"The lamb will lie down with the lion"

In reality, it was the deer will dwell with the dogs. As we were going to visit friends on a back road, we saw 4 deer ( a smaller one and three larger ones) close by in a field, just standing there and looking at something. A few feet away was a white dog walking down the driveway, a bit farther down the driveway there was a black dog lying down watching the deer. The deer looked at the dogs and just quietly steeped across the driveway, within a few feet of the dogs, who paid them no attention. We stopped to observe this scene. One of the deer looked as if she wanted to get closer to the white dog,but the the older deer all scampered off, urging the younger one to follow! What a beautiful sight. Why cannot we as humans take a lesson from this and learn to cohabit the earth with each other? How simple and easier it would be.

We again spent a lot of time on our daughter's patio, just relaxing and watching nature in action. The hummingbirds are now not afraid,and come to the feeder a few feet from us - the deer wander around below the hill, looking for food, not really aware that we are even there. Fred spends time scaring away the squirrels from the bird feeder, while I just chuckle and relax. It was a cold and damp day one day, so we had a fire again in the fireplace. So comfortable. I still cannot convince my daughter to buy marshmallows to make smores with though.

We are in the process of changing phone providers with all sorts of hoops to jump through. We were on a cooperate pan with others, but they have all dropped off, so we were picking up the whole telephone bill - plus the fact that that the service was not that good anyway. So we had to choose from plans, phones, etc, etc. Life was so much simpler with one phone in the house and a long telephone cord so a person could stretch it out when you wanted privacy!!! Of course we had party line, so we had to share telephone time with others, too.

We are starting to wind down as we prepare to return to the Valley and our wonderful ladies in the colonias who I am sure are waiting for us to return! We miss them and their warm welcoming smiles. We leave next week with a trailer full (33,000 individual packages) of additional food supplies for the colonias, but are stoppimg in Joshua, Texas, again to visit friends and break the trip up a bit. We should be home in S Texas by Sept 15 ready to continue the food and clothing ministry. We will have loads of clothes to sort and repack, and other things t catch up on, but are ready for the task.

Thanks to the saving grace of our Lord, all of our physicals came out normal except one, which involved additional testing. That, too, was good news - a benign cyst was removed with little or no discomfort. God is good.

This was our last Sunday at our home church as we will be in Fort Smith, AR this next weekend with our daughters- all four of them. One of our daughters still lives in WI so she is flying in on Friday to be with us there. So a fun family time on Friday, complete with food, of course.

Vance's sermon Sunday reference the heart of reconciliation. Are you convinced that One died for us all? If so, you then are compelled to tell others about Him. Doing good never changed people's hearts, Only God can do that. We are broken internally no matter how good we are - we are still sinners. When we are united with Christ, we are made new again We don't know what God has planned for us, but He WILL make us new again. We are changed from the inside out. God is the most offended because of our sin. We have to be reconciled with God,because our account of sin has been paid for by Jesus Christ. This was done so that we can be in a new relationship with Him. Jesus is the only one who was sinless - the unblemished sinless Son of God.

Summer Rain

There has been some summer rain here in NW Arkansas,, but it is always so beautiful after the rain. Just relaxing on the patio watching the world go by is our favorite past time right now. This morning we watched a tenny tiny blue tailed skink lizard scurry around on the patio. Even the black ants were bigger than he was. His tail is such a beautiful neon blue!!

looked out the kitchen door and this is what I saw - there were two of them

even the creepy spiders can show beauty - the intricate design of a morning spider web

If you enjoy cooking and like to experiment  with oils and vinegars, the place to visit is Cask and Grove in Fayetteville, AR. The have wonderful olive oils infused with a variety of flavors - my favorite being wild mushroom and sage. I did try the garlic and butter (you can taste all of the flavors) of which I bought some along with a mango white balsamic vinegar. The vinegar will be so tasty on salads, while the oils are great on sauteed veggies, etc. Even eggs fried in the garlic flavor oil sound delicious.

Pastor Vance is gone on a men's encounter, so we had Youth Minister Matt Tibbet give the sermon this this morning. He preaching is much different than Pastor Vance's, but so informative and easy to listen to. As believers, we have one job which is the the mission of taking the message reconciliation to the lost. If the disciples did not do this, we would not be here. The job itself has far reaching affects. Reconciliation actually means "exchange" from Greek. "The old had gone, the new is here." which is a verse from II Corinthians. Why should you care about God and bring reconciliation to the lost? The reason is simple - because He gave His own Son for us to be able to experience eternal life As we fulfill this mission we are concerned about how we should it. We should do nothing by our own vanity but in humility. Have the same mind set as Christ Jesus has.Be an ambassador in humility - lower yourself to be servants to the Lord. God does not count our sins against us just as we should not count others sins against them. How do we view others we are ministering to?  We should do so in the eyes of the spirit. Instead of seeing the sin, see the sinner in need. Do not look at them in the flesh - in their sin  or shortcomings - not of they were beneath you but in the eyes of the spirit. Be careful how you use your words.Are you coming across as humble, full of the spirit, or as pious superior? Love them all just as Jesus loves you. 

Talking to God

Do you find yourself talking to inanimate objects? As we are spending our time in AR with a daughter we enjoy watching her robot vacuum. Yep, it is fun to watch. But I find myself, as well as listen to Fred,  talking to this machine.  It seems to follow a person - it may be cleaning in the living room and all of a sudden it it right under my feet in  the kitchen. So I say ,"Quit following me, and it bumps into something and returns to the living room. Or we will say "wait a minute - I'll move that chair". How many times a day do you talk to inanimate objects? How any times a day do you talk to God? Driving into a parking lot of Wal-Mart, I spy a closer parking spot, and often just say "thank you, Lord". Or sitting on the patio and see a butterfly or a Bambi and doe come out of the woods and thank God for His wonderful creations made for our joy. Talk to God often, not only when you are in need, or asking for healing for someone, but as a friend. That is what He really wants - a relationship with Him. I try to thank Him the first thing in the morning as I wake up - thanking Him for another day - another chance to tell others about His wonderful grace.

A really busy week as we had 3 doctor appointments so far and two more coming up soon. We just keep praying for good results and continued faith in God's plan for our life.

Saturday was a special day as we celebrated the birthdays of 2 of our great grandchildren, Brielle, 4,  and Jayden, 2. It was choatic as it usually us with young children around but we feel so blessed to be able to attend these birthdays as the little grow and mature. It was a day of fun and laughter with the family. When things got too wild and noisy, we just retreated to the patio for quiet time. The kids were not afraid or shy with us, as we only see them about once a year. To see them grow and mature each year is such a pleasure.

                            Jaylen, 2 and Brielle, 4,  two of our 7 going on 8 great grandchildren, the birthday stars

 Jaylen, Brielle, and Mom getting ready to open their many gifts

great granddaughter, Harper, who loves to pose. She also love her G Pop.

I told Harper I wanted to take a pic -  she never ceases to pose

I was lucky last year to be able to find some time to sew quilts for two of our daughters - two other girls already have theirs, so this finishes that generation. One of our grand daughters got married last fall in Northern Wisconsin, so she received a quilt also. Hopefully I will be able to sew a few morw quilt tops to be able to get ahead of the demand - we still have 5 more grandchildren to sew for. God blessed me with the ability to create by sewing, so not only am I doing so for our family, but also for the colonias by making items to sell. 

 quilt for youngest daughter who likes turkeys - it fits perfectly in her bedroom - the 4 middle squares are turkeys

quilt for #3 daughter - fits her personality perfectly - she will be arriving in NW AR the week end of Labor Day

A warm and bit humid Sunday morning as we attended church services this morning. Vance continued his sermon series relating to Living Letters about having the confidence in our faith so we can obtain the final victory. We have a sense of confidence through the Resurrection and the spirit of faith.Our faith is not in ourselves or anything in the world but in the One. The One who knew what He did did in the Resurrection. Because of that, we all know how it is going to end

.   

We are confident that our present struggles are achieving eternal glory. "For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal". 2 Corinthians 4:18. Our bodies are aging and wasting away but inwardly we are being renewed day by day. "Win the day". Live for the day - yesterday is gone and tomorrow is not here yet. What God does in our life outweighs what is happening in our lives today. God God uses the daily struggles to strengthen us. Where is your focus - on the daily struggle and  material things? Or are you focused on the unseen? What is unseen is eternal, what is unseen is often unreal. If we ask God to open the eyes of our hearts, we can see what God want us to see. The temporary things of the world will pass away. We have a confident future in the Lord.

Our body is a temporary tent. It is a building of God waiting for us, not built by man. but by God. We have the Holy Spirit as a promise of what is to come. We have God's presence with us in the Holy Spirit, guaranteeing us of what truly is to come. We live by faith and not by sight. Our ultimate motivation to please God.

Thee is a an unspoken prayer request that needs special prayer. Please keep this in your prayers this week. 

Peachy

I love the Farmer's Market in Fayetteville, AR. We went Saturday (and got caught in a shower) mainly to see if the peaches were ready. We bought peaches and nectarines which were s soft and juicy. The only way to eat Arkansas peaches is to bite into them and let the juice run down your arms, head over the table to keep from getting your clothes sticky. They are so very delicious. There were many folks out shopping for fresh fruit, flowers, crafts, as well as the usual street musicians playing on thesquare, including all the dogs who are enjoying the walk, interested in other dogs and people as well. Love to go there and just watch people. Fred and I had lunch the other day at Loafin Joe's - a really unique place to eat as it was an old service garage remodeled into a place to eat. They serve homemade pizzas, subs, and the the most amazing salads around. I had a heart's desire salad which features artichoke hearts. I had enough to take him and share. Fred had a sub (on homemade buns) with homemade jalapeno chips.

Spent the last few days at our youngest daughter's home - sitting on the patio and watching the rain one day. The deer come out sometimes to delight us, as well as the any song birds which are not  prevalent in S Texas. The weather here is beautiful - we called friends in S Texas where the temps now are 106+. A much needed reprieve and rest for us. We have a lot of doctor appointments scheduled to make sure we get all of our medical stuff up to date. Visiting with friends - loving this down time right now, but missing all of our folks in the colonias in S Texas.

Almost back to Arkansas we travel the roads with beautiful scenery

soft rain and mist one day

we enjoyed a warm and cozy fire and watched it rain

Sunday was another beautiful day as we attended Prairie Christian Church with Pastor Vance Eubanks. Vance has been pastpr at our church for many years, but I never tire of his message and words of encouragement. It was great to be back "home" and greet old friends. Some of them with medical illnesses that have taken a toll on their bodies and for whom we continue to pray. A few new faces, but a feeling of love and protection. Vance's sermon of being"Living Letters Who Share the Glory" was so very relevant to everything we do today as Christians. It reminded me of last week when I prayed with a lady with  cancer in a nail salon. We are all living letters, representing the Lord every day with everything we do. We strive to not just be perfect rule keepers (which no one can be) but to also have a relationship with God. Following the law cannot change our hearts, but the grace for God can! We do not have it in us as humans to live perfectly. We all have spiritual death and have no hope except for God. The law is not there to just give us rules to follow,  the glory of the law shows us sin.The old covenant shows us that the debt of God's sin has been paid through God's grace. The old covenant of law leads us to a new covenant with God. We need a transparent, not a shameful ministry. We need to continue to be unashamed of the gospel of God. Compare yourself to a plastic bottle, which when empty is almost worthless. But when filled with coins it becomes something of worth. That is what where we need to be - filled with the glory of God - to share this with others. The same message that saved us will be the message.

I hope you continue to follow us as we travel along the path that the Lord has laid out for us. We see Him closing doors for us in certain areas, but there are more doors opening up for us. Pray that we listen to the voice of God and follow His will.