Peeps

Yes, it has started! The first of the season Peeps are here, especially for those of us who are addicted to them. I stopped at Dollar Tree to pick up a couple of $ items and spotted them immediately. Now I will go on a peep hunt - trying to find all of the different flavors of peeps available in this area. I as pickle flavored ones on Facebook last year, but have been unable to find them in the store. My favorite way to eat them is to open the package and let them set for a day or two until they get a little bit crunchy on the outside. Now don’t say I didn’t warn you peep fans – they are out there now!

                                                      they are here💛💛💛

                                                    

We saw the strangest thing at Wal-Mart the other day – although there always seems to be strange things in the Wal-Mart parking lot. There was a pickup truck, with side racks built up in the bed and all painted a military sort of green. All over this truck were metal objects – small cars, bits of rusty somethings, jewelry, etc. all painted the same green color. I mean the truck was full of stuff. There were a lot of folks looking at it so decided to wait until we came out to take a pic up close. When we came out I headed over to the trick when I saw someone on the driver’s seat and was going to ask if I could take a photo when I noticed a sign which read “You are welcome to look at my truck but please do not touch it. For a donation, you can take a picture of it”. Needless to say, I did not take a picture, although this may have been his only means of income. Guess I was shocked after reading the note.

A rather quiet week for the ministry for a change. We did our normal routine of delivering to the colonias on Friday, collecting items donated to the ministry and sorting them, and of course, hauling bulk pinto beans for packaging. Our dear friend, Linda Smith, will come over on Thursday to help. She loves doing this – even when I suggest I could do it and she would not have to drive 10 mile or so to help, she replied that “Fred and I have a routine and can get it done quickly”. Guess I cannot take her blessing away.

Our Miss Opal, who is always willing to sew for the ministry, took a face first fall the other day. We stopped yesterday to chat with her and was shocked to see her whole face was black and blue, as well as a scrape on her forehead. Luckily, there were a few people around her when it happened so help was right there. She was taken to an emergency center, and proclaimed perfectly ok, except for all the bruising. She is a bit unsteady on her feet after her stoke a few years ago and really didn’t seem to know what happened. But she is feisty for sure and laughing at the whole situation, while she put a scare into all of us.

We will be attending a chaplain luncheon later this week for all of the chaplains and their wives on the eastern section of the Valley. Just an informal get together and chance to unwind for the day. It is also the day for the all day sewing of our Busy Bees quilting group, so I will attend part of that. I do like the sewing group as we all can see what the others are doing get greet ideas and helpful hints, and again, just enjoy each other’s company.

Church this morning with Pastor Jim Maxson was as uplifting as usual. We love Jim’s sermons as they come from his heart after listening to what God wants him to speak to us about. He told us an interesting side note – Wal-Mart music is in tune with the season or time of year. This last week was all about love because of Valentine’s Day. I do notice that Christmas music is played at Christmastime to keep you in the buying spirit, but did not realize it went on all year long. Will have to pay closer attention. His sermon, “Love Letters” was quite appropriate. He saw a tee shirt there at Wal-Mart which read “I Love Me” which is a picture of the problem between God and Men. Men have turned their love inward and have caused Satan to rule and nations to war. In the recent celebration of Valentine’s Dy, women wait for the resurgence of romance, while men fear the day because they don’t know what expectations are demanded from them. Relationships and love go together – you need to have a relationship with one another so you can understand each Other’s needs and wants, as well as to have love for the other person and not yourself. They are the fundamental elements of life. God created us for relationships, with each other as well as with Him. We, as Christians, are in a fight with Satan. Good’s word assures us that we may be knocked down, but never knocked out because we have the ultimate power in the word. We are never knocked out because we have an endless supply of Gods love. We have unending forgiveness. Guilt convinces us that we are losers before the battle starts. Christ justified us – “just as if we had never sinned”. If a jury pronounces us not guilty, we can never be tried for that crime or sin again. The same as with the Lord, when we are forgiven it is forever. Anything that has be given into God’s hands can never be snatched away. True love comes with a personal relationship with God. Have you come to a relationship with Him? Of not, do so today, right now.

Nuts

Yep, that is what I thought when Fred brought home several boxes - full of 1# bags of shelled walnuts. I never know what God has in store for us! When Freed told our colonia contact, Ida, about the newest contribution, she got very quiet for a minute or so. She then told Fred that she was doing a fund raiser by making cookies to sell and wanted to put nuts in some of them. She prayed and asked the Lord for the funds to purchase them. He answered her prayer - not the way she thought but the way He planned had planned! Isn't God amazing??? That has happened so many times that I should not be surprised, but am always amazed that He knows before we do what we need.

Another gorgeous day here in S Texas. Cool this morning but in the 70's this afternoon. I was outside for a bit and wondered what all the racket was. Birds hollering and squalking all over. It was very windy, so thought they were perhaps complaining that they were grounded and could not fly. I looked at the neighbors trees and saw the blackbirds all sitting there, perhaps patiently waiting for the winds to die down.

a few gathering make a big racket

a bigger congregation in this tree

Yesterday was our second to last Chaplains meeting. It seems impossible that the time has flown by so quickly. The chaplains all asked their parks for donation to Caring Hearts Ministry and came to the meeting bearing their donations. We were astounded how the people responded with all types of canned goods, clothing, blankets, pillows, etc. We unloaded everything when we got home and could not find room in the Texas room to even get around. What a blessing - both to the ministry and those who contributed. We then had to collect some food from another park today - after packing and sorting everything and loading it for delivery tomorrow Fred said that our Texas room went from total insanity to normal again - for a few days anyway.

This morning we went to Ranchero Village Park to make a presentation of Caring Hearts Ministry. This park gone above and beyond to support the ministry - they alone provided all of the canned hams we needed for the Christmas distribution. It was mentioned that the small ham was not enough for a whole family, but the ladies chopped up the ham,  add vegetables and other ingredients, and make a meal for the family for 2 or 4 days. As I gave the presentation and showed some pictures, Pastor Bob Ostermaier's sermon was cut down a bit. He did give a a short message where he impounded on verses from Matthew 25:35-40, "the King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brother of mine, you did for me'". We are called to  life of service. We are not called to live for ourselves, but to reach out to others and lead them to a life in Christ. When you leave your church on Sunday you are really entering the mission field, where you can minister to others just through your actions and words. You are given an opportunity to serve every day, don't miss it.

Cowboy Church

Saturday night friends invited us to attend Cowboy Church at another park. Years ago we attended one but for the life of me I cannot remember where! A family group played instruments - bass, violin, guitar, and mandolin and sang Christian music - some older hymns and some new contemporary music. It was very moving and powerful.The son, 24 years old, gave the message on faith - a truly inspiring sermon presented so very well. Usually the father gives the message, but Saturday was the son's turn.It was very satisfying to see a family singing and praising the Lord together. I cannot imagine 5 people (the son is married and his wife did sing one song) living in a bus. The son told the story of their wedding, as the new bride was from Canada. They filed out all the paperwork and planned their wedding according to the timeline, given a few weeks for mishaps. As it turned out, the government demanded more paperwork, and the wedding was postponed a month before it was die to take place. Now that is a true test of faith!!! The wedding did take place but at a later date.

I did get time on Friday to join the Busy Bees quilting group - I try to go on Fridays, but that is not always possible. Our park is going to have our annual quit and hobby show this week and I am going to enter one of my UFOs (unfinished object) as I have the top of the quilt done, but it is not quilted yet. The Busy Bee ladies are so helpful- giving advice and suggesting ideas to newbie quilters without seeming to be critical.Thanks ladies for making Fridays a fun day.

the finished quilt top - a bit out of my cautious nature, but I love the way it turned out

There is an outdoor stand that serves large fruit drinks at only $2 each. We went for the first time this season and I ordered my very favorite - lemonade cucumber. Maybe I can learn to make this myself - with sugar free lemonade mix and cucumbers. Fred is more adventurous than I am - he had a strawberry one with real strawberries!! I have tried the mango and the cantaloupe one also - good but a bit much.

my cucumber drink - sweetened with agave - Fred's strawberry drink in the left

We attended church services this morning at Big Valley Church where we gave presentation of Caring Hearts Ministry. This park has supported us in the past and we wanted to thank them and give an update on the ministry. Pastor Tom Borro is doing a series on spiritual warfare. We are in a warfare as Christians - but but there are weapons against the devil.God wants us to have an open clear mind in our struggles and guard against struggles and arrows in the spiritual realm The evil spirit world is real - strong and always there. In this war, there are weapons that we need to know and use, The Devil works with doubt and fear - doubt is the present and fear is the future. The Devil is the father of lies and accuser of us,We will win over him because of our faith. Feelings are very important - do you feel you have faith but sometimes can't really FEEL it?? The Lord says that if you believe in your heart you will be. God loves you regardless of how you feel. We need to have a weapon against disappointment (remember the Young main I mentioned earlier and his delayed wedding plans?). We are weak, but God makes us strong When we are disappointed, Satan will bring up discouragement. Another weapon we must use is against persecution. It will grow more as the second coming draws near. The trouble that we face in this world today is not politics,but a war against good and evil. We must learn how to deal with the devil - through God all things are possible

Found

Hooray- found my church Bible this morning - I had given it to the ushers with the song books last week  and it as put away on a shelf of seldom used songbooks. Some  kind gentleman came this morning after church while Fred was talking to Pastor Jim's wife and Fred saw it in his hand. He did not tell me until after we left the church and I saw my Bible lying on the dash. I so missed not having it - it was not very expensive, but contained notes and lots of notations and underlinigs of Scripture. Now I do not feel so lost.

tYesterday we went into a new colonia area where the folks there were very poor - more so than the one we normally serve every Friday. 30 families were expected, but only about 20-25 showed up - which was OK as they perhaps will tell others and we will have more families to serve the next time. It was a tiring day, as there were not as nearly as many workers, so we did a lot of physical setting up, serving, and cleaning up It was all well worth the effort as we saw the looks of gratitude on every one's faces. God is so good as He provids, we are just the vessels which pour out His blessings on others.

The beautiful young lady's where we had the distribution - she looks so young. We think she has 4 children and no spouse in sight.

three of her children

getting ready for folks - notice the "yard"- dirt

listening to the Christian music

reading from Scripture for the adults - in the background Ida having a Christian based children's craft session

eating a luncheon of hot dogs, (served with mayo and catsup if desired), chips, cupcakes, and a drink

again, shopping colonia style - also handing out large bottles of water - all of these clothes were gone

handing out blankets - the type you get in hospital - not fluffy colorful ones but they certainly will ward off the cold or perhaps act as curtains. Although, I noticed the windows are often all bordered up due to breakage, or maybe perhaps insulation. It is very depressing.

lots of blankets - the kids are carrying the 2 gifts each child received.


We had a an open house on our home yesterday, which worked out perfectly as we were going to be gone all day anyway.We did list it with the real estate for more coverage. There were 2 coiples and  a single lady who came to see it - all said it was very nice but so far no offers yet. We just put this in God's hands and are letting Him decide when it is time for us to return to NW Arkansas. 

Another great sermon this morning with Pastor Jim Maxson  .   His topic was "Code Yellow" which had me confused for a bit. "President Bush signed Homeland Security Presidential Directive 3, (after 911) creating the Homeland Security Advisory System (HSAS). The advisory system will be the foundation for building a comprehensive and effective communications structure for the dissemination of information regarding the risk of terrorist attacks to all levels of government and the American people." This means of communication is 5 levels - red, blue, yellow, orange, and red. The yellow is a sign of significnt risk. The Bible also allows for an alert system for us in our Christian walk. A 7 step waring system appears in Hebrews. Drifting is one of them. When we think of drift, we think of drifting in a boat, ether on purpose on because of other reasons. Supposedly we all grow smarter every day, but we still continue to drift in our daily lives. The USA was founded on the Holy Scriptures, but today has drifted far from those principals. This is mainly because of a lack of devotion . Even large denominations have drifted because of a lack of devotion to God. Have we lost the burning force and the passion to reach our nation? Our Christianity can grow cold as we, too, become content in our comfortable life.  Churches drift after they first start, are new and on fire for the Lord, and continue to grow. . Thy become complacent and tend to become lukewarm in their present state. We as believers can also drift. When we met Jesus for the first time we could not wait to tell others and try to show them the happiness and peace that follow accepting Jesus as Savior. But then our heart can grow from hot to lukewarm to sometimes cold. The definition of drifting is having no direction or course. Have we lost our course in our Christianity? The threat to us is deadly because drifting can be dangerous. It means going with the flow, following the crowd. A man cannot be bought who is  already sold. Are you sold to God? God uses 3 things to get our attention - tragedy, death, and His Word. Our deliverance from drifting is that we must pay more attention,- hear the message and pay attention to it's meaning in spite of the storm. Will your anchor hold or will your anchor hold on to you? What color is your alert today?

Wanderings

Another week of crazy weather here in S Texas - although I see it has been that way everywhere. This morning was cold when we left for church, but the sun is shinong and it has warmed up some. Folks are out walking and riding bikes, visiting neighbors and just enjoying this day of rest. Our neighbor is relaxing by building blue bird houses - lots of them for the himself and the family to take back to Wisconsin for everyone. Fred is supervising and taking notes, as he is itching to build some himself.

Tuesday we took our turn at the Expo in McAllen. Sort of a home show like they used to have in the small town in Wisconsin where my folks had a cafe. My mother made hundreds of rosettes for the event. Our job was to carefully shake powdered sugar over them and very carefully pack them in a huge box ( and try to sneak  a few for ourselves). . The home show was held at the armory where all the local businesses promoted their area of expertise and gave away gifts. I still have a letter opener and a clothespin basket from those events although I was a young kid at the time.This expo was for the Valley where everyone promoted their parks as well as various vendors hawking their wares. There was an oyster pick where you could pick an oyster, a pearl was then removed, and you could have it placed in a setting, for price of course. There were games of chance where you could spin a wheel and win a small gift - of course, you had to sign up and then someone would call you and try to sell you something. We were there representing Christian Resort Ministries, promoting our chaplains for RV Parks. It was fun to talk to folks, find out where they were from, and just chat. The booth next to us was Warrior 180 - a foundation of one of our chaplains who do suicide prevention training and minister to veterans with PTSD and other situations. They had lots of give  a ways including Bibles, inspirational books, Christian coloring books, books for kids, and even a soldier's Bible. We had gone out for breakfast to eat the Sunday before that and our waiter was a young man named Adam. I usually ask our waiter if we can pray for something as we pray over our food. He asked that we pray as he was going in the service soon. At the Expo, Warrior 180 had a soldier's Bible, which I promptly asked for. Today we presented it to Adam who was truly grateful. We wish this young man well in his new career. I was amazed as the folks came through the Expo with their "goody bags"( sometimes 3  or 4 of them) stuffed with free stuff. Our booth, as well a others, offered candy. Some folks came by and tried to sneak handfuls of chocolate, thinking we did not see Thom. Others just boldly reached in and swiped a big handful. We were tempted to place a sign that read "Please take 1", but thought better of it. It was tiring but a good sense of tiring.

each button in this bowl represents a death of a veteran through suicide for a year.

Criss and Jeff Hastings of CRM and Warrior 180

Our booth with Grace Tracy and Fred in the background. The screen displays each of our chaplains and their assignment

Yesterday I was invited tospeak to a group of women at another park. I used to be nervous to do this, even with our God' Worthy Women retreat, but was totally relaxed and really enjoyed telling them about some women of the Bible who not to be like. IT was a fun project, as I did some research to make sure I had all my fact straight and could clearly present reasons these ladies were not so perfect! The ladies seemed to enjoy it a lot. I also presented a short program of Caring Hearts Ministry as this particular park donates grreatly to the ministry.

This morning we had a couple who sing gospel music at church - this couple is from Canada and entertains here in the Vally during the winter. They were great to listen to and sing long with. Jim presented a sermon on who Jesus really is - I usually take notes during the sermon, which I did, but I think I left them and my Bible in church. So I will try to give you a brief summary of his message titled "Who is Jesus" taken from Colossians 1:1-8. Jesus is the Son in the image of the invisible God. God is not visible, but Jesus was  human in form. Jesus was the firstborn of all creation. Not born but actually of God and the Trinity. In Him all things were created. He is the head of the church. Not the church as a building, but the church  as we believers.. We strive to do All things of Him and for Him as we plod this earthly life. In Him we live and breathe.

Keeping Your Feet on the Ground

It was almost a difficult feat this week to keep my feet n the ground as we have had really strong winds here in S Texas - up to 50 miles per hour. I walked up to get the mail and on the way back the wind was blowing from behind me so badly that I had to almost run to keep up. My poor potted plant had blown over a few times before I hid it so the wind could not gt to it. It was fun to watch the huge water birds trying to fly - they would take off and get blown in a different direction for a bit until they caught a different wind drift to try to get where they were going. Even driving on the interstate was difficult because the wind gusts would try to blow the vehicles all over the highway. A tight grip on the wheel was needed. When the wind finally died the weather turned perfect - just the type that the Winter Texans come here to enjoy.

We spent the most of the latter part of last week trying to get caught up and stock pile beans, rice, and clothes as we have given away almost everything at our last big distribution. We received a huge clothing donation and I have packed 14 boxes already with about 7 or 8 more to go. Usually the clothes come in big plastic bags, all wound up together. I sort them into different categories and box them accordingly. Fred will be packing beans and rice tomorrow with the help of our great friend, Linda Smith. She is from a different park, but faithfully comes here to help. Tuesday Fred will take all the boxes to the colonias, as there is a small distribution for some ladies who help sew quilts and other articles. I cannot go along as I have speaking engagement at Ranchero Village as well as a short time to promote Caring Hearts Ministry. Ranchero Village has gone above and beyond in helping the ministry, so this is a bit of a thank you, as well a sa chance for the ladies to fellowship together. I am going to talk to the ladies about 10 women of the Bible that they do not want to be like. We hear so much of the wonderful ladies in the Bible who were so faithful God, but there are a few who really missed the mark of being righteous. It was an interesting topic and fun to research and work on. The ladies I am going to discuss are Eve, Lot's wife, Job's wife, Moses' wife, Rachel, Delilah, Penninah, Michal, Jezebel, and Herodias. Check out their stories and see if you can determine where they went wrong.

The weather was so beautiful this morning as were drove to Mission Bell, (actually our friends drove, we just rode along). Even the birds were singing with joy on the Lord's day. This morning we sang a lot of the old hymns - those that we have heard for years but still love. Pastor Jim spoke to us us attitude and altitude. Sometimes we as humans are so complacent in our lives that we forget that we can soar Ike eagles. We heard quite a few statistics about eagles, - thy can spot a rabbit form 2 miles away, they can survey an area of 5miles square miles, and when they spot their prey, they fold in their wings and can fly up to 200 miles per hour. No wonder the rodents don't even see them coning. It is no wonder we chose this magnificent bird to be the symbol of our country. Changing from the chicken yard to the winds of the earth is not easy. We need to know who we are before we can understand who we are supposed to be. If we are to experience this life to the fullest, we need to understand 3 things. We are created in the image of God, we are spiritual beings, and created to have a relationship with God. We are not like the other animals of creation who exist but are not able to understand who God is and what He has done for us. On order to grow, we need to take in physical and spiritual nourishment. What kind of relationship would you have in your marriage if you gave your spouse the same type of relationship that you have with God? We can depend on God so much more than we can depend on ourselves. The quality of our day depends on our attitude, and that attitude depends on our altitude of it. Are you just a chicken or are you an eagle? We can change the negative to a positive through diagnosis and remedy. Start the day with a positive attitude. examine yourself and eliminate negative attitudes. The Christian life is never easy, but it becomes easier if we think positively. Minimize the negative and maximize the positive. Today is indeed a gift from God. Do you wake up and say, Good morning Lord", or do you say "Good Lord, it's morning"? If God is for us, who can be against us. Switch from a can't to a can attitude. We are AmerICANs!!We can soar like eagles through Jesus. If we wait upon the Lord, we will soar. It doesn't matter when we get to heaven, but the fact that we will get there. Those who wait on the Lord will restore their strength.

Chicken and Italian Sausage

We thought we would have a quiet week after the big distribution after Christmas. Now I realize what a great sense of humor God has. We feel a bit discouraged that we have had no luck so far selling our place and returning to ministries in NW Arkansas. Did we forget that God plans are certainly not ours? We received a phone call that a distributor of ours had just received 35,000# of frozen chicken, Italian sausage, chicken and dumpling soup, turkey gravy, and hoagie buns.  Yep,35,000#, a whole semi load. Would we please come and pick up as much as we could as they did not have room for it all? W called Ida, our contact in the colonias, and she started making phone calls. We then called another ministry, as he has a large, closed in trailer, who volunteered to go pick up a large amount for us as well as himself. We met him later and transferred 1000# for our use, and helped him store the rest in his freezer. By the time we got to Ida’s church, (the only area large enough to work), Ida had a crew rounded up to help package the food, as it was all loose in large boxes. Luckily there were freezers and refrigerators there for us to pack it in. Ida was making more phone calls for folks to come pickup the boxes we prepared and to also pick up some for family and neighbors who had no phones or transportation to get it. What a day – we were exhausted by 4 PM, but what wonderful type of exhaustion! We returned again the next day after picking up another 500# - more phone calls, more help, and all was safely delivered. So now we have an answer our discouragement – God still has work for us to do here in S Texas.

unloading frozen cold food

sausage bagged

yea - more help

chicken noodle soup

Italian sausage

sweet faithful Carmen offering Fred a frozen chicken breast

family size packages - my hands were cold,too

We did get to relax a bit on Saturday, do a bit of long needed shopping, and just put our feet up and maybe got in a short snooze. It was cool outside, so I just snuggled in under a quilt, drank hot coffee, did some catch up reading. But I have learned to make sure I do a lot of energy refueling – God is full of surprises.

A great message again this morning. The title “To Die For” expounds on the greatest exchange of all – to trade something undesirable for something wonderful. This is what God did for us. Jesus exchanged our worst for His best – His life. Truth makes us realize that God can bring us to Him through Salvation which is truth and faith. We were children in disgrace but Jesus brought us back to the family. Redemption is to purchase something worthless and make it valuable – Jesus did that for us. We were worthless in sin – Jesus purchased our forgiveness by His death so we could become valuable before God. He ransomed us with His life. What did God owe Satan for our lives? Satan did not make us sin – we chose to sin. Perhaps not intentionally, but we did. We became slaves to sin, not slaves to Satan. Slaves to the sin we chose to commit. Sin tends to control us. We cannot free ourselves from sin – we need to rely on God. God became our redeemer. How mush is one person worth? If you add all the minerals in our body, you will realize we are only worth a few pennies. Our sins are a debt to God. How can we pay that off? We can’t – Jesus paid it for us. His blood became our bail money, as our worth is almost zero to the world, but priceless in the eyes of God. The cross become our bridge to God - to the most wonderful thing of all. thank God for salvation-as there are only 2 places in the afterlife – Heaven and Hell. Which would you choose?