Rain

After many days of scorching hot days, we have been blessed with a few days of wonderful cool rain. The trees, hay, and lawn just slurped it up, leaving spots of green where brown once was. I often wonder what the earth was before the days of Noah when there was no rain?? How his neighbors thought he was really crazy to build an ark (who knew what rain even was)??? But Noah was an obedient man, God saw how corrupt the earth was, and decided to put an end to it all. Because Noah was a righteous man and walked with God, God chose to save Noah and his family. And because Noah was obedient, he offered  sacrifices to the Lord after the flood. Then God gave a covenant between Noah and every living creature that He would never destroy the earth by flood again - His sign of the covenant was the rainbow.  Everyone knows this story, but did you know that at that time God gave man permission to eat meat? How many times had I read this story and not even picked up on that piece of information. The Lord is looking down at our earth today, and I wonder if He is sad as He views the corruption??

Why did he not forget the chiggers?

Last Friday, we went to Branson to meet with a clock repair gentleman, bringing along with us 2 cuckoo clocks, and two old mantle clocks. We were pleased to hear that the cuckoo clocks could be repaired and possibly the mantle clocks. One of the mantle clocks belonged to Fred's great-grandparents, brought over from Germany. What fun if it will be to again ghear the clock chime the hour in a Preuss household!! While we were there we visited with Chaplain Dennis and Sally Maloney. Dennis is our chaplain in Texas at Alamo Rec Veh Park as well as General Director of CRM. Sally is just absolutely wonderful and a joy to spend time with!!! In just a couple of months, we will all be together again in Texas, along with other CRM chaplains. Cannot wait to see them all again. Saturday Sally and I are attending a women's Prison to Purpose conference in Rogers, Arkansas - " Becoming a Woman of the Word". We are still looking for a speaker for our God's Worthy Woman conference in Texas in February. Please pray that God leads us to the perfect person.

I have put my application in to Washington County Corrections to become part of the Prison Ministry, ministering to women who are incarcerated here. I don't imagine that I will begin this year, as we leave shortly for Texas, but in anticipation for next spring.  I am a bit nervous about this, but feel that this is the direction God is leading me while we are in Arkansas.

Growing up in Chicago as an Italian Catholic kid, I still have vivid memories of the interesting things we often saw and did. The candy store was half way home on our after school walk. There was so much to choose from for just a penny. What luck if I were to find a penny someone had dropped. To this day I am always checking the sidewalk for lost change! The boys always wandered around, laughing and shoving, buying all they could for a penny. I was one of the few girls there- the rest had gone quietly home to play with their paper dolls and study their numbers for the good Sisters at St. Angela. I would think and decide what to buy, then change my mind often. I usually bought the candy buttons on a strip - three strips for a penny. The next problem was what colors to choose - blue, pink and yellow, no green please. Sometimes I would spend my penny on a chance to get a gum ball from the machine. If you were lucky you would win one that looked like a baseball. Then you could trade it for a nickel's worth of candy. When you or another kid won it, you immediately became best friends for awhile. A chance to share a few  pennies worth of candy made you day very special. Sometimes I see those candy strips yet today, and it brings back memories of the carefree days of youth.