in good company

It meant so much to us that Nancy and Lanny and their daughters and nieces would carve 2 hours out of their 13+ hour drive to sit and chat with us. We offered to meet them out at the interstate (only 15 miles from us), but they wanted to see us in our natural habitat. :) I fixed a simple brunch of grapes, fresh pineapple, apple bread, blueberry muffins and scrambled eggs garnished with shredded pepper jack cheese. A quick tour of the house and a delightful two hours of chatter followed. They are members of the church where Daniel serves and their home was Daniel's home away from home during his growing up years. They brought glowing reports of Daniel's ministry and this mama's heart welled up with gratitude to GOD. Our time was over before we knew it and I'm sure they would have lingered but had hours to go until they could sleep. They brought special Northwoods gifts - dried cranberries, maple syrup and award winning fudge from the local candy store in our hometown. Sweet gifts, but sweetest of all was time spent with wonderful friends.

busy hands

There are so many wonderful craft blogs on the internet. A person could get lost in them and spend hours and hours gaining ideas and inspiration. But sometimes a person just needs to step away from the computer and get busy . This table runner is almost four feet long and took hours and hours and hours and hours to finish. I still need to back it, but may have to wait until Christmas fabrics return to the shelves to find the right one. It is not rumpled and lumpy in real life.

In comparison, these bibs for our Sadie Beth went super fast. And imho turned our super cute!

Sorry the pictures are so dark. It was a dreary day when I took the pics and I took them with my old camera.

My new camera is not on speaking terms with Pat's computer. My laptop is not on speaking terms with the internet here at home. So when I want to put up a quick post - the old camera it is.

Hope you have a great and productive day! Another rainy day at our house. I cut out a dress for Sadie yesterday and plan to get stitching today. Pictures soon!

tracing God's hand of faithfulness

Jon is having an incredible experience in Czech. He is working there with two friends of ours. We have known Dave since 1978-he and Joyce moved to the Northwoods at the same time we did. We clicked right away - Joyce and I sang in a trio together for many years (including this past January). Dave and Pat went fishing together - a lot!- and have many stories to tell. Dave and Pat also established a tradition of going out for breakfast together the day after the birth of each of our collective 6 children to celebrate. So Dave and Pat went out to breakfast 28+ years ago to celebrate Jon's birth and now they are working side by side in Eastern Europe. Love that. Jon and Dave and others are there to continue working on a retreat center. Mel asked them to come. Mel was Jon and Nate's youth pastor. * He taught both the boys to play guitar (for which we are so grateful). Mel and his wife Amy are remarkable people, talented and completely dedicated to Jesus Christ. Their family, as missionaries to Czech Republic, have been given a remarkable, once in a lifetime experience. Their equally talented 15 year old son Noah, has been steadily advancing through the ranks of Czech Superstar - CR's equivalent to American Idol. You can read more about it and follow the links to see Noah sing at Dave's blog here. They have a national platform, for this time, to talk about their faith in Christ. I have read one or two articles which talk about Noah, the 'missionary superstar'. Amazing. Whether he wins it all or not - he has definitely made and impact and you can tell the judges are especially fond of him because he is 'different' 'special' and 'innocent'. Enough from me for today...lots to do. Later this week I will tell you about our church's new website and our visit on Sunday with our friends Nancy and Lanny. *Youth pastor Mel introduced Jon to the guitar, which Jon uses often in his chosen career path as youth and worship leader. Youth pastor Curt who came after Mel introduced Jon to his sister-in-law Kristi. Faithful readers will recognize that Kristi became Jon's wife. We are so grateful! We are so thankful for these two men and their impact on our boys' lives!

quick check in

It has been a fun and busy week.

My sister and nephew were here all week. My brother and niece and nephew came down on Thursday for a few hours.

My nephew challenged me to a video game of the car-racing variety. Wanting to be a good aunt, I agreed to play. I knew he would win of course, since the last time I played a video game was probably 1992.

What I did not expect? That I would get car-sick. Yep. Nausea. Headache. Almost lost my supper.

No more video games for Aunt Cheri, who has handed in her title of cool aunt.

Emilee entertained us, as usual. Here she is taking a modest bow after her performance.



Don't you wish you could get away with wearing a tiara?
My relatives are a bunch of clowns (grandma started it!):


On a more serious note, an F3 tornado blew through our area Wednesday night. Mom, Dad and I passed through the damaged town of Greenback on our way to the Dr. yesterday. The destruction was amazing.

This happened about a mile north of my favorite quilt shop. Thankfully she suffered no damage. But she is reaching out to help those who lost their homes.

No one was killed and only two were injured which amazed us as we surveyed all the debris strewn from one side of the highway to the other.

We are thanking God.
~~~~~
Lots of other things going on here, but no time to tell...off to a ladies' tea this morning, a campfire and sing along tonight. We are expecting company for brunch tomorrow morning and then church tomorrow afternoon.

Have a great weekend everyone!

It's official!!!

Daniel and Laura are engaged!

Plans are underway for a spring wedding in 2012 and we couldn't be more excited!

See? They are perfect for each other! :)

YAY!

Jon and the team (finally!) made it to Czech yesterday.

Thank you LORD!

4 days later...

...Jon is still not quite at his destination.

As I write this on Tuesday morning, he is flying from Prague to Krakow. Then a 2 hour drive back into Czech Republic.

I am sure that this experience - before the work even starts- has taught him patience and trust and helped him to bond with his team mates (I don't believe he knew them before this - but he really knows them now!).

You can follow their adventure here.

tracking

Sorry for the silence this past week. The events in Japan and Libya and elsewhere occupied my mind and my prayers. I couldn't bring myself to blog about anything cheery while so many were suffering.

And so many continue to suffer. Our prayers are with them and our hearts are broken for their pain and loss.
~~~~~~~
So many thoughts to share, but I will limit today's post to a few bullet points because my sister and nephew are here and I want to go hang out with them.

• Yesterday Nate and Michelle were headed west for spring break. Jon was headed east (as in Eastern Europe for a mission trip) and Daniel was headed back north toward home.
• Nate and Michelle arrived at their destination with no apparent troubles.
• Jon drove from Iowa to Minneapolis on Saturday. He stayed with my sister Suzi Saturday night and she transported him to the airport. His travel plans were to be: Mpls. to NYC to Prague to Krakow.
• Jon's flight was delayed for a bit, but after a half hour or so they took off. However they didn't land at JFK, they were diverted to DesMoines. After leaving home 24 hours earlier, he arrived at his first (non)destination 30 miles from home!
• They finally got a flight to JFK and arrived at about 2 a.m this morning. Their next flight out is not until this evening. Poor guy - he is already exhausted and he hasn't even left the country! Tonight he will fly to Amsterday then Prague then Krakow then a 2 hour flight back into Czech Republic. I'm tired just typing this!
• Daniel is traveling back north toward home but we haven't heard from him and don't know if he made it back yet or not. He is with his lovely girlfriend Laura, so phoning or texting Mom and Dad is not a priority. ~smile~
• I mowed the grass for the first time the other day. It was wonderful.
• Daffodils are in bloom, pear trees are flowering and the redbuds are just starting. The weather has been lovely these past few days.
• Blogging will be sporadic again this week as my priority is spending time with Lori and Richard. Hope you all have a good week!

signs

The pictures, which I'm sure most of you have seen by now, are horrific. A wall of water and debris carrying off and destroying everything in its path.

Who can stand against such a disaster? I'd like to think I'm prepared for run of the mill, ordinary calamities, but not for anything like what has happened in Japan.

As I sit and work on my stitching (which is mostly sitting in my lap because I cannot tear my eyes away from the images on the television), Matthew 24:7 comes to mind:

Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.

There will be famines and earthquakes in various places.

These are some of the signs of the end of the age.

And yet, we are not to fear.

Do not be anxious about anything,

but in everything by prayer and petition,

with thanksgiving,

present your requests to GOD.

And the peace of GOD,

which transcends all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians4:6-7

Peace in the midst of disaster? Only Christ can give that.

need inspiration?

Go to a fantastic quilt show.

See lots of wonderful vendors.

Meet a real life author of a quilt book. As Peggy and I were admiring the best of show quilt (with our eyes bugged out and our jaws dropped open) the author of the book from which the quilter had chosen this particular pattern passed by.

'Oh, that's from my book!' she exclaimed.

That must have been a wonderful 'rush' for her.

I don't have the words to describe the beauty of the quilts we saw. Or the range of styles.

But it was fantastic.

I didn't spend a dime at any of the vendors, though I could have easily dropped hundreds of dollars (so many beautiful fabrics and projects).

For now, I have three works in progress and several yards of fabric (that I got a few weeks ago for $3 a yard - and it is the good stuff!). I must finish these projects before I buy anything new.

Must go....lots of stitching to do...

on church part 3

Our church plant is still in the planning stage.

There are about 30 members in our core group. During this phase, core group members will be hosting Open Houses. We will invite family, friends, neighbors, co-workers to our homes to learn what Harvest is about and more importantly about Jesus Christ.

We will be hosting our Open House next month. I've already invited a few people and Pat has invited some guys from the gym.

We are pretty excited. Our official launch date is September 11.

Starting a new church entails lots of work. Pat has spent a few dozen hours of work on the text for the website (it is not up and running yet, but I'll post a link when the web designer has it finished). Pat is also the treasurer.

As of last Friday, I am the Children's ministry director. I'm reviewing curriculum right now - any suggestions?

And Becky, the daffodil's in yesterday's picture are not in our yard (ours are a few days away from blooming, although many in the area are in full bloom).

I took this photo at the state park two years ago. These flowers were growing alongside an old farmhouse. The farmhouse was long gone, though the foundation was still visible. And the daffodils planted by the farmer's wife many decades ago, still bring beauty today.

That is my prayer for our church. That the foundation, Jesus Christ, will always be visible. And that the planting we do today will be bringing forth fruit for decades to come.

on church part 2

At the time my Bible study teacher approached us about a meeting for a church plant, we were fairly content at church #1. I was in choir; Pat was teaching our Sunday school class; we were both helping with the food pantry ministry.

Now, though, the wheels started turning. A new church? When we had attended church #2 (the one too far for significant involvement on our part), the pastor had approached us. When we mentioned where we lived he said, 'We've been praying about planting a church in that county.'

Hmmm. Now those words came back to our minds.

The group of people who were meeting and who had invited us to the planning meeting were primarily from church #3. They did not want to plant another church from that denomination because there were already plenty of that type in the county. We came hoping to promote a plant supported by church #2.

But God works, as they say, in mysterious ways.

The group had already done some leg work. They had learned of Harvest Bible Chapel and Pastor James MacDonald.

In 2000, Pastor James felt that the LORD was leading Harvest to plant churches. He thought he was stepping out in faith when he asked the LORD to bless them with 10 church plants in 10 years.

Little did he know...*

As our group met and prayed, it became apparent that we should be one of the Harvest plants.

Then some really cool things started happening.

• the man in charge of the church plants came to visit and meet with us


• turns out he knows some guys we know from Judson, including one of Nate's snowboarding buddies who is currently on staff with Harvest


• he encouraged our core group to continue to meet in the afternoon or evenings and visit other churches on Sunday morning


• Harvest would be sending us a pastor in February (he's here!)


• when several members of our core group visitied church #2 (the one who wanted to plant a church in our county), the pastor and elders met with them after the service, prayed with them and gave them seed money for our plant


• the children's ministry coordinator for the Harvest in Milwaukee contacted us. She is from this area and has been praying for years that GOD would start a Harvest plant here (and it turns out that one of the core group members knows her because his mother taught her in school)


• Pat and I, as we studied Experiencing GOD again, and as Pat taught our Sunday school class, realized that GOD was calling us to be involved in this church plant


• we shared this with the class last week and they have sent us out with their blessing (they are so cool - we were a little worried they might be upset)


• Nate and Michelle attend Harvest; Jon and Kristi did too when they lived in Chicagoland

There are about 40,000 people in our county. Only about 7,000 of them attend church. That leaves us with a 'field white unto harvest' (Matthew 9:37-38) (or Harvest as the case may be....smile).

We are excited about the work ahead. About what GOD will do. More tomorrow....

*Harvest has planted well over 50 churches since the year 2000.

on church part 1

love living in a 'neigh'borhood with horses and cows across the road

I have always loved going to church. Fond childhood memories of Sunday school, children's choir, vacation Bible school form much of who I am today.

Not going to church is not an option for me. Not because I have to go, but because I want to go.

Since moving down here we have attended three different churches. Church #1 had very nice people, good programs, but it didn't feel like 'home'. Church #2 was wonderful but too far away to be involved at any significant level. Church #3. Hmmm. We didn't stay there long, but returned to church #1.

Last fall, my Bible study teacher pulled me aside.

She, too, had gone to church #1, then church #2. But no longer.

'Would Pat and I be interested in becoming involved in a new church plant? There would be a meeting, would we like to come?' she asked.

Yes, we would.

more tomorrow...

in cent ive

The sun is shining, the air feels a little warmer, the mountain bluets (ab0ve) are blooming in scattered clumps across the adjacent pasture.

Spring is in the air here. I potted some cheerful yellow pansies in burgundy pots and placed them on our front porch steps. They say 'welcome' to all who enter.

Thank you all for your congratulations on our news of another grandbaby. I am so excited!

"Sons are a heritage from othe LORD, children a reward from Him."

Psalm 127:3

~~~~~

Yesterday's errands took me to the dump and a few grocery stores. On the way to the dump, I decided to stop in at the gas station and fill up. We had about a half a tank of gas; I don't like to let it get lower than that. The price was $3.29. I cringed, but filled.

After I came back from the dump (maybe 15 minutes later), the price had climbed to $3.35. Glad I stopped before and not after! I know..it saved less than a dollar....but a dollar saved is a dollar earned. I thank GOD for prompting me to stop before and not after.

I'm sure you have noticed the prices climbing at the grocery store. Lettuce was $1.99 a head at the Save-a-lot, $1.48 at Ingles and $1.79 at our little fruit stand (just re-opened yesterday for the season - the owner warned me that prices had jumped).

So, instead of lettuce salads, we will be eating cole slaw. I bought a large head of cabbage for $.45 a pound. We have a little bit of lettuce left in the fridge. Once that is gone, we will wait until our garden lettuce comes in.

Generally speaking I try not to pay more than $1 per pound for veggies. I like to keep fruit under that price as well, but I will make certain exceptions. For the past 3 years, our little fruit stand has always had apples for $.89. Now they are $.99. Strawberries can be found at $2. a pound. That is about as high as I will go. I have bought some for smoothies and for my oatmeal (oatmeal is about the cheapest breakfast one can eat - and healthy!). I generally avoid the expensive strawberries and instead pig out on them when they are in season and I can pick and eat them fresh. Much better that way.

I try to not pay more than $2 a pound on meat - except for special occassions. This week London broil was on sale for $2.48 a pound. I did pick up a couple of packs of that. Marinated and grilled it is a delicious meal. Then I thinly cut the remainder which is great for sandwiches or fried in butter and garlic. Mmmmm.

Cheese? Once upon a time I would not pay more that $3 a pound. It is getting very hard to find it at that price. More often it inches closer to $4. Thankfully this week, I found some at $3 and bought several packages.

Boring? Not for me. I am easily entertained. I like the thrill of the hunt...trying to make Pat's hard earned income go a little further (or is it farther - I always get these mixed up!).

The motivation for saving? Purely selfish. I have a new grandbaby to welcome come September. Yippee!

:)