

conversations coming up!

Ainsley will have her hands full now that she has three cowboys!

Ben is a proud father, and he has a right to be!

A VERY SPECIAL DAY - JULY 18, 2009

Today our third grandson was born!

His name is CODY.

When Ben called Cody was only less than an hour (4:55 PM) old

so he didn't have the weight or height yet.

Cody was eating well and doing fine.

CONGRATULATIONS to

Ben and Ainsley.

LOW BLOOD PRESSURE

I do not know which pill did it, but

Alan's blood pressure was down this morning.

He has been having these readings for a couple of days.

182/90

176/97

191/105

184/95

178/104

Yesterday, the doctor gave him some other meds.

This morning his pressure was

134/82

While eating breakfast, his head hung over his cereal bowl

like he was about to fall in and go to sleep.

He then crawled out to get into the car to go to work.

I think this is going to be a rough day for him!

EARLY MORNING APPOINTMENT

We had an early morning appointment with the doctor.

Alan's blood pressure was up.

The doctor said that the reason that it was high

was not from the blood pressure medicine.

He gave him some other meds to go with the pill

he is now taking.

He is treating him for allergies.

The gastroenterologist is treating him for acid reflux.

They think that one of those is the reason for his coughing.

~~~~~~~~

I have been running errands all day.
It is 3:15 and I am just now getting home.
I stopped and bought some more corn on the cob.
We have plenty corn in the freezer, but
there is something good about eating it off the cob.
(Heather used to call it, corn on the bone.)

WEDNESDAY WAITING DAY

• Waiting for the arrival of our new grandson,
• Waiting for Alan to reinstall programs on my computer,
• Waiting to get back on my computer,
• Waiting so I can get my email,
• Waiting so I can post using paragraphs,
• Waiting so I can post in pictures,
• Waiting so I can get on Facebook,
• Waiting for Alan's blood pressure to go down,
• Waiting for his procedure, and
• Waiting, waiting, waiting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alan has been going through a series of tests.

The tests are saying that he is losing blood somewhere.

He is anemic.

We went to a gastroenterology doctor today.

She will be doing the Endoscopy and Colonoscopy.

He is coughing, coughing, coughing.

His blood pressure is very high.

I made him go to bed when we got home.

I was afraid of a stroke.

It is still high after resting.

I made an appointment for in the morning with the family doctor.

Please pray for him.

A GREAT SUMMER RECIPE

As many of you know, I am gluten intolerent so this recipe

is a dish I really enjoy!

I got the recipe from a lady who had been a missionary

to Italy. She brought it to a carry-in dinner at church

back in the '70's.

She called it Zucchini from Italy.

I call my version of it

ZUCCHINI PIZZA.

Cut in half and scoop out centers of 6 small zucchini into

a bowl. Boil the zucchini boats for 5 minutes.

To the zucchini pulp, add the following:

3 Tbls. Hellman's mayonnaise

2 Tbls. Parmesan

1/2 cup mushrooms

4 slices boiled ham, chopped

1 egg, beaten

1 t. salt

1/4 t. pepper

1/2 t. Oregano

Mix it all together.

Drizzle 3 Tbls. Olive Oil over Zucchini boats.

Fill the boats with the mixture.

Sprinkle boats with mozzerella cheese and more parmesan.

Bake 375 degrees for 30 minutes

(I added Pepperoni to the top. The Cheese, mushrooms,

ham and pepperoni makes me think I am eating Pizza.)

I always eat waaaaay tooo much!

MONDAY, MORE COMPUTER PROBLEMS, & MORE CORNHOLE

Last night we had some couples over after church

for ice cream, cake, pizza, and Cornhole.

While Alan was getting the pizza, I played

Cornhole in his place. I had never played before,

but I did put two beanbags in the hole.

I am convinced that it happened by chance.

FABULOUS, FABULOUS SUNDAY

Today Alan and I went to church.

We greet in the foyer every Sunday.

We have people greeting at the doors,

but we usually are found somewhere in the foyer

for the purpose of greeting people again.

We do not go to morning adult classes because

people come in at all times of the morning.

As the worship service began, I was making my way

towards the auditorium when I spotted my friend,

Betty, coming in the side door.

I was so SURPRISED and happy to see her and her husband.

They enjoyed the service with us this morning.

The choir has been on break for the summer, but

came back this morning to sing. They sang very well

this morning! They sang a favorite of mine,

"For Such a Time as This!"

That song always makes me cry for some reason.

The pastor is still preaching from Ecclesiastes, and

his message this morning was timely, significant,

and practical. We appreciate Dr. Bob and his wife, Doris,

so much! They have been such a blessing!

Dr. Bob's message was

"The Futility of Narcissistic Living."

Alan and I handed a bulletin to a man this morning

and when he saw the title of the message, he

came back to us and asked us what Narcissistic meant.

Alan told him, but Dr. Bob explained it during his sermon.

Narcissistic living is living for the pleasures of life in

satisfying all your desires rather than for pleasing God.

Solomon found out that living to please ourselves is futile.

The admonition was

"If any man will come after me,

let him deny himself,

take up his cross, and follow me.

For whosoever will save his life

shall lose it:

and whosoever will lose his life

for my sake shall find it."

Matthew 16:24

I hope that you were blessed like we were this morning.

We absolutely love the church people,

we love the worship service, we love our pastors,

and we love the Word of God which is preached here.

I was so blessed to talk to three different people whom I

have never talked to before this morning. I met them

in the foyer and they told me about their journey in life

and the part that this church has played in bringing

them along in Christ. I am fascinated with the stories

of people's lives and their testimonies.

It was a FABULOUS SUNDAY!

IT'S SUNDAY

Glen made the first hole in one!

We had an ice cream party last night

with our neighbors.

We played Cornhole.

Victor pitched a high one.

Kim pitched a low one.



Carol held Katie.

~~~~~~~

I had baked a yellow cake for the gathering.

It only had 15 minutes left to be in the oven.

I asked Alan if he would take it out when the bell rang.

"Sure, no problem!" was his answer.

I ran across the street to inform some of the

neighbors of the time of the party.

When I got back, the timer was buzzing and

Alan was no where in sight!! YIKES!

I don't know which is worse,
my dreams or real life! Ha! Ha!

~~~~~~

EARLY SATURDAY MORNING

4:30 came early this morning.

I had had a bad dream which woke me up in consternation.

Here was the dream.

I opened one of my kitchen cupboards, and

there were three packages of chicken,

two packages of pork chops

and a roast.

Sometime in the past week after coming home from

the grocery, I had put all the meat in the cupboard

instead of the freezer. YIKES!

I awoke REALLY disgusted with myself.

I had to throw everything out in the garbage!

What a waste!

~~~~~~~

Through the dark I made my way downstairs to

check the cupboard. I turned on the light.

Yes, it had been just a bad dream!

I got my Bible and read at the table until Alan came down

for his breakfast. I made bacon and eggs for him.

He has a men's meeting at church this morning so

he will be leaving shortly.

~~~~~~~~~

Alan has been coughing for several months.

He went back to the doctor a couple of weeks ago.

The doctor gave him a regiment of meds to take.

Nothing seemed to help.

The nurse called with some concerns about his bloodwork.

The doctor sent him for a chest x-ray on Thursday.

More tests are being ordered.

Please pray that the Lord will heal his body and

restore his strength to him.

There is an 80% chance of rain here.

Maybe I will not have to water the plants today.

Have a wonderful day!

WAITING PATIENTLY

We are waiting patiently for Ben to call.

Our third grandson is due to arrive any day now.

His due date is July 15.

We wonder what this is little guy will be like.

Our first grandson is handsome Wyatt.

He is blonde, kind, and diplomatic.

Then Dylan came and he is very expressionable,

verbal, and cute as pie.

We are waiting to find out the name of the third cowboy.

We wonder. . . . . . .

~~~~~~~

They love living in Virginia Beach.

While the rest of us are relaxing on our patios in the evenings,

Wyatt and Dylan are sitting on the beach.

No Fair!

CORNHOLE

A HUGE box just came by UPS!

CORNHOLE!

YUP!

Anybody up for a game?

A BEAUTIFUL POEM BY JOHN STUMBO

IN A PERFECT WORLD

In a perfect world

we would have enjoyed this sunset together.

In a perfect world my pleasure of watching it

would not have been robbed by the absence of you.

In a perfect world we would always be together

and every day would close with you safely in my arms.

In a perfect world, I’d have no competition for your heart,

nor you for mine.

We’d think each other brilliant and funny,

even if everyone else thought we were just foolish or silly

it would only make us laugh louder at ourselves and love each other more.

In a perfect world, you would always understand me, and I you.

We wouldn’t get that fearful or pained look in response.

But in understanding each other we’d better understand ourselves

for to know you would be to know me, for we would be one.

In a perfect world….....

The sun has now fully set and early evening gray begins to fill the skies.

But as she set I noticed that it wasn’t the sun itself that was so beautiful.

I don’t want to speak ill of her – she is truly glorious.

But the beauty of the sunset was provided by the clouds.

Mysterious.

Imperceptibly but undeniably shifting.

Clouds that could bring rain or be silently dismissed by an evening breeze.

Clouds that I would not have thought of making

if I had created my perfect world.

Our relationship isn’t perfect.

We have our share of clouds.

But perhaps, if we get the right angle together,

We could see that they actually add the true beauty to our lives.

Like this passing day, our lives will eventually be put to rest as well.

Had we had cloudless—“perfect”—skies,

they would not have been nearly as beautiful.

In this imperfect world, we will make a sunset together.

In this imperfect world, we will hold each other still.

In this imperfect world,

we will not fear the clouds but create a beauty

that will linger long after our sun has set.

JPS

Depoe Bay, Oregon

October 24, 2008

John Stumbo wrote this poem to his wife the week he was

spending time alone on the Oregon coast. This was the

week he was writing his dissertation.

It was that week that he became ill.

You can read his story on his blog.

He is on a long journey of recovery.

Even though he is weak and has resigned his position

as lead pastor of his church,

he still ministers to us from his blog.

REPORTING ON MY COMPUTER

I am so sorry that I cannot post from my own computer tonight.

It keeps crashing. Alan needs to reinstall my programs.

He is working late so I don't know if he will be

able to fix it tonight or not.

A new baby (girl) has arrived in our neighborhood.

She came home from the hospital this morning.

I have a cake and a gift ready to be delivered.

The missionary couple whom Alan has been helping with

their power point presentation had their baby.

So I have little boy outfits ready to be delivered to him.

It has been another beautiful day with little humidity.

I walked around the block twice with a neighbor.

I am building up my endurance.

I hope that the sun is shining where you live

and that you are enjoying beautiful weather.

THIS IS NO CORN

This has been a very productive day.

I finished putting away 42 quarts of corn!

I also froze 6 quarts of green beans!

Now I need to wash down the kitchen!

Just kidding!

Here is the BIG news!

My computer is home!

It will soon be up and running.

Tomorrow we will have PICTURES!

AN INTERESTING DAY

I had worked so hard yesterday by getting my hair done,

washing six loads of clothes and

cleaning 100 ears of corn for the freezer,

and I told Alan

if I could get out of bed in the morning,

I would go get 100 more ears of corn to put up.

Well, I got up just fine,

went to Roots for green beans.

Then, I went to the place I got the corn yesterday.

The five elementary school children who were taking

care of selling the produce told me that their mother

was still in the field gathering corn. They said she would

be back in five minutes.

I waited!

I waited for an hour!

Those kids entertained me the entire time.

Of course, I exclaimed after everything they showed me

that they were the most talented and smartest children

I had ever seen.

For instance, the four year old drew me a picture.

I could tell right off that this child was gifted just by

looking at his drawing. Of course, I had to tell him so.

He went into the house and brought out a guitar.

This little guy played the guitar and sang,

"In the Sweet Bye and Bye."

This kid was only FOUR YEARS OLD!

I was blown away.

The other children LOVED my attention.

They were riding unicycles for me so they could

hear me exclaim how talented they were.

One little girl let her hair down from a top knot

and just stood there waiting for me to notice how

beautiful she was.

I absolutely LOVED those little kids.

The mother never did come.

Finally, the father came out and told me that he

would deliver the 10 dozen ears of corn that I wanted.

Around 1:30 the doorbell rang and it was Mr. Keyes

with the corn. I asked him if he would like to have

a turkey that was in my freezer for his family.

He smiled!

He has fourteen hungry mouths to feed!

I tipped him with a turkey!

MONDAY'S WORK

Today on the way home from the beauty shop,

I picked up 100 ears of corn. I husked them,

brushed, boiled, blanched and cut off the cob.

From the 100 ears I got 20 quarts of corn.

As I was doing the corn I remembered the days

when we put up lots of corn. There were two times

in particular I remembered it being a family affair.

Alan's mother and dad were visiting us when we lived

in Lititz. They helped us put up 30 dozen.

Then I remembered the year we lived at Sugar Grove.

Alan's dad had passed away and his mother moved to be near us.

She wasn't well at all but she came one day to help.

She seemed so happy to be able to be a part of the family

in doing what she had always done herself.

Putting up corn also reminded me of the first time I met

my friend, Betty. When we moved to Pennsylvania in 1982,

Betty invited us to dinner.

She and her mother-in-law had put up 36 dozens ears of corn and

had made corn pies. We had never eaten corn pie so we were

delighted to taste a food that was so popular here in PA.

We LOVED it!

Here is a recipe I found on the internet:

CORN PIE
Printed from COOKS.COM
2 (9 inch) pie crusts

Uncooked corn to fill pie crust

3 eggs, beaten

3 tbsp. flour

1 1/3 c. milk

2 tbsp. butter

1 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. pepper

2 tbsp. sugar
Beat eggs. Add flour, sugar, salt, pepper, and milk. Fill pie crust with corn. Pour mixture over corn. Dot with butter. Cover pie with second crust. Bake at 350 degree for 1 hour or until browned. Serve with butter and milk. Serves 4 to 6.

This doesn't seem like the recipe Betty used. But, this is a corn pie.

SUNDAY MEDITATION

THE BLOOD OF CHRIST

Hebrews 9:14

"how much more the blood of Christ,

who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself

without spot to God,

cleanse your conscience from

dead works to serve the living God?"

A footnote in my new Bible says:

"Christ's death on the cross was perfect and complete.

There is no sin or offense so great that His sacrifice

cannot make you clean and holy.

There is no condition so vile that His holy sacrifice

cannot purify you."

Go to church today, worship God, and be an encourager to others!

FOURTH OF JULY 2009

Today was the most beautiful Fourth of July

that I can remember. The weather was PERFECT!

We enjoyed this day by just doing what we wanted to do.

I went shopping again and bought two gorgeous tops.

They were so cheap!

I bought Alan two more tie racks for his ties.

He hung them in our bedroom beside the other two.

Now we have wall to wall ties!

We ate on all the left overs and ate on the patio.

We did a little work in the yard.

Hope you had a very relaxing holiday!

~~~~~~

You that have followed the John Stumbo Stories might

be interested in seeing this new video and announcement.

We continue to pray for John.

FRIDAY EATING DAY

I spent the morning shopping.

The mall stores are having HUGE sales.

I went to the mall TWO TIMES!

I bought Alan ties and shirts.

I bought Chad shirts.

I bought two baby gifts.

I bought myselft four shirts.

Then when we went back tonight to exchange some things,

I bought three more blouses.

That should be enough for a while.

Since Chad has to work tomorrow,

we decided to celebrate Independence Day today.

We grilled chicken, hotdogs, and hamburgers.

Now we have enough food for the entire weekend.

My computer is still in the shop.

So, no flags, firecrackers, or balloons this year!

Tomorrow is another day.

Perhaps they will call!!!!!

THURSDAY COOKING DAY

I like to plan ahead.

I cooked all day.

I made cole slaw.

I made a layer salad.

I made a frozen dessert.

I cut up melons.

I cooked a big pot of green beans, ham, and potatoes.

I shucked all the ears of corn and bagged them.

I made Tochterman Tea. YUM!

MAKING CUPCAKES

Here I am on Alan's computer.

I do not feel so at home here.

I cannot access my pictures.

I found this posting place accidentally.

BUT, at least I can say something now!

I am baking cupcakes for our church's picnic tonight.

I would invite you to come, but you have to sign up for this one.

The pastors are frying the hamburgers and hotdogs.

The weather forecast is for RAIN!

It may be an inside picnic!

I have been spending my days calling people from church

to see if they would be interested in greeting at the main doors.

It has been a good way for me to get to know all these people.

This morning I talked to a lady who was so sweet.

I want to have them over so we can get to know them better.

Now I must go make cole slaw!

There are more picnics coming up this weekend.

Have a great day!