Hello September!

Can you believe that fall is almost here? The nights are getting cooler and leaves are on the cusp of change - autumn here we come!

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I am currently studying Bible Hermeneutics (the art and science of interpreting the Bible). It is fascinating stuff. We just finished lessons on the history of the Bible. Did you know how many people gave their lives so that we could have access to a Bible that we could easily read? It really makes me appreciate that my Bible is not simply another book - it is my lifeline. I think that I will detail that information here later, it is definitely worth sharing.

Our Mini-Vacation

A few weeks ago, my family went on a trip with some friends from church. Our first destination was the Living Word Outdoor Drama in Cambridge, Ohio. The picture below is the set used to tell the story of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount to His crucifixion and resurrection. The entire experience was superb! All of the actors, with the exception of the man portraying Jesus, were volunteers, and the acting was exceptional.

After a night spent at a Holiday Inn Express (just a quick plug for these hotels, I've stayed in three separate hotels in this chain - all of them were high quality!), we set out for Petersburg, Kentucky home of the Creation Museum. The museum and the surrounding grounds contain, of course, the museum, a planetarium, a petting zoo and botanical garden.
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Before we toured the inside of the museum, we walked through the beautiful gardens, across tricky rope bridges all the way to the petting zoo. The animals were super friendly, and tolerated my many attempts at close-up photography.

Once we went inside, our first order of business was to go directly to the 4D theater to watch the film "Men in White". The movie was entertaining, but the real fun was the movement of the seats and the splashes of water that accompanied it. As we started through the many exhibits, this sign caught my eye:

Absolutely amazing to see this posted prominently in a museum!

My daughter posing with the animals in the Garden of Eden

My son enjoying the dinosaurs

I've entitled this photo,"Mr. Clean in the Grand Canyon"

The entire experience was great, but the high point was the planetarium. The star gazer theater show was spectacular. I completely lost myself in the show. Emerging from the theater, I was completely blown away by just how big our God is!

In other news, I have completed my first college course and tomorrow, I begin the second - Bible Hermeneutics I!

Sorry

Sorry about the unannounced blog break. I had the best of intentions, yet time just kept slipping away this week. The last bit of summer vacation is upon us and my family has been squeezing it for every bit of summer fun we can.

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A week ago, we visited the Creation Museum in Kentucky and The Living Word drama in Ohio. I'll be posting pictures from those locations soon!

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My first college class is nearly finished, just need to finish the final project. Next class starts on 8/30. Loving these classes, but scheduling homework is a challenge.

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School clothes shopping is 50% finished! Still can't believe it is that time of year already. Where did the summer go?

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Bye for now!

Alice

Today, we said goodbye to a dear friend. Alice's 95th birthday was Tuesday, and in the very early morning of that day, nearly the hour of her birth, God took her home to be with Him for eternity. It was her deepest wish to be with her Lord, and to go on her birthday must have brought her great joy.

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Alice was a diminutive, white haired woman with a huge smile and sparkling eyes. She may have appeared small and a bit frail, but spiritually she was a giant. Whoever coined the term "prayer warrior" must have known her, because the name fit her perfectly. If the church doors were open, she was there. She lived and loved to serve. Her funeral service today was bittersweet. All of us who loved her will miss her, but anyone who spent more than 30 seconds with her knew where her hope and treasure were, and we rejoiced for her because of it.

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Many happy memories were shared today of a woman who completed her race in such a way that she set an example for her many friends.

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Happy Birthday, Alice!

Food that Flopped - and how we laughed about it later

I have not always been a good cook. I flinch writing that just now, but it is unfortunately true. I've always liked to cook, I just wasn't as skilled as I should have been starting out.

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There were many kitchen mishaps in the beginning. Strawberry jam that somehow missed the jell stage and went straight for a crystallized mass melded with the bottom of the pan. Endless meals involving hot dogs (cringe) and packaged macaroni and cheese (blech). But I would have to say that Thanksgiving 1996 was my not so finest moment.

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My ambition has never overshot my ability as much as it did that day.

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It was my first turkey. The instructions seemed easy enough. Never mind the fact that I had never even cooked a whole chicken let alone it's much larger counterpart - details were unimportant. I followed all of the instructions, save those that admonished that the turkey should be well thawed. The bird had been in the refrigerator for 2 whole days, and being a Thanksgiving novice, I though that would be enough.

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At the appointed time, I pulled the pasty poultry from the oven, a bit perplexed that it did not have the same healthy glow as the turkeys did in the advertisements. All the same, I shrugged and put the platter on the table. To this day, I'm surprised the bird didn't hop right off the table and make a run for it when my husband valiantly tried to carve it.

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There have been many other Thanksgiving turkeys since that fateful day in November. But that is the one that everyone remembers.

Stories from Atlanta

Finally got all of my school work caught up from last week! That was a challenge!
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So much happened in Atlanta last week, it was an amazing experience. As I shared before, Monday was spent in the city, working with the homeless. Coming from a rural area, homelessness like we saw in Atlanta is completely outside of our realm of experience. I was so impressed with the members of our youth group, who gladly chatted with the men and shared the Good News with them.

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Two of our days were spent at an apartment complex outside of the city. Nestled in a suburban area, back a little road, and you were deposited into an entirely different world. You see, this complex is entirely populated by refugees from 19 different countries - the most war torn areas of the world. The children mobbed us! Some of the kids did not speak English, but all of them knew the language of play. Our job was to spend time playing with the children and getting to know them. What a joy that was! It was completely impossible to tire those kids out, and a few of them actually climbed on the bus with us. When we lovingly removed them from the bus, they stood on the back bumper determined that they were not going to lose us. It was heart wrenching leaving that place as the kids ran alongside us, waving and asking us to come back. I'll not easily forget the time we spent there.

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The apartments and their occupants are served by a wonderful man of God, Mr. Bennett. Mr. Bennett is a missionary from Nigeria. His deepest desire is to see souls won for Christ. Talking to him was absolutely amazing! He had such insight into the plight of these refugees and had such love for these kids and their parents.

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More to follow tomorrow.

Mission Atlanta 2010

Well, we made it home to Pennsylvania yesterday! I had no Internet access (other than the few hours I camped out at Starbucks), so I have lots of stories from Atlanta ready to go for this week. I'll post them throughout the week. God blessed our youth group abundantly! The whole week was amazing.

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To start off the week, I thought I would post a quick slideshow with some of the pictures from our mission trip.

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Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Now for a story from Monday:

We navigated the treacherous seven lane highway into Atlanta and reached SafeHouse, a kind of drop in center for the homeless. There, we prepared and served a free pancake and coffee brunch and spent time getting to know our guests. The men that came for the meal were very friendly and loved getting to visit with the teens. After the meal and clean up were complete, we walked to a park in the city to eat our lunch. The kids and leaders were eager to share their lunches with the homeless in the park, but were dismayed to find that there was a fine for doing so. As we talked with the people we met, we shared our hope in Jesus Christ with them. It was so exciting to see some of our kids share their faith for the very first time!