Mountain Moving

The mountain continues to be moved!!! Richae & Jared enjoy going out and watching the progress.

Friends

The Lord has blessed me with many friends in my life. My husband...my children...my parents...in-laws...family...

There are those in our Pentecostal missionary community - Vicki, Danan, Cylinda - who are life savers...always there to lend an ear or a shoulder when needed. Only an email away.

Friends back home who make furloughs so special. Too many to name...

But God has also blessed me with friends here in Madagascar...friends that I can hang out with over a cup of coffee and talk about raising children, living in this great (but often frustrating) country, the price of milk and eggs, which roads need widening and which potholes need to be filled. Today I was blessed to meet with two of these friends, Tammy & Rhonda, at our local coffee shop. We laughed and shared over coffee and bagel sandwiches.

Living on an island...the only UPC missionary within miles (literally)...I've learned to appreciate friends of all shapes and sizes. Hug a friend today!

...be still

Here is a scripture I thought I would share...someone shared it with me yesterday and I thought I would pass it on.

"The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still." (Exodus 14:14)

Sometimes "being still" is SO hard to do! We face situations in life that just need "fixin'" and it's hard to just sit back and let the Lord handle it.

I often remember something my Dad used to share. When he was a boy, he loved to fish (still does!). Occasionally, he would get his line tied up with something. Rather than ask his dad to help him get his line untangled, he would try and "fix it" himself. Of course, he would just end up getting it even more tangled. And when he finally confessed to his dad what had happened, he probably got in trouble - ha! - since his dad would just have to cut the line and start all over again.

How many times does this happen to us? We get a problem, we try to fix it, and end up getting it more messed up. Meanwhile, our Heavenly Father is waiting for us to just turn it over to Him...

and BE STILL.

Sinuses...who needs them??

As I lay in bed last night, struggling to breathe, that is the thought in my head (along with all the "gunk").

Why do we even need sinuses????

My next thought was...

I wonder if I get my husband's drill, and drill a hole into my sinuses, could I drain some of that stuff out so I can SLEEEEEEP??????

*sigh*

Mountain Update

The mountains are continuing to move! Hallelujah! Here are a few pictures from various perspectives. They still have a ways to go -- but working steadily. It's exciting to see!

*Just a note...they will still be bringing the level down considerably, but doing it in stages...

Happy Birthday, Mom

Happy Birthday to my mother! She is 60 years young today! Since I didn't manage to send her a balloon bouquet on her 60th (they are away from home this week) then I had to settle for a "virtual" bouquet. :o)

Hope you have a VERY special day for a VERY special mother! Thank you for always being a godly example of true Proverbs 31 woman! I love you!!!!

More...or Less...Mountains

This picture shows how far they've gotten. We're going to start taking pictures from this point...so we'll have a 'point of reference'. I won't keep posting pictures every day...but I'll just post them periodically on here.

The second picture shows them rerunning the electrical wires. The ground where the students are standing will soon be gone! :)

Happy Birthday, America

Happy Birthday, America!!!!

Land that I love!!!

God bless America!!!

Mountains, cont...

Here are some pictures from today...they are hard at work! Dump trucks lined up to take their load. First picture taken from the basketball court before our property. Then a picture from above looking back down...

And finally...

How about some RED dirt?? :) Unfortunately, it doesn't show up as red on camera as it actually is. Ha!

Faith To Move Mountains

Well, the scripture says if you have faith as a grain of mustard seed...

We have been praying for years...believing that the Lord would make a way to move some 'mountains' on our national campgrounds. Our tabernacle is filled to capacity at every conference, but there is no where to expand without moving a BUNCH of dirt! Praise the Lord -- a few weeks ago someone contacted us...they want the dirt! They started today with their machinery. Hallelujah!

We had some trees that would be affected by the bull-dozing so the last few days my husband and the Bible School students have been working to cut down trees and haul them off to be used for firewood. A real man job!!! :) Jared "helped" out...came home FILTHY each day.

Madagascar Stuff

Last week was a holiday here (their Independence Day) so we had a special meal with the Bible School staff and students.



Some of the student kids are not scared of the missionary! :)